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June 2008
Vol. 10 No. 6
Archive of Previous Issues
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The Grapevine is published monthly
(except for a combined July/August issue)
by St. Patrick's Episcopal Church
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Table of Contents for June 2008 [Vol. 10 No. 6]
I hated being a seminary in Cambridge. I got out as quick as I could. As an undergraduate at Exeter I had become theologically literate, but at graduate school in Cambridge I was out of my depth. It seemed to me that professors and students were playing intellectual games, which had no connection with reality. It was all a head-trip. In order to survive I became a "knee jerk liberal," who distrusted anything that smacked of the emotional and the irrational. I have been in recovery ever since.
I found Carl Jung helpful. He was critical of the Enlightenment, which led to an excessive emphasis on the rational. He said that to be fully human one needed to have a balance of the intellectual and the emotional. I knew for certain that my life was unbalanced, but I resisted any changes. I needed an infusion of the Holy Spirit. But back then I had learnt to distrust the Spirit of God as being unpredictable and "blowing where it listeth" (John 3:8). The Spirit had been co-opted and defined by the Charismatic Movement and I was not sure that I wanted to be involved with them. They did not seem to be quite respectable.
In due time, I came to know a number of Charismatics and they became good friends. I also discovered that the Holy Spirit is much more mysterious and incomprehensible than anyone could imagine. I am on a lifelong quest to let go, open up and risk welcoming the Holy Spirit, whom I ultimately found empowering. I have taken part in a number of cursillo weekends during which I have learnt to appreciate my heart as much as (or more than) my brain.
During its history, the church has tended towards the cerebral. Look at the creeds, which are a string of intellectual propositions. Jung asserted that whenever the balance is lost and one side of our personality is repressed, it becomes part of our shadow side. It will push itself into our consciousness, often in inappropriate ways. We see this I believe in the extraordinary prophetic movements in the early church.
Episcopalians tend to be more intellectual than emotional. We look down on some denominations whose worship is less orderly than our own, and who have an excess of emotion. I think now that when God gave the church the promised gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, God made us all pentecostals. God speaks to us through our unconscious, rather than our conscious minds. God breaks up the certainties on which our lives have been founded. God makes possible things that we never conceived. Anything can happen.
Nietzsche called the two sides of the human personality after Apollo, the god of light and truth, and Dionysius, the god of wine. The qualities of the Apollonian are: order, harmony, individualism and reason. The qualities of the Dionysian are disorder, lack of restraint, ecstasy and losing oneself in community. He said that the opposites exist together in every human.
So the Holy Spirit is a mixed blessing. It can terrify us because our lives will be out of control and it will immeasurably enrich us. Thanks be to God for the gift of God's Spirit!
Hugh Stevenson
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For this, much thanks:
Our music director, Robert Young, and Kelly Boyer, Linda Ghidossi-deLuca, and Jeanette Isenberg for their concert on April 20.
Sandra Hammond & JC Speight have offered to organize the coffee schedule for the last service, for the 2nd ˝ of the year.
Evie Borger has donated a paper-folding machine for the office.
Thanks to Robert Young and to the choir:
| Phyllis Cressy | Charlotte Horne |
| Dicksie Tamanaha | Bernadette Gibb |
| Linda Rawls | LA King |
| Jackie Senter | Adele Daw |
| Hugh Stevenson | Elayne Roland |
| Armand Russell | Anthony Martin |
| And for part of the year, Merilyn Adams |
Relocation:
John and Maureen Thompson have moved to P.O. Box 673, Newcastle, 95685. Cell: 707.688.6126
Congratulations
TO OUR HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES:
Eddie Gibb is going to UC San Diego to study bio-medical engineering.
Meredith Johnson to UC Santa Barbara.
Ian Papworth is joining the Marines.
Gus Peters is going to Washington University in St Louis, MO.
Lincoln McLain is graduating with
honors from Beloit College in Wisconsin, in Environmental Studies with a minor in
Latin American studies and a focus in economics. He has a year's fellowship from the Koch Foundation in Washington, D.C. to work in a non-profit, concerned with energy.
Blessings on:
Rosie Speight and Val Studebaker were candidates for the women's cursillo May 1-4. Judy Buff, Brenda Steele, Fran Morell and Tommie Cazel were on the women's cursillo team.
Zachary Eldridge & Lexie Grace Frey were baptized on May 25 at St Francis, Fortuna.
Laura and Shawn Canfield were married May 10.
We will exalt you, O God, our King:
Jacob, grandson of Greta & George MacLeod, will be married to Laura Labor Day weekend.
Peter Belding, son of Linda & Rick is engaged to Kim.
Sandy Eddy is engaged to Ron Keith.
We ask God's protection of:
those serving in the military overseas
Sam Jackson and Christopher Leonard
May they know God's healing power:
| Lolita Seguin | Linda Belding |
| Eleanor Anderson | James Landon |
| Gordon Gary | Dolores De Vito |
| Barbara Gamlen | Bill Reynolds |
| Cecelia Munro | Rose Burton |
| Pierre, Jim, Emile, John |
| Rosemary Chapman, sister-in-law of Charlie |
| LA King's mother, Ginger |
| John Phillips, son-in-law of Barbara Jones |
| Matt Harris, son of Ninon Cabrales |
| Christine Jenkins' father, Arnold Andreotti |
| Jean Derum's parents, David & Elizabeth |
| 2 friends of Becky Jenkins, Linda & Rheda |
| Jim Hammett had surgery on May 8. |
May they rest in peace:
Patricia Dunn died on April 6 in Redmond WA. She was 96. Her husband Hugh died in 2004; he was 102. They first came to St Patrick's in 1978.
Deepest sympathy:
To Jill Hunting, on the death of her cousin, Janet Robbins.
To Minerva Haddad on the death of her sister-in-law, Pauline.
Nearly all the Bishops of the Episcopal Church will convene for the Lambeth Conference, July 16-August 3 2008, at the invitation of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. This conference comes around every 10 years. In 1998, the conservative bishops from developing countries flexed their muscles for the first time. This year Archbishop Rowan has not invited Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire; and some African bishops have said that they will not come, if our bishops from the Episcopal Church are there.
Before the conference begins, we should remember that "the Conference has never been a lawmaking body in the strict sense and it wasn't designed to be one: every local Anglican province around the world has its own independent system of church law and there is no supreme court."
Archbishop Rowan has set two goals for the conference: "strengthening the sense of a shared Anglican identity among the bishops from around the world, and helping to equip bishops for the role they increasingly have as leaders in mission, involved in a whole variety of ways in helping the Church grow." For more information, see the official website .
Archbishop Rowan said, "What I would really most like to see in this year's Lambeth Conference is the sense that this is a spiritual encounter, when people are encountering God as they encounter one another, a time when people will feel that their life of prayer and witness is being deepened and their resources are being stretched."
Let us join with members of the worldwide Anglican Communion in praying for the bishops and the preparations for Lambeth. This prayer is by the Dean of Canterbury: Pour down upon us, O God, the gifts of your Holy Spirit, that those who prepare for the Lambeth Conference may be filled with wisdom and understanding. May they know at work within them, that creative energy and vision which belong to our common humanity, made in your image and redeemed by your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hugh Stevenson
STOTT VERSUS PACKER
Two different approaches by leading evangelicals.
I am amazed to find myself in agreement with John Stott. For 30 years (1945-1975) he was first curate and then Rector of All Souls, Langham Place, the leading evangelical church in London. He is still one of the leading evangelicals in England and throughout the world. He would be at the other end of the conservative/liberal continuum from me.
John Stott has written a new book, The Living Church, in which he says that leaving the Church of England (or in the USA, the Episcopal Church) is not the answer. He says that there are three options for those who are unhappy with their church.
- They could separate or secede and join the Province of Nigeria or the Southern Cone of South America. "This is the position of independent evangelicals who," Stott says, "tend to pursue the purity of the church at the expense of its unity." At the time of the Reformation, the Protestants did not want to separate from the Roman Catholic communion. Calvin said, that the separation of churches was 'among the greatest misfortunes of our century.' (Quoted from a review in Episcopal Life May 2008.)
- They could compromise or conform by surrendering their strongly held values.
- The third option is "comprehensiveness without compromise; that is, staying in, without caving in." This is Stott's stance and it is the most painful of the three. So Stott has chosen to stay within the Church of England, for which I salute him.
By contrast, another leading evangelical of the same age as John Stott, Jim Packer, has opted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada with most of his congregation, St John's Shaughnessy, in the Diocese of New Westminster, and to join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone under the oversight of Archbishop Gregory Venables.
The Diocesan newspaper of the seceding Diocese of San Joachim makes much of Jim Packer's importance as an evangelical scholar with many books to his name. "Dr. Packer, 81, has been described as one of the most important evangelical theologians of the late 20th century and has served as general editor for the English Standard Version of the Bible." The editor rebukes Michael Ingham, the Bishop of Jim Packer's Diocese, for "threatening him with suspension from ministry. The Bishop's letter claims that the Oxford scholar 'abandoned the exercise of ministry.'"
Packer has taken the first of Stott's options, which was the easiest way out for him. By contrast, Stott opted to stay in (without "caving in"). John Stott and I are still members of the same church. I celebrate that our Anglican Church is broad enough to embrace the two of us.
Hugh Stevenson
WOMEN'S SPRING FASHION SHOW
...AND LUNCHEON
The Women's Spring Fashion Show and Luncheon, was highly successful with more than one hundred guests in attendance. It added $1,256.00 to the ECW's coffers that will be used to support the organization's local charities.
Thanks go to the many people worked to make this possible, especially Ruth Wright and Doris Dill who so ably chaired the event. Also thanks to :
Models: Eva Atkin, Mary Banks, Jini Bauer, Valerie Norris, Hailey Norris, Josie Ross and Rosie Speight.
Make up artist: Karen Borgfeldt
Luncheon staff: Doris Dill, Ruth Wright, Audrey Jaynes, Bette Leedom, Barbara Fry, Jean Meyer and Carol Papworth
Hostesses: Phyllis Cressy and Bobette Watson
Set up: Kerry Myrtle and Michael Peterson
Josie Ross' granddaughter Sarah Morphis who designed and produced the elegant, posters, programs and tickets.
Photographers: Barbara McChesney and Liz Morrison
Publicity: Norma Creaghe
ROWAN WILLIAMS on THE BIBLE
The Church's Book
What the Archbishop of Canterbury does best is to teach. These are his comments on the Bible from his recent work, Tokens of Trust (2007).
"It's worth taking a moment to clarify some of the misunderstandings that can arise for Christians about the Bible. It is, we often say, the Word of God; but it is the Word of God not because it is the primary and central witness in history to God - Jesus Christ is that - but because it is the primary witness to Jesus Christ. And when it is read in the community of believers, it is used by the Spirit to bring God's calling alive for us. In other words, it is not a sort of magical text, supernaturally giving us guaranteed information about everything under the sun. What we call its 'inspiration' is its capacity to be the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, making Jesus vividly present to our minds and hearts, and so making his challenge and invitation immediate for us.
At the very beginning of the Church's life, it was definitely a book that was read in community - as the Old Testament was read in the synagogues. In those early Christian centuries, for one thing, very few people could afford a library of several dozen scrolls, hand copied.
What went wrong in the later Middle Ages seems to have been that the Bible had been split up into tiny segments, texts that were used to prove points rather than to open up the history of God's work…
Initially, the Reformation was an attempt to put the Bible at the heart of the Church again - not to give it into the hands of private' readers… It was only as the rapid development of cheap printing advanced that the Bible as a single affordable volume came to be within everyone's reach as something for individuals to possess and study in private."
IDENTIFYING STROKES
Dave Powell talked to the Adult Ed group about his stroke. His life was saved because he got immediate treatment. Becky Jenkins, our "parish health co-coordinator" (a new title for her!), circulated an email, which states:
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally. He said, the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough. There are some simple questions to ask:
- Ask the individual to SMILE.
- Ask the person to TALK and coherently speak a simple sentence (i.e. "It is sunny out today.")
- Ask the person to RAISE both arms.
- Ask the person to stick out their TONGUE. If the tongue is crooked or goes sideways it could indicate a stroke.
If the person is unable to do any one of these 4 things, call 911 immediately.
Early treatment and diagnosis are critical to increasing survival rates.
PARISH DIRECTORY
Every summer we update the Parish Directory. An enlarged copy has been placed on the table in the Parish Hall. Please edit your household to indicate any additions, deletions or corrections. You can have more than one phone number or email address. If the listing is correct please write "ok". Available by June 15th.
Thanks for your help.
Blessings,
Marcia
EXTERNAL OUTREACH
The vestry is planning a Safety Fair for our community. We will invite agencies that provide emergency support to a forum at St Patrick's during the summer. More information on this later.
We would like to have a float in the Kenwood July 4th parade, in order to raise our visibility in the community.
GODLY PLAY
We are inviting a trainer to do a Show-and-Tell about the Godly Play Sunday school program during the summer. This is for adults: parents, vestry, ECW and other parish organizations and individuals. The Godly Play program encourages adult involvement from the whole parish.
PROPERTY REPORT
The door to storage closet by the Memorial Garden, painted by Jose.
The two front doors of the Education Center have been re-keyed. Please do not ask Marcia for a key. Keys will only be distributed to those, authorized by vestry!
The Air condition and heating system was serviced in April. All in working order, ready for the summer.
The Parish hall gutters have been checked out.
On May 17, a work party cleared out weeds, added some plants, paint and replace some of the damaged dripping systems. They "planted" a post in the rose garden for the St Patrick's birdhouse. Thanks to all the workers.
New Address for:
Episcopal Relief & Development
P. O. Box 7058
Merrifield, VA 22116-7058
ECW WORKSHOPS
There will be no more meetings of the ECW Workshop during May.
Beginning June 13, and for the rest of the year, fund-raising workshops will be held on the 2nd and 4th Fridays at 10:00 a.m. in the Common Room, unless otherwise notified. We will be working on projects for the October Festival.
The June 13 meeting will address THE GAMES WE PLAY. Please bring as many ideas as you can think of or that you can borrow from anyone else.
MAY COMMITTEE
Two members of St. Andrews Mission attended the May 7 meeting of the Outreach Committee. They made several requests for help. These are our plans to help them
1. We will help pick up food from the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa and transport to Monte Rio. Each week, St. Andrews distributes food in addition to offering a free dinner for over 80 people. We agreed to make the food run once a month. Hal Poehlmann, Wayne Wright and Bill McDonald observed the procedure at the Food Bank, which takes 1˝ hours. They pick up and transport 1350 lbs. of food at a cost of $125, which the Church of the Incarnation pays for. John Brigham has kindly offered his truck and will help in the loading and unloading. We start the 1st Tuesday in June.
2. We agreed an immediate grant of $750.
3. They invited us to send a representative to their Steering Committee meetings. Barbara Fry will be our rep and with support from Xavier Cabrales. The next meeting will be June 9. Eric Duff the Director of Episcopal Community Services will also be there.
4. They also requested that together we have a fund raising event at St. Patrick's to benefit the Mission. Ann Peters said that the Youth Group does not have enough members to do the sale again by themselves but would help us. St. Andrews members will help. The date will be July 26, 9:00am-3:00pm.
RUMMAGE SALE
Items for the sale should be in sellable condition and EXCLUDE large furniture and appliances, as well as clothes. Donations should be left in the Youth Room in the Parish Hall during Office hours, beginning May 26. A dumpster will be provided for non-sellable items that people in the community may deposit July 24-26 for a small fee to cover the rental of the dumpster. Any volunteer help will be appreciated during those dates. Please contact Bill McDonald (538-5571) or Barbara Fry (538-2164).
BURMA CYCLONE
Millions are suffering after Cyclone Nargis tore through Myanmar (Burma) on May 3.The Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Myanmar wrote in response to ERD's support that, "It gives us great strength to face the devastation caused by the cyclone. We, the Church of the Province of Mynamar, also thank ERD for your kindness and concern upon us, especially for your support for the victims of the cyclone." We made a grant of $750. ERD's new address is Episcopal Relief and Development, P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield VA 22116-7058.
OTHER BUSINESS
We made a grant of $1000 to The Redwood Empire Food Bank for their capital funds drive to expand their premises.
Xavier Cabrales reported that the Vineyard Workers Services is upgrading their building in Sonoma and providing a health center for the workers. We made a grant to them of $500. We are offering English as a Foreign Language classes for workers during the summer.
Laurie Raess is part of the Brown Baggers Program, which supplies 800 burritos per month for the needy.
There is a suggestion that we offer a St. Patrick's College Scholarship to be awarded annually to a high school senior who meets the qualifications. We are exploring this with other St. Patrick's organizations.
We made a grant from the Friedrich Fund of $300 to the Salvation Army to buy tools to help a young Diesel Mechanic get back on his feet.
We made other grants to FISH ($300), Doctors Without Borders ($300), and Meals on Wheels ($300). In Feb and March you gave 280 pounds of food for FISH. Please bring food each Sunday. They also need volunteers and plastic bags. Please call Nancy Stephan at 542-0469.
Our total grants added up to $42,000. The next meeting is on August 6.
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