St Francis by the Sea Newsletter

eClare

St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church

Blue Hill ~ Maine

August 15, 2019

"An Empty Nest"

(photo taken at St. Francis by the Sea by Jane Reinoso)

" To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. "

-- Pema Chodron

The Calendar

8 am

Sunday Worship

9 am

There will be an Adult Forum gathering this Sunday, Aug. 18 at 9:00 am to wrap up the Civil Discourse program. It will be led by Doug Worthington.

10 am

Sunday Worship

***

Coffee Hour

***

Adult Forum

"Security Task Force"

Please join us in a conversation around church security this Sunday, August 18th after coffee hour. This is an opportunity to have your concerns or questions addressed. All are welcome!

***

August 25

Annual Meeting

(no 8 am service)

***

August 31-September 1

Les Petits Chanteurs

(Saturday Evening Concert at St. Francis by the Sea,

requested donation $10)

***

September 8

Adult Forum

Maurine and Bob Tobin

discuss their trips and ministry in Gaza

We Pray for:

Art

Edward Dufresne

Christy Olsen-Hall

Brinley Hall

Dorine Harris

Kira Hartley

Dilys Hoyt

Jennifer Hulsey

Sam Hulsey

Rayanne Kleiner

Tyler Knowles

JoAnn Krestan

Keagan

Gayle Larimer

Ronan

Diana Robson

Dennis Robertson

Roseanna

Carla Rosensweig

Ed Rosensweig

Mary Kathryn Rountree

Sarah Semler

Donny Smith

Peter Smith

Gloria Smith

Those in the Armed Services

Abigail

James Crowe III

Andy Dittmer

Brian Haley

Sean Haley

Douglas Hamilton

Kyler Hall

Peter McGuyer

Kyle Carino Mings

Eric Partridge

Henry Shepley

Ben Stubbs

Those with August Birthdays

Mary Boechat

Brook Dojny

Marcia Fenn

Ron Garlick

Melissa LaLonde

Christina McHenry

Judy Rountree

Pam Siewers

Marshall Smith

Marilyn Stewart

Fred Stine

Tim Thomas

Maurine Tobin

On Sunday, August 4th, Summer parishioner, Judith Dullnig gave an excellent presentation of her women's prison ministry in Texas and beyond.

Thousands of books, recorded and read to their children have been donated. Being part of this program is an earned right.

The film presentation was wonderfully revealing and left no doubt as to why Judith and her hundreds of volunteers have been recognized in receiving a Congressional Library Award, and featured in Oprah Magazine and others.

Quotes from the day

From Sr Warden, Bob Publicover

“The SPCA volunteers were everywhere, doing everything and making it all so much easier for everyone.”

From Julie Boardman

Being a compulsively organized person it was a joy to work with Donny and Peter Smith. What a smoothly running machine they had created for Books.

These last few years, Marcia Fenn and I have had a “rockstar” group of volunteers. I am sure our team looks forward to working on St. Francis' next venture to continue to serve the needs of those on our peninsula.

From Chris Ramsay

The Food To Go booth sold out entirely by the Fair’s end. Mark Cluett’s “Audrey Hepburn’s Brownies” and Caroline Herrick’s homemade jam in three flavors were big hits. Pies sold rapidly, with cookies, bars, cakes and sandwiches proving popular as always.

St. Francis 30th

- and final Fair

Mary Hartley sums it up perfectly...

"The weather was beautiful, the crowd steady, the volunteers hard-working, the merchandise plentiful for this, the 30th and last St. Francis Fair.

Despite the clear skies there was an internal waterworks that kept my face and eyes wet throughout the day.

How does one sum up the magic of all of us working and laughing together, volunteers coming from near and far, customers who have eagerly shopped every year, and joyful children with painted faces and newfound toys?

The Fair will always be magical for me in that it made our congregation stronger and helped us build community both within and without. For this, I will always be thankful.

Well done, St. Francis, and thanks to Fair Chair, Kevin Hunt,for our last production."

and a note from Kevin-

"It was the end of a wonderful tradition of partnership and services to the Blue Hill Peninsula.

Great weather, great fellowship, amazing donations and thousands of people made this extra special, just as they they have done for the 29 years that preceded it.

I thank all those who helped make this year a success; but also we need to honor all of those who came before us who shared hands, hard work, and hearts towards the making of this glorious final fair day.

The future is yet to be designed, but that same sense of spirit, commitment and outreach will endure.

Thanks,

Kevin

Quotes from the day

From Suzanne Decrow-Thirty Years of Junque for Jesus!

"The above photo talks to the spirit of the St. Francis Fair....

These ladies have no affiliation with St. Francis but have been planning their time off from work and driving up from southern Maine to help with the set-up of Junque for at least 7-8 years!!!!

They said they would surely miss the Fair but would maybe come up anyway and have a reunion with us next summer!!

Amazing!!

There was also a lady who drove up to the Junque stall at about 3:00 Saturday afternoon and asked, "Is the Fair over?"

Mind you ALL, the stalls were empty and only Mary Hartley and I were there!!"

From Joe Thompson :

"Tools" had a huge day and a great assortment was available. Two of the highlights were a ceramic power saw and a Cub Cadet lawnmower..both went to proud new owners.

From Lynne Yurosko

WAY TO GO TEAM TREASURES!!!!!

Thanks to all that brought their A game to the fairgrounds! Couldn’t be happier with what we pulled off!

Thanks to Kevin for lifting and transporting all that stuff. See you at the chiropractors!

Some of what we picked up at Treasures:

“ Is this art an original?” Its 10 bucks, but why not!!!

“Does this sewing machine work?” Sure, Betsy Ross used it to make flags!

"This rug is disgusting. I’ll give you $200 for it!”

My personal favorite….. a young lady standing in front of the “E B WHITE” garden cart. “who’s EB White? ”

What an experience!!!

From Sue Grindle

"There were some touching moments like little George shoveling the fairgrounds.

From Sarah Everdell at

"The Great Granny Give-away!"

We virtually gave away three new bikes (half price), many, many stuffed animals.

The toys were almost all in really good shape. We had three wading pools and we put toys in these and halfway through made all beach toys free. Then all toys became $1.00. Ellie and Tony were terrific in moving and schlepping.

Granny's Attic gifted all the children with lightsticks, balls and much more There were enough remaining toys to donate to yet another event coming up in Deer Isle.

From Mary Boyd

Strawberry Shortcake sold out completely...it was a perfect dessert on a beautiful summer day to follow the Grillers!

From John Higgins at Grillers

(the perfect ending!)

150 sausage sold out by 12:30!

(I hid 20 for volunteers and sold those as part of the 150.)

I think most folks watching Brenda and me work together wonder how we ever stayed married. Brenda said it's because we agree on the big important things! Of course she is correct.

I would like to do it next year if someone else runs the fair and we can simply have a St Francis food booth.

It really was a beautiful and fun day . The fair took in more than $31,000 for the benefit of the church and our wonderful partners, Hancock County SPCA. (They were just terrific!)

From a recent press release...

"Haiti’s Musical Ambassadors Les Petits Chanteurs (The Little Singers) and Chamber Ensemble of Holy Trinity Music School Return to U.S. for 24-City Tour, Including Stops in Maine, NYC, Washington, DC and Four-Day Residency in Louisville, KY

(Aug 24 – Sep 25)"

Dear Saint Francis Friends,

The 30 ^th Saint Francis Fair was a glorious conclusion to an experience that is nearly as old as Saint Francis itself (and what does that say about us, I wonder?). It was a beautiful day, a great crowd, and, as always, a well- organized event. Kudos to Kevin Hunt and all who chaired, cheered, and otherwise helped make it such a great day!

It seems fitting that the end of the Fair comes during this interim time, a time to take stock of who we are and where we are going. If a change was to be made, this is certainly the time to do it. And though we will carry much of our history forward as we begin a new chapter at St Francis, some things will inevitably change. What we hope to discover is how we will continue to engage ourselves in the community ministry of the Blue Hill Peninsula. What the Fair allowed us to do was to actively participate with some of those other helping agencies, and to be known as a church that cares. How will we do that - without having to lug heavy furniture and tools and box after box of books? There have got to be a few good solutions to that dilemma, and I hope you have already begun to think about the possibilities.

So now we forge ahead with the Annual Meeting (Aug 25), Les Petits Chanteurs (Aug31), a terrific Wednesday Seekers program in September, and the Blessing of the Animals (Oct. 6). May the days ahead provide us a vision of Saint Francis for a new time as we head into the 45 ^th year of ministry together.

Faithfully,

Steve+