THE MISSION OF CHRIST CHURCH is to bring all persons to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through Word, Sacraments, and instruction, as taught through the Episcopal tradition, that all may know the joy and grace of faith, and to share that grace through outreach. The Chronicler May 2016 Spotsylvania, VA New Life Grants Awarded Just a reminder, the New Life Grants came about as the result of an extraordinary gift to my discretionary fund last year. It just suggested an opportunity to me to promote something new. So I set aside $1,000 to fund new ministry endeavors. There were a total of five submissions of proposals. One of them was for a project that could be done without any funds, and will be. Another was a terrific idea, but again didn t absolutely need a major funding source. I expect that project to happen too. The remaining three will each receive funding in the form of a New Life Grant. Here are the three winners and their projects. Jill Bates will receive $250 for a project she calls College Connections. The idea is basically to keep in touch with our members who graduate from high school and go off to college, or other educational opportunities, or even the military. The name is not intended to limit it only to those people attending college. Jill proposed that a birthday card be sent from the congregation, and one or two other cards per semester, plus one care package sent each semester. Care packages would include little items, food, holiday trinkets, maybe even artwork from the Sunday school kids. The intention of this project is to keep the love and support that children have experienced from their home parish going while they transition into college and other adult pursuits. This ongoing witness would show them that we still care about them and remind them that God goes with them wherever they go. Allen and Allison Bareford will receive $350 to build a Wall in front of the property along the sidewalk. A Wall is simply a plywood wall painted with chalkboard paint and the words, Today I pray for stenciled on it with many lines for people to write their personal prayers using chalk provided. This will be an outreach to the community, and an invitation to share their prayer concerns with us. These prayers could be incorporated into our weekly s of the People, perhaps using a select few to be read in church. They can also be incorporated into social media sharing so a maximum number of people could both share their prayer concerns and offer their prayers for others. This project makes the parish more visible and more open to anyone who walks by on the sidewalk. The Wall would be displayed for a period of time, then removed and stored to preserve its fresh appeal. It could be put out again after some time. Sian Packard and Tina Strausbaugh will receive $400 to establish a pilot project for an After School Arts Program for elementary students. The program will be a six-week program of once per week classes focusing on various arts offered to the students at Robert E. Lee elementary school. Students will be given a snack before the class starts. The entire time of Continued on page 4
MAY 2016 LAY MINISTERS SCHEDULE Lector Chalice Bearer Acolytes Ushers Altar Guild Nursery May 1 MORNING PRAYER 8:00 Calib Garland (1) Beth Goshin (2) 10:30 Mary Williams (1) Beverly McNeill (2) Officiant: The Rev. Margaret Haight Officiant: The Rev. Margaret Haight Rachel Stockli Chloe Stockli Robert Truslow Hank Mausolf Tim Watts Magin Team Erin Senters May 8 8:00 Joseph L. Ilk Deacon Margaret Joseph L. Ilk Wieland Team 10:30 Sian Packard Tim Watts Kristi Gross Jack DiFilippo Drew DiFilippo Aaron DiFilippo Frank Stewart Werner Wieland May 15 8:00 Dana Houck Edd Houck Calib Garland Williams Team (Pentecost) 10:30 Martha Clark Linda Rooney Jeff Massey Alex Watts Hunter Clifford David Packard Bob McGann Judi O Neill May 22 8:00 Beth Goshin Deacon Margaret Barbara Deal Magin Team 10:30 Marilyn Greene Joe Junod Donna Nuzum Justin Phillips Hannah Clifford Colby Clifford Bob Massey Ron Magin May 29 8:00 Thom Smelter Tricia Smelter Jack Cheeseman Wieland Team Molly Watts Amanda Watts Lindsey Bates 10:30 Judi O Neill Jenny LeBlanc Tim Watts Rachel Stockli Chloe Stockli Stephen Wallach Frank Carosella Bill Estes McKenzie Goldberg You are responsible for finding your own replacement in the event that you cannot serve as a Lector/Chalice Bearer when scheduled. If you are unable to find one, please contact Penny Knepp at pnypitstop@aol.com or 891-6299 and she will assist you. Notify parish office of replacement(s).
May 2016 CHRONICLER Choir Director Denise Gregory mdgregorymusic@gmail.com Organist Hannah Massey hannah7019@gmail.com Secretary Ruth Feltner Secretary@christchurchspotsy.com Newsletter Coordinator Ruth Feltner Secretary@christchurchspotsy.com Christ Episcopal Church 8951 Courthouse Road Spotsylvania, Virginia 22553 Phone (540) 582-5033 www.christchurchspotsy.com Rector The Reverend Jeffrey A. Packard Rector@christchurchspotsy.com Director of Christian Jenny LeBlanc jennyleblanc1978@gmail.com Our church family welcomes Tom and Judy Murphy as new members of Christ Church. They transferred from St. Paul s Episcopal Church in Morris Plains, NJ and quickly joined the choir. Also, Janie Cudworth transferred from St. Mary s Episcopal Church in Richmond. Last but not least, we welcome Ken and Jo Middleton who transferred their membership from Trinity Church in Fredericksburg and also joined our Choir. We welcome you and hope, if you haven t already, feel the love, warmth and friendship our church members have for each other and extend to you. We send warm greetings to those who recently attended our services: Robert and Holly Ackerman; Libby Baker and Kyle Allwine; Michael and Rosemary Goshin; Carol and Scott Mitchell; The Romasser s; and Sandy Thatcher. We pray that those of you who attended or just visited, can and will return. Vestry Senior Warden Linda Wieland Jr. Warden Tim Watts Treasurer Mary Williams Asst Treasurer Linda Smith Register Martha Clark Members Bill Butler Martha Clark David Fagiano Missie Jarman Jim Kenkel Beverly McNeill Sue Roberts Tim Watts Linda Wieland
MAY 2016 05/02 Brian Howell 05/06 Michelle Ruth 05/06 Jack Lord II 05/07 Velyn Beall 05/09 Alison Bareford 05/09 Judi O Neill 05/10 Missie Jarman 05/12 Andrew Smith 05/12 Gavin Smith 05/14 Ellen Johnson 05/16 Pat Clark 05/18 Mary Griffin 05/20 Colby Clifford 05/21 Susan Frank 05/21 David Packard 05/24 Jo Christensen 05/25 Hannah Massey 05/26 Joan Gurniak 05/27 Sue Ann Thomas 05/28 Anne Williams 05/29 Werner Wieland 05/29 Matthew LeBlanc CONGRATULATIONS to ED AND RUBY STRYSKO: MARRIED ON APRIL 14, 1951, AND CELEBRATED THEIR 65 TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY THIS MONTH! Ed and Ruby were married in Clinton, MD and became members of Christ Church in 2004. Ed proudly served as a WWII veteran and was a ball turret gunner in a B-24. Ed and Ruby have two grown children, Deborah Warf, Manager of the Virginia Employment Agency, and a son, Mark, who lives in Mooresville, North Carolina. Deborah has a son, Christopher Loar and a daughter, Kimberly McDaniel. Kimberly is a tenth grade English teacher at Courtland High School. Ed and Ruby are blessed with 2 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. For those of you who remember those beautifully made wooden pens sold at Christ Church events, a few years ago, they were personally handcrafted by Ed from old wood he retrieved from Christ Church when the church was enlarged. Those of you who still have them, are lucky indeed! Ed lives in Thornburg, while Ruby is in an Assisted Living home, Brookdale, in Fredericksburg, Continued from the front page each class, including transportation from the school and snack, will be one and a half hours. The first class to be offered will be dance taught by Sian. It is hoped that this pilot program will go well, and that other parishioners will get involved to offer classes in other areas of the arts, such as music, visual arts, cooking, gardening, or whatever interests people and may interest the children. It is envisioned as a program that could be ongoing with six-week sessions happening throughout the school year. The goals of the program are to provide enriching arts programs for elementary students, and to increase the visibility of Christ Church in the community. None of the three proposals that are receiving funds will get the entire amount that they requested. If individuals wish to contribute more to help fund one or more of these projects, please let me know. As I said at the beginning of this article, this grant program was the result of an extraordinary donation to my discretionary fund. If people are excited about these programs, I would be delighted to do this again next year and see if we can generate more ideas for new ministries. In order to do that, there would need to be some fundraising outside of our regular budget. For now, let s get excited about these three new programs, all wonderful ideas.
Youth News Cha-Ching! Our youth group is kicking off a spare change fund raiser. They intend to fund a service project for our food pantry clients as well as something fun for themselves. Proceeds will be split fifty-fifty between a special breakfast they will cook and serve to our food pantry volunteers and clients, and a trip for the youth to an amusement park this summer. So please collect your spare change during the week and bring it to church on Sunday. Jars will be located in the Great Hall and in the church office. Contact Molly Watts or Father Packard for questions and details. A New Ambry On Easter Day we dedicated a new ambry (sometimes called a tabernacle). Ours was made by our own Cecil Jarman, and given by Deacon Margaret Haight. It is a beautiful addition to the interior of the church. The ambry is where we keep the reserved sacrament bread and wine that has been consecrated for Communion. The candle that burns on top of the ambry is called a sanctuary light. It represents the light of Christ that is present in the reserved elements. When the sanctuary light is burning, the body and the blood are present in the ambry. Eventually we will have a red globe on the sanctuary light, but they were not available when we ordered it. Cecil inlaid a cross in the door of the ambry. He made the cross from the same wood as the large cross at the front of the church, and its twin in the Great Hall of All Saints Hall, and modeled its shape after those crosses. That wood was part of the original church built in 1841. They were floor joists that needed to be replaced when the addition was built in 1987. The reason we didn t advertise the new ambry is that we didn t know for sure when Cecil was going to be finished with it. He presented it complete during Holy Week, so we went ahead and mounted it to the wall on Saturday and dedicated it on Sunday. Thanks to Cecil for his fine work, and to Deacon Margaret for her initiation of this project and her generosity in making it happen.
Look Who s Graduating ~ Look Who s Graduating. Do you have someone in your family who is graduating from high school, college, or some other educational/training program? Please let us know. We will celebrate them all in the next edition of the Chronicler. On Jun 5 the graduating high school seniors in our parish will be honored in the 10:30 service. The youth group will be responsible for this special service, and perform all of the associated lay ministries that day. All Saints Hall Refinanced In January 2015 we kicked off the Sharing in Ministry (SIM) capital campaign with the goal of eliminating the debt on All Saints Hall. Donations have been coming in ever since. During that time, we have continued to make the monthly payments on our loan from the parish budget while the capital campaign income accumulated. Our loan was set to be refinanced this summer, but we decided to go ahead and start the process early. In March we sent $175,000 to the Diocesan Missionary Society (DMS), which is the entity within the Diocese of Virginia that holds our loan. That money, from the SIM campaign, paid down the principal on our loan. In the process of refinancing our interest rate also dropped a full percentage point. The combination of less principal and lower interest has resulted in the reduction of our monthly payment from $3,207 to $1,593. This year s budget was set with the expectation of a lower loan payment starting in April. We accomplished that, and even lowered the payment by a little more than anticipated. By initiating the process of refinancing early we saved around $5,000 in our budget this year. SIM money is expected to continue coming in until the end of 2017. It may make sense for us to refinance the debt again before the end of the campaign. The two reasons that this may make sense are 1) the generosity of those who have pledged to the SIM campaign and their regularity in giving, and 2) the fact that the costs associated with refinancing are remarkably low. The savings could more than offset the expense, which is expected to be less than $1,000 for this current refinancing. The goal is still the same: eliminate the debt on All Saints Hall. By refinancing we do not wish to extend the life of the loan, but to lower the current burden on our annual budget. All donations to the SIM campaign have been, and will continue to go, only toward the principal on the loan. If you have not had the opportunity to participate in the Sharing in Ministry campaign, look for that opportunity this summer.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN enjoyed a beautiful and profitable day on Saturday at our annual Plant and Bake Sale. The food Vendor Rodeo attracted a lot of people to the area and our Thrift Shop hosting a yard sale on church grounds really aided us in sales. Special thanks to Bill Butler for all his help - Elaine Wyant for her advertising efforts and hard work, Kim Hoffman and Pine Hollow Nurseries for the beautiful plants, Jeanne Gupton and the RAAI for the lovely geraniums they donate every year and to all of our church family who baked, worked the sale and donated plants from their gardens. Thanks to all of you we made $683.00 in sales and we once again have much needed funds to aid us in our ministry. May will be our last regular meeting before we break for the summer. We will take our annual road trip to a Historic Episcopal Church and enjoy lunch afterwards. Plans are still being worked so check upcoming bulletins for the church and final details. SCHEDULED MEETINGS SUNLIT GARDEN CLUB We hope those who can, will join us. May 10th meeting will be at the Locust Grove campus of Germanna Community College. We will meet in the parking lot at 5:30 PM. Michael Reid will be our guide of a nature walk. Afterward we will have dinner at nearby Bella de Cuccina. June 14th, 5:30 PM. We will meet at the Friends of the Rappahannock facility in Fredericksburg for a tour to see what is blooming along the river. July 12th, 6:15 PM. Chancellor s Village. We will be assisting residents in the construction of small arrangements with a patriotic theme. The July and August meetings have not been finalized. Details will be sent out as soon as they are received.
Forward Day by Day The May/Jun/July 2016 issue of this most worthwhile publication has arrived and is just waiting for you to pick up a copy. This is excellent down-time reading and will assist you in living a more simple, sincere, and serene life. Please pick up your copy in the back of the church (coming or leaving) and in the Communications Center. Fellowship Commission We want and need you to share yourself and your time hosting Fellowship on Sundays. Fellowship hour is a very important ministry as it gives us time to socialize once a week as a church family. You can honor someone or in celebration of an event by signing up. Talk to Bill Butler about hosting and then sign up at the Communication Center. Even once a month will help. Sunday morning worship schedule and Children s Chapel and Sunday school: Two services 8:00 and 10:30, (Children s Chapel is held in the Choir Room during the 10:30 service) with Christian for all ages from 9:15 to 10:15. Children s Chapel is not held on the first Sunday of the month. Episcopal Church Women meet the 3 rd Tuesday of each month in the Great Hall @ 11:30 AM. The ECM meets for lunch at noon on the 4th Monday of each month at a local restaurant. An announcement will be put out as soon as the location is determined. The Vestry meets on the 2 nd Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM in room #8, All Saints Hall. Sunday bulletin announcements due by: noon Wednesday, call 582-5033. Deadline for the Summer Chronicler is May 20. Please send articles in Microsoft word document to Ruth Feltner: secretary@christchurchspotsy.com
Christ Church May 2016 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 8:00am MP Rite I 10:30am MP Rite II 2 3 4 7:15pm Choir Rehearsal 5 10:30am Quilters, ASH #8 11:00am National Day of 6 8:00pm AA Mtg 7 8 8:00am HE Rite 1 10:30am Children's Chapel 10:30am HE Rite II 9 10 11 9:00am Food Pantry Morning 10:00am Food Pantry, ASH 6:00pm Sunlight Garden Club, ASH #6,7 12 10:30am Quilters, ASH #8 7:00pm Vestry Meeting, ASH #8 13 8:00pm AA Mtg 14 15 8:00am HE Rite 1 10:30am HE Rite II 10:30am Children's Chapel 16 17 11:30am ECW Meeting, 18 19 10:30am Quilters, ASH #8 20 5:00pm Wedding Rehearsal 8:00pm AA Mtg 21 6:00pm Kuhl/Steven Wedding, Church 7:30pm Wedding Reception, 22 8:00am HE Rite 1 10:30am HE Rite II 10:30am Children's Chapel 23 12:00pm ECM Mtg/Luncheon 24 10:00am Food Pantry, ASH 25 26 10:30am Quilters, ASH #8 27 8:00pm AA Mtg 28 29 8:00am HE Rite 1 10:30am Children's Chapel 10:30am HE Rite II 30 31