August 2016 NEWS FROM THE NARTHEX At Emmanuel Episcopal Church, we strive to provide people the opportunity for growth in their faith through our mutual love, respect and acceptance of one another. From father Robert MANY BLESSINGS I hope that your summer is peaceful and restful. I was going to say refreshing but in this heat that might be a stretch. The summer at Emmanuel has been different in a number of ways. We are celebrating our Sunday Eucharist s not in the church. This is a bit unsettling, even for me at some levels, but the piece I need to keep in front of me is that the location and the accouterments don t really matter. It is the gathered community celebrating the presence and goodness of God who comes to us in Word and Sacrament to strengthen us on our journeys that really matters. For those who come to the services taking place in the Chapel we are a bit closer together than we are used to. I think that is a good experience to take back with us once we are celebrating in the church again. In that bigger space it doesn t take much work to separate ourselves from one another thinking we should be participating with a whole lot more space around me, just me and God doing our thing. Yet, attending church, participating in the Eucharist, are never solitary acts. It has to be about community. For those who have been attending in the Common Room, I have been personally encouraged to hear the community say how much they like the intimacy of the setting how warm it is. That s a real positive because that is the sense of intimacy we are trying to create in our worship space in the church. For good or for bad, whether you have agreed or not, of late I have been focusing not so much on the physical changes, but on how our moving forward with this project has really been a gift and a grace from God. We have unearthed a number of things that in reality could have been a disaster for us to deal with sometime down the road. The pictures above are from the sanctuary.
News from the narthex The one on the left portrays the floor behind the altar rail which supported those small 3 x 3 marble tiles. The photo on the right shows the last of three beams left (barely) which supported the altar platform. Other photos will hopefully help to tell the story and make clear the how and why Emmanuel took the steps she did to insure the future life of the physical structure of the church for the next many many years years. It has been a good summer for us, a kind of learning as we go. The Altar and Flower Guilds are working hard to accommodate our services being held in the Chapel and Common Room. The Verger is losing a lot of weight running back and forth and the choir continues to make good music. We are being stretched to step outside of our boxes and sort of go with the flow and it s working. I do look forward to creating a new normal in our renewed space. During all of the work being done we are still feeding the poor (thank you), sheltering the homeless (thank you) taking care of the needs of children as well as those feeble and aged. In looking towards the coming months, we will be taking a small survey regarding a retreat program for the parishioners of Emmanuel. It should be self-evident once you have it in your hands but until then please know that we are taking seriously our commitment to evangelization by growing in our own personal relationship with Jesus and with one another. Learning Through Service a reflection by Ellen Cowne My daddy used to tell me that I would do better to listen to what God said, rather than talk his ear off, as I was wont to do. I rarely listened to Daddy and probably did a bad job of listening to God too. But after I was grown and teaching English at Valdosta High School, my department head didn t give me the idea as advice. She simply said, we are instituting elective quarter courses next year, and I want you to design and teach a course on Science Fiction and the Supernatural. My answer was one that only a 21-year-old, newly entered into the world of work, could have given. I explained I appreciated it, but that I didn t know anything about science fiction, didn t like it, and would prefer not to teach it. After assuring me that she was not asking but assigning, she asked how I knew I didn t like it if I hadn t read and studied it? Wanting to keep my job, I agreed and told her I would very much appreciate the opportunity to learn about something unfamiliar. When I told my daddy about the conversation, I first reminded him this was NOT God talking, and he reminded me it did not matter. It was my responsibility to make the most of a situation I thought emphasizing the word thought I would not like. He added that I just might learn something from it. My parents like those of their generation didn t support my angst but encouraged me to deal with it. So I dealt with it. I spent the summer studying science fiction and exploring its worth. I read everything from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King. I read criticism about its literary value, and, after that, I fell in love with it. I read avidly. I read hungrily. And I became ready to proffer it to high school seniors as literature. It worked. Those who had never liked reading suddenly became avid readers. And I learned a valuable lesson about myself. Sometimes, when I m not comfortable, I have a chance to learn the most. When working on my Educational Specialist certification, I did my specialist paper on Using Science Fiction to Teach All Levels of Learners. It had become my own area of expertise. Now, serving on the Vestry, I have a similar opportunity to learn through unexpected service. I ve never been much of a hostess, preferring, as a principal, to climb on the roof of a building to check on the air-conditioning system over making sure there were refreshments at faculty meetings. I didn t see the value in that. And I was not going to make coffee for anyone! But now, having worked with Crysty Odom on the Parish Life Commission, I am learning to appreciate the value of these gifts. Yes, it is all about learning through service and, perhaps, finding that you can do what you thought was out of your comfort zone, and growing mentally and spiritually from what God just might want you to learn. When the call about Vestry service comes, you too might consider listening for what God wants you to hear and learn.
3 SWING FOR HOPE: GOLFING FOR A CAUSE The Ark s Annual Charity Golf Tournament, Swing for Hope, will be held at the UGA gold course on Saturday August 13 th. Registration is $100 and includes breakfast, snacks and drinks during the tournament, a catered lunch, prizes for winners (and losers) and mulligan drawings. You may register online at athensark.org. Emmanuel is a founding member of The Ark, an organization of the Athens faith community that provides financial and other kinds of assistance to people who have an emergency because of an unexpected financial setback. Lee Albright (leealbright207 @gmail.com) is Emmanuel s delegate to The Ark. Contact her if you would like more information about The Ark. DIOCESAN ACOLYTE FESTIVAL The Diocesan Acolyte Festival will take place on September 10 th, 8:00am to 6:00pm. All acolytes, from beginners to captains, should put this date on their calendars. This is a day to grow in love and service to Jesus. Bishops Wright and Whitmore at the Cathedral in Atlanta are hosting the Festival. You will participate in various activities based on your age and experience as an acolyte. Emmanuel will cover the cost to attend so it is important that you register with Fr. Chris by August 21 st. This summer during our renovation and preservation project, members of Emmanuel are invited to help build out within the community while we are building within. We are partnering with Habitat for Humanity to assist them. Our next workday is scheduled for August 13th. Sign up either to help build or to bring lunch. This summer Habitat is renovating and preserving existing housing within Athens and building ramps for handicapped accessibility. If you would like to sign up to build or to provide lunch, sign up on the sheets located near the Chapel or email philipbettendorf@synovus.com. Phil Bettendorf Harvest a word that speaks of abundance and opportunity. A word that implies planting and watering has already happened and now the fruit of these labors is ready for the gathering. God alone could do all of this, but God has decided to include us in the joy of making an eternal difference in the world. Harvest is how God s people can embody and make contemporary, For God so loved the world In the face of a plentiful harvest, God asks us to be laborers right alongside him. Mentors: The BEST Backto-School Supply Be Someone Who Matters to Someone Who Matters Classes begin August 9 th in the Clarke County School District, and hundreds of children are on waiting lists to receive a mentor a role model, listener and friend who can help them succeed in school and in life. Mentors visit their mentee at school, once each week for a meal, homework help, games and conversation. Scheduling is flexible. A minimum one-year commitment is required. Volunteers complete an application, background check and training session. Training begins on Tuesday, August 16, 6-8pm at the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce. For more information, contact Clarke County Mentor Program, 706-549-6800, ext. 227, mentor@athensga.com or contact Nancy McDuff, nmcduff@uga.edu who, along with others from Emmanuel, is a current mentor.
News from the narthex On a mission & an adventure Twelve of Emmanuel s worker bee Catechesis teachers met the last week of June to experience a mission and an adventure. The adventure, as defined by Sofia Cavalletti who began this course of study, is When something takes you where you do not know, and yet all along the way, God continues to provide, it is an adventure. And there is nothing more beautiful. Her vision was to bring this adventure to all the children involved in Catechesis and to all the Catechesis teachers receiving the training. And it happened right here in Athens at Emmanuel. More than fifty years ago, her new vision arose accidentally when she began to work individually with a friend s child in his spiritual development and realized that being in the presence of God is unique to each child and that adults need to try to see God through the child s eyes. Her friend, Montessori-trained teacher Gianna Gobbi, became her collaborator, and together they created The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This new approach to spiritual development is based on the idea of letting children experience the Scripture and the Eucharist instead of just explaining their meaning to them. Rather than telling children what to think, teachers listen to what children are thinking and what they see in their own relationship with God. Rather than deciding what we want our children to know, we ask the question, What does the child need to develop his or her relationship with God? Here at Emmanuel, The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd was incorporated into our children s formation program in 2007. It is a combination of the Montessori approach and the Discovery Method of instruction and places the child s need to learn above the teachers need to instruct. About twelve men and women met for training in this method in June, some taking an advanced course in it, having worked with the program already. Bobbie Brandinburg and Lillian Richards from Charlotte came to train them. With our Georgia Collier there to coordinate it all, Anna Hurdle from Charlotte and Kerry Hogan from Emmanuel were there to extend their skills. Along with other Emmanuelites, Ralph Stevens and Ellen Dolphus were treated to Lillian s modeling approach to instruction. In this training, Lillian first modeled each lesson the children would experience so the participants could receive it as children would. Then they returned to another room to talk about what had happened with each lesson of Scripture and to absorb the experience as adults. Lillian said it was all about helping them know when to enter the mystery with the child. The Catechesis program uses materials to give a child a hands-on experience with the Scripture and allow them to act out the Scripture. Materials such as dioramas, dolls, sheep, candles, coins, etc. give the young ones an opportunity to experience the parables that Jesus taught and decide for themselves what questions to ask and to think about. Then they have a chance to go to a box of wooden tablets with Scriptures on them and to find others that may have similar ideas or prompt similar questions. As an educator for forty years, I am convinced no, I am enamored of this learning method although I experienced only an hour of two of instruction with the group. With all the technology that our children have that enable them to experience various adventures, this spiritual experience fits right in with their learning needs. Their spiritual learning must be an adventure for them. It must be exciting and hands on. It must make room for their own questioning and interest. It must be for them and not for the adults. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program fills this need for modern children who are always full of questions. They know, and adults must catch on to, the fact that it is not about the answer. It s all about the questions. Ellen Cowne
5 TRANSITIONS To EMMANUEL Thomas Rostas from St. Mark s Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Robert Eller Davis from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Columbia, SC Louise S. Freeman from St. Gabriel s Episcopal Atlanta, GA EMMANUEL ELDER CONNECTION DINNER Join old friends and meet new ones at our Dutch Treat dinner on Thursday, August 18th at 6:00 P.M. at Hilltop Grille, 2310 W. Broad St. To reserve your place at the private room table, call Gwen Bottoms, 770-725-4512 or email her at gbottoms@depauw.edu by August 14.
News from the narthex What Do You do with your pain? At one point in my life I would have considered myself an athlete - at least I played sports. The lessons I received on and around the field of play have proven valuable thus far in life. For all this inspiration, one short coming that I must claim, that time has clarified, was how I handled physical and emotional pain. Most athletes are familiar with the dismissive lackluster expression no pain, no gain. Each knows the experience of pain, I wonder if as much can be said about giving expression to this pain in a style more becoming than the remedial jargons often used? I sure didn t! Whether an athlete or a bug collector, every human faces the dilemma of pain. It s one of few forces powerful enough to break the strongest of wills and most dedicated of relationships. Simply put, its earth shattering. How one handles pain can determine the difference between agitation and calmness, desolation and comfort, and in more extreme cases death and life. Living in a society where pain clinics are becoming more and more common; I often wonder to what degree do the drugs prescribed in these places address the impetus of one s pain? Much less, how the means of alcohol and remedial jargons prevent one s capacity to address pain - leaving this misery to flounder inside the spirit, before settling into the recesses of one s consciousness, unmercifully in control. Richard Rohr suggest, If there isn't some way to find deeper meaning to our suffering, to find that God is somehow in it, and can even use it for good, we will normally close up and close down, becoming negative and bitter when we can't place our pain. What do you do with your pain? As you consider your handling of pain, remember that Jesus doesn't hide, dismiss or numb himself from pain - he enters into it - need we forget Good Friday. This bold and confident proclamation that God doesn't work in spite of our pain but rather in the very midst of it, is reason to name and consider pain with a graceful and holy hope. I pray that this hope will bring you closer to the peace and salvation of God. Thrift House needs kids toys and books, kid s gear (like blankets, sleep sacks, unused cups, bottles and pacifiers), men s shorts and shoes, and small appliances. Clean out your closets and cupboards and increase Emmanuel s outreach by donating your surplus to the Thrift House. August Birthdays 1: Mary Eberhard, Amber Pitt, Christina Stanfield 2: Will Power 3: Brad Koch 4: Erik Wells, Laney Mallet 5: Rebecca Mullis, Brittany McCaskey, Myles Shepley 6: Charley Jones, Sydney Cobb, Lane Stewart 7: Janet Griffith, Marie Garrison 8: Rosemary Magill, Margaret Smith, Debbie Grainger 9: Clint Allen 10: John Hancock, Chris Mallet, Christopher Luken 11: Mckenzie Cook, William Snead, Bo Rentz 12: William Kahlstorf, London Moore 13: Linda Ford 15: Beth Thrasher 16: Oliver Pryor, Solon Pitt 17: Linda Keen 18: Gabi York, Emma Clarke 19: Anna Alexander, Sumit Alexander, Charlotte Surratt 20: Patty Jones 21: Kim Green, Mary Palmer Roberts 22: Suzanne Lindsay 23: Holly Allen 24: Evlyn Pound, Mary Moore, Kerry Hogan, John Stovall 25: Susan Tuggle 26: John Northcutt, Sarah Pylant 27: Michael Fitzgerald 28: Phyllis Vangotum, Ray Hemphill, Margarete Warwick, Phyllis Niolon, Richard Connelly 29: Michael Chestnut, Cindy McAlister 30: Jenny Sligh, Jim Griffith, Betty Varnadore, Courtney Gray, Nicholas Byrne
Emmanuel s Service & Faith Formation schedule is as follows; only exceptions are listed on the calendar below: 7 Wednesdays: 5:30 pm Healing Service & Eucharist, Chapel Saturdays: 5:30 pm Holy Eucharist Rite II, Chapel Sundays: 8:30 am Holy Eucharist Rite I, Church; 9:15 am Faith Formation for Children & Youth; 9:30 am Adult Formation, Westminster, and 10:30 am Holy Eucharist Rite II, Church Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 10:00 Natural 1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Noon: Natural Noon: Homeless Day Center Prep, Common Room 10:00 Natural 1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, 7:00 pm Back to School Night at Emmanuel Day School 9:00 am Meet the teachers at Emmanuel Day School 4:45 Daughters of the King Noon: Natural 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 9:30 Emmanuel 1:15 Gentle Yoga Day School 3:30 Gentle Yoga, Returns 10:00 Natural 11:00 Eucharist, Lanier Gardens 6:00 Elder Connection @ Hilltop Grille 6:30 Stephen Ministry, library 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Noon: Natural Noon: Homeless Day Center Prep, Common Room 4:00 Daughters of the King, Canterbury 10:00 Natural 1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, 7:00 Vestry Meeting 4:45 Daughters of the King noon: Natural 28 29 30 31 10:00 Natural 1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga,
News from the narthex August 2016 The Vestry Covenant The chapel is open for Morning Prayer Monday Friday at 8:00 a.m. St. Matthew s Altar on Easter morning 2016 We, the Vestry of Emmanuel Church, promise to honor God by nurturing the spirit and ministering to God s people. We will support everyone s gifts for service and leadership made possible by God s grace. Ministry to the poor will be at the center of all we do. We promise to welcome with Christian hospitality all persons and to offer opportunities to all to grow in faith. We will strengthen ourselves through faithfulness in worship, daily prayer, and stewardship of our time, talents and treasure. We will foster love and joy in God s service. Emmanuel episcopal church 498 Prince Avenue Athens, GA 30606 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID ATHENS, GA PERMIT NO. 231