Michaelmas 2021

Letter to the Community

On Thursday, October 7 it will have been 15 years since our church was consecrated. A great number of people from around the region and the world came together over years to help manifest our ideals in physical reality.

We wanted to build a vessel, transparent to the spirit, and a home where future generations could participate in the blessings of the seven sacraments.

We began every building meeting with a verse or poem for the dead. We were ever aware of their interest and blessing. All the colored windows are memorials to persons connected to our community who have died. The radiant colors help create the vessel, help to open the space and our hearts to the spirit who wants to live in us.

Let us continue to feel gratitude for the gifts of those who have gone before, love for the Christ in each human being in our lives, and hope for the future becoming of all who gather here.

Jonitha Hasse

Priest Child Education Fund

Dear North American congregations, dear friends,

In the past year we have experienced extraordinary challenges in this country and around the world. We have discovered how connected we all are, and how the well-being of others directly impacts our own well-being. In the midst of these challenges, the Seminary for North America achieved a milestone event: eight new priests were ordained this year, seven of which are now serving congregations in North America. This is certainly good news and it bodes well for the future of our Movement for Religious Renewal in North America. The blessing of these new priests also brings the corresponding responsibility for our congregations to support them and their families. One aspect of that support is our Priest Child Education Fund.

Why do we need this fund in our region?

Our priest families are supported through the freely given donations of their congregational members that cover the basics of housing, food, utilities, transportation, health care, etc. One key expense that is not typically included in the priest support is the cost of educating their children. A good education, particularly a Waldorf education, is expensive, often too expensive for our priest families, even if the priest’s partner works, and even if they receive financial aid from the school.

The education of our priests’ children is a movement issue, not a congregational one. We are all supported through the collective work of our priests and the health of any individual congregation is also tied to the health of the entire North American Region. Your current priest may be single, or without school age children, but that could change at any time. As you have no doubt at some point experienced, priests move. As the number of new priests grows, the need for this kind of support across the Region may also need to grow. So, this fund is critical to our movement’s future in North America.

How does the fund work?

First, the priest’s congregation is asked for their help as part of the ongoing support of their priest; second, the priest’s family gathers as much as they can from their own resources; and finally, the Education Fund will supplement these resources, to the extent of the need and the funds available. Each link in the fundraising chain will only be expected to cover a portion of the overall tuition, with the Education Fund coming in at the end to hopefully fill any remaining need. Total funds distributed in a given year will not exceed $10,000.

We realize that some of you individually and perhaps as a congregation may have been impacted financially by the pandemic. And yet many of you have continued to give generously to the Christian Community, and that support is greatly appreciated. If you are able to do something more to help support our priests and their families so that they can continue to do their essential work in the world, please do so today. Without your generous support this fund cannot exist.

Our priests and their children thank you! In deepest gratitude,

Bruce Chamberlin

For the Regional Board

A Road to Sacred Creation

A Road to Sacred Creation: An Overview of Rudolph Steiner’s Perspectives on Technology

• A TALK BY GARY LAMB

This overview will be based on some of the main ideas in the newly released book, A Road to Sacred Creation, Rudolf Steiner’s Perspectives on Technology, A Compendium, Volume 1, which was edited by Gary Lamb with research assistance from Virginia Hermann and Martin Miller and illustrations by Michael Howard. Steiner not only critiqued the technology of his day from a spiritual-scientific perspective, but he provided a much larger picture of what the role of technology is meant to play in the future of earth evolution and how human beings need to relate to it.

Please RSVP if you wish to attend this presentation at
glamb@thecenterforsocialresearch.org or 518-672-4465, ext. 223.

Signed copies of A Road to Sacred Creation will be available for purchase for $35 at the presentation. It is also available from www.steinerbooks.org, Turose Gift Shoppe, and Hawthorne Valley Farm Store.

Update on the Food & Supplies for Haiti

Dear community,
I am happy to write you with this latest UPDATE!

On Sunday, Sept 5, the truck was loaded up with the second shipment and headed off to the city of Corail, Haiti. Situated on the northern coast, Corail suffered extensive damage, which has left a large portion of the community homeless. Over the course of two days, Junior was able to deliver $3000 worth of food and hygiene products as well as some tarps and other supplies. As Corail is Junior’s hometown, the bulk of these supplies were delivered to his extended family and community, many of whom had their houses completely destroyed.
The remainder of the supplies were delivered to folks in the city of Jeremie, which was extremely hard hit by the earthquake. Many people are in dire circumstances, and the desperation is palpable looking at images and videos taken there. We are deeply grateful to Junior who drove many extra hours to make it there and managed a tense delivery situation with grace and patience. This was a challenging trip from start to finish, and we do not take it for granted that not only is Junior safely home but that every one of your precious donations was delivered successfully to impacted people.

I also want to share that we continue to be showered with beautiful messages from our folks in Les Cayes. They want you all to know they are *so* grateful and so happy to have received your donations. Manmi B says that they continue to celebrate the gifts that were sent, and the solidarity and love each bag of food and supplies represented.

And best of all: it’s not over! Thanks to your incredible generosity, we still have one more delivery to make— stay tuned!

With appreciation,
Ethna, Jeff, Junior, and family!

Help buying food for immediate distribution in Haiti

From George Riley:
My daughter has just completed arranging with her Haitian contacts the first delivery and distribution of food and emergency supplies to earthquake victims in the hardest hit areas - rice, beans, corn, pasta, flour, oil, fish, milk, diapers, soap, sanitary products, toothpaste and brushes, and more. A second truckload is now needed but needs funding for supplies and gasoline. This is a prime example of Haitians helping Haitians and building local resilience.

From Ethna Riley Fernandes:
Dear Community,
A few years ago, I had the privilege of visiting friends and family in Haiti. While I was in Les Cayes, I was welcomed, fed, and hosted by an incredible family led by a powerfully beautiful woman everyone calls "Manmi B" (Mommy B). Manmi B cares not only for all of her children and grandchildren but also for other local children and families through her church. In US terms, she has often opened her home as a foster mom as well.

When I spoke to Manmi B, she shared that she and her family are sleeping outside. Their home was damaged in the earthquake Saturday, and-- like most of their neighbors-- they do not feel safe inside. For them, and others who survived, the long road toward repair stretches ahead. At the moment, however, thousands of people are destabilized- hungry, hurt, and homeless. The need for solidarity and assistance is urgent.

In whatever way you choose, I urge you to support disaster relief in Haiti right now. However, if you want to join me in getting at least 2 truckloads of food delivered immediately and directly to folks who were impacted in Les Cayes and Jeremie see below. Our Haitian friends and family are mobilized and ready to purchase, deliver and distribute within the next few days:
• My foster brother in the capital has already secured a truck, and arrangements are being made with the bulk food supplier.
• A group of trusted friends in Les Cayes, and family members in Jeremie, are ready and willing to ensure the food is distributed fairly, with priority going to those who are in the most need.

I can personally assure you every single dollar will make it there, and that every little bit truly counts.

Options for sending money:
GoFundMe campaign: https://gofund.me/d2c2ecc6
Venmo: @Ethna-Fernandes
PayPal: msriley617@gmail.com
CashApp: $vernardfernandes

• If you prefer to make a Tax-Deductible Donation to the House of Peace designated for this effort, please feel free to do so. Contact Carrie at 978-356-9395 if you have questions about this option.

A call for Prayer and Love

A call for Prayer and Love to surround this young man, his family, and all those around them.

Update from Mary Blake (Kyle's mother): August 26
I am relieved to share the good news about Kyle who is leaving the hospital soon. My understanding is Kyle received medication to decrease the swelling of his heart. In his words "I've made a miraculous recovery and I no longer will need a heart transplant"!

A Note from Mary Stowe: Mary Blake, whose son Kyle (age 24) is now at Tufts Medical Center after experiencing a blood clot in his heart shortly after being vaccinated, and whom Tufts Medical Center is trying to keep alive until he can receive a heart transplant, asks for your prayers for Kyle’s recovery.

If anyone knows Mary Blake, would like more information, etc. You may reach out to Mary Stowe. Mary@marystowe.com. Kyle was a student at the Upper Valley Waldorf School, VT.

Update from Mary Stowe:
Mary Blake expresses her deep gratitude for all the prayers and good thoughts for Kyle. Kyle is upbeat about the prospects of being on "Tier 2" for a heart replacement after multiple doctors assessed his level of need. They are hopeful the replacement heart may be found in the next 2-6 month period. Kyle is very grateful to friends and family who sent their best wishes. He’s doing his best to adjust to the circumstances.

His heart is pumping by a propeller in his left ventricle. He can stand to walk short distances while hooked up to a large machine on wheels. All of his stats are monitored 24/7 and he’s on 4-6 medicines to keep him calm and comfortable. Kyle really enjoys specially arranged visits from the hospital’s therapy dog.

From a Sixty-two-year-old Post Card

Back then I was in the midst of my junior year abroad, attending the West Berlin university in Dahlem. I wrote my favorite aunt a report, excerpts from which follow in translated form. Note that I experienced that service as a very young person who had been aware of Anthroposophy all her life but had hitherto only worshipped in plain Quaker meetings in the American midwest.

Sunday, May 31, 1959

I've just returned from attending my first Christian Community service!

There was a great deal of ritual, which I was not prepared for. . . The face of the celebrant was remarkably beautiful; he reminded me of the old men portrayed by Fra Angelico in his frescoes. Altogether, there was in him and his assistants so much peace, love, and devotion that it was most refreshing! Hearing them speak, I thought to myself at first, “How they are dragging out the words!” . . . By and by I realized that they were pronouncing the words with great deliberation, as if just then grasping their meaning for the first time...

 And here I still am, eager to hear those words sixty-two years later!

-Christiane Marks