All SOULS WEEKLY
vOLUME 1, nUMBER 1, fEBRUARY 10, 2008

From the Rector: A New Practice for Lent and Beyond

One of the first things I learned about All Souls was how quickly news travels.  This works well when there is something a lot of people need to know and word gets around.  But the speed of news in our community works poorly when the wrong information is dispersed, or when the type of information that gets distributed is less significant than the information that actually needs to be distributed.  In conversations with the search committee last spring and in listening to the vestry and various segments of the parish, I’ve tried to imagine ways to increase the speed and clarity of our communication.   Though every effort will have its challenges, I am excited to introduce the first All Souls Weekly.  I hope you’ll greet this with excitement and that we will come to see it as a helpful piece to our common life.

The All Souls Weekly replaces our customary Sunday morning announcement insert.  Each Weekly will include a word from the rector or another contributor, a few announcements, the daily lectionary readings and the week’s schedule.  You will notice a number of slight changes.  Because of space and for the sake of clarity, only those events that take place in the building are listed in the weekly schedule.  Mission opportunities and off-site opportunities will continue to be listed in the bimonthly newsletter and posted on the website in the calendar section.  The daily lectionary will also look different so that it conforms with the Daily Prayer our parish actually prays together.    In addition, if you subscribe to Email Updates from All Souls, you’ll receive the Weekly on Friday mornings by email.  One can sign up directly at http://lists.allsoulsdc.org/mailman/listinfo/asc_update.  The Weekly will also be posted on our parish website every Friday morning.

If you have something that you would like included in the All Souls Weekly, please call or email the parish office by Wednesday of each week.  In whatever way you can, I hope you’ll help us to spread the word about all the good things God is doing at All Souls.  – John Beddingfield

Your prayers are asked for . . . Owen Basil, Regina Dading, Julia Gutierrez, Ted Field, Martha Holdgate, Lizzie, Will, and Jack Baird, Michael Berman, Angela Ward and Family, Jennifer Murray, Doug Arnold, Jack Price, Lee Wilcox, Nancy and Bill Pressly, Jerry Hollingsworth and Sandra Taylor Knowles.  We remember also those who suffer as a result of the storms this week in the Southeastern United States.  In addition to this prayer list, if you wish to participate in our ongoing Internet Prayer Circle please contact Vicki Lowe.

Around the Parish . . . Special thanks to Nancye Suggs, Betty Ann Beardsworth, Mark Hoffman and Susan Morrison for the fun and food of our Shrove Tuesday dinner . . . You may have noticed that the plantings along the Woodley Place side of the church have been removed.  Most of these are being stored by our landscaper and will be replanted after the ground is re-graded and renovations are completed to the church nursery.  We are awaiting construction permits for the nursery work and hope to begin repairs for leaks and renovations in the coming weeks . . . Thanks to the Garden Guild for their work last Saturday at the Barnett home . . . A new rose frontal for the High Altar is being made, thanks to a generous donor.  It should be ready for Rose Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 2 . . . Plans are in the works for a new parish photo directory this spring.  Start planning your outfit now . . . Attendance Sunday, February 3, 8:30 a.m.: 35; 11:00 a.m.: 148; Attendance Shrove Tuesday: 65; Attendance Ash Wednesday 7:00 a.m.: 22; noon: 35; 7:00 p.m.: 56 . . .Total pledge offerings received this week were $10,831.00. The total plate offering received was $735.00.

Liturgical notes . . . During Lent the 8:30 a.m. Mass begins with the Penitential Order and the 11:00 a.m. Mass begins with the Great Litany.  The altar frontal and the priest’s vestments used during the season of Lent are of an unbleached linen and known as “lenten array.”  Their simplicity is meant to call to mind the sackcloth and ashes of the biblical penitent.  Lenten array, rather than purple, is an ancient custom associated with the Sarum use (from Salisbury Cathedral) since at least the eleventh century . . . Stations of the Cross is offered each Friday evening in Lent at 7:00 p.m.  Join us for this forty-five minute devotion as we move through the church with prayers, silence and song . . . During Lent (except for the Fourth Sunday) flowers are not used at the High Altar . . .  The sanctuary candle burns this week to the Glory of God and in loving memory of Betty Publicover Mason by her son, Bob Publicover.  Mrs. Publicover’s 90th birthday would have been this week.

The Adult Forum at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 10, “Hurricane Katrina Relief” is led by John and Mary Miers, members of St. James Church, Potomac.  John and Mary spent the month of September in New Orleans assisting with Hurricane Katrina relief. Come hear about their work and about new opportunities for mission.

Our Lenten Series begins on Wednesday, February 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the undercroft.  Join us for a simple soup and bread dinner and the series, “Pioneers of the Spirit.”  This week’s video and discussion focus on the life of “Hildegard of Bingen,” an eleventh century German abbess, intellectual, writer, composer and artist.

The Heifer Project works with communities around the world to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. Giving to this project works to “pass on the gift.” The families then share their animals’ offspring with others – along with their knowledge, resources, and skills.  Join the children of All Souls for this Lenten project.  On Palm Sunday, the children will bring their gift boxes in the procession. Visit the information table in the Undercroft to learn more about this great program.

Readings for the Daily Office come from the lectionary in the back of the Book of Common Prayer.  Psalms are traditionally read according to the headings in the Prayer Book corresponding to the day of the month.  For example, the heading for Psalm 69 on Page 679 in the Prayer Book is, “Thirteenth Day: Evening Prayer,” which would be the psalm appointed for February 13 in the evening.  In keeping with the rubrics on page 934, we read the Gospel in the morning.  The readings listed in the Morning Prayer column below are those read at All Souls Tuesday through Friday at 7:15 a.m.  The third reading may be added in the morning or read at Evening Prayer.

SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK

ALL SOULS MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH

The Reverend John Beddingfield, rector;
Mr. Isaac Borocz, parish administrator;
Mr. Arthur Roach, interim director of music and organist;
Mr. Oscar Prado, sexton

2300 Cathedral Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008-1505
Voice: 202-232-4244, Fax: 202-232-8593

Email: allsouls1@aol.com

www.allsoulsdc.org