THE WILD ONION. November 2018 GENEROSITY IN GRATITUDE Pledge Ingathering Sunday THIS SUNDAY November 4 at both services

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1 THE WILD ONION November 2018 STEPPING UP... The Vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps we must step up the stairs. Vance Havner Be not afraid of growing slowly. Be only afraid of standing still. Chinese Proverb Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then there's got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when you're at the edge, you have to go forward or backward; if you go forward, you have to jump together. Yo-Yo Ma CONTENTS: Worship Formation Community Telling our Story Service Letter From the Rector Calendar and Lay Ministry Schedule SUNDAYS IN NOVEMBER: Holy Eucharist, 8am Breakfast, 8:50am Nursery & Childcare, 9:15am Christian Formation Classes, 9:15am Children's Worship, 9:15am Adult Choir Rehearsal, 9:30am Choral Eucharist, 10:30am Children's Choir Rehearsal, 11:45am OF SPECIAL NOTE: Sunday Night Live! Nov. 11, 5:15 pm Best Ever Holiday Bazaar, Nov. 17, 9:00am- 3:00 pm Thanksgiving Eve Eve Service, Nov. 20, 6:00 pm GENEROSITY IN GRATITUDE 2019 Pledge Ingathering Sunday THIS SUNDAY November 4 at both services Please bring your pledge cards (or ask an usher for one Sunday morning) so that we can all walk up our commitments and offer them at God's welcoming Table.

2 The Vocabulary of Gratitude MY BEST GIFT: I CAN TALK TO A FENCE POST By Annette Pilcher God gives us many gifts. All the gifts that God grants us are there for us to identify them and use them for God's glory. Of the many gifts God has blessed me with, the one I value most is that I can comfortably talk to just about anyone. I grew up in a military family that moved 13 times in 18 years. In the military community, I made friends very quickly because I didn't know how long I would be there and there was no time to waste. It was a great life and I treasure all those experiences with the friends I made and cultures I encountered. It was my

3 Mother, however, who was most responsible for developing my innate gift. She was one of the friendliest people I ever knew and a gracious Southern woman who was very interested in people I watched her for years as we moved around the country and the world making friends for herself and our family wherever we went. I came to Nashville in 1970 and between my marriage to a fourth generation Nashvillian, my library work at Tennessee State University, where the whole world walked through the library doors in a day, and my volunteer work with Alive Hospice, this gift of being comfortable talking with anyone anywhere about anything has sustained me. When I came to Saint David's 46 years ago I also found my Church home. Even then I was welcomed by a warm friendly congregation that allowed me to be the person I wanted to be and supported me in all of my ministries. This is one of the things I love about Saint David s and part of what I value about the Episcopal Church: everyone is always invited. We do not need a special invitation to step into our place in the family of God. We can just show up with what we have and with what God gave us and God will find a use for us. (God also gave me the gift of discernment and know where I did not have gifts, so I never joined the Choir or the Altar Guild.) I expect that God may yet have gifts for me that I do not yet know about. Please join me in this journey to identify our own gifts and opportunities to share the Good News of Christ, particularly through Saint David's, but also in other areas of our world. We need you! WORSHIP A PRAYER SERVICE FOR NATIONAL HEALING & RECONCILIATION...will be held just before mid-term elections on Sunday, November 4 at 6pm at St. George s Episcopal Church (4715 Harding Road). This service is intended to create a space for prayer, lament, repentance, and for the hope that is found in God alone. Moreover, this service is intended to be a non-partisan pursuit of prayer and worship. To do this, we need people from all over to join in with us.

4 FORMATION YOUTH ACTIVITIES By Luke Gautier Our Youth stepped up their game with energy and creativity, with hard work and laughter for the Trunk or Treat and Chili Cook-off on October 27. Despite weather uncertainties, decorations were creative and scary and costumes were terrific. After the revelry in the parking lot, hungry bodies flocked to Sanders Hall for 11 varieties of homemade chili. When all the votes were cast, John and Jaci Kitch emerged in the "hotly-competitive" contest as the victors. It must be said, however, all entries were quite scrumptious. And, for the last event of the night the Youth participated in a lock-in at St. David's that concluded with breakfast on Sunday morning...a great time together! Be Blessed, Stay Blessed, and Bless others. SCHEDULE November 4: no EYC November 11: EYC, 4:30-6pm; make caramel popcorn for the Bazaar Mission Trip fundraiser. November 18: no EYC November 25: no EYC December 2: EYC, 4:30-6pm December 9: Christmas Caroling (grades 4-12) December 16: Christmas Pageant at 5pm; rehearsal and costuming at 4:30pm December 23: no EYC or Christian Formation December 30: no EYC or Christian Formation

5 GODLY PLAY by Jennifer Sanders, Children s Ministries & Godly Play Coordinator Thanksgiving: a holiday that focuses on being thankful, which in turns leads to happiness, gratefulness and doing good for others. When we are thankful our joy overflows to bless others. And to go along with our Fruit of the Spirit theme for the year, a fitting fruit for Thanksgiving is Kindness. So for the month of November the Fruit of the Spirit we will focus on is Kindness. Kindness starts with caring then leads to action. This month we will explore ways in which we can show our kindness. The beauty is it can be expressed in ways that are big and small, happen at any moment and come in a variety of ways. So watch out! You never know what the children have up their sleeves. Don t be nervous they are thankful and full of kindness. Let the spirit of the season find us thankful and spreading kindness Seeking Two Children s Christian Formation Leaders! Jennifer Sanders has lead our Children s Formation Ministry for almost ten years and she is ready to pass the torch next year! You will have the opportunity to be mentored by Jennifer this year and learn all her trade secrets. If you are interested in learning more about what this ministry is about, please see Jennifer or her at sandersjd@comcast.net. SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE By Heather Cass We had a great kick-off for this year's Sunday Night Live series on civility. I thought Ashford Hughes from the Mayor's office was amazing and offered insight but more importantly was engaged with us and wants to come back! For November, please help me welcome David Plazas back to Sunday Night Live. He kicked us off last year. I have asked him to come back and share with us the work he is doing around He is the Tennessean's Opinion and Engagement Editor and he will speak to us about the Tennessean's yearlong project, Civility Tennessee. SUNDAY SUPPER CLUB CONTINUES... January 20-February 24, 2019 Skipping Second Sundays for Sunday Night Live Sanders Hall By Burns Rogers Come join us! In the Spring, we will look at Lars and the Real Girl. This title was recommended by our very own Rector. The description for this film is, In this comedy, Lars Lindstrom is an awkwardly shy young man in a small northern town who finally brings home the girl of his dreams to his brother and sister-in-law's home. The only problem is that she's not real. Lars has found a deep, meaningful relationship in the unlikeliest of places. His sister-in-law is worried for him, his brother thinks he's nuts, but eventually the entire town goes along with his delusion in support of this sweet natured boy that they've always loved. We continue with our Bring Your Own Dinner format. Our sessions begin at 5:30 and conclude by 7:30. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Burns at burnsrogers@gmail.com or

6 RESCHEDULED EVENT Discover the Enneagram November 9-10, 2018 Friday 6:00 pm-9:00 pm, Saturday, 9:00 am-6:00 pm led by Burns Rogers and Donna Stokes-Rogers St. Paul s Episcopal Church, Franklin, TN burnsrogers@gmail.com What is the enneagram? The enneagram is a tool to discover who we are at our essence, our core, our true selves. This is often at odds with our personality type. Ego and personality are developed as we grow and adapt to conflict. In our essence, we are perfect and fearless, without conflict between our mind, body, and spirit. The study of the enneagram is a powerful tool to learning our true motivations, discovering the hidden pitfalls in our personality type, and healing emotional wounds. Once you register for the event, the Howell Enneagram Profile will be sent to you with your confirmation. The profile will take approximately minutes to complete. Please bring your completed profile with you to the Friday session, where we will start our discussion with an introduction into Ego Types. Saturday will be spent delving deeper into enneagram study. Cost for the session is $50.00, which includes opening reception and lunch on Saturday. You can pay for the event upon arrival Friday evening. We will be using Dr. Joseph Howell s book Becoming Conscious: The Enneagram s Forgotten Passageway, available in paperback and Kindle version at Amazon. Having a copy of the book is not necessary, but it will be the primary source of our weekend study. Registration can be found at SignUp Genius: or you can Burns at the address above for a link. Vocations Inquiry Day Called to Ministry? Come learn more about the discernment process for both lay and ordained ministries within the Diocese of Tennessee. All are welcome! November 3, 2018, 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. $10 (includes lunch) St. George s Episcopal Church 4715 Harding Road, Nashville, TN COMMUNITY SAINT DAVID'S WOMEN ENJOY APPS & CONVERSATION By Allison Grimenstein We had a wonderful evening at Judy Grace's home in October. Thank you for hosting, Judy! Our next meeting will be after the holidays when we will gather in January to have a book discussion since the one we had last year (for Waking Up White) was so popular. The book for January will be Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. The Nashville Public Library has tons of copies available and it is also available at all bookstores and online. Looking forward to January!

7 SAINT DAVID'S MEN'S GROUP By Johnny Erwin We are proud to announce that as of November 9th our little group will have been an official part of St. David s for one full year. In our efforts to determine a way to celebrate we considered inviting the entire church to Chester s house, but decided this might be a slight problem for Carolyn you think? Oh well, guess we will have to come up with another plan. Stay tuned. As we continue to meet on a regular basis for fellowship, we find ourselves gradually growing in size. Recently, we actually established a treasurer of our group. Nat Howry stepped up to the plate and volunteered. Our interests are varied and new ideas are always being considered. At the present time our number one objective, in addition to the fellowship we enjoy, is ministering to our parish. The Ministry to the Parish, in which the men are very much involved, continues to be a large part of our activities. One area that is recently requiring more of our attention is visits to the homebound. This not only involves the men, but the women as well. The logistics involved in this can be somewhat complex at times but I think we manage to make it happen. We recently were very much involved in renovating the children s playground which has been somewhat abused by mother nature in years past. We undertook to weed, pressure wash, replace rotted boards, scrape, plant, paint and many other areas to improve both the looks and safety of the playground. This has been a concerted effort by so many people, both men and women. Our Junior Warden, Rahn Huber, not only was the leader of the band but she got as dirty as the rest of us. Once more I would like to invite you men of the church, both young and old, to join us at our dinner meetings. We usually meet on the 4th Thursday of every month in Sanders Hall. If you have joined us in the past and just haven t had an opportunity to be with us recently, please come back so much has happened this last year that I think you would be pleased. Please feel free to contact me with any questions at 13bekem@gmail.com, phone NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS Nov. 2 Marc Pearson Nov. 3 Madison Hamilton Clark, Marilyn Leathers Nov. 5 Yang He Nov. 7 Michelle Adams, Harrison Hill Nov. 9 Scott Gray, Sr. Nov. 10 Sophia & Jacob Appelt Nov. 12 Meg Kirkpatrick, Peyton Wear Nov. 13 Margie Gray Nov. 14 Claudia Patton Nov. 17 Mary Clark Schmidt Nov. 18 Matthew Mart Nov. 21 Diana Gray Nov. 23 Pat Ruth Nov. 24 Bill Huggins, Lex Lechleiter Nov. 25 Marlin Sanders Nov. 26 Evan Sanders, Caroline McNair Nov. 27 Howard Green Nov. 28 Michael Cass NOVEMBER ANNIVERSARIES Nov. 7 Mary Jo & Dick Murphy Nov. 15 G anne Harmon & John Shatzer Nov. 22 Sara & Les Wilkinson

8 TELLING OUR STORY STEPPING UP MORE EVERY DAY By Rahn Huber, Vestry member and Junior Warden "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." As a librarian, I am bound by professional practice to give credit when due to any author, but the author of this quote is disputed. That said, it is still a quote that speaks to me. Each day I feel the challenge to be better, to compete with myself. Am I being the best that I can be to love others? To be positive and forward moving? Some days my best is better than others, but I still keep my eye on the goal. One very special place is my second home, and that is St. David's. The place itself is important, but even more significant are the people who embrace me, even when I err. Have you connected with the love that is St. David's? If you are here and want to be more connected, there are so many ways to do that. Just ask! SERVICE ALMOST...ALMOST...ALMOST READY! CAN YOU HELP US REACH OUR GOAL? By Derrill McRae, Bazaar Coordinator The Best Bazaar Ever is just around the corner on November 17th. Please STEP UP and help us get to the finish line! Our upcoming work days are on November 2nd from 10:00am-3:00pm when the Creations Galore Crafters will be be making candy sleighs and trains. Please come join us. Saturday, November 3rd from 1:00-3:00pm as we will be making rolls with Judy Grace... lots of hands are "kneaded!" Wednesday, November 7th from 10:00am-3:00pm is the day we put the final touches on all our crafts. Please sign up to donate crafts or food you have made! Bags and labels are in the Sander s Hall closet for labeling food before putting it in the freezer. Please remember every year it takes a village (or the Saint David's Family) to get us to the finish line! OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE THE DIOCESE In November the Vestry will elect three delegates to represent Saint David's at the 187th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Tennessee to be held at Trinity Church, 317 Franklin Street, Clarksville, on January 25-26, Delegates must be confirmed communicants in good standing and at least 18 years of age. Contact a Vestry member or the parish office if you are interested in being a delegate to the Diocesan Convention. Seeking Nominations for Vestry Class of 2021 It s time once again to start planning for our next Vestry Class. Nominations are being received for persons to run for election to the Vestry Class of Elections will take place at the Annual Parish Meeting on January 13, To serve on the Vestry one must be 16 years of age, baptized, confirmed or received and in good standing in the church. They must also be able to attend the annual Vestry Retreat at the end of January To nominate someone, or yourself, please contact one of the outgoing Vestry Class of 2018 members: Norman Gillis (norman@musicrowlaw.com), Jonathan Raj (jonathanjraj@gmail.com), Carolyn Schmidt (caschmidt@comcast.net), or Nikki Troia (nikkitroia3@gmail.com).

9 Dear Friends, Good People of Saint David s, LETTER FROM THE RECTOR In June I climbed two thirds of the way up the mountain you see here. It is the famed "The Chief" in Squamish, British Columbia and the part I bumbled up is called "The Apron." My plan had been to make it up to the top of The Chief, but I pooped out before I got there. I had never done any "crack climbing" before, so climbing up the roughly 1400 feet of "Calculus Crack" and "Memorial Crack" was a sort of baptism by fire. The fire ended up being in my feet. Crack climbing is basically jamming your hands into a fissure between two slabs of rock, then squeezing your feet into the same, all while pulling with your hands and pushing with your feet to get you up the rock wall. I know: sounds like a ridiculous way to spend a vacation, but I find an immeasurable joy, thrill and sense of awe at what even the weakest of human bodies can do, namely mine. By the time I got to the top of The Apron, I was simultaneously in a state of slap happiness and acute physical pain, especially my feet, ankles and knees as well as the back of my right hand where I had opened a brave hole from the first time I hand jammed my way up the hardest part of the climb, which you see pictured below. The two primary lessons I have learned from rock climbing that I can transfer to the rest of my life are these: it's up to me and I must exercise trust. Now these two lessons seem to be contradictory, right? But if you have ever put yourself in a position of having your life quite literally hang by a rope, there are all kinds of things you learn about yourself and about how you think about trust, particularly trust in the one holding the rope. It's up to me. Climbing is up to me. I have to be the one who makes the choice to climb. I am the one who makes the choice to exercise properly or not so that I can enjoy the vertical dance or find myself in the uncomfortable position of being weak and struggling to get up a wall. It's up to me to both observe and control how my fears limit my climbing or how I gravitate toward comfortable climbs instead of challenging myself to enjoy new moves on more challenging routes. It is up to me to do what I can to enjoy this sport that I have chosen as a means of recreating my spirit and body so that I can mother well, so that I can minister well, so that I can simply live. I must exercise trust. I must trust that my foot will stay in the place I have carefully placed it. I must trust that the hand exercises I do at stop lights will pay off when I try to hoist myself up using only my fingertips. I must trust that my judgement about foot and hand placement will both keep me safe and help me enjoy the graceful movement that strength and calm make possible. More importantly, however, I must trust that the person holding the rope is watching me, that they are paying attention to where my foot is in relation to the rope so I don't get tangled in it, that they are seeing that I'm struggling and offer me encouragement, help and humor. I must trust that the person holding the rope is watching and will catch me when I fall. I always fall, too. Yet, I right myself, sigh a few times (maybe I curse sometimes...) and move my foot to the next step I need to take to get myself to the top, now having learned a little something about climbing or myself or both. I am sure you can imagine how these two lessons transfer to other parts of life. I also bet you know where I might be going with this in relation to our pledge drive. Living this life, with all of its ups and downs, joys and challenges--it is up to me. I make choices to live in certain ways and not in others. Living into these choices well requires that I make other choices. It's not enough to choose to rock climb; I must also choose to exercise so that I can climb confidently and comfortably. It's not enough for me to choose to be a Christ

10 follower; I must also choose to exercise those promises I make when I say the Baptismal Covenant (BCP, p ). I must exercise my beliefs. Likewise, I must exercise trust in the One who grants me this life in which I make all these choices. I must trust that the Source of all Life gifts me with the skills, intuition, talents and community to live as abundantly as I can in the days that I have. I must trust that Love will offer me encouragement when I struggle, that Spirit will empower me to exceed my own limiting expectations. I must trust that God will catch me when I fall, dust me off, help me calm down and allow me to start over, a little wiser, a little braver. I don't know if you have noticed, but we've been using the phrase "step up" in this issue and over the last few weeks of our conversation about the pledge drive. Pledging financial support of any congregation or organization is taking a stand on what you believe is important. Pledging is stepping up to the mic and saying that you are putting your money where your mouth is. But for first time pledgers and for pledgers who seek to increase their pledge, pledging might be unnerving. Stepping up and formally submitting a commitment to Saint David's might mean a variety of things, such as responsibility, ownership, advocacy and agency. Stepping up one's pledge amount might mean sacrifice in other parts of one's life, maybe a daily Starbucks coffee or one less dining out experience. Whatever "stepping up" your pledge means in your life, pledging requires you to exercise trust. It is up to you to trust in yourself to have discerned the amount of financial support appropriate to your life. You must trust Saint David's community to use our collected monies wisely as we employ these funds to further our ministries of forming Christians and building the Kingdom of Heaven through service and sharing the Good News. We must all trust one another that we are hearing what God is saying to our church. Most of all we must exercise trust that what we say we believe about God is true: that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen, that God saves us from ourselves and is the giver and sustainer of life. And if this is true--rather, if we believe this is true--then stepping up to pledge or to increase one's pledge is up to us. God continues to create all that is, seen and unseen. Let us choose not to fear, but to trust as we step up. At the end of the day, all this choosing and all this trusting, it is indeed up to us. For what reason? Some climbers will say they climb for the sport of it, because they like to be outside, because they like the community, because they want to get to the top. But others will say, "I climb a mountain because it's there." Me? I suppose I like the challenge. I have a strong scrappy streak and climbing scratches that itch, especially at 48 when most climbers have the advantage of youth. I love being outside. But most of all, I love to be humbled by the vastness of what I find while climbing and what I find at the top. I am astonished at how much fear I have and how little trust I need to overcome it. I am humbled by the patience and giving spirits of those who hold my life in their hands. I am surprised by the well of resilience I quietly harbor and rediscover when I climb. I am overwhelmed by the beauty that our Creator gives us to enjoy. Climbing, for me at least, is as much about the struggle to get up as it is about reaching the top. Reaching the top almost always pays dividends, as you can see from the picture below. Pledging, for me at least, is as much about trusting God to provide me with the means to keep my promise as it is about the spiritual exercise of choosing with my financial resources those things that bring me deeper into life. Ironically, climbing as much as stepping up my pledge take me deeper into life as I climb higher up a wall and as I perch on a higher level of trust in what the Creator of all that is has, can and will equip me with to live an abundant and whole life. With profound gratitude for Creation, this Life and all of you at Saint David's, Carolyn+ The Rev. Carolyn Coleman, Rector

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