THE. "Is it possible to give birth without knowing it?" June 24, 2012 Pentecost 4 Proper 7 (2 Cor. 6:1-13; Mk. 4:35-41) By The Rev.

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1 THE VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8 St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, The Rev. Ken Howard, Rector. Summer Schedule: Sunday Services: 10:00 am, 5:00 pm. "Is it possible to give birth without knowing it?" June 24, 2012 Pentecost 4 Proper 7 (2 Cor. 6:1-13; Mk. 4:35-41) By The Rev. Ken Howard ---- We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see - we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.---- COMMUNICANT AUGUST 2012 A place to belong! A place to become.! Okay. So I have a hypothetical question for you... Do you think it is possible to give birth without knowing it? Apparently it is...if you are a church. More than possible, in fact... I'm sure you don't know this (since I myself didn't hear about it until a few days ago), but a few months ago we, collectively, became first-time parents. Late last year St. Nicholas Church had a baby...a baby church, that is. Yep. She's already seven months old (they grow up so fast). Her name is Anam Cara...a Celtic name...meaning "soul friend" or "lover of souls." How did this come about? Well, sometime in early 2011, the bishop of a small, midwestern diocese got a hold of a copy of my book, Paradoxy: Creating Christian Community Beyond Us and Them. This bishop, being a student of Celtic Christianity, liked what he saw. Now Paradoxy, you know, is not just my book, but our book, our congregation's book. I'm not just saying that to be nice. I say it because the principles it seeks to pass along - about how to be Church in a way that transcends US/THEM divisions - are principles we pioneered here at St. Nick's. And most of the examples used to illustrate those principles are lifted from our common congregational life. Anyway, so the bishop recommends the book to his clergy. The story could have ended right there, since most clergy I know have a stack THAT HIGH of books they plan to read someday. That's the place where "books recommended by the bishop" go to die. But that didn't happen this time. One young clergyman in that diocese actually read the book, and fell in love with the vision of Christian community he found there. Our vision of Christian community (Continued on page 6) Shady Grove Ministry: Active Community Engagement For twenty years, my grandparents served in several nursing homes near where they lived outside of Portland, Oregon. They would have a few visits a week, reading from and speaking about the Bible, and singing hymns with the residents. For my grandpa (the pastor) and my grandma (the musician), this ministry allowed them to serve God and their community. Since my grandma s death last year, my grandpa has continued the ministry, and I was excited for the opportunity to participate in a similar ministry with St. Nick s. With Rose Mahan s guidance, I first helped with the Shady Grove service one Sunday afternoon. I was excited to try it out, though I admit to being a bit unsure if it was for me. It is scary to walk into an unknown situation where you have to do something like lead a worship service even for a seminarian! What I encountered at Shady Grove was much more than I expected. Our visit quickly became less about me and more about us. The residents at Shady Grove are so appreciative to have visitors. The service St. Nick s brings provides a safe way in which to engage. (continued on page 7) Inside this issue: News Briefs: Guest Celebrants; Vestry Decisions; Breakfast Bible 2 2 Editorial: Team St. Nick s: Lessons from the Olympics 2 The Children s Page - 3 Message from Terri Volunteers Needed Milestones Save the Dates 5 Is it Possible to give birth... cont. Chicks of St. Nick s Make Shady Grove Ministry... cont St. Nick s People Shared Our Ups 8

2 Page 2 THE COMMUNICANT AUGUST 2012 St. Nick s Welcomes Guest Celebrants and Organist During the vacation of Rector Ken Howard, there have been three visiting clergy who have competently substituted for him. The Rev. Elizabeth Carpenter, recently retired rector of St. Anne's, Damascus, served as guest celebrant at the 10:00 am service on July 1st, 8th, and August 12th. Fr. Tom Andrews, is a retired clergy from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. He was the guest celebrant at the 10:00 am service on July 15th, 22nd and 29th. The Rev. Kent Marcoux will be the guest celebrant on August 5th at 10am. He has served as clergy at Grace Episcopal Church, Silver Spring and at St. Stephen and the Incarnation. Our guest celebrants have been well received by St Nick s congregation, and their services are greatly appreciated. The congregation also thanks guest organist, William Stief who filled in while Interim Music Director Carolyn Deibel was on vacation. Breakfast Bible Study Now at IHOP Breakfast Bible Study on Tuesdays at 7:30 am is now being held at the International House of Pancake (IHOP), Century Boulevard, Germantown, MD Just show up. All are welcome. NEWS BRIEFS Vestry Decisions Meeting June 20, 2012 These are the decisions made by the Vestry at its meeting on June 20, 2012: to canvass the congregation on options for Worship Services. These options are: (a) returning to a single Sunday morning service this fall or (b) retaining two services. (our 5:00pm service would continue at its current time). EDITORIAL : Team St. Nick s: Lessons from the Olympics The Games of the 30 th Olympiad are underway in London, England and many around the world will watch them on TV or some other electronic device. Fewer will pause to review the motto and the creed of these games. Fewer still will reflect on how this motto and creed can influence or inspire their own lives. The motto of the Olympics is citius, altius, fortius which when translated from the Latin means faster- higherstronger The Olympic creed reads, "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." Quoting from documents available in the Olympics Museum, the creed and motto are meant to spur the athletes to embrace the Olympic spirit and perform to the best of their abilities. to propose a By-Laws Clean Up. The issue is that we establish a specific commencement date for vestry member terms (requires vote at Annual Parish Meeting). As currently written, the By Laws of St. Nicholas Church do not include a specific commencement date for vestry member terms. to give the vestry s final Endorsement for ordination in September of Terri Murphy, to become a Deacon. to implement a maintenance agreement with a service provider to perform preventive maintenance on the heating and air conditioning system for the church. This was tabled until the fall. These decisions and record of the discussions of all vestry meetings are kept in the Vestry meeting binder (bookshelf outside the office door). All members of St. Nick s congregation are welcome review them. However, the ethics expressed in the Olympic motto and creed, apply not only to athletes but to everyone, regardless of skill, talent or calling. These are sound maxims not only on the track and field or in the swimming pool, but also at home and at church. Sometimes, while talking with fellow members of St. Nick s, I sense disappointment that our efforts may be less effective than hoped. Perhaps there is concern that we cannot compete because we are not as fast, not as high, or not as strong as others. It is at these times that we need to remember that as Team St. Nick s we are required only to participate and perform to the best of our abilities, and that with perseverance and God s blessings we will be the best we can be your articles by the 15th of the month to The Editors, at newsletter@saintnicks.com. We reserve the right to edit all s and letters for length, style and clarity. Thank you.

3 Page 3 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8 The Children s Page Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand One day Jesus and his disciples wanted to have some time to relax. They got into a boat and went away to a quiet place to rest. When they arrived, there were people there waiting for Jesus to teach them, and to heal the sick. Jesus had wanted to rest, but when he saw the people, he loved them so much that he forgot all about being tired. He healed the sick and taught the people about the kingdom of heaven. Soon it was time to eat. The disciples went to Jesus and asked him to send the people away so that they could get something to eat. "They don't need to go away," Jesus said, "you feed them." "All we have is five loaves of bread and two fish!" the disciples answered. Jesus told the disciples to bring him the loaves and fish and to tell everyone to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the loaves and fish and looked up to heaven and gave thanks. He then gave the food to the disciples to give to the people. Everyone ate until they were satisfied. Then the disciples picked up the leftovers and there were twelve baskets full! The Bible tells us that there were five thousand men who were fed plus all the women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21) Can you imagine feeding a whole town of people with one little picnic basket full of food? With Jesus, anything is possible! Dear Jesus, help us to remember that when we give what we have to you, even a little bit is more than enough. Amen. Source:

4 Page 4 THE COMMUNICANT AUGUST 2012 Frequently I spend time loitering in one of my favorite prayer books: Celtic Daily Prayer. I often find meditations and blessings that speak to what goes on in my world. A blessing I stumbled upon today seemed to whisper the name of St. Nicks to me. It is called The Telling Place and it goes like this: Bless us, Lord, this with vision. Make this place a sacred place, a telling place where heaven and earth meet. What a precious image this presents to me. It is the picture of a place that holds the sacred in hushed silence and yet tells its story. Ours is a story of where heaven and earth do meet - where we intersect with God and God intersects with us in our community. I asked myself, What is the most sacred thing we do here at St. Nicks? There are many candidates for most sacred - worship, Eucharist, pastoral care, education...all of these are sacred, but I think the most sacred is our ministry of welcome. It is in welcoming that we invite people in to a place at the table. It is our welcome M I L E S TO N E S that is the gateway to all else that we have to offer. Do you remember your own welcome to St. Nicks? Was there one person or one moment when you felt you were truly welcomed - that you had found your church home? Many are the stories of people who came as strangers and stayed as friends, as siblings in faith. I hope we never forget our stories. They are individual and corporate; they are rich with grace. It is essential to us as a community and as a family to tend to this most sacred ministry of welcome. Our faithful hospitality folk have been carrying our story of welcome for quite some time. They have earned rest from the weekly task of holding our most sacred of ministries out to those who enter our doors. It is time for others to assist in carrying this sacred ministry of welcome and hospitality forward. It is essential. You are essential. Our story needs to be continued. Won't you step up to help? Blessings, Terri. 7/20/2012 Terri Murphy is Director of Spiritual Formation at St. Nick s. Congratulations to the following parishioners on their wedding anniversary: Suzanne & Jim Sturges who celebrate on August 8; Charlotte Rogers & David Maglott who celebrate on August 10; Andrea & Nestor Sandoval who celebrate on August 15; Mira & Chris LaRose who celebrate on August 16; Sally & Michael D Italia who celebrate on August 16; Diane & Ron Canova who celebrate on August 22. Message from Terri Volunteers Needed Parish Life Co-Chair (2 positions available) Newcomers Co-Coordinators (1 position available) Fellowship Co-Coordinators (2 positions available) Pastoral Care Co-Coordinators (1-2 positions available) Contact: Terri Murphy or Bob McCartin, or, the Church Office at office@saintnicks.com.

5 Page 5 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8 Group Spiritual Direction Mondays 8/6, 8/20, & 8/27 7: 00 8:00 pm. Contact: Terri Murphy at or Christianformation@saintnicks.com Godly Play Training - Saturday, August 18, 10:00 am-noon Contact: Terri Murphy at or Christianformation@saintnicks.com Join st. nick s lunch bunch at the church for potluck on Tuesday August 21, 2012, 12:00 to 3:00pm. no charge! Contact Karen Kucik Tel THIS MONTH FEATURING B I N G O (WITH PRIZES) Safeguarding God's Children Wednesday, September 12, 6:00 9:00pm Mandatory for Sunday School teachers and other ministries working with children. Contact Terri Murphy at St. Nick s Annual Retreat at Shrine Mont - October 5 7, 2012 SIGN UP TODAY! AT CHURCH or CONTACT DONNA ANDERSON at andonnae@aol.com or MINDY MCCARTIN at mindymccartin@comcast.net

6 Page 6 THE COMMUNICANT AUGUST 2012 Is it Possible to Give Birth... (continued from page 1) we fell in love with a decade and half ago when God to revealed it to us. A vision of radical oneness in the love of Christ: a love that meets us exactly where we are, then transforms us into the people we are called to be. A vision of being, as we like to say it, "a place to belong" and "a place to become." This young priest was so moved by this vision that he went to his bishop and asked permission to start a brand new Episcopal congregation in a town which had never had an Episcopal church before. The bishop gave it his blessing, took it to his standing committee and council, who gave it their blessing, too. Before you knew it (literally, before we knew it) a new Christian community was born. A community of wanderers: no land, no building, very little money. But a clear, inspiring vision...and big, big dreams...just like us when we were getting our start in life. So... Surprise! We're new parents! And we didn't even know we were expecting... So what does this have to do with Paul's second letter to the Church in Corinth? Plenty! You see, I've always wondered about Paul. The daily tribulations he faced make his life look like the proverbial Perils of Pauline. Yet in the midst of all this Paul seems almost annoyingly joyful. How is that he can be sorrowful yet rejoicing, poor yet rich enough to share his wealth with many, having nothing yet possessing everything. Oh, I could explain it logically... theologically, but I didn't really GET it. But I get it now. These churches are his children. And he is their mother...their birth mother. He gave birth to them. They're his babies, and they always will be. He's "just" a parent, "just" doing what good parents always do: trying to do right by his children. The very act of doing right by them gives him joy, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences. He loves them no matter what, AND he'll do everything he can to help them experience the fullness of God's love, even if he annoys them half to death in the process. He wants them to grow into the people God means for them to be, even if he has to sacrifice for that to happen. He wants to keep them from hurting themselves, even if that means confronting them with the truth about themselves - the truths that he knows will set them free, but are gonna really tick them off first...tick them off at him. When they are truly living in to God's dreams for them, for Paul it's pure joy...and you can hear that joy in his words, when he is bragging about them to other churches. There's an old adage that rabbis often say when their students do so well that they outdo their teachers: "I rejoice, for my children have defeated me." I think that saying really fits for Paul. I think it might be a good model for us as well. This vision God has given us - this "place to belong, place to become" thing - is very special - our "pearl without price." We don't always live into it fully. But on our good days, it really is something to write home about: an exciting way to be Church. It's not just for us, you know, but for the whole Church and for generations yet to come. God wants us to be parents. God wants us have spiritual children. That's a huge responsibility. It means that as a congregation, God is calling us not just to survive but to THRIVE. Calling us beyond mere generosity to generativity: to share our community and our way of being Church, not only with those whom God brings through the doors of our building on Sundays, but with those whom God brings into our daily lives in our neighborhoods and in our jobs. It means taking the risk of loving others like Christ loves us: not just here in church but everywhere. It means taking the risk of living transparent lives: living honestly into and up to what we believe, sharing with each other in strength and in weakness: not just with each other on Sundays but with everyone and everywhere and everywhen. God's got big things in store for us here at St. Nick's. Big, hairy, audacious goals, and impossible dreams. But here's the thing - the great paradoxical thing - about God's impossible dreams for us. They are only impossible if we try to do them by ourselves; only impossible when we try to make them possible. They only become possible for us when we face their impossibility, and accept that with God, all things are possible. In Christ's love, Ken+ Sunday Services 10:00 am Combined Holy Eucharist 5:00 pm Contemplative Service

7 At an end of summer celebration in the Great Room of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, on July 25, the Chicks of St. Nick s were happy to show off their newly acquired T-shirts. The shirts display the Chicks slogan a place to flock, a place to hatch. Chicks of St. Nick s Make Statement with T-Shirts The celebration took the form of an ice-cream social at which the Chicks (St. Nick s women) hosted a mixed gathering of the congregation. The men of St. Nick s, lead by David Maglott, not to be out done, were not only very well represented but they played a big part in providing for and serving at the event. Page 7 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8 File Photo Congratulations to Joyce Mason, current leader of the Chicks, (shown at left of photo), for a brilliant idea for and execution of a wonderful evening. Shady Grove Ministry (continued from page 1) The service looks a lot like a normal Sunday service, except it is much shorter. Prayers, a reading, an optional reflection (one could even lead the group in singing Jesus Loves Me ), and communion altogether we spend thirty minutes together. My favorite part of the service is the Peace, which we always save for the end. With only about twenty people in the room, we are able to make direct contact with everyone. This, my friends, is St. Nick s actively engaging the community. Our participation at Shady Grove provides as much blessing for the volunteers as it does for the residents. It is therefore surprising to me that there is need for more volunteers to serve. There are Sundays when we scramble to find someone available from 2:30-3:00 in the afternoon. Are you sensing that Shady Grove might be a place where you, or you and a friend, or you and your family could engage the community and spread the Good News? Maybe you would like to try it just once without being put on a schedule. If visiting the wonderful people at Shady Grove is something that you would like to try, I highly recommend that you contact Rose Mahan, myself, or the church office. Peace be with you, Curtis Farr, Seminarian Please see calendar insert listing activities and events for September 2012 For Calendar Updates, please visit our website click on Calendar of Events, and then Event (Master Calendar)

8 Page 8 THE COMMUNICANT AUGUST 2012 St. Nick s People Shared Our Ups and Downs With Us Like almost everyone, geography brought us to St. Nick s. It s the closest Episcopal church to our home. Also like almost everyone else, community kept us at St. Nick s. We found it really is A Place to Belong, A Place to Become. Sixteen years ago, the St. Nick s community was in its second infancy. The congregation s pioneers had experienced what looked like failure in establishing a mission. So, they sought a re-birth under the leadership of a newly ordained vicar who somehow got it that to thrive as a community of believers, St. Nick s had to find a new way of doing church. St. Nick s, under the new leadership, began to welcome and engage everyone who came through the door unconditionally. So, Donna and I, found a place with no exams or requirements to get in, and with no tests to pass in order to stay in. We really felt full membership as soon as we walked through the door. I have spent my life on a spiritual roller coaster that raises me to confident faith and drops me into the depths of doubt, only to raise and drop me again with sometimes dizzying speed. So, I m uncomfortable with prospects that I might be questioned about or judged on my theological status on any given day. I also have a Chicago working class kid s aversion to questions aimed at pegging my position on some social status ladder. From the first, I felt assurance that no one at St. Nick s was going to question, or even wonder, about where I might fall on a fundamentalist -atheist scale; or about where, or even whether, I d gone Frank and Donna Anderson, Parishioners to school. Over the years, Donna and I have experienced great joys and great sadness in the marriages and births of children and grandchildren and in family crises and deaths of those we deeply loved. We both have gone through serious health crises. In all of these passages, we felt the power of the prayer and compassion of St. Nick s congregation, as it shared our ups and downs with us, as we have shared theirs with them. We survived St. Nick s long years of tenant churching, renting our worship and fellowship spaces, often wondering if we would ever belong and become in our own place. Now we re much happier sharing anxiety over how our new building will accommodate the needs of our growing community. More importantly, I think, is that we never let the building become the church or let the demands of the physical plant overwhelm our concerns to be church together. Over time, for me especially, Father Ken s leadership, exemplified by the years of work he invested in studying and writing Paradoxy, has yielded a theological and spiritual box into which all my unorthodox thinking about God and my place in God s world fit very comfortably. I still ride that roller coaster. Now, however, I ride it with unwavering confidence that the ride will end in a place I ll want to be and that, on the way, I ll have a community that cares about me and those I love, and maybe even has need of me from time to time Germantown Road Darnestown, MD We are a spiritual home, a safe haven, grounded in Scripture and centered in life, where we are nurtured and challenged in our journey of faith. We welcome all people to join us in worship and prayer, and in joyful service to the community around us. We believe that the only sufficient basis for Christian community is Christ s love for us. We experience that the power of Christ s love can hold us together in the midst of great adversity. THE COMMUNICANT Germantown Road Darnestown, MD Tele: Fax: office@saintnicks.com Newsletter deadline is generally FIFTEEN DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH. Send articles to: Rev. Ken Howard at rector@saintnicks.com The Editors at newsletter@saintnicks.com Audrey Thompson at audreyt58@gmail.com Cara Poirier at cara.littlewood@gmail.com Suzy Arnette at suzy@arnettes.net Permission is given to reprint original articles, so long as This Newsletter and the authors are both credited St. Nicholas Episcopal Church.