CALLING ALL PRAYER DOODLERS
If you have a doodle prayer you'd like to submit (see last week's FYI for Marya's example), please submit your doodle to allstoffice@gmail.com by 3 pm TODAY.
HYBRID??
According to Barna, 81% of churched adults say in-person worship is very important to them. Alternatively, 63% believe churches should continue to leverage digital resources for discipleship.
In the last week, All Saints has formed a new team called TELL (Technology, Evangelism and Leadership in LOVE).The vision for this group is still emerging, but our first meeting helped us to get in step with one another and our future needs at All Saints. Digital church is here to stay. We will not return to All Saints as it was. This is why...here are a few collected quotes from folks over the past month:
“It’s nice to be seen, noticed, and welcomed at All Saints on zoom when you show up alone. It feels like less pressure when you’re behind a screen. You don’t have to talk, but you can talk when you’re ready to talk.”
“Online really is a way to reach people that maybe we couldn’t reach in a local setting, because some people wouldn’t come into a church building."
“I feel more connected to people because I can look at them in their face close up! People seem to be much more open to share personal struggles and get spiritually intimate in an online venue.”
“There is a level of safety when you’re behind a screen, because you can be authentic and real. Then you shut it off and that’s it. Sometimes when you’re in person, it’s like you can’t escape.”
As time passed during this pandemic, we learned something surprising: practicing religion in cyberspace works. While most churches are grappling with how far to go in holding services digitally, we are learning that for some, sitting in pews feels too conventional.
To foster new cyber connections, we will be designating people to tend specifically to cyberspace flocks. Our first focus is on Sunday worship. We are exploring Instagram and Facebook Live Streaming, and hope to post homilies on Facebook.
We are also looking for:
— a technology hospitality person to manage and respond to folks who use the chat function for prayers/contact information
—technology hosts on zoom
—camera people to capture what is happening in person to share virtually
—someone to manage social media posts on Instagram
Please reach out to our TELL team members - Brett Johnson, Chris Walker, Fran Weil, Diane Manning or Lisa Palmer, if you have ideas you would like to share for our hybrid future, as we find new ways to share the magnificent beauty of God’s love!
Marya+
At the April 22, 2021 Vestry Meeting, the following items were discussed:
Safety Committee recommendations for continuing in-person worship
Increasing building users fees, effective September 1st
Elevator inspection done - and we passed
Reported water in O'Neill Hall – property committee to address
Concern about trees along Cherry St. on town land - attempting to have town trim
Discharge of the promissory note to the City of Peabody in payment of St Paul's
Voted to sell strip of land between church and 44 Cherry St. to our neighbor, Craig Torrance
Next Vestry meeting, Monday, May 10th at 6 p.m.
Working to develop a mission strategy for All Saints
Convening a new team TELL for future hybrid worship, formation and fellowship—Technology, Evangelism and Leadership in Love
Stimulus Tithing
Did you get an unexpected Stimulus Check earlier this year (up to $1400 per person)?
Please consider sharing a tiny portion of it with our church. A few individuals have already done this. All of our Vestry members, who received a Stimulus Check, committed and tithed (10%) of their check to help support our church. These extra resources will be put toward reducing this year’s large projected $46,000 deficit.
Please identify your donation by indicating “Stimulus Tithing” on your envelope and/or check’s memo line.
Thank you for your special and generous consideration!
GIFT & THRIFT SHOPPE OPENING MAY 1st!!
The Gift & Thrift Shoppe's grand reopening is Saturday, May 1, from 10:00 to 2:00.
Come see all of our beautiful items!
We are also accepting donations ONLY when the shop is open.
Accepting most reusable items except clothing, electronics and books.
We are also looking for volunteers to help staff the shop.
Our hours are Fridays 1-3 and Saturdays 10-2.
We will have 2 people working at the shop, which now has a new air purifier.
If you have any questions about the gift shop, contact
Jan at 978-587-1243.
Stepping Stones Preschool - JOB ALERT!!!
Stepping Stones is looking to hire a forward-thinking Preschool Director to join our dedicated staff. *Stepping Stones is open during the school year, and the Director will work as needed over the summer
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Manage the daily operations of Stepping Stones Preschool
Demonstrate high professional ethics and confidentially
Maintain a safe, clean and enriching educational environment
Build and maintain strong relationships with the Stepping Stones' families
Continue to maintain strong relationships within our community
Conduct tours and open houses
Supervise and mentor staff
Effectively communicate with the Board of Directors
Classroom teacher
Qualifications:
Must be 21+
Must be MA EEC Director Certified
A Bachelor’s Degree in Education or related field
3+ Years experience in early childhood field
Must pass a background record check
Job Type: 3/4 time - Salaried Position
Please send resumes to Parish Administrator - allstoffice@gmail.com
Deadline to submit resumes is Thursday, May 13, 2021
All Saints Episcopal Church of the North Shore (Stepping Stones Preschool), Danvers, is committed to insuring equal opportunity for employment to all its employees and applicants for employment, regardless of race, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, handicap or disabled status (as dictated by the Job Description). All Saints will take Affirmative Action to insure that each employee will be accorded equal treatment with respect to all terms, conditions and privileges of employment.
Book Study
Join TWO other churches in North Carolina, as we explore how love is not a feeling only…it is also an ACTION!!!. (God is great.) Episcopalians at Trinity in Mt. Airy, and Grace in Clayton, will meet at 10 am and 7 pm on Thursdays, May 13-June 3. For those of you who are interested and cannot attend, let us know, and we will record it and post in a Facebook group. Please call the office to sign up.
Youth Opportunity for DIP's Community Garden
A new, exciting, partnership with North Shore Unitarian Universalist Church has occurred this year, to invite children and youth to dig their hands into the soil and make things GROW!
This year, the youth of our Interfaith Community will have the opportunity to join in this exciting work. We will gather to learn how to garden from seed to table for the benefit of others. Our community garden effort blends faith and agriculture in asking participants to plant, pray and proclaim, with the hope of feeding those in need, while stewarding land and fostering community. All vegetables will be given to the Danvers Food Pantry to support those who are food-insecure in our community.
Registrations are due by May 15 so we can begin our planting at home, in our homemade green houses, before seedlings are planted in the community garden. Please talk it up in your communities as we emerge from the pandemic, and still stay safe with masks on! Registrations can be sent to Susan Haas via email or NSUU Church 323 Locust St. Danvers Ma 01923
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.
We know that people use many techniques to cope with chronic pain, including praying to God, or a higher power. We are trying to better understand what kinds of prayer are most helpful. If you are interested in participating, you can go directly to the screening website: https://is.gd/PainandPrayerScreener
The goals of this project are the development of the first ever scientifically validated bedside-prayer-tool. Participation is easy, via online questionnaires. All spiritual backgrounds are welcome. If you or someone you know is suffering with chronic pain, and uses prayer or meditation to cope with their pain, we would love to hear from you. We need a few hundred volunteers.
May webinars scheduled for next steps in prayer, learning, action and advocacy: As additional next steps, webinars on four successive Wednesdays in May, each at 7 p.m., will focus on the individual planks of the bishops' declaration:
Pray (May 5)
Learn (May 12)
Act (May 19)
Advocate (May 26)
These interactive webinars, hosted by the Creation Care Justice Network, will include presentations, discussion and suggested actions. Register online here.
A mural memorializing George Floyd and other Black victims of police violence is displayed near the site in Minneapolis where Floyd died May 25, while being taken into police custody. Photo courtesy of Paul Lebens-Englund via Episcopal News Service
Episcopal leaders pray for victims of racism as ex-officer found guilty in killing of George Floyd: [Episcopal News Service] The presiding bishop and other Episcopal leaders called for prayer, justice and healing on April 20, as a jury in Minneapolis, Minn., found former police officer, Derek Chauvin, guilty on all three counts of murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd. Chauvin’s bail was revoked while he awaits sentencing.
Much of the trial had centered on the eyewitness video that showed Chauvin, who is white, pressing his knee for more than nine minutes into the neck of Floyd, who was Black. Floyd’s death, and the video of the killing, sparked widespread national protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Episcopalians and church leaders have joined in the calls over the past year for a reckoning with the racism embedded in American institutions after the killing of Floyd, 46, and other victims of violence, by police and white vigilantes. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, in a video message released before the Chauvin verdict, said the struggle for justice will continue.
“There is no celebration. Nothing will bring George Floyd back to his family or his community,” Curry said. “Please pray for the soul of George Floyd, for his family, and for everyone everywhere who has suffered because of the sin of racism and oppression.” Read more here.
The Episcopal Church has released racial audit of leadership, citing nine patterns of racism in church culture. You can read the audit in its entirety here.
Sabbatical Approved for Bishop Gates
The Standing Committee has approved plans for our Bishop, Alan Gates, to have an upcoming sabbatical leave. This summer marks seven years since his arrival to serve as Bishop. He will be away from June 13 through October 11, representing a three-month sabbatical, together with summer vacation. He looks forward to a time for deep rest, reading, reflection and re-creation – a sabbatical in the mode of true “sabbath renewal.”
During his absence, full oversight and leadership in the diocese will be taken up by our Bishop Suffragan, the Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris, who will work with all governing bodies and the staff of the diocese to assure continuity of episcopal guidance.
The first day of his sabbatical – June 13 – marks the beginning of his 35th year in ordained ministry.
