Upcoming Events
Please mark your calendar for the following. And you can always refer to our online calendar for details:
Sunday, January 22, 11:30am: Prayer Shawl Fellowship and Lunch
If you knit or crochet, or would like to learn how, join us for fellowship and fun during our inaugural Prayer Shawl ministry get-to-gether. We will be in the church Library or the Community House, depending on how many people join us. Children are welcome to learn also, and childcare will be available. Lunch will be provided.
If you have yarn to donate, please feel free to drop by while we are there, or leave it at the Parish Office.
Thursday, January 26, 5:30pm: Soup Kitchen Volunteers and Caritas Fellowship and Supper, followed by Compline
Join us in the Community House for supper and conversation if you volunteer at the Torrington Soup Kitchen or if you would like to. Also, Caritas is invited to join our fellowship and a meal. Afterwards, we will have a quick Compline service in the church to close the evening.
Sunday, January 29, 11:30am:Celebration for the Ministry of Rev. Jennings Matheson
Rev. Jenni ends her 14+ years with us and we are having parish-wide Farewell Luncheon for her on the 29th, her last Sunday at St. Michael's. Food and beverages will be provided by the Vestry. Please join us in showing how much we appreciate her ministry amongst us.
Thursday, February 2, 6pm: Candlemas Evensong and Supper to be Offered at St. Michael’s
On Thursday, February 2, at 6 PM, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church invites the community to Candlemas Evensong, a beautiful Anglican liturgy of sung evening prayer rooted in ancient Christian and pre-Christian traditions.
Occurring forty days after Christmas, "Candlemas" (or Candle Mass) refers to the blessing of beeswax candles to be used throughout the year, some of which are distributed to the faithful for use in the home. It is also known as the Feast of the Presentation; the blessing of candles on this day recalls Simeon's reference to the infant Jesus as the "light for revelation to the Gentiles".
Evensong features sung psalms and choral arrangements of the Magnificat and other prayers from the liturgy. It is about twenty five minutes long, and all are invited afterwards for a simple soup and bread supper in the Community House.
St. Michael’s welcomes all to this very lovely way to gather in the deep mid-winter and nourish both body and soul.
Sunday, February 5: St. Michaell's Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting of St. Michael’s will be on Sunday, Feb. 5th. We will have only one service that day, at 9:00 AM, and the meeting will take place immediately following in the Community House. Pursuant to Article III, Section 1 (Meetings) of the By-Laws, the Annual Meeting will be for the purpose of: electing the officers, vestry people and delegates; approving the terms of a land sale, a driveway easement agreement, and a change in the bylaws; and transacting such other business as may legally come before such meeting.
RECENT EVENTS
Evensong for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels
Thursday, September 29 5:00pm, St. Michael's held an Evensong for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, followed by a reception in the Community House hosted by the Legacy Society. The Evensong was a beautiful service and the St. Michael's choir sang the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D minor by Attwood Walmisley (1814-1856).
Saturday October 1, the 10th Annual Fete and Faire (more details).
Pet Blessing & Celebration for the Feast of St. Francis
Tuesday October 4, 7:00pm, dogs, cats, a kitten, and beloved remains of a pet friend all helped celebrate the Feast of St. Francis and recieved a blessing. A reception followed with treats for everyone.
Concert of Russian Religious and Folk Music
Sunday, October 9, 10:00am, Alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus sang at the 10am Eucharist Service. Later that day, at 3:00 they performed a concert of Russian religious and folk music to full house of eager listeners.
Blessings and Send-offs
Sunday, August 21: St. Michael's Offered thanks for our youth acolytes Julia and August Seidler, and blessing for our youth who are leaving for their first year of college.
Paws in the Pews for St. Michael’s
Approximately 25 dogs of every breed, all well-behaved and happy to meet new friends, joined one brave cat at St. Michael’s Pet Blessing & Celebration on July 20th. The event was a wonderful, deeply spiritual event enjoyed by all the human and animal attendees. The informal service of prayers and thanksgiving was held inside the sanctuary, followed by a procession to the Memorial Garden where each animal was exalted, blessed and treated.
We had enough wonderful pictures that we have created a separate web page for you to enjoy, which includes more information, pictures, the Liturgy bulletin.
Sunday May 22 at the Coffee Hour: Marvelous Works Missioners
The Marvelous Works Missioners trips to Newfoundland and Labrador were wonderful experiences of learning about new places and people and enjoying Christian Community. The Missioners gave a moving discussion and slide-show presentation about the mission trips and their environmental ministry in 2010.
Friday May 6 10:30—Noon, Part II in the Music Lecture Series
Marguerite Mullée will present another lecture in the Music and Religion series: “Development of Harmony: From Plainsong to Palestrina". The lecture will be held in the church Library.
Saturday May 7, 9am-12pm: Marvelous Works Missioners (MWM) and the Shepaug River Association
MWM will be participating in the Shepaug River Association's spring water quality monitoring event on Saturday, May 7th from 9:00am-12:00pm (Rain date: Sunday, May 8th), at Roxbury Town Hall. There will be a pizza party for volunteers around noon once the sorting and ID work has been completed. (Please note children under 16 are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.)
Please click here to read the details about May 7.
This is an essential part of our mission to do outreach in the spirit of Saint Francis, with an ecological focus on the stewardship of God’s creation.
A Meditation on the Lenten Season
St. Michael’s will present a distinctive program of Lenten sacred music, readings and poetry on Sunday, April 3 at 4pm. The St. Michael’s Choir will sing music by Tallis, Morley, Vittoria, Byrd, Sor, Croce and Gibbons. In addition, there will be readings from Scripture as well as poetry featuring T.S. Eliot, Czeslaw Milosz, Chris Price, W.H. Auden, John Donne and Wendell Berry.
This unique observance of Lent was created and will be conducted by Marguerite Mullée, Music Director for the church.
All are welcome to this special service. A free will offering is requested.
TEDDY BEAR PARTY AT ST. MICHAEL’S
On Saturday, February 26, 2011 beginning at 1pm, St. Michael’s hosted a Teddy Bear Party for boys and girls. The event was held in St. Michael’s Community House.
For Ten Dollars, partiers of all ages were treated to a delectable array of homemade goodies. Well-behaved teddy bears, or dollies, or Tonka trunks welcomed companions. Games, music, puppeteering, interactive storytelling, a Legos contest and a treasure hunt all add to the afternoon’s enjoyment.
Sunday December 5, 4:00pm: Annual Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols
We again held our ever-popular service to welcome the Advent Season on December 5th. Lessons and Carols is a beloved English tradition featuring readings from Scripture and exquisite choral music of the centuries – a wonderful mix of classical pieces and Advent carols and hymns. The public was welcome and we so enjoyed seeing visitors in the pews for this special event.
St. Michael's Church, illuminated by candles, provided a beautiful sacred space for this very special service. A prelude of seasonal organ music was followed by the Great Responsory, and the Procession with carols. Seven lessons were then depicted, most of them prophetic.
The direction of the service traditionally flows from darkness to light, focusing towards the coming of Christ. Each lesson is followed by a choral piece sung by the St. Michael's choir and an Advent Hymn, in festal arrangements for Organ, Congregation and Choir. Readers were members of St. Michael’s Parish, including children from the church school.
Saturday, December 11: Messiah, by George Friderick Handel
St. Michael’s hosted a very special concert of Handel’s Messiah performed by the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, singers from Yale Opera (Soprano Kelly Hill, Alto Jamilyn Manning-White, Tenor Jorge Prego and Bass David Pershal) and the Naugatuck Valley Community Choir (NVCC), and members from St. Michael’s choir. Maestro Leif Bjaland, music director and conductor, lead the orchestra through this timeless masterpiece. Messiah is the longest continuously performed work in the history of music – a testament to man’s unwavering spirit and eternal soul.
“Performing this sacred work in the unique and sacred setting of St. Michael’s is a first for the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra,” explains Steve Collins, Executive Director of the WSO. “We wanted to present the masterful piece in a setting and location that would enliven the senses to the message of the work beyond the music.”
St. Michael’s was thrilled to welcome the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra to their first visit to Litchfield and their first complete performance of Handel’s Messiah.
Sunday November 7, 4:00pm: All Saints Day Concert by the St. Michael's Festival Choir
St. Michael's was host to an All Saints Day Concert, Journey to the Light, featuring the St. Michael's Festival Choir conducted by Marguerite Mullee. This choir consisted of our own church choir members, plus about twenty other singers from throughout Connecticut who have come together for this very special concert.
All Saints Day is a time to remember all the saints, the holy deceased, who "from their labors rest." Journey to the Light focuses on the transubstantiation of mourning into joy. The program begins with the Funeral Dirges by Thomas Morley and Blessed are the Dead by Charles Villiers Stanford. Somber, noble pieces, they are reminders of our own mortality as well as the promise of everlasting life. Funeral Ikos by John Tavener is a meditation on death that keeps returning to the refrain "Alleluia", a constant statement of hope, faith and, ultimately, joy. Morten Lauridson's O nata lux moves from the material world into the world of light and transformation, while his Veni Sancte Spiritus invokes the Holy Spirit to aid us in that transformation. And, finally, Te Deum by Ralph Vaughan Williams reaffirms our faith; both the deceased and those who mourn are united in their praise and certainty of life eternal. The Te Deum was accompanied by brass and percussion - Tom Freas (Fanfare Consort) and musicians from West Point!
We are very grateful for the free-will offerings we recieved, which will help us to provide more such concerts.
Recital Friday October 29: A Concert in Song and Liturgy, 7:00PM
Celebrating the Divine in creation, songs performed by Teresa Eickel, vocalist, accompanied by Djordje Stevan Nesic, pianist. World liturgies and poetry from the book Feast of the Universe were read by the author, Anne Rowthorn, and Andrea Cohen-Kiener, contributor.
The concert was held to benefit the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network (IEJN) (http://www.irejn.org). Please feel free to download the flyer and the offiical press release, telling more about the recital and the IEJN.
