Update from the Sewing Group

The Sewing Group recently shipped 25 layettes to Lutheran World Relief. Each layette contained enough clothing to give a newborn’s family and the newborn a great start. (Pictured above is a layette being given to an Afghani mother.)

We thank Thrivent for the financial support. The next project is school kits. A goal of 20 has been set. The spring project will be Health Kits.

You are invited to help. Come to an upcoming meeting or contact the church for more details. To find out how The Sewing Group's efforts combine with those of other Lutheran churches around the world, view this video from Lutheran World Relief, Ordinary to Extraordinary.

Evangelical? What Does St. Ansgar Mean By That?

The dictionary defines "evangelism" as “zealous preaching and dissemination of the Gospel, as through missionary work.” The official name of our church is St. Ansgar Evangelical Lutheran Church, and we are part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). As a church that preaches the Gospel, it is fitting to have the word "Evangelical" in our name.

Unfortunately, the word "Evangelical" has taken on a very narrow meaning in recent times. Evangelicals are often viewed as self-proclaimed Christians who preach a message of fundamentalism, nationalism, and narrow-mindedness towards others. What sometimes passes as evangelical faith would hardly be recognizable to Jesus, whose Gospel (good news) was about redemption, healing, and inclusion.

Recently, the Church Council at St. Ansgar voted to update our church sign and make more room for movable text. We shortened the name on our sign to St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, and removed the term "Evangelical," in part to save much needed space to publish dynamic messages, and in part because the term "evangelical" has gained such a negative connotation in today's society. People have actually commented on feeling automatically excluded when they see the term "Evangelical" on our sign! We have made a similar change on the header of our blog.

Despite its potentially negative connotations and its misuse by fundamentalists, the term "Evangelical" is a fitting name for a church that is Gospel-based. It continues to be part of our official name at St. Ansgar. As we develop new and better ways to evangelize in our modern times, the Gospel remains at the forefront, a beacon of hope, justice, and God's love. We are a people of the Good News!

Pastor Bill Barter

The fair is coming!

St. Ansgar Members and Friends,

It’s that time again. Our unique holiday fair will be held on the Sat, 11/13th. People from all over come to visit us on that day.

Your help is needed from set-up to clean-up. On the Friday before we will be baking our infamous Julekake bread. Volunteers are always welcome for that. On Friday evening, you are welcome to help make the delicious fish-chowder. And, we are looking for kitchen crew to work the luncheon on Saturday.

Other ways you can help:

• Help set up tables following worship on November 7th.
• Donate items for the White Elephant room.
  
• Make delicious items for Bake Table and Candy Table.
  
• Donate handmade items, decorations, etc.
• Volunteer to be a greeter.
• Work at a table.
• Be on the clean up crew.

Help make this fair the best ever! See you there.

Come Out to the Movies Sun, 10/10 at 5PM!

In honor of National Coming Out Day (10/11), St. Ansgar is hosting a viewing of the film Fish Out of Water. This is a new documentary exploring the seven scriptural references commonly used to condemn homosexuality. Every 6 hours we lose a gay teenager to suicide. The time is right to reclaim God's tent for everyone.

Our time together will begin with Holden Evening Prayer, a lovely Christian setting that includes Hebrew psalms. Then we will view the film, enjoy movie snacks, and discuss. Please come and invite your friends!

Communion at St. Ansgar

We have communion every Sunday. All who believe in Jesus as Savior are welcome to share in God’s meal.

Those who have not been baptized (children and adults), are invited to come to the altar rail with folded hands to receive God’s blessing. Young children are given a single grape with their blessing.

For the communion wine, individual glasses are used every Sunday. Grape juice is available for those who abstain from alcohol. For health precautions, we no longer allow intinction (the practice of dipping one's bread in the chalice of wine.)

Please join us in the singing of communion hymns as the spirit moves you.

VBS is full

As of today (July 8, 2010) our 2010 VBS is full! We are no longer taking registrations. Thanks!

Pride 2010 photo

St. Ansgar marched in Pride 2010. We distributed 80 bags of "Lutheran" dog treats, and they were gone halfway through the parade route! We will need 200 bags for next year. Everyone had a great time. This photo does not include all 13 of our marchers, but it is a nice shot of our banner. Thanks, Pastor Myke, for snapping the photo for us.

The VBS Committee Needs Your Help!

Vacation Bible School is almost here. This year it will be July 12-16th. There are many opportunities for you to be a part of this very popular program, and the committee hopes the "Saints" of St. Ansgar will once again rise to the occasion.

Here is how you can help:

PRAY –Join the VBS Prayer Team today! We need as many people as possible to commit to pray each day for the program. May God richly bless the children who attend VBS, their families, the counselors, and our congregation.

FEED – Make a meal or provide food for VBS counselors. The fantastic counselors from Camp Calumet need breakfast foods and a few simple dinners.

PROVIDE BEDDING – We need sleeping mats, cots, or air mattresses for the VBS counselors to sleep on.

FINANCIAL GIFT - Donation Sunday is July 11th. A gift of money in any amount will help keep the cost of the program affordable.

Look for Us at the Pride Parade Today!

St. Ansgar is marching in Southern Maine Pride's Parade today. Come on out and march with us or cheer from the sidewalk. We are proud to be a Reconciling in Christ congregation.

Marchers, the parade starts promptly at 12:30PM. St. Ansgar is lining up on Preble Street in the "C" section.

See you there!

Organ Dedication Concert Fri. 6/18 at 7PM

Reserve Friday evening June 18th for a Service of Dedication for the recently rebuilt pipe organ at Saint Ansgar. The service will feature a concert by German artists Frank Zimpel (organ) and Alexander Pfeifer (trumpet) playing a variety of music. Saint Ansgar's Music Director,Leela Nowrangi (soprano) will join them for some pieces.

The concert begins at 7 pm and is free. A good-will offering will be taken for the performers. You can check out the performer's website (in English):
http://www.zimpel-pfeifer.de/en/index.html

If you have any questions, call St. Ansgar (select option 7) or email concert@saintansgar.org.

Interfaith Vespers This Sunday 5/23

This Sunday, May 23rd, Saint Ansgar will be hosting an Interfaith Vespers Service to celebrate our new status as A Reconciling in Christ Congregation. Our guest preacher will be Pastor John Stendahl, a former pastor of St. Ansgar, and current pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Newtons. Members of the Religious Coalition against Discrimination will also be participating. Please join us for this milestone celebration! A number of folks from Maine and other parts of New England have expressed interest in attending.

Prayer begins at 5:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served in the church hall immediately following the service. Please come join us and bring a friend!

Confirmation retreat photos

Here are some pics from our confirmation retreat at Calumet. Ryan Clancy from St. Ansgar was one of the Calumet counselors for the weekend. The boys shared a cabin with Grace West Springfield, and Mara bunked with Salem Naugatuck. Even though it looks like we horsed around a bit (and we did), we had great discussions about Luther, the Reformation, and what it means to be Lutheran. Pastor had a good time too, and he is now resting comfortably at an undisclosed location.

Raise the Rafters Concert Sat. 4/10 at 7PM

St. Ansgar is proud to host a joint concert of !Zing and Rock My Soul. This concert is part of a final push to fund the renovation of our beloved organ. When we decided to raise money for the organ, we decided as a congregation that we should give 10% of what we raise to charity (tithe). Well, the actual cost of the organ work is funded, and now we are working on the tithe. So come on out and enjoy some wonderful jazz and gospel music.

Your night out will fund three wonderful causes. One third of the tithe will go to African Relief Ministries, a nonprofit sponsored by the Sundanese congregation that worships in our building. African Relief Ministries is a micro lending organization that loans small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in Sudan. Another third will go to help rebuild the childhood church of an Ethiopian member of our congregation. Bethel Lube Presbyterian Church in Ethiopia reached out to St. Ansgar when termites made their building unlivable. The final third will go to Community Uplift Projects (CUP) International, a charity that runs an orphanage in Hosur, India. The father of our music director is the founder of CUP International.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Call 774-8740 ext. 7 or email concert@saintansgar.org.

Easter Egg Hunt 10 AM Tomorrow

The Annual St. Ansgar Easter Egg Hunt will be held at the church this Saturday 4/3 at 10 a.m. Bring the kids, grandkids, kids friends, your relatives, and yourself.....we'll be dyeing eggs, decorating cookies, and of course....hunting for eggs outside on what promises to be a BEAUTIFUL day... Hope you will come!

Pastor's Easter Message

My Easter message is posted on my page. Please take a moment to visit. Pr. Bill Barter

Joint Potluck with Sudanese Congregation This Sunday

St. Ansgar is hosting a joint potluck luncheon after worship tomorrow, March 21st. We will be joined by the Sudanese worshipping community. Please bring your favorite food to share with our new partners in ministry at St. Ansgar. The potluck begins right after service, about noon.

There will also be a brief presentation about the work of African Relief Ministries. An exciting venture in Sudan and in other parts of Africa has been the emergence of “micro-lending” or “micro-banks.” These grassroots financial institutions take very little capital and turn it into life-changing business loans. In Sudan, a large part of the resources goes to the widows of the Sudanese wars, and allows them to become self-sufficient.

ARM’s website is at www.africanreliefministries.org. You can read more about this here.

Reconciling in Christ

It's official. We are pleased to announce that we are now a Reconciling in Christ congregation of the ELCA. We welcome and affirm people of all gender identities and sexual orientations, and their families. For more information on the Reconciling in Christ program, go to: http://www.lcna.org/.

SCUFFY Regional Youth Ministry Event Photos

St. Ansgar hosted the SCUFFY Regional Youth Ministry event on March 13th. Youth from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont were present including 11 from our own St. Ansgar/ Sudanese Nazarene congregations.

Organ Renovation is Complete!

Our organ renovation and rebuilding is complete! Here is a synopsis of the work that has been done:

In the recent years, the organ’s entire electrical relay system had reached the end of its useful life. The thousands of delicate contact fingers were starting to break off from decades of repeated spark burning. Plastic parts in the console were disintegrating. The old cotton-covered wiring throughout the organ was now in violation of the National Electric Code. The power supply was no longer filtering the current properly. Malfunctioning mechanical relays were causing notes to stick.

The pedalboard frame had cracked, thereby not allowing the pedal keys to be tightened as much as they needed to be. This caused them to play even when they weren’t supposed to.

Faucher Organ Company replaced the entire electrical system with a new solid-state unit, having no moving parts and no longer creating any more destructive sparking. All the wiring and cables were replaced and brought up to code. A transposer was included, which easily allows an organist to play in higher or lower keys. A greatly-expanded combination action was installed, allowing guest organists to store their own stop combination memories.

A side benefit to designing the new relay system was the ability to add 6 additional stops to the organ without the need for additional pipes. This allows certain pipe ranks to serve double-duty, being available to play at two different pitch levels. This greatly increases the versatility and color dynamics in a small instrument.

The console, bench and pedalboard were also completely stripped and refinished at no cost, in return for the church being able to commit to the project early enough during the slow month following Christmas.

Other than tuning and perhaps occasional valve adjustments in the chests, there should not be any more electrical and relay issues for many generations ahead.

Ways to Help Haiti

Dear Friends,

A bulletin insert will be made available on Sunday for people to make donations to ELCA Disaster Response. It is my understanding that 100% of your donation will go to direct relief. If you wish, you may send the donation form directly to ELCA Disaster Response, but if you turn in your donation to me on Sunday (or any time) I will make sure it gets to ELCA Disaster Response ASAP.

If you wish to give right now using a credit/debit card, go to www.elca.org/disaster to make a donation, or call ELCA Disaster Response at 1-800-638-3522.

If you are a Thrivent member you have an opportunity to make your donation larger, go to www.thrivent.com/helpinghaiti. If you make your donation there, Thrivent will match every $2.00 with $1.00.

As you probably know, Haiti is one of the poorest countries on Earth. I cannot begin to imagine the devastation that has been wrought on a people already poor and hungry. I am sure any amount will be appreciated. Whether you can give money or not, prayers are most needed at this time.

Pastor Bill Barter