My dear friends in Christ,

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Happy Easter, y’all! The Great Fifty Days continues, and I hope that this Eastertide has brought you all many blessings and at least a little peace in the midst of these continually “interesting” times in which we live. I hope that you all were able to connect in some way or another with at least some of our Easter liturgies, and that you experienced our shared worship to be as comforting, as rejuvenating, as inspiring as I did. If so, then ALLELUIA, indeed!

It’s “been a minute,” as we say down South, since I had a chance to connect with y’all via this Newsletter column. My apologies! The first part of the calendar year, from a church & ministry perspective, always seems to be pretty intense. We come off the high of the twelve days of Christmas, and we immediately encounter the Feast of the Epiphany. For us, just after Epiphany comes our annual parish meeting. From there, it’s never very long until Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season which brings its own particular kind of spiritual intensity to all the other intensities we already have been experiencing. Then, before you know it, it’s Holy Week, and then Easter, and it hain’t gwine be (oh, excuse me ~ that’s Southern for “it is not going to be”) long at all before we’re at Pentecost and are celebrating the birthday of God’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church!

Whew!

Read more...

Happy Easter (yes, we’re still in Eastertide)!

YOUTH FELLOWSHIP: We are still offering 30 minutes of free time following the 10:30am service. As the weather allows, we may move outside to the North Lawn. When inside, though, we ask those ages 3 and up to please continue masking until parish leadership advises otherwise.

FAMILY FUN NIGHTS: TONIGHT, we are kicking off Family Fun Nights for the parish for the months of May, July, and August (taking June off for Summer Camp). May Schedule:

Tonight, May 11: Game Night – We will meet 6:30-8:00pm on the North Lawn for games, cool treats, and prayer. Holy Eucharist will also be offered inside with Fr. Christopher for anyone wishing to participate that way.

Wednesday, May 25: Camp Night – We will meet from 6:30-8:00pm (North Lawn for nice weather, Kemper Hall if too wet) for camp crafts, silly songs, treats, prayer, and more. Holy Eucharist will also be offered inside with Fr. Christopher.

CELEBRATION SUNDAY: We will be celebrating both Youth Ministry partners and high school and college graduates this Sunday, May 15 at the 10:30am service. Graduate names and “next steps” will be shared in the next newsletter.

LET’S CELEBRATE! For our second edition of this new segment, we’d love to hear moments folks are celebrating in this Eastertide! For those wishing to contribute a story or two, please send to Erin Wolf at asygappleton@gmail.com by Sunday, May 22. Thank you!

SUMMER CAMP CAMPER REGISTRATION is still open, though you only have until Friday, May 13 to sign-up for the lowest prices! Head to diofdl.org/camp. Anyone needing scholarship assistance should contact either Tina Wilfer or Fr. Christopher.

SUMMER CAMP STAFF APPLICATIONS: For those interested in serving on Camp Staff, you must be at least a current high school freshman or older and complete a Volunteer Staff Application at diofdl.org/campstaff. 

CAMP 2022 Dates: All sessions will be held at Waypost Camp in Hatley, WI.

Senior (completed grades 9-12): June 12-18, 2022

Middler (completed grades 6-8): June 19-23, 2022

Junior (completed grades 2-5): June 19-23, 2022

Kinder Camp (ages 4-7 & adult): June 23-25, 2022

CAMP MAIL: Want to send your camper(s) and/or staffer(s) some snail mail at camp?

Camper/Staffer Name

Episcopal Diocesan Summer Camp

c/o Waypost Camp

210608 Crooked Lake Dr.

Hatley, WI 54440

Welcome to our new assistant custodian, Seraphina Stowe! Phina started working at All Saints in early April. She's lived in Appleton most of her life; while spending a couple of years in Madison, she took a job with a house cleaning company and found she loved the work. In her spare time she enjoys being outdoors and doing anything artsy.  

The Worship Support Ministry Team will hold its “kickoff” meeting via Zoom on June 2, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. The team will comprise clergy, staff, and lay folks; its focus is to consult with the rector and share in the planning of liturgies and worship services in accord with the liturgical seasons of the Church calendar, and also to plan any special, “one-off” services as needed. If you’re interested in getting involved in our shared worship from a planning, design, and/or “behind the scenes” perspective, please contact Fr. Christopher and let him know!

The All Saints Tech Crew needs YOU! Brad and Erin have been phenomenal in terms of getting our worship services captured and streamed online, and we hope they’ll keep us going digitally for a long time to come. But they can’t do it alone and shouldn’t have to ~ we need to get a small team of folks trained up to run tech for our services so that no one person (or two people) must handle it all, week after week. We’ve got some really cool gadgets, and we put our current setup together intentionally so that it doesn’t take advanced degrees in computer engineering to run the show. Please reach out to Fr. Christopher, Brad Retzlaff, and/or Erin Wolf to get involved!

Now is also the perfect time for us to be assembling our Missions Ministry Team in order to begin planning for all the ways that All Saints will be proclaiming Jesus, spreading the Gospel, ministering to those in need, and growing the church, this year and moving into the future. The good news (the other good news <ahem>) is that you don’t have to be a salesperson or an energetic extrovert to get involved and contribute to the mission of the church! We need folks who are good at visioning, folks who are good at imagining, folks who can plan & organize, but most of all folks who are passionate about Jesus, about worship, about community, and about the special place that All Saints is for each and every one of us. To find out more, contact Fr. Christopher!

With the sudden arrival of warmer weather, our long-missed coffee hour returns following the 10:30 am service! Beginning Sunday, May 22nd we will hold coffee hour outside under the awning and on the lawn of our Washington St. entrance.

A sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board in the hallway for those who would like to host. Because hosting for now involves a certain amount of schlepping things outside and back, we recommend signing up in pairs. Or perhaps one person brings food and another hauls things. If you are not yet comfortable in person in the building but would like to host outside, please contact the office to request a spot.

Directions will be available for hosts if you have questions. Basically, make coffee and heat tea water, bring some sort of treats, set dishes and food out on a table under the awning, set up some chairs on the lawn, clean up and return the table and chairs inside.

Come gather and refresh yourselves! 

With the weather getting nicer, Walk and Talk groups are being organized. They are open to anyone interested in a little exercise and friendly conversation. To join a group, please use the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board outside the Palmer room, contact the parish office, or contact Tina Wilfer at cwilfer@msn.com or 920-750-3880.

Mark your calendars! The Parish Picnic is on Sunday, June 5 (Pentecost) after the 10:30am service. Weather permitting, we'll gather on the north lawn to eat picnic food and enjoy each other's company. Please contact the office if you're interested in helping organize the event.

REMINDER: If you'd like to have your birthday or anniversary recognized, please contact the office.

May Birthdays

5/2 - Henry Gadzik

5/2 - Ezzy Rouman

5/5 - Caroline Kiesnowski

5/5 - Thomas Kiesnowski

5/12 - Ken Bozeman

5/12 - Alannah Crabb

5/12 - Bill Reeves

5/16 - James Dean Parnau

5/19 - Renny Mick

5/26 - Allison Twomey

5/27 - Natalie & Carolyn Bates

5/30 - Suzanne Fischer

5/31 - Anne Lingelbach

The Eucharistic Festival of the Diocese of Fond du Lac will be held over two days on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14.

Friday includes Choral Evensong at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Fond du Lac and a banquet with speaker at the Hotel Retlaw, Fond du Lac. Saturday will include the Festival Eucharist, Benediction, the Bishop's Picnic and opportunity to tour the Cathedral, all taking place a the Cathedral of St. Paul, Fond du Lac.

Visit the diocesan website for more information.