February 7-13, 2021 with St. Martin's |
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Sunday's Service
We are eager to re-gather for in-person worship, but we want everyone to be safe and healthy. See the reopening Committee's notes in this newsletter.
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Outreach
The Outreach Committee wishes to thank all the parishioners and children who donated Valentine’s Day cards for our pastoral care parishioners and those in local nursing homes (see photo above). Your support was overwhelming and we received 170 cards. Since we had so many, we were able to donate cards for all the residents at Complete Care and the excess cards were given to River’s Edge Nursing Home. The cards were amazing and again, we thank you for supporting St. Martin’s with this project. The Nursing Homes were very thankful.
SHIP Part-Time Employment Position – Effective Immediately
Samaritan Homeless Interim Program of Somerville seeks to hire a Part Time Driver for our Mobile Soup Kitchen. The driver must have a valid CDL license. Work hours would be Monday-Friday from approximately 4pm to 7pm. Hours are negotiable. Salary would start at $20.00 an hour. This part time job may be temporary going to permanent. There is information about our Mobile Soup Kitchen – Disaster Unit on our web site at ship908.com . Please call Tom O’Leary, SHIP Director at (908) 393-9545 or email at ship908@optonline.net for additional information or to apply. God hear my plea!
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Rite 13 will be resuming soon!
Father Rob and Fausto will be leading the Rite 13 group, and their first meeting will be on Sunday, February 21 at 4pm. A zoom link will be sent out to families in the next week or so. If you did not receive an email from Father Rob inviting your child to attend, and you are interested, please email Father Rob and let him know of your interest.
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Preparing for In-Person Worship
We continue to make preparations for reopening. Part of those preparations have involved a weekly effort to improve the quality of our recorded Masses.
Many people will play an important role in helping us prepare to worship together in person again, including the Reopening Committee members, the altar guild, ushers and lay servers. Because of the restrictions by which we must follow for in person gatherings, these ministries have been reimagined for our reopening. Several people have already volunteered to serve in these ministries, but we still need a few more people willing to serve as an usher or lay server. Training will be provided, and if enough people volunteer to serve, you will only need to serve once a month, or possible once every six weeks. Please email me if you would like to serve either as an usher, or a lay server. (Many thanks to those who have already contacted me).
We also need a couple of volunteers to help out with the check in process. When we arrive for Mass, our names will need to be checked off of a list of Reserved seats, so that we will have a record for contact tracing. This list will need to be logged and stored. ( More information about how to reserve a seat for Mass will be forthcoming). If you would like to volunteer to help with the check in process, please email Father Rob. Training will be provided.
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Super Bowl Square Winners!
Q1 - The Slye Family
Q2 - Beth Hixenbaugh
Q3 - Brooke Krizan
Q4 - Brooke Krizan
The real winner is St. Martin's!
Clay
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Lent is Coming!
In many ways, it feels like Lent 2020 never left. And yet, the rhythm of the Church Year invites us into this special time of self-reflection, repentance, penance, and renewal even in the midst of a pandemic. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (February 17), when we call to mind our mortality, our connection to all of creation as creatures of dust, and the gift of God's love which offers us wholeness eternal life. Normally, we begin our Lenten journey of repentance on Ash Wednesday as the priest marks our foreheads with ashes in the sign of the cross. This year I will not be able to do this. However, I will be making ashes available to you if you would like to have ashes to mark yourself or the members of your household on Ash Wednesday.
If you would like ashes, please drive by the church on Sunday, February 14 between 11:30- 12:15 pm. I will give you a small bag with ashes. On Ash Wednesday (February 17), mark your forehead with the ashes in the sign of the cross during our Zoom Liturgy when I invite you to do so. If you would like ashes and it is impossible for you to drive by the church on Sunday February 14, send me an email and let me know, and I will get ashes to you.
If you do not wish to have ashes, I hope that you will still join us for our Ash Wednesday Zoom Mass on Wednesday, February 17 at 7 pm as we begin this holy season with prayer and repentance.
May God be near to all of you, fill you with grace and peace as you grow closer to the heart of Christ in the Way of Love.
Faithfully,
Father Rob+
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Lenten Study
Starting February 18th
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Lay Servers at In-Person Mass
As you can imagine, the Mass will look somewhat different. One difference will be that we will only be able to have one Lay Server due to social distancing and other safety protocol. The duties of the Lay Server will be as follows:
- Read the Lesson
- Lead the Psalm
- Lead the Prayers of the People
- Ring the bells during the Eucharistic Prayer
If you would like to serve as a Lay Server as we regather for public worship, please send me an email and let me know of your desire to serve. A training session will be scheduled before we reopen and new servers will be required to attend the training before they begin serving. You may serve as a Lay Server if you have previously served as a Lay Reader, Intercessor, or Lay Eucharistic Minister. You may also serve as a Lay Server if you have never served at the altar before, but you feel God calling you to begin serving in this way.
Thank you all for all that you do for God and the parish.
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Keeper of the Light
There is a light at St. Martin's that never goes out. We call it the "Sanctuary Light". It reminds us of the presence of Christ who is with us always. During this time when we are not able to be in our building, members of the parish have been taking turns caring for the light in their own home and then passing it on to another member for the next week, until we can all be together again in the church building. If you would like to be the "Keeper of the Light" for a week, email Philip with the subject "Candle" at philip.muniz@gmail.com.
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Pageant Costumes
If you still have your pageant costume, you can drop it off anytime on Sunday morning (February 14th) or arrange a time by emailing Alison. Thanks, and sorry for the delay.
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Noonday Angelus and Healing Mass
A Noonday Healing Mass will be celebrated on Wednesdays at Noon, preceded by the Angelus. This will be a virtual only Mass, livestreamed on Facebook Live from the Lady Chapel. You do not need to have a Facebook account in order to watch the service. The Mass will also be recorded and posted online for those who can not be present to watch it live. In order to view the livestreamed Mass on Wednesdays at Noon, click the following link on Wednesdays a few minutes before Noon:
Holy Day Masses will continue to be celebrated on Wednesday evenings at 7 pm and they will be announced in advance.
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Job Search
The following are job titles for parishioners who are in search of positions:
Knowledge Manager/Business Intel Analyst - Life Sciences & Healthcare
If you are aware of an opportunity, please email Alison and I will put you in touch with the job seeker. If you would like to post your job title here because you are searching for a job, please contact me.
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Covid Vaccine Registration
You can sign-up to receive the Covid 19 vaccination by using this link:
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St. Martin’s Episcopal Church
1350 Washington Valley Road,
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
www.stmartinsnj.org
Call Us: 908-526-1350
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Contact information for Fr. Rob
rectorstmartinsnj@gmail.com or fatherroblaws@yahoo.com
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