Saint Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church

March 2010 Newsletter

St Mary Magdalene to Host World MARCH CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Day of Prayer Service – March 5th March 4, 11, 18, & 25 – Lenten Supper/Service
- 6:00 p.m.
Church Women United will host the ecumenical March 5 – World Day of Prayer worship
World Day of Prayer worship service in our service 10:00 a.m.
church on Friday, March 5, 10:00 a.m. A light March 13, 10:00 a.m., and March 25, 1:00 p.m.
lunch will follow. Women of many faith Choir rehearsal
traditions will come together to observe a Tuesdays – Healing & Intercessory Prayer,
common day of prayer. This is an annual event 11:00 a.m.
on the first Friday in March. This year’s theme: MANNA – First Wednesday of each month
“Let everything that has breath praise God.” (See Mercedes Herdrich for info on how you
can help)
At this time, millions of God’s people are March 15 -Vestry Meeting – (Third Monday of
suffering from violence, exploitation and each month) All are welcome
poverty. We are encouraged to begin thinking March 26 –Deadline for April newsletter articles
about actions we can take to alleviate world –send to polson6@nc.rr.com
suffering. Join us for this World Day of Prayer.

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION CONTINUES

The committee is hoping that as many

members of the church as possible will take part
in the celebration, so start thinking of items you
might contribute to the yard sale soon. Also if
St. Mary Magdalene is celebrating its 30th you know merchants or service providers in the
Anniversary with a series of events throughout community, the committee would love for you to
2010. The first event was the creation of a approach them and ask for an item or service
banner to go on the front of the church, a cake which we can raffle off. Please let Mercedes
for the congregation and a standing photo Herdrich know who you are willing to talk to so
history. that we don’t duplicate efforts.

Next on the agenda is a community “Festival of Many volunteers will be needed to help out
Celebration” which will take place on April 24 during the actual event with sorting of sale items,
with a rain date of April 25. The anniversary pricing, helping with the food and beverages,
committee made up of Mercedes Herdrich, etc.
Mandy Goodman, Barbara Keiffer, Bette
Hanham, Paula Hill and Skip Ragland, have And most of all, the committee is asking for any
recommended expanding the yearly yard sale suggestions you have which will help make the
into a celebration to include raffle prizes, “Festival of Celebration” a huge success for our
balloons, face painting, food and beverages, church.
popcorn, and more.
Skip Ragland

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 SUNDAY CLERGY SCHEDULE
Our Lord God Made Them All
March 7 – Lent 3 - Fr. Thompson/Deacon Jan Standing
Burgess I am a volunteer with Animal Advocates of
Moore County. My main involvement is
March 14 - Lent 4 - Fr. Thompson cleaning and feeding the cats at the office, and I
also work, along with Petsmart of Aberdeen, to
March 21 – Lent 5 – Fr. Brown get our cats adopted.

March 28 - Passion Sunday – Fr. Thompson At first, it was overwhelming to see so many
beautiful cats living in cages, needing loving
homes. I deal with it better now, but every now
and then a cat captures my heart. Mary was such
LOOK WHAT YOUR DOLLARS HAVE DONE!! a cat; she developed a virus which left her blind.
Mercedes Herdrich Eventually she found a wonderful home with a
lady who was herself legally blind.
Excerpts from Society of St. Andrews
newsletter: Currently, we have a beautiful cat called Scarlet,
“In 2009, with your help, we were able to save who has a slightly difficult disposition (Who
and distribute more food, host more gleaning wouldn’t, living in a cage?), and every time I see
events, and engage more volunteers than the her it breaks my heart. It is the unfriendly ones,
previous year." the black ones, or those with minor medical
problems that I worry about. This is the reason
“From January-December of 2009, Gleaned we have gone from our original two, to now
Produce (fresh food salvaged and donated to feed having six cats of our own.
the hungry) was up by 30%. Total pounds
salvaged were over 26 million, up 12% from 2008 My greatest joy is seeing cats adopted into
and total servings were over 79 million, up loving homes. That makes all the work so
12.5%" worthwhile. Our organization relies solely on
donations and volunteers, not just to help with
The Society of St. Andrews leads many Harvest the animals, but also with various fundraisers.
of Hope events throughout the year where people
come together to save and distribute hundreds of As I write this, I have our newest addition, Leila,
thousands of pounds of food to those in need. asleep on my lap. Having these beautiful
Please check the Communication Board at SMM creatures in our lives is truly a blessing.
for the schedule of upcoming events. See me, or
contact SOS if you are interested in participating.
FYI:
If anyone has a college aged child/grandchild/niece or
nephew who may be interested in the Summer
Internship Program, offered by SOS, contact Mercedes
Herdrich for details.

St. Mary Magdalene is also willing to sponsor a young

adult interested in participating in the SOS Spring
Break 2010-held in Winter Park, FL. See Mercedes for
details. Jan, Huckleberry, Arnen, and Patches

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 MEET A PARISHIONER
by Carol Burgess The Bible in 50 Words
This is the first in a series dedicated to getting to know our
fellow parishioners at St. Mary Magdalene. We have all
God made, Adam bit, Noah
come from someplace else, and have stories to tell.
arked, Abraham split, Joseph
ruled, Jacob fooled, bush talked, Moses
balked, Pharaoh plagued,
people walked, sea divided,
tablets guided, promise landed,
Saul freaked, David peeked,
prophets warned, Jesus born,
God walked, love talked, anger
Sandra Aylward Wright Morris found St. Mary crucified, hope died, Love rose,
Magdalene on Christmas Eve, 2007, and hasn’t Spirit flamed, Word spread, God
looked back. remained
She was born in Pawtucket, RI, and is a “cradle
Episcopalian.” She has a degree from North COALITION OUTREACH
Eastern University, Boston, and also a B.A. in For the month of March, the Coalition is
nursing from St. Joseph University, Wyndham, requesting that our church donate boxes
Maine. She specialized in the “ER” and ICU of
departments at the Rhode Island Hospital in instant mashed potatoes only.
Providence, a field she continued in North
Carolina In recent times, more that 40 persons per
day have been requesting food at the
In 1980, the Morris Family moved to Reidsville, Coalition Office. The need is great. Be
North Carolina. Sandra has a daughter Tracy, and a assured that recipients are carefully
son Todd. She also has six cats and two dogs. screened, to avoid abuse of the service.
Please be generous.
For a time, Sandra worked as manager of the
medical department of an insurance company. When
that position disappeared, she moved to Pinehurst as
an employee of First Health of the Carolinas.
Presently, she is director of all health, wellness and .
supportive services programs at First Health.

In 2007 she moved to Seven Lakes.

Sandra is an advocate for animals. She is a coin
collector, world traveler, and admittedly an avid
shopper. Kids and animals make her happy.

Sandra has offered her many talents and her abundant

energy and enthusiasm for service to our
congregation as she serves on your vestry and assists
at the altar.
Alice Hollingsworth checks out our photo history
which is on display in the narthex

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 attempt. Mary Mag rooters also made a noise
with their donations in support of the Literacy
LENTEN SERIES DELAY

The Mary Magdalene Church Lenten Program,

which includes weekly suppers at the church,
will begin this Thursday, March 4 at 6 p.m. The Council. The team known as The God Squad
delay was caused by a conflict with the Literacy was complete with black suits, collars and shades
Council Spelling Bee that we were involved in. (sun glasses) and was supported by
(See separate article) This series and the Advent Episcopalians of the area with the largest
series are the two opportunities in the year we collected donations for the cause of literacy. The
have for serious, prolonged study of Holy
Scriptures and matters of the church. We urge team was awarded a trophy on stage. Hopefully
you strongly to plan to attend each of the four it will be on display next week after services as it
nights beginning March 4th. makes the rounds of the churches.
Ed. Note: Illiteracy in Moore County is stated to
be 20% of the population of the county. This
SPELLING BEE STING ministry of improvement is sponsored and
supported by you and your vestry as an outreach
Last Thursday night at the Sandhills Community of our congregation. Well done, people of the
College, the Moore County Literacy Council faith!
sponsored a Spelling Bee in which the Episcopal
Churches of the Sandhills collaborated. The
coalition formed a team of three English students
with a combined total of at least six University CLERGY (et al.) RETURN: ESCAPE
degrees. They were challenged in the first round Fr. Bob Brown and Jean returned safely from the
to come up with the correct spelling of the word Middle East having sojourned in the Land of the
TRINITY. The team, consisting of our own Fr. Pharaohs for two weeks, visiting the Red Sea,
Bob Brown, John Tampa, Rector of Emmanuel the Nile, Aswan Dam and environs as well as
Church, Southern Pines and Marty Stebbins, Cairo. Temperatures were in the 50s at night and
Missioner of three congregations in Moore and up to 90+ during the day. The great escape was
Richmond Counties, successfully met the realized after they had returned and heard the
challenges through several rounds but horror stories of the harsh weather you have had
succumbed to an obscure Latin derivative that in the Sandhills during their vacation. They
none of them could even pronounce let alone thank you for your prayers of concern during
spell. their absence.

Mary Magdalene was well represented in the

audience as twenty plus well wishers rooted ++++++++++++++
noisily for the team. The two hour contest was
concluded when the Moore County Chorus When you were born, you cried
(Barbershop Singers) correctly spelled their and the World rejoiced.
word after the O’Neal School team failed in their Live your life so that when you
die,

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The world cries and you rejoice.
---White elk, Cherokee

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