THE GABRIEL
Parish Newsletter for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church June 21, 2021
Calendar Reminders
Jun 26 9:30-11:30 am AA Meeting
Jun 27 10:15 am Morning Prayer with Rev. Jim Stanton;
On Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsJeff/live_ videos/
Jun 30 6:30 pm Bible Study, Basement meeting room
July 3 9:30-11:30 am AA Meeting
July 4 10:15 am Morning Prayer with Marylee James;
On Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsJeff/live_ videos/
Collect for 5th Sunday after Pentecost (June 27th)
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lessons: Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Psalm 30; 2 Corinthians 8:7- 15; Mark 5:21-43
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CELEBRATING AT ST. PAUL’S! JUNE 20, 2021 PHOTOS WITH THANKS TO LARRY J. BASHAM
Yesterday was a day to show our gratitude to those who have blessed us this past year with their leadership, their giving spirits, and the many skills with which they have kept St. Paul’s up and running, and ready to move into corporate life again. At the same time, those positions being filled anew were commissioned for the year/s to come.
Below: Commissioning the Vestry. L to R: Luke Shifler (Jr. Warden), Susan Madara, Charlene McAndrews, Marylee James, Steven Fleece, Fr. John Allen, Incoming Verger Ben Sapp, Sr. Warden and Outgoing Verger Sonny McCulloch.
SPECIAL THANKS: Deacon Jim acknowledges the work of some special, hard-working
ladies of the church. L to R: Kathy Stanton, for her years on the Altar Guild and for the work of creating a manual for future Altar Guild members; Susan Madara, for her long months creating new banners for the liturgical seasons of our year, and for enriching our church life with her support; and Debbie Tucker, for managing the creation and disposition of special baskets that we give out during the year and especially this year for single- handedly putting together the Easter baskets for the Youth Shelter.
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THANKS TO THOSE IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS: L to R: Deacon Jim Stanton; Mariane Fisher: Music Director; Charlene McAndrews: Vestry, Camera Technology, Lay Eucharistic Minister, Morning Prayer, Delegate to Convention; Susan Madara: Vestry, Delegate to Convention, Church Life; Steve Fleece: Vestry, Morning Prayer, College of Congregational Development; Marylee James: Vestry, Parish Administrator, Bible Study leader; Luke Stifler: Vestry, crucifer, Morning Prayer; Louie & Sam Stifler: Lectors; Carol White: Prayer Circle, Church Life, Morning Prayer; Phyllis Nelson: Church Life, Our Living History, Beth Stanton: Church life; Dennis McAndrews: Camera Technology, Lay Eucharistic Minister.
THANK YOU, FROM THE SR. WARDEN
I want to thank all who worked and who participated in making yesterday’s celebration and pitch-in lunch a success. I especially want to thank all of you for remembering me with the check, the picture of St. Paul’s window and all of your great messages on the back. It has been a privilege to serve St. Paul’s as your verger, and I am happy to see Ben now doing such a great job!
OUR PARISH PRAYERS:
Today, we pray for our church: for Michael, our presiding bishop, for Jennifer our bishop, and for the people of our companion diocese of Brasilia, and their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mauricio Andrade; and in the diocesan cycle of prayer we pray for St. George’s, West Terre Haute--Mr. Chuck Stafford, Senior Warden. In faith and hope
We pray to you O God.
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We pray for those in need of food, shelter, clothing, and of God’s healing touch, especially for those who have asked us to remember them in prayer: Virginia, Beverly, Juanita, Gwen, Mary Sue, Delani, Nan, David & Michele, Patricia, Sonny, John, Fred, Laura and Michael. Comforter of the suffering, warm our hearts and hands to loving service.
We pray to you O God.
For all who fear God and believe in you, Lord Christ, that our divisions may cease, and that all may be one as you and the Father are one, we pray to you, O Lord. Make us one in heart and mind to serve you with joy forever. Amen.
FROM THE GABRIEL TEAM:
NEXT SUNDAY (June 27): Morning Prayer will be led by Rev. Jim Stanton. Also, don’t forget— the little red wagon is back, waiting to be filled with food donations for the Center for Lay Ministries!
ONLINE MORNING PRAYER SERVICES: The next service will begin Sunday, June 20th at 10:15 am. It will be live and in person at St. Paul’s, and on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsJeff/live_videos/
Please join us, during or after the service, and tell others about the service. Also check YouTube for videos of past services: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCynD2CNlCMbJ5YOb1Euce5Q.
THE COVID REPORT Clark County, Indiana (IN) - COVID Vaccine & Risk Tracker - Covid Act Now
MANY THANKS for your continued faithful responses to the need for funds. Please bear in mind that with our return to in-person services, costs begin to escalate and your contributions are still needed.
PARISH OFFICE HOURS : MTWF 10:00-4:30 and Thurs 10:00 to 1:00 pm.
If you have something you’d like to add to the next newsletter (including a brief update on what you and/or your family have been doing since last we met together), please email the team at stpaulsjeff@gmail.com by Sunday afternoon. Please put “newsletter” in the subject line.
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SPECIAL RECOGNITION AND THANKS TO OUR PROPERTY COMMITTEE AND SEXTON for the clean and well-managed campus we are privileged to call our church home. No one gives more of their time and talents than the members of this group, especially Mike Nelson who combines length of service with the history and workings of nearly every part of the church. They fix, maintain, and create what is needed; they supervise inspectors and workmen who come in to do what is needed; they keep wonderful records of what has been taken care of...to say the least.
Mike Nelson, Mike Lankert, Bob Madara & Dennis McAndrews
Thanks also to Charles, who keeps it all clean and mowed (whichever is necessary) and safe for us to worship together here.
SERMON FROM FR. JOHN ALLEN (SUNDAY, JUNE 20TH, 2021)
The lessons from the last two weeks were, at their core, about expectations. Today we encounter expectations that the crowd had of Jesus. Especially the expectation that he was not to create waves. The Gospel reading that we heard today reminds me of a story about a bright child working on a puzzle. This was a two-sided puzzle. One side was a map of the world. On the other was a picture of Jesus.
This child began by working on the map of the world. His father knew that his son knew very little about the countries of the world. He watched for a while and then went out of the room. He felt it best to let his son learn how to face a situation that he was not prepared for. When his father returned a short time later, he found that his son had indeed put the puzzle together.
Astounded, his father asked “How did you do this? You know so little about the countries of the world.” His son said that he had simply turned the puzzle over and put the side with Jesus on it together. “When Jesus was together the world came out fine.”
Now, the puzzles of our lives may take many forms. Sometimes they may require us to look at both sides of the question as is implied in this illustration. At other times they can seem
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overwhelming to us by the immediacy in which they demand help. This was the situation in which the disciples found themselves in the Gospel reading today. Jesus challenged them with the words “Have you still no faith.” Yes, their faith was apparently smaller than that of a mustard seed.
They were not yet in the place where their faith would equip them to engage the profound tensions that they would face later in their lives. Their faith was perhaps still too embedded in their expectations from the old physical world. The world of high waves and storms seemed to have consumed the disciples with the fear of being swamped.
Norman Cousins was an American author and careful observer of people. He wrote a story about expectations that may relate to the plight of the disciples in that boat. He tells the story of five men who attend an afternoon baseball game. They start to feel sick and so they go the First Aid Station. They are diagnosed with food poisoning. The only food that they had each had since coming to the ball park was a coke from a particular concession stand.
So, an announcement is made over the speaker system at the park that “Anyone who had purchased a coke from that particular concession stand should go a First Aid Station to be checked for food poisoning. Two hundred people showed up at the First Aid Stations and a hundred were sent on to the hospital. Upon further examination, it turns out that these men had stopped for some potato salad from a street vendor on the way to the park.
So, there were a hundred people at a hospital suffering with food poisoning because they expected or may be even feared that they might have food poisoning based on an announcement on the public address system. Having strong expectations does not always yield great results.
So, we gather today in a kind of January moment. Remember that Janus, for whom this month is named, was a Roman god with two faces. One faced forward while the other looked back. Today we look back to recognize some who have been significant in the development of St. Paul’s. We give thanks for each of them and for their gifts in ministry. We will also look forward to those who have accepted new roles to help guide St. Paul’s into the future. And like the illustrations that I have just shared, there are great expectations for all of St. Paul’s.
Through the words that St. Paul had for the members of the congregation in Corinth we hear him encourage them based upon examples of their faith demonstrated in previous ways. So, as a good coach would do, he challenges them to open wide their hearts and to strive to develop trust in their own faith.
This admonition is also before the congregation of St. Paul’s as we give thanks and strive to engage the future that is evolving. The road ahead will not be easy at times. It may seem at times like putting a puzzle together with unfamiliar pieces. There might be times when the boat is in stormy waters. Remember that the purpose of the church is not merely to gather to be fed. It is explicitly to go forth to feed people of God’s creation.
As most of you know, I quite often turn to prayers in the back of the Prayer Book for direction and focus. If you are able, would you please turn to page 836 of the Prayer Book? Here is “A General Thanksgiving” that offers some perhaps unexpected thoughts. Among the expression
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of thanksgiving are these two:
We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.
We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Would you now join me in sharing this whole prayer together?
A General Thanksgiving
Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.
We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.
Thanksgiving, blessings and hope lay before you. Embrace each and rejoice.
REJOICE ALWAYS, PRAY WITHOUT CEASING, GIVE THANKS IN ALL
CIRCUMSTANCES,
FOR THAT IS THE WILL OF GOD FOR YOU!
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