News Sheet
June 2008
DATES TO REMEMBER
CHICKEN BARBECUE FUNDRAISER
JULY 5
Chicken Dinners, Food Sale, Book
Sale
Dinner pick-up 11am-3pm
VACATION
BIBLE SCHOOL
At Regeneration
AUGUST 11th-15th
9am---12pm
A
LETTER FROM FATHER SHAFER
Dear
Members and Friends of Regeneration,
Despite whatever struggles remain, summer
is a different season. Vive la difference!
We all need to shift to a lover gear, or at least a change in
movement. Spend a little time in the
hammock. Bring a cold drink, some light
reading, and as the Spirit moves you spend some time in meditation.
Our
“Forward Day by Day” is an excellent starter.
One of the current authors, a seminary dean for May 30th gave
a description of what God can do with second gear in the summer:
Mary, unchurched, salesperson of the year
for a major corporation, one day enters a church and sits quietly for almost an hour. She feels a presence she cannot see.
Her life is changed.
A father and son work together to build a patio at the son’s home, and they know
a closeness they have sought for years.
A husband and wife sit together…at the end
of the day, the children have grown and are gone; no words are necessary.
A hymn in church lifts the spirit, and we
grow more open to the Spirit.
Earth shattering? No,
but momentous, nevertheless. They
represent the power of God breaking into our lives. As Jesus put it, the
Kingdom is like the growth of a tiny (mustard) seed. Let’s seek these moments
and share them!
Remember
to pray for our Episcopal Church and for our Anglican Communion this summer. Next month our Bishops will be at Lambeth
seeking God’s will, and God’s peace. The
aforementioned seminary dean has spoken volumes on this subject through one
paragraph on Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds (“Let both grow together
until the harvest” –May 29)
The tendency, especially among the religious
fold, is to seek a perfect world by
getting rid of all the weeds. Even in
church the desire by conservative and liberal alike
is to be rid of all who oppose them. Imperfect people are a poor instrument for
purging the world of evil: they become oppressors themselves...
Let us nurture the rule of God through
forgiveness, understanding, loving confrontation, and encouragement. Then the wheat will crowd out the weeds.
Have
a blessed summer!
Michael
VESTRY
NOTES
At our meeting June 15th,the vestry noted that this year's scholarship given in
memory of Lewis Ross is to be awarded to Trevor Eaton, a member of the
graduating class at Stissing High School.
We received a progress report from the
thrift shop committee,great
progress is being made! In response to their request for a vestry person to act
as liaison with the committee, we appointed our Senior Warden, Tom Daley.
On June 3rd Marlene Paquette and Fr.
Shafer attended a meeting at Christ Church, Poughkeepsie with Jerry Keucher. Jerry addressed issues concerning diocesan
minimum salaries for clergy. As we
prepare to renegotiate our relationship with the heads of our Congregational
Support Plan, we will be seeking to keep informed about diocesan policies.
2009 will be the 150th anniversary of the
incorporation of our parish. In view of the importance of the coming year, we
began making plans for a celebration, probably in the early Fall
of 2009. Fr. Andrew Dietsche
will schedule a visitation with Bishop Sisk, as soon as he can.
This summer, Regeneration will be the host
for our Council of Churches Vacation Bible School to be held August 11-15. Fr. Shafer is the coordinator. He is requesting that volunteers from our
church take responsibility for providing good Middle-Eastern snacks for the
children. These will be served at our “Jerusalem
Marketplace.”
Our next meeting is scheduled for July 20th.
On Behalf of
your Vestry,
Fr.
Shafer
CHICKEN BARBECUE
BOOK SALE
FOOD SALE
JULY 5th
11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Meal pick-up
This year’s church fund raiser
is a chicken barbecue. We will also have a book sale and food
sale on that day. Books to donate to the
sale can be brought to the church at any time.
Please no
textbooks
Please, bring your baked
goods to the church on Saturday July 5th between and 9am and 10am.
While this fund raiser will
not be as “labor intensive” as our tag sales, there will be some work to
do. And, it is always fun when we get together !!!! Continue to sell tickets, bake and plan to
join us for the day.
?
Questions
Barbecue……Marigo Brandt 398-7325
Book Sale…...Johanna Shafer: 845-266-4338
Penny Wheeler: 518- 398-6312
Food Sale……Mary Netter : 518-758-1412
Dora Webster:518-398-9453
PINE PLAINS COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
FOOD LOCKER
Please
donate to the Council of Churches Food Locker. The requested item for June is Toothpaste and the item for July is Hand Soap.
Council of
Churches
August 11-15
The Church of the Regeneration is hosting
VBS this year. Our parish will be
responsible for daily snacks for the children. In keeping with this summer’s theme, Middle
Eastern snacks will be served in the Jerusalem Marketplace. Please let Father
Shafer know if you can help with providing snacks. (The VBS committee can offer
suggestions as to what is a Middle Eastern snack. )
Thrift Shop Update
The Thrift Shop Committee thanks everyone
for their generous donations. With matching funds, we have raised about
$40,000, for this project. Donations
received or pledged by June 30, 2008 will be matched.
Carpentry work continues on the old garage
and will probably be completed the week of June 23. The electrician has roughed
in the wiring and will return at the end of the month to complete the
electrical work. We have asked the
carpenter to scrape the outside of the old garage. The thrift shop committee
will host a painting party later in the summer. So dig out your painting clothes and your
favorite paint brush……
Planning is now being focused on the
building which will become the actual shop. We have decided on the size of that
building (24’X24’) and the committee will meet soon to discuss the location of
doors and windows in the building, the location of the building relative to the
old garage, and the way in which the buildings will be connected.
We are also giving much thought to the pad
on which the new building will sit and the cost of that pad. (
This cost was not originally calculated when the preliminary proposal was made. )
We plan to order the “shop” building at
the end of June and have been told that it takes approximately 2 weeks for
delivery.
Warden Tom Daley will be joining Marigo
Brandt, Penny Wheeler, John Phillips and Mary Netter for planning meetings.
Please feel free to contact them with your comments.
Call on God, but row away from the rocks.
Hunter S. Thompson
www.regeneration.dioceseny.org