SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICES
Sunday February 27 - 8 AM AND 10 AM Eighth Sunday After the Epiphany The Rev. Cooper Conway, Interim Rector, Celebrant; The Rev. Karen Eberhardt, Interim Deacon, is the preacher.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
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
Friday, March 4, 7:00 PM “Parents Night Out” until 9 PM
Sunday, March 6, 11:15 Baby Shower for North Porch
Tuesday, March 8, (5:00 – 7:30 PM) Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Wednesday, March 9, 12 Noon and 7:30 PM Ash Wednesday Services
Sunday, March 20 Coffee Hour This is Bread Sunday
ANNOUNCEMENTS
SUNDAY FORUM. Matthew Price will be leading a forum during the coffee hour this Sunday. He will be talking about the Church Pension Group and its relationship to the parishes in the Episcopal Church as well as the clergy. This may seem like a dull topic, but the CPG, as it is known in church circles, has more to do with church life and administration than most of us realize. Matthew will give a brief history of the CPG and talk about its mission – he may even tell us what his own job, as Director of Analytic Research Strategy and Service Development, entails. The current financial stability of the CPG is of great interest to the clergy since it administers the pension fund. We will hear how each parish supports its clergy with the help of the CPG.
Beginning in January 2013, there are some proposed changes that will affect the benefits that lay workers employed by churches and dioceses receive. Each diocese is making decisions about the extent that these recommendations will be mandated. Matthew will talk about why the changes were recommended and what decisions the Diocese of Newark has made.
At this time, members of St. Stephen’s may be thinking about how the Vestry and Finance Committee decide how much to pay a new rector. This Forum will be helpful in deepening your understanding of how some of the financial decisions affecting the hiring of a new rector are made. Certain benefits are mandated by the Diocese; others are recommended. Each year these guidelines are revised. This is your chance to ask questions. Please join the Forum on Sunday, February 27.
JOHN SCHUCKER ON THE BECKERATH ORGAN. This Sunday is the second concert of the 41st Season of the Beckerath Organ Recitals sponsored by St. Stephen’s Friends of Music. John Schucker, our own organist, will perform organ works by the gifted French composer Jehan Alain (1911-1940). This is the 100th anniversary of his birth and many concerts have been planned in his honor. The 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.”
Please support John Schucker, the Friends of Music and the Organ Recital Series by attending the performance this Sunday.
COMMENTS FROM COOPER.
Notes on Lent. Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting… I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by prayer, fasting, and self denial: and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word. (Ash Wednesday Service, BCP)
Lent is soon upon us. It is, as the Prayerbook tells us, a time of great devotion. We mark the time by giving things up and taking things on. This year there will be special aspects to our Lent together, a couple of them are new and one will be familiar.
First, the new:
Flowers: This Lent there will be no flowers at the Altar on the Sundays in Lent. For five Sundays our Altar area may appear a bit bare. This visual “fast” reminds us that we are in a season of preparation. When we give something up, it becomes that much sweeter when it returns. If it is your custom to give memorial flowers on one of the weekends in Lent, this year, please consider honoring your loved one on his or her birthday in lieu of the anniversary of their death.
The Psalm: This year also, we will be chanting the Psalm at the 10 A.M. Eucharist. If you have been here for many years you may even remember the Chant tone from Morning Prayer Services. The Chant is simple and repetitive, in a style called Plainsong. Kim will teach us how to do it and by the end of Lent it will be second nature to us all.
There are a number of beautiful hymns in our hymnal which we have avoided using this year because they are chanted (ex. “Creator of the stars of night” #60 or “Most high omnipotent good Lord” #406). Once the community understands chant cadence, these hymns will be easy to sing. Lent is an ideal time to deepen our understanding of the Episcopal tradition.
Now, the familiar
Lent a Hand: Last year, since St. Stephen’s was at the beginning of its transition period, you did not have the opportunity to participate in the “Lent-a-Hand” program as you have done in prior years. I am pleased to announce that this year the program will be revived.
The program gives each of us suggestions and opportunities to serve, deepen family traditions and to explore spiritual practice.
The sign-up for “Lent-a-Hand” will begin at the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. The “Hands” which you sign will be posted on a cork board in the narthex. Please carefully consider what you can dedicate yourself to do this year during Lent.
--- Cooper Conway
SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKES. Remember the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on Tuesday March 8. We need help setting up for this event, which attracts a number of people from the neighborhood. Set up starts around 4 PM. 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? We also need volunteers to cook sausages prior to 5 PM, people to mix batter, table setters and people to replenish table supplies (syrup, butter), someone to collect money at the door, and LOTS of people to clean up. The final and most important things is we need many people to eat pancakes! Be sure to bring your own neighbors, relatives, kids, people you meet on the train.
REMINDER ABOUT VERIDIAN. As we look to the future of St. Stephen’s Church and its ministries, we look for every opportunity to help finance our operations so that these worthwhile endeavors can continue into the future. Recently Viridian Energy joined forces with St. Stephen’s in structuring a plan to help fulfill at least part of this need. It involves you – and your participation—but it also helps you. You simply sign up for cheaper Energy through the Viridian/St. Stephen’s Fundraiser. Then, Virdian Energy will supply $2.00 per month, every month, for you and each person who supports the Church through this endeavor. To enroll, you may contact Tim Conway, Roger Riedel or Joe Stapley (their contact information is in the Church Directory) for information; or, sign up online at the website: www.Viridian.com/ststephenschurchmillburn. Simply have your Electric Bill in hand to enroll your information. This Fundraiser is open for everyone to join as well as friends and relatives. In fact, you can help expand enrollment in the Viridian/St.Stephen’s Fundraiser by sharing this information with everyone you know. Ask them to help St. Stephen’s and save some money on their Electric Bill at the same time. 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.”
‘WELCOME SPRING’ NORTH PORCH BABY SHOWER. 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 (must be 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. Note: NO BABY FOOD, CEREAL OR CLOTHING IS NEEDED AT THIS TIME.
GOOD NEWS.
Congratulations to Dick and Trina Debevoise as they celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
