SEPTEMBER 2016 We have called the Reverend Carolyn Coleman as our Rector, she has accepted the call, she will begin her work in October, and she will be installed formally as Rector at St. David s on Saturday, November 5 th. Finally, after a long process (but a necessary one) of Search Committee evaluation and Vestry and Rector discernment we can relax and kick back. We ve done it! Wrong As Lee Corso of SportsCenter would say, Not so fast, my friends! Since the time our former Rector retired we have continued to prosper as a parish. We have improved our programs, we have increased the involvement of members of the parish in the life of the church, and we have implemented changes to make St. David s an even more welcoming, dedicated and worshipful place. But the work of the church goes on, and we cannot relax. In the coming months we will get to know Reverend Carolyn better and she will learn more about us. As amazing as she is and as wonderful as the St. David s community is, there is no limit to what we can do together. So, let s continue to give of our time treasure, and talents. Stewardship is a year-round endeavor and the church depends on each of us to be generous with what God has given us, both money and personal effort. Let s continue to reach out to those who have not yet discovered the wonderful place that is St. David s. We owe it to others to share our message with them. And let s continue to live the mission of St. David s Episcopal Church: The mission of St. David s Episcopal Church is to embrace and affirm a community of faith that seeks to keep all hearts and minds open to the spirit of Christ through worship, learning, family, fellowship, and service. John Kitch, Junior Warden
WELCOME CAROLYN COLEMAN, ST. DAVID S NEXT RECTOR It is with great joy, excitement, and grateful hearts that the Vestry has Called the Reverend Carolyn Coleman to be our new rector. She has gladly accepted our Call, and we are beyond thrilled. Throughout the search process she demonstrated the ability to fulfill our three requirements of good preaching, an affinity for pastoral care, and a sense of humor, along with grace, intelligence, and genuine discernment. Through God s guidance, your prayers, and tireless efforts by both the Search Committee and the Vestry, we have accomplished our goal of finding who we believe will be just the right person to lead our very special parish forward. Carolyn comes to us from Holy Cross in Murfreesboro. Following is a brief bio she sent, so that you all have a sense of her background. David s. In May of our discernment process Carolyn shared with the Search Committee that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. A surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy later, she will be joining us at the end of this unexpected chapter in her life. While her active treatment ends in late September, she will have some lingering side effects and several follow up appointments with her doctors. She wanted you to know that it was completely acceptable to point, smile and then compliment her bald head, which she wears very well. Carolyn s first Sunday with us will be October 16; she will begin in the office October 12. Her installation as Rector will be Saturday, November 5, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Please mark your calendar and plan to participate in this very special day in the life of St. David s. Thanks be to God! Daryl Wilkinson, Senior Warden The Rev. Carolyn is a native Nashvillian who moved back to Tennessee in June 2010 after thirty years away. While she has a former life in the comparative study of religions, Carolyn was ordained in the Diocese of Maine in 2007 after graduating from Boston University School of Theology. She completed her Anglican Studies at the Episcopal Divinity School. She has served as Vicar at Church of the Holy Cross, Murfreesboro, since August 2011 and on several diocesan committees, including her present roles on the Commission on Ministry, the Anti-Racism Taskforce, and the Property and Finance Committee. She also helps at Sewanee as clergy mentor to interning seminary students. Carolyn has two daughters, Ava and Iris, thirteen and soon-to-be eight, respectively. They live in Sylvan Heights with their Corgi, Faye. In addition to gardening and herding their three chickens, Carolyn and her family enjoy rock climbing, kayaking, and camping whenever they can. Carolyn wanted me to share with you that she will have a slightly unusual beginning at St. SEPTEMBER 11, 2016 It's time to get our rally caps on because Rally Day is almost here. We'll be kicking off an exciting new church year at St. David's on Sunday, September 11th. We ask all parishioners to gather on the front patio (weather permitting, Sanders Hall if raining) at 9:15 a.m. for a blessing from the Rev. Dr. Robert Abstein. We will go from there to Adult Forum, Adult Choir rehearsal, Godly Play, and Youth classes amidst song and celebration. 2
GODLY PLAY by Jennifer Sanders Rally Day is quickly approaching and the FUN is about to begin, so be READY! Our Godly Play year begins on September 11 th at 9:15 a.m. with the children and their families joining the whole congregation for a BIG Rally Day Kick Off. The children will then proceed to the Ann Walling Children s Chapel for songs and an activity to start off our Godly Play year. Godly Play 1 (age 3 to Kindergarten) and Godly Play 2 (1 st to 3 rd grade) will follow the stories of the Bible from the Old Testament to the New Testament. I invite you to come see our bulletin board bloom throughout the year. This years theme is from Matthew 13:8, Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Every week, we will sow the seeds of faith by sharing God s Word, through His stories. As the weeks go by, our garden will bloom and grow into something amazing! Side Note: Are you called to work with the children? If so please, consider telling the story to the children or helping us corral them! The Godly Play program needs at least 4 adults present each week to have 2 groups. Please contact me at sandersjd@comcast.net or 615-504-6023 if you are able to help. We are looking forward to an AWESOME start to another AWESOME year with our AWE- SOME CHILDREN! Thanks. YOUTH MINISTRY NEWS by Sommer Pearson, Interim Youth Director It's September, which means we're ready to kick off a new church year in Youth Ministry. After gathering with the whole parish at 9:15 a.m. on September 11, Rally Day, we'll move all three youth classes to the downstairs youth room for some "Welcome Back" activities. Youth classes will dismiss at 10:15 a.m. so that acolytes and crucifers have plenty of time to 3 prepare to serve at the 10:30 service. We will have our first afternoon Youth Group on Rally Day at 4:30 p.m. All 7th-12th graders are invited to meet in the Youth Room then. Thad Pearson and friends swimming in The Lion King If you missed the super fun Youth Olympics on August 13th, be on the lookout for a packet of information in your mailbox. And check out the photos and videos on St. David s Facebook page. Synchronized swimming in Sanders Hall was a sight to behold (photo above). ADULT FORUM NEWS by Julie Erwin All are invited to join Sunday morning Adult Forum classes. Some are stand-alone presentations, others a short term series. We attempt to present a range of topics using a variety of formats, all relating to our Christian growth, ministry and/or mission. Classes begin at 9:30 a.m. in Sanders Hall unless otherwise noted. 9/11: Rally Day, overview of upcoming classes 9/18: "The ABCs of Hospice", Keith King, Hospice Outreach and Community Relations Manager, will speak as a follow up to the Wednesday Supper Club classes on aging this summer. 9/25: "Made in the Streets" An update on Kenyan Mission: led by Caroline McNair. The Adult Forum committee is finalizing programs for the fall. Please contact members if you have questions, or ideas for a class. Committee members are Heather Cass, Ann McNair, Jay Taylor, and Dotty Tucker, plus ex officio members the Rev. Dr. Molly Dale Smith, Senior Warden Daryl Wilkinson, and Vestry Liaisons: Julie Erwin and Mary Jo Murphy.
SUPPLY PRIESTS IN SEPTEMBER St. David s has been blessed by the presence of different priests this last year, helping us experience a variety of styles of worship and preaching. Please join us in welcoming the September visiting priests listed below: September 4, the Rev. Sherry Travis: the Rev. Sherry M. Travis is a retired priest from the Diocese of Mississippi. Sherry was an educator for 20 years before attending Virginia Theological Seminary. She was ordained in Mississippi, where she served for 3 years, before being called to Alabama for 10 years. Retirement came after returning to her home parish, St. Andrew's Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi, where she served as Canon Pastor. September 11 and 25, the Rev. Dr. Robert Abstein: Bob has been a parish priest for 50 years; serving in Pensacola, Decatur, GA, Smyrna, GA, Tallahassee, and as rector at St. George's, Nashville. He retired in 2005 and has had interim ministries in St. Ann's, Nashville; St. John's, Tallahassee; and Church of the Resurrection, Franklin. Bob plays golf on a US/Canadian clergy golf team and has just returned from competing in Wales, UK. September 18, the Rev. Ann Van Dervoort: the Rev. Ann Van Dervoort was the rector s full time assistant at St. Paul's, Franklin, from 1998 until 2012 when she retired. After taking about a year off, she returned to St. Paul's part-time. She has served on the Standing Committee, is on the Franklin Advisory Board for Insight Counseling Centers, and is a loyal supporter of Thistle Farms, PFLAG, and the Women clergy of the Diocese of Tennessee, helping to bring them together, regularly, since 1998. CHILDREN S ART SUPPLIES Laptop art desks for children to use during church services are stored in the cabinet in the Henderson Room (behind the door). Art supplies are also in baskets at the entrances to the nave. Children are invited to make use of these 4 resources during services and to return them after church. If you see visitors who have children with them, please invite them to borrow art supplies to use during church. SCARVES, MARKETING BAGS, AND BABY SLEEP SACKS, OH MY! The church has been gifted with yarn for projects to sell at the Christmas Bazaar. Mary Leigh Rayhab has patterns for the different types of yarn and is available to teach and assist. The group gathers every Wednesday night from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to knit and crochet (and chat). There are projects for all skill levels! Don't know how to knit or crochet, but would like to learn? Come on! Knitters and crocheters love to teach the craft. Have unused yarn, knitting needles or crochet hooks sitting around? We can put them to good use! Contact Mary Leigh Rayhab for more information, mlrayhab@bellsouth.net or 615-429-3947. NASHVILLE SINGS THE PSALMS: 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 12 West End Synagogue, 3810 West End Ave The Nashville chapter of the American Guild of Organists joins West End Synagogue and other area houses of worship in hosting a concert of Psalms from various liturgical traditions, showcasing our shared spiritual heritage, the diversity of musical interpretations of the Psalms, and the way that the Psalms have shaped the way we worship. And with permission from the author, the Rev. Becca Stevens: A prayer for the journey God, set me on the path again. Turn me to the rising sun when I need to be inspired. Turn me to the wilderness when I need to be lost. Turn me toward the business of the world when I need to work. Turn me toward the mountain when I need to be refreshed. Turn me toward the sunset when I need rest. Amen.
SUNDAY BREAKFAST AND COOKIES, TEA & LEMONADE: the last Cookies, Tea & Lemonade gathering until next summer will be Sunday, September 4; thank you to all who hosted this summer. There is a new signup sheet for Breakfast Hosts on the Sanders Hall bulletin board. Please consider signing up to host one Sunday, expenses are reimbursed. The Adult Choir returns to weekly rehearsals, August 31; the Children s Choirs will begin rehearsals September 18. Children's Choirs are for singers from K 6th grade, meeting for rehearsal and dinner on Sunday evenings from 4:45-6:10 p.m., September through Youth Sunday. The Adult Choir rehearses on Wednesdays from 7:15-8:45 p.m., and sings for the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service and other special services, Rally Day through Pentecost. Contact Organist/Choirmaster Donald Cornelius, DECOrgan@aol.com or 615-352-0293, if you or your child would like to join the choir. SUNNY DAY CLUB AT WEST END UMC The mission of The Sunny Day Club is to provide social interaction, stimulation and friendship in a caring, safe environment for those experiencing early stages of memory loss, as well as provide respite for the caregivers. Sunny Day allows caregivers a known block of time that they can count on to run errands, grocery shop, rest, etc., just to keep the household going. The Sunny Day Club meets on Mondays from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. For more information about this exciting ministry, please contact Erin Racine at 615-321- 8500 or eracine@westendumc.org. 5 Please join us for the Best Holiday Bazaar Ever, Nov. 19, 2016! It will be a fun way to welcome the Rev. Carolyn Coleman and share St. David's with our neighbors. We encourage vendors, cooks, and crafters to come out and participate. We have a knitters group that is already meeting and making items for the Bazaar. What can your group do? Last year Godly Play children made adorable calendars, the Adult Choir donated delicious cookies, in years past the Youth Group has sold used books and CD's. The DOK has provided delicious bagged lunches. We will be happy to suggest ideas if your group would like to participate. Come out and have fun supporting our wonderful St. David's Church. Joan Green, jellisgreen@gmail.com, 615-356-4441 Betsey Duggan, ec.duggan@comcast.net, 615-952-5452 Derrill McRae, derrill.mcrae@comcast.net, 615-356-2211 Please send any changes in your contact information to the parish office, mailing address, email address, phone numbers, etc. We will have new parish directories available on Rally Day, September 11. These will include the latest contact information we have; while the pictorial directories are great for identifying people, the contact information in them can become out of date quickly. Please take one (or more) new directory and use for contact information. We still have some pictorial directories in the office so let us know if you didn t receive one and would like one.
Doing Well by Doing Good This is a new feature that will focus each month on the accomplishments of one member of St. David s. Telling the Story of the Big Flood by Michael Cass It began as a long email and ended as a book. After he and his young family survived the historic Nashville flood of May 2010, St. David s parishioner Owen Grimenstein told friends who asked about the experience that he was going to write it up. As he did, the story kept getting bigger and bigger, resulting in a book about the Grimensteins ordeal and recovery that Owen expects to publish in September. Under Water: A Natural Disaster Memoir is a poignant, often harrowing, ultimately beautiful tale of the Grimensteins flight from their Bellevue home in the early morning hours of May 2, 2010, as the Harpeth River charged over its banks and into their neighborhood on Beech Bend Drive. By the time we left, less than an hour and a half after the call from Jonathan (a friend and neighbor), the water was coming from both sides and had risen to the foundation of our house in the front and was touching the deck in the back, Owen writes. The water was halfway up the tires on the cars Vince Troia was among the many volunteers who came to Beech Bend Drive to help people dig out, clean up and try to recover. Father Rick Greenwood came by with a check from the Episcopal Relief Fund, a no-stringsattached gift that Owen describes as mindblowing. And Owen and Allison s St. David s Foyer Group, rather than gathering for dinner or another common social activity, came over to the Grimenstein s new house in another Bellevue neighborhood, but on much higher ground to help them paint. I saw how good people can be, Owen recalled. They just wanted to show up and help. My faith in humanity and in our community has probably been the biggest change in me. As I say in the book, people can be at their greatest when others are in their greatest need. Patrick, who turned 7 last May, now has a little sister, 4-year-old Darcy. Owen, who also told his story as part of Nashville Public Library s oral history project about the flood (St. David s parishioner Annette Pilcher conducted the interview), said he hopes Patrick and Darcy will read Under Water one day. If they do, they ll understand what their parents experienced when the waters raged and the community rallied back in 2010. You can order Under Water: A Natural Disaster Memoir on Amazon.com starting in September. Owen says it also will be available as an e- book. Owen, Allison and their son, Patrick, who was about to turn 1, got out just in time that Sunday morning, but their struggle had only just begun. Their house was ruined two years after they had moved in, and many of their most cherished possessions were destroyed. But they, like so many other flood victims across Nashville that spring, were lifted up by friends, neighbors and strangers and by their St. David s family. 6
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