Notes from West Mountain
April 2021
Welcome to Eastertide! What a marvelous term. SO! What is Eastertide you might ask? Hmm… Eastertide is the fifty days following Easter, and it ends with Pentecost.
The long standing traditional liturgical calendar has all kinds of seasons and periods, feasts and festivals. The basic seasons are: Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, Pentecost…and Ordinary Time.
Our liturgical calendar runs independently from the Gregorian Calendar that is used by nearly the whole world. Pope Gregory VIII established our present calendar in a Papal Bull in 1582. (You gotta love all these terms, you just can’t make this stuff up.) Eastertide is essentially the season we focus upon the resurrection and its proclaiming God’s power over life and death. It is a happy season.
This year like none other, I feel like I am vacillating between wading joyfully in these warm and wet Eastertide waters or nearly over my head in them. We are in a time of re-engagement. We are “opening up” and braving human interaction.
Early in May we are holding an art exhibit of things we created during the pandemic. Art, sculpture, textile, poetry, you name it, it is worthy of showing off!
By May 16, Inga, Rebecca and I all will be vaccinated plus two weeks and our worship services can begin to be celebrated in person hopefully by Pentecost. What a day to come back together!
Welcome to Eastertide…He is risen indeed.
Events & Experiences Team Update
The Events and Experiences team is excited about displaying members’ creative works at church this spring. Many members have already contacted Jannie about what they want to display, but there’s still time for YOU to participate. If you’ve created it, we’d love to display it! Please email Jannie Des Rosiers-Berman by April 8 to let her know what you’d like to display and the amount and size of your creation(s). Please invite your creative friends to participate! We will be assuring everyone’s safety when they drop off their work as well as when they view other people’s work. We are hoping to open the show in early May.
April Second Mile Offering
The April 2021 Second Mile Offering will benefit Hands on Hartford’s Backpack Nutrition Program. This program is designed to help alleviate the hunger of children in Hartford by providing them with easy to prepare, child friendly foods to bring home for weekend meals. During the week, the children Hands on Hartford serves receive breakfast and lunch at school but go hungry on weekends. These children face the anxiety and despair of knowing there will not be enough food to eat on the weekend.
The Backpack Nutrition Program was begun in 2006 and now distributes backpacks with food to more than 200 children a week in 8 schools. The children receive a backpack containing 3-4 pounds of food each Friday afternoon. The food is a variety of ready-to-eat or easy to prepare items for snacks and meals. They return the backpacks on Monday morning to be cleaned and restocked for the following Friday’s distribution.
Due to continuing pandemic restrictions the Board of Christian Service is only asking for help by monetary contributions. The money received will go a long way to help Hands on Hartford purchase specific food and supplies for the children. Please consider donating to this vital program.
Silver Lake 2021
Registration for the 2021 summer season opened on January 15th. The 2021 brochure and additional information about the summer camp sessions is available at https://www.silverlakect.org/summercamp. The Board of Christian Service has voted to sponsor a $500.00 scholarship for each youth who attends Silver Lake Summer Camp 2021. We believe this investment will contribute to the nurturing of our youth’s enthusiasm for service and spiritual belonging to the church community. We are also eager to help Silver Lake Camp to thrive as an ongoing resource for our youth by stimulating attendance. Please contact the church office or Mark if your child will be attending Silver Lake Camp this year or if you have any questions about the camp.
Do You Have a Talent with Calligraphy?
On occasion, the church has a need to calligraph a baptismal or similar record. If you have a talent in this area, and would be available to be called on, please email or call the church office to let us know.
Vaccine Status
As considerations are made for services going forward, will you email to let us know when you are 2 weeks out from your second Covid-19 vaccine?