Updated
Dec. 20, 2007
The
people of St. Anskar's invite you to
join us for Sunday morning worship at 9 a.m.
The
Rev. Jeffrey Lee
elected Bishop
The 170th
Annual Convention of the Diocese of Chicago chose
the Rev. Jeffrey Lee, rector of St. Thomas
Episcopal Church in Medina, Washington, to be the
12th
Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago. On the
first ballot cast on Saturday morning at 10:15
a.m., Lee had a commanding lead with 96 clergy
votes, 33 votes short of the number needed for
election and 146 lay delegate votes, 27 votes
short of the number needed to elect. The next
nearest in votes was the Rev. Petero Sabune of
the Diocese of New York and chaplain at Sing Sing
Prison. The second ballot was cast just
before the break for lunch, and, as the
convention returned for the afternoon session, it
was announced that the Rev. Jeffrey Lee received
the necessary votes and was elected.
Via a live
phone connection from the convention area at the
Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel to Seattle, the
bishop-elect was introduced by Bishop Persell who
said he looked forward to sharing his experiences
of the diocese with Lee and noted the people of
the diocese were looking forward to working with
him in the years ahead. Lee said he was
“honored and humbled and daunted and
delighted by the news.” He also said
he was eager to join the clergy and lay members
in building up the church in northern Illinois
and praised Bishop Persell for being a channel
for “God’s love and work in the
diocese.”
The Standing
Committee and bishop’s office will be
working with Lee and his wife, Lisa, to plan an
initial trip to the diocese at the end of
November. If the necessary consents are
received from the bishops with judication in the
Episcopal Church and the church’s diocesan
standing committees, Bishop-elect Jeffrey Lee
will be consecrated as the 12th
Bishop of Chicago on Saturday Feb. 2, 2008, at
the House of Hope Church in Chicago, which seats
around 9,000 people. Presiding Bishop
Katharine Jefferts Schori will serve as the chief
consecrator. More information about the
consecration service will follow as details
become available.
An
Evening of Lessons and Carols
scheduled at Emmanuel
The Festival
Choir of Emmanuel Episcopal Church will present
an evening of Advent Lessons and Carols at the
church on Sunday
Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m. The program follows
the tradition of the Christmas Eve Service
broadcast annually from King’s College in
Cambridge, England, and will feature readers from
the greater Rockford community. Everyone is
invited, and admission is free. A freewill
offering will be collected to benefit Bread
for the World. There
also will be a reception following the service in
the parish hall.
Services
set
for the Christmas Season
On Advent
IV, December 23 at the 9:30 am Sunday service St.
Anskar’s will again be presenting our own
Advent Lessons and Carols service featuring some
of our musicians and praise team. After the
service helpers are needed to put up the festive
Christmas decorations around the church to get
ready for Christmas Eve services the next day.
For anyone who can spare a little time, many
hands make the work go faster and the help would
be greatly appreciated. On Christmas
Eve, the Family Service starts at 4:00 p.m., and
the late service with the choir starts at 10:30
p.m. There will be no services at St.
Anskar’s or St. Chad’s on Christmas
Day. A service will be held downtown at Emmanuel
Episcopal Church at 10:30 a.m.
Annual
Giving Campaign update
While
Celebration Sunday a few weeks ago marked an
“official” end to our Annual Giving
Campaign, pledge forms are still being gratefully
accepted and may be mailed to the church office
or placed in the offering on Sunday. Our
finance committee chairman, Andy Yowell, reports
that as of Nov. 26, 39 pledges for 2008 have been
received totaling $98,592, which is a good
beginning. Last year, we had close to
$112,000 in pledges. The finance committee
asks that anyone planning to contribute to St.
Anskar’s for the coming year to please turn
in the form (a best estimate of the amount is
perfectly acceptable) as soon as possible so that
the committee can proceed in putting together as
accurate a budget. Pledge forms are
available in the narthex of the church, or one
may request one to be mailed out by contacting
the parish office.
Date
set
for Annual Meeting
The Annual
Meeting for St. Anskar’s is scheduled for
Sunday Jan. 27 after the 9:30 a.m. service.
The meeting will begin that day with a tasty
brunch in the parish hall. Shortly
thereafter, the business part of the meeting will
commence.
In order
that we might put together the Annual Report in a
timely manner, we are asking that those who are
ministry team leaders or committee or project
leaders to submit their report (email preferred)
to the office by Friday, Jan. 4. The report
does not have to be long; a paragraph or two with
the highlights of the year will be acceptable.
This is an
opportunity for leaders to let people know more
about the ministries at St. Anskar’s and
what the church has been doing over the past
year.
It also will
ensure that our Annual Report is much more
complete and reflective of what is happening here
at St. Anskar’s.
Thanks
for the hand!
Many thanks
to the small but diligent group of people who
came on or before St. Anskar’s parish
workday to complete some very necessary tasks to
spruce up the inside of the church.
Also thanks
to Lee Richardson who not only made notes of the
tasks that needed to be done but also put out the
supplies necessary to do the work!
Wanted:
Book Angels
Help a child discover the
world of reading: Be a book angel! Wonderland
Books & Toys and the City of Rockford
Department of Human Services Head Start are
working together to give every child in the
program a book of their own this holiday season.
Follow these simple directions:
·
Go to Wonderland Books & Toys in Edgebrook
Center, 1625 North Alpine Road, between now and
Dec. 20.
·
Choose a book that you think a three-to-five-year
old child would enjoy. We also need Spanish
books.
·
Purchase the book.
·
Let the clerk know that it’s for the Head
Start Book Angel Project.
·
It will be forwarded to a delighted child to read
and enjoy for years to come.
Head Start is a federally
funded preschool program for low-income children.
We serve 591 children in our community. Preparing
children to do well in school means instilling a
love of reading and learning. Often, the children
who we serve have access to a limited number of
books. Help us give a child the gift of a good
book, a gift that may last a lifetime. If you
have questions, please contact Lisa Warren, Child
Development Manager, Head Start, at 967-6967.
Calling all cooks
(& eaters too)
We’re
back … and we want your best & most
loved recipes for a St. Anskar’s cookbook.
We’ve sampled your wares and know this will
be must-have book for church members and food
lovers throughout Rockford.
The
never-say-die Lorraine Lierman is coordinating
this effort, so e-mail your recipes to her at
CanadaUS@aol.com, snail mail her at 2403 Shady
Lane, Rockford, 61107, or drop your recipes for
her by the church office. She also will be
setting up recipe card baskets around the church
for your submissions.
Study groups offer different ways
to learn about the Bible
As many
of you all ready know, St. Anskar’s has four
Bible study groups offering three distinctly
different ways of studying the Bible.
Join
others like you who are on a special journey
– searching for and discovering a special
connection with Jesus.
Choose
from the list below to join the group that fits
your needs.
Women’s
Bible Study
Starting
May 22, the Women’s Tuesday Bible Study
Group will begin a six-week course focusing on
the book, "Jesus Sacred Friend."
The
group will meet for about an hour starting at
9:30 a.m. each week. There will be no homework.
To order your book (about $6), call Joanne Blunt
before May 8.
Contact
Information:
Joanne
Blunt (group leader) 398-4274
Meets
9:30 a.m. Tuesdays at St. Anskar’s
Oral
Tradition Bible Study (Two groups)
Originating
in South America where Bibles and lay readers are
in short supply, this method of study has proven
that the Bible is alive and holds meaning for
each one of us in our daily lives the world over.
A
reading from the Bible is chosen each week
usually corresponding with the upcoming Sunday
lessons. The passage is read three times as it
leads the members to discover how the passage can
be applied to their lives.
Contact
Information:
Kathy
Rybicki (group leader) 877-0426
Meets 10
a.m. Wednesdays at P.A. Peterson Nursing Home
Nancy
Conrads (group leader) 877-4737
Meets
10:00 a.m. at various locations.
Tuesday
Night Bible Study
This
group is studying Genesis – with the help of
a study guide – beginning with the story of
the flood. Each week two chapters are read out
loud by the members. The study guide asks
appropriate, and at times probing, questions that
often lead the members to a deeper understanding
of the passage. The study guide is based on the
New International Version and supplies many
helpful historical facts. Study materials are
provided.
Contact
Information:
Cindy
Marsden (group leader) 218-1874
Meets 7
p.m. Tuesdays in her home.
Automatic transfer can simplify
keeping up with pledge
Tired of
playing catch up with your pledge after going on
vacation or out of town for a long weekend?
It's
quite easy to set up an automatic transfer from
your checking or savings account. All you have to
do is:
Go to
your bank.
Tell
them you want to transfer funds from your account
to that of St. Anskar’s.
Tell
them how much you want to transfer.
Tell
them how often you want to transfer.
The bank
will provide the forms necessary for the transfer
to take place.
The
routing/transit number for the church’s
Alpine Bank account is # 0719 23307.
The
account number at Alpine Bank is # 000-0208000.
Inform
Kelly Richardson and Chuck Reitsch that you will
be paying by automatic transfer. This will help
them balance the checking account and give proper
credit for pledges fulfilled.
Help keep
God's world green
This is
just a friendly reminder to everyone that we are
now a "green" church and that we have
recycling bins in the kitchen. There are four
blue bins labeled, glass, plastic, paper and
metal, not cans. We also have a large box for
recycling of cans for our Girl Scout troop.
Please make every effort to use the recycling
bins so that there is less trash in the garbage
and more things recycled so our world can remain
GREEN. Please also let the other groups that use
our meeting room know that we request that they
recycle as well.
Also, we
request that no one buy plastic plates, glasses,
paper cups or any other disposable items. We
request that the china plates cups/sauces,
glasses and utensils be used instead. If anyone
needs to learn how to use the dishwasher I will
gladly spend the time teaching anyone that wants
to learn.
One last
note, we request that some others who live in the
city and have recycling bins help us take turns
in emptying the recycling bins.
Thanks,
Cate
P.S.
It is
that time of year again when the list for the
Sunday coffee hour will be going up on the
bulletin board. Please sign up for at least one
Sunday. I will make sure that the coffee is made
and that the juices are in pitchers. Any treats
would need to be put on plates and set out.
Thanks, again.
Memorial gifts beautify church,
empower ministries
Many
people name St. Anskar’s Church as the
recipient of gifts in memory of a loved one.
Through the years, many items (such as our
beautiful wall hangings) have been purchased with
these memorial funds.
Here are
the ways some memorial funds have been spent in
the past year:
Celtic
prayer books were purchased with part of the Mark
Estabrook Memorial Fund.
New
tract rack for the parish hall was purchased with
the James and Louise Orbison Memorial Fund.
A new
white funeral pall, brass followers for our
candelabra, and a travel communion set were
purchased from the Dorothy Dorgan Memorial Fund.
The
remainder of the William Staats Memorial Fund was
used to purchase new serving trays and bowls for
the kitchen.
Nancy
and Edward Conrads paid for new rosebushes to be
put in the circle garden, which is in memory of
their parents.
Small
bequests paid for a vacuum for the Altar
Guild’s use and a new coffee pot for the
kitchen.
Our new
Praise hymnbooks were paid for by the Eleanor
Stanlis Memorial Fund and the Suzanne Grahn
Memorial Fund.
The
Grahn fund was also used to purchase music, pay
for an Easter soloist, tune a piano, and buy some
new music stands.
And two
new stained glass windows are being designed for
our sanctuary and will be installed soon. The
windows are a gift from Don Fox.
If you
would like to make a memorial gift to St.
Anskar's contact our parish administrator, Dan
Warren, or one of our wardens, Lisa Warren or
Linda Dendy.
Send Flower Fund gifts
to right place
To
ensure you receive credit for your gifts to the
flower fund, be sure to make them out to St.
Anskar’s Flower Fund and mail them to:
Jennie
Lamp
6047
Carriage Green Way
Rockford,
IL 61108.
If you
have any questions concerning your gifts, please
call Jennie at 398-4704.
Thanks.
In need of prayer?
Let Prayer Circle know
All
names on the St. Anskar's Prayer Circle will
remain on the list for two weeks unless otherwise
requested. If the person is still in need of
prayer, please contact Judy Schultz (chairwoman),
Janet Pavlak, John Pavlak, Chris Eaton, Barbara
Morris, Elsie Estabrook, Julie Morehouse, Kunle
Obadina, Don Marsden, or Becky Bradford.
This
page prepared by St. Anskar's,
Rockford
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