Fall Back on All Saints' Sunday, Joining our Neighbors at Temple Beth Tikvah, Thanks for Consecration Sunday!

3 November 2018
Dear Hearts,

Oh Joy!  Oh Rapture! Among life's many pleasures, setting one's clocks back to gain an additional hour of sleep, has got to among those at the top of the list!  Yes, before you go to bed today, please remember to cause your clocks to "Fall Back"!  Yes, Eastern Standard Time adds an hour of daylight to the morning, but it takes it away from the evening.   I'm going to miss it!

As it happens, this change in how we keep track of the hours of daylight and darkness, coincides with our celebration of the Saints in Light:  That fellowship of the Saints who rejoice with us in a brighter light, and on a different shore.  The Feast of All Saints is one of the great celebrations in the Church's calendar, reflecting our baptismal faith in "the communion of the saints"-- our abiding fellowship with those we love but see no longer.

So, I hope you will join our celebration of All the Saints, as we give thanks for the light they have brought, and continue to bring, to our lives.  Our annual "Recollection of the Faithful Departed"  will be this Wednesday, November 7, at 6p.m. This is a time for story-telling, prayer, silence and remembering those who have died -- especially those who died within the past year.  We'll gather under our stained-glass images of Jesus, and Saints Paul and Peter.

On Tuesday, October 30, we gathered with our neighbors of the wider faith community -- and with those of no faith -- at Temple Beth Tikvah in response to last Saturday's horrific shootings in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue.  I was grateful to see so many of you there.  Rabbi Offner began the service by teaching us to take time to mourn -- to name who we have lost and to sit with our sorrow.  Then we could move on to protest, to feel the strength of shared community, and to pray for the repairing of the world -- tikkun olam.in Hebrew.

Rabbi Offner's lovely invitation, also included an intention to "celebrate our common values as Americans."  Somehow I got a nudge to say something about our fundamental American value of religious liberty and mutual respect.  Remember the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden?  Someone had entered a latter-day garden, and sought to cut down that tree.  I remembered a powerful visit to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI, and one of George Washington's favorite lines from Holy Scripture, “Everyone shall situnder their own vine and fig tree; And no one shall make them afraid.” The result was a statement which you'll be able to find on the Ushers' Table and here..

Thanks to so many of you for participating in Consecration Sunday, on October 28!  We enjoyed terrific participation in worship, and had best-ever participation in the Celebration Lunch.  The initial returns of the Estimate-of-Giving cards were very promising.  Letters with cards went out this week to those who couldn’t join us.  And there were likely some who weren’t prepared to offer an estimate last week.  Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Consecration Sunday requires behind-the-scenes efforts of many in addition to those from whom we hear.  So, special thanks to Chief Organizer Rose Robinson, to mailings organizer Carol Iovanna and her helpers, and to luncheon chair Diana Stovall and her helpers Kay Claiborn and Elena Phillips – who set-up the Parish Hall so beautifully. Thanks also to speakers Susan Leonard, Peter Marks and Chris Robinson.  Our Guest Leader, the Rev. Scott Lee, sends his greetings from Sewanee -- along with his gratitude and encouragement as we complete this year’s program.

Was great fun to see many of you at the Rectory front door for last Sunday's "Spooktacular Trunk-or-Treat," event.  Sunday School Director Laurie Varley, and helpers, had prepared small snack bags of candy and an invitation to our Sunday School program.  The demand was fierce and every last one was taken.  Thanks to the ECW for their help with the candy for those bags.  I re-stocked for Halloween itself, was grateful for the help of Rebecca Evansand Keelyn Ervin; and ran out before dark!  .

Don't forget to "Fall Back" this evening!  I look forward to celebrating All Saints' Sunday with you!
In faith, hope and love,
Harrison+
YFNR