May 2007 Vol. 9 No. 5 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 May 2007 [Vol. 9 No. 5]

So Great A Cloud of Witnesses Turning Points Around St. Patrick's May Events Hawthorns In May 30th Annual Holiday Bazaar

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SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES

I was born on All Saints Day. Every year since I was five years old, on my birthday we have sung "For all the saints," and have heard the reading from Hebrews, "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance" (12:1).

One of the unexpected pleasures of coming to St Patrick's was to be surrounded by the saints depicted in the windows: Patrick, David, Columba, Augustine and the others.

At each Eucharist, the celebrant says, "With angels and archangels and all the company of heaven we magnify thy glorious name ever more praising thee and singing, 'Holy, holy, holy.'" We offer our worship with the whole church both on earth and in heaven.

So I have come to believe that the saints are right here with us. I do not pray to them or ask that their excessive merit may save me from purgatory. I do rejoice in their company. They provide the same joy and comfort that I have experienced from being with living holy people.

For the past few years, I have picked a saint each Wednesday morning. I wondered what those who attend that service would make of all these saints. They seem to have lapped them up. So I figured that people might enjoy reading about these people if I wrote them up.

The usual books on saints list them according to their place in the calendar. If this is May 2, this must be the feast of Athanasius. If this is May 4, it must be the feast of Monnica, the mother of St Augustine. They died only 15 years apart. I wonder if they ever met each other.

I want to write about the saints according to their category, not according to their date. I want to examine what was going on in their times. Why were they remarkable in their own day? The Episcopal Church publishes a book called, Lesser Feasts and Fasts. It tells too little about each saint-not even enough to whet the appetite.

So for the next three months I will be writing up the saints. I am hoping that I will have something to offer you when I return on July 29. In the meantime you will be in George Hunt's hands. I pray that my sabbatical will be a blessing both for you and for me.

TURNING POINTS

All find a welcome:
Thanks to all who attended our Easter services and shared the joy of the season

For this, much thanks:
Judy Buff supervised the palm cross-workshop on March 25. Kathy Littman wins the prize for making the most crosses!

Many people gave money for the Easter flowers. Thanks to Vicki Ward who did the floral arrangements and other members of the altar guild who assisted.

The various "Easter Bunnies": many people gave jelly beans and chocolates, Cathy and John Landon washed eggs, Angela & Hugh Stevenson, and Marcia Ronchetti filled them with goodies and hid them for the Easter Egg Hunt.

Robert Young played at all services; the choir sang on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. Thanks for all the music.

Vashti Papworth and Carol supervised the flowering cross and many people brought flowers to decorate it.

Marcia Ronchetti and our internist, Mark, printed and folded nearly 1000 bulletins.

Mary Banks prepared the Seder Supper with Mark's help, and Audrey Jaynes cooked the lamb.

Thanks too to those who participated in our worship as acolytes, ushers, readers and chalice bearers.

Carol Menke and cantiamo sang Evensong on Low Sunday, April 15.

Blessings on:
Laura Stevenson and Shawn Canfield have announced their engagement. They will be married in May 2008.
Cathy Castle and Craig Lewis were married on April 14

Farewell:
Adrienne and Drew Fountaine moved to Southern California (4/6). Drew has a full-time position teaching at Cal State Northridge. Their daughter, Kate, was active in the Youth Group.

Relocation:
Elenore Streich & her husband Gene are now at 17807 Foxtail Dr., Penn Valley CA 95946-9134. Elenore says she misses St Patrick's.

We ask God's protection of:
those serving in the military overseas

Chris Whittaker	Dallas Casey
Dan Whitwright	George Sutherland
Mike Bennett	Bert Ninteman

May they know God's healing power:

Hertha Brown	Wyn Warfield
Janice Currie	Lolita Seguin
Jack Rockwell	Linda Belding
Norman Wood	George Arack Sr.
Ed, John, Teddy	Natalie Matrazzo
Bill Perry	Nancy Percival
Jean Merchat	Jane Ren

Rest in peace
Billie Overn died recently. He was a mission committee member and clerk from 1972.

AROUND ST. PATRICK'S

LETTER FROM JANE SNIBBE
Diocesan Coordinator for ERD
Dear Friends, I am forwarding the 2006 report from ERD of church and organization giving. I thought you might find this interesting. Please extend my deepest gratitude to your congregation for its support of the ministry of Episcopal Relief and Development.
Easter blessings, Jane Snibbe,

The following is the 2006 year-end total for Northern California $110,210.24, as well as the total giving by diocese churches/ organizations.

Diocese of Northern California	$20,334.75
St. Patrick's	$3,407.00

[According to this report St Patrick's is the biggest donor parish in the Diocese.]

UNITED THANK OFFERING
We used to have ingatherings twice a year for UTO, a national Episcopal organization. The average amount given by St Patrick's was $1500. Some of the congregation pointed out that nearly every Sunday in November and December there were special offerings for different causes. So we made UTO a line item in the budget instead. Each year we send $1500.

We must be one of the more generous contributors, since we give 10% of the total for the whole diocese. Last year the national committee approved grants of $2.4 million. They gave special attention to disadvantaged persons. The largest grant, $85,000 went to the Diocese of Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina victims.

MAY WEDDINGS
May 19, the wedding of Karen Poer and George Siela.
May 20, the wedding of Judy Overshiner and George Eastman.

CAMP NOEL PORTER - Camp registration forms available on line at with summer schedule, fee and other information. Or contact Tammie Ewers at 530-583-3014.

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
Do you know what to do if an earthquake occurred during a church service? If we all think it through now we will be better able to handle it if it should happen. Look around and find the exits in church from the church building. There are five of them. Two are in front on either side of the sanctuary. One goes through the vesting area and the other goes through the library. There are three exits in the back of the church off of the narthex. We are so used to going left that we forget that there is another door to the right. There is also an exit through the choir room.

When you notice the building shaking, the safest place is to crouch down between the pews, not under them but below the level of the pew backs. Place your hands over the back of your neck. When the shaking stops calmly and quickly go out the nearest unblocked exit and gather in the front parking lot. Note that the walkway along the north side of the building from the library is partially blocked by the air conditioning equipment. It would be impassible for someone with a walker or wheelchair. Plan to use another exit.

Children in Sunday School are instructed to stay with their teacher and exit to the memorial garden where their teacher will take roll. They will only be released to a parent (or a responsible person with a note from a parent).

In the next few months we plan to have an emergency drill at the end of the service. We hope that we never have to use this information but we want to make sure that our parish family is safe. We pray always for God's protection from disaster.

SUMMER GARDEN TEA & FASHION SHOW
Spring and Summer fashions for both men and women will be presented on Saturday, June 23, 2007 in St. Patrick's Parish Hall. Fashions will be presented by the Pendleton Store of Montgomery Village and will take place between 1 and 3 pm. Tickets ($20) will be available between services with proceeds going to the programs and needs of St Patrick's. Please contact Jean Derum 523-4553 or Vicki Ward 539-3731 for further information

MAY EVENTS

APRIL 29: DESIGNATED FUNDS
The Designated Funds committee will be meeting on Monday, April 30, to consider grant requests to be made from the parish Endowment Funds. If you have a proposal, please get it in as soon as possible. Application forms are available at the parish office.

MAY 2: OUTREACH COMMITTEE
The Outreach Committee meets on Wednesday, May 2 at 10:00 a.m. in the Common Room. The Committee makes quarterly distributions from the parish's Outreach Fund. They also coordinate our involvement with Farm Workers, Meals on Wheels, Episcopal Relief and Development, the homeless and other causes. Guests are welcome at the meeting.

MAY 3: WOMEN'S CURSILLO
The next women's cursillo will take place at the Angela Center, May 3-6. Cathy Landon is on the team. Please remember her and all the participants in your prayers.

MAY 5: RUMMAGE SALE
Sponsored by the Youth Group. 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in the parish hall. A fundraiser for St Patrick's Mission to Mexico. Please bring items for this worthy cause; you can drop them off in the Youth Group Room behind the parish kitchen. Please, no mattresses, clothes or shoes.

MAY 8: ECW LUNCHEON
The next luncheon will be held on Tuesday May 8 at 11:00 a.m., in the Parish Hall. The program will be announced in the Sunday bulletin. Please sign up in the Parish Hall.

MAY 12: WOMEN'S BREAKFAST
The Woman's Breakfast for May will be on Saturday, May 12 at 8:30 am at Su Casa restaurant in the St. Francis Shopping Center, Calistoga Road and Highway 12.

MAY 13: MOTHERS' DAY
Bring your mother (or children) to church. Or adopt a mother for the day.

MAY 13: HUMAN RACE
The race starts at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 8, at Slater Junior High School, on Sonoma Avenue. This is a popular event, though it usually seems to rain. There are sponsored walks, runs or bike rides.

MAY 17: ASCENSION DAY
40 days after Easter comes Ascension, one of the major (neglected) festivals of the church year. There will be a Eucharist at 9:00 a.m. on this Thursday morning.

MAY 27: PENTECOST
This festival comes 50 days after Easter. We remember how the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples like tongues of fire and they proclaimed the good news about what God had done so that all heard in their own languages. We hope to have a new Pentecost banner. Red is the liturgical color for the Spirit. Wear red for Pentecost!

JUNE 3: SPRING CONCERT
The SR Symphonic Chorus, directed by Dan Earl, will perform on Saturday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m. and again on Sunday June 3 at 3:00 p.m Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors and students, available from Jackie Senter.

JUNE 10: SUMMER SCHEDULE
The first Sunday of the summer service schedule is June 10,. Services will be at 8:00 am and 10:00 am.

JUNE 10: CONFIRMATION
Make a note that the Bishop's visitation will take place on June 10. Bishop Barry will preach at both services. He will confirm, receive and reaffirm at the 10:00 am service. He will meet with the congregation between the services at 9:00 am for Question Time. He can give an update of where we are in the Anglican Communion. He may want to sit down with the vestry after the 10:00 am service.

HAWTHORNS IN MAY

The hawthorn, once known simply as "May", is naturally enough the tree most associated with this month in many parts of the British Isles. When we read of medieval knights and ladies riding out "a-maying" on the first morning of May, this refers to the flowering hawthorn boughs they gathered to decorate the halls rather than the month itself. On this day, the woods and hedges were alight with its glistening white blossoms.

Customs to welcome in the summer flourished in rural places until quite recently. In some villages, mayers would leave a hawthorn branch at every house, singing traditional songs as they went. The seventeenth-century English poet Robert Herrick wrote:

The young girls rose at dawn to bathe in dew gathered from hawthorn flowers to ensure their beauty in the coming year, as the old rhyme goes:

May was the month of courtship and lovemaking after the winter's cold; and so the hawthorn is often found linked with lovemaking. In ancient Greece the wood was used for the marriage torch; and girls wore hawthorn crowns at weddings.

Many people today will not allow the branches inside the house. May 1 is the Celtic festival of Beltane, when two worlds meet. It is considered a tree sacred to the faeries, and thus to be regarded with fear at the least, respect at most. It stands at the threshold of the Otherworld.

In 19th century Scotland, there was a story of an old woman, sitting with a neighbor under a hawthorn tree one evening who heard loud laughter and saw the fairies by their own unearthly light.

Hawthorns often stand over holy wells, also traditional thresholds of the Otherworld, where pilgrims festoon them with ribbons, rags and other votive offerings. A sacred hawthorn hung over the St. Patrick's Stone on an island in the River Shannon and filled its hollow with dew, which had great healing powers.

In 1982, a factory went out of business in Northern Ireland. The workers claimed that one of the reasons for the problems was because a faery thorn bush had been disturbed during the construction of the plant. The management took this so seriously that they actually had a similar bush brought in and planted with all due ceremony!

Christianity also played its part in preserving the veneration of the hawthorn. Because Christ was given a crown of thorns at his crucifixion, the tradition of the tree's magical associations has continued in Christian legend.

In the Middle Ages, Sir John Mandeville wrote:
[Because our Lord wore a crown of thorns], therefore hathe the White Thorn many Vertues. For he that berethe a Braunche on him thereoffe, no Thondre ne no maner of Tempest may dere (hurt) him.

The most famous holy thorn is at Glastonbury where it grows amid the ruins of the medieval abbey. According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea brought it from the Holy Land when he bore the Grail to England, and it blooms every Christmas to celebrate Christ's birth.

Certainly, the thorn seems to have roused the ire of the Puritans who cut it down twice - first in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and later under Cromwell. One scion of this tree still grows nearby.

30th ANNUAL HOLIDAY BAZAAR

No one could predict that Maisie Evers' idea to sell Christmas wrapping paper as a fundraiser some 30 years ago would become such a "unique" event in St Patrick's parish life. No matter what we called our event, Unique Boutique, Bizarre Bazaar or Holiday Bazaar, our members have contributed their talents, ideas and labor to produce an event to raise funds for charities throughout our community. We give thanks for so many women and men of our parish who worked so tirelessly during the last 30 years. Please forgive me if I leave out a name or two. I hope that these names bring smiles and memories of friends, some no longer with us.

The Bazaar chairman, Jean Derum, has designated this year's goals to be Community and Charity. This year a large portion of the proceeds from the Bazaar will go to Social Advocates for Youth and another charity yet to be determined.

The Workshops are meeting on the 1st and 3rd Fridays from 9 until noon and are making Holiday (Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas) decorations. Everyone is invited to attend-no special talents are required. For those who cannot attend the workshops, but would like to do simple sewing at home, packets containing materials and directions for making various items can be made available. Jean can be reached at 523-4553, or by e-mail at jderum@sbcglobal.net

Tea Towels are our best sellers and they are now are ready to be to be washed, hemmed, ironed and decorated. Mary Coon has graciously offered to hold a mini stitchery class for those of you who would like to learn the simple needlework stitches used on the tea towels. Please call Barbara Fry at 538-2164 to schedule a class with Mary or to arrange pick up of towels for completion.

Time for Spring Cleaning! Please look into your closets and cupboards for quality items that you don't need anymore but that the Silent Auction could use---fine linens, china, silver, or maybe that one-of-a-kind object d'art that has been gathering dust. Call Sandra Hammond, 833-2450 or Dorothy Mills, 539-0509.

Though it is a bit early to begin making jams and jellies for the Gourmet Pantry, we need to begin saving 8 oz. jelly and jam jars. They can be put in the cupboard behind the door of the choir room.

Instead of selling wine this year we are going to feature a Coffee/Expresso Bar. Barbara Hunt would like you to check the back of your cupboards for those coffee mugs that tend to come our way but never get used. Please contact Barbara at 838-0610 for further information.

It is not too soon to mark your calendar for this year's event. (October 20, 2007)

Garden Shop. Spring is an exciting time in our gardens: dividing bulbs and plants or trying out new plants. Please consider potting up the extras and caring for them until the bazaar in October. Or, start some cuttings of your special plants. Garden decorations, birdhouses, knick-knacks, gourds, dried flowers are also welcome. Donations of potting soil, clean pots and containers can be dropped off (or pots picked up if needed) at 409 Hillsdale Dr. anytime. Call Jane Hall, 217-3970 or Gloria Salander, 537-0302 for information.