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Updated
June, 2010

The
people of St. Anskar's invite you to
join us for Sunday morning worship at 9:30 a.m.
St Anskar's Plant Sale ....... another bloomin' success
It takes a number of people to make our plant sale run so
smoothly.
Thanks to Dan
Warren for compiling a great spreadsheet and to Julie Tolboldt
for spending time checking names, numbers and totals.
Thanks to Bob and
Jennie Lamp, Nancy Conrads, Janet Pavlak, Dan Warren, Julie
Tolboldt and Dennis Blunt for their help Friday unloading the
flowers and dividing them by order form.
Thanks to Linda
McIntyre, Nancy Conrads, and Kathy Rybicki helping on Saturday
to distribute the flowers.
And, most of all,
thanks to all who ordered flowers and encouraged friends and
neighbors to order. Our final proceeds for the sale was
$1212.75, which was divided and sent to Shelter Care, MELD, Rock
River Pantry and our soup kitchen.
-- Joanne Blunt,
chairman
CAT
Survey
scheduled in September
The CAT Survey (Congregational Assessment Tool) was
introduced at the Annual Meeting in February as something we
would like to do this year to assess where we are in the life of
the parish and to help us to shape our future.
It goes without saying that the more people who take the
time to complete the survey, the better the results and the more
helpful the information we get back will be.
We are making preparations to take the survey in
September. The
survey will be set up to be taken online; however, a paper copy
will be available for those who do not have access to a
computer. It should
take about 20 minutes to complete the totally confidential
survey. Specifics
of the survey will follow as we approach the end of the summer.
Help review our worship service
Something that
we’ve wanted to do for a while now is to discuss all the
activities that come together around worship at St. Anskar.
We will be doing
that over the
summer on
three Sundays after the worship service using the Mutual
Ministry Review process.
Three dates have been set up: June 13, July TBA, and Aug.
8. Since we have
our outdoor worship service with potluck to follow on Sunday
July 11 we will have to adjust the July date.
It is not
necessary to attend all the sessions, but we would like everyone
who is interested in worship at St. Anskar to participate and
share his or her views.
Tri-Parish Task Force formed
The first meeting
of Gloria Dei ELCA Church, Spring Creek UCC, and St. Anskar
Church held on May 2 was well received and well attended
The three
congregations were all formed at about fifty years ago and have
many things in common.
We spent some time telling our stories and getting better
acquainted with one another.
Representatives of the three congregations agreed at the
meeting to form a task force to meet regularly to discuss more
ways the churches might work together.
The task force will consist of three lay members from
each congregation as well as their pastors.
The task force will meet on Saturday June 12 from 10 am
till noon at Gloria Dei Church.
If anyone has an interest in being a regular member of
the task force, please talk to Pastor Andrea.
Youth ministry
conference planned for late August
The “Whose Church is it Anyway?”
conference will be held Aug. 27 and 28 at the
University of St. Mary
of the Lake in Mundelein, Il.
The two-day learning experience is offered in collaboration with
the Office of Youth, Campus & Young Adult Ministry. What
began as an event for youth ministers in our diocese has become
a gathering of those who work with children, youth and adults
not only in our own diocese but in the other dioceses of
Province V.
Themes for the plenary sessions vary. Learning experiences
are interactive and include workshops, hands-on use of
resources, experiencing a portion of a specific curriculum or
program, brainstorming sessions for exploring questions and
exchanging ideas and experiences.
Coffee hour hostesses to take summer
break
The ladies who have hosted the coffee
hour through the past nine months are taking a well-deserved
break for the summer.
The last scheduled coffee hour will be May 30.
Through the summer, there will be refreshments on a
volunteer basis only.
THANK YOU to Julie Toboldt, Jean Nelson, Carole Newcomer, Linda
Dendy, Enrica Reitsch, Cindy Marsden, Judy Letourneau, Judy
Schultz, Barb Morris Elaine Schilling, Janet Pavlak, Lorraine
Lierman, and Shirley Cherry, Jennie Lamp, You did a superb job!
Daughters of the King
celebrate 125th anniversary
In
celebration of DOK's 125th anniversary, the council is giving
all new members admitted after May 1st, a dues-free year
(September 2010 -
August 2011).
If you have been thinking about joining DOK, now is definitely
the time. DOK is open to all St. Anskar women.
Please contact Kathy Rybicki at 815-877-0426 for more
information.
Attention all current members! Annual dues of $ 35 are due by
July 15th.
Anointing and
prayer offered on Sunday
Anointing with oil has been used for thousands of years
with events including sacred consecrations, healing, blessings,
prayers and hospitality (Psalm 23:5 & Luke 7:46).
Perhaps, we are most familiar with anointing with holy
baptism, confirmation and holy orders. Chrism oil consists
of a base of aromatic oil and can only be consecrated by a
bishop.
On March 27, at St. James Cathedral, Pastor Andrea and I
attended the Chrism Mass officiated by Bishop Jeffrey D. Lee; we
brought back some newly blessed oil for the parish.
At our Sunday Service during communion and at the baptismal
font, I will offer anointing using these words from the Book of
Common Prayer, (I will first say your name) "I anoint you
with oil in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen"
I will also make the sign of the cross on your forehead.
In addition, a member of our Healing Team will also be at the
font for prayer requests. All, of any age, are invited to
come and receive anointing and prayer offered in the fullness of
God's love.
Deacon Nancy
Thank you for another great Attic
Treasures Sale
The vestry of the church would like to give a big round of
applause to the Attic Treasures Committee for their year round
commitment to making a huge profit for the church.
Members of the committee are Fred and Elaine Schilling, Ed and
Thirza Maitzen, Judy Schultz, Don and Cindy Marsden, Enrica
Reitsch, Linda Dendy, and Barb Morris.
Thank you,
thank you,
thank you
for a job well done.
And we also thank all the members of the congregation that
helped through the year and especially at the weeklong sale.
Although everyone worked hard, they also seemed to be having a
good time (and the food that came in was fabulous!).
Vestry members
accept ministry oversight
T
The following is a listing of which vestry
member is in charge of various ministries in the church for the
next year. Groups
are asked to contact the appropriate vestry person if they have
a problem of some kind.
Oversight by the vestry person would mean to make sure people are lined up
who will take the lead for what ever the event/ministry.
This may include making some calls and/or talking to people about what is
needed and keeping the r rector, senior warden, and vestry
informed of any issues/problems.
Linda McIntyre, Elsie
Estabrook
Hospitality: What
would fall under this area of oversight are any events that
require organizing food/drink.
·
Coffee Hour
·
Special Sundays: Annual Meeting, Celebration Sunday, Bishop’s Visit, Other
special events for example farewell reception for Shirley, also
Maundy Thursday Agape Meal
·
Social Events/Activities
·
Receptions:
Weddings, Funerals, Anniversaries
Nancy Conrads
Christian Education: What falls under this area of oversight is
any education program of the church.
·
Sunday School for children and youth
·
Adult Forum
·
Nursery Care for babies, toddlers
·
Youth Group
Paul Toboldt
Building and Grounds:
What falls under this area of oversight is anything that
has to do with our facilities upkeep and maintenance.
·
Building maintenance
·
Workdays
·
Mowing schedule
·
Snow Plowing/shoveling schedule
·
Church cleaning
·
Equipment purchases
Don Marsden
Mission Outreach:
What falls under this area of oversight is any outreach or
mission program or activity that the church is already involved
in or would like to get involved.
·
Soup Kitchen
·
MELD collection at Epiphany
·
School Supplies collection for needy children
in Aug-Sept.
·
Love, Inc. Baskets of Hope for Thanksgiving,
Christmas
·
Mitten Tree (also gloves, scarves, socks)
during Advent
Jennie Lamp
Communications:
What falls under this area of oversight is any information
and/or correspondence that needs to go out to our members or
community.
·
Publicity-articles, press releases for events,
services
·
Member Calling Tree
·
St. Anskar Prayer Circle
·
Thank you notes
·
Communicator articles
Dave Smith
Worship: What falls under this area of oversight is anything
that relates to our liturgy and worship.
·
Worship Committee
·
Praise Team/Choir
·
Healing Team and Service
·
Special services: for example animal blessing
·
Lectors, lay eucharistic ministers, home
communion ministers, acolytes
Paul Toboldt, Tom Severson
Evangelism/Stewardship:
What falls under this area of oversight is anything that
relates to welcome/incorporation of potential new members and
stewardship activities
Newcomer Ministry
Greeters/Ushers Ministry
Small Group Ministries:
Home-based Bible Study groups
Annual Giving Campaign
Paul Tolboldt
Sr. Warden
·
Meets regularly with Rector and Jr. Warden
·
Consults with Rector and Jr. Warden about
issues/concerns of congregation
·
Annual Giving Campaign member
New Group to meet
in
Parish Hall
BAP_S, a branch of the Hindu religion is meeting at St. Anskar
once a month usually on the second Wednesday of the month
(unless it poses a conflict with our scheduled events).
A representative of the local group approached the church
to ask if St. Anskar’s would be willing to rent out the parish
hall for their gatherings, and we were able to come to an
agreement. The group needed a place for the local community (of
about fifty people) to gather for fellowship and religious
ceremonies. Their
main temple is located in Bartlett, a suburb of Chicago. Please
be mindful of their presence if you happen to come by on a
Wednesday when they are meeting.
Parish history project
At a conference that Deacon Nancy and Pastor Andrea attended in
March, noted author and American church historian Diana Butler
Bass urged us all to begin recording and collecting the stories
of our parish life that makes up the history of our
congregations. Many
people now and from years past have stories and personal
experiences about our church that are not always widely known
and will be lost if not intentionally recorded, and the sooner
the better.
This is great advice (if we don’t tell our own history from our
own perspective and experiences someone else will!),
so I am proposing that we intentionally do this.
So far there are two people who have expressed interest
in looking at ways to make this happen (Sue Morris and Dave
Smith-who has the equipment to record people’s stories).
If anyone else is interested, please l et Pastor Andrea know.
I would like to set a time to meet (hopefully in June)
and discuss what steps we need to take.
Episcopal Diocese of Haiti continues work
The Diocese of Haiti will continue to care for all Haitians
through its schools, clinics and churches. The future of
the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti may well look very much like its
past in one very important aspect -- its service to the people
of that impoverished nation.
"We have been here before, we are here now and we will be there
after," said the Rev. Canon Oge Beauvoir, a Haitian native and
one of four Episcopal Church missionaries assigned to work with
the diocese in the impoverished country, who spoke to ENS Jan.
27 via telephone from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
The
Episcopal Church of Haiti, known locally as L'Eglise Episcopale
d'Haiti, will mark its 150th anniversary in 2011. Haitian
Episcopalians have preached and practiced a "gospel of
wholeness" since its founding in 1861, according to Bishop Jean
Zach Duracin.
A
second missionary, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, echoed Beauvoir's
promise. "For 149 years the diocese has taken the lead in
caring for the people of Haiti through our schools, through our
medical clinics, our feeding programs, our water programs,
through our churches, through the music program, through taking
care of abandoned handicapped children."
Stanley said that the diocese is committed to all of the people
of Haiti, "not just Episcopalians in our pews," adding that it
will rebuild its schools, hospitals and churches and "will
continue to care for the people that nobody else cares about
because that's what we have always done.”
On
Sundays January 17 and January 24, we collected donations at St.
Anskar’s to be sent to Episcopal Relief and Development for the
Haiti Relief Fund. More than $300 was collected, which
includes the loose offering on Jan. 24.
With some additions from the
Rector’s Discretionary Fund,
$850 was
sent in to ERD for Haiti.
Ministry opportunities
abound for parishioners of all ages
With our young people graduating and going
off to college, we are in need of some people who might be
interested in serving as acolytes.
Older children as well as adults are
invited to consider this opportunity to serve.
No prior experience necessary --
just an interest.
We will be happy to provide the
training.
Please contact Pastor Andrea for more information or if
interested in this ministry.
Do you like to read aloud?
Do you like visiting with people?
As well as putting out a call for
acolytes, we are also looking for people to serve as greeters,
lectors and home cmmunion ministers.
Presently we are visiting four
different facilities to take communion to shut-ins on the third
Sunday of the month.
To get an idea of what being a home
communion minister entails, volunteer to go along with any of
the persons taking communion to our shut-ins.
We will provide the necessary
training and mentoring to anyone who might be interested in
helping out in any of these ministries.
Contact Pastor Andrea or Deacon
Nancy with questions.
Church
members
invited to post video testimonies
A
communications initiative to tell the Episcopal Church's story was launched on
Ash Wednesday at www.episcopalchurch.org where visitors will find a new
interactive feature called "I Am Episcopalian."
The
so-called "microsite" contains short videos of people "sharing
their deep, personal connections to the big, wide, vibrant church that we
are," said Anne Rudig, who joined the Episcopal Church Center in New York
as communications director on January 5.
Users
will be allowed to upload their own videos, which should be no longer than 90
seconds. Communication staff will monitor the clips before posting on the
"I am Episcopalian" webpage, which will be active throughout Lent.
Visitors
to Episcopalchurch.org
will be greeted with the I am Episcopalian page which includes a short
description, a banner display of photo links to contributors' videos, and two navigation
links, one to upload videos and the other to continue to the
episcopalchurch.org home page. The microsite can be reached at http://www.iamepiscopalian.org/.
Campbell's offers labels for education program
Campbell's Labels For Education is a program that helps schools
obtain free educational
merchandise such as computers, software, physical
education equipment, musical instruments, library books or even
a minivan. Either cut out the small label or send along the
complete label and we can have someone cut it out later.
Other products that do have this label on them include
Swanson's, Pepperidge Farm, Prego, V-8 beverages, and Pace
sauces. Please save your labels for our schools; a collection
box can be found in parish hall.
Check out St. Anskar's
new and improved library
St. Anskar's Library has been cleaned out, sorted and organized
by Judy Schultz. Books are now shelved by category/subject.
There is not a check-out system, just return them when you are
finished. Please stop by the Hearth Room and see what we have.
If you have religious books, study guides, etc., that you no
longer need, we could use them. Please leave those books in
the box on the top shelf. and we will file them away later.
Maybe you will find some great reading for these cold winter
nights!
Save your box tops for education
Ahhh------"If only the schools had all the money
they needed and the Air Force had to have bake sales to purchase
their bombers....." as the saying goes! But we do have a couple
ways we can help our schools in our own personal way.
One way is to save Box Tops For Education labels. Box Tops
celebrated the $250 million mark in 2008 and it has been around
for 12 years. More companies join in this wonderful cause each
year.
It started out with only General Mills products and now you can
find this label on other products such as: Betty Crocker,
Nestle, Frozen Green Giant Vegetables, Juicy Juice, Yoplait
yogurt, snack items, Kleenex, Huggies, personal care products,
Ziploc, Cottenelle, Scott and Hefty products.
Every Box Top coupon is worth a dime. Schools can redeem these
"little" coupons twice a year and individual schools could earn
up to $60,000 if enough coupons were turned in.
Wow! The money can be used for anything the school needs.
However, these coupons DO EXPIRE! so only save those from 2009
on. A collection jar has been placed in parish hall.
Help keep God’s world green: Recycle those
cell phones
Did you know that more than 130 million cell phones and PDAs will
be retired this year in the U.S. but fewer than 10 percent of
them are likely to be recycled.
Donate your old cell phones to help women build job skills and
climb out of poverty.
The old cell phones can be refurbished and reporgramed as 911
phones for use by survivors of domestic violence, the elderly
and others at risk. Materials from broken and obsolete phones
and accessories can be reclaimed and used to manufacture other
goods.
St. Anskar’s has two collection boxes for phones
and PDAs. One is upstairs in the parish hall, and the other is
downstairs. Won’t
you please donate you old phones to this good cause. Thanks.
Study groups offer different ways
to learn about the Bible
As many
of you all ready know, St. Anskars several
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.
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:
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. Anskars.
- 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 churchs
Alpine Bank account is # 0719 23307.
- The
account number at Alpine Bank is # 000-0208000.
Inform
Gail Shaner 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.
Memorial gifts beautify church,
empower ministries
Many
people name St. Anskars 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
Guilds 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 our warden, Paul Toboldt.
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.
Anskars 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, Don Marsden, or Becky Bradford.
This
page prepared by
St. Anskar's,
Rockford
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