St. Patrick Episcopal Church
July 2015
232 East Main Street
Lebanon, Ohio 45036
Kristin Felty, Editor
Sunday Worship Services
8:00 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.
The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal
Bishop of Southern Ohio
The Rev. Jacqueline Matisse, Rector
Lisa Cronin, Vestry, Senior Warden
Bill Lasher, Vestry, Jr. Warden
Damien Stout, Choir Director
Jack Hasty, Organist
Vestry
Marjorie Donovan, Music Director Emeritus
Trischa Goodwin Vestal Hipp
Susan Sorrell, Financial Secretary
Arnold Huckeby
Jill Lane
Arnold Huckeby, Treasurer
Matt Lang
Linda Powers
Bill Lasher, Stewardship
Harry Pritchard
Fred Smith
Gretchen Hautzinger, Office Manager
Jill Lane, Children’s Education
I’ve just come home from two wonderful grace filled weeks. The first was with our youth group in
N. Carolina. My sermon on June 21, which is online, describes our experience working with Evelyn
Goslin in the Appalachian Mountains. This last week I was at a CREDO conference in Richmond,
Virginia. This experience is offered to all Episcopal clergy, at different times in our careers. It was
quite a week to be with clergy from around the country, as our new presiding bishop, Michael Curry
was elected. I worked alongside Michael when I was first ordained and serving at Christ Church in
Glendale. Michael was then rector of St. Simons in Lincoln Heights. He will be an excellent
spokesperson for our church! As you know, there were also two highly significant Supreme Court
decisions last week. Both are met with varying responses. As always in our diverse culture, some of
us are pleased with the decisions and others are troubled and dismayed. The Anglican tradition has
always honored the process of honest discernment and prayerful attention to our conscience. We
teach respect for the process of individual discernment as it is reached through careful attention to
Scripture, tradition, prayer and experience. Whenever we find ourselves in disagreement I refer to
Paul’s letter to the Philippians where he says, “Let the mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” He
didn’t expect us to be of one mind in the sense of agreeing on all things. Paul was much too smart
for that! Rather he expected us to come together minding Jesus’ commandment to love one
another as he has loved us. To have the same mind as Jesus is also to trust that God is working for
good in all things for those who love God. CREDO is Latin for I believe. We used various forms of
the creed in our worship together last week. I offer you one of those forms.
With the whole church, we affirm that we are made in God’s image, befriended by Christ,
empowered by the Spirit.
With people everywhere, we affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity, planted more deeply
than all that is wrong.
With all creation, we celebrate the miracle and wonder of life, the unfolding purposes of God,
forever at work in ourselves and the world.
Our Mission: To take the love of Christ into the World
Jackie
SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
JUST AROUND THE CORNER
This fall I am going to offer a series on spiritual practices that lead to transformation. As in any
other area of our lives we gain more skill and more reward as we practice a particular discipline. Life
in the Spirit is no different. There are a number of practices that help us grow spiritually. If you are
interested in learning more about these practices please let me know what times work best for you. I
will try to offer this series at a time that works best for most of those interested. My hope is to pass
on to you the excellent teaching I have received at the Transforming Center in Chicago and at the
CREDO conference last week.
by Bill Lasher
WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOR?
Stealing an idea from Church of the Holy Spirit in North Carolina where we stay with our youth
group, we will put a map on the bulletin board in Brigid House encompassing the homes of our
parishioners. When the map goes up, please take a colored stick pin and place yourself on the map.
Then see who lives close by and perhaps find a way to get together. In the same vein Teresa Norris is
updating the Inreach book. In the next few weeks there will be a form on the tables outside the
sanctuary asking how you would be willing to help others in the parish in times of some kind of
crisis. Please take the time to offer help in whatever way you can. The form will offer suggestions
and you can be creative!
SINGING
Augustine said, “The one who sings prays twice.” I’m biased because I’m a singer, but
nonetheless Augustine is right! Whenever a clergy group gather the singing is great. Mostly
because we all really sing out. It lifts hearts whether we are singing traditional hymns or
more contemporary works. I was very aware of this during our worship at CREDO. I
wondered why the singing added so much to our worship and realized it was simply because
we were all really engaged in singing! We didn’t all have great voices and it didn’t matter.
So sing out! Our hearts will be lifted to God and we will help each other pray twice.
Jackie
I’ve spent about 60% of my life in cities and 40% in small towns; with luck, it will be 50-50 before
I’m done. My roots are in small towns, and there is a great practicality to the people in a town like
ours: they know how to do things—from milking a goat to building a pole barn to making a quilt—
that may be missing in their city cousins. They are pragmatic, in the original sense of the Greek root:
they get things done.
My model for a practical man was my grandfather, Everett, who had an 80-acre farm in southern
Illinois. He was an actual horse-trader in his younger days, and he was very good at it. When I was
about nine, I was spending part of the summer on the farm when my grandfather came home with a
surprise. Up to that time, without the equipment, he had brought in a neighbor to do the farming for a
share of the profits. The tractor was a used Ford—not exactly a John Deere—but he had gotten it for
only $500. Now we could be real farmers (notice the nine-year-old’s “we” there.) We began
planning what to plant, and made a list of what we needed to buy.
Everett had made one mistake in all this: he had parked the tractor alongside the gravel road that ran
by the house, in plain view. Two days later a stranger came to the door and said he’d seen that blue
Ford tractor out front, and he offered $1,000 for it! Well, that was it: no farming for us. I knew that
my grandfather would never turn down a chance to double his money in just two days. The tractor
was gone that same day.
I now know that I would never have turned down that deal either. If you are a practical person,
there’s not that much difference between being a good dealmaker and being financially responsible.
It’s like my grandmother saving pieces of old clothing and ties to make what she called a “crazy
quilt.” Living on a small budget in a small town demands that approach, and that has always been
true of our church’s finances as well. We have our own stories: Larry Benning standing in the back
of church, collecting enough money to buy our first air conditioner, and the new kitchen that started
as a bare room and was built up entirely from our donations, because the church had three mortgages
at that time, and no money left to spend.
Today we have four air conditioners and no mortgages. We pay salaries for a few positions, but most
of our work is donated. We, the people of this church, are a bunch of pragmatists who have proved to
be unstinting in our giving. My own best story about that is simple: when we built Brigid House we
did the finishing work ourselves. I put out a call for painters, and on the first day 48 people showed
up—from a parish of only 55 families! Today’s equivalent would be 96 people coming out to paint
Brigid House. I’ll never forgot my surprise and deep appreciation on that day. Good job, folk
LAY READER TEXT – JULY
ALTAR SERVERS & PEOPLE OF THE WEEK
The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – July 5
JULY 5
10:30 a.m.
C Marshall
BB Adam
US Dick Wolford & Larry Benning
P Earl and Dianne Edmonds
T Smith and Wolford
G Carol
A Molly and Kay
JULY 26
10:30 a.m.
C Jacob
BB Maria
US Norman Bucher & Kevin O’Brien
P
Carol Finnie
T
McLaughlin and Smith
G Trish
A Caroline, Gloria, and Jill
JULY 12
10:30 a.m.
C
Davy
BB Christiana
US Trish Simonton & Graham Bale
P
Miriam Fay
T
Simonton and Hasty
G
Ruth
A
Rosemary and Gloria
AUGUST 2
10:30 a.m.
C
Marshall
BB Molly
US Brian Gluntz & Skip Scruby
P
Avery Foster
T
Simonton and Hasty
G Linda
A June and Vestal
JULY 19
10:30 a.m.
C
Dana
BB Taley
US Larry Benning & David Johnson
P
Nick & Kristin Felty and Family
T
Lane and Johnson
G
Margaret
A
Lisa and Trischa
A = Altar Guild
BB = Book Bearer
C = Crucifer
G = Greeter
P = Persons of the Week
T = Teller
US = Usher
8:00 a.m. – Mary Lasher
Ezekiel 2:1-5
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
10:30 a.m. - Becca McLaughlin
Brian Gluntz
Psalm 123
Mark 6:1-13
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – July 12
8:00 a.m. – Dan Berger
Amos 7:7-15
Ephesians 1:3-14
10:30 a.m. – Nancy Smith
Stuart Bale
Psalm 85:8-13
Mark 6:14-29
The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – July 19
8:00 a.m. – Pat George
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Ephesians 2:11-22
10:30 a.m. – Jean Benning
Steve Belknap
Psalm 23
Mark 6:30-34, 53,56
The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – July 26
8:00 a.m. – Earl Edmonds
2 Kings 4:42-44
Ephesians 3:14-21
10:30 a.m. – Brian Gluntz
Becca McLaughlin
Psalm 145:10-18
John 6:1-21
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – August 2
8:00 a.m. – Mary Lasher
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
Ephesians 4:1-16
10:30 a.m. – Sterling Williams
Jean Benning
Psalm 78:23-29
John 6:24-35
July 2015
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
1
7:15 p.m. Choir Practice
Friday
2
6:30 p.m. Men’s Dinner
Saturday
3
4
9:30 a.m. Bible Study
Silent Saturday Cancelled
5
8:00 a.m. Eucharist
9:30 a.m. Classes
10:30 a.m. Eucharist
6
7
6:30 p.m. Al-Anon
8
9
7:15 p.m. Choir Practice
10
11
17
18
24
25
9:30 a.m. Bible Study
7:00 p.m. Community Sing
12
8:00 a.m. Eucharist
9:30 a.m. Classes
10:30 a.m. Eucharist
13
19
8:00 a.m. Eucharist
9:30 a.m. Classes
10:30 a.m. Eucharist
20
16
21
9:30 a.m. Bible Study
22
23
29
30
7:15 p.m. Choir Practice
27
6:30 p.m. Al-Anon
15
7:15 p.m. Choir Practice
6:30 p.m. Al-Anon
26
8:00 a.m. Eucharist
9:30 a.m. Classes
10:30 a.m. Eucharist
14
6:30 p.m. Al-Anon
28
7:15 p.m. Choir Practice
31
9:30 a.m. Bible Study
ST. PATRICK’S YOUTH GROUP TRAVEL
TO NORTH CAROLINA
CONVERSATION AT ITS BEST
Respectful and loving conversations in a community of diverse opinions is an important way to grow
spiritually. I’d like to be more intentional this year at offering opportunities for these conversations.
Please let me know what topics would be helpful for you to discuss. Thank you.
JACKIE’S VACATION
will be on vacation from July 20 through the end of July and two weeks in August,
beginning sometime around the 13th. I want you to know that supply priests love coming
here and for that I thank you!
I
PASTORAL CARE
We had a large number of people in the hospital in May and June. Dan Ulrich, Betty Sutton, Chris
Williams, Gloria Giannestras and Susan Sorrell’s father had heart surgery.
Becca McLaughlin, Bob Wallman and Leona King’s son Newell were in for various reasons. All are
now home! Thank you for your prayers, visits and meals and any other way you were able to
respond. The doctor who spoke at CREDO said a social network is the most important component of
health. It is good to be part of a community!
Jackie
St. Patrick's youth group, Rite 13, had a great time in Mars Hill, North Carolina. There were 7
members from Rite 13 and 4 adults who made the trip this year. We were a small group, but we were
very efficient. While we were there, we helped a very sweet old woman named Evelyn. Evelyn had a
beautiful home up in the mountains with animals and an amazing view. When we first arrived at her
mobile home she greeted us with open arms. She told us over and over again how thankful she was
that there were good people like us to light up the world. It was heartwarming how kind and generous
she was.
To help Evelyn we started by power washing the side-boards of her home. It was about this time that
we discovered the many wasps and yellow jackets that resided in her porch and other places around
her house. Since we didn't have any wasp killer the first day, we had to work alongside them. It was
mostly fine, except that Earl got stung. Davy tried to smack one with a stick and it got angry and
chased us, which was scary and very entertaining to watch. Other than that the wasps and bees
ignored us. After power-washing the sideboards we began prepping the front and back porches for
painting. This included scraping all the dirt and dead leaves from the nooks and crannies and
hammering in all the loose nails. Then we got to work painting; first the railings, then the floor
boards. It was all very tough work-we even built a roof for the back porch and painted that too-but it
went quickly with all of us working. It was pretty fun too! There were many paint wars, and then
water wars when cleaning the brushes. To thank us for helping her out, Evelyn made us a southern
country dinner. There were beans, fried chicken, fried potatoes, cornbread, and very delicious cake. It
was all so tasty.
When we weren't helping Evelyn we were having fun elsewhere. We played lots of cards, went
swimming in a pool, and went swimming in a swimming hole too. The swimming hole had lots of
snakes. We named one of them Jake and Jackie blessed him with a good life where no eagles would
snatch him up. We then had Communion on a rock on the river. It was such a peaceful, wonderful
experience that we will never forget. We also cooked out on the banks of the French Broad. We saw a
HUGE fishing spider and Jackie had a particularly close encounter with a very curious bee. Despite
that and a little bit of rain, we had a great time and the burgers and s'mores were scrumptious.
On the last day of the trip we went white water rafting. It was such a fun day! The rapids were
thrilling even though the river was low and we kept getting stuck. We even jumped off of a 12 foot
high cliff which seemed a lot higher than 12 feet when you got to the top.
Overall the trip was a success; we got a lot done and had fun along the way. It was hard, and a little
bittersweet, packing up to come home; we are all looking forward to next year!
Kacee Gluntz
FORGIVENESS IN AL-ANON
Forgiveness is something we give ourselves. Resentment will do nothing but tear us apart inside.
Hostility keeps us tied to the abuses of the past. Even if the alcoholic or illegal drug abuser is gone
from our lives or has refrained from the addiction for many years, we still need to learn to detach.
We begin to detach by identifying that the disease was the cause of the behavior that continues to
haunt us. Our ongoing struggle with unpleasant memories is an effect of that disease. Somehow, we
must find within us compassion for the addict who suffers from this terrible disease. There is a part
of this person that is and always will be lovable. In our recovery, we are in pursuit of serenity, the
healing, and of a sense of peace that will help us to deal with and possibly even enjoy whatever life
brings. Forgiveness is not about forgiving the actions another person has chosen. We forgive when
we acknowledge our common humanity with everyone, even the person we feel deserves
condemnation. Forgiveness is not a favor! We do it for no one but ourselves. Lingering resentments
are like acid eating away at us. We let go of resentments and not only forgive the addict but ourselves
as well.
(Excerpted from How Al-Anon Works for Families & Friends of Alcoholics)
RUMMAGE SALE
The dates for the Rummage Sale are August 14 and 15. The collection of items begins on August 11.
Drop off times will be announced as it gets closer.
MEN’S DINNER
The July Men’s Group Monthly Dinner will be held Thursday, July 2. We will meet at LaRosa’s at
6:30. Call Ed Burroughs if you have any questions.
Erna
Tom Campbell
A MESSAGE FROM THE WILLIAMS
IN-REACH MINISTRY
“Chris and Sterling Williams appreciate everyone for their thoughtful concern and attentiveness
during the recent medical crises Chris has experienced and the caregiver responsibilities Sterling has
faithfully done. The prayer shawl, the prayers that have been lifted, and the other support offered
have meant more than we can say. It is always wonderful to be connected to a concerned faith
community. It never means more than at a time like this. Thank you!”
Do you need help or know of other church members who need temporary assistance with
transportation, meals, child care, yard work, household chores, etc? If so, please contact Jackie
Davis, July “In-Reach Ministry” coordinator. Her contact information can be found in the Church
Directory or by calling St. Patrick’s.