Please click here for a video message from Rev. Marya.
Islands
by Muriel Rukeyser
O for God’s sake
they are connected
underneath
They look at each other
across the glittering sea
some keep a low profile
Some are cliffs
The bathers think
islands are separate like them
Marya+
Ordination Update
Seeing Red
Red is the liturgical color prominently used for ordinations because of its association with vigor, willpower, leadership, and courage.
A long-time friend of Brett’s suggests that we all wear red on Saturday, for Brett’s ordination, so he sees a sea of red when he looks at the Zoom screen.
Beloved family of All Saints,
I am humbled and excited to invite you to my ordination to the priesthood on Saturday, 8 January, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. Because of COVID protocols, the service will be offered in our usual hybrid way: one congregation in three “pews” (platforms: Zoom and Facebook). There were limited in-person seats, and reservations were required by December 20. I wish it had not been so, but am grateful to be ordained by you, my church family, gathered in whatever way you can attend! I am grateful, also, to Fran Weil for agreeing to be the Zoom Host; it will feel like “home."
I am excited that the next day, Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 9:30, I will officiate over the Agape meal/Holy Eucharist at All Saints for the first time as an ordained priest. It is my deep honor to call you my chosen family. You have raised me up since September, 2019. During the season of pandemic, God called me to be a parish priest through our lives together, beloved siblings in Christ. I am profoundly grateful to God for you.
For the last twenty-eight months, you, the people of All Saints, invited me into the school of dance that is the Holy Spirit active among you. Through our formative choreography, God has transformed my heart by renewing my mind and spirit – in practicing and praying alongside you. There are no adequate words to thank you for allowing me to serve and learn here at All Saints.
Most of you know that I have been a professional musician for the bulk of my life. For me, music has always been a soul-Art to draw close to God. In considering what I could give you to show my appreciation, I wanted to find something that came from my core, which spoke to the All Saints of now and the future. In that spirit, Dave and I have donated to the “Friends of Music” Fund at All Saints. I did not even know we had this Fund! Lisa reports it was created in 2015 to support the music program. If you feel so moved to give me a gift, I ask you to give it to all of us by supporting the “Friends of Music” Fund in my name.
I love you so very, very much, and am grateful every day to God for all of you.
Brett
Note from the editor: Please consider Brett’s wish to support the All Saints “Friends of Music Fund" in his name. You may also indicate "Brett's Discretionary Fund," which he will take with him to the church where he is called. Don't forget to designate an amount, including your credit card information or Paypal login and then, in the new screen, click on the "add note" section, and indicate how you are designating your gift: Friends of Music or Brett's Discretionary Fund. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5CPDLYAUWN3A2
Beloved family of All Saints,
Many of us are familiar with Philippians 4:4-7, recently part of our Sunday readings:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
All of you have been in my prayers so often, “requesting” before God for you to be safe and to feel how loved you are by God. As we near my ordination on Saturday, January 8th, I am writing to ask your prayers for me. I ask you to pray for wisdom and clarity in discerning my next call. James writes, “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. (James 1:5)”
Alongside other opportunities, I am in the process of interviewing for the rector position at Trinity Church in Topsfield. In the meantime, I am in conversation to be the bridge priest at St. Peter’s in Beverly between early February and mid-March, when their interim priest will begin, as they start the process of searching for a new rector. Our regional canon, Martha Hubbard, assures me there are several other parishes in the process of determining their need, for which I may be a candidate. I am humbled and excited by these opportunities. I ask you to join me in praying that God continues to prepare me for those I will serve, even as God is preparing them for me. I turn to you for prayer, beloved siblings in Christ. Thank you!
Brett+
ANNUAL MEETING JANUARY 30, 2022
THE REGULAR ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERS OF
ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH of the NORTH SHORE, DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS, IS HEREBY CALLED,
AS PROVIDED IN THE BY-LAWS, TO BE HELD
AFTER THE 9:30 A.M. SERVICE ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2022,
VIA ZOOM, IN ORDER TO
1. CONSIDER REPORTS AND VOTE ON THE 2022 BUDGET
2. ELECT OFFICERS AND VESTRY PERSONS FOR THE PARISH, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE BY-LAWS, AND ELECT DELEGATES TO THE DIOCESE CONVENTION, THE DEANERY AND EPISCOPAL CITY MISSION
3. TAKE OTHER ACTIONS AS MAY BE NECESSARY.
DATE: JANUARY 30, 2022
Pledge envelopes for 2022 are available for pickup in the narthex. They are in alphabetical order in the box on the pew. If you have not already enrolled in our automatic withdrawal program, please try to pick up your envelopes at your earliest convenience. Thank you!
Stewardship Update
A heartfelt thank you to all of you who have already pledged. As of January 5, we
have received 66 pledges, for a total of $153,252! We are hoping for another 30-35 pledges, so if you have not yet pledged, please consider doing so. There are several ways by which you can pledge – fill out a pledge card and mail it to All Saints or deliver it to the office, pledge on-line or by automatic deduction. If you are unsure of anything concerning pledging, please contact our Parish Administrator (978-774-1150 or allstoffice@gmail.com
Thank you again for your support.
Inclement Weather
Should inclement weather cause in-person worship to be cancelled this winter, an email will be sent out on Sunday morning by 6 a.m. Please join us via Zoom for safe, virtual worship!
The community is invited to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year’s commemoration is dedicated to the memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered during the Holocaust. The featured speaker will be Michael Gruenbaum, survivor of Terezin and author of Somewhere There is Still a Sun. The guest moderator will be Josh Kraft, President of Kraft Family Philanthropies.
The program is free and everyone is welcome. For more information, contact Susan Feinstein at (978) 740-4431 or email sfeinstein@lappinfoundation.org.
Co-sponsors:
ADL New England, AJC New England, Boston 3G, Brooksby Village Jewish Community, Chabad of Peabody, City of Peabody, Congregation Shirat Hayam, Congregation Sons of Israel, Consulate General of Israel to New England, Duxbury Student Union, Epstein Hillel School, Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, Hadassah Lynn Swampscott Marblehead Chapter, Holocaust Legacy Foundation, IAC, JCRC, Jewish Big Brother Big Sister, Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, Peabody Clergy and Ministerial Association, Shalom Hadassah, StandWithUs, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Temple B’nai Abraham, Temple Emanuel in Andover, Temple Ner Tamid, Temple Sinai, Temple Tiferet Shalom, Vermont Holocaust Memorial, and Walnut Street Synagogue.
The Danvers People to People Food Pantry
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.
Thank you for your generosity!
Diocesan News
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Christmas Message 2021: "In the name of these refugees, let us help all refugees," is available for you to view here.
A prayer fashioned from the Dec. 26 statement by
the Most Rev. Michael Curry:
Almighty God, with whom still live the spirits of those who die in the Lord: we give thanks for the life and witness of your servant Desmond Mpilo Tutu, who sought to follow Jesus of Nazareth in God’s way of love, and showed us how to live God’s dream as children of the one God and creator of all. Give us grace and strength to honor his legacy with lives re-dedicated to the work of racial justice and reconciliation, learning to live together as the children and family of God, no longer hurting each other or God’s creation, but together living the dream God intended; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Clerics carry the coffin after the funeral for Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan 1. (Jaco Marais/Pool/AP)
by Miriam Berger
The ashes of the revered anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu were interred Sunday in a private ceremony in St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Anglican archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who died December 26 at 90 years old, had requested that his funeral not be ostentatious and that his body not be cremated by flame. Instead, Tutu reportedly requested aquamation, or alkaline hydrolysis, a water-based process considered an eco-friendly alternative to traditional cremation. Aquamation is part of a growing “green burial” movement that avoids non-biodegradable materials and promotes natural decomposition. Advocates say it’s an environmentally friendly alternative to ornate caskets and cremation by fire, which emits greenhouse gases. Bio-Response Solutions, an Indiana-based manufacturer, estimates that its technology cuts energy use by 90 percent compared with cremation by flame. In aquamation, a machine uses “a heated (sometimes pressurized) solution of water and strong alkali to dissolve tissues, yielding an effluent that can be disposed through municipal sewer systems, and brittle bone matter that can be dried, crushed, and returned to the decedent’s family,”
The process takes three to four hours at a temperature of around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, though it can be longer if lower temperatures are used, according to Olson. By comparison, fire-based cremation takes around two hours at a temperature of 1,400 to 1,800 degrees. Tutu, along with defending human rights, was a champion of the environment and spoke frequently of the perils of climate change, which he once called among the “greatest moral challenges of our time.”
Click here for a bio of Archbishop Tutu.
