Please join us on Saturday, June 8 for Belfast’s Pride Parade. Meet up at 10:30 at the Belfast Area High School – we will be there with our banner.  The parade starts at 11:00 ending in Heritage Park. Spectators can see the parade along Waldo Avenue and Main Street. 

Belfast Area High School GSA will have a PRIDE art installation and Our Town Belfast will host a party to celebrate at Heritage Park. Later in the afternoon there will be an LGBTQ+ short film festival with a panel discussion hosted by BAHS GSA and Civil Rights Team (specific time and location TBD). 

The Drum and Rabble Marching Society will be marching in the parade with PRIDE! Do you drum? We want you. Do you have a drum? BRING IT! Meet up from 10:30 AM June 8th and get a drum. First come first serve for drums.

Hope you can join us! It is a lot of fun!

(for businesses affected by the January 2024 coastal storms)
 

The Outreach Committee continues to collect funds for this extremely important local initiative, and you can be part of our final gift to the City of Belfast by writing a check to St. Margaret’s with the words “Keep the Faith Fund” or “5th Sunday Plate Offering for March” in the memo line. Please put your donation in the pate offering during any church service in March, or drop it off to the church office. Many thanks to those of you who have so generously donated already!

Belfast/Searsport WindowDressers, serving Waldo County, is accepting orders now for window inserts. These low-cost inserts save you money on fuel bills, increase your home’s comfort, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Volunteer labor keeps the cost of inserts low and anyone needing help covering costs can get up to ten, pine inserts at no charge. Anyone interested in getting inserts this year is encouraged to sign up soon at https://windowdressers.org/sign-up-for-inserts/ . Anyone needing an older insert repaired can sign up online as well. There will be a “rewrapping” workshop in Searsport this October and the workshop to produce new inserts will take place in Belfast in November. Questions? Call (603)380-6266 or send an email to belfastwindowinserts@gmail.com .

St. Margaret’s will hold several services to mark Holy Week from Palm Sunday, March 24, through Easter on March 31.

Worshippers are asked to gather in the church parish hall, 95 Court St., by 9:45 a.m. on Sunday March 24 to receive palm fronds and participate in an opening prayer.  They will then be led outside by the Rev. Barbara Briggs for a short procession into the church for the service, which will include a dramatic reading of The Passion. 

Maundy Thursday, March 28, will be observed with an informal Middle Eastern meal at 6 p.m. in St. Margaret’s parish house, 95 Court St.  Participants are asked to bring a simple item such as nuts, hummus, dried fruit or pita bread to share at the Agape dinner.  The meal will be followed by Eucharist and optional foot-washing, symbolic of  Christ’s servanthood in washing the feet of his disciples, and a brief service in the church for the Stripping of the Altar and start of the Easter Vigil.

Good Friday’s service at St. Margaret’s will be at 6 p.m. to accommodate those who are employed during the day.

St. Margaret’s will join with other Mid-coast Episcopal churches on Saturday March 30 for an Easter Vigil service and celebration at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Thomaston at 7 p.m. The sermon will be delivered by the Rev. Paul Briggs, Interim Rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Camden.

Easter Sunday, March 31, will be celebrated at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church at two festive services at 8 and 9:45 a.m.  This will mark the return of two Sunday morning services that will continue every week until November.

Parishioners and pets from St. Margaret’s and St. Francis received blessings from the Rev. Barbara Briggs and the Rev. Divine (of St. Francis) on a beautifully warm Fall afternoon (October 4 – the Feastday of St. Francis).

Bring your furry friend and join us on October 4th at 4PM in front of St. Margaret’s Church as we celebrate St. Francis and his love of animals in a short pet blessing service. This annual event is always very heart-warming and fun!

Join us for Taizé prayer at 7PM on July 11 and 18.

WATER FILLING STATIONS HAVE BEEN ORDERED!
We have raised over $16,000, enough to purchase the stations. While we wait for their manufacture and shipment to Belfast (arriving by mid-June), we will continue to raise the funds for installation. We thank everyone who has contributed and/or passed the word about this major effort. With just a bit more help, we can finish the job. Please take a few flyers/donation forms, available on the table at the rear of the church and in the parish house, (or this link to the flyer to print), to pass out to friends and neighbors.

The Creation Care Team has planned two events for parishioners over the next few weeks:

• On Sunday, May 21, as part of Coffee Hour after the 9:30 service, we will show the recent PBS program, Chasing Carbon Zero, hosted by the PBS Science Correspondent, Miles O’Brien. Not only does he introduce some of the game-changing technologies that can bring us to that elusive target by 2050, about a quarter of the program was filmed in Maine.
• On Tuesday, May 30, we have arranged for a tour of the Belfast Transfer Station at 1 p.m. This will be an inside look at how the station operates and how we can help ensure that our efforts at recycling are worthwhile and helping to reduce our impact on landfills. The manager welcomes our questions, preferably submitted in advance. There is no limit on the numbers who may take part, but we would like to have some idea of how many may be interested and will post a sign-up sheet in the parish house.

Finally, you should know about a public meeting taking place in Searsport on Saturday morning May 20. It will be an opportunity to hear at least one side of the controversy about using Searsport as the assembly point and launch station for ocean-based wind platforms.

KNIT-A-THON MARCH 18, 2023

The Women of St Margaret’s knitters are having a KNIT-A-THON on March 18th, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. All craft venues welcome during this day of sharing, creating, enjoying food, all while raising funds for those who need assistance with fuel costs. We are all aware of the tremendous rise in costs to heat our homes, but those less fortunate need our help so that they, too, can have a warm home. During the day folks come and go, and because it is a pot luck as well, we ask that you bring a side dish of food to share (soup, chili, bread, crackers, cheese, vegetables, fruit, sweets, etc.). We have the blessing of a wonderful space to gather, the St. Margaret’s Parish Hall, so there is plenty of space to spread out. Coffee and hot water for tea will be provided. Please join us for a day of creating and giving.