New England

SABBATICAL DAY 13: The End Part Felt Like a Hallmark Movie

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I am just about half way through sabbatical 2024. I have had the privilege of attending three conferences and 10 prayer meetings so far.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE THOUGHTS THAT HAVE STOOD OUT TO ME DURING THE CONFERENCES AND PRAYER MEETINGS:

  1. During this next season, believers must begin to cultivate eternal mindsets and put away worldly mindsets.
  2. The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact, you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up, and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.
Photo by Josh Hild on Pexels.com

3. Our congregation must begin to cultivate an abundance mindset in place of a scarcity mindset.

WHAT YOU THINK DETERMINES WHAT YOU SEE. WHAT YOU SEE DETERMINES WHAT YOU DO. WHAT YOU DO DETERMINES WHAT YOU GET.

REMEMBER YOU ARE WORTHY OF SUCCESS. SUCCESS IS STORED UP BEFORE IT SHOWS UP. LIFE HAPPENS FOR YOU NOT TO YOU. PERSONAL GROWTH EVOLVES INTO ABUNDANCE.

PROCRASTINATION COMES FROM SCARCITY. ANTICIPATION COMES FROM ABUNDANCE.

4. Your conflicts may be the key to unlocking your peace.

5. Life will bring you people and circumstances to reveal to you where you are not free yet.

6. Conflicts start inside our hearts not outside, but we spend most of our time trying to change what’s outside.

I  have also accomplished several personal and ministry goals during this season including:

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    Sermon planning for 2025 and 2026 (though there is a lot more work to do here)

    filling out and sending in my ordination paperwork.

    Photo by Antoni Shkraba on Pexels.com

    Reviewing staff budgets and submitting my personal budget for FY 2025.

    Winterizing the chicken coop (though honestly this was mostly Kristine)

    I removed the air conditioners from the windows at the Vicarage and started planning the steps to winterization. I also started bringing in some herbs for the winter for a window garden and planning the gardens for next year.

    So far I have had one fire to burn brush….there are many more fires to have throughout the winter.

    Yesterday, I took a couple of hours to mix and mingle at Winchendon’s annual Fall Fest. This event made Me feel like I was living in a Hallmark movie.

    Amanda, Joe, Kristine, Sevy and I met up with our friend Paula and her granddaughter Leila and went down to visit the 205 vendors set up on Central St. Fairs are my kryptonite. I can end up buying a lot of things I don’t need, so having strong people around me to curb the buying frenzy is essential.

    The town was mobbed!…milling and seething through the mob was like mixing it up at a family house party. I ran into Denise and her granddaughters who I hadn’t seen since the oldest grandy was probably three (she is now thirteen). I saw Walter and chatted with Andy at the Fidelity Ice Cream cart. I hugged several Rathier children and stopped at the Rathier/ Lambert booth.I checked in with Tamie about her husband Brian who had knee surgery recently, and planned a coffee date with Father Henry when I stopped at The Immaculate Heart Booth. I stopped at Nancy’s fudge booth and caught up a bit with her while earnestly resisting the desire to buy a case of her homemade fudge.

    Actually, as you can see from the picture above, there was plenty to buy. I did well. I tried some of the leftover pies from the pie baking contest when I checked in on my daughter Melanie. I also bought a sourdough pretzel with cheese sauce from her booth (Winchendon Parks and Rec). And…

    I bought these books for a donation to the local library…..and

    this new walking stick to replace the one I lost at Kimball’s Farm.

    What made my heart most glad about this festival, though, were the number of people from our congregation who were working for different town booths our just attending the fall festival. I met some of the members of my son’s Gideons outpost. I saw our friends and neighbors the Ash-Sears family and we said hello to our friends the O’Briens. As I walked up and down the street with my new walking stick..I was struck by the richness and depth of relationship I felt flowing through our little community. I am not sure if the change is in me, in our community or in both of us. All I know is it was a wonderful day in the midst of this wonderful sabbatical.

    SIPPIN’ SERENDIPITY

    / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

    There are so many wonderful things about OUR TOWN, WINCHENDON MA. I want to make revealing those wonderful things a part of this blog experience. It’s a wonderful place to live. Many wonderful people live here. And there is a growing list of exciting places to visit and events you can be part of if you come here for a visit.

    One of the places I am coming to love is a new coffee shop in town called SIPPIN SERENDIPITY.

    This little coffee shop is becoming one of the places my staff and I take parishioners for meetings. I was at SIPPIN’ SERENDIPITY on Thursday last week for such a meeting. We met over coffee, pastry and a game of checkers. Some of the pastry options we considered were made by one of the ladies who attends Cornerstone, Alicia Croteau.

    I settled on the coffee cake and my Parishioner settled on the macarons, both great choices.

    Here are the hours of operation from their website.Hours: 

    Thursday6 AM–2 PM
    Friday6 AM–2 PM
    Saturday7 AM–2 PM
    SundayClosed
    MondayClosed
    Tuesday6 AM–2 PM
    Wednesday6 AM–2 PM

    And here is a menu for your perusal along with some shots of the pastry.

    May be an image of turnover

    If you are in Winchendon anytime soon plan a stop at Sippin’ Serendipity.

    Here is a bio piece from the TWO GRANNIES.

    WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE FOR COFFEE OR TEA IN YOUR HOMETOWN?

    WINCHENSTOCK 2024 and WHAT’S NEXT

    / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

    This week our town hosted its second (or third maybe) annual Winchenstock festival at the Winchendon Community Park. This is a classic rock event and fair hosted by our local COMMUNITY ACTION CENTER to raise money for the needs of the underserved in our community.

    The crowds were just beginning to gather and the music was just beginning to play as I arrived and walked down the path of peace and love.

    The Parks and Rec Committee of our town has planned an incredible year of events for us. The events are listed on the sign below

    IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE COMING TO WINCHENDON MA ANYTIME SOON HERE IS MORE IN DEPTH INFO FROM THE PARKS AND REC FACEBOOK PAGE.

    I have to say Winchendon is an amazing place to live and visit! I feel like our community is beginning to figure out who we really are now and what we want to be about.

    I did what I do at so many of these amazing events: I listened to some great music; I ate a little bit of great food; I connected with a lot of wonderful local makers, and I spent more than a little money.

    HOW DID YOU SPEND YOUR WEEKEND? I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

    A WEEKEND WITH APPLES

    / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

    It is not often that I get both Friday and Saturday free from ministry events or visitations. This week happened to be one of those rare occasions.

    I ended up spending Friday night and Saturday at The Red Apple Farm in Phillipston MA.

    On Friday Joe, Kristine and Sevy invited me to a dinner of wood fired pizza. I started with blueberry honey soda by the bon fire.

    We played a game of Jenga.

    and cornhole.

    Saturday morning started out with work in the gardens at The Vicarage.

    Please note I am working hard at not growing grass. I am specializing in moss and clover this year. It is keeping the rabbits out of the garden.

    After about two hours playing in the forest garden, I met the rest of the family at The Red Apple Farm for lunch.

    It was not age festival weekend, but there was free face and body painting and a stand that was helping kids make pet rocks.

    I have to say the farm does a wonderful job with their musical entertainment. Friday night they invited a Caribbean kettle band to come out and play and Saturday they had zydeco. If you are going to be in the area of Phillipston MA, YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT’S COMING IN THE DAYS AHEAD HERE.

    While Amanda and I ordered BBQ from the Brewhouse Abigail, Mimi and great aunt Andrea got coordinating body paint.

    Then Lela and Abigail played a game pf checkers with their great Aunt while several of us chowed down on BBQ Ribs and chicken while listening to the band.

    THE NEXT BIG EVENT COMING UP AT THE RED APPLE FARM IS THE SUNFLOWER FESTIVAL.

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    A Daily Walk 4-25-20

    / joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

    There are several new habits I have formed over the last six weeks. One of those habits is walking for at least 30 minutes a day. Today I took my walk at 10:30 A.M. I texted Amanda and Brenda to see if they wanted to come, but Amanda fell asleep and Brenda’s back was feeling a little out of joint this morning, so I walked by myself today. Here are some pictures I took on the way.

    Winter At the Vicarage

    / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

    Winter has come to the Vicarage for the holidays. As Thanksgiving closed out the storms came in. We have had about 28 inches dumped on us over the last week. For those of you who use the metric system that is 71 centimeters. Most of that came in one storm or set of storms depending on how you look at it.

    As you can see, the new fallen snow has melted back a bit after a few days of warm weather and it is truly beautiful now.

    From here through the end of March we will be in a weather pattern of alternating snow and rain if the trend from the last couple of years holds. Last night it poured and this brook flooded as it has been doing the last few years filling the back yard.

    When I awoke this morning that little fire pit was submerged in the water up to its base.

    Tell me what it looks like where you live.