LOBSTER ROLLS

Tuesday, July 5 lobster rolls will be sold from 4:30-6:30 on the terrace behind the Sanctuary. More information to follow!

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Neighborhood Convention April 5

 NEIGHBORHOOD  CONVENTION                        Tuesday, April 5               11:00a.m.                  Grace Episcopal Church,  Vineyard Haven                                     “On Chaplaincy”                                Rev. Stephen Harding
                                    All are welcome.                                  MASKS,   PLEASE                  (Refreshments postponed until next season)

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Rolling Ridge Lenten retreats

 The spiritual life is not about how much you know.  It is also not about keeping religious traditions.  The spiritual life is about the way of the heart and the journey of the soul towards deeper experience with Divine grace.  We invite you to join us for two upcoming programs at the Ridge that will awaken your spiritual life and unite your head, heart, and body in a holistic, wonderful encounter with Christ as we approach Easter.  Registration continues for our next cohort of Way of the Heart which begins ONLINE on Saturday, February 5th.  Way of the Heart is a 5-month ONLINE spiritual adventure that awakens you to God’s loving presence in your life by equipping you with time-tested spiritual practices and helping you envision unique Love-based expressions. Meeting via Zoom once a month on Saturday from 9-noon (beginning February 5th and ending June 4th), you will come to trust the way of your heart, expand your awareness, move towards wholeness, learn to listen generously, and envision contemplative living.  Small groups between the monthly sessions will help you thrive in community.  Register today.  Your heart will thank you! In just over a month, Lent begins and the journey to Easter unfolds.  We are offering a whole series of Lenten experiences this year, and we hope that you will join us.  We begin lent with our Taize Lenten Retreat on Sunday, March 6th through Monday, March 7th.  Taize music, silence, scripture, and an interactive Stations of the Cross will frame this 24 hour overnight retreat and offer you the space to listen for God and to prepare your heart for Easter.  If 24 hours is too long, consider coming just for the day on Monday for our Taize Quiet Day  As we prepare for Easter, we continue our new Rolling Ridge Prayer Journey series with our 2022 ONLINE Lenten Prayer Journey.  We will meet during the Vesper Hour from 6:00 to 7:00 pm, beginning March 6, the Sunday after Ash Wednesday, for 7 weeks through Easter on April 17th.  Richard Rohr’s book, Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent will guide the weekly gatherings with daily readings and prayers from selective works.  The opening session of our Taize Lenten Retreat on March 6th will be broadcasted LIVE and will begin this adventure.  Thus, you are encouraged to join us in person at the Ridge on March 6th for the Taize Retreat, and then continue the Lenten Prayer Journey online on Sunday evening through Easter.  Other events this Lent include two IN-PERSON Day Apart Retreats — one led by Steve Garnaas-Holmes, and one by Mike Clark.  A Good Friday Sunset Service and Easter Sunrise Service ONSITE at our Rolling Ridge Point of Pines Outdoor Chapel are also being planned.  More information coming.  Check our website regularly for more opportunities to grow in grace.Though winter may be upon us, let Rolling Ridge breathe new hope into your spiritual life this upcoming season as we wait for spring and prepare our hearts for Easter.
 Rolling Ridge Retreat & Conference Center
660 Great Pond Road
North Andover, MA 01845 978-682-8815www.rollingridge.org 
 
 
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Sept. Events at Rolling Ridge

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With Labor Day weekend just days away, schools soon in session, and the calendar flipping to September, summer may be coming to a close, but Rolling Ridge is open and looking forward to a full fall schedule.  With online and onsite opportunities on the calendar, the Ridge seeks to care for your spiritual needs amid the growing uncertainties of the pandemic.

ONLINE, our Divine Friendships series on the Christian contemplative classics continues on Monday, September 13th as we look at the Cloud of Unknowing, an anonymous work of Christian mysticism from the latter half of the 1300s. The book advises that oneness with God cannot be obtained by knowledge and intellect, but by meeting God in the realm of “unknowing”, a simple but intense contemplation in a “cloud of forgetting” and a “dart of longing love” from the heart for God. Intrigued?  We invite you to step into the Unknowing.

Also ONLINE, our Voices and Stories series continues on Wednesday, September 15th as we kick-off National Hispanic Heritage Month and look at the history of this celebration which began as a week in 1966 and expanded to a month in 1988.  We will describe the difference between “Hispanic” and “Latinx”, and will be joined by Walter Mena, Director of the Merrimack Valley Project, who will share about his own immigration story from El Salvador, along with the diversity and immigration issues of the Latinx community in the Merrimack Valley today.

ONSITE, Rolling Ridge is offering three in-person Monday day retreats this month to help us find new spiritual grounding as we make sense of the past year.  Consider adding an overnight package to make it a personal retreat at the Ridge.

We begin our September “Day Together” series on Monday, September 8thSinging and Dancing the Holy, with Stephanie Rutt as we step light to journey deep and embody the sacred mantra practices from across faith traditions. Using simple circle movements, we’ll join together, hand in hand, breath by breath, footstep by footstep to journey to the center of the holy.

 

On Monday, September 13th, we seek to mindfully emerge from a year of change by Understanding Impermanence with Marie Radzinsky.  Our emotions have been on a roller coaster over the past year and a half.  As we face anger, grief and fear, our thoughts are still trying to catch up.  Using experiential participation and teachings, we will look through the lens of Mindfulness at Relationships we have either lost or have become difficult, through the Landscape of our Earth to see changes and movement always taking place, and within our bodies to witness the change also happening each moment of our life.

 

Finally, on Monday, September 20th, we invite you to Tune Up Your Spirit with Janet Kessenich by harmonizing your life to be in sync and flow. Through sound healing, self-exploration, group discussion, and musical experiences, you will deepen your connection with your soul and be inspired to live a more insightful, meaningful, and satisfying life, centered in your heart and reflecting your highest meaning and purpose in an emerging post-pandemic world.

With all that we’ve been through, and all that we continue to go through, our spirits are taking a beating.  Take some time this month to recharge, to reset, to renew. 

And don’t forget, our Season of Creation Sunday Vespers begin THIS SUNDAY, September 5th.

More ONLINE and a few ONSITE opportunities are coming in October. With a new Joan Chittister book study, a dream workshop series, a women’s rites of passage program, a generous listening series, and our autumn contemplative rhythms offerings, the Ridge is creating safe and sacred spaces to prepare our souls for whatever the delta variant may bring this next season.  We are in this together.

Through these uncertain times, we continue to be thankful for your prayers and support.  Please consider a September gift to offset our monthly expenses at the Ridge as the growing fears of the pandemic again stretch our financial sustainability.  We appreciate your donation.  Every little bit helps.  Thank you.

660 Great Pond Road, North Andover, MA 01845 978-682-8815 thestaff@Rollingridge.org www.rollingridge.org

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Spiritual Discernment at Rolling Ridge

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For some, life after COVID has been like resetting a circuit breaker.  Click a switch and it is back to normal.  For others, the pandemic was a life-shattering game changer surfacing questions of why? Where?  What’s next?  No matter where you may be post-COVID, Rolling Ridge is here to help you discern the way forward with three opportunities to strengthen your spiritual life.

We invite you to join us ONLINE on Tuesday, July 27th for “Who Said That? Understanding Discernment.”  Sometimes it is difficult to hear the voice of the Spirit. Through contemplation, this workshop will help you see, hear and feel ‘signs’ that speak to our inner selves and learn to recognize who is speaking, whether our own ego or the “voice” of God.  If you are struggling with spiritual “hard of hearing,” we encourage you to take an extended lunch and join us for this 2 hour online event.

If you are looking for a more personal deep dive into discernment, we invite you to join us for a three-part ONLINE workshop this fall to consider the questions involved with what we are being called to do and to be.  “Discerning: Responding through our Vital Connections” will meet Thursday evenings, October 7, October 14, and November 4 from 6:30-8:30 pm.   Each session will address one of the vital connections involved that allow us to discern and respond to life’s questions and connect us in our personal discovery.  This series also introduces our “Rolling Ridge way” of living a contemplative life and being present to the Divine gift within and without. It’s all about being present to our connections.

Our connections are rooted in the spiritual life, and as Sister Joan Chittister will address THIS SUNDAY, July 18th, the “Spiritual Life: It’s all about relationships.”  There is still time to register for this LIVE hybrid event from 2:00 to 4:30 pm with optional dinner and fellowship.  A Benedictine sister and one of the most influential religious and social leaders of our time, Sister Joan will be offering a light to guide us through this time of contradictory values and upheavals in every major institution and within the hearts of people.  Join us ONSITE at Rolling Ridge and watch the livestream in community, and enjoy small group discussion, private reflection, and optional dinner afterwards. If you are not able to join us in-person, you are invited to watch the presentation ONLINE at home followed by small group sharing with our online Ridge community. Registration closes Friday at 2pm.

Relationships are so key to help us emerge from the pandemic and discern our call.  We hope that you will connect with Rolling Ridge as we move forward as a community into this emerging post-pandemic future.

Check out our website for other upcoming opportunities to support you in your journey.

660 Great Pond Road, North Andover, MA 01845 978-682-8815 thestaff@Rollingridge.org www.rollingridge.org

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Rolling Ridge events

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Last month, Rolling Ridge launched Divine Friendshipsa new monthly series exploring Christian contemplative and devotional classics. This series title draws its inspiration from a quote by the great 16th century Spanish mystic, Teresa of Avila, who described contemplative prayer as “a close sharing between friends”. 

From the Christian perspective, divine friendships manifest themselves in at least three ways. The first is friendship within God expressed in the Holy Trinity. This is the original divine friendship out of which all the others flow. The second is friendship between God and the individual human person. The third is friendship between and among human persons united to each other through the Holy Spirit.

On Monday evening, July 12th, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm, we will be exploring The Imitation of Christ, perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional book after the Bible, written by Thomas à Kempis.  A German priest who spent most of his long life in a Dutch monastery copying bibles, Thomas wrote the Imitation anonymously in the early part of the fifteenth century. The first two books counsel humility, self-denial and patient endurance as crucial to the spiritual life. The last two books take the form of an imagined conversation between Christ and the disciple focused on the contrast between the love of Jesus and the love of one’s self.

Never heard of Thomas à Kempis and the Imitation of Christ?  We invite you to join us for an insightful look as to how this Christian contemplative classic can deepen our divine friendships today.

If Thomas is not “your cup of tea”, we invite you to check out some of the other upcoming offerings at the Ridge, which include a look at the musical Hamilton, a Pray and Paddle retreat on Lake Cochichewick, and an evening featuring Sister Joan Chittister at our first in-person onsite hybrid event.

Whether through a Christian classic, a contemporary musical, an outdoor adventure, or an inspiring talk, Rolling Ridge seeks to nurture your spiritual life as you awaken to the divine friendships in you.

660 Great Pond Road, North Andover, MA 01845 978-682-8815 thestaff@Rollingridge.org www.rollingridge.org
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Blessing of Fleet postponed till July 4th

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Stormy weather necessitated moving the harbor-side worship service till July 4, if all goes well.  Service will be at 9 a.m. And all are welcome!

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Christmas/Advent special services(zoom)

Christmas Announcements ALL ARE INVITED TO:

1) OUR CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP SERVICE of Readings and Carols at 5:00 pm.

2) Christmas Fellowship Gathering on Sunday, December 13 and 20 at 5:00 pm. Come ready to share a Christmas thought, poem or Song.

3) Christmas Week Reflections: Monday, 21st, Tuesday 22nd, and Wednesday 23rd of Christmas Week for 30 min of Reflection, Meditation and Prayer.

For all of the above events please login using the ID and PassCode or the URL below.

Zoom Meeting: Meeting ID: 890 298 4151; PassCode 332743 or https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8902984151

 

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Advent Greens

chilmark church advent greensClaire put out tubs of greens.  Come take some for your Advent Wreath.  Pastor Ernest put candles in the white box for taking also.

Update from Haiti Oct 27, 2020

Lilavois School where we help support an afternoon teacher.Haiti oct 27Churches were first to open in Haiti, about 2 weeks before the schools.  Most church buildings are reminiscent of the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs and many people wear masks to attend services. Schools then reopened in August. Political instability in the fall and then pandemic closings in the spring caused a delay in the administration of the national exams.  The required classes just sat for the the 2019-2020 national exams in mid-October and schools are on break until the new academic year begins November 9th.  Lack of widespread electricity and technology did not allow for online learning during the shutdowns.  Even learning by television was impossible.
The school in Lilavois opened in August as well.  Sr. Cadet, the principal, reports that the children were so excited to return to school and see friends and resume studies that the students lined up in perfect rows to sing the national anthem without any direction from the teachers.  It is wonderful to see the activity return to the campus! All schools were allowed to open in August and as parents became more confident of their children’s safety, the enrollment in Lilavois slowly returned to pre-pandemic levels.  The children wear masks when they are in class.  Most of the classrooms are well-ventilated and/or three-sided due to the heat and the lack of electricity for fans or air conditioning.
The classes that take the national exam have been focused on studying and reviewing material from the previous academic year since August, trying to catch up from months of closures due to political demonstrations shutting down the country in the fall, followed by pandemic closings from March until August.  As the schools were allowed to open, but the new year had not officially begun, the Lilavois students dd not need to wear their uniforms to attend class.  PeaceQuilts donated masks they made so that any student without a mask could be supplied with one. Those classes not taking the national exam finished the prior school year before beginning their new classes in September.
Officially, the new academic year will begin in November and the state was not paying teachers for August, so the students attending schools with no instructors began to demonstrate and even ransacked one of Lilavois’ sister schools in Lalue in September, damaging desks and chairs, in order to draw attention to the inequality in their education.  They did not feel they could be as prepared for the national exams as students attending private schools where the teachers were being paid and children had been learning since August.
Sr. Cadet initially combined the afternoon school students with the regular school classes for those who were able to attend since the class sizes were smaller when everyone was not back to school.  The afternoon school will begin again in November with the start of the new school year with the help of the teacher sponsorship given by the Chilmark Community Church.  Sr. Cadet sends her thanks on behalf of the school for your support.
Haiti Oct 27 3Haiti oct 27