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Christ
Episcopal Church Newsletter
600
Farmington Road West, Accokeek, Maryland
July 2003
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Christ Episcopal Church, Accokeek
October 2003 Newsletter
600 Farmington Road West, Accokeek, Maryland
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OFFICIAL NOTICE:
THE 2003 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION
This
is a notice to formally announce that Christ Church Accokeek will
hold its 2003 Annual Meeting on Sunday November 16th in the parish
hall, immediately following the 9:30 am church service. The meeting
will begin at 10:45 am. The purpose of the meeting is to give the
congregation an update on events within our parish, the diocese
and the worldwide Anglican Communion and to elect new members to
the vestry.
FROM
THE RECTOR
Stephen Arpee
Hurricane
Isabel has come and gone. We all have had the inconvenience of downed
trees, power and telephone outages, but we have suffered no serious
injuries. The weather service did a great job in letting us know,
hour by hour, the progress of the storm, and gave us plenty of time
to prepare. We couldn't control the storm, but we could manage,
for the most part, to keep out of the way.
God's
Storms
Storms are God's reminders to us that we, in fact, are not in control,
and that there are vast forces that continually shape our lives.
However, in the Gospels we see Jesus, shown clearly to be the master
of the storms of life. He "rebuked the wind and the waves,
and it was completely calm." (Matthew 8:26) There are great
forces at work in the life of our nation today, affecting the whole
church, every denomination, and every congregation. Many of us have
done our best "to keep out of the way," but now there
is no escape.
The
Episcopal Church, in particular, is having to deal with the consequences
of the decisions made at the recent General Convention in Minneapolis.
Church leaders are about to gather in Dallas and in London to consider
issues of order and discipline in the church. Their decisions will
affect us all, and not only the Episcopal Church but also the whole
of the Christian world.
Solemn Fast and Evening Prayer this Friday
In connection with these meetings, therefore, we have been invited
to participate in a Solemn Fast this Friday, October 3, to devote
time to prayer for the upcoming meetings and to feed on the Word
of God. Let each one of us, as we are able, do this. As part of
this observance, we will say Evening Prayer at 7:30 Friday evening
in the church.
The
Big Picture
The actions of the General Convention in Minneapolis have been declared
to be as of no effect by a number of dioceses and parishes in the
Episcopal Church. This convention, it is asserted, violated the
Constitution of the Episcopal Church by changing basic Christian
teaching without regard either for due process or for the rest of
the Anglican Communion, and did this by consenting to the election
of a man who both had divorced his wife and is living in a relationship
with a same-sex partner. This was the most recent event in a confrontation
that has been going on for the last four decades, not only in our
church but in all of North America, on the subject of human sexuality.
However, this issue is just "the tip of the iceburg."
Underlying the questions of sexual morality are questions regarding
the authority of Scripture, our understanding of marriage, what
we are to teach our children, the place of the ordained ministry
in the church, and what it means to be a member of the universal
church -- in our case, the Anglican Communion.
As Episcopalians we are not congregationalists and so what we do
affects not only us but other Anglicans throughout the world. When
we ordain bishops or priests they are not just for us - they are
also for Jerusalem, India, Africa, or England, for example. That's
part of what it means to be "catholic," and the decisions
of General Convention have in effect violated our status as catholic
- as members of the worldwide family of churches.
Looking toward our Annual Meeting
At our November 16 Meeting we will elect a Senior Warden and two
Trustees. Any candidate for membership in the vestry should be well
acquainted with the issues facing the church, should be willing
to reaffirm the basic Christian teachings stated in the Baptismal
Covenant as found in the Book of Common Prayer, and should have
the support of his or her family for this essential ministry. While
nominations may be made from the floor, I strongly recommend that
suggestions for nominations be made well in advance to the Vestry,
acting as the nominating committee, so that the nominations can
be announced to the congregation in advance, giving the congregation
time to consider the qualifications of each nominee.
It
is vitally important that this parish have a leadership team of
people who are firm in their knowledge of and dedication to the
Lord of the Church, the Master of the Storm.
FROM
THE SENIOR WARDEN
Barbara Sturman
I
hope this letter finds everyone safe and sound after the effects
of hurricane Isabel. Many of us were without power, water and phone
service for many days -- not to mention all the downed trees, sticks
and other debris that needed to be cleaned up. As we leap into the
swing of things for this fall, I hope many of you find yourselves
regenerated to participate in the life of the church and in your
spiritual journey with Christ.
ALPHA
I am organizing an Alpha course which is to start sometime after
mid-January. Currently I am gathering volunteers for different aspects
of the Alpha course -- for food preparation, prayer groups, group
leaders, group helpers, and those who can set up and take down each
week. We are considering having a six-week series ending with a
day long retreat. This would be followed up by small groups that
were organized during Alpha, and continue as home groups for about
six more weeks.
VACATION
BIBLE SCHOOL (VBS)
Robin McDonough is organizing a VBS for next summer, 2004. She is
now recruiting volunteers to help with the planning. If you have
any interest in being a volunteer, or possibly just offering some
good ideas you, please contact Robin.
BABYSITTING
Child care is available once again during the 9:30 service; and
we now have an audio link between the church and the nursery, so
anyone in the nursery can hear the progress of the service and know
when to return for communion. Please encourage friends with small
children who might be anxious about bringing little ones to church,
to come along, knowing that the nursery is available should the
need arise.
OYSTER
AND HAM DINNER
Yes, it is that time of year again; the dinner will be on Saturday,
November 22. We will be selling our "Buy a Bucket" buttons
again this year to help defray the cost of the oysters. Frank McDonough,
Wes Courtney and myself will be chairing the dinner as we have done
in the last several years. I ask all of you to please set that entire
day aside to help with the dinner. We will also need, candy makers,
potato salad makers, turnip pickers and kitchen cleaners the week
before the dinner. This is our one big money maker in the church
for which we need many volunteers -- Please be generous with your
time!
Sunday School is up and running
The
Sunday School Program for Christ Church is up and running for the
2003-2004 school year. We presently have twenty children and young
people enrolled in our program.
This
year we are using David C. Cook, Bible-In-Life Sunday School curriculum
for our two elementary level classes. Robin McDonough is teaching
the early elementary level children and Lynne Campbell is teaching
a class of upper elementary children. Melinda Courtney is teaching
the middle and high school students and they are reading, studying
and discussing the Gospel of John.
Towards
the end of November we will take a break from our class schedules
and start practicing for the annual children's Christmas program.
Anyone interested in directing or assisting with the Christmas program
should contact Melinda.
As
always, the success of our Sunday school program is the direct result
of the work of the very dedicated teachers who give their time,
talents and energies on Sunday morning to ensure that our children
have the opportunity to receive the Good News. Think you might like
to be involved in teaching Sunday school? One way to "get your
feet wet" is to act as a helper in an ongoing class. Anyone
interested in exploring teaching, please contact Melinda. Teaching
is a vital and rewarding ministry.
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