The Benefits of Church

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1 September/October 2015 Centered in Christ - Scripture, Tradition and Reason S. 3 r d S t. L a n d e r, W Y ( ) trinitylndr@gmail.com Trinity Episcopal Church is also on Facebook! The Benefits of Church SUNDAY SERVICE 9:00 AM SUNDAY SCHOOL 9:00 AM Priests Ray Price & Terry Robeson Deacon Linda Hudson Ministerial Developer Rev. Kay Flores Parish Administrator Dana Neil-Flint Trinity Trivia Rev. John Roberts was a close personal friend of Chief Washakie of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. Rev. Roberts presided over services for Chief Washakie s funeral. Look for Chris Cross! He s hidden somewhere in the newsletter! ONE of the most striking scientific discoveries about religion in recent years is that going to church weekly is good for you. Religious attendance boosts the immune system and decreases blood pressure. It may add as much as two to three years to your life. The reason for this is not entirely clear. Social support is no doubt part of the story. People really do seem to look out for one another. A study conducted in North Carolina found that frequent churchgoers had larger social networks, with more contact with, more affection for, and more kinds of social support from those people than their unchurched counterparts. And we know that social support is directly tied to better health. Healthy behavior is no doubt another part. Certainly many churchgoers struggle with behaviors they would like to change, but on average, regular church attendees drink less, smoke less, use fewer recreational drugs and are less sexually promiscuous than others. Any faith demands that you experience the world as more than just what is material and observable. This does not mean that God is imaginary, but that because God is immaterial, those of faith must use their imaginations to represent God. To know God in an evangelical church, you must experience what can only be imagined as real, and you must also experience it as good. I want to suggest that this is a skill and that it can be learned. We can call it absorption: the capacity to be caught up in your imagination, in a way you enjoy. What I saw in church as an anthropological observer was that people were encouraged to listen to God in their minds, but only to pay attention to mental experiences that were in accord with what they took to be God s character, which they took to be good. For example, in one study, when God was experienced as remote or not loving, the more someone prayed, the more psychiatric distress she seemed to have; when God was experienced as close and intimate, the more someone prayed, the less ill he was. Eventually, this may teach us how to harness the placebo effect a terrible word, because it suggests an absence of intervention rather than the presence of a healing mechanism that depends neither on pharmaceuticals nor on surgery. We do not understand the placebo effect, but we know it is real. That is, we have increasingly better evidence that what anthropologists would call symbolic healing has real physical effects on the body. From the New York Times T. M. Luhrmann

2 Trinity Episcopal Church Phone:: Page 2 Looking to help our community? Trinity Vestry Members Judy Sutt, Senior Warden Marcy Tepper Kass Harrell Sue Butts Ed Newell Gene Dehnert John Rounds, Treasurer Are you looking for ways to help our beautiful Lander community? We have the job for you! Our Trinity Episcopal Family helps out the local Backpack Program, which provides food to needy families in the community on Friday afternoons. Trinity is set to help fill the Backpacks and deliver them to the schools on Thursday, September 24 at 1:00 p.m. at the Lander Schools district office, located at 863 Sweetwater St. Trinity will be filling the backpacks every 7 weeks after that and we will put those dates in the bimonthly newsletters. If you are unable to help fill Backpacks, you can help by donating jars of peanut butter! The 16 oz. jars are the best size for the bags and you may leave these at the church office and we will get to them to the correct place for filling Backpacks. Thanks for everyone s help with this amazing program! Special blessings for all of our September & October birthdays! September 4 ~ Keiran Wilkerson September 6 ~ Gene Dehnert September 6 ~ Ed Newell September 9 ~ Monica Olson September 11 ~ Chuck Chidsey October 12 ~ Jess Hinkle October 13 ~ Nancy Arbenz October 14 ~ Hannah Lindsey September 25 ~ Addison Rounds September 26 ~ Paulina Harris September 29 ~ Hillary Thurston September 29 ~ Terry Robeson October 25 ~ Sue Krebs October 28 ~ Anne Thurston October 28 ~ Robert Silvers

3 Page 3 Happy beginning of the school year! I hope everyone had a wonderful summer. Just a few reminders about Sunday school for September and October. Sunday school at Trinity will start Sunday, September 20th! I hope to see many new as well as familiar faces there! We have a lot of fun planned for this A Little Bird Said Overheard this summer by Delilah Sutt, Grandma Judy, when can I go back to my church? Sunday School News year. During the first few weeks of Sunday school, we are going to decide on our Service Learning Project for the year (how we want to raise money and who we would like to donate to) in addition to beginning to talking about a life of service to God and knowing Jesus. Hope to see everyone on the 20th!

4 Trinity Episcopal Church Phone:: Page 4 Confessions from Ladies Night THE ROUNDS FAMILY has purchased a new home next door to Judy and Larry Sutt. Stay tuned for a Ladies Night Out hosted by Josie and Judy at the new place! JUDY SUTT spent some time with her good friend Ann Fontaine and her family on the Oregon Coast this summer. CHAR DEHNERT remembers her high school Journalist teacher as an influential person in her life; her teacher influenced her to pursue journalism but she ultimately went into nursing. WESTERN PRINTING was in Beynon St. John s family for nearly 50 years. THE BACKPACK PROGRAM is in full swing, Marci, Linda, Sue and many other volunteer for this great program. See p. 2 for more about this program! Get Ready On Sunday, October 11th, Linda will be doing a BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS service. Bring your animals, big or small, and please make sure they are contained (leashes, kennels). We hope to see all of our FURRY FAMILY MEMBERS there! LINDA AND HANK BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS, 2014

5 Page 5 What Is Spiritual Discernment? Spiritual discernment is calling on the Holy Spirit to lead or give direction on a matter. It is how the Spirit shows the church or its people what God wants them to do and be. There is discernment of: gifts, spirits, actions, intents, the course of the times we live in. Discernment is more than just a skill. Discernment is a gift from God before it is anything else. Yet there are clearly skills you can put to use when using your gift, and you can become better at it through training and experience. Discernment is more than just a process. Even for the most 'material' or 'nittygritty' matters, there is a Spirit at work nudging us, leading us, even pulling us by the nose ring. Then again, even for the most 'spiritual' matters, there are disciplines, methods, processes, means, and tools which the Spirit can work through to help us discern rightly. Discernment isn't usually a sudden zap from beyond, but something which emerges from hard work and close attention. Learn to discern. Yearn to discern.

6 Trinity Episcopal Church Phone:: Coming up at Trinity September September 7 8 a.m. Men s The Summit September a.m. Lander Artist s Guild September 17 Ladies Night Out - Time and Location TBA September 20 Sunday School starts! September 24 1 p.m. at Fremont County district office - Trinity s turn to fill and deliver bags for the Backpack Program. See p. 2 for more info September 27 Kay Flores Visit to Trinity Episcopal October October 2-4 Episcopal State Convention in Evanston Alcoholics Anonymous - every Tuesday at 7:00PM Narcotics Anonymous - every Thursday and Saturday at 7 PM First Stop Help Center - hours - Tuesday through Thursday 11 am to 1 pm All loose plate offerings received on the first Sunday of the month go to the First Stop Help Center. You are also welcome to put a check in the plate made out to First Stop Help Center. We have something for everyone! Worship and Communion Fellowship Bible Study Sunday School Nursery Care and Share Food Bank Community Outreach First Stop Help Center Monthly Brunch Pastoral Care Men s Breakfast Ladies Night Out Carry-In Brunch Time! Starting Sunday, September 27, we will be starting up our monthly, post-service carry-in brunch and Children s Sundays! On the last Sunday of the month, please bring your appetite along with your favorite breakfast or lunch item to share! On the last Sunday of each month, we will also be having Children s Sunday! On Page 6 these days, the children will join us in the regular church service. These services are designed to be kidfriendly including kidfriendly Eucharist, prayers and songs. We hope you can join us for these special events each month!