Category: Worship
Dust off your name tags – we are back in church! For the second Sunday we have worshipped together in the nave while some have remained at home and participated via Zoom.
On July 4th we will be returning to pre-pandemic days and resuming our regular two services at 8AM and 10:15AM. Coffee hour is on hold until the Fall, but there is ample opportunity for chatting and catching up on the porch or the front lawn.
Your lay leadership team, from left to right: Kristen Burkholder, Faye Ward, Julian Sheffield, Deirdre Good, Rev. John Nieman, Kenneth Taylor and Audrey Klein-Leach. This group has been meeting after church starting in late January — and going for nearly 2 months — learning about leading Morning Prayer and preaching, mostly by rehearsing and receiving feedback. Many thanks to Rev. John for taking the time to encourage and support us in this important aspect of our church life going forward.
Ash Wednesday service will take place at noon via ZOOM.
The Imposition of Ashes will take place at 4:00 p.m. Participants must wear masks and remain in their cars parked in front of the church on Elm or Court Streets. We will come to you with the ashes. This is both to ensure physical distancing and to avoid the possibility of folks slipping on the snow and ice.
Next Sunday, November 1, is All Saints Day. One common practice on All Saints is to remember in the prayers all those parishioners who have died since last All Saints. We will remember this year Suzanne Fudge, Ray Hall, and Jeannette Piotti. If there are other loved ones you would like named, please email those names to the parish office by Tuesday, October 27th at [email protected]. This year you will have an opportunity to acknowledge other losses you’ve experienced as a result of the pandemic. During the service, there will be time for you to name whatever losses you are most grieving. In addition to St. Margaret’s celebration of All Saints, the Greater Bay Area Ministerium (GBAM) will host a virtual service for the entire Belfast area to help folks within our communities express and acknowledge the grief that so many have been experiencing during these trying times, and to discover sources of hope as we look toward the future. “Lament and Hope: Grieving Our Losses, Blessing Our Future” will be a combination of a live streaming event along with pre-recorded portions and will take place on Sunday, November 1, 2020 at 2:00 pm. See the flyer in this issue of NFTP for more information on how to participate. Ultimately, All Saints is not a somber occasion. It is a festival that points to the hope we share in Christ with all the saints. It is an opportunity to join with them in witness to that hope. Peace, John+ |
A community event to acknowledge our losses and our hopes for the future is being offered virtually by GBAM: The Greater Bay Area Ministerium. Many changes and losses have occurred during the current pandemic that we have not been able to grieve together. GBAM would like to create a forum for honoring what people have been going through by putting words to the losses and challenges, provide a place for community voices to be heard and to lift up points of hope going forward. There will be readings, prayers, recordings of community members, and offerings of how we might keep hope alive. A ZOOM link is provided here for this offering, please share with friends and neighbors who might like to join in this event. The event will also be live streamed on the GBAM facebook page (see link below). We hope to see you there! DATE: Sunday, November 1, 2020 TIME: 2-2:45 pm ZOOM invite: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87055573465?pwd=OXFXUmQ2dk04OFgyenRza1RaTGRXUT09 Zoom Meeting ID: 870 5557 3465 Passcode: GBAM GBAM Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GBAM-Greater-Bay-Area-Ministerium-112668213940582 |
Presiding Bishop Curry will lead a live-streamed prayer service from the National Cathedral, Holding on to Hope: A National Service for Healing and Wholeness, on All Saints’ Sunday, November 1, 4:00-5:30PM. Amid pandemic, racial reckoning, and a historic election, the live-streamed service will gather Americans for prayer, song, lament, hope, and a call to love God and neighbor. FMI: https://episcopalchurch.org/holding-hope