SEPTEMBER 2008 The hepherd s Staff

Transcription

1 SEPTEMBER 2008 The hepherd s Staff Published monthly by St Mary s Episcopal Church 219 First Street, Emmett, Idaho (208)

2 2 Table of Contents What s Happening at St. Mary s... 4 Birthdays & Anniversaries... 5 Daily Word... 6 Calendar... 8 Servants in His Service Vestry Highlights...12 ReverendFun Bridges...15 If you have something for the OCTOBER issue, contact Linda Cox at or lindacox2007@msn.com or use January 20. Thanks! (P.S. Don t forget birthdays and special thank yous, etc.)

3 3 SPECIAL ARTICLE S Our Bishop Elect The Rev. Brian THOM was selected on June 28 th by the clergy of Idaho and the lay delegates from all the parishes in the Diocese. St. Mary s thanks it delegation for all their work, time and effort in the process of selection & nomination of candidates and for all their efforts at the election convention. The consecration of our new Bishop will be celebrated on the 11 of October at 11 A.M. in the Cathedral of the Rockies in Boise. The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the US will be in attendance. =================================== The Anglican Digest For many years the people of St. Mary s have received a quarterly copy of a little magazine The Anglican Digest. We are part of a parish program where anyone who requests this publication can receive it at no charge. We are all asked to donate what we can to support this program. The Digest is a collection of articles from parish newsletters and more, which witness to the transforming power of the Gospel in the Church around the United States and throughout the world. It is informative and well written. If you do not receive this publication and you would like to just let your Parish Administrator, Bernie Maza know and you will be added

4 4 WHAT S HAPPENING AT ST.MARYS? Community Partner Cards Parishioner use of these cards is the primary funding source for all of our youth programs. Please use your cards or pick up one from the Church Office. After your card is used for the first time it will be programmed on your Preferred Card and a percentage will automatically come to our youth.a big Thank You Vacation Bible School was held in August in conjunction with the Presbyterians and the Methodists. Many thanks to the Team from St. Mary s, Valerie Sanders and Nicole Simmons along with Rev. Gretchen. =================================================== Your Favorite Hymn Do you have a favorite hymn that you don t get to sing? The hymns are usually chosen to go with the particular theme of the day. You can always suggest a particular hymn or if you would like a certain hymn on a special day just leave a note in the offering plate or in the Church Office. =================================================== ATTENTION Please be preparing and grooming your pets for the Blessing of the Animals in honor of St. Francis, on Sunday October 5th at both services

5 Birthday Wishes. 5 Sandi Long 9/3 Benjamin Moulton 9/3 Gretchen Hyde 9/5 Jill Mackey 9/8 Cammie Veenstra 9/10 Zeb Atkinson 9/13 Les Black 9/13 Kate Torres 9/13 Tayler Cunningham 9/14 Jan Little 9/16 Ray Blume 9/22 ANNIVERSARY Larry & Gretchen Downer 9/4 Gene & Sharron Hollingsworth 9/7

6 6 From Daily Word AFFIRMATIVE THINkING I Thought by thought I affirm divine ideas that are my Godgiven reality. What kind of thoughts am I allowing to take up residence in my mind? The answer is thoughts that are lifeaffirming thinking is even more powerful than positive thinking. Being a positive thinker, I believe that something good will happen and await it appearance. As a affirmative thinker. I give myself the go-ahead to claim the goodness of God that is already awaiting me. Thought by thought, I am affirming divine ideas that are my God-given reality. Such thoughts are tools that give shape and form to my life. O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you I Chronicles 29:18

7 7 RELAY FOR LIFE GO SAINTS ALIVE

8 8 SEPTEMBER 2008 Sun Mon Tue We Services 8 &10 am 14Services 8 &10 am Stewardship kick off 8 9 * Weight Watchers 5pm Friendship din * Weight Watchers 5pm 10 EFM 9A Prayer G 1:30 PM 17 EFM 9A Prayer G 1;30 PM 21Services 8 &10 am 22 Soup & Pie Lunch 11 to 2 23 *Weight Watchers 5pm 24 EFM 9A Prayer G 1:30 PM 28Services 8 &10 am YOUTH SUNDAY * Weight Watchers 5pm *

9 9 Wed Thu Fri Sat AM yer Group PM 11 Vestry meeting 7pm AM yer Group PM AM yer Group PM 25 prayer shawl ministry 1 pm pot luck din * non church related activities

10 10 Servants in His Service January 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 2008 Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday Early Early Early Early Early Barbara B. Lackey B. Lackey B. Lackey B. Lackey Val Sanders Val Sanders Val Sanders Val Sanders Lackey Linda Cox Linda Cox Linda Cox Linda Cox Late Late Lae Late Late Altar J. Sorenson J. Mackey V. Beutler L. Campbell Guild T. Murphy D. Blume L. Meserole LaVerne S. Hollingsworth M.J. Buck E. Shoemaker Campbell Val Sander Kim Smelcer Acolytes Zeb Jen Drew Jake Gretchen Josh Gabi Luke Lauren Hyde Altar Flowers Judy Woodie Jim& brad Linda Cox Little Kayne BROWN S.G A & L HOLLINGSWO RTH CRABTREE Lectors L.Campbell S.Hollingsworth L.Meserole A. Millington Rev. J. McConnelll K.Smelcer F.Maza M.Dietz Gretchen Chalice B. Maza LaVerne Fran Maza B. Maza Bearers Campbell Rev. Gretchen Ushers 8am J.England 8am J.England 8am J.England 8am J.England Pat 10 am 10 am 10 am 10 am Max & Murphy Pat & Terry Matt & Heather Sandy Don & Jill Murphy Dietz Long Mackey Church Cleaning H. England N. Gedney F. Maza Marilyn Lorenzen S. Hollingworth

11 ST MARY,S PARISHIONERS, PRAYERS 11 Your prayers are invited for Annie Martes Tom Bevan Caitlynne Muy Janet Arnel Jan Harlan Jim Humphries Our Bishop Harry Amy Crabtree-Muy Bob Charters Nancy Fields ( Please let us know at the end of each month who to include ) PRAY FOR THOSE MEMBERS LIVING IN CARE FACILITIES OR WHO ARE HOMEBOUND Donnie Griffith Jean Higer Rosella Salskov PRAY FOR THOSE IN THE ARMED SERVICES Jordon McKie US Marines Treven Winters US Air Force Aaron Turner US Army Jason McKie US Army Austin Renfroe US Navy Trevor Turner US Army

12 12 Relay for life Con from page 7 First I d like to personally thank everyone that got involved in Relay for Life! Our team, Saints Alive, rose over $1000 for cancer research!! So far, the total raised by Gem County is over $20,000!! Amazing!! Next year I d like to see that amount double, for our team as well as the over all number! Gem County is receiving the Pacesetter Award for meeting all goals set prior to the event out of all the relays in Idaho!!! The American Cancer Society was extremely impressed with our efforts as a community, and since this was our Baby Relay, it can only get better from here on out! We honored close to 100 survivors of cancer, and enjoyed live entertainment, good food and good company all night long! It was truly a life changing experience for all involved. I hope to see more of you on our team next year as we continue the fight against cancer! Sincerely, Erica Rice, Team Captain Hi everyone I am looking forward to doing the newsletter again. I would like to include some things in the newsletter that are thanksgiving s from over the summer or through out the rest of year. It could be any thing like, a new arrival in the family, a move to a new home, etc. Really just any items of interest to your St. Mary s family. please items to me Linda Cox at: lindacox2007@msn.com St. Mary s Altar Guild is looking for new members who would like to take part in this Ministry. If you are interested please contact LaVerne Campbell at or Barbara Lackey at , Co-chairs. Thank you We welcome Pam Paulin & Linda Cox to the Ministry.

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14 14 Our Love goes with you It is with sadness on our part that we tell good-bye to two of our faithful and much loved St. Mary s families. Mary Mitchell who watched over the Altar Guild for many years and served on numerous committees has moved with her daughter Michelle to Virginia. They will share a home there and Mary s health will be monitored by some of the finest specialists in the country. Jim and Patty Thielges moved in August to a new home in Nampa to live near their daughter Priscilla (Jim) Hunt. Jim and Patty have been part of St. Mary s family for over 50 years and between them have served on the vestry and on any and every committee that needed them. Their five children grew up in St. Mary s. They will join the people of Grace Church in Nampa. Our love goes with our dear friends and we wish them well as they start new chapters in their lives. We will miss them!! Addresses, phone numbers and addresses can be obtained in the Church Office. =================================================== Altar guild sees beyond task to spirit Dorothy Greene, president of the altar guild at St. John s Church, Larchmont, N.Y., wrote this definition of an altar guild.. What are the parameters of the spirit which infuses and quickens St. John s Altar Guild? First our members are motivated by love of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ. We serve directly, with our hands, at His altar, Second, we are a cohesive group, doing the thing in the same manner, relying on one another to carry out our assigned tasks conscientiously. Some of these call for a unique frame of mind, a sense of the way in which the trivial meshes with the divine. The women who are members of our altar guild are able to see beyond the material dimension of our work to the spirituality which invests it. We perform our tasks for the glory of God, sharing this commitment and it implicit burdens of equally with one another. As women of the altar guild we focus on Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life. He said, He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. We take deep pleasure in the fact that we all play so personal, as well as corporate, a role in the preparation of that bread and wine which He chose as the means by which He becomes present in us and nourishes us spiritually. We set and clear His table as well as partake of His meal. Justas we nurtures loved ones at home, we arrange the materials in church. What more enriching and appropriate ministry could we be asked to share?

15 15 Bridges to the Contemplative Life With Thomas Merton and Others [In the last analysis what I am looking for in solitude is not happiness or fulfillment but salvation. Not "my own salvation" but the salvation of everybody. Here is where the game gets serious. I have used the word revolt in connection with solitude. Revolt against what? Against a notion of salvation that is entirely legal and extrinsic and can be achieved no matter how false, no matter how shriveled and fruitless one's inner life really is. This is the worst ambiguity: the impression that one can be grossly unfaithful to life, to experience, to love, to other people, to one's own deepest self, and yet be "saved" by an act of stubborn conformity, by the will to be correct. In the end this seems to me to be fatally like the act by which one is lost: the determination to be "right" at all costs, by dint of hardening one's core around an arbitrary choice of a fixed position. To close in on one's central wrongness with the refusal to admit that it might be wrong...i am here [in solitude and in the hermitage] for one thing: to be open, to be not "closed in" on any one choice to the exclusion of all others: to be open to God's will and freedom to His love, which comes to save me from all in myself that resists Him and says no to Him. This I must do not to justify myself, not to be right, not to be good, but because the whole world of lost people needs this opening by which salvation can get into it through me. Thomas Merton. Learning to Love. Christine M. Bochen, editor. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997: 345. Thought for the Day: The big reasons for solitude: the true perspectives- leaving the "world"-even the monastic world with its business, vanities, superficiality. More and more I see the necessity of leaving my own ridiculous "career" as a religious journalist. Stop writing for publication- except poems and creative meditations.

16 Vision & Mission Statement of the Episcopal Diocese in Idaho We are one in baptism * our call to discipleship * to be the hands and heart of Jesus in the world Our Five Mission Imperatives: We are a WORSHIPPING community with Baptism & Eucharist central to our lives together. We are a people who discover our identity in RELATING to God, the creation & one another. We are a TEACHING/LEARNING community focused on the Good News. We are a SERVING community. We are a WELCOMING/INVITING community. St Mary s Episcopal Church 219 First Street Emmett, ID Non-Profit Organization United States Postage Permit No. 67 Emmett, ID