Merry Watters
Thomas Mousin
For over 30 years, Merry Watters and I have created this calendar as a collaborative project. I am an Episcopal priest, currently serving as rector at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Portland, Maine. I also works as a chaplain with Hospice of Southern Maine.I have been an elementary school teacher, and as a United Methodist pastor, served six different United Methodist churches in Vermont. In April of 2019 I moved to Portland, Maine, along with my spouse, the Right Rev. Thomas J. Brown, the tenth Bishop of Maine.
Susan Shepherd Kochinskas
We would not be able to complete this calendar each year without the assistance of a good friend and superb graphic designer, Susan Shepherd Kochinskas. She prepares my final design for distribution on this website. Find out more about her and her work at Flocksholm Design. Thank you, Susan!
Thanks
Thanks so much, Merry and Tom. It is wonderful!! May I put a link to this site on my Art Divina site?
Blessings to you both!
Thank you so much for freely sharing your spiritual gifts with so many. A friend sent me your web site and I was thrilled to learn of your Advent calendar. I plan on sharing it at my church in our December newsletter, UMC Richmond, Maine. Merry and Tom, you are blessed to be a blessing, Peace.
Barbara
November 13, 2011
Greetings Mary and Tom, this is the first time I have seen your beautiful Advent Calendar. A friend sent it to me and I am delighted.. Blessing to you both for you surely are blessed to be a blessing.for sharing your God given gifts so freely with so many. I plan on placing the calendar in my church’s December Newsletter and will also share a few words about (you), the Creaters of the calendar. Thank you so much for passing on your Spiritual Gifts.
Shirley Bingham November 20, 2011
Hello to Tom and Mary. Thank you for your simple, meaningful mission to many folks through the Advent Calendar. It is the first time I have seen it on the Vermont Congregational website. In the past I have received copies from Dino in Shrewsbury, Vermont.
God Bless as you continue this ministry.
Dear Tom & Merry,
So glad to see you and once again have access to your lovely calendar.
Just in time for Advent Sun. Many thanks!!!
Same lovely smile, Merry, and glad to see someone, Tom, whose hair is whiter than mine!
Blessings to you and yours,
Kay Ellis, Grace UMC, St. Johnsbury, VT
Happy Thanksgiving Merry and Tom!
I love the design of the new advent calendar. Thanks for helping me to get into the bible and continue my waiting.
Marla Bowen
As always, the calendar is beautiful and thought-provoking. But that last line of Tom’s poem especially struck me – “For ev’ry child at ev’ry birth, in whom we’ll see your sacred worth.” What a powerful and precious sentiment that I hope we can keep all year ’round as we discuss how we will deal with the needs of our nation’s children – no matter what their race, religion, immigration status or nation of origin. Thanks again for a wonderul job, Merry and Tom!
Phil Tajitsu Nash
Hi Tom and Merry! Thank you, once again, for the gift of the beautiful Advent Calendar, my congregation loves them! Tom, as long as I give credit to your authorship, may I add a poem or two to my bulletin inserts during Advent for the congregation? With gratitdue and prayers for a peace-filled Advent, Laura Mitchell<
Thanks so much, Laura. Always good to hear how our calendar is being used. And please do use whichever poems you would like. Thank you for asking – and may you have a blessed Advent.
Peace,
Tom
Hi Tom & Mary —
I facilitate grief groups and would like to reprint your 2020 Advent Poem on a handout. May I have your permission to do so? It is lovely!
Jenny Schroedel
Dear Jenny,
Thank you for asking. Yes, you may reprint the 2020 Advent poem, I work as a chaplain with a Hospice organization, and hope the poem my help people in dealing with the grief in their lives. Thank you for asking.
Peace,
Tom Mousin
Hey. Might I use your 2020 Advent poem in a postcard for the parish where I serve? Thanks for considering (unrelated: Tom, we just missed serving at the same time in DioMass, looks like).
Dear Ann,
Nice to hear from you and thanks for asking about the poem – yes, you may certainly use it for a parish postcard. Happy to have it shared in a variety of ways. And hope you can make it to Maine someday – we do love it here, but miss our friends and colleagues in Dio Mass. Advent blessings,
Tom
Hello Tom: Your 2020 poem was sent to me by our current Rector, Elizabeth Molitors here at Trinity Episcopal In Santa Barbara I am a lifelong Episcopalian and former Nashville singer/ songwriter. I fell in love with the poem, wrote music for it, and we’d like your permission to perform it for Advent I on Nov. 28th. here at Trinity. If you would send me your e-mail address, I would be happy to send you a simple guitar/vocal of it that I recorded in my living room. It is a lovely poem! Many thanks,
Kate Wallace
Dear Kate,
Thank you so much for your interest in the 2020 Advent poem, and yes, you have my permission to use it. My email address is: tmousin@gmail.com, and I would appreciate you sending me your recording of it. And – this year’s Advent calendar will be on this website sometime tomorrow.
Every blessing to you,
Tom
Thank you, Merry and Tom. Merry, my husband is from Averill Park, and I taught in the Averill Park School District from 1974-1987. Tom, I am Donna Buell’s sister. I am currently an Elder and Worship Committee moderator at the Presbyterian Church of Bella Vista (Arkansas).
Thanks so much for connecting, Jean. You were in Averill Park, bad in the day when I was a United Methodist minister in the Troy Annual Conference. Have a blessed Advent and hope the calendar is well used.
Peace,
Tom (known as Thomas to your dear sister Donna).
Tom,
May I please use your Advent poem from 2020 in a contemplative Advent service on December 13, 2021 at my church, Providence Presbyterian Church on Little River Turnpike in Fairfax, Virginia.
My name it Terry Lamb and I coordinate this evening service each year where we alternate periods of silence for 2 minutes with a musical selection and a reading of a poem or prose selection evoking themes of advent. Your poem from 2020 speaks to my spirit as I assemble the readings for this year.
I will of course, cite you as the author and include a link to your website in the printed version of the service.
Feel free to call me with questions or concerns,
Sincerely,
Terry Lamb
terryrlamb@gmail.com or 703-861-3188
I can also be reached through Kathy Knorr our communications coordinator .
Our church website is https://www.providencechurch.org
Dear Terry,
Thank you for your request, and yes, you have my permission to use the 2020 poem, with appropriate accreditation. It is a great gift to me to know that these words have a life beyond the calendar, and I am glad they are speaking to you in such a way that you wish to share them.
Peace,
Tom