St. Peter’s

EPISTLE

August 2006

The Monthly Newsletter of St. Peter Episcopal Church in Ashtabula, Ohio

Let’s Talk

A number of you have asked how I feel about the election of the new Presiding Bishop and the decisions of General Convention. I wonder the same thing about you; so I think it is time for us to gather for prayer and discussion. We will talk about where the Episcopal Church is, what are the key issues, how we got here, what the future might look like, and how St. Peter’s would be affected.

Several people have said they could host small groups for such discussion and prayer. I would like at least one group to meet during the day. And I would be willing to see that childcare is provided for any group if you will tell me you need it. Now the logistics of where, when, and who. Stay tuned. Announcements will be made at church and sign-up sheets will be posted on the bulletin board. I would like the groups to begin mid-September and covenant to meet together three times – weekly or every other week.

I hope you will come. Some of you have told me that you have avoided the media coverage of the Episcopal Church because you don’t want to think about it or because what happens in New Hampshire, New York, or even Columbus has nothing to do with you. The truth is: gathering together to worship the Lord is the most important thing we do together, much more important than church politics. But we are called to minister in Christ’s name in the world also and to do so with the wisdom of serpents and the innocence of doves. The decisions of others do affect us, and our ignorance can be used against us. If you were hoping this would all go away, it won’t.

Some of you are reluctant to come because you are fairly well informed and worry about sharing what you believe publicly. What if others disagree? They do and they will. Can we tolerate the discomfort of that discovery? Yes, as long as our first priority is to please Christ. I hope you will come.

In the meantime, pray: for the parish, for its leaders, for me and my family, for the Episcopal Church and for the Anglican Communion. The Church is first of all Christ’s own. It became ours only when we became his. Pray that Christ will have his way with us, that his name will be made much of, and that his glory will be visible in us.

MBJ

 

 

         What’s Happenin’ in August?…

 6^th – Morning Prayer/MaryLou Fowler

        officiant: 9:00 a.m.

13^th – Morning Prayer/officiant TBA,

         9:00 a.m.

14^th – Renovation Committee, 6:00 p.m.

         Vestry, 7:00 p.m.

15^th – Mother Barbara on call at ACMC

16^th – St. Elizabeth Guild, noon

20^th – Loose offering to Discretionary

         Fund;Paper goods collection for

         Salvation Army

         Deadline for Epistle news for Sept.

22^nd – Mother Barbara on call at ACMC

27^th – Gospel, Jazz & Blues Concert/

         Barbara Barrett, soloist, 2:00 pm

         Come early for hot dogs & chips

29^th – Mother Barbara on call at ACMC

July 30 –Aug. 14^th – Johnsons on

        vacation

 

             Thought for a day…

When you get to your wit’s end, you’ll

find God lives there.

 

         What the future brings…

The St. Peter Fine Arts Committee has     been busy planning for coming events.

On August 27^th there will be a Jazz and Blues vocal concert by Barbara Barrett, a noted singer of this genre.

It promises to be a real treat. This time there will be no pre-concert dinner, but there will be free hot dogs and chips for those who desire them.

Generously, the Committee is contributing $250 from this concert to the Back to School program for Imagine Ashtabula.

The Committee has also funded the installation of a new humidifier on the piano in the sanctuary.

Many thanks are due this hard-working Committee.

    Others’ programs of interest…

             Project Nehemiah

The churches of Ashtabula County have shown a cooperative spirit in several recent projects, including the Amistad visit, the Wheelchair mission and the Bliss remembrance program. The Ashtabula Area Ministerial Association is sponsoring a local and distant mission project to focus on for the coming year, culminating in the Thanksgiving dinner and service. This would include the Samaritan House, our local homeless shelter, and partnering with a church in the Katrina area in need of help. We are hoping also to sponsor a work trip later as the rebuilding process continues.

Each church is being asked to be involved as they are able.

Donations can be sent to:

Nehemiah Project c/o First UMC

4506 Elm Ave., Ashtabula, OH 44004.

Interpretive materials, including offering envelopes, are available. Also available are a PowerPoint slide show on the Samaritan House and the Katrina devastation. A benefit concert is planned for Fall.

If you have any questions, or would like to help, contact any member of the committee:

John Germaine, First UMC

Karen Tews, Faith Lutheran

Bruce Wyand, First Covenant

Donna Van Trees, Saybrook UMC

Bruce de Ridder, First UMC, treasurer

An update to the update…

In the last Epistle there was an address change for Jane Chiarelli.

We now have an e-mail address for her, and a telephone number:

WRCLee@Prodgy.net

(757) 484-9308

 

Thanks for all your prayers…

We want to thank all the people at St. Peter Church for their prayers for Joshua Gosney.

He was in the hospital from Jan. 1, 2006 until May 26, 2006. After brain surgery, which was successful in stopping the seizures, he is now home and still getting therapy but is improving every day.

We are sure your prayers helped more than you will ever know.

Parents: Heather & Sean Gosney

Grandparents: Ted & Darlene Howe

Great Grandma: Genevieve Howe

And also: (concerning the 2 cents a meal June collection)

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your gift of $38.08 for our soup kitchen. This will enable us to purchase milk & juice for our clients.

Maureen Smith,Pastoral Minister

Jubilee Nutrition Site

Mother of Sorrows

 

           Now that’s God…

These hot days we have been having made me think of this story that appeared on my e-mail one morning. I hope you like it as much as I did.

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through.

Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn’t see some rain soon…we would lose everything. It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes.

I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn’t walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort… trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour: walking carefully to the woods, running back to the house.

Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen…as he was obviously doing important work and didn’t need his Mommy checking up on him). He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the water he held in them…maybe two or three tablespoons of which were held in his tiny hands.  I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face, but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing sight.

Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him…he didn’t even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn lying on the ground; obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy’s hand. When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree.

I followed him back to the house to a spigot to which we had shut off the water. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift “cup,” as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me: The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn’t ask me to help him. It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him.

His little eyes filled with tears. “I’m not wasting,” was all he said. As he began his walk, I joined him…with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, other drops…and more drops…and more suddenly joined them. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.

Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. Those miracles don’t really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can’t argue with that…I’m not going to try.

All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm…just like the actions of one little boy saved another.

I don’t know if anyone will read this…but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon…but not before showing me the true face of God, in a little sunburned body.

    ~ Author unknown ~

 

        Have you been there yet?…

The other day I went once again into the internet to see what was new on our St. Peter website. I found a couple of things that I must have missed in previous visits. If you haven’t been there, I urge you to sign in and take a look.

Under Who we are, and what we are about  I found some very interesting reading. It was a great page full of information about what we believe and what we hope we are doing.

In the Contact Us  area there were ways to do just that: by visiting, with the physical address of St. Peter’s; by mail, giving the mailing address; and by e-mail, giving the addresses of various persons you might want to contact for information.

The following addresses were included:

Mother Barbara – motherbj@alltel.net

Brian Lago (music) – brianlago@peoplepc.com

Lois Fassett, (secretary) – stpeterash@alltel.net

Don Clayman (sexton) – djclayman@adelphia.net

Richard F. Balog (webmaster, tech.)- rick@balogs.name

Eric A. Johnson (webmaster, visuals & text) – eaj898@alltel.net

MaryLou Fowler (Epistle news) – maryloou_tfclu@yahoo.com.

The website has many more neat things to take a look at. I hope you will take advantage of this “new age technology” which is offered to us.

Along those same lines, remember the Cleveland Orchestra Trio that we all enjoyed so enthusiastically a while ago?  You may remember that they donated $300 back to the church to be used in one of our outreach programs.

The present plan is to use this for Child Care during an event coming this Fall.  Parenting Classes will be given at a later date at St. Peter Church. If you are a parent of a child/children age 3-12 and you would like to take advantage of these classes, stay tuned for more information to come.

And another thing….  A reminder that on September 10^th there will be a one-time special collection for the Rector’s

Discretionary Fund, the results (up to $1000) to be matched by the St. Peter Foundation. These funds will be used to help out with some special needs of a few families in our parish.

Please plan to attend on that special Sunday so you can be part of the

“in-reach” to benefit some of our own.

       That still, small voice…

    ~ Martin Luther King Jr. said it.. ~

“On some positions, cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it expedient?’

And then expedience comes along and asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’

Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’

Conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’

There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.”

       from: The Mighty & The Almighty

          by Madeleine Albright

             

A Letter…

Dear God,

I’m writing to say I’m sorry

For being angry yesterday

When you seemed to ignore my prayer

And things didn’t go my way.

First, my car broke down.

I was very late for work –

But I missed that awful accident.

Was that your handiwork?

I found a house I loved,

But others got there first.

I was angry, then relieved

When I heard the pipes had burst!

Yesterday, I found the perfect dress

But the color was too pale.

Today I found the dress in red.

Would you believe, it was on sale!

I know you’re watching over me

And I’m feeling truly blessed.

For no matter what I pray for –

You always know what’s best.

              Will you be there?

Hold this paragraph close to your nose and blow on it. If it turns green, call your doctor. If it turns brown, call your dentist. If it turns purple, see your psychiatrist. If it turns red, see your bank manager. If it turns black, call your lawyer and make a will. If it remains the same color, you are in good health and there is no reason on

earth why you should not be in church next Sunday.