On the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2009, our own Armand Henault, along with Beth Maier and Stan Baker, was ordained a permanent deacon in the Episcopal Church. The service was full of wonderful music provided by the combined choirs of the ordinands’ sponsoring churches and the Cathedral choir. Bishop Thomas Ely questioned the presenters, asking if we believe Armand had been selected in accordance with the canons of the church and if we believed his manner of life was suitable to the exercise of the ministry of the Deaconate. All of the presenters answered in the affirmative! After examining each of the candidates, Bishop Ely laid his hands upon their heads and consecrated them as deacons.

St. Andrew’s church, where Armand has been placed to serve, was well-represented at the service. Gabe Riley served as crucifer, Jonathan Bergman and Meg Powden were ushers, Brooke MacDonald-Powden carried the boat for the thurifer, Thomas Keon was a torch bearer and Jean MacDonald was a presenter. Armand’s wife Linda was also a presenter and, along with Ann Knox, formerly of St. Andrew’s, vested Armand in his deacon’s stole. The stole which has a cross in each of the liturgical colors and also a stag, was made by Sarah Maynard.

A festive reception was held after the service. We are delighted to have Armand back with us at St. Andrew’s!

If you are looking for pastoral care please don’t hesitate to contact someone on the Pastoral Care Team:
Sybil Hazen 626-8678, Marion Parks 626-7213, Jocelyn Burrell 748-5247,  and Robin Bergman 633-2871. (Sybil and Marion head up this group.)

Pastoral care is the work of the congregation – this is our group of facilitators -- all of us should feel encouraged to send notes or make phone calls when we see the need. We also must remind ourselves to reach out for help when we need it.

Dear Church Family,

Thank you so much for the love and support you’ve given me and my family during the past year and a half as I dealt with the illness and death of my parents and my own health issues. Your prayers, kind words, hugs, cards, casseroles and faithful presence in my and my family’s life have made a world of difference. You are truly ministers of God’s love! Thank you.

With deep affection,

Robin Bergman

Hello everyone,

I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be placed by our Bishop as a Deacon to work in my home parish at St Andrews Church. Your love, care and kindness has supported me through a long and (sometimes) difficult and stressful spiritual journey over the past three years. During that time, I walked (often with my dog) past St Andrews Church, twice each day and was saddened that I wasn't allowed to enter there or engage in any of my relationships with all of you... it was hard, but also enlightening, and in the long run, perhaps for the best.

In any case, I am back, but in a different role than you are perhaps used to: as a Deacon, I work for the Diocese under the direction of Tom, our Bishop, and work alongside, and in a 'teamwork' model with Jean, our pastor. We are both ordained, but have somewhat different ministries, which overlap at times, and so can become somewhat confusing. Over the next several months, I hope that I will have the opportunity to explain these ministry differences to you through preaching, and meetings, and activities which will illuminate what I have been called to do.

It can sometimes become 'easy' to mistake the role of Deacon as 'assistant to the priest', or 'priest helper'; but the ministry is actually somewhat different. The Deacon in a community is designated to identify the needs of the people of the community to the Church and to help the Church provide resources to meet these needs. I will be assisting Jean at the altar during services; that is part of the job. I will read the Gospel every Sunday because Deacons have this unique role of spreading the Gospel message to one and all during the Sunday services; the Deacon also serves in some ways as the 'master of ceremonies' during services, introducing the Prayers of the People, the General Confession, singing the Exultat at Easter Vigil and other 'jobs'... but the overall idea of the Deacon ministry is one of serving as a bridge between Church and the laity, the people of God. My work will be less 'sacramental' (although I will assist our priest in Eucharist, Baptism, Marriage and Funeral and other services), but is more focused on how to bring our Church gifts to the community, and the needs of the community before our Church.

So, over the weeks and months to come, you may find me doing some things which seem unusual to you, or different from what you might think I should be doing. Don't hesitate to ask me about this; I will do my very best to explain what my call and ministry is really all about. It is sometimes a confusing time when a Deacon is installed within a congregation, and I wish very strongly for all of us to be 'on the same page'. And, since I am new at this myself, it is sometimes confusing to me, too!

The symbol of my ordination and ministry is wonderfully demonstrated by the amazing, beautiful, diaconal stole which Sarah Maynard created for me. You will see that it is worn over my left shoulder as a sign of my call to servanthood, as best modeled by Jesus, Himself. I pray, and am hopeful that whatever gifts I might bring to the community through St Andrews Church will be inspired by the Spirit of God, and will help us all to bring forth the Kingdom of God here and now, as Jesus intends. Please support me in your prayers as I enter into this new life as a servant of God, and continue to support me in our relationships with one another. My prayer is that the grace of God will prosper the gifts that St Andrews has to share with the People of God all around us. Bear with me when I urge us to use our resources for those in need rather than ourselves. Hold tight when I counter suggestions that our gifts should be hoarded and increased, when others in trouble need our help now. Strengthen me with your prayers as I insist upon healing and pastoral care as a fundamental part of our ministry. Join with me as I strive to make myself, my parish and my community whole once again.

We - you and me and all of us - are the Body of Christ, and we all have a job to do, and we all have gifts provided by the grace of the Spirit to bring to this task. None of us is any better or greater than any other, and our efforts will be multiplied if we work together in love. That is what we are called to do, and why we are here together. I am excited, nervous, curious and hopeful about the days and weeks and months to come, and I hope that we can share our spiritual journeys together in such a way as to create the special place St Andrews Episcopal Church is meant to be. A very exciting time lies before us; let us all pray for each other and do our best!

Faithfully,

EPIPHANY PROGRESSIVE SUPPER AND BONFIRE

It seems as though I left St. Johnsbury just in time OR at the very worst time possible! The weather sounds awful, and the St. Andrew’s flood even more terrible! Be assured that I am following the situation closely and with my prayers.

David and I left our home on Wednesday, January 7^th. Our daughter-in-law, Laura, kindly took us down to WRJ to catch the Greyhound bus to Boston. The driving conditions were not optimal, so we were glad to hear that Laura had no problems on her return trip. Our flight from Boston via Washington Dulles and on to Mexico City was fairly uneventful: except for the frequent and generous sneezes of David’s seat companion. We think those germs sparked the bronchial infection which David struggled with for over a week after our arrival at the home where we’re house-sitting.

We landed in Mexico City at about 9.30 p.m., local time, an hour earlier here than there, and decided to take the metro (subway) to our hostel. NOT a great plan, as we looked back…. nursing our sore backs and knees, the result of hauling our "traveling light" luggage through 5 different metro lines! ‘Not getting any younger’ would be the correct deduction!

The Hostel Moneda ("Money" Hostel) is located a couple of blocks from the huge, central city square, called the Zocalo (SO-ka-low). As we struggled up the final flight of steps from the metro and emerged, like moles from their hole, into the night, we gasped at the fantastic Christmas lights strung all over the zocalo. David whipped out his camera and took a couple of quick pics, while I rested for a moment.

Thankfully our room at the hostel was only on the second floor. A good night’s sleep made things look a lot better. Breakfast is served on the flat roof of the hostel. The views are lovely, especially on a clear day. The huge towers of the National R.C. Cathedral are nearby, and we loved hearing the bells toll for mass. We met travelers from many countries. We sat with a young couple from Latvia who spoke excellent English. They are currently living and studying in Canada, and commented on how extremely difficult things are in their home country.

With our luggage once again on our backs, literally, we headed out for the metro. I took a quick detour to find us some ‘tortas’, sandwiches made with delicious, rough white rolls. We were headed for the huge, northern bus terminal. You wouldn’t believe how fabulous the long-distance buses are here! They are almost luxurious, especially the super first-class ones. We took the 11 a.m. regular first class version for a 6 ½ hour ride down the center of Mexico, headed for Oaxaca (wa-HA-ka). This is the area where I worked for 20+ years as a linguist and Bible translator with Wycliffe Bible Translators, so, to me, it pretty much feels like coming home.

On arrival, a $3.00 taxi took us across town to the place where we’d be living for almost a month. Previous colleagues of mine, Joan, Grace, and Marilyn, usually live here. A short while ago, while Joan was at home in the USA, Grace became gravely ill with heart problems, and had to be medi-vac’ed to the States for medical attention. She and Joan are still there, while Marilyn is teaching a course in Spain. Thus, an empty, uncared-for house with THREE cats! An email to me from Joan asked if there was any possibility that we could come down earlier and house-sit for them. Of course we could, and here we are.

The cats, Eliot, Remington and Besi, are very happy to have some humans around to feed and pet them. David and I are settled in and learning to find our way into the town center by bus. I’ve found a small but well-supplied grocery store nearby. We can’t drink the tap water, so have to buy huge ‘garrafones’ (plastic bottles) of treated water. The gas comes in tanks, so we have to listen out for the gas trucks in order to buy a new tank. A whistle outside is usually a man on a bike sharpening knives and scissors, etc. A long blast on a truck horn early, early in the morning, is the garbage collectors. They come by three times a week.

On Sunday morning I attended the very small English-speaking Episcopal church. It was comfortable, welcoming and, guess what, THEY can’t find people to do Coffee Hour either! MORE TO COME....