St. Timothy’s Episcopal ChurchPO Box 7416 • Salem, OR 97303

503-363-0601 • mail@sainttimothys.org • www.sainttimothys.org

Tidings

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MARCH 2018

From the Rector

True Freedom in an Era of Enslavement

To be truly free we must give up our freedom. To be free from sin and free for others we cannot follow every unexamined inclination that presents itself to our awareness. From The Road to Eternal Life, by Michael Casey

The month of March this year ends with Holy Week, giving us one solid month of Lenten focus. I’m taking the opportunity to write more about Lent than I usually do, having writ-ten an article about it last month for the Tidings.

What concerns me here is the problem of freedom. The USA likes to think of itself as a free country, or even the “leader of the free world.” In part, this is true; but there is much that is deceptive in this description.

First of all, there is a resurgence of human trafficking today, especially in domestic and sex trades. Human enslavement continues, even if it often takes a more invisible form now. We must never forget this, or say that slavery is a thing of the past. I encourage everyone to learn more about this and contribute to any bona fide ministry confronting this modern horror.

Beyond that, there is another kind of slavery operating now—a moral and ideological slavery. I see this slavery at work when a person’s party affiliation, race, sexuality, etc. is treated as the only thing we need to know about him or her, giving what amounts to

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blind loyalty to idols of our own making. I see this slavery alive and well when our nation is paralyzed in the face of great wrongs such as the contagion of mass shootings or the ongoing chaos of a cruel and broken immigration system, because settling scores and “winning” is more important than solving the crisis.

This slavery exists, sadly, within the Church as well. Christians of all stripes can be found today identifying first with these lesser “identities,” and, like Judas’ Thirty Pieces, selling Jesus out for a handy label, victory in a vote, self-righteous smugness, or quick approval by their peers. It is not as terrible as actual slavery or trafficking, but it is corrosive to our faith and our society. It sullies the Church and renders it irrelevant to its true mission.

At the Easter Vigil this year we will celebrate Holy Baptism; part of that baptism will be the renunciation of the “Devil, his works and pomps” and the affirmation of Christ as Lord and Savior. This part of the liturgy is derived from the ancient Roman practice of trans-ferring ownership of a slave from one master to another. Yes: Our baptism is, in part, a transfer from being a slave to this world and its evil priorities to being Christ’s slave.

Christ, however, sets all his slaves free by giving them Eternal Life with him. This makes his teaching that we may not have two masters even more pungent: we have no right to turn back to our former master—in whatever guise he takes—now that our Lord is Christ Jesus, the Son of God. The paradox is that the World promises freedom by gratifying our desires and prejudices, but delivers only enslavement through them. Our slavery to Christ gives us authentic freedom.

Every era presents a challenge to Christian Freedom. Martyrs are Christians who refuse a return to Satan’s slavery—even if it means their life. They humbly tell the truth when lies are fashion- able. They remember their baptism at whatever cost. We remem- ber many of the martyrs at the Easter Vigil in the Litany of the Saints because their blood is a living testimony of what is at issue when we say that Jesus is our Lord.

A hurried, technological age is making it more difficult to see beyond the rush of events to the fundamental issues of allegiance and loyalty. Our current political and social envi-ronment wants us to place our trust in various labels, let someone else do our thinking, and live in anger and fear—then buy more stuff and yell at our televisions or computers: rinse and repeat.

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Lent frees us from this hopeless cycle. By realizing how enslaved we are to passions, preconceptions, comfort, habit, or fears, we see anew our true loyalty to Christ that tran-scends everything else. If we have courage and humility to do so, we can come to Holy Week and Easter ready to reclaim our freedom.

St. Paul reminded early Christians they “were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.” (1 Cor. 7:23). That message is completely on-target today. Whoever we are—from the proverbial “person in the pew” to the Archbishop of Canterbury, we have but one Lord and Master, and that is Jesus Christ. There may be groups or denominations or teachers out there who will say otherwise, but there is no support for such divided loyalty anywhere in the New Testament. Any part of the Church refusing to give Christ such out-right loyalty not only will wither and die, but should do so, as a diseased excrescence.

If we want to be free from sin and free for others, we cannot lead unexamined lives…either of the passively avoidant or the actively angry variety. Our Lenten repentance is of the essence for effective witness to the Gospel in our families, work, nation, and world. If we want freedom to ring anew in our land, we must ourselves be free. Embrace that freedom anew this Lent and Easter, so that you may help others loose their binding shackles.

Faithfully in Christ,

The Kalendar in MarchSunday Eucharist Readings: Year B; Daily Office Readings: Year 2

Lenten Observance Monday-Saturday

Note: The Holy Eucharist is offered each Tuesday at 10 AM in the chapel, followed by tea and conversation in the parish library. Most weeks, we commemorate one of the saints on the Church Calendar. All are invited!

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Fridays in Lent: Stations of the Cross & Benediction, 7 PM

St. Timothy’s offers this distinctive and profound form of Lenten worship each year. First, a brief talk on a Lenten theme is given (this year we are looking at the 7 Capital Sins and their “anti-dotes” as they apply to our own day), followed by the Stations of the Cross—a highly participatory journey around the nave, stopping for prayer and recollection at the 14 “stations” in Christ’s journey to the Cross and Tomb, singing the medieval hymn “Stabat Mater” as we go. This is followed by the brief but moving service of Benediction, when we are blessed by Christ in the Holy Sacrament and offer praises to the Lord who has promised never to abandon us. Come and see!

Sunday, March 4: The Third Sunday in LentExodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22As with all Sundays, this is a Feast of the Resurrection; thus, Sundays are “in” Lent, not “of” them. Our Lenten observance is relaxed, but the tonality of Lent remains, both in our liturgical worship and in our way of life. This keeps the underlying unity of the season and allows for more consistent growth.

Sunday, March 11: The Fourth Sunday in Lent (“Mid-Lent Sunday”)Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21This Sunday marks a change in the Lenten journey. The first half of the season focuses greatly on our need for repentance; the second half on what God does so that we may return to him. The Gospel lessons are from John, and enter deeply into the mystery of Christ’s love for us. Roses on the altar this Sunday remind us of the joy that awaits true repentance.

Saturday, March 17: Pre-Easter Confessions in the Chapel, Noon-2 PM

The Anglican standard for Confession is “none must; all may; some should.” What this means is that what the Prayer Book calls “The Reconciliation of a Penitent” is not a legalistic requirement, but an offering for the full healing and spiritual growth of the members of Christ’s Church. Those who feel called to a more intentional form of prayer, those wrestling with a particularly difficult issue, those who simply cannot let go of an event in their life or who cannot embrace Christ’s forgiveness are all welcome to partake of this beautiful, powerful, and simple experience of grace.

Sunday, March 18: The Fifth Sunday in LentJeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33This Sunday we begin once more with the Penitential Order, a form of prayers emphasiz-ing our contrition and God’s loving mercy to us, culminating in the Asperges or sprinkling

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with Holy Water. This action recalls our baptism, wherein we were washed clean with the blood of Christ, bringing to fulfillment the various sprinkling to wash away sin found in the Old Testament. This is the final “purple Sunday” of Lent.

Sunday, March 25: The Sunday of the Passion—Palm SundayIsaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 15:1-47Palm Sunday commences Holy Week. We begin by gathering in the Parish Hall for the Liturgy of the Palms, where the Gospel of Christ’s Triumphal Entry is chanted, the palms are blessed, and the choir leads us in a procession to the doors of the nave, where we enter singing one of the most joyous hymns of the Church Year, “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.” The tone changes and soon we all participate in the dra-matic reading of the Passion Gospel (this year, from St. Mark). With this, we now have entered our annual deep contemplation of the Paschal Mystery.

Monday, March 26: Monday in Holy WeekPsalm 69:1-23; Lamentations 1:1-2, 6-12; 2 Corinthians 1:1-7Tuesday, March 27: Tuesday in Holy WeekPsalm 94; Lamentations 1:17-22; 2 Cor. 1:8-2A simple service of Evening Prayer in the Chapel will be offered in the chapel Monday and Tuesday at 7 PM. These services allow us to explore Christ’s own preparation for his self-offering on the Cross later in the week. A reading from the Early Church follows the second lesson at both services.

Wednesday, March 28: Wednesday in Holy Week—Tenebrae, 7 PM

The service of Tenebrae means shadows or darkness in Latin. This unique service is based around the slow, rhythmic extinguishing of candles on the altar, representing the disciples and their abandonment of Jesus. Along the way, passages from Jeremiah’s Lamentations are sung, lessons from the Book of Hebrews and St. Augustine’s commen-taries on the Psalms are read, and—eventually—we are left in near-darkness, contem-plating a single candle, standing for Christ, that is hidden behind the altar while we say together the Psalm that accompanied the beginning of our Lenten journey…Psalm 51. The Christ candle is hidden, and a surprise is experienced (you must be there to under-stand). Tenebrae is not essential, but it is a powerful, meditative, and experiential way to enter into the mystery of Holy Week—and St. Timothy’s is one of the only places in Oregon to offer it.

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Thursday, March 29: Maundy Thursday—The Triduum Begins- Maundy Thursday Liturgy, 7 PM

- All-Night Prayer Watch following in the ChapelExodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1, 10-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35The Great Three Days is one drama spread over three calendar days. It begins with the Maundy (Commandment) service, where we honor the two commandments Christ gave us this night: to love each other as he loves us (expressed in the Foot washing rite), and to “do this in remembrance of me” (the Holy Communion). Following Communion, the Reserved Sacrament for Good Friday Communions is taken to the chapel and the altar is stripped, recalling Christ’s arrest and humiliation. The congregation departs in silence (there is no dismissal; we simply go into a kind of intermission), and the All-Night Prayer Watch in the chapel starts. Parishioners sign up to take an hour in pairs for this watch, in the presence of the Holy Sacrament, allowing us to answer affirmatively Christ’s ques-tion to his disciples that night: “Could you not watch with me one hour?”

Friday, March 30: Good Friday- Stations of the Cross, Noon- Good Friday Liturgy, 7 PM

Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42We now come to one of the supremely powerful moments in the Church Year: a long silence, on our knees, and then the readings about the confrontation on the cross. The uniquely pointed and intense account John gives of Christ’s crucifixion follows. The priest-ly people of God then offer prayers for the world to our Great High Priest, who reigns from the tree. The cross itself is brought into our midst: not the cross of glory, but a cross of suffering and pain. There we all are invited to come in humble adoration, laying down at the foot of the cross what our Lenten journey has shown us must be left behind. Finally, we receive Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament as assurance that Christ never abandons us, even in death, and that this is truly a ‘Good’ Friday, where Life and not Death has the final word. Once more, we depart in reverent silence.

Saturday, March 31: Holy Saturday- Holy Saturday “Little Tomb” Liturgy, 10 AM

- The Great Vigil of Easter, 9 PM; The Agape Feast, followingThe morning service is a short, spare gathering at the now-denuded altar where we hear of Christ’s hasty burial and contemplate his lying

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in the tomb, even as God the Son has descended to Hades, there to liberate those long held by the Evil One. A glorious sermon from the very early Christian period is read and prayers for those who have died are offered.

The Easter Vigil is the heart of our life as a parish and as a people. It is our main Easter service. It must be experienced, not explained, but it consists of the lighting, blessing, and sharing of the New Fire, the great song before the Paschal Candle (The “Exsultet”), the readings of the Old Testament prophesies, Holy Baptism, the Proclamation of the Resurrection, the great Easter Homily of St. John Chrysostom, and the First Eucharist of Easter. There is more joy and glory in this liturgy than all other moments all year. The Vigil is then followed by a grand feast in the Parish Hall, running to the wee hours, concluding with dancing. Come and see!

Sunday, April 1: Easter Day—Holy Eucharist, 11 AM

Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18 The Easter Day Eucharist at St. Timothy’s is rather simpler than the Vigil, being a said Eucharist with hymns. However, it is a joyous celebration and in- cludes the beautiful, ever-new account of Mary Mag- dalene meeting the Risen Christ in the garden.

Looking ahead…• Women’s Retreat, April 13-15• Rogation Sunday, May 6• Ascension Day, May 10• Pentecost Sunday (with the Gospel, John 16:12-15, read in many languages), May 20• Trinity Sunday, May 27

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EasterSeason

MARCHDavid of 1Wales

Chad of 2Litchfield

John & 3Charles Wesley

Lent III 5 6 Perpetua & 7Companions

8 Gregory of 9Nyssa

10

Lent IV 11 Gregory 12the Great

13 14 15 16 Patrick of 17Ireland

Lent V 18 St. Joseph 19 Cuthbert 20of Lindisfarne

Thomas 21Ken

James 22DeKoven

Gregory 23the Illumina-tor

Passion/ 25Palm Sunday

Mon. in 26Holy Week

Tue. in 27Holy Week

Wed. in 28Holy Week

Maundy 29Thursday

Good 30Friday

Holy Sat./ 31Easter Eve

10 am HE

10 am HE

10 am HE

10 am HE

• Every day in Lent (Sundays excepted) is a day of special devotion.

8 am HE 9 am CS 10 am HE Choir

Catech. 7

Catech. 7

Catech. 7

8 am HE 9 am CS 10 am HE Choir

8 am HE 9 am CS 10 am HE Choir

8 am HE 9 am Choir 10 am HE

24

4 Yolanda Cervantes

12 John Dashney 14 Andreas von Foerster Johanna Dakopolos

22 Dale Cannon

30 John Hanson

31 Janine Stephens

March Birthdays18 Irene Rector

21 Isabela Gaupo

Vestry 6:30

Crafts 10

Crafts 10

Crafts 10

Crafts 10

Diocesan Meeting 10 - 3 Parish Hall

Missions Faire

NewcomersComm Meeting 4 pm

Missions 7

Funeral 2

Confessions 12-2

Evening Prayer 7 pm

Evening Prayer 7 pm

Choir 7

Tenebrae 7

Choir 6Liturgy 7Watch follows

Choir 6Liturgy 7

WatchcontinuesStations, Noon

Tomb Lit 10Choir 7:30Vigil 9Agape Feast following

Guild of Sts. Anna & Simeon, 4:30 pm

Tidings Deadline

Calendar Notes for MarchFriday, March 2: Funeral for Bruce Morace

Wednesday, March 7: Missions Commission Meeting, 7 PM

Thursday, March 8: Diocesan meeting, 10 - 3, in the parish hall

Sunday, March 11: Mid-Lent Sunday Missions Faire, after each service

Tuesday, March 13: Newcomers Commission Meeting, 4 PM

Saturday, March 17: Confessions, 12 - 2 PM

Tuesday, March 20: Vestry Meeting, 6:30 PM

Thursday, March 22: Guild of Sts Anna and Simeon, 4:30 PM

Sunday, March 25: Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday Blessing of Palms and Holy Eucharist, 8 AM Church School, 9 AM Choir Rehearsal, 9 AM Palm Procession and Holy Eucharist, 10 AM

Monday, March 26: Evening Prayer, 7 PM

Tuesday, March 27: Morning Prayer, 10 AM Evening Prayer, 7 PM Choir Rehearsal, 7 PM

Wednesday, March 28: Crafts, 10 AM Tenebrae, 7 PM

Thursday, March 29: Choir Rehearsal, 6 PM Maundy Thursday Liturgy, 7 PM (Child care) Watch at Altar of Repose following

Friday, March 30: Watch at Altar of Repose continues to noon Stations of the Cross, Noon Choir Rehearsal, 6 PM Good Friday Liturgy, 7 PM (Child care)

Saturday, March 31: Tomb Liturgy, 10 AM Altar Guild Work Party, 10:30 AM Choir Rehearsal, 7:30 PM The Great Vigil of Easter, 9 PM (Child care) Agape Feast following

Sunday, April 1: Easter Day Holy Eucharist, 11 AM (Please note time)

Missions Faire

March 11

“Day by Day We Magnify Thee”A series of resources for living out the Classical Anglican practice of faith.

“But that’s not how I grew up celebrating Easter?!”

For many people, Easter is strongly associated with family traditions of special clothing, egg-hunts, and a formal meal. These traditions, often set in childhood, can make a last-ing impression, full of sentimental attachments and memories. There is nothing wrong with this.

St. Timothy’s lives out the Ancient and Undivided Church’s commitment to the centrality of Holy Week and Easter as found in the Book of Common Prayer. In it, we experience the power of liturgy to put us in direct encounter with the realities we celebrate. It is a real commitment and can conflict with some of our family and personal practices around the season.

When we come to this holy season, a struggle can develop. Which is more important: family custom and memories of years past, or the worship offered by the Church? While it might be a bit embarrassing to put it this way, that conflict doesoften develop, especially in a parish which so thoroughly embraces liturgical observance as its mission and gift.

I would like to suggest that we do not have to choose one or the other, so much as we must determine our priorities and then be intentional based on them. Anyone serious about living the Gospel today knows that the culture is increasingly dismissive of religious practice: many employers, for instance, are refusing to let workers off to attend funerals of anyone other than their closest relatives, for instance. Good Friday used to be tacitly observed by many stores and offices many years ago. Today, commerce and activity roll on 24/7. In a way uncomfortably similar to 1930s Germany, Sunday morning sports present a direct challenge to faithful Christian commitment.

This means that Christians must be more conscious and intentional now than in the recent past. When we hear that Church attendance is declining in various surveys, what we are not told is that this decline is largely taking place amongst marginal Christians, not amongst those with a deep commitment and hunger for God. This is where we need to think things through.

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Our essential Holy Week and Easter practices really amount to adding Maundy Thurs-day, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil to our usual schedule; and, if the Vigil is simply too much, the parish offers an Easter Day Sunday morning Eucharist, as well.

Families may choose to wait for a while before introducing their young ones to the Vigil, but my own experience is that children from elementary school age on tend to understand and receive more in the Vigil than many adults, and thus “get” quite a bit out of it. Admittedly, it is a late night; but it is a unique event engaging all our senses and making clear that for us, there is nothing more important than the fact that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.

The Agape Feast following is another aspect of St. Timothy’s that can seem both strange and daunting. While not an essential part of the Easter celebration, this feast is one of the main reasons this parish’s Easter observance is distinctive and transformational. Attending it, even for a rela - tively short period, underscores what Easter joy is, perhaps far better than an egg hunt. Wearing new Easter clothes to the Vigil and the feast—also not essential to Easter, of course—can help tie these traditions together, as can bringing favorite Easter dishes to share.

Some people feel uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping in on Easter Sunday if they have been to the Vigil; it can seem like a renunciation of proper worship patterns. Yet, many people spend Christmas Eve with family, not attending the liturgy due to travel or varying family religious practices, and do not then seek out Christmas Day services. If we have celebrated the Resurrection at the Vigil, we have well and truly fulfilled our “obligation,” if one wishes to think of it that way, leaving most of the day for a fine meal together once we have rested from our “big celebration” as Christ’s Body.

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It seems to me that the central consideration in planning our Easter observance is to realize the importance of intentionality. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus shows us the danger of our faith being choked by weeds. If we elect to make a rich observance of Holy Week a priority, we are doing the spiritual “spring weeding” all gardeners know they must if summer plantings are to thrive and yield flower, fruit, or foliage.

No one should ever judge another over attendance in worship; God alone sees the human heart and understands our circum-stances and journey. Our pattern and practice of honoring the Risen Christ at Easter must flow from our current discipleship, our current situation and priorities. The question to ask might be: “How is my worship, my Holy Week practice, truly inten-tional, truly open to God’s presence and word this year?”

The answer to this question, I believe, will help us know how we are to open our hearts to Christ in worship, and how to meld the best of our past Easter practices with the new thing God is doing in our lives long after the sun sets on this greatest of Feast Days. BLF+

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• 8 1/2 X 11” spiral notebooks, wide- or college-ruled• foot rulers with inches and centimeters• ballpoint pens, black or blue ink (no gel)• money to buy the approved school bags (Please make checks out to St. Timothy’s Church, with the note “Lent Outreach.”

The Project will be blessed at the altar on April 8.

Lent Outreach Project

This year we are collecting school supplies for Lutheran World Relief. LWR works in Af-rica, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America with a focus on agricultural development, climate adaptation and mitigation, and emergency response. During Lent, LWR urges us to work, pray, and give for the global good.

We will be assembling school kits to be sent to places where the families can’t afford even basic school supplies. As always with these projects, we need the exact items that LWR asks for. Look for the collection box in the narthex.

• hand-held pencil sharpeners• blunt-tipped children’s scissors• #2 pencils, unsharpened• boxes of 24 crayons• 2 1/2” erasers (apx.)

Building and Grounds: Overview of the past year

Our Parish home saw some improvements and updates this last year thanks to kind volunteers and support from you, our parish family.

John Hanson continues to oversee our grounds on a weekly basis, often on Wednesdays. This is a good thing because he can supervise Mike Graeper and keep him out of trouble.☺ We are fortunate to have these good souls; our grounds and incredible rose garden look great due to their care, work and effort.

Thanks to Chuck McFerron, esteemed Jr. Warden, we have some new plumbing fixtures in the ladies room. The sanctuary saw some improved lighting last Easter; I believe that Ron DeWilde and Fr. Brandon were involved on this one. I was able to pull in a trained hired crew of three at Christmas break and replace some of the pew anchors. There is more of this to do; however, we got the worst offenders re-connected to the floor. Speak-ing of floors, it appears we are in for some new carpet and rug replacement as a follow-up to the carpet that was put in the narthex, hallway, and office a couple years back.

Much thanks to our team of dedicated grass mowers. The “back 40” got out of control for a bit last summer when our mowing machine was down with major repairs. We hired a professional to cut the grass around the immediate church building for several weeks; this was expensive. The price tag to do the field mowing was out of reach. Thank good-ness Howard Klopfenstein and his son were able to knock down the tall grass with his tractor mower. Speaking of mowers, our Toro Mower will be 8 years old this spring. Replacing this mower with a new one may be a reasonable idea.

The motel put in some sturdy iron bar fencing some time ago, which has made an im-provement with less transient traffic, crime, and litter on the property. However, we had several episodes of people moving onto the grounds and setting up camp. This proved to be problematic with campfires, debris, litter, and multiple shopping carts abandoned. I returned 6 or 7 of these carts, at one point, back to the stores from whence they came. The issue of homelessness is complex, especially when people will not or cannot sustain employment or shelters. I know several parish members have directly intervened and helped some of these folk; it is a tough and heartbreaking problem.

We are blessed with what we have here at St. Tim’s in many ways, including our grounds and buildings. I am thankful and blessed to be here.

Respectfully,Shep Earl

Buildings and Grounds

Mid-Lent Missions Faire

March 11th is “Mid-Lent Sunday” also known as “Refreshment Sunday”—a time to enjoy a brief respite before heading into the most intense part of our Lenten journey. We will be celebrating with a Mid-Lent Missions Faire after both the 8:00 and 10:00 services, with festive displays about the local and international missions we support.

Parishioners will also have the opportunity to support two feeding ministries at Hoover Elementary, where 100% of the students receive free lunch. On weekends and during school breaks, many students go hungry, so St. Timothy’s participates in two programs to help fill the nutrition gap for those students who are most in need.

Backpack Buddies provides lunch-size bags of food, typically two simple main dish items (such as soup and chili), fruit, dairy, and a breakfast item, like instant oatmeal or granola bars. We provide 72 Backpack Buddies per week, three months per year, and partner with St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and First United Methodist Church to cover the full aca-demic year.

Healthy Hoover Kids provides healthy staples (milk, cheese, peanut butter, bread, fruit, vegetables, etc.) for 50 children during four vacation weeks per year. About 15 families receive these food allotments, which include students from Hoover and their siblings.

We hope you enjoy the festivities of our Mid-Lent Missions Faire, and the plan is for this to be our only Missions Commission fundraiser this year. Please be generous in your support of our neighbor children in need. —Pamela Filbert for the Missions Commission

E

With Much Gratitude...

Pamela and I want to thank you (a bit belatedly) for the splendid and generous gift present-ed to us at the Feast of Christ’s Baptism. It was a very beautiful day, filled with kindness, a beautiful and tasty “cheese reception,” and many expressions—written and verbal—of your appreciation. We both feel so blessed to serve you, and there is no place we would rather be. These ten years have passed so very, very quickly. God bless you, all! —Fr. Brandon

Reflections on First Year of Vestry Service

Since Pat Eder has completed her three-year term of service, her reflections on the Vestry minutes are now part of our common parish history. The Vestry has already thanked her and Denis Williamson for their time and effort this past year.

I say “year” because I’ve just completed my first year as Vestry member, and as a new-comer to the Vestry and its responsibilities, I have learned a lot and come to appreciate the opportunity to connect with others whom I did not know very well.

My observation is that the Parish is in good hands with its Vestry members. I have found that the people who serve do so with humor and a good grasp of the nature of our Par-ish. Financial discussions are handled in a mature manner and meetings start and end on time.

As Brent Fahsholz and Elizabeth Gaupo begin their three-year terms of service, they will discover that saying “yes” to a call of service is not onerous. They will discover new ways of relating to people whom they may have known only as a quick glance during or after service.

If anyone feels a slight urge to participate in some way with the various opportunities available at St. Timothy’s, please follow through! You will be rewarded with new friends and be blessed by Our Lord!

Sincerely,Peggy Goforth

Holy Week Reminders:

• Clear your schedule so you can participate in the Triduum.

• Sign up to help with the Agape Feast. There are many ways to contribute.

• Sign up to spend an hour at the Altar of Repose, Maundy Thursday night into Good Friday. Meditate, read, pray, or just sit in the quiet Chapel.

• We encourage you to bring your children. Child care will be available, and we welcome pillows and sleeping bags in the church.

NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDSALEM, OR

PERMIT NO. 409

Return Service Requested

St. Timothy’s Episcopal ChurchPO Box 7416Salem, OR 97303

503-363-0601www.sainttimothys.org

Maundy Thursday, March 29, 7 PM

Good Friday, March 30, 7 PM

Easter Eve, March 31, 9 PM orEaster Day, April 1, 11 AM