St. Mary s Episcopal Church May 2016

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1 St. Mary s Episcopal Church May N High St Hillsboro, OH Inside this issue: A Word from Our Rector 1 Church Family News 1 Do You Still Love Me? 2 Homeless Shelter 2 Calendar 3 Altar Guild Notes... 4 Serving Schedule 4 Goals We Can All Work on 5 Prayer List 5 Bulletin Board 5 Letting go That is really hard in some situations. I find it extremely hard to let go of lots of things. But that is what we are called to do. If we hold on to every hurt, every mean word, every angry slur, we will destroy the very essence of divinity within us. Psalm 141 tells us, O Lord I call to you, come quickly to me. Hear my voice when A Word from Our Rector I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Such beautiful words to calm the soul. That is the first step to letting go. If we give our frustrations over to the Lord, we will be freer to move into a deeper relationship with God. Also, we are surrounded by Christians and our hearts CHURCH FAMILY NEWS shutter for each other. When we are near a soulmate or Christian, we can lean on them. This allows our hearts to heal because they are empty. So, let all the negative thoughts and feeing go, up like incense; may the lifting up of your hands be like the evening sacrifice. Cleanse your heart and soul of the negative meanders and.let it go! Rev Judi+ TEACHER S LUNCHEON is May 1 st in the EfM Room following the worship service. All current Sunday School teachers and anyone who would like to become a teacher (including Vacation Bible School) are invited. Please let Rev Judi know if you are coming so we can set enough places. Food is catered. RECTOR S STUDY on Tuesday nights, 5:30-6:30 pm in the Telfair Room. The month of May will find us exploring the Gospel of John. You won t want to miss this. Noon Healing Service is still at 12 noon on Wednesdays. Please bring all prayer requests to the altar! PENTECOST SUNDAY May 15 th. This is the WEAR RED day of the year! In Pentecost we celebrate the sending out of disciples to do God s work. On the Day of Pentecost, we read Acts 2 where the flames (thus the red) of the heavens circle the heads of the disciples. It is also known as the Birthday of the Church! Come ready to celebrate!!!

2 Do You Still Love Me? Our daughter, Katrina, came to us straight from the hospital as a 36-hour-old foster baby. She screamed for the first several weeks, going through with-drawl because her mother had used drugs. She was our most difficult foster, ever. I prayed God would help her and help me to be a loving mother to her. He listened and He acted. I fell in love with her and we wanted to keep her! We asked our prayer group to pray that we could adopt her. The next day the mother put her up for adoption. The agency would not allow us to adopt Kitty because she was biracial, nor did they want to lose us as fosters parents. More prayers went up. Our social worker told the mother that we wanted to adopt, so she took the baby back from the agency and we adopted Kitty privately. As she grew, she found many ways to delight us and fill us with chagrin at the same time. Kitty would ask from time to time, Do you still love me? Of course we love you! we'd declare. And so does Jesus. She was a determined girl. She wanted to play the violin like her friend. She signed up for lessons at school. Soon her instructor called to say she needed a violin. I didn't know about this! So we rented a violin. She played quite well in the school orchestra from fourth grade through high school. Her friend taught her how to play a tune on the piano, so then she needed a piano! She tried chorus, acting, art, writing, and attended Saturday School at Wright State. She was good at everything. But then she wondered off to see where demons dwell and we lost her for a while. When she came back to her senses, she asked to come home. She apologized for the trouble she'd caused and asked for forgiveness. Of course, we said. You know if you ask Jesus to forgive you, He will, too. She promised to get a job and her GED as soon as possible. She had a job that week, and got her GED in two more weeks. We were proud of her! I asked her why she no longer asked Do you still love me? I know you love me! I don't need to ask, Since those years long ago, Katrina found her birth mother and three half-brothers. She keeps in tough with them. She's an auntie to two little ones. She found her birth father here in Hillsboro, and her grandparents, an aunt and uncles. Her family took her to church and introduced her as their daughter and grand daughter. She sees them whenever she's in town and holidays. Kitty is also I member of church. Jesus kept his promises. Karen Vlaskamp News Release: Greg Hawkins, Director of Highland County Homeless Shelter, is shown accepting $500 from Larry Addington on behalf of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. The Shelter, located at 145 Homestead Avenue in Hillsboro, has helped hundreds of individuals and families over the years. Persons needing help receive food, a place to sleep, and guidance so they can live. The Shelter is very thankful for the support the community provides. Larry Addington

3 6 pm OA TR (B) Royal & Olivia Baker 1 8 (B) Isaiah Lawson Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 15 11:30 Vestry Meeting (B) Jeremiah Ogden May :30pm Rector s Study TR (B) Hollis Stevenson (B) Marilyn Varvel (B) Robert Harner pm OA TR 12 6 pm OA TR 19 6 pm OA TR ((B) Robert Shuler 26 6 (B) Sam Harner Soup s On San = Ssanctuary LH = Lacy Hall CEC = Christian Education Center TR = Telfair Room

4 We are pleased that our numbers are growing. Two of our newest church members, Sandy Ferrell and Martha Gorman have volunteered to serve on the Altar Guild. Sandy has partnered with Lynn and Bob Lowell this past month. The Lowell s and Sandy also provided all of our Christmas and Easter floral decorations and we are very grateful. Altar Guild Notes... During May, I will be training Martha Gorman and Shirley Gilliam. Then Martha will partner with Judy Franklin and serve in June and Shirley will be my partner during July. With six people working as partners, we can rotate every three months and always have someone to cover for us if unexpected things come up in our schedules. The head of this Guild is our Rector and we strive to perform her directions. Members should be communicants of the parish. This ministry is very meaningful as it teaches us reverence, care and understanding of the traditions that make up our Episcopal service. If you are interested in learning more and possibly joining us, contact Deanna Flinn at Serving Schedule for May May LECTOR CHALICE SUNDAY SCHOOL ACOLYTES & CRUCIFER USHERS INTERCESSOR 1 Lynn Lowell Bob Lowell Karen Vlaskamp & Connie Reynolds R Martin / L Wiley Phyllis & Paul Johnson Deanna Flinn 8 Paul Orth Nancy Orth Larry Wiley & Paulette Goerler Connie Reynolds / Bob Lowell Roy Goerler Karen Vlaskamp 15 Sandy Ferrell Jim Heathcote Paul & Phyllis Johnson R Martin / L Wiley Mildred May / Paul Orth Betty Heathcote 22 Jennie Harner Larry Wiley Andrea Harner & Betsy Miller Connie Reynolds / Bob Lowell John / Carol Joy Lynn Lowell 29 Paulette Goerler Connie Reynolds Debbie Schuler Roy Goerler / L Wiley Mildred May / Paul Orth REACH OUT See someone you don't recognize? Introduce yourself! See someone who may not be familiar with the service? Ask if you can help, or invite them to sit with you! MAKE A FRIEND BE A FRIEND

5 Goals We Can All Work on When the Vestry had its retreat we were given a lot of valuable information that will help us serve God and improve this church. Along with that we developed a list of goals that we would like to see accomplished this year, and three of them are as follows: Grow membership in 2016 by 25% Increase stewardship: Increase number of pledges by 24% (23 more people) and increase the dollar amount of pledges by 25%. Add to Music Program by adding a choir and increase joyful music. Rev. Judi puts these goals and others in front us at the Vestry meetings, but I think these things need to be thought about all the time. How can all of us working as a team accomplish these goals? I have heard people say that bringing people into the church is the responsibility of the priest. I don t know how you feel, but I disagree with that. When is the last time you invited someone to church? When is the last time you talked about St. Mary s with someone who has no idea what goes on here and what we have to offer? And the kids could invite a friend to church too. When we bring someone to church on Sunday, they may not stay and come every Sunday, but we have given them something to think about, haven t we? In these hard times I find it difficult to ask people for money, but maybe teaching our children that we do give back to God a portion of what he gives us is a good idea. I know when I was little my grandma always gave me two dimes to put in the collection plate. I was so proud that I had money to give to God. And I d like to think that God looked at those dimes and smiled. John Glaze works hard on our music and he works hard for the Historical Society and at his job. But, I think if there was enough interest John just might put a choir together. I just wanted to run these by you. Maybe you have some ideas on how we can work on these goals together. If you do, let s talk. PRAYER LIST Please remember the following members and friends of St. Mary s. Our Father knows their needs. Herschel Hook Cecil Robertson Ann Tieman Anne Stamps Shirley Gilliam Eli Ashby Anne Staffeld Mary Reynolds Nancy Orth Paul Orth Mary Brown Turner Larry Addington Fred Vlaskamp Karen Vlaskamp Adam Kretchek Eric & Katie Aurigema Jackie Tucker Marilyn Varvel Georgetown Veterans Home-residents & staff Tammy Wynn Willis Hamilton Unspoken need. Old Fashioned Family Fun Day When: June 26, 2016 from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM (Church Service held on picnic site at 10:00 AM) Where: Rocky Fork Lake What: Food, Games, Playground, Fishing (if you want), Relaxing In a Lawn Chair Bring your family and friends, and neighbors to enjoy a day of fun. Drinks, Hot Dogs, and table service will be provided. Bring a covered dish and a dessert. The activities that have been planned will probably make us very hungry! Please come and enjoy a day of fun and fellowship!!! This promises to be a good time! Bulletin BOARD Paulette Goerler, Senior Warden The church is in need of garden tools. Items needed: rakes, hoes, wheel barrow, pruners, shovels. If you have items you d like to donate for use in the gardens, please contact Mildred May, Junior Warden. Thank you!

6 St. Mary's Episcopal Church 234 N. High St. Hillsboro, OH Phone: Music at St. Mary s begins in October! St. Mary s Statement of Purpose The mission of St. Mary s Episcopal Church is to share the joy of a loving God through worship in the Anglican tradition, fellowship and service. St. Mary s Episcopal Church Information St. Mary s Episcopal Church 234 N. High St Hillsboro, OH The Diocese of Southern Ohio The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, Diocesan The Bishop Rev. Judi Wiley, Rector Rev. Judi is available by arrangement at all times. Mobile: revjudi.wiley@gmail.com Senior Warden s pgoerler@cinci.rr.com WEB SITE: FACEBOOK: groups/ / SUNDAY WORSHIP and SUNDAY SCHOOL 10:00 am WEDNESDAY Healing Service 12:00 noon