In another week Pentecost arrives. That’s the red letter – and red attire! – day on our liturgical calendar that marks the whirwind arrival of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, when they were filled with the miraculous ability to speak and be understood by everyone, regardless of what language each listener normally used.I

          Next week Pentecost will help set the stage for the upcoming Refugee and Immigration Sunday on July 13, which St. Margaret’s and Episcopal churches across the country will mark with word, song, prayer and action. First, we need you and your family to do some talking! (Click poster to left to go to website.)

          A large world map will be up on the wall in the parish house. Even before you snag a cup of coffee, please pause to stick a sparkly star on the country or countries where the first members of your American family came from. Easy. You probably know the answer to that question already. That’s Step 1.
          Next to the map will be a blank poster titled “Honor Roll of Courage.” This may require a wee bit of homework for you this coming week. The Honor Roll is going to list whoever you know as the first member of any branch of your family tree to come to the U.S. This could be someone as recently arrived as one of your parents or grandparents, or any or several “great-great-greats” you know about from your personal geneology sleuthing. You aren’t expected to jump onto Ancestry.com for this; hopefully you and/or someone nearby knows of at least one candidate for this honor. You’ll be able to add the country they came from, the approximate year or decade they came, and the reason why, if known. This is Step 2 of Pentecost coffee hour!
          The final Step 3 is again easy and sheer fun. You may want to bring an advance list, however. Think of those colorful chains made from strips of construction paper that you or maybe your kids made back in the day. Let’s do it again! Between June 8 and July 13, we’ll gradually stretch a paper chain from our world map across the room to . . . the first post? The kitchen wall? All the way to the front? We’ll see! Each link will have the name of someone in your family who came from across the border or across the sea. We mean your whole family, by marriage or adoption. Your brother-in-law from Denmark, your niece’s husband from Argentina, the baby your aunt adopted from China, your cousin’s in-laws who decided to move here from Canada. Hopefully you’ll have many people for links on our chain. And please add others born outside the U.S. and now here who had a significant impact on your life – a teacher or college instructor, a home health aide who made all the difference caring for your parent, a colleague at work, someone who cared for you after school while your mother was working, a surgeon who mended your bad back, a migrant farmworker who became a friend, etc. Each can be a link you add.
          Special note! We have several in the parish who are themselves “immigrants”! Gold strips are reserved for them to sign as special sparkling links on the paper chain.
          This all starts next Sunday, and can be added to week by week, through July 13.
Pat Griffith

We are decorating candles in adult forum this Sunday! (February 2).
This Sunday is the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, aka known as Candlemas.  At this time, we commemorate the presentation of Jesus and the purification of Mary in the Jerusalem Temple, as well as the occasion of Simeon and Anna meeting Jesus. By the 7th century, Candlemas included lighting and blessing candles, procession and singing the Nunc dimittis. We have plenty of candles, large and small, to decorate.  If you have scissors to cut the colorful sheets of wax, please bring them.  Emily will bring some extras.

Thanks to Emily Estes for the inspiration and materials used for a fun wreath-making session last Sunday following the Morning Prayer.

Hey Adult Ed Committee, I just wanted to praise the work of our committee this past fall and Advent/Christmas season. The ideas we came up with were new and exciting and engaged more personality types and gifts than we ever have, previously (IMHO). 

 I have especially benefited from the led discussions on the day’s readings and our activities. 

The activities especially are exciting to me because it gets us out of our heads and into our hands, with a lot of conversation, laughs, support and encouragement of each other. We get to know one another! So important to kindling mutual affection… 

 So I’m anticipating coming up with our 2024 schedule; i have confidence the Spirit is breathing new life everywhere at St. Margaret’s and our committee is a shining example! 

Love Kristen

Picture from candle decorating on Sunday, December 31, 2023. There were about 10-11 of us who gave it a try! Many thanks, especially to Emily, who did the legwork for making this a success.

Sunday, November 26th – This morning during coffee hour, we made Advent wreaths! And caught up with each other.

Your Adult Ed Committee at St Margaret’s invites you to these October events: 

October 8: Reflection on lectionary readings led by Roy McAlpine in the parish hall or the library (builds on reading reflections before the sermon) 

October 15: Reading of book: You Are Already Praying (available in parish office) led by Kristen Burkholder in the parish hall

October 22: “My practice of prayer” led by Adult Ed Committee in the parish hall

October 29: Bible Drama led by The Reverend Barbara Briggs in the parish hall

St. Margaret’s Book Group (an ad hoc group composed of any and all interested parties), will read and discuss Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear, Revised and Updated Edition, Choosing Trust over Safety in an Anxious Age.

“Fear has taken on an outsized role in our current cultural and political context. Manufactured threats are advanced with little to no evidence of danger, while real threats are exaggerated for self-interested gain. This steady diet of fear produces unhealthy moral lives, leading many Christians to focus more on the dangers we wish to avoid than the goods we wish to pursue. As a fearful people, we are tempted to make safety our highest good and to make virtues of suspicion, preemption, and accumulation. But this leaves the church ill-equipped to welcome the stranger, love the enemy, or give to those in need.

“This timely resource brings together cultural analysis and theological insight to explore a Christian response to the culture of fear. Laying out a path from fear to faithfulness, theologian Scott Bader-Saye explores practices that embody Jesus’s call to place our trust in him, inviting Christian communities to take the risks of hospitality, peacemaking, and generosity. This book has been revised throughout, updated to connect with today’s readers, and includes new discussion questions.”

http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/following-jesus-in-a-culture-of-fear-revised-and-updated-edition/272753

Those interested in joining the discussion after the 9:30 service on June 11 can buy a discounted, (Standard church discount) book from Left Bank Books. We will meet once monthly over the summer to discuss this and other books. Even if you haven’t read the book, you are welcome to join us for the conversation. Our first gathering will be on June 11. Next book group dates TBD.

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church invites you to the season of Advent and Christmas.

Advent Holy Eucharist at 9:30 in the church every Sunday.

Advent education series: Waiting with Expectation” Sessions begin at 10:30 in the parish hall. No prior knowledge is required.

Nov 27                      The Annunciation                           With Deirdre Good and others 

Dec 4             Waiting in the midst of suffering           With Kristen Burkholder 

Dec 11                       The Visitation                                  With Barbara Briggs

Dec 18                       Signs of Hope                                  St. Margaret’s

Christmas Eve Holy Eucharist with choir at 8:00PM in the church.Christmas Day “Come as you are” Holy Eucharist at 9:30 AM in the church. An all-request Christmas carol service you can attend in your pyjamas.

The Rev. Canon Michael Ambler will be with us at both services to preach, and at a forum between services will talk about the work he is beginning in Laos.  He says, “Laos is a gorgeous country of mountains and rivers, of orange robed monks and iridescent green rice paddies.

It’s also the most heavily bombed country in the history of the world. The bombs were ours: during the Vietnam War, we dropped nearly 300 million bombs on Laos.  30% of these failed to detonate, meaning that they’re still there.  Teams of technicians work across the country finding bombs so that land can be used safely.  I have started Restoration Laos to fund one team that would not otherwise have existed. One village at a time, one school yard at a time, we are at last bringing the Vietnam War to an end for the people of Laos. 

You are invited: learn more, support the team, and if you like, come to Laos with me!”  To learn more, visit www.restorationlaos.org, or come to the forum Sunday morning at 9:15. 

ADULT EDUCATION @ 9:15 AM
Sundays, September through December
September: “Christians and Climate Change” with Bill McKibben
A brief video-presentation from ChurchNext followed by group discussion.
     Sept 4: Theological Foundations
     Sept 11: How we got to this point
     Sept 18: The situation today
     Sept 25: What we can do

October: Join us each subsequent Sunday in October as we grapple together with how we can best let others know about the faith that sustains, inspires, and gives meaning to our lives.
Oct 2: The Rev. Michael Ambler, guest-preacher and speaker on de-mining in Laos
Oct 9: Continuing the conversation for our history project: “What current or former member or clergy-person had a big impact on you and why?”
Oct 16, 23, 30: “How to talk with another about our faith”

November: “Doorways to a deeper faith”
Nov 6: The Religious History of Maine: Tom McCord
Nov 13: Approaching Holy Scripture: Deirdre Good
Nov 20: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Kristen Burkholder

ADVENT: “Waiting with Expectation”
Nov 27: The Annunciation: Deirdre Good and others
Dec 4: Waiting in the midst of suffering: Kristen Burkholder
Dec 11: The Visitation: Barbara Briggs
Dec 18: Signs of Hope: St. Margaret’s