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There will be a 50 to 50 person choir from various churches performing at this year's community Thanksgiving |
The
Windham Area Clergy Association (WACA) invites the Windham, Raymond, Standish
and greater Sebago Lakes communities to its third annual ecumenical community
Thanksgiving service which will be hosted this year by St. Ann’s Episcopal
Church, 40 Windham Center Road in Windham.
The
observances will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 26 and will consist of music
and prayer from each participating church with a 50-60-person choir finale
performed by the combined all-church choir and directed by Dr. Richard
Nickerson. This year will include a special guest; the Rev. Thomas James Brown who
was recently elected in February and consecrated in June as the 10th Episcopal
Bishop of the Diocese of Maine.
“The
purpose of this yearly Thanksgiving service is to encourage the community to come
together and give thanks to the Lord for the blessings we’ve received from God
as a community,” explained Rev. Tim Higgins, Rector of St. Ann’s Episcopal
Church and member of WACA.
It
will be the first time that the ecumenical Thanksgiving service will be held at
St Ann’s. “We are delighted to host this year’s community service for the first
time in three years,” stated Higgins. “And we [WACA] are very excited that
Bishop Brown has accepted our invitation and will be a part of this year’s
Thanksgiving service.”
Higgins
also explained the word, “ecumenical” and the purpose of WACA: “We are a group
of interdenominational churches that cooperate on matters of mutual concern. We
work together so that our communities will thrive in love, spirit, hope and trust
through common worship, fellowship and outreach.”
The
first ecumenical gathering of Thanksgiving hosted by WACA occurred in 2017 was
held at North Windham United Church of Christ which was followed by the second
annual service hosted by Windham’s Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day
Saints.
“We
are honored to host this year’s community Thanksgiving gathering,” Higgins
said. “We are especially excited to have Bishop Thomas Brown to be a part of
this service, we are told that Bishop Brown will concentrate on the Gospel
according to Matthew Ch.6:25-34. We do
not know what wisdom he will share with us, but we are all looking forward to hearing
him preach for the first time in the Greater Windham community.”
For
those who wish to do so, goodwill offerings such as paper towels, toilet paper,
toothpaste, diapers, toothbrushes, and other non-perishable food items will be
accepted as part of the community service.
“The
goodwill offerings will go to the St. Ann’s Episcopal Church’s Essential Pantry,”
stated Higgins. “The Essential Pantry, coordinated by deacon Wendy Rozene of
St. Ann’s, accepts all donations that are not available for folks on their EBT
cards. We have also begun to give out non-perishable food items. As these items
are collected during the service, they will go toward St. Ann's Pantry and be
distributed to members of the community the last Saturday of the month.”
Briefly,
Bishop Brown received his Master of Divinity from the Church Divinity School of
the Pacific, an Episcopal Church seminary in Berkeley, California. He has
served as rector of St. Michael Episcopal Church in Brattleboro, Vermont, and
as the director of alumni and church relations at CDSP. Bishop Brown has held
many leadership positions in The Episcopal Church and in the Diocese of Massachusetts
and is currently chair of the Church Pension Fund’s board of trustees.
In
addition to St Ann’s Episcopal Church, the other churches providing choir
numbers and contemplative services throughout the year include Windham Hill
United Church of Christ, North Windham United Church of
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and Faith
Lutheran Church.
As
for WACA: “We began meeting as a group in the Spring of 2016,” said Higgins. “The
idea is for area clergy to gather monthly and share our concerns and joys and
to support one another in ministry.
As an organization, we want to remain aware
of the community’s needs so as to be able to react appropriately to any
tragedies or difficulties the community may experience. This past spring we
were able to respond with a clothing drive between the churches when 400 asylum
seekers landed in Portland at the Expo.”
For
more information regarding the ecumenical community Thanksgiving service,
future community events or if you are a clergy from any denomination from the
Windham and Raymond areas and would like to participate in WACA, contact Rev.
Higgins at 632-4046 or revtimhiggins@gmail.com.
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