HAITI
As some of you may know, our beloved Michele Winkler Gettings has been fully trained for disaster response and is waiting on a roster to be “deployed” to Haiti as a pharmacist after the devastating earthquake and upending tropical storm that has left over 1500 people dead, hundreds more missing and thousands suffering. She is is preparing to leave as needed after she and John take Max to his first year of college at Quinnipiac. Please keep Michele and the Winkler Gettings family in your tender prayers as you pray also for the healing and strength of those in danger in Haiti.
If you are interested in offering financial support to those struggling here are some reputable organizations as resources for your discernment:
From a professor of Brett’s at seminary who worked in Haiti for years…
Health Equity International: https://healthequityintl.org
Partners in Health: www. PIH.org
Congratulations!
Dylan Turpel and Jacob DeCarlen-Bumiller were both confirmed on August 14 during the North Shore Deanery confirmation service at Trinity in Topsfield! Many thanks to The Rev. Jim Chapman who mentored them for two years through Covid! Another class member, Nicolas Bruecher, will be confirmed in October.
COVID UPDATE – MASK MANDATE
Anyone entering the building, for any reason, vaccinated or unvaccinated, is required to wear a mask. This is effective immediately. Until further notice, everyone attending in-person worship must wear a mask. This is not a decision we came to lightly, but with the highly contagious Delta variant, we felt we had to protect each other and ourselves. We cannot let our guard down now. Everyone's cooperation is greatly appreciated. Let's pray this mandate is only for a short time.
Summer Worship Schedule through September 12
Sunday 9:00 a.m., Holy Eucharist and agape meal. Hybrid: in-person, on Zoom and livestreamed on our Facebook page
Friday 8:30 a.m., Zoom Morning Prayer
Celebrating our Deacon Jim!!!
Joining us in 2017, Jim was scheduled to end his formal diaconal duties with us in March of 2020 when the COVID Pandemic started to settle among us. Almost two years later he has continued to faithfully serve All Saints. He has been deaconing in worship and teaching confirmation with three young men in our parish who expected a six-month course and were blessed to receive almost 2 years of preparation! (as seen above after the Confirmation at Trinity in Topsfield this weekend!)
Please save the date: September 18th from 1-3 pm for an outdoor celebration of Jim’s ministry with us. Place TBD. Rain date: Sept 19, 1-3 pm
How has your experience of the church changed in the last year?
What will the church of the future look like — in the next six months, in the next year, in the next five years?
Where do you see God most active in our church right now?
What is essential for us at All Saints to commit to as precious, and what can we gratefully release as no longer necessary for who we have become? As we grapple with these questions, please join us for a small-group book study! We will meet on Zoom for five weeks, starting in September, with a meeting time based on the availability of those interested in participating.
We will be reading We Shall Be Changed: Questions for the Post-Pandemic Church. The editor, Mark D.W. Edington, is currently the bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, and the content is authored by many respected leaders. Each chapter is only three pages long and provides provocative questions and visions for us to consider. One example: “Change is the way God most often does God’s work." How is God working in us and in our world to draw all people to flourishing?
I have chosen this book because it tackles many questions facing All Saints as a parish, as well as all followers of Christ. Please join us!
Contact the office (978-774-1150 allstoffice@gmail.com) or Rev. Brett (brettrandalljohnson@gmail.com) if you are interested.
Following is a poem from Steve Garnaas-Holmes, retired Methodist pastor, shared by Rev. Brett:
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
Sometimes I just stare at the flowers.
You may be weary.
Maybe the world weighs heavy on you.
You might feel you don’t have a prayer in you.
Well, some days your soul doesn’t need to work so hard.
Souls get tired. Sick, even.
Some days yours just needs a little TLC.
Sometimes what our soul needs is not more discipline
but something comforting and nourishing.
Maybe even something fun.
Give your soul a break.
When your soul is weary or unwell
do something nice for your soul.
Even something silly.
Feed it with grace at the roots.
If that day is not today, it will come.
You have permission.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Calling all Washers!
Now newly deleaded and painted, our Stepping Stones Preschool is now cleaning out some closets! If you have the time or desire to wash costumes and imaginary play clothes, please contact our new director, Georgette DiChicco, (gdichicco@verizon.net). There are about 20 small trash bags of costumes that need to be washed. Let’s divide and conquer!!
To date, we have 57 donations for our online auction, coming up in October, and we thank you very much if you are one of those who have made a contribution! Our goal is 100 items, which puts us just over halfway there. If you are unsure about what to donate, we invite you to consider lottery tickets to decorate a lottery tree, or gift cards.
If you have an idea for an auction item please email the following information to gail.arnold@umb.edu or call or drop off the information to Michelle at the parish office,
978 774-1150 email: allstoffice@gmail.com by September 6th.
Today’s date: Description of auction item: Donated by: Name and phone # and email Market value: approximate Any special comments about the gift?
Help make this a big success for All Saints. We thank you very much!
Through August, the FYI will be published every other week.
The next issue will be out on September 3, 2021.
Stay Connected to All Saints via Computer or Phone
Worship on Sundays at 9 am through September 12 https://zoom.us/j/134596872
Meeting ID:134 596 872
Phone 929-205-6099
The Danvers People to People Food Pantry has reopened and needs the following items. Please consider adding a few items to your shopping cart and dropping them off at church on Thursdays between 8:30 and 1:30 pm, or on Sunday Mornings, or at the pantry itself.
July Collection includes:
paper products (toilet paper, paper towels etc.)
jars of spaghetti sauce
graham crackers
wheat thins
band name cereals.
Thank you for your generosity!
Deanery and Diocesan News
"Hope beyond the heat": Creation Season 2021 reflection from Bishop Gayle E. Harris
The past 18 months have been more than challenging. We have been through countless trials and tribulations as we have endured and still are enduring three pandemics: the pandemic of COVID-19, with the more dangerous Delta variant now the predominant strain; the pandemic of racism, which degrades the image of God in the victims as well as the active and inactive perpetrators; and the pandemic of lies and conspiracy theories, which undermines facts with malevolent alternate realities fomenting anger and violence as we witnessed on Jan. 6 this year.
The English word “pandemic” came into use in the mid-17th century, originating in Greek: “pan” meaning “all” and “demos” meaning “people.” A pandemic crosses boundaries, and affects a myriad of people. In the case of the three pandemics we face now, unnumbered lives have been affected and changed forever. We are in a worldwide crisis.
And our planet itself is facing the global crisis of climate change. The shifting climate, to which human activity is a large contributing factor, does affect all people, all creatures. This crisis is exacerbated by those three pandemics: The COVID contagion saps our resources, attention and energy, and racism continues the exploitation and pollution of land home to people of color. And perhaps of greatest concern is how the pandemic of lies and misinformation leads people to denial or indifference concerning the environment--denial or indifference based in misinformation but also in self-serving interests and desires. Then there is the interpretation that some hold that God has given us “dominance” over the earth even if that means disaster, rather than the fullness of the meaning of “dominion” in that passage from Genesis: to be responsible stewards and caretakers of what God has created. In giving humanity dominion in creation, God says to be fruitful, or productive, not destructive or to cause ruin. To be indifferent to climate change is to be indifferent to what God has given us.
The Season of Creation, Sept. 1 through Oct. 4, is celebrated by Christians around the world as a time for renewing, repairing and restoring our relationship to God, one another and all of creation. In the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Creation Care Justice Network has compiled resources for the season under the theme "Hope Beyond the Heat" that are focused on ways to pray, learn, act and advocate. Find them at www.diomass.org/creation-care. Additionally, Episcopal Church Season of Creation and St. Francis Day resource materials are available here .
Diocesan News Updates
Sign up and stay connected with our diocesan community: Join the diocesan E-news list to receive regular news of the Diocese of Massachusetts, its people and parishes, as well as event information. Text DIOMASS to 22828 to subscribe, or visit https://www.diomass.org/subscribe-e-news. Find an archive of recent issues of E-news here.
