St. Patrick s Shamrock

Transcription

1 St. Patrick s Shamrock WINTER 2011 A Newsletter of St. Patrick s Episcopal Church 341 Village Blvd. Incline Village, NV Phone: (775) Issue date January 2011 Published Quarterly Issue No. 759 Winter Wonderland at St. Patrick s

2 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 2 From Bishop Dan Edwards I d like to share with you my best Christmas memory. It happened several years ago late one night when the visiting family had all gone to bed upstairs. I was left alone downstairs. The house was completely dark except for the light of our Christmas tree. Tired, but somehow reluctant to go up to bed, I sat in a rocking chair, staring vacantly at the beautiful tree. All thoughts and plans and stresses of the season drained away, leaving only the silence and the colored lights glowing in the dark. Then, as one s life is said to replay in memory at the moment before death, all my past Christmases came to mind and even more to heart. I felt the presence and the absence of my father, my brother, my grandmother -- all gone now. I felt the presence and absence of my children as children, my wife and myself as a perhaps foolish but brave young couple, felt the presence and absence of my own child self. I remembered the pageants and the openings of gifts. I felt all that had been, all that might have been but was not and never will be. And I loved it all, loved them all, cherished and missed them all. It was a moment of perfect tranquility. Yet in that tranquility my heart was broken open. It was a sacred, precious moment that left me feeling kindly disposed toward reality with all its tangled lines of love and alienation, all its striving, all its winning and losing. What might that experience I had some years ago say about this Christmas season, 2010? The thing about my moment is that I didn t manufacture it. I didn t set out to put myself in some sort of state or adopt an attitude. It was a gift. Trying to work up the Christmas spirit whatever that may be can be counterproductive. Usually there is trouble in the world wars and rumors of wars, hunger, disease, exploitation. Sometimes there is trouble at work. Especially, during a recession there is apt to be trouble at work or no work at all. Sometimes there is trouble at home. Meanwhile the voice of Andy Williams still extols in every grocery store and shopping mall the most wonderful time of the year. Not only is there trouble, we are told it is somehow wrong that there is trouble, that it is surprising and unjust that there is trouble, that in this season we all are supposed to be filled with good cheer and a spontaneous affinity for our fellow shoppers, even the ones who slip ahead of us into the parking place. When we cannot conjure up that beneficent attitude, we feel we have failed Christmas.

3 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 3 My hope for you this Christmas Season is that you will be gentle with yourselves and with each other. The social event of Christmas is a huge production, very stressful. So be gentle with yourselves and each other. And remember that the spiritual miracle of Christmas is not the same as the social event. We cannot produce it. All our shopping, wrapping, traveling, house adorning, cooking, and even liturgical labors will not fabricate it. How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given. The Christmas miracle is a gift, not a production a silent gift. It is a still small voice in the heart easily missed. It is God s answer to the plaintive plea of Advent, O come, O come Emmanuel. When life feels God-forsaken, we long for God with us. Then comes the quiet assurance that God is here. God is with us, indeed inside us. O come, O come Emmanuel is the invitation God longs to hear from us. Our souls are where God most desires to pitch his tent. Where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in. When Christ enters, he does not condemn our wrong-headed efforts to celebrate his birth with frenetic activity. He knows we are just energetic children. He is gentle with us, slows us down, helps us breathe, and grow gentle with each other. When Christ enters our souls, as he entered mine for a moment that Christmastide those years ago, we do not see him. Rather, we see through his eyes. We see ourselves, our lives, and the whole world as he sees them, love them as he loves them. Blessings on you all in the busy-ness of Christmas. May you absolve yourself for the things you don t get done and for the unkind pressure you put on yourself to get them done. Then, may you find a moment, just a moment, in the midst of it all, maybe during the 12 day season that begins December 25, to be still and know that God is God and God is here. May you hear the silence in which the wondrous gift is given. Blessings always, Dan Edwards Nevada

4 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 4 ONE BODY By Jim Beebe [The theme of the St. Patrick s Adult Forum on Sunday mornings is Fnding a Better Judaeo-Christian Cosmology ] The first law of thermodynamics is often called the Law of Conservation of Energy. This law suggests that energy and matter are interchangeable. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Thus, the total amount of energy available in the universe is constant. I suppose that the old saying, The more things change, the more things stay the same might apply here. It s also a fact that every seven years we get a complete cellular makeover. That is, every cell in our bodies has died and been replaced every seven years. So you are sitting there this morning with a completely different body from the one you had in the year And, if you have a significant other, you re sleeping with a different person every seven years. It seems, according to Dr. Einstein, that the earth is endlessly reconstituting itself into an infinite variety of forms. Same for us. We all consist, literally, of matter and energy that has previously been in another form. You may well have atoms that existed in some ancient volcano. Or maybe the Caspian Sea. Or Julius Caesar s toga. Do you know where your atoms have been? One author talks about a case of poetic justice. Remember Peter Minuit and his deal with the Native Americans to buy Manhattan Island? I believe he traded some trinkets and wampum for the whole island. Thought he had quite a deal, I ll bet. The Indians were probably laughing all the way to the bank, seeing as how this Dutch guy offered them a perfectly good pile of nails and fishhooks in exchange for the right to pretend that the constantly dying and resurrecting island of bone, blood and clay now called Manhattan had become the permanent possession of Minuit s constantly deconstituting and reconstituting self.

5 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 5 Of course, I m sure Minuit believed he d scored the deal of all time. He gloated over his fishhooks-for-manhattan trade all the way to his grave. He then became, respectively: * soil in an old Dutch cemetery * a dump truckload of dirt in a subway excavation * fill for a housing tract in Jersey * a backyard vegetable garden * scarlet runner beans, and a little energy and thought. 400 rent-controlled apartments now tower over the spot where the Indians made off with their useful fishhooks. Not one of them houses a Minuit. So what? Only this astounding and praiseworthy fact: we are literally of each other. But, considering we rent our atoms, it seems that those differences are very overrated. We make much of the differences that seem to separate us. When we wage war, we wage it against ourselves, our very bodies. In the Big Picture, we are, as Walter Wink has said, coexistent with the universe. We are the universe, reflecting upon itself. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One.

6 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 6 Our Sunday adult forum (9:10 9:50 a.m.) will wander into post-graduate Christianity in Towards a New Judaeo-Christian Cosmology A. Why do we need a new approach to the Judaeo-Christian tradition? January 2: January 9: January 16: January 23: 800 B.C.E. -- How could all those religions emerge at the same time? Is God really all-powerful, all-knowing, and totally unchanging? Is that blue sky you see really the ocean? Gimme something believable B. What is the Western Weltanschauung? January 30: February 6: February 13: You don t look too bad for being 13.7 billion years old If you change it just thaaat much -- poof, you re gone Why am I driven to figure things out? February 20: Was that just a random thought I just heard? February 27: Is there really nature (as opposed to us )? C. Evolution and Consciousness March 6: March 13: March 20: March 27: April 3: Consciousness.huh? Do all those synapses firing = you? Soul food Is the universe going to let you play? So how many of you are in there? D. New Theological Initiatives April 10: April 17: April 24: Does just that produce something else? Is God in the world or is the world in God? Playing with marbles May 1: The Universe 101 E. Towards a New Judaeo-Christian Cosmology May 1: May 8: May 16: May 23: May 30: Jesus said it, I believe it, that s the end of it God is not a micromanager What did Jesus really say? What did Jesus really teach? All aboard!

7 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 7 Upcoming Worship Services and Events: Ash Wednesday: March 9th at 12:15 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. St. Patrick s Day Annual Party: March 19th after Saturday Night Alive Lenten Program, The Celtic Way: March 12 April 16 Holy Week Palm Sunday: April 17th at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Holy Monday: April 18th at 7:00 p.m. Holy Tuesday: April 19th at 7:00 p.m. Holy Wednesday: April 20th at 7:00 p.m. Maundy Thursday: April 21st at 7:00 p.m. Good Friday: April 22nd at 12:00 p.m. and St. Matthew Passion presented by TOCCATA at 7:30 p.m. Easter Vigil: April 23rd at 5:30 p.m. Easter Sunday: April 24th at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. BREAKING NEWS: The Lenten Program will now be on Saturday Nights! The Celtic Way Join us every Saturday in Lent from March 12-April 16 Saturday Night Alive Service, 5:30 p.m. Potluck Dinner and Lenten Program, 6:15 p.m.

8 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 8 St. Patrick s Day Annual Celebration! March 19 th After the Saturday Night Alive Service! Food, Games, and Music! Fun for the whole family and community!

9 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 9 KNITTERS GUILD OF INCLINE VILLAGE NEWS Do you love to knit or crochet? Come join the Knitters Guild, which meets every Wednesday From 1 3 p.m. in the church library! As the year 2010 draws to a close, the Knitters Guild again experienced a successful year of helping others by creating lovely warm items to give to them. On December 1st, the library tables were piled high with items to be distributed. Soon thereafter, donations were taken to Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, the Kings Beach Family Resource Center, the Holiday Giving Program, Incline Village Elementary School and the Senior Center in Truckee. The final count of blankets, scarves, hats, mittens, sweaters and booties donated throughout the year was 571! The Knitting Club at the Incline Elementary School is in full swing! Several guild members meet at the church just before 3 p.m. every Monday and walk to the school. Attendance is booming; children gather in a classroom to learn how to knit and work on projects. Third, fourth and fifth graders comprise the club; you'd be amazed at how quickly they learn this craft! Some are already making small purses, scarves, bookmarks and wristbands. Their delight at completing one of these projects is a joy to see! A holiday party was held at the December 8th Knitters Guild meeting and several members brought delicious goodies to share. We were pleased that Jim Beebe and Dave Musatti joined the meeting and said some kind words about the guild's beneficent efforts and how much a part of St. Patrick's Outreach Program those efforts are. The guild presented Jim with a check for $ to the church with sincere thanks for the weekly use of the library and storage areas. The gift was made possible by the guild's having received donations from the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation and Wal-Mart; both will be used to purchase supplies to augment those currently on hand. Occasionally, too, someone will give a donation to the guild when he or she selects an item to be given to a family member or friend. The guild, as you know, does not sell its items but is happy to accept a donation from someone who chooses a finished project or from someone who would just like to support the guild. Those donations go into our treasury to be used when replenishing supplies is needed. Now the guild members look forward to another year of helping people while enjoying the friendship and camaraderie they find in this outstanding group of dedicated women. We welcome anyone who loves to knit or crochet, and we can help you if your skills need refreshing. Please call Peggy Harrison at for further information.

10 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 10 On-Going Outreach Programs Tahoe Women s Services - If you would like to volunteer in the Safe House, a refuge for those who have been threatened with abuse in their homes, in TWS s office, or with the support programs for children whose lives are effected by violence. Contact: Hayley Project MANA - A hunger relief agency in Incline Village, Project MANA needs drivers to deliver groceries to shut-ins in the Incline and Kings Beach area (FACE Project). Contact: Karli or karlie@projectmana.org Operation Shoebox for the Troops - A simple, but effective program that gathers small toilet items, like small containers of shampoo and toothpaste, that provides an on-going resource for our troops serving abroad. There is a container in the church foyer where you may donate these much needed items year round. Contact: Karen Colbert Haiti - The Vestry has pledged to match donations up to $15,000 for relief efforts in Haiti. To date, $7,500 has been raised and matched; $7,500 has been sent to Food for the Poor and $7,500 to Doctors without Borders. We still need YOU to help St. Patrick s raise another $7,500. Contact: Connie Skidmore Hoste Hainse - In the Sarlahi District of Nepal, donations buy school supplies for underprivileged girls and boys in four schools. The goal is to eliminate child labor through education. $170 puts a child through one year of school. Contact: Cherry Barney

11 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 11 Update from the St. Patrick s Outreach Committee The Outreach Committee has been meeting for several months, investigating charitable needs and organizations, both in the Incline community and in the national and international world. We were given $3000 by the Vestry for distribution in (We were also given permission to distribute funds from a separate gift of $3,000.) We pledged to give approximately ½ of our outreach funds to local needs and organizations. Here are the decisions we ve made: Local Outreach - $4,150 Total $400 Camp Galilee Scholarship $500 Emergency Fund of the Six Community Support Team organizations (administered through Project MANA) $250 ARC (Adventure Risk Challenge) in support of an Incline middle-schooler who has been orphaned because his undocumented parents have had to return to Mexico $1,000 ARC for matching funds in support of a weekend retreat for Incline High School ESL (English Second Language) students $2,000 to assist a needy parishioner with residential relocation (from the separate gift of $3,000) Other local outreach projects: 1) Over $2,200 was raised through parishioner donations in support of one year of fluoride treatments for 63 local children. 2) St. Patrick s parishioners co-sponsored the Sisters in Service breakfast with the Presbyterian Church women. National/International Outreach - $1,700 Total $500 Hoste Hainse $350 Food for the Poor $350 Sisters in Service $500 Operation Smile This outreach listing does not include the United Thank Offering, the matching funds raised for Haiti relief (Food for the Poor, Inc., and Doctor s without Borders), Operation Shoebox (Christmas shoeboxes which were donated in November), and other outreach which has been supported by the people of St. Patrick s. They were additional outreach programs encouraged by the Outreach Com- Continued on page 10

12 St. Patrick s Shamrock Page 12 Outreach continued. mittee in which the entire congregation could participate. The only two named in the report are the dental fluoride treatments and the Sisters in Service breakfast. These congregational projects were not part of the 2010 budget for the Outreach Committee. A report showing more details and additional information for Outreach in 2010 will be available at the Annual Meeting in late January The Ourtreach Committee thanks you all for a job well done in supporting our efforts to work toward being a Church. Staff & Ministry Group Chairs The Rev. Dr. James R. Beebe Rector The Rev. Dr. David J. Mussatti Priest The Rev. Jim Kelly Priest Jessica Rotter Parish Administrator Gary Thomsen** Senior Warden Sally Hammel** Junior Warden Stephanie Tall, Peggy Harrison Shamrock The St. Patrick s Outreach Committee Dollars and Sense (as of December 31, 2010) Income: Year-to-Date: $289,449 Expenses: Year-to-Date: $289,424 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REMINDERS: Current Photo Directories are $5.00, to cover printing costs. Pick up a newer copy today! New members, please fill out the contact information card at the front of the church, and provide your family photo to be included in our directory! The Altar Flower donation is now only $40.00! Please sign up on the chart in the Narthex for a date and make sure to put flower fund in the memo line on your checks. Connie Skidmore Outreach Chair Marsha Tejeda** Clerk of the Vestry Deb Beebe, Caroline Cutler Lainie Vreeland Art Committee Karen Barney Webmaster Eric Strotz** Folk Mass Group Caroline Cutler Youth Ministry Coordinator Bob Skidmore Columbarium Peggy Harrison Knitters Guild of Incline Village Jack Barney Ushers/Greeters Coordinator Lainie Vreeland Library **Vestry Member

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