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This Week at Emmanuel Church 
February 15 - 22

Join us this Sunday at 10 am 
Holy Eucharist in the Sanctuary

SUNDAY PARKING - the Back Bay Garage on Clarendon Street - address: 500 Boylston St., Boston 02116. Pink tickets are available during coffee hour. Your ticket is good for a 3 hour period on Sunday between 8:00am to 8:00pm. The price for 3 hours is $5. Beyond that the regular rate applies.
Reminder of Sanctuary
In a typical week, Emmanuel Church provides sanctuary and hospitality for as many as 1500 people who are living on the various margins of our society because of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, addiction, immigration status, religion, and so on. Coming together to help lift heavy hearts and carry heavy burdens is what we do, and many hands make light work. Every single one of us has some capacity to join in this vital mission, thanks to Love. - plw
This Sunday - 
On Sunday after the service, our rector will lead a discussion of the newly released Raoul Peck documentary, "I Am Not Your Negro," playing in theaters locally. We will discuss James Baldwin's lessons about race, class, and sexuality for white America. Please see the film if you are able, because, in Baldwin's own words: "not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed if it is not faced." We will gather in the Emmanuel Room during coffee hour (unless we don't fit, in which case we'll be in the Parish Hall).
Bible Study at Emmanuel
Tuesday morning Bible Study will resume in March. It meets in the mornings from 7:30-8:30 a.m. in the Emmanuel Room (through the kitchen of the Parish House). Come whenever you are able to join us for this lively conversation with the Rector. This Bible Study meets in odd-numbered months.

Stewardship Season 
2017 Pledge Season  
To date we have received 96 pledges. Last year we received 112.
Please get your cards in asap - in the offertory plate, in the mail, or by email. If you are not on our mailing list and would like a packet, see Pam Werntz or Tom Barber at the front sanctuary door after the service. 

Did you know that you can pay your pledge by arranging automatic monthly checks to be sent to Emmanuel from your bank? This service is free at many banks.

We have exceeded last year's pledge amount and are a little less than $10K from meeting our budgeted pledge total of $240,000. As our outgoing treasurer, Barbara DeVries, mentioned in her Annual Meeting remarks, if we close this gap we will be able to hire a part time Assistant Rector this year!
Upcoming Events and Information - 

Bishop Visit & Burnham Window Rededication -Bishop Gayle Harris will make her episcopal visit to Emmanuel and will rededicate the restored Burnham Window next Sunday, February 26. We will be joined by Burnham family descendants, and representatives from the Henderson Foundation Board of Designators, which funded the restoration of the window, destroyed in a 2000 fire.

Queen Esther goes to Mardi Gras!
On Saturday, March 11, 6:30 to 9:30pm., The Emmanuel Center Board invites the congregations of Emmanuel Church and Central Reform Temple to a festive evening celebrating Mardi Gras and Purim. Costumes are optional. Masks are strongly encouraged! The main course will be provided. Guests are asked to bring an appetizer, dessert, or beverage of your choice. RSVP to:
parishadmin.emmanuel@gmail.com or
info@centralreformtemple.org

Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now)
After a very successful meal packaging event last month with Boston Harbor Deanery (Episcopal) parishes, we are collaborating with Arlington Street Church to do it again on Sunday, March 26 after church in their parish hall (around the corner). We will need 20-25 volunteers for an hour or two. People of all ages and ability can participate in a meaningful way. RSVP to parishadmin.emmanuel@gmail.com if you plan to help.

Ordination to the Priesthood!  Our Community Development Manager for the Boston-Cambridge Mission Hub, The Rev. Isaac Everett, will be ordained to the sacred order of priests on Friday, March 31 at 6 pm at Trinity Church, Boston, The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris, Bishop Suffragan, presiding.  We hope to have good representation from all of our constituent congregations and chaplaincies:  Boston University Episcopal Chaplaincy; The Cathedral Crossing, Boston; Emmanuel Church, Boston; MIT Episcopal-Lutheran Chaplaincy; St. Bartholomew's Church, Cambridge; and Trinity Church, Boston. Please plan to join in the celebration! 

Making a difference is becoming more important every day...
A Call to Solidarity with Muslims
With recent and pending Presidential Executive Orders, our Muslim neighbors face unprecedented challenges against a new form of McCarthyism. A second round of Presidential Executive Orders or Memoranda targeting American-Muslims could isolate our neighbors, threaten civil liberties and attack human dignity. However, we are not without recourse. Please take action.

1. Become a 'Friend of ISBCC': Make a financial contribution (no matter how small) to our beloved interfaith partners at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (http://links.masboston.org/interfaith-supporters) and help them reach 100 Friends of ISBCC by February 11th. Your gift will offer tangible support to Muslims as they face the additional costs of P.R. work, advocacy, security and hosting community events.

2. Talk to Muslim friends and colleagues, and visit a local mosque to express your care, support and solidarity in person. The more personal the better - a note, a hug, a delivery of some home baked goods!

3. Join ISBCC at their Winter Gala: Leading With Love on February 11th.

4. Stay informed: Sign up for e-newsletters from the Council on American Islamic Relations (http://www.cairma.org/) or the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (http://isbcc.org/) to learn about community events, local actions and calls you can make to resist discrimination.

The BostonWarm and 
common art community
 would like to extend their deep thanks for the outpouring of warm clothes they have received over the past 6 weeks. At this time, no more clothing is needed.  
BostonWarm needs  more volunteers.  click on the link below to sign up.




Get involved!
Altar Guild is seeking new volunteers to train for the coming year. If you are interested in learning about what goes on "backstage" before and after services, and are able to volunteer one or two Sundays a month, please contact Ivanna at  iyi@fas.harvard.edu

Holy Land Pilgrimage this fall - 
Bishop Gayle Harris, with the Rev. Debbie Phillips, will lead a Holy Land pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine, from Nov. 24-Dec. 6 of this year, and they invite others to join them.  The latest in a series of such trips that Harris has led, this trip will combine visits to holy sites, in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Jordan Valley, Nazareth, Galilee, Nablus and Ramallah, with opportunities to learn about active mission in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem through its school, health-care and peacemaking ministries. The group will meet three times before the trip for orientation and community building. Sign-up deadline is April 30.  Estimated cost is $4,100 per person (double occupancy). For more information click this link: 
Contact Marsha Searle at 617-482-4826, ext. 445 or email at: msearle@diomass.org.
At Emmanuel -
Name Tags for All
- Because it's always nice to be able to attach a name to a face, we encourage you to wear a name tag. You may find them along the wall in the Parish Hall, alphabetized by FIRST name. And in our efforts to make Emmanuel Church a more welcoming and inclusive community for all, we invite you to put your pronouns (he/him, she/her, etc.) on your name tag. By doing this, we help make Emmanuel Church a more welcoming place for transgender worshippers. If you don't see a name tag along the wall in the Parish Hall, and would like to have one, please find Penny Lane at coffee hour or email her at penelopelane77@gmail.com with your name and pronouns.

Small Wonders is our program for young children and it meets the 1st Sunday of each month, for half an hour during the sermon and prayers of the 10:00 service. We are using the Godly Play curriculum, which is based on Montessori principles. Children have an innate sense of the presence of God. The Godly Play approach helps them to explore their faith through story, gain religious language and enhance their spiritual experience though wonder and play. A simple seasonal/lectionary appropriate story will be told using the Godly Play materials. Curiosity and imagination will be encouraged as the children experience the mystery, joy, and love of God! The program is led by Jaime Bonney and Linnea Massie. Please escort children to the chapel during the end of the Gospel hymn.

Emmanuel Church Photography and Social Media
Communicating through social media helps our efforts to build community and expand our reach to people who are new to Emmanuel, as well as to Emmanuelites around the world. Volunteers help spread the Word by taking photos before, during and after services, posting and sharing online. We value the sanctity of our worship and aim to strike a balance between sharing life at Emmanuel and creating a sacred space for all, filled with wonder, love, thanksgiving and praise. No one will be tagged or identified by name in a photo without their permission and other privacy wishes will be respected on request. If you are interested in helping in these efforts or have concerns please see a vestry member after the service. Please check out Emmanuel's online venues and follow us to help grow our global presence!
Website: www.emmanuelboston.org
Facebook page: Emmanuel Church in the City of Boston
Twitter feed: twitter.com/EmmanuelBoston
This Week @ Emmanuel is linked from our website's homepage and Twitter.

Care Commission 
If you can write notes or make visits, we would love to have your help. Do you know someone who is in the hospital, or confined at home? Know someone who needs a ride to or from a medical appointment, or would just appreciate a visit? The Care Commission wants to help. Contact Pauline Ratta (617-469-2232) or Walter Jonas (617-696-8020) and we will see that a pastoral response is provided.

Musings from the Margins...




- Kate Solow

EMMANUEL CHURCH supports the mission of religious, social service, and artistic organizations in Boston by providing space and some staff support for meetings, concerts, events and functions. As our mission states, Emmanuel Church strives for justice and peace. And your financial contributions help us continue to support these organizations vital to the health and spiritual wellness of the City of Boston. We are proud to support the mission of: 

·   AA and Al-Anon Meetings
·   Artists-in-Residence: Sara Peattie, Puppeteer & Ted Southwick, Woodcarver
·   Back Alley Puppet Theater & Free Lending Library
·   Back Bay Chorale: weekly rehearsals
·   Boston Gay Men's Chorus: weekly rehearsals
·   Boston Early Music Festival
·   BostonWarm (see Ecclesia Ministries below)
·   Calliope: weekly rehearsals
·   Central Reform Temple
·   Ecclesia Ministries: BostonWarm day center for people without shelter; and the
   common art studio program for unhoused and marginally housed people
·   Eliot Center: Safe Haven, a transitional shelter for women
·   Emmanuel Music
·   Ethos: weekly GLBT Senior luncheon
·   Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
·   New England Watercolor Society gallery
·   Onnuri I:um Chapel Korean Presbyterian Campus Ministry
·   Universal Worship in Boston: A Celebration of One Human Family
 

Emmanuel Church
contact Amanda March, Parish Operations Manager