St. Michael's Episcopal Church

The Altar Guild did an outstanding job of decorating the church for Easter. Here are a couple of examples of their work:

As part of The Education Series, St Michael’s is showing THE CITY DARK, a documentary about the vanishing night sky, due to light pollution. It will be shown on Monday April 9th at 7:30 in the UPH.  Filmmaker Ian Cheney will introduce his film and will do a Q & A afterwards.  Reception follows.  All welcome.  Check out the film and his trailer www.thecitydark.com.

Please join us for our Holy Week services and events.

Maundy Thursday, April 5

7:30 p.m.  Holy Eucharist,
Footwashing, and Stripping of Altar, followed by Soup Supper

Good Friday, April 6

12 noon  Good Friday Liturgy
7:30 p.m.  Good Friday Liturgy

Holy Saturday, April 7

8:30 a.m.  Holy Saturday Prayers
9:30 a.m.  Junior Flower Guild

Easter Sunday, April 8

7:00 a.m.  Holy Eucharist in the Garden
9:00 a.m.  Holy Eucharist with Children’s Homily
(followed by Easter Egg Hunt)
11:00 a.m.  Holy Eucharist

(Nursery care at the 9:00 a.m. service only)

Today, St. Michael’s welcomed our new rector, the Rev. Hall Kirkham, to our parish. Hall served at St. Michael’s in 2008 as a seminarian, and most recently was Assistant Rector at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Weston. We’re happy that so many of you could join us today for Holy Eucharist, and we look forward to getting to know Hall and his family.

St Michael’s Adult choir will be singing several selections from Handel’s “Messiah” during the Palm Sunday and Easter services. We welcome new singers to join us at this Joyful time for either these services or the rest of the year ! The choir rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7 – 9pm and on Sunday mornings starting at 8:30. Please contact Joyce Painter Rice at joyceorganist@aol.com or any of the choir members for more info.

The PNOLA group really felt great about all the work we were able to complete at Lola and April’s house. The family room floor is installed and the trim board applied. We also demolished a water soaked closet and finished an amazing amount of painting and plastering in other rooms in the house. Things are looking very promising for the family to be able to return home. April was very grateful and, while shy, really came around by the end of our week. She presented us all with a Mardi Gras cup and beads to bring home to Boston with us. We wished her well and hope to visit her in her finished home with all her family on another trip to NOLA.

All of us were struck by the fact that the neighborhood we were working in was still so affected by Katrina. Some houses on the street were looking cared for, but others were clearly unoccupied and many had been torn down. Amazingly this neighborhood is only 3 blocks from the beautiful Garden District and prosperous St Charles Street. This is truly a divided city with most of the neighborhoods looking neglected and forgotten. We all felt blessed to have been able to help Lola and April. Thank you all for helping us bring St. Michael’s loving community to New Orleans.

I am so struck with the spirit of the people of New Orleans – their kindness, hospitality, and welcoming of us. Everyone thanks us for coming (and you all for sending us) and for not forgetting them after so many years. At the New Orleans Mission all the guests said “thank you m’am” and “God bless y’all”. Mildred gave us all hugs for painting the ironwork around her house. John and Betty stood wistfully at the door (she in her wheelchair) waving goodbye after we cleaned up their yard. Amanda opened up her home for us to use her bathroom while we were working in the Bayou Rebirth gardens and then came to say goodbye. Mother Susan of St. Andrew’s, Rev. Jim at St. George’s, and Father Bill at St. Anna’s all welcomed and thanked us.

I am also struck by people’s openness for us to pray for them – the countless murder victims, their families, and their prepatators. Dave from the Mission’s babies who were kidnapped. Corey at the Mission who is lost and confused. Amanda who worries about 8 year old girls who know already what rape is. Bev who lost not only her son but her beloved dog. Joe and Gloria who are still working on their house. Please keep them and all the people of this glorious city in your prayers.

Thursday Today many of us went to work for Bayou Rebirth. We weeded, organized their tool shed, and prepared to create a rain garden. A rain garden is a rain water catchnment area which can be built in a back yard to prevent rain water from going into storm drains and becoming polluted when it hits the streets. The garden is actually a shallow hole in the ground filled with permeable soil such as crushed rock or sand and planted with attractive plants, usually native, such as iris and marsh grasses. Storm water flows into the garden and although it eventually sinks, is held there for a while, preventing erosion and pollution. If enough rain gardens could be built in New Orleans back yards, flooding could be vastly improved. It would also be a huge energy saving, as 40% of the energy used during a rain storm is for pumping the water out of the city!
It was hard, physical work, followed by cleaning up the huge brush pile left from pruning a large tree. We’re tired tonight, but true to form, Barb and Marilyn have cooked a huge dinner and we are expecting Bev Jimenez and Joe and Gloria Robert, whose homes we worked on in other years. –Sheila

BTW, Barb

It so great to follow you all as you continue this wonderful tradition of service. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Where are you staying this year?

I hope this posts correctly – the blog seems to want to recognize me as a contributor not a responder. (I guess I should be honored.)

Keep well, keep posting, and send pictures!

my love to you all,

Anne Aylward Spofford

A Day At The Homeless Mission

Yesterday some of us worked at the New Orleans Mission for Homeless. We made po’boy sandwiches for the guests for lunch (we would call them hoagies), served lunch, and sorted and stored an enormous delivery of baked goods from a grocery store. What we actually did wasn’t the important thing, though. What was important were the stories we heard from the staff about how they had originally arrived at the Mission, down and out,and how their lives had been turned around. What was important were the thank yous the clients gave me when I handed them a cup of iced tea. What was important was the gentleness of the chef when he sat and talked with us after lunch. What was important was the sense that between these walls there was, at long last, some hope.
There are estimated to be 19,000 homeless people in New Orleans.
–Sheila