Starting on September 7th, St. Luke's will not only have 10 AM Sunday services, but we will now offer a simple celebration of the Holy Eucharist at 8:30 AM. This will be a simple low mass with no hymns or sermon so as to accommodate those who like an earlier service. The early service will be offered throughout the month of September, and if enough people show an interest, they can be continued indefinitely. This is a wonderful sign of the times; we are attracting more people, and we hope to be able to serve still more people in our crusade to offer orthodox Anglicanism to those in Southern New Hampshire.
Diane Williamson has announced that on September 14, 2003, our Sunday School will be resuming its sessions at 10 AM. Do you have children who should be enrolled in the Sunday School? If so, see Diane Williamson. Also, are there children on your street who are bored and have nothing to do on Sunday mornings? Do encourage them to come to Sunday School. We are here to support them and help them enrich their spiritual lives.
Starting on Tuesday, September 9, 2003, Fr. Steward will be teaching a series on the history of Anglicanism and its beliefs. The first of the series will be held at 7 PM in St. Luke's parish hall. Hear about the faith of the first settlers of NH and the challenges of establishing parishes in the 17th and 18th centuries. Then we will move on to the 19th century and the time of great progress and prosperity with the church enlivened by the Oxford and Evangelical movements. The 20th century saw more progress, but then it was frustrated by the rise of Modernism (Liberalism), which necessitated the formation of the Anglican Church in America to serve faithful Anglicans.
We are members of both the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion and the Anglican Church in America. We often refer to ourselves as "Traditional Anglicans." The following statement was prepared by our Bishop, The Right Reverend George Langberg, Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Northeast. It says exactly who we are and what we believe in.
The website for the Anglican Church in America is http://www.acahome.org. It has links to Diocesan pages and many other items that may be of interest to you.
Your Vestry authorized the purchase of fifty new Books of Common Prayer and Hymnals. We have received the fifty Books of Common Prayer and we expect the 1940 Hymnals to arrive in the later part of September. I'm sure that most people will agree that they are long overdue. Many of ours are losing their covers and lately, we just never seemed to have enough copies for everyone. We'll keep the old ones for our use and also share some of them with new start-up missions. Might you consider making a donation of $30.00 to cover the cost a copy of both books? We can put a label inside the cover indicating that it was donated by "so-and-so" in loving memory of whoever you'd like. It's an inexpensive memorial for a loved one and will help underwrite the costs. Would you like additional information? If so, please speak to Senior Warden Walter Kilian or call him at 673-2688.
St. Luke's was well represented at Summer Camp this year with four young people representing us. They were great campers and I speak from experience as Cynthia and I had the opportunity to visit the Camp on Thursday morning. Victoria, Lydia and Abigail Simmons and Sara LaFleur were our representatives and the entire staff complimented them on being great campers. Lydia entranced everyone with her ability to play a piano and Sara was recognized as the absolute best reader of all the campers there. The facilities were great and the lake water was crystal clear, living up to its name, Crystal Lake. Give some thought to having your children or grandchildren attend next summer. Attendance is strongly recommended as a prerequisite for Confirmation.
It is great to see the increased numbers of people coming to our Traditionalist Anglican services. What of those who live too far away from Amherst so as to attend our services regularly? We need to support them as they seek to organize faithful parishes of their own. Do especially be praying for those in the Concord and Derry-Salem areas. A few people in those areas have indicated interest in our Traditionalist movement, which is fighting to preserve reverent worship, Biblical teaching, and orthodox morality. We suspect that there may be more people in these two areas. What we need to do is to place more ads in the local papers to ascertain if there are enough interested people to set up services. Any contributions you can make for the expense of ads would be greatly appreciated. Ads in the Derry News cost $62.13, the Eagle Tribune $131.20, and the Concord Monitor $53.48. Checks can be made out to St. Luke's Church and labeled "for mission ads." Do you know of interested friends or relatives in these areas? If so, do give their addresses and phone numbers to Father Steward. The time to act is now. Do be praying for this effort.
Michael and "Peppy" Sclafani and their son Andrew live in Concord, NH, and previously attended Grace Episcopal Church. They are both from Centereach, Long Island and will be married for eighteen years this September 14th.
They moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida in 1988 where Michael worked in the Port St. Lucie Police Department as a Detective. "Peppey" was a hairdresser and managed several hair salons. While attending All Saints Episcopal Church in Jensen, Florida, Michael enrolled in the University of the South and completed two years of their Theology program. He hopes to continue studying for Holy Orders here at St. Luke's. He meets with the Diocesan Commission on Sacred Ministry in several weeks at the Diocesan Synod in Ellsworth, Maine.
They relocated to Concord, NH, where Michael accepted a position as Appeals Clerk for the NH Department of Environmental Services. They have started a Christian pre-school for four- and five-year olds called the "Little Saints School" that "Peppy" manages. The school is licensed for eighteen students. Please welcome them!
Peter and Diane Hambleton are both originally from Nashua, NH. In fact, they attended Junior High and Senior High School together. Peter spent twenty-eight years with Sears, Roebuck and Company, assigned to different stores in management positions throughout the United States. He even spent time in their home office in Chicago. He had an opportunity to take early retirement at age fifty and they decided to take it.
Peter then accepted a position with Hunter Douglas Company, manufacturers of window shades and blinds in New Jersey as Vice President of Business Development. This grew into the position of "Corporate Troubleshooter" for manufacturing plants not reaching their goals and involved extensive travel. After five years they decided to return to Nashua, NH. He is now an independent contractor, working as a Salesman for U.S. Remodelers, selling new kitchen and bathroom installations in northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
He is a "cradle" Episcopalian and they most recently attended the Church of the Good Shepherd in Nashua. They have commented that they know some of our new visitors from there! During the past years Peter has served on many Church Vestries and has also served as Senior Warden three times.
Diane and Peter have two married daughters. Their oldest daughter lives in Illinois and is a "stay-at-home Mom" and home schools their two daughters. Her husband works for State Farm Insurance. Their younger daughter lives in Connecticut and is married to a police officer.
Please welcome Diane and Peter!
Walter D. Kilian, Editor, Tidings