January 2006 Vol. 8 No. 1 Archive of Previous Issues The Grapevine is published monthly (except for a combined July/August issue) by St. Patrick's Episcopal Church E-mail St. Patricks The Rev. Hugh Stevenson, Rector Editor: Herc Roland, 538-3134

Table of Contents for January 2006 [Vol. 8 No. 1]

Intelligent Designer Religion and Science Turning Points Around St. Patrick's Vestry Information Outreach

---

THE INTELLIGENT DESIGNER

We are hearing a lot these days about Intelligent Design. I am glad to say that I believe in it: not as a scientific fact, but as an item of faith. I like to sing the hymn (405)
All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all.

Intelligent Design is the successor to creationism, which I don’t believe in. Creationism says that the story of creation in Genesis 1 is historically true. Creationists believe that God created the earth in exactly 6 days and rested on the 7th. I don’t know if they also agree with old Archbishop Ussher that all this happened in the year 4004 BC. This date was arrived at by adding up the generations back to Adam and Eve.

It amazes me that there are churches in the USA that still hold this view. It was dismissed in England in Victorian times.

I believe in Genesis 1, without taking it literally. It is a song of praise to God who in his great goodness created all that exists. You don’t have to believe there was an actual week when God was active. I hope that God is active everyday continuing to create everything.

At the same time I accept evolution as a scientific fact. There is not much poetic about it. I believe that things are still evolving. Sometimes they even seem to be getting better; but we have a long way to go. I suspect that the concepts of evolution are still evolving.

We learn about evolution and creation in different places. Evolution is a scientific concept which we learn about in the laboratory and the classroom; creation is a religious concept which we learn about in church and in the places where we go to pray. It is a great mistake to confuse the two.

I attended a Church of England school. We had chapel daily and at least two classes of religion a week. I don’t remember any students opting out because they were Catholic or Jewish or Baptist. My head was educated but no one made a play to win my heart. A lot depends on who is doing the teaching. The separation of Church and State protects our children from being converted to a belief system which we do not agree with.

Most of the people I know are not fundamentalist. I fear that the proponents of Intelligent Design are pushing them out of the camp of believers. If they have to choose between believing in God as creator and the scientific fact of evolution, they will take the latter. They are throwing out the baby with the bath water, abandoning their system of beliefs.

Hugh Stevenson

RELIGION AND SCIENCE

At age 48, Dr. John Polkinghorne resigned his Cambridge professorship of mathematical physics to enter Westcott House, an Anglican seminary in Cambridge. It was somewhat shocking news to the scientific community, given his success in academic research. He had not only published many papers on theoretical elementary particle physics and two technical scientific books, but he also played a significant role in a very big scientific event, the discovery of the very small particle of matter--the quark.

By all measures he is as influential among the clergy as he remains in science. First serving as a curate in a working-class parish, he went on to become president of Queens’ College at Cambridge. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997, founded the International Society for Science and Religion, and has written a bookshelf full of articles and books on the inter-relationship of science and theology. In 2002 he won the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research for Discoveries about Spiritual Realities. This an interview from the Episcopal web-site, To The Source.

To The Source: It is all too common to see the relationship of science to religion either as one of antagonism or complete independence of one from the other. I take it that you heartily but respectfully disagree?

John Polkinghorne: Science and religion are complementary, both seeking truth through motivated belief but at different levels--science on the impersonal universe and religion on the level of the transpersonal reality of God.

tts: You speak of the "profound intelligibility of the universe." Is it profound enough that science could very well be pointing to God, rather than, as many prominent physicists have proclaimed, away from God?

JP: The deep intelligibility of the universe is no 'happy accident', but it reflects the fact that theMind of God lies behind the wonderful order of the world and we are creatures made in the image of our Creator, that is, made so that we can understand that deep intelligibility.

tts: I am sure that at least some of your fellow scientists find you taking Scripture with the utmost seriousness a bit odd. They might well ask, "How can a physicist lend any credence to the Bible, especially given the embarrassing number of alleged miracles?" How do you respond?

JP: In the realm of the personal generally, and in religion in particular, unique events can carry a unique significance. I see scripture as the record of God's special acts of self-disclosure. Miracles become intelligible in that context, not as divine conjuring tricks, but as unexpected consequences in unprecedented circumstances (rather like the way superconductivity goes beyond the everyday expectation of Ohm's law).

tts: What do you make of reports of cancer being cured by prayer? If such cures are real, then it would seem that a compassionate Creator can eliminate cancer.

JP: Prayer is deeply personal, and the wholeness sought may come in different ways to different people-sometimes through physical recovery, sometimes through the positive acceptance of what is happening.

tts: You do not give up the Christian doctrine of the afterlife. Yet, you do not believe that we have immaterial souls that exist after death. Is your position more the result of your being a physicist or a theologian?

JP: I believe that the human soul has no natural expectation of a destiny beyond death (of a kind that science might investigate), but I believe that it will be preserved from perishing by the faithfulness of God.

TURNING POINTS

All find a welcome:

We ask God’s protection of:

We will exalt you, O God, our King:

Thanks to all who supported our Christmas celebrations:
Carol Menke directed Cantiamoin the singing of Evensong on December 4. Michael Peterson prepared meat loaf and Audrey Jaynes made lashings of mashed potato for the feast afterwards.

Thanks to those who on December 11, washed windows, hung the “Star of Bethlehem” trimmed roses and shrubs, straightened pews, oiled the altar and prepared the church for the coming of Jesus.

All who gave money to buy the Christmas flowers and decorations.
Fran Crane and the Altar Guild decorated the Church with some helpers.
For the children and their families who took part in the pageant.
The Fisher family provided the great wreaths of grape vines for the church.
Robert Young and our choir for the music at our services.
Acolytes, ushers, readers and chalice bearers and all who assisted with our Christmas services.

Pam Bledsoe, our parish administrator, duplicated innumerable bulletins and the January Grapevine.
Angela and I thank you for the cards, good wishes, and expressions of love.
Hugh

May they know God’s healing power:

May they rest in peace:

Blessings:

Deepest sympathy:

AROUND ST. PATRICK'S

January 1: On the Sunday after Christmas, New Year’s Day, there will be one service: at 10:00 a.m. It will be a service of Lessons and Carols and Eucharist.

January 7: 5:00 p.m., Cursillo Potluck supper in the parish hall. All “cursillistas” are invited to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.

January 8: Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, when after Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan, the voice from heaven affirmed him, “This is my beloved Son!” The Baptism is one of the great Epiphany events.

Lily Anne Lu Harris Wray will be baptized. If there are other baptisms, call the parish office.

During the Adult Education time, 9:45 a.m. in the Common Room, there will be a panel discussion about what is going on in the Anglican Church these days. Are you familiar with The Windsor Report? Will our communion break up? What will happen at the 2006 General Convention of the Episcopal Church?

January 15: -Parish Annual Meeting takes place after the 9:30 a.m. Eucharist. There is only one service on this morning—an opportunity for those who attend different services to greet one another. Will you, please wear your nametag!

January 22: The beginning of this year’s, “Focus on the Liturgy.” During Adult Education time at 9:45 a.m. in the Common Room, we will study Louis Weil’s book, A Theology of Worship. We will explore what we are doing in our worship and discuss the liturgy at St. Patrick’s. Do you want to buy your own copy of this book? The presenters will give a summary.

January 28: The youth group will present the Mardi Gras Dinner, to raise funds for the relief of the victims of the Pakistan earthquake. Please buy tickets in advance. We will have live music and some games.

January 29: 3:00 p.m. Piano Recital given by Sylvia O’Neill and Alan Rea to raise funds for relief of the Katrina victims in the Gulf States.

February 12: February is black history month. On this day, our liturgies will include spirituals in the African American tradition from the Hymnal.

COFFEE MAKERS. We are looking for people to make coffee and tea and provide simple refreshments after both services each Sunday in the New Year. If you have not done it before, call the office (833-4228) for instructions; perhaps you can be paired with an experienced coffee maker.

FLOWER POWER. Each Sunday, one or more people give the flowers for church. They make a donation of about $25. They mark an important day: a birthday or anniversary, a baptism or a graduation. If you would like to do this, please sign up in the church entrance; please write clearly the person in whose honor or in whose memory the flowers are being given.

THE PRESIDING BISHOP’S MESSAGE
Incarnation is God's shocking insistence that flesh and blood like ours be the medium of God's Word.

No abstraction, no lofty vision,
no finely wrought dogma,
no sacred tradition can mollify the shock of this truth:

As one of us The Word comes to dwell among us and within us, as a newborn child, as Jesus.

May our flesh and blood too be made the route of Christ's continuing self-gift to our world,
in words and deeds of love and truth,
mercy and indignation, healing and forgiveness.

Let us dare to welcome the Word.

VESTRY INFORMATION

Parish annual meeting

This important meeting takes place on Sunday, January 15, 2006.

• The outgoing vestry members are Margaret Bock, Ann Peters, John Redmond, Bette Leedom and Marcia Ronchetti. The continuing members are Jane Hall, Fred Fisher Vic Howard., Jean Meyer, Judy Buff, Michael Peterson and Wendy Wood.
• Chuck Chapman, the treasurer, will present the accounts for 2005 and the proposed budget for 2006
• Packets of reports will be available from January 1. Please pick one up and read it, before the meeting. If you have questions or comments bring them to the meeting.

Vestry start-up

There is a brief meeting of the new vestry, right after the Annual Meeting on January 15, to organize dates and times. This is for all vestry members (new and continuing).
HS

Offering envelopes

These will be available early in January. There is a hold up at our suppliers. If you requested envelopes, your box will be mailed to you.

It is not necessary to write your number on a check. Your donation will be posted using the name on the check.

If you are making a cash donation, please write your name on the envelope, so that your donation will be posted to the correct account. Please call Pam in the office if you have questions.

ENDOWMENT FUND REQUESTS: Applications for grants from St. Patrick's Endowment Fund are due January 30, 2006. The Endowment Fund is used for capital needs of the parish and for other outreach activities sponsored by St. Patrick's. Call Will Haymaker at 537-1169 for additional information on the Endowment Fund. Grant application forms are available in the church office.

YOUTH ACTIVITIES

The vestry has officially appointed Michael Monnot, superintendent of Sunday school. Michael has been working with Ann Peters, Margaret Merchat, Lori Hunt and Judy Buff for some months.

Carolee Fagent has been running Sunday school for a year and a half is now passing on the responsibility. We are very grateful to her for restarting the Sunday school. She has helped us out as part of her service to Christ.

Michael will need lots of help. He is working on the curriculum and will provide support for teachers. Can you offer help?

The youth group has several activities and fundraisers planned for the New Year. Our next big fundraiser for the Mission to Mexico will be a Mardi Gras Dinner on Saturday, January 28. We invite the entire congregation to join us for a gumbo feast! Tickets will be on sale after church services throughout January. We hope to have: Robert Young's EI Dorado Syncopators entertain us with live Dixieland Jazz, as well as playing games of Bingo and Musical Chairs.

We will be holding a Rummage Sale on Saturday, May 6. Please look through your closets, attics and garages for any treasures you can donate. We ask that you hang onto them until the end of April, and then we will start storing items in the youth group room and the storage locker. Please, no clothing or mattresses.

The money raised by the Mardi Gras feast will go for earthquake relief in Pakistan; and from the Rummage Sale for our church as a way to thank the congregation for their support in past years.

Youth Group meetings are on the second Sunday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in the youth group room. The next meeting is January 8.

There are also discussions of a ski trip and/or a camping trip.

OUTREACH

FOURTH QUARTER REPORT

The Outreach Committee made grants or donations of 1276 in the fourth quarter. The organizations receiving grants are as follows:

The full list of donations made in 2005 is included in the packet of annual reports.

Next meeting February 1, 2006.

Hal Poehlmann, our representative on the Board of Vineyard Workers Services, reported that VWS operated two camps for workers during the crush season where two meals a day were served. VWS has hired a high school girl part time to serve as a liaison with Latino teen-agers. VWS is promoting the services of their clients as part time yard care and home repair workers.

The Committee continues to support a statewide initiative by many different churches to develop a religious response to global warming. A proposal to the Vestry by the Rev. Hugh Stevenson for St. Patrick’s to commit to the program of California Interfaith Power and Light has been favorably received. Among the first steps is to obtain data on the economics of installing solar panels to cover the parish's power needs and to sell the excess produced in warm weather back to PG&E.

The Committee has made contacts with Interfaith Shelter Network and Catholic Charities to determine how we may assist in preparing and serving food to persons using homeless shelters and a specific plan is being developed.
Bill McDonald, chair