Congratulations to our two recipients of the Janet Nichols Scholarship, Stephen Johnson and Mary Kate Lee. Stephen graduated valedictorian of his class. He plans to attend Northeastern University to pursue a degree in engineering. Mary Kate Lee will be attending University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she will study preliminary medicine with a minor in business. Our best wishes and prayers will go with both of students.

Do you have any receipts from Shaw Supermarket? The ECW is continuing to collect them as a fundraiser. Put your receipts in the pink boxes located in the back of the church and the office in the Parish Hall. Thanks for your help!

Ladies, please reserve this date! October 4^th, 2008! The ECW is planning a women’s retreat for that Saturday. We have engaged a guest speaker and hoping for a great turnout. If you need a time for personal and spiritual reflection, this is for you! Look for more details in upcoming Banners.

Thank you to everyone who donated toward the update of the Parish Hall kitchen. We are looking forward to putting your generosity to good use as we improve the facilities with which we provide hospitality to our church community.

The next ECW meeting will be on August 10, 2008, after the 9 a.m. service.

7/01 – Shaina Thomas 7/03 – John Harper 7/07-Lindsay Johnson

7/08 – Richard Govoni 7/09 - Dean Anderson 7/16 – Peter Kelly

7/17 – William Choate 7/17 – Ginny Stelmach 7/17 –John Merluzzo

7/19 - Eric Langenfeld 7/19 – Sean Ryan 7/21 – Eleanor Maddigan

7/21 – Joseph Morrissey 7/23 – Shawn Brides 7/28 – Craig Fullerton

7/29 – Alyssa Murphy 7/30 – Judith Manton

8/02 – Gary Tanguay 8/06 - Peg Atkins 8/07 – Alexandra Welch

8/08 – Kelly King 8/09 – Dylan Cray 8/10 - Wayne Perkins

8/11 – Christina Anderson 8/11 – Angela Pendoley 8/11 – Logan Verhegen

8/12 – Nicole Steeves 8/15 - David Thompson 8/16 – Julie Siderwicz

8/17 – Diana DiGiorgi 8/19 – Claire Rockwood 8/21 – Diane Maddigan

8/21 – Patrick Rogers 8/21 - Matthew White 8/23 – Clayton Lacombe

8/24 – Marion Gunning 8/24 – Meghan Holdsworth 8/25 – Thomas Brides Jr

8/25 – Richard Nielson 8/30 – Elizabeth Wainwright

Church of Our Saviour

Meeting Minutes, May 22, 2008

The May 22, 2008, meeting of the Vestry was held in the Washburn Library beginning at 7:05 p.m. and opened with prayer by Fr. Dave.

 Pattie Stagliola and Gretchen Umholtz gave a presentation of the new Photo Directory which will include pages of the Church Staff, Activities, Families of Church Members, plus a section containing family names and addresses. Martha Edwards will be assembling the pages. Donations have been made to purchase extra copies of the directories. Michael Stagliola questioned why the Executive Committee decided to purchase extra copies.

 A motion was made by Kevin Lynn, seconded by Lisa Buckley, and approved unanimously by the Vestry to accept the minutes of the April 24, 2008, meeting with corrections.

 Stewardship Committee: Lisa Buckley and Bryan Young attended a Stewardship Conference on May 17, 2008, at Trinity Copley in Boston. This was a free work-shop open to the Diocese. There were about 100 participants. Several of the ideas presented at the Conference were:

 Thanks yous are key to successful stewardship, done in a timely fashion.

Small group ministries create connections.

Emphasize more of the Time and Talent aspect of Stewardship.

Newcomers need to know what the expectations are as members of a Congregation.

How does the amount I pledge reflect with the values of my life?

Where do we go from here?

There needs to be conversations between the Communication Committee, the Finance Committee, the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer, the Stewardship Committee, and the Rector.

 The Guild House: Matthew Galvin made a motion to rescind the January resolution to sell the Guild House, seconded by Suzanne Simmons. The motion was approved with one opposition. A motion was made by Matthew Galvin, seconded by Lisa Buckley, and voted unanimously, to have the Properties Committee receive bids for work on the Guild House which will include a new water service, asbestos encapsulation and one new heating system.

 The Vestry was given a sign-up sheet to host coffee hour after the 9:00 a.m. summer service, starting June 15 thru September 7, 2008.

 A Men’s Group Ecumenical Breakfast will be held at 8:00 a.m. on May 31, 2008 at the E. Freetown Christian Congregational Church.

 Teacher/Student Appreciation Sunday, which will be on June 8, 2008 and will be followed by the end of the year cook-out.

 Father Bruce Benshoff will be the supply priest on June 15, 2008, which is Father’s Day.

 Starting July 5, there will be a 5:00 p.m. service on every Saturday through the summer. A notice will need to be added to the sign at the church.

 Treasurer’s Report: Barry Capistron stated that the contract on the copy machine was canceled because we exceeded the number of copies made per year. She received prices for leasing a new machine or a refurbished one. A motion was made by Suzanne Simmons, seconded by Matthew Galvin, and approved unanimously to lease a refurbished machine.

 Matthew Galvin reported that $1500 was made on the yard sale that was held on May 3, 2008. Thank you to everyone who helped out.

 Wally Kling, Junior Warden’s Report: There was a leak in the church roof. The bathroom door locks occasionally. She will be planting flowers around the church soon. There is a broken window in the Nearly New Shop.

 Randy King, Senior Warden’s Report: The Guild House will always be an issue. This is his 4th year on the Vestry and he is proud of this group.

 New Business: Frances Kulak, the Parish Administrative Assistant has requested that her working hours be changed from 4 days to 3 days, still totaling 20 hours a week, because of the price of gas and the distance of her commute from Swansea. A motion was made by Kevin Lynn, seconded by Thomas Brown, approved with one opposition by Michael Stagliola, to accept this schedule on a trial basis until September.

 Matthew Galvin made a motion to have the Memorial Fund put into the regular budget and allocated for heat. There is $27,000 in the account that can be put into a CD until September. The motion was seconded by Nancy Lee, and voted unanimously.

Fr Dave’s Report: There was great energy at the Yard Sale. We need to have more programs to bring people together.

The meeting ended at 9:35 p.m. with Compline by the Vestry.

The next meeting will be on Thursday, June 26, 7:00 p.m. in the Washburn Library, with Compline led by David Ferchen.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanne Turney, Clerk

*indicates line struck to amend the motion without the need to provide a certificate of insurance.

Motion Passed

July 6 – Matt Galvin August 3 – Kevin Lynn

July 13 – Pattie Stagliola August 10 – David Ferchen

July 20 – Wally Kling August 17 – Lisa Buckley

July 27 – Randy King August 24 – Fr. Dave (which means Ruth, of course)

August 31 – Mary Grandfield

Recently, we’ve heard a lot about stewardship and evangelism. We’ve been asked to be more intentional about inviting people who don’t usually go to church or who have lapsed in attendance to come to church with us. The following story is a reminder that there are people out there waiting to be asked or to be nudged in the right direction. I’m

certain about this because I was one of those people.

By the title of this story, you might anticipate that it is about horrific tornadoes in the Midwest or devastating

hurricanes along the eastern seaboard, but you would be wrong. This is the true story of what happened one November

morning as I took a step along the path of my faith journey.

As the parent of two young children at that time, I couldn’t help but feel that I was shirking my responsibilities

in not bringing up my children connected to a community of faith. As an adult; I was not practicing the faith that my

parents brought me up with, in fact, I wasn’t at all interested in reconnecting with that church. I did, however, feel the

stirrings of a need for connection. I mentioned my interest in attending church again to a friend in California who

recommended that I look at the Episcopal church. She, like me, had been raised in the Roman Catholic church but was

also estranged. She thought that I would feel very comfortable with the service. I tucked that piece of information in

the back of my mind for future reference.

At about the same time, I was toying with the idea of returning to work on a more regular basis than I had been

since my children were born. As a registered nurse, I decided to look at the job posting board at the local community

hospital. This being pre-on-line job postings, I took a ride and found the bulletin board. My search was not very

fruitful. On the way out, I noticed a sign for an Episcopal church just down the street from the hospital which I hadn’t

noticed on the way in. Maybe I had been searching for the wrong thing that day.

My spirits lifted, I called the number when I reached home. Being a Monday, I got the recorded message

giving the times of services and a welcome to join them anytime. The following Saturday, I made the decision to attend the 8am service the next day to see what it was like: a recon mission, as I would attend by myself and bring my impression home to share with my family. Sunday morning came early so I dressed and started out. I misjudged drive time and I was running a little tight on time. Then came the rain which slowed me down a little more. Looking at my watch, I thought to myself, "I don’t know anyone there. I’m going to be late. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. I think I’ll go home and try this again another Sunday."

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind when one terrific flash of lightning and one loud clap of thunder

caught my attention. There hadn’t been any prior to that and there weren’t any afterward. I laughed out loud and said,

"okay, I get the message. I’m going to the church!"

The rain lightened. I made my way and parked in the lot, still not knowing what to expect. I was, in fact, a

little late. The first hymn had been sung, the opening sentences and collect of the day said and the first reading was

about to begin. I tried to quietly slip in and take a seat in the back row, unnoticed, something that wasn’t at all possible

since there were only about six people in the pews and I had left the heavy wooden door ajar. The person who I now

know was the usher got up from his seat and closed the door completely, as there must have been a cool draft on that

damp November morning. If there was, it was lost on me because my embarrassment at walking in and disturbing the

service had caused my cheeks to go bright red and I certainly didn’t feel cool.

As I said earlier, I didn’t know what to expect that day! What I didn’t expect, however, was to be so moved by

the readings and the sermon that I wept right there in the company of strangers. My only thought was that I had come

home. The rest of that day and several more passed with a sense of awakening and feelings that were difficult to put

into words. Needless to say, I did start going to services regularly – most often with my family and usually the

10 0’clock service.

As the years passed, life had some challenges for me – some pleasant, some not so much. Through it all, my

faith stayed strong. When the time came that I needed to find a new place to worship, I knew where my roots were and

understood that no matter what building I worshipped in, the same loving, forgiving, merciful God would still be at my

side.

Just recently at a conference on stewardship that I attended, the musical guest was a guitar – playing man

named Fran McKendree. One of the song he sang was "Waiting for Lightning. I chuckled as I listened. Later, when I

bumped into him in the hallway, I recounted my personal lightning story, the short version, of course. He hugged me

and thanked me for sharing.

Honestly, I don’t know where I would be today if I hadn’t had that thunder and lightning experience on that

November morning which now seems so long ago. I’m grateful for it every day. One thing is certain: I never feel alone

and when I’m afraid or overwhelmed, I stop and remember the feelings I had that day and know that everything

will be fine. Sometimes that message comes to you in a quiet way but other times, it’s loud and clear. Amen.

Lisa Buckley

2008

For those wishing to add names to the prayer list, please notify Natalie Atkins or contact the Church office at 508.947.1900.

Marlene Louise Sally Genie

Carrie Betty Andrea Bob

Chad Merrie Laura Rachel

Mary Jean Doreen Emma Jamie

Mark Ginny Cheryl Carl

Gloria Olga Toni Lita

Barbara Marguerite Sandra Tiny

Pat Debby Candace Bob

Bryan Doreen P. Gary S. Brad

John & Jane Kate & Bill Alice & Clayton

Sandra & Harold Cynthia & Family

Tom & Nancy Anne & Bill Peggy & Richard

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