Saint Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church

April 2010 Newsletter

APRIL CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Tuesdays – Healing & Intercessory Prayer,
11:00 a.m.
April 1 – Maundy Thursday 7:00 p.m.
April 2 – Good Friday Liturgy 12:00 noon
April 7 - MANNA – (First Wednesday of each
month: See Mercedes Herdrich for info on how
For lo, the winter is past, you can help)
The snow is over and gone. April 19 – Vestry Meeting 7:00 p.m. (Third
The flowers appear on the earth. Monday of each month) All are welcome!
The time for singing has come. April 24 – Yard sale and Anniversary
Celebration (see article below)
The time for singing has come. April 26 –Growth Committee Meeting 7 p.m.
April 26 – Deadline for April newsletter:
Please send articles to [email protected]

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Make Plans to Attend our Festival of
Fifty Attend World Day of Prayer Celebration
Service Hosted by St. Mary Mag
Don’t forget the St. Mary Magdalene Festival of
On March 5, our church hosted an ecumenical Celebration will take place on April 24 starting
prayer service with fifty community friends and at 8:00 AM.
fellow parishioners in attendance. The service Come enjoy a fantastic yard sale, face
included special prayers and remembrances for painting and balloons for the kids, ice cream, hot
people around the world who are suffering from dogs, beverages and much more! Take
violence, exploitation and poverty. advantage of a $1 raffle with lots of great
prizes!!
A highlight was special music, including solos Now is a good time to start pulling out
by our own Domenick Rondello, and Mary any items you wish to donate to the yard sale.
Thompson of Pinehurst, plus lively African We will pick them up if you can’t drop them by
hymns and music. the church.
Also, you can be a great help by getting
The service was followed by lunch, planned and local merchants and services to donate items
served by our church ladies. This heartwarming which we can use in the raffle. Just let Mercedes
event made it possible for us to pray and break Herdrich know who you are contacting so we
bread with our fellow Christians. Thanks to don’t duplicate efforts. She will also supply you
those who worked hard to bring this event about, with thank you letters which the merchants can
with special thanks to the planners, Carol use for tax purposes.
Burgess and Jan Standing. Our Festival of Celebration can be a great
success with your support. Please join in the
fun!!

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 CLERGY SCHEDULE for APRIL Coalition Outreach Opportunity
April 1 - Maundy Thursday –
Thanks to all who so faithfully bring food
Fr. Brown/Deacon Burgess
for the Coalition outreach. We collected many
April 2 - Good Friday - Fr. Thompson
packages of instant mashed potatoes during the
April 3 - Holy Saturday - No Service
month of March.
April 4 - Easter Day– Fr. Brown
In April, we are asked to bring any of the
April 11 – Easter 2 – Fr. Thompson
traditional items that are so needed to feed our
April 18 – Easter 3 – Fr. Brown
hungry neighbors. Items such as boxed mac and
April 25 – Easter 4 - Fr. Thompson
cheese, canned tuna, canned milk, canned fruit,
and other non-perishable items are greatly
appreciated. Continue bringing instant mashed
STOP HUNGER NOW
potatoes if you wish.
This month there is a special request for
Saturday, March 20, at Penick Village, we saw
disposable diapers for 3 and 4 year olds.
the renewed effort of Sandhills Episcopalians to
Our church has been outstanding in the
support the Raleigh based humanitarian ministry
support of The Coalition. Keep up the good
that packages dehydrated meals for the hungry of
work!
the world. Rice, soy, a vitamin rich mixture, and
dehydrated vegetables were combined in plastic
BISHOP’S VISIT UNCERTAIN
bags which were weighed, sealed and packed in
cartons then trucked to ports on the east coast.
The liturgical celebration of our thirtieth
Then they are put into cargo containers and
anniversary has been set for Sunday, June 6th.
transported by ship to the needy children of the
The first service of Mary Magdalene Church was
Caribbean Islands and Africa. Last year, the food
on June 4th, 1980. Our bishop, the Right Rev.
we packaged was shipped to the children of
Michael J. Curry, has been invited to this
Haiti.
seminal event in the life of our parish. Because
of personal commitments, he is unable to
Eighteen Mary Magdalene folks joined many
confirm that he will be able to celebrate with us
others, working two hour shifts each, to help
that day. However, if the bishop is able to attend
Stop Hunger Now. Our church was asked to raise
the celebration that morning, he will baptize,
$1200 to help pay for the ingredients. Your
confirm and receive all those who have been
vestry approved the requested amount.
prepared for the occasion. We are optimistic that
Donations from parishioners will be deducted
he will find a way to join us. Accordingly,
from the allocation. Other Episcopal
instruction about the Episcopal Church and the
congregations pledged an additional $10,000 for
Christian religion as practiced by our Church
the effort.
will be given during April and May.
Sanitary methods were used during the
We urge all those who want to confirm their
packaging of the food. We all wore hair nets and
Baptismal vows or who want to be received into
some wore rubber gloves. We all looked silly in
this branch of the one holy catholic church from
our hats but we did it, as requested. Very young
other Catholic Churches, or who wish to be
and some quite elderly persons joined in the
baptized, to notify the clergy immediately so that
work, fellowship and fun. A bell was rung each
classes can be arranged for them. The Great Fifty
time one thousand meals were packed. It rang
Days of the Easter Season is a most appropriate
many times that day. Want to join us next year?
time to prepare to make this commitment to
Christ and his Church.
Fr. Bob

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 MEET TWO PARISHIONERS

CHANGES IN SUNDAY WORSHIP

Beginning on Easter, and continuing throughout

the Great Fifty Days, the Sunday Liturgy will
have a noticeable change. The Great Fifty Days
is the festive period from Easter to the day of
Pentecost (fifty days later). It is a time of special
celebration paying tribute to the Resurrection
and all that it means. A God-incidence brought Jim and Sherol
Grigerick together 38 years ago in a teachers’
During this time we will not have the usual lounge in Newington, Connecticut. Sherol
Confession of Sin by the people and Absolution taught Spanish and French, and Jim science and
pronounced by the clergy. This is in accord with physical education.
the ancient church who felt that “…Christians
acknowledged their sinfulness by giving thanks Sherol was born in Providence, Rhode Island,
to God, in the Eucharistic prayer, for having and grew up in Connecticut. She has a BA in
redeemed them. The Lord’s Prayer contained the Spanish, and also studied French. Her MA is in
petition ‘forgive us as we forgive’. No English as a Second Language. (ESL)
absolution was included, for one of the benefits Jim hails from Hartford, Connecticut, has a BA
of communion was understood to be the in science and physical education, and did
forgiveness of sins.” Commentary on the American graduate studies in physics and chemistry.
Prayer Book, Hatchett, Marion J., p. 341.
They have three married children, a son Darrel,
We will return to the more familiar petition of and daughters Kristin and Karrie. Karrie will
the General Confession and the assurance of present the Grigericks their first grandchild in
God’s forgiveness in the pronouncement of the August.
Absolution on Trinity Sunday, May 30th.
Otis, a black and white “tuxedo” cat, who has a
Moore on Stage very relaxed attitude for life, rounds out their
This season, a group from our church has family.
enjoyed season tickets to the Moore on Stage
productions. The plays have been great, and the Jim and Sherol were raised in different worship
fellowship priceless. traditions. When Sherol’s sister became the
organist for a nearby Episcopal Church, they
With this season ending, you are invited, were led spiritually there and were
and encouraged, to join the group of season confirmed and received into the Episcopal
ticket holders for the next round of plays. Church soon after their marriage.
Following each play, the group goes to dinner at
a local restaurant, where good food, fun and On a trip to find warmer weather at Myrtle
congeniality reign. It’s fun. If you do not wish Beach, they stopped at Wilmington and fell in
to purchase a season ticket, you may join the love with the city. Moving to North Carolina in
group for any single play. 1997, Jim retired after 30 years. In his
“retirement,” Jim worked at the airport and also
Contact Phyllis Rondello for more information. at Car Quest in Wilmington. Sherol retired in
2008 in Wilmington, after 28 years of service.

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 and consider any others that had been made
Seven Lakes, with all our amenities, was just the by the members of the congregation (see
place they were looking for when they decided to February Newsletter). There were no
really retire in 2009. additional suggestions. The committee
discussed the list for some time and then
This happy couple enjoys ballroom dancing, arrived at a consensus regarding the number
bicycling and gardening together. Sherol sings one priority. That priority was expressed
with the Moore County Choral Society, and also using the following words from the List:
in the St. Mary Magdalene choir.
She is also teaching in the ESL program in Develop the Message, Communicate (the
Richmond County. She’s retired?!! Message), Advertising,
Jim enjoys senior softball, and, being a WWII
buff, he builds plane and boat models of that era. Get Congregation on Board, Worship God
He has a five-foot model of an aircraft carrier, (Liturgical Experience).
The Lexington, in their living room.
It was apparent that getting the word out
We have a congregation filled with talented, seemed to be a significant strategy to attain
dedicated people, grounded in faith in the Holy growth. To do this, we need to develop the
Trinity. Sherol and Jim Grigerick are a message that is to be gotten out. And what is it
wonderful addition, as YOU all are, to our parish that is so special about SMM that people
family. Watch for this space next month when would want to come and see?
we get to know Mercedes and Mick Herdrich.
Carol Fr. Fred made a statement that resonated
with the entire committee. He wrote: We
GROWTH COMMITTEE CONVENES come to church to find and form a closer
relationship to God. That is done both vertically
The initial meeting of the Standing Committee and horizontally (the shape of the cross) as we
on Growth Planning was held at the church reach upward toward God and outward toward
on Monday evening, March 22th. The our neighbor.
Committee is comprised of your clergy, Jim
Douglass, Mercedes Herdrich, Ed Therefore, to build a vibrant community in
Matthewson, Sandra Morris, Bob Rinaldi, Christ, we must have compelling, meaningful
and Jan Standing. The reason for the and challenging worship as well as a
formation of the committee by your vestry is welcoming community that rejoices in its
to have a group of parishioners willing to members, all of them. When people come and
assist the vestry with the task of carrying out find that, they stay!
the stated Mission of Saint Mary Magdalene:
When they hear of it, they come.
To realize the growth required for this
congregation to become a parish in the This is our product. This is what we make.
Diocese of North Carolina by the year 2013, This is what we do. How do we market it to
prompted by the direction of Jesus, the world about us? The committee members
were encouraged to think further on these
“Go into the world, making disciples of all, things and be prepared to lay them on the
baptizing them…and teaching them all table at the next meeting, scheduled for April
that I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:19-20. 26th, 7 p.m.

Our task that evening was to prioritize the list Fr. Bob
of suggestions made by the vestry in January,

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