News & Notes 1/19/2012
Dear St. John’s Folks,
Or maybe I should say “Dear St. Mark’s Folks!” Did you see the article in Foster’s on Monday - about the MLK Jr. event at our church on Sunday evening? They identified us first as “St. Thomas’” and then as “St. Mark’s.” I think I prefer the second - after all, I’ve been saying for a long time “it’s all about me,” haven’t I? So it seems I got our congregation to change their name - to name themselves after me - and then to get the Catholic Church to beatify me (since Protestants don’t declare folks “saints”). Not bad for a day’s work!!
We’ve heard from our Office Manager, Sandy, and she’ll be back on the job this coming Monday!! The only limitation the Dr. put on her was not to lift anything over ten pounds. She and I spoke about the possibility that she may not be able to spend the full days at work for awhile, but she’ll be back nonetheless. Praise God!
It seems the office machines knew that she was gone, and they were missing her. We’ve gotten the photocopier back up and running - at least temporarily - but we’ve been told it will simply stop functioning at some point, until we fix the “fuzer web” - whatever that is. We’ve been told to run it until it stops. But the Risograph - the machine on which we run the bulletin and the Bell-Wether — has shut down completely, and the repair folks are taking awhile to get to us. The upshot of that is that we’ll have to run the bulletin on the photocopier (which is a more expensive proposition) and we’ll have to wait until the Risograph is repaired before we can run off the Bell-Wether (7,200 pages). So your February Bell-Wether will arrive a little late.
Our Youth will lead worship this coming Sunday - at both services. Ashlee W. will present the sermon. Last Sunday I mentioned in the sermon how The Church benefits from the contributions of all the generations. This week we’ll experience that in a special way. I hope you’ll make every effort to be in worship.
You folks were quite generous last week by giving $204 to the Human Relations Day offering. Thank you for supporting minority scholarship programs that seek to support those working for justice.
Our first Public Supper will take place in nine days - on Januayr 28th. We’ll have Turkey and all the fixin’s. The sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board in Hartford Hall, and there are still many opportunities to serve and/or provide support. Please check ‘em out soon.
Dover Children’s Home welcomes the second St John’s painting work crew on Tuesday, January 24 from 9 AM to 2:30 PM. Seven of us made good progress this past Tuesday, but much work remains. The next crew is limited to five (5) painters, and there are still two openings. Lunch is provided. Pre-registration is required by calling Patrick M. @ 557.2781.
No one has signed up for Altar Flowers for January 29th. Do you have someone you’d like to honor or remember in worship? Please sign the flower chart, on the first bulletin board on the right side of Hartford Hall.
You might remember that we will be having all new windows installed in the church in the not too distant future. Part of the contract agreement - in order to save $25 on each window - was that we were to provide Portland Glass with 5 cans of food for each window. This food will be given to the NH Food Bank. Several folks have been bringing canned goods in, but we still have quite a ways to go before we reach the 285 cans that we need. Can you bring some this coming Sunday? The collection box is on a table against the right wall of Hartford Hall.
I end with these tidbits of wisdom:
Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.
Received from Andy Chap.
That’s it for today. See you in church. Peace, Mark