Bishop Steve Lane answers questions about Holy Conversations

Bishop Steve sat down with Canon Heidi Shott this week to answer questions about the Holy Conversations process that each congregation in Maine has been asked to engage in.

He answered questions like, “Why are we doing this, anyway?”

Do you have a question you’d like to have the Bishop answer on video? Please post it in the comments or email him at slane@episcopalmaine.org.

If you would like to have a copy of the video to share with your congregation off-line, please contact Heidi at hshott@episcopalmaine.org or 772.1953 x126.

Ashes-to-Go set for Portland, Windham, Falmouth, and York

Maine Episcopal clergy offer Ashes-to-Go on Ash Wednesday

Nina Pooley of St. Bart’s, Yarmouth, and David Heald of St. Nick’s, Scarborough, pray with someone seeking Ashes-to-Go last year in the Old Port.

Several Portland-area Episcopal clergy and laypeople will take the traditional Ash Wednesday practice of the imposition of ashes from inside of church buildings out to the people on the streets of Portland, Windham, and Falmouth.

On Wednesday, February 13, Ashes-to-Go will be available to all who wish the imposition of ashes and a brief blessing in Portland at Monument Square from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and at Post Office Park from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; in Windham at the Windham Post Office parking log on Route 302 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and in Falmouth at the Pratt and Abbot Dry Cleaners parking lot on Route 1 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

A little farther afield, the Rev. Sudie Blanchard, chaplain at York Hospital will offer Ashes-to-Go there from 1 to 2 p.m. and again from 9 to 10 p.m.

In the Christian tradition, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the six weeks leading up to Easter. As a time of self-reflection for believers, Lent is often marked by prayer, penance, and charity.

In 2012 the Rev. Larry Weeks, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church on Forest Avenue who also serves as priest at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Washington Avenue, invited several clergy from area congregations to join him in sharing ashes at the two Portland locations. The clergy, fully-vested, planted a sign and then offered the ashes and a brief blessing to about 120 people between the two locations.

Weeks described one of the encounters, “A man in an expensive business suit walked by quickly, glanced at sign and us and kept going. Then he circled back slowly and approached and when he was in front of me, had tears in his eyes and said haltingly, ‘It’s been so… long.’”

Last year the Rev. Tim Higgins, rector of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Windham, traveled to Portland to participate. This year he and Deacon Wendy Rozene will be stationed closer to home. Higgins described his experience in 2012 as “one of the coolest ministries I have even been involved with.” He added,  “A jogger came through and stopped long enough to pray with us, receive his ashes and continue on his jog, while saying, ‘I’ve never done that before, thanks so much!’”

Episcopalians in Chicago, St. Louis, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, Newark, Erie, Austin and many other cities and suburbs will take ashes to the streets tomorrow. The practice started with a priest offering Ashes-to-Go at a commuter rail station in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago in 2007. It caught on and is working its way across the country.

Weeks added, “In Chicago they found that many people had forgotten that it was Ash Wednesday and welcomed the opportunity to receive ashes and a blessing. Last year we found the same thing in Portland and are glad for the opportunity to share this again and with people in a wider area. It’s high time we venture outside our church walls to offer hope and forgiveness and healing to people who may still have a spiritual hunger but aren’t so sure about Church.”

In addition to those mentioned above, others involved to offer Ashes-to-Go include: the Rev. Nathan Ferrill of St. Mary the Virgin, Falmouth; Dean Ben Shambaugh and the Rev. Suzanne Roberts of St. Luke’s Cathedral, Portland, Dibbie Appleton, Trinity, Portland; the Rev. Regina Knox, Diocesan Urban Missioner; the Rev. Shirley Bowen, Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center, Biddeford; the Rev. Dick Rasner, St. Ann’s, Windham; and the Rev. Nina Pooley, St. Bart’s, Yarmouth.

News from Christ Church, Biddeford

From the Rev. Shirley Bowen, rector of Christ Church -

This month Christ Episcopal Church in Biddeford will suspend its Sunday services and be at rest until the annual Diocesan Convention in October 2013. We see this not as a closing of a church but as a transformation of a ministry. The parish will be in recess but the offspring of the church, Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center is growing and open for all in need. We are forming new partnerships and caring for our neighbors in new ways. I will continue to offer weekly services and pastoral care for our neighbors.

On Sunday, Dec. 23 at 3:00 p.m. we will have a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Christ Church and its ministry to God’s people in Biddeford. Bishop Stephen Lane and several diocesan leaders will be in attendance to acknowledge this transition.

In the coming weeks, you will learn more about our partnership with the Biddeford Housing Authority/Learning Works/YouthBuild. We believe this will be an exceptional collaboration and are excited about how we will be better positioned to serve our neighbors.

If you’re able, we would love to have you join us on the 23rd. Click here for an invitation.

Praying around the Diocese

Check out a new page (see the tab above) on the NNE and a new weekly feature:  a  brief profile on Maine congregations featured in this week’s Diocesan Cycle of Prayer. Learn more about each congregation by visiting its website and please remember to keep them in your prayers.

Visit the 2012 Cycle of Prayer here.

This week – St. Alban’s, Cape Elizabeth; St. John the Baptist, Brownville Junction; and St. John Baptist, Thomaston.

 

Sharing stewardship successes

by Lisa Meeder Turnbull
Diocesan Stewardship Consultant

The Diocesan Stewardship Initiative has now been underway for nearly a year, offering consultation and resources in all aspects of stewardship: time and talent, love and compassion, effort and dedication, and funds. It is exciting to see the many creative ways that congregations inspire and celebrate offerings of prayer, presence, gifts, and service.

As we become more intentional about cross-pollination, sharing successes and challenges, the question I hear most often is, “Who else is facing this same challenge? How are they approaching it?” With that in mind, let me share some examples of the creativity that is coming to the fore as we take a fresh look at stewardship:

• A small congregation offers a successful weekday fellowship program for families with young children. Maintenance thinking used to ask, “How can we get them to come back on Sunday?” Mission thinking now asks, “How will we be a church with the congregation that is emerging?”Perhaps it will be Noonday Prayer prior to the established fellowship, or a relaxed late-afternoon service. The answer is still emerging, but the question is exciting.
• A stewardship committee stretched the Consecrating Stewards model to engage a year-round conversation around the many ways that members are in ministry together.Twice-monthly, a different ministry or committee is highlighted. During worship, a member talks for a moment about the ministry and what it has meant to his or her spiritual journey.  This both engages the community in the church’s breadth of ministry, and it makes conversations about church finance more tangible.
• In a congregation with strong seasonal membership, the rector’s weekly e-mail creates an on-going sense of community. This is part of a larger approach that includes a June Homecoming, an August annual meeting, and a Blessing on Your Way in September.Through this intentional structure of communication and celebration, seasonal members arrive already “up to speed” as a reunited body of Christ. They also have a tangible sense of their support for mission and ministry: They understand that their faithful, year-round generosity doesn’t just pay for heating oil, it provides year-round warmth for program, worship, and community presence.

If these stories resonate, if you would like to bring fresh thinking about stewardship to your congregation, consider these opportunities:

• On Saturday, February 11, St. John’s Bangor will host two stewardship workshops.

From 9:30-12:30, Money and More will explore holistic stewardship and offer some practical approaches for engaging stewardship in the congregation.

From 1:00-3:00, Organs and Boilers and Roofs, Oh My! will talk through the ins-and-outs of capital campaigns and legacy and endowment giving.

To register for either or both of these sessions, click here.

• Share resources, successes, and your own challenges or questions by subscribing to the Stewardship Listserv at mainestewards-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

• Visit my blog at www.mainestewards.com for stewardship-related reflections, many linked to the week’s lectionary readings.

• To host a regional stewardship workshop or plan for me to visit your congregation, write to me at mainestewards@yahoo.com.

Stewardship Double-Header at St. John’s, Bangor, February 11

On Saturday, February 11, 2012, St. John’s, Bangor, will host two stewardship workshops for clergy and lay leaders.

From 9:30-12:30, Money and More will introduce year-round, holistic stewardship, taking a fresh look at time, talent, and treasure through the lenses of the liturgical cycle, the unique seasons of the individual congregation’s life together, and our commitment to mission and ministry in all that we do with all that we have.

From 1:00-3:00, Organs and Boilers and Roofs, Oh My! will look at the principles of capital and legacy stewardship, with practical discussion around how and when to approach what are sometimes sensitive conversations.

Our time together will include the praying of the Daily Office and a lunch break, with a simple sandwich platter and beverage provided. Participants are welcome to bring a “brown bag” supplement as well.

Questions? Contact Lisa Meeder Turnbull at  mainestewards@yahoo.com

Ready to register, either as an individual or on behalf of a team from your congregation? Click here!

A new window for the Cathedral celebrates blessing, memory and joy

A new window for The Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland hopes to bring hope and light to the community.

After 13 years of planning, creating, and constructing, Cathedral parishioners, Cynthia Wheelock and Nancy Barba, recently watched over the installation of their gift – the first large-scale stained glass window donated to the main space in the Cathedral in almost 40 years.

In August they learned from the stain glass maker, Robin Neely, that the window was finally ready for installation.  The window as designed by Wheelock’s brother, artist Scott Wheelock of Philadelphia.

The inspiration for the Barba-Wheelock window came over 13 years ago, when the women were encouraged to hold their blessing/union ceremony, at the Cathedral, the first of its kind in the Episcopal church of Maine sanctioned by then Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen and performed by then Dean, the Very Rev. Stephen Foote.  The window may be the one of the few windows in the country acknowledging gratitude for a church service for a same-gendered blessing.

“What better symbol of light and joy than to celebrate this window and its meaning now,” said Barba.

The window is comprised of three panels, Blessing – Memory – Joy, each two feet wide by seven feet high and will reside on the East side of the clerestory, at the end closest to the chancel cross, about 30 feet above the church floor.  The theme of the window is an array of angels ushering light into the church, a metaphor for both the open and welcoming gesture the congregation offered in support of their Blessing ceremony and for the seminal shift in the church’s encouragement and the acceptance of diversity.

St. Luke’s Cathedral was founded on the principle of equality to all; counter to the practice of the day, the church did not sell specific pews to raise money for the construction.

Built in the late 1860s, the cathedral, in typical fashion for cathedrals, originally installed ordinary, stenciled glass panels.  Over time, the expectation was that they would be replaced with donated memorial windows.  This gift brings a total of seven memorial panels of the 18 on the East side clerestory.  Of the 18 panels on the West side, 12 are memorial donations.

A dedication ceremony for the new window was held on November 5.

Brewer burns the greens

While the night may have been dark and moonless, the parishioners of St Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Brewer, went ahead with what is figured to be their Eleventh Annual Epiphany Burning of the Greens at the home of a church member in Holden. The greens had previously graced the interior of St. Patrick’s through Advent and Christmas.

Originally a Celtic custom, the Burning of the Greens and Epiphany celebrate the well-known Twelfth Day of Christmas, the day on which it’s believed that the Three Magi arrived in Bethlehem to pay tribute to the baby Jesus.

The Greens in this case certainly did “brighten the night” and provide a beacon in the darkness. The tree in the photo had recently emerged from a living room. It was saved until last, and blazed in spontaneous glory for about four minutes (Eastern Standard Time).

Once the blaze died down, the stalwart burners retreated to the warmth and comfort of the hosts’ kitchen for hot Wassail, finger foods, and Winter’s evening’s worth of camaraderie. The planning for next year’s burn is already in the works!

St. Luke’s in Wilton feasts for a good cause

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Wilton, Maine recently hosted the sixth annual Boar’s Head Feast in honor of the Epiphany of our Lord and for the benefit of the Franklin County Ecumenical Heating Assistance Fund on January 7th, 2011. The feast of roast pork with all the trimmings (including plum pudding) was presented by costumed servers while medieval music was provided by the Sytsma family utilizing authentic period instruments. Actor Michael Cooper and wife Susan entertained and the evening was capped off with an appearance by the Three Kings. The fundraiser made over $1,300 for the fund.

The history of the Boar’s Head Feast goes back to 1340 when legend had it that a scholar was studying a book of Aristotle while walking through the forest on his way to midnight mass. He was suddenly confronted by an angry wild boar, a public menace. Having no other weapon, the resourceful scholar rammed his book down the throat of the charging boar, thus choking the beast to death. The celebration of the Boar’s Head became a symbol of the triumph of the Christ child over sin, light over darkness and eventually included themes from the nativity, Epiphany and Twelfth Night celebrations.

St. Luke’s has enjoyed putting on the annual event, which requires participation by “practically everybody” in the parish, said Corey Walmer, house “manager” for the evening. “A crew removes the pews from the church, another sets the tables, others cook, serve, entertain and clean up.” “Besides being an effective fundraiser,” Walmer noted, “it has also become a wonderful opportunity for all of us to gather after the holidays and extend the season a bit longer; we have fun together and look forward to it all year long.” Plans are already in place for next year’s feast to be held on Friday, January 6, 2012.