To St. Stephen's Parishioners:
SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICES
Sunday February 20 - 8 AM AND 10 AM Seventh Sunday After the Epiphany The Rev. Cooper Conway, Interim Rector, is the celebrant and preacher.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Sunday, February 20, 11:15 AM Adult Forum "Holy Week Traditions"
Monday-Tuesday, February 21-22, Preschool Closed
Thursday, February 24, 7:30 PM Preschool Committee meeting
Friday, February 25, 7 PM Parents Night Out (PNO)
Sunday, February 27, 11:15 AM Matthew Price leads forum on Church Pension Group
Sunday, February 27, 4 PM Friends of Music Organ Recital by John Schucker
Sunday, March 6, 11:15 Baby Shower for North Porch
Tuesday, March 8, (approx. 5 PM) Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Sunday, March 20 Coffee Hour This is Bread Sunday
ANNOUNCEMENTS
THAT BIG WIND STORM. If you have not heard about it already, you will see when you arrive at church tomorrow that the big pine tree at the gate on Main Street blew over on Saturday during the high winds. It fell directly across Main Street -- taking out about three sections of fence as it fell. Traffic was rerouted for a couple of hours while the Millburn Public Works crew cut up the huge trunk and moved it onto the lawn. We will try to get rid of the debris this week. That will involve cutting up the rest of the tree, chipping the branches and drilling out the stump. Please be careful when you are parking tomorrow and when you are walking around the tree debris.
THAT BIG WIND STORM. If you have not heard about it already, you will see when you arrive at church tomorrow that the big pine tree at the gate on Main Street blew over on Saturday during the high winds. It fell directly across Main Street -- taking out about three sections of fence as it fell. Traffic was rerouted for a couple of hours while the Millburn Public Works crew cut up the huge trunk and moved it onto the lawn. We will try to get rid of the debris this week. That will involve cutting up the rest of the tree, chipping the branches and drilling out the stump. Please be careful when you are parking tomorrow and when you are walking around the tree debris.
RESURRECTION SINGERS. Think about joining St. Stephen's Senior Choir for the Easter season. Some people, for one reason or another, cannot manage a full rehearsal schedule, but really enjoy choral singing. We welcome these "Birth and Resurrection Choristers" to fill out our choir ranks for Christmas and/or Easter. Having this extra bank of voices enables the choir to select compositions from a broader range of choral music. Music Director Kim Williams said she hopes to hear from singers as early as possible and will delay the choice of Easter music until she knows the available mix of voices. Please think about making a short term choir commitment, and let Kim know as soon as possible if you will be singing with the choir.
FORUM- ABOUT HOLY WEEK. This Sunday Cooper Conway will lead a forum a out the liturgical traditions of Holy Week. There are a number of services that are offered in the Book of Common Prayer that have not been part of the tradition at St. Stephen's Church. She will explain how they fit into the events of Holy Week and talk about the significance of the liturgies and symbols of Holy Week. Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday and the Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem and culminates with Easter Sunday when Mary Magdalene enters the empty tomb, Cooper will show how the liturgical experience of Holy Week is designed to draw worshipers in and to speak to our imaginations. The Forum will begin about fifteen minutes into the Coffee Hour.
GREENFAITH ADVOCACY DAY. In June The Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith, will visit St. Stephen's to preach and to talk the organization and its work. Before this visit there is an opportunity to learn more about the advocacy work that GreenFaith does for issues surrounding the environment. Rev.Fletcher Harper said, "With environmental issues ranging from hydro-fracking to air pollution facing the New Jersey state legislature, faith-based advocacy for the environment is vitally important."
GreenFaith invites you to join this event: Trenton Interfaith Environmental Advocacy Day on Monday, March 14 from 10 AM to 3 PM. Consider attending this event. If you would like to register, paste the following URL into your browser: https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/greenfaith/event.jsp?event=105
Join GreenFaith at the Trenton Statehouse to:
- Receive a briefing from key New Jersey environmental advocates.
- Hear from elected officials who will be addressing our group.
- Make your voice heard on behalf of the environment.
Participants will gather at the Statehouse, and GreenFaith will provide a light lunch and information about important environmental bills in the legislature. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from the Statehouse. Directions to the Statehouse will be forwarded to all who register. Email questions to Paul Kaufman, GreenFaith's Program Coordinator at <pkaufman@greenfaith.org>.
Learn more about GreenFaith at www.greenfaith.org.
Learn more about GreenFaith at www.greenfaith.org.
CHURCH PENSION GROUP --WHAT IT DOES/ WHY SHOULD YOU CARE. On February 27 during the coffee hour, there will be a forum. Parishioner Matthew Price, Director of Analytic Research Strategy and Service Development for the Church Pension Group (CPG), will share his insights on how the CPG affects this parish, the diocese, and clergy across the Church. This session will be particularly helpful for vestry, search committee and finance committee members. Matthew will help everyone understand how clergy compensation is figured and what goes into a compensation package.
HARMONIUM CONCERT. The 100-voice Harmonium Choral Society, in which St. Stephen's Music Director Kim Williams sings, presents Consider the Heavens, on March 5, at 8 p.m. and March 6, at 3 p.m. at at Morristown United Methodist Church on the Green. General admission tickets at the door are $25 ($20 for students and seniors). Advance tickets only $20/$15 (by 2/25) or $10 for groups of 10 or more at www.harmonium.org Enjoy sonorous double choir works by Vaughan Williams, Bach, W.H. Harris and Augustinas, 2 NJ premieres, and a hair-raising rendition of Dawson’s classic “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel.”
JOHN SCHUCKER ON THE BECKERATH ORGAN. If you have never heard John Schucker play the organ except during the worship services at St. Stephen's, you are in for a real treat if you attend next Sunday's Friends of Music organ recital. John is the featured recitalist. He will be performing organ works by the gifted French composer Jehan Alain (1911-1940). This special 100th anniversary recital will begin at 4:00 PM on Sunday, February 27 at St. Stephen’s Church. A suggested donation of $10 will be accepted at the door. A reception for the artist follows the recital.
John’s commemorative program on the Beckerath will range from Variations on a Theme by Jannequin, with its Baroque-inspired treatment of a Renaissance melody, to the jaunty jazz rhythms of Aria. The centerpiece of the recital will be Alain’s award-winning Suite for Organ, in three colorful movements: Introduction & Variations, Scherzo, and Choral. The recital concludes with Alain’s best known work, the hypnotically rhythmic Litanies.
Describing Alain’s music as quintessentially French, John also finds in it “influences stretching back as far as the early Gregorian chants and modes, the Renaissance, the Baroque, the more recent Impressionists like Debussy and also American jazz, which had taken root in Paris as Alain was growing up.”
SHOWER FOR NORTH PORCH. On March 6 Theresa Scharff, acting chair of Social Justice at St Stephen’s, will be sponsoring a special Coffee Hour to benefit the North Porch Ministry of the Diocese. The North Porch Women and Infants' Centers provide emergency seven-day supplies of formula, baby food, diapers, clothing, bed linens and other supplies for needy mothers and infants in the Newark, Paterson and Dover areas of northern New Jersey. Plan to help on March 6 by bringing donations for North Porch. The following items are needed:
Formula: Similac Advance (dark blue label), 1-quart liquid or 12-ounce powder (in date) (Baby formula is always our #1 most needed item, and this type of Similac Advance is currently recommended by the WIC assistance program); Disposable diapers sizes 4, 5 and 6
Baby toiletries. NO BABY FOOD, CEREAL OR CLOTHING IS NEEDED AT THIS TIME.
Baby toiletries. NO BABY FOOD, CEREAL OR CLOTHING IS NEEDED AT THIS TIME.
SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKES. Mark your calendar so you remember to attend the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on Tuesday March 8. This is a real neighborhood event -- bring your neighbors, relatives, kids, people you meet on the train. Plan to help with set up (Usually about 4 PM). The youth group will help flip the pancakes -- some adults are needed also. What other help is needed? People to cook sausages, people to mix batter, someone to collect money at the door, people to replenish table supplies (syrup, butter), lots of people to clean up. EVEN MORE PEOPLE TO EAT PANCAKES.
