St. James E-pistle Date of Sunday Service: February 3, 2019 Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

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1 Pulpit Notes St. James E-pistle Date of Sunday Service: February 3, 2019 Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: I want to thank everyone for your wonderful participation in the Annual Meeting last Sunday. Even though we had serious issues to discuss, and even though we have financial challenges ahead, I was inspired by the spirit of calm assurance that we have an important mission, and that God will give us the wisdom, inspiration, and determination to find the resources we need to complete that mission. This reminds me of a conversation I had at the gym a couple of weeks ago. Two gym friends were chatting and somehow got on to the topic of falling church attendance everywhere. They asked me if I was worried about what that meant for the future of the church. I said, If God is God, then falling church attendance won t change that fact. People sometimes lose sight of God, but God s still there, waiting, reaching out. We ll figure that out again. Which is all a way of saying that the mission is not in vain; the mission is always there, even when nobody notices. So we continue our work as the Body of Christ because that s what we are. We follow Jesus wherever he leads us, and we model our way on the way he taught. That s who we are. When you think about it, that is an amazingly hopeful message. God s always there. When we stumble, God is there. When we doubt, God is there. When we grieve, or rage, or give up, God is there just as surely as God is there when we are filled with the Holy Spirit and singing praises. That s what I love about this congregation. We see a problem, maybe sigh a little, maybe bang our head against the wall a little (that could just be me), and then get on with the work. Because we are here for the very real, very important purpose of making Christ s love tangible in the world. I think we showed that last Sunday, and that makes me incredibly happy. Grace and Peace, Chuck + NOTICE: Worship Continues in the Parish Hall. CHURCH WORK UPDATE: As you can see if you drive by the church this week, work on the abatement process has begun. The weather stopped work for a day and a half they have a powerful external heater, but it could not compete with the below zero temperatures but the work goes on. On Sunday, a group of organ specialists will tent the organ in 6 mil plastic sheeting. That way, the abatement crew can continue working around the organ without damaging it Albany Post Road, Hyde Park NY T F W E stjamesoffice@stjameshydepark.org at

2 If all goes according to plan, we should be able to get back in the church by the 17th of this month. The organ, however, won t be usable for at least two months. Glenn May has a portable organ that he can use in the interim. The choir, which has been sitting up front in the parish hall, can continue to sit up front in the church until the organ loft is available again. So, fingers crossed! And here s to worshiping in the church this month. If You Have anything to add to the Epistle, please contact either Fr. Chuck, Dyan in the Office, or Brian Rance. Thanks! Thought for your week: Every child has known God, Not the God of names, Not the God of don ts, Not the God who ever does Anything weird, But the God who knows only 4 words And keeps repeating them, saying: Come Dance with Me. Come Dance. -Hafiz, The Gift Announcements Inquirers Class resumes on Sunday February 3, 11:30 AM To accommodate the needs of our participants, for the next two weeks, Inquirers will meet after the 10 AM service on Sunday. As always, everyone is welcome! Our next session will be SCRIPTURE 1 Reading & Interpreting Scripture EVENING PRAYER will still be Tuesday at 6:30 PM at the chapel.

3 Fireside Chat: Follow The Money : Finding the right title has been difficult for this chat, but the content is compelling. On February 7 at 7:00 PM, Fr. Chuck will present a follow-up lecture on slavery in our area, only this time it s about how entangled everyone was in slavery, whether they wanted to be or not. As always, the Fireside Chats are at the Chapel. Community Garden Kick-Off Meeting: The Hyde Park Community Garden has its organizational meeting for its 8th season on Wednesday, February 13 at 7:00 PM in the Reading Room of St. James Chapel, 10 E. Market Street. Join in the fun! Mark Your Calendars: I Want My Church to Grow Saturday, April 6 at 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM St. Paul s Church, 161 Mansion Street, Poughkeepsie This special training event is for: Laypeople and clergy who want to grow a vital church Those who want to join God in doing a new thing Leadership teams working on evangelism, church growth, spiritual development Includes Workshops on: Evangelism 101: Using Community Organizing Tools for Church Growth We Need More Money: Best Practices for Your Stewardship Campaign Become a Reading Adventures Volunteer: We could really use a few more Reading Adventures volunteers! Please consider this simple but essential ministry. You simply read with a child from 3:30 to 4:30 each Thursday at North Park Elementary School. Let Fr. Chuck know if you are able and willing to help a child fall in love with reading.

4 Women's Group: We will be meeting at Antonella's in Hyde Park- with a return to our 6:00 time. We will meet on the following dates: Feb. 4th March 4th April 1st May 6th June 3rd All ladies of the church are welcome, we have 35 ladies who have attended at least 1 of our dinners in the past!

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8 February 2019 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 3 Unction 4 Office Closed 5 6:30 Evening Prayer 6 10 AM Morning Prayer 7 11 AM Bible Study 3:30 - Reading Adventures 8 FREE PRAYER FRIDAY Office Closed 12 6:30 Evening Prayer 7:00 Inquirers AM Morning Prayer 2:00 PM. Hyde Park Assisted Living Eucharist AM Bible Study 3:30 - Reading Adventures 15 FREE PRAYER FRIDAY 16 8 AM Men s Breakfast Office Closed 19 7 PM Vestry AM Morning Prayer AM Bible Study 3:30 - Reading Adventures 22 FREE PRAYER FRIDAY Office Closed 26 6:30 Evening Prayer 7:00 Inquirers AM Morning Prayer AM Bible Study 3:30 - Reading Adventures FREE PRAYER FRIDAY Sundays: Holy Eucharist Rite I is at 8:00 AM Holy Eucharist Rite II (with music) is at 10:00 AM. Sunday School and nursery are available at 10:00 AM. Between Service Classes on Sundays are from 9:15 to 9:45 in the Wilks Room.

9 Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Please pray for these diocesan ministries this week. If you want to check out the entire year s calendar for intercession, it s simple to find - go to 3 Diocesan Global Mission Commission 4 St. Martha s Church, Bronx 5 The Liaison for Global Mission 6 Metropolitan Japanese Ministry 7 Christ Church, Warwick 8 Holy Cross Church, Yonkers 9 Diocesan Anti-Racism Committee Please keep the following people in your prayers: Ashley, John Bohlmann, Helen Braun, Linkin Ewalt, Loretta Falzarano (sister of Donna Beyer), Heather Francese, Kathy Ganim, Karla Givison (Deb Belding's sister), Gloria Golden, Robert Guariglia, Dalton K., Edie Kline, Ashley Konyn, Tedi Kramer, Hope Jennings, Rosemary Leuken, Joanne Lynn, Jim Lynn (Carol Bender s brother - facing surgery)., Doris Mack, Margaret, Andrew Mendelson, Beth and Ginero Milano, Lillian Peralta, Mary Bowers Peters (stroke), Grace Plass, Deborah Porach, John Robinson, Rob Robinson, Jason Rodino (serving in Afghanistan), John Ross, Hank Schroeder, James Sheeky, Naomi Sleight, Carl Smith, Marguerite Spratt, Janice Syedullah, Tracy, Georgia Verven, Candace Vincent, Cassidy Way, Cliff Wells and Shawn Wheeler. Schedules A Note about Schedules: The names you see below are those listed on their respective schedules. There are often times when, due to sickness or travel, substitutes are asked to fill in or trade positions. This will probably NOT be reflected in the lists below so, if there is an inconsistency between what you see here and what you see on Sunday, that is all right. Birthdays (this past week): Birthdays (this coming week): Acolytes: Beth Matranga, Thomas McNamara, Daniel Matranga, Deirdre Mae Micker and Tanya Hall Dalton M. Slegel, Suzanne Glancey, John Seagren, Jr., Kasey Gaulin and David Wardell, Jr. February 3: Nancy Montero and Jaylen Thatcher February 10: Riley Hall and Amelia McNamara

10 Altar Guild: February 3: Team III February 10: Team I 8 a.m. Readers: February 3: Debbie Belding and Irene Kipp February 10: Shannon Butler and Lynne Koch 10 a.m. Readers: February 3: Jim Oppenheimer-Crawford and Bobbie Wells February 10: Wendy Urban-Mead and Maggie McNamara Ushers: February 3: Patty Drake and Bobbie Wells February 10: Maggie McNamara and Tom McNamara Pledge Clerks: February 3: Joanne Lown and Sue DeLorenzo February 10: Doug Belding and Judy Douglass Parish Cycle of Prayer: February 3: Jack, Suzann, Brian and Faith Kinne, Morgan Kinne, Milena Jewel and Abby Jewel February 10: Boy Scout Troop 80, Irene Kipp, Edith Kline, Rudy Knakal and Walter and Lynn Koch Coffee Hour Hosts: February 3: Audrey Horne, Eric Zavadil February 10: Jodi Triola and Mike Fenwick This Week s Lectionary Jeremiah 1:4-10 Psalm 71:1-6 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30 This Week s Hymns Processional: My Song Is Love Unknown Sequence: Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost Offertory: Sweet Spirit of God Communion: Taizé 35 - Sing praise and bless the Lord Recessional: Take My Life, and Let It Be Last Week s Sermon Sermon Preached on Third Sunday after the Epiphany

11 Annual Report I know how excited you are to hear this annual report. A couple of years ago, I wrote a poem don t worry, it s a haiku about annual meetings just to express the sentiment I hear most about these meetings and these reports. It goes like this: Budget blah blah blah Remember Jesus loves you Please up your pledges But if Annual Meetings and Annual reports aren t exactly the stuff of poetry, they do have a story to tell. This past year was a story of ongoing ministries, displacement, and surprising adaptability that has engendered a truly wonderful spirit here. To put it another way, in the face of many challenges, we have embraced the faith that God has work for us to do here as the Body of Christ, and we are getting on with it. So let s have a look at the year and see what it has to teach us about who we are and where we re going. Preaching was a big part of the year for me. I continued with a preaching course I began in 2017 through Virginia Theological Seminary, and every month, I met with five other priests from the diocese to preach and offer helpful feedback so we could improve. That course culminated in a week-long residency in Virginia last June. I continue to pray that my preaching will improve even this late in my ministry. Just last week, I encountered a sermon by the Rev. William Barber about what it means to really preach. He said if a sermon doesn t lead to action, to a change, to transformation it s just words. I pray I give you more than just words and I pray you are looking for more. Another large part of the year for me was the play, A New York Lamentation, which as you know was part of the diocese s Year of Lamentation in reference to our church s role in slavery. The play was performed in four churches around the diocese as well as at Diocesan Convention last November. I was especially pleased when it was performed at Christ Church in Poughkeepsie and so many members of St. James came to see it. Thank you. If you re interested, the performance at the convention was filmed and is available to watch on the diocesan website. Among other ongoing ministries that began in January were our famous Fireside Chats. They have grown in popularity such that we are almost always at full capacity. They make St. James a place people look to for sometimes interesting, sometimes challenging views of the world around us. I would like to thank Sue DeLorenzo in particular and all the many people who quietly work so hard to make this ministry happen! Next month, I m honored to be the speaker at this year s second chat. A few other ongoing ministries that quietly met to bring a little bit of life each week or month were Free Prayer Friday (in which I took my Free Prayer sign to Cranberry s and offered prayer to those who wished it), the Men s Breakfast (also at Cranberry s which is often called St. James annex); Reading Adventures at North Park Elementary School many thanks to Anna Marie Pitcher who coordinates it. The Thursday morning Bible Study has been exceptionally lively and engaging this year, and it has just been a pleasure to study with this group. The previous year we had begun

12 morning prayer on Wednesdays, and that continues to make an impact on the prayer life of the parish. In February, we concluded Inquirers Classes in time for Bishop Mary Glasspool s visitation. There, we confirmed and received Jeff Fishwick, Jillian Foster, and Eric and Tammy Zavadil. Their presence here delights me no end! We are doing a special mid-term Inquirers class this year in preparation for Shannon Butler and Lillian Peralta to be confirmed and received respectively but at the Cathedral on June 8. I hope you ll be able to mark out that date and join them to celebrate in the City. Now, the bishop came at a time we don t normally see during Lent. That means she got to experience our hospitality in the form of Lenten Breakfasts. This is such a uniquely St. James thing that it kind of blew her away. I look forward to these breakfast so much because they do a couple of things. First, they bring us together from both services, and gathering around the table as family is always a good thing. Second, they allow me to have the very quick but intimate Kitchen Crew Eucharists at 7:00 AM. I love these times more than you can imagine. While there is always a slightly different crew each year, I know that I will always see Dean Caswell and Doug Belding in the kitchen and Mike Fenwick loading the dishwasher. I want to thank you three and all the others who so regularly serve it up. I know I ll miss some folks, so please forgive me, but some of the others I see almost every Lenten Sunday include Grant Ferris, Jim Smyth, Deb Belding. Thanks to you all and the others I haven t mentioned but whose work is deeply appreciated. There s one other thing we did in Lent that had an impact on our community. Ashes to Go. Quite simply, I took my purpose stole, the ashes, and a sign inviting people to receive ashes and went where else? the Cranberry s where they allowed me to take over a corner. Some of the conversations that came of this were long and fruitful. Offering ashes there absolutely made a difference. One more Lenten activity was not strictly a parish activity, but it was part of the work of the gospel that many parishioners took part in as did many clergy of the diocese, myself included. That was a march against gun violence called the March for Our Lives. We marched because, regardless of any person s stance on the second amendment, it is every Christian s responsibility to work toward a reduction in the most egregious forms of violence in our country. For my part, if I was going to preach it, then I needed to march it as well. It seems appropriate that this took place in Lent, a time of penitent reflection. But Lent eventually gave way to Easter, and we had a powerful Easter morning in which we baptized Shannon Butler. Talk about new life! At this point, I would like to take a personal moment because the moment Easter Day services were over, I boarded a train bound for my home town where I spent a week saying goodbye to my mother. She had lived with Alzheimer s disease for nearly a decade still determined to bring joy and wonder to those around her right up to her final couple of months. That was an important week for me, and I m grateful to have been able to say goodbye. Two weeks after I returned in fact, it was a Sunday evening I got word that she had died, and we all went out for her burial and celebration of her life. Christ is risen, and in the resurrection we are all raised to life eternal. This is our hope and our faith, not only for Mom but for all who fall asleep in the Lord.

13 But for those of us who remain here, we have work to do, and St. James has definitely been about that work. In May, we had another outstanding Mothers Day Tea one more event people around the town look forward to with anticipation. And it was that month that we began work on the Graveyard Tours. It really does take that much preparation to get these tours off the ground. Not only do we have to select the characters this year we chose people who had fought in World War I to honor the 100th anniversary of the end of that horrible war but there are scripts to write, actors to audition and rehearse, the flow of the tour to organize, the lighting, the tour guides, the Public Relations, the tickets to sell, the golf cart, the costumes more on that later. And so much more. This year, Brian Rance took over the coordination of the tours from Bobbie Wells who had done such a bang up job for the past several years. Once again, we hit the ball out of the park. Countless folks came up and said, best tours ever! So thanks to Brian and Bobbie and to Wendy Urban-Mead who directed the actors so brilliantly. And to all of you because as you know, these tours involve pretty much everyone in the congregation. You make me so proud. Now, not to get ahead of myself, you may have noticed that I was gone a lot this year. Not only did I take some family leave time for Mom, but I traveled to North Carolina for a CREDO conference a sort of Episcopal clergy check-up. Immediately upon my return from there, I drove down to Virginia Theological Seminary for the final residency of the preaching course, and shortly after my return from there, I flew to South Africa with Fr. Masud ibn Syedullah to help lead the Agents of Peace retreat for a youth leadership program. So in just over two months, I had traveled for personal leave, conference work, continuing education and diocesan international work. I also managed to slip in some actual vacation with our family down in Florida. At this point, I want to make sure I don t overlook the faithful and superb work of our Sunday School teachers. Not only did they teach throughout the year, but they ran a wonderful VBS in July. We were especially pleased to have a VBS in 2018 because we weren t able to have one in Thank you especially to Val Gaulin, Patty Glancey, Tanya Hall, Hope Jennings, Taylor Triola, and Carl Aguinaldo for doing so much for our kids. Also in July, we welcomed a couple of new acolytes, Jack Canez and Riley Hall. I am glad to have you! Now here is where the year got complicated. By last Spring, we knew that we had problems with our heat in the church, and we also knew the aging air conditioning unit was on its last legs. So we went about the arduous task of vetting companies to replace the units. Headed up by Mike Glancey and Jack Kinne, we went through several companies before settling on one. The work was originally set to start in August, but there were several hiccups along the way, so that work didn t begin until November. And when THAT started, we discovered something bad. We had known for a long time that there was a periodic mold problem in the church which seemed to come and go. During the process of getting an HVAC company, we discovered the source of that mold broken ductwork which was bringing humidity and mold into the church. Once we finally got the HVAC system installed, we realized we could not use it until the mold was abated. That has been another long and ponderous road because we ran into the compilation of the organ. There is a possibility that the organ has mold in it, but that is difficult to ascertain. The abatement company was (wisely) leery of touching the organ because it is such an expensive and sensitive instrument. They were also unwilling to guarantee their work if the organ was not cleaned. However, there are very few who

14 work with mold in organs, so it took some time to schedule an inspection. George Boseman will accompany the expert, and that inspection will have taken place by the time of this meeting (but after this report was published). Still, we are now confident that work can and will begin on Monday, January 28. If everything goes smoothly, work will take two weeks to complete, and we should be back in the church within three weeks. Part of the delay is that it will be necessary to remove nearly all of the pews from the church and store them. Because they were designed to be screwed into the wall and not stand up independently, we can t simply take them to the parish hall and use them for seating. They are quite large, however, so storing them will be a challenge. At the moment it looks like this will require a combination of the stage as a storage area, at least part of the parish hall, and perhaps rented storage pods. Meanwhile, we ve been worshiping right here in the parish hall. I have been impressed and delighted with the way this congregation has taken all of these changes and twists in stride and with a good humor. When our amazing Outreach committee led by Joanne Lown, to whom we owe a debt a gratitude had to share this space to provide Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, everyone worked around it so we could worship and reach out to our neighbors. Again, thank you! Our worship hasn t missed a beat and if anything, there has been an atmosphere of adventure and excitement. Let s keep that when we return to the church. It might be easy, in all this storm and stress, to lose some other things we have done of note. In September, we hired a new sexton, Karl Deger. He has met many of you already. At the end of the month, St. James hosted the annual Regional Council meeting. In October, as I mentioned before, our graveyard tours made a huge impact on the community as we remembered World War I. We also began a new season of Reading Adventures. In November, I was blessed to be able to preach at the Community Thanksgiving service held at the United Methodist Church. And then, to conclude the Year of Lamentation, my play was performed at Diocesan Convention. Finally, December saw our choir take part once again in the Lessons and Carols service at St. Margarets, making up half of the joint choir there. They were wonderful. And then, of course, we had Christmas. This year, it was in the chapel, and I don t believe there was a person who didn t feel the special atmosphere there. Many many thanks to our Altar Guild led by Lynne Koch and Pat Holland for putting up with all the changes and creating a magical atmosphere at the chapel! To top off our year, we baptized Christine Zocchi on the last Sunday of the year, and then, just a week later, we had a joyous Epiphany Potluck and Pageant. Thank you to Doug Belding and the Plan B s for the wonderful music and narration and many thanks to all of our actors. Just like VBS, we hadn t had a pageant the previous year, so this was especially important. We have done a lot, and we have much to be both pleased with and thankful for. Before going on, I will mention only one more group of people to whom we owe thanks (and please forgive me for those I don t mention so many here do so much!). But I want the congregation to remember the staff of the parish. Sure, we pay them, but I assure you, they put in far more work, often extra hours, than we could ever expect for the very modest salaries we offer. You mostly see our music minister Glenn, but Dyan Wapnick makes this place run. And our nursery school teachers Kim Illuminate and Kathleen Craft bring God s love to a whole new generation of our community s youngest, and they do so with love and skill. Again, we have much to be thankful for.

15 Nevertheless, aside from the church s mold issues, we face significant challenges. The first is, of course, more buildings and grounds issues. We have a large facility nearly 10 acres of land, four of which are graveyard, five buildings, the youngest of which is sixty years old, an a large parking lot. This is a recipe for constant maintenance costs. In the coming years, we will need to address, among other things, the front porch of the parish house, which is literally falling apart. The roof of the parish house will need work. The parking lot will eventually need to be at the very least resurfaced. There are countless trees that will need to come down. These are big expenses that will need a plan. At its November meeting, the Vestry authorized the formation of a Capital Campaign committee to plan over the coming years a capital campaign to fund necessary facilities work. It s possible that capital campaign will also be used to help build up or better said rebuild our endowment. Not only did the endowment take a sever hit during the financial crisis of 2008, a hit we still aren t completely recovered from, but we had to use endowment money to fund much of the extraordinary work we ve had to do over the past year. The endowment is one thing that helps this congregation stay afloat. We depend on three primary sources of revenue: Endowment, Pledges, and Fundraising. With the endowment in a weakened state, we depend more heavily on pledges. Those, however, have not kept pace with increasing expenses. Not only do we have regular expenses like insurance which are skyrocketing, but in 2018, we had a huge jump in our diocesan assessment. Granted, in 2008, the Diocese of New York slashed the assessment we had to pay but the most recent increases a higher than we have ever had, and our revenues are weaker. We will need to work on fundraising and thankfully, some parishioners have already come forward to offer to host dinners and concerts. These are important for financial and fellowship reasons. And so are your pledges. This week, we sent out reminders of folks to pledge if they haven t done so yet. If you have already pledged thank you. If you can increase it, I won t object. So, that haiku wasn t far off: Budget, blah blah blah / Remember Jesus loves you / Please up your pledges. And yet, I think the future of St. James is brilliant. Every Sunday well, maybe not last Sunday* I have felt energy and excitement, not just about worshiping in a new place but about our faith. Excitement in the promise Jesus gave us when he sat in that synagogue and read from Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

16 This year right now this is the year of the Lord s favor. This year, St. James will continue those many ongoing ministries that make this congregation a beacon of Christ s light and love. From Sunday School to Altar Guild, from Reading Adventures and the Outreach Committee What else will happen this year? I can t say. But as we live into the mystery of life in Christ, I am filled with hope and confidence that this congregation which has shown such adaptability and grace will look for the face of Christ in our neighbors and reach out in love. That we will look to the cross of Christ and follow. And that we will do so with hymns of praise or at least the occasional haiku. Thank you. A WORD ABOUT RECORDED SERMONS: Most weeks, I upload a recorded copy of the sermon onto my Facebook page as well as St. James YouTube channel. I have not yet figured out how to upload them to the St. James Facebook page but am working on it. You can also listen to sermons by going to YouTube ( and searching for St. James Episcopal Church, Hyde Park, NY. There, you will not only find sermons, but also videos of the Fireside Chats and other videos of interest. You can subscribe to that page, and then when new content is uploaded, you will receive a notification.

17 SERMON VALUATION FORM It is not necessary to take notes during the sermon. Rather, you can take some time afterwards to recollect the sermon and its effect on you. Give yourself a few minutes for each of the questions. If you choose to share this with the preacher, it can be a powerful aid to better preaching - but this is not a form to be handed to the preacher and forgotten. It is an aid for you, so you can speak directly with the preacher and answer follow-up questions. 1. WHAT ARE YOU STILL HEARING? That is, without evaluating it, what are the words or phrases from the sermon that are still echoing in your ears? Are there any ear worms? 2. WHERE MIGHT THIS BE LEADING? As a listener, where does this sermon lead you? What does it invite you to? What are the next steps in your faith that might arise from this sermon? 3. HOW DOES THIS SERMON PLAY? That is, how is it organized or ordered? What steps has the preacher taken you through? What structure did you notice in this sermon? What has it asked you to do? 4. HOW MIGHT THIS SERMON GROW? That is, what suggestions would you have to hone the message of this sermon, to make it more engaging, inspiring, logical, fleshed out... No sermon is ever entirely done; its themes will be revisited over time. What would help the next time be more compelling?