JULY 2019 • Volume 21, Number 4
Jonah: 3 Very Puzzling: 7 Heading to Waco: 9 A Good Summer Read: 13
The Message this month: Contents:
Contributors:
Christ Church Staff: The Rev. Patrick Gahan, Rector
From Our Rector ..............................3
The Rev. Scott Kitayama, Associate Rector
Music Ministry ................................7 Youth Ministry..................................8
The Rev. Brien Koehler, Associate Rector for Mission and Formation
Family Ministry ...............................9
The Rev. Justin Lindstrom, Associate Rector for Community Formation
Our Church Life .............................10
Carol Miller, Pastoral Care Administrator
PATRICK GAHAN
Great Commission...........................12
Halleta Heinrich, Director of Family Ministry
Page Turners...................................13
Lily Fenton, Nursery Director Amy Case, Youth Minister
From the Kitchen.............................14
JOSH BENNINGER
Photo Album...................................15
Joshua Benninger, Music Minister & Organist
Cover photos: Susanna Kitayama
Charissa Fenton, Director of Children’s Music & Receptionist
Editor: Gretchen Duggan
Robert Hanley, Director of Campus Operations
AMY CASE
Darla Nelson, Office Manager Donna Franco, Financial Manager
Sunday Services:
Gretchen Comuzzi Duggan, Director of Communications
7:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite 1
HALLETA HEINRICH
9:00 a.m. Family-friendly Communion Service with Music 10:00 a.m. Christian Education for Children, Youth, and Adults
Susan Lindstrom, Director of College Ministry
Monica Elliott, Executive Assistant to the Rector Elizabeth Martinez, Kitchen Manager Robert Vallejo, Facilities Manager Rudy Segovia, Hospitality Manager Joe Garcia, Sexton
BRIEN KOEHLER
11:00 a.m. Choral Eucharist, Rite 2
2019 Vestry:
6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite 2
Darrell Jones, Senior Warden ERIC FENTON
Visit us on-line at www.cecsa.org
ELIZABETH MARTINEZ
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Matt Markette, Junior Warden Andy Anderson
Sudie Holshouser
Barbara Black
Andy Kerr
Lisa Blonkvist
Paul McSween
Meagan Desbrow
Lou Miller
Tobin Hays
Robert Rogers
Prophet Motive: Jonah by Patrick Gahan Jonah and the Whale, Pieter Lastman, 1621, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
Author’s Note: This is the fourth essay in a series I offer on the Twelve Minor Hebrew Prophets. Throughout the series, I will use The Message version of the Scriptures, in honor of its masterful and artistic translator, Eugene Peterson, who died October 22 of last year. Kay asked me to write this series, and, as she is both my muse and editor, I dedicate every line to her.
The list reads like a roll of Scottish
and English lords – McFadden, Cromartie, McGowan, Trescott, Ridgely, Bradshaw, and Beasley – except that it is a roster of the black students in the southern boarding school I entered in the fall of 1969. In at least one way, these African-Americans were “lords” of our school, in that they rose to the top of most of our classes in the humanities and sciences. The fact that I successfully conquered high school Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Chemistry, Trigonometry, and Pre-Calculus is a testimony to the private tutoring I received from one of their number. My African-American classmates were enrolled in St. Andrew’s School through the generosity and scrupulous pursuit of the Anne C. Stouffer Foundation. Established in 1967, the foundation was the legacy of Anne Stouffer, the granddaughter of R.J. Reynolds, the American tobacco tycoon. The heiress’s goal was to seek the brightest black high school students in the deep south and place them in highperforming preparatory schools. Over 142 students were selected from WinstonSalem, Atlanta, Tuskegee, Memphis, Nashville, Gainesville, Roanoke, and other cities and hamlets across the still largely segregated south. My school, due to its deep Christian commitment to social justice and equality, as well as its desire to
garner a share of the finest young scholars from the south, invited a large percentage of those 142 bright students to our isolated campus in Sewanee, TN. For my part, the social change could not have been more amplified. Recall that my state Governor, George Wallace, stood on the steps of the University of Alabama in 1963 and denied entrance to African-American students only six years before I ascended the steps of the chapel at St. Andrew’s. Storied Coach Bear Bryant would not allow a black athlete to compete on his team until 1971, when I was beginning my junior year. Recall, too, that merely one year before, George Wallace ran for President of the United States, where he received 14% of the vote. Beyond the convolutions of national politics, the drinking fountains at the hardware store where my mother worked had taken out its separate water fountains for “White” and “Colored” patrons shortly before I left for high school. I should note that the “Colored” drinking fountain, unlike the one adjoining it, was set lower to the ground and was un-refrigerated. Closer to home, the climate of my family was a projection of the warring nation surrounding me at the onset of my high school years. My grandfather was an avowed and outspoken racist, whereas
my mother, his third child, was a fiercely vocal civil rights advocate – known in later life for her marches on the state capital in Montgomery. Uncharacteristic of our present age, the two of them worked to both love and understand one another. The fact that the TV sitcom All in the Family began its run in 1971, did not escape my notice. Raucous fracases between Archie, the chauvinistic father, and his daughter and son-in-law, Gloria and Michael (a.k.a. Meathead) Stivic, broke out in each episode, and yet they managed to live under the same roof. That let me know that my family was hardly unique in our determined dance of dissension and détente. My religious life underpinned my ability to weave together the ambiguities of my home life and the tendentious civic life of that time. Two years before I entered St. Andrew’s School, I began working as the weekend sexton of our local Episcopal church – All Saints’. On Saturdays, I completed all of the yard work, raking, cutting, trimming, gutter cleaning, as well as changing out the lights in the vaulted ceiling of the nave – a perilous ascent the elder and estimable Head Sexton, George Pickens, refused to make. I should add that George Pickens, a stern taskmaster and a strict African-American Pentecostal Christian, emerged as one of the most 3
From Our Rector... formative adults in my young life… as long as I did not bring up the prospect of school dances or girlfriends!
regarding race – had been roiling around me. However, until I stepped onto that isolated 450-acre campus, my experience with such inter-race relations was primarily abstract. The minute my mother dropped me off at the flagpole all that would change. Not only would I live, study, work, play, shower, and daily interact with black students, but neither they, nor most of the white students would walk away from each other’s company. In that way, we became prophets to one another, testifying to what could become a new order of life in the Deep South.
Those first three verses set the reader on a very different course with this prophet than any other in the Old Testament. Compared to Amos, who obediently leaves On Sundays, I opened the church at 5:30 his home and prosperous farm in Tekoa in a.m., which is somewhat misleading, for order to brave censure and perhaps death the church in those days was never locked. in Samaria, Jonah is neither obedient That fact abetted the most terrifying nor brave in his determination to resist aspect of my Sunday duties, running God’s command. Compared to Hosea, the street people out of the pews so that who sacrifices, not only his happiness, the worshippers could fill them at 7 a.m. but also his convictions by marrying the Nothing quite compares with a man, prostitute that God has selected, Jonah awakening from a drunken stupor and cannot bring himself to sacrifice his deeply arising from the red carpet like an alien held hatred of the Assyrians and dutifully apparition. Once I recall a go preach to them in Nineveh. hobo’s dog raced out from God’s magnanimity and reach On that front lawn and in the bosom of my family, I beyond Israel is more than Jonah behind the altar, transporting me to the sodden, misty learned that you can fervidly disagree but retain your can fathom. Doubtless, God’s moors with Sherlock Holmes command to go to Nineveh to relationship. The disagreements amongst Christians in rescue Israel’s notorious enemies in The Hounds of Baskerville! upends his life like that of the my orbit did not lead them to assassinate the other’s After worship on those lawyer who dared to ask Jesus, character nor to dismissing the other’s company. Sundays, I recall the men “Who is my neighbor?” and got of the parish gathering on an earful of the Parable of the Good I dare not paint the experience of my the lawn just outside the front doors of Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). black classmates or even mine as Edenic. the narthex. The last note of the organ Nevertheless, I have believed these past 50 postlude quivering in the air, the men Conceiving of the Book of Jonah as a years that the miraculous can occur when would undertake one heated political parable is not a bad place to start. The we walk into the company of those we topic after another. These were the author is clearly up to something very once considered “the other” or, worse still, different from the authors of the other days of Barry Goldwater versus Hubert “the enemy.” Humphrey and Martin Luther King eleven books of the minor prophets. For versus J. Edgar Hoover. Add Stokely one, the other selections in the Book For that reason, Jonah rises up in my Carmichael, Malcolm X, Abby Hoffman, of the Twelve record the words of the and Bobby Kennedy into the mix, and it is Biblical imagination as the prophet who is prophets. The reader is often swimming the antithesis of my ideal. Jonah, in reality, in a meandering current of the prophet’s easy to see my childhood generation was embodies the very opposite of my claims. no tamer than ours is today. All Saints’ stream of consciousness, which can Jonah does not just walk away from the was replete with men on the right with be tough sledding. Except for Jonah’s other, he runs from them and from God. the John Birch Society and just as many on eight-verse prayer in Chapter 2 and The opening lines of the book bearing the left with the ACLU. The conversations his two-verse prayer in Chapter 4, this his name establishes Jonah as the most would often come to a heated boil, but book does not narrate the words of the reluctant and recalcitrant prophet in the the men would never walk away from one prophet but, rather, is a book about the entire Scriptural canon. another. They would return to their same prophet. The book, in fact, is a satire – an places the next Sunday, and I would hear exaggerated literary device that sometimes One day long ago, God’s Word came to their inflamed protestations all over again. uses humor, irony, and ridicule to expose Jonah, Amittai’s son: “Up on your feet and On that front lawn and in the bosom of the sin or misconceptions of persons or on your way to the big city of Nineveh! my family, I learned that you can fervidly a system. Clearly, this short book exposes Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and disagree but retain your relationship. The Jonah’s blatant sin and reluctance to God’s I can’t ignore it any longer.” But Jonah got disagreements amongst Christians in my boundless grace. Yet, beware, the author’s up and went the other direction to Tarshish, orbit did not lead them to assassinate the main design is to lay bare the reader’s sin, running away from God. He went down to other’s character nor to dismissing the unwillingness, and blindness of the same. the port of Joppa and found a ship headed other’s company. Jesus was not just speaking the Parable of for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on the Prodigal Son to that hapless attorney; board, joining those going to Tarshish—as All that is to say that I did not head off to he was speaking to us. The titan of the far away from God as he could get. Jonah boarding school at age fourteen in the fog Reformation, Martin Luther, was known 1:1-3 Message of naivete. Rancorous strife – especially to quip, the reason people avoid the Bible 4
From Our Rector... is “de te loquitur – it talks about you.” The objection will arise, “Was not Jonah a real person of the Bible?” The answer is, yes, but with a very limited and wholly unattractive biography. 2 Kings 14:23-25 asserts the consistent evil machinations of Israel’s King Jeroboam II, who died in 742 B.C. after ruling the northern kingdom for forty-one years. Tucked into the passage is the fact that Jeroboam had “restored the borders of Israel,” which was attested by the Prophet Jonah, son of Amittai. Disturbingly, Jonah is extolling the infamous king, while, about the same time, Amos, the farmer prophet from the south, is denouncing him. Jonah would be categorized as one of the “yes-men” prophets, who hung around the palace telling the royal family just what they wanted to hear. God’s selection of Jonah should not shock the Bible reader. The Lord seems to relish using those of us “with a past.” Moses, Jacob, Rahab, Matthew, Mary Magdalene, and Paul lead a less than starry cast of God’s draft picks. Thus, getting back to the first chapter of the text, the Lord commands Jonah to go to the capital city of the Assyrians, Nineveh, and preach to them. The call seems a precursor to the once venomous Paul receiving a call from God to minister to the Gentiles, except that Jonah runs the other way. The book has a rollicking start, because the seed of the entire satire is planted in this first chapter. So determined is Jonah to refuse the Lord’s demand that he preach to Israel’s enemies that he hitches a ride on the first ship he finds sailing in the opposite direction of Nineveh. The ship no sooner makes its way out of the harbor and into the open sea than it is assaulted by a violent storm. The author shows his hand in these initial verses when he records that the pagan sailors were on the deck “praying each to his own god,” while Jonah is fast asleep below. A picture of Gethsemane journeys through my head as I record this, and I see Peter, John, and the rest of the disciples gripped in sleep as Jesus agonizes about the next terrible step in his mission (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42).
Only the heated protestations of the ship’s captain awaken Jonah. The reluctant prophet immediately becomes the subject of the crew’s harried interrogation: Then they grilled him: ‘Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?’ He told them, ‘I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.’ At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, ‘What on earth have you done!’ As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God. They said to him, ‘What are we going to do with you—to get rid of this storm?’ By this time the sea was wild, totally out of control. Jonah said, ‘Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.’ Jonah 1:8-12 Message At first reading, we consider Jonah’s appeal to the sailors to toss him overboard as humble faithfulness and courage. Not so fast. According to the editors of The Bible Project, Jonah is so adamant in his hatred for the Assyrians that he would rather die than be an emissary of their repentance and deliverance.1 If Jonah cannot outrun Yahweh on earth, he will try to escape him through death. Again, his plans are foiled when God sends a big fish to inhale the insufferable prophet. The pagan sailors, by comparison, assemble on the deck of the boat ‘to worship God, offer Him sacrifice, and make solemn vows’ (Jonah 1:16). God “sent” the big fish, just as He “sent” the big storm in 1:4, and God will later send a plant, worm, and an east wind. Jonah is clearly on a fool’s errand in his race against Yahweh, the One who controls every inch of nature. Realizing this, Jonah prays from the belly of the fish for deliverance from He who controls the very depths of the sea. The gravity of Jonah’s intercession is magnified by 1 https://youtu.be/dLIabZc0O4c I should add here that The Bible Project is an extraordinary resource for Bible readers. The editor’s artistry, coupled with their depth of research, make it imminently reliable.
his admission that he is crying out from ‘the belly of the grave, and yet God hears his cry’ (2:1). Yahweh, who controls all of nature, also attends to the intercessions of a pitiful traitor. While Jonah does not come close to remorseful obeisance in his prayer, he does declare that he will reorient his life and vision towards God’s Holy Temple. The closest the prophet comes to an admission of guilt comes in 2:8, where he declares in the third person: ‘Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love.’ So far, the only one doing the “walking” is the guy praying. Nevertheless, Jonah recommits himself to Yahweh when slogging around for hours on end awash in fish entrails. Being waist deep in a giant haddock’s innards, will bring a person to their senses every time: ‘But I’m worshiping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving! And I’ll do what I promised I’d do! Salvation belongs to God!’ Jonah 2:9 Message Seemingly satisfied by His turncoat prophet’s lukewarm confession and his more believable reenlistment in His service, the Lord commands the big fish to vomit Jonah onto the seashore. Jonah no sooner gets to his feet and cleans the fish guts off of his tunic than God insists he make good on his renewed commission. ‘Go preach to the big city of Nineveh. They’re in a bad way, and I cannot ignore it any longer’ (3:1). Jonah’s message to the city is hardly ornate or impassioned. ‘In forty days, Nineveh will be smashed’ (3:4). Offering those lackluster words, the last thing Jonah expected was that the humongous heathen population would actually repent. Even before the Assyrian king catches wind of the prophecy, the people started shedding their silks for sackcloth. However, when the king did ascertain Jonah’s words, he forbade every person in the city, regardless of age, to consume a morsel of food or a single drop of water. The king decreed: ‘Everyone must turn around, turn back from an evil life and the violent ways that stain 5
From our Rector... their hands. Who knows? Maybe God will turn around and change his mind about us, quit being angry with us and let us live!’ Jonah 3:9 Message Sure enough, God saw what the king and the people did, and He changed his mind about destroying them. Jonah’s revival was a staggering success for everyone except – Jonah. He is furious that Yahweh did not french-fry the Ninevites. Once more, much like his request that the sailors throw him overboard, Jonah now insists if God won’t kill these Assyrians, go ahead and kill him. He storms off into the wilderness east of the city peevishly grumbling, ‘I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!’ (3:10-4:3).
of looking for rational coherence of God’s ways in the world. It would be easier if God’s anger became effective automatically; once wickedness had reached its full measure, punishment would destroy it. Yet, beyond justice and anger lies the mystery of compassion.”2 The “mystery of compassion,” is the best avenue to approach Jesus’ one reference to the Prophet Jonah. Hardly taking a breath while grilling Jesus about his improprieties on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being allied with the devil (Matthew 12:1-13; 22-37). They demand a sign from Jesus to ratify all these liberties he is taking with their religion. Jesus retorts that the only sign they will receive is the sign of Jonah. Just as the prophet was in the belly of the fish for three days and emerged on dry land, so the Son of Man will be buried for three days and emerge alive (Matthew 12:38-42). What’s easily missed here is that Jesus’s death and resurrection are God’s
Paul notably stated, ‘Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:38-39). In the same breath, he should have added, “Therefore, nothing can separate us from one another – even those with whom we disagree and whose words and actions we detest. I am not making this up, for Jesus himself adjured: ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Matthew 5:43-48 NIV
Hope springs eternal for Jonah, for he takes up a position beyond the eastern boundary of the city just to see if those How did my teachers at St. Andrew’s irksome Assyrians might just trip over their scratchy burlap ...why we are so reluctant to forgive the sin School in 1970 make us engage with those of another race we did not costumes, start sinning again, and of others and extend compassion to them when know and suspected might be our be summarily toasted. The prophet we are riddled with the remnants of death and enemies or perhaps even hate us? settles in for the show, and Yahweh They made us read Shakespeare’s makes a plant grow up over Jonah’s darkness ourselves, and yet God forgives us Othello together. Of all classical titles head to protect him from the sun. through the sacrifice of His Son. we could have studied, the English Not only did no fireworks occur, Department insisted we read a play but God next sends a worm to kill where a white man, Iago, is incensed the plant shading Jonah, and He sends ultimate sign of mercy – not punishment. because a black man, Othello, is promoted a blast furnace east wind to exacerbate Death could not hold Jesus, neither could above him. Not to mention, the black Jonah’s fury. The prophet laments aloud, the deadliness of hate and unforgiveness. ‘I’m better off dead’ (4:1-8). At this point, the God’s judgment is to save, not to destroy as man marries an alluring white woman, Desdemona. Although that was 49 years reader cannot tell whether God is crying we deserve. The correlation with Nineveh ago, my throat still seizes up as the English or laughing, when he probes his piteous is unmistakable. bard turned up the heat of jealously, anger, prophet. ‘What right do you have to be angry and revenge on the stage. I could scarcely about a plant you did not plant or tend, but Most obvious is the fact that this short not give a single thought to a city bursting with prophetic book is not a satire about Jonah, look left or right in the small room, for fear that I would catch the eye of one of confused adults, children, to say nothing of the but one about you and me. Recall that a innocent animals’ (4:9-11)? Yahweh’s query satire is an exaggerated literary device that the black students. And yet no one cried, “I feel unsafe,” and not a single one of my lands with a thud, ending the book like a sometimes uses humor, irony, and ridicule African American classmates complained sitcom’s clever one-liner. to expose the sin or misconceptions of or threatened to leave or worse. They sat persons or a system. The author wants to there, as we did, and eventually we spoke Abraham Heschel, the great rabbinic hold a mirror up to us and ask why we are scholar and never one to candy-coat the so reluctant to forgive the sin of others and about the pain Shakespeare wove into those lines that exposed the crevasses in unwelcome truth of Biblical texts, states, extend compassion to them when we are our own hearts. “The prophet was now alone, angry with riddled with the remnants of death and man and displeased with God; man is darkness ourselves, and yet God forgives It was then that I really knew that I was in wicked and God is unreliable… God’s us through the sacrifice of His Son. St. the company of royalty. They were lords, answer to Jonah, stressing the supremacy 2 Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (New York: Jewish every one of them. of compassion, upsets the possibility 6
Publication Society, 1962), 287.
Master of Hymns 2019 Crossword Puzzzle
CEC Music Ministry by Josh Benninger
Have you been looking for an
opportunity to test your hymn knowledge? If so, then look no further! For every hint, the answer is the first word of the hymn title. All answers come from the 1982 Hymnal. If you don’t have access to a physical copy, you can find it online: https://hymnary.org/hymnal/EH1982. When finished, snap a picture of the completed puzzle and send it to Josh at txjoshb@gmail.com. The first person to complete the puzzle will be honored with the Master of Hymns 2019 award. Sorry, no cash awards…but you do get bragging rights. Now go grab a hymnal and get started!
Across
Down
3 Fruit grows and glory shows 1 It’s life-filling 4 Trumpets, hammers, and cellos 2 Haydn wrote it 6 Paraphrase of Psalm 84 4 Featured in the movie Crimson 9 Patrick’s favorite Advent hymn Tide 10 It did not bloom in the springtime 5 Song of Mary 11 da––da––da––da¬¬––da––da–– 7 Popular ice cream truck jingle in da––da––da-da-da-da––da- the UK da-da––da––da–– 8 Abstain from worldly joys 12 Cannot be killed, cannot be seen 11 Eric Liddell 14 As thou hast promised, draw the 13 Spread the good news world to thee 15 More polite than kicking 16 The tune is named after a city in 18 Evermore and evermore Austria 20 Psalm 90 17 Field and forest 21 Let the amen sound from his 19 Wachet auf people again 25 A dentist’s dream 22 A cheerful Welsh hymn 26 Author was a slave owner turned 23 They are treading, but not in abolitionist water 27 No compass directions required 24 Tune name is a type of whiskey 30 Not heard down low 25 You can tune pianos, guitars, 31 Covered thinly with gold in the trumpets…and hearts too morning 28 A hymn of thanksgiving 29 Irish hymn
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by Amy Case
Youth in Action All Summer Long
Summer is here and the Christ Church Youth are not slowing down! Twentyseven of our wonderful kids and their friends helped lead VBS to kick off the season. They were Tribe leaders, actors, activities directors and more. See some pictures below.
Many of our High School youth are away for the summer as counselors at Camp
Capers, Laity Lodge, and other camps.
A group will be heading off in mid-July to help with the continuing effort of clean up after Hurricane Harvey. The group going to Port Aransas will work hard, and play hard. We will report on that mission trip in the September issue of The Message. For our High School youth, there is a wonderful opportunity to attend Happening #143 taking place at
Happening #143 August 2 - 4 at CEC
www.dwtx.org/ happening 8
Christ Church the weekend of August 2 - 4. Happenings are spiritual renewal weekends for older high school students (10th-12th grade), led by their peers. On Sundays this summer we are doing the Teen Alpha course in the Carriage House, and there will be an end of summer party at Julian’s on August 25. Come join the fun!
The Faces of Summer Why we do what we do CEC Family Ministry by Halleta Heinrich
As I endeavored to create a meaningful
transition from Fall/Spring Sunday School to Summer Sunday School, I implemented three new celebrations for our children: End of the Year Blessing of Our New Playground, Ascension of Christ, and Pentecost. Was this too much? I don’t think so! I didn’t fully realize this until I beheld the faces of our children after the events as beautifully photographed by Cynthia Moreno and Jessica Ramirez, two of our loving college student sitters. In the middle of events for which I am responsible, I miss close ups of these faces as I try to maintain order within the fun. But when I beheld the faces of our children in the photos, I knew all we do for them is worth it. Their faces were of course beautiful, but also intent, focused,
and content. I think each of these events impacted them in a positive way, building memories in them that church is a place filled with love - the love that comes from Jesus and the Holy Spirit and being enveloped within the Body of Christ. Was it worth it for me to make 36 cups of blue Jell-O covered with whipped cream representing the sky and clouds upon the Ascension of Christ? What would represent Jesus ascending? How about a gummy bear? Kids love gummy bears, and I don’t think Jesus will mind. As I saw photos of children carefully selecting their gummy bear representation of Christ and delicately placing it on a cloud of whipped cream, I knew it was worth it. Was it worth it to buy two white hydrangea stems dusted with blue to decorate the table containing the Ascension treats. Yes, it was worth it. These hydrangeas looked like puffy clouds, and the kids noticed. A long time ago, when I was hired for the position of Director of Children’s
Ministry, Bishop McNaughton told me that the secret of my predecessor Carol Brown’s success was that she loved to bring joy to the children. I never forgot that and am forever grateful to Carol for recommending me for this position which has become my life’s work. I love to bring joy to our children. They are so precious, and I well know it. Now Carol Brown’s son and daughter- in-law bring their two grandchildren and Carol’s great grandchildren to church here. Things have come full circle, and it’s beautiful. So, why do we do what we do? Look at the children’s faces, and you will know! As Jesus commanded, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14. Our children help to give us a glimpse of heaven, and it is pure joy to bring them to Jesus! With Love and Gratitude, Halleta 9
Mission Waco: Loving Your Neighbors up the Road by Brien Koehler
“Love your neighbor as yourself…And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:25, 27
bandaging up mercy that Jesus taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Local Outreach and Foreign Missions
And, we follow up. Just as the Good Samaritan told the innkeeper he would be back to see what else might be needed, Christ Church returns to ministry in the same places (both at home and abroad) so that we can see what remains, and to establish relationships with the new neighbors. That is how loving passes from theory into practice. We meet and serve people in the name of Christ, and we hope over time to build relationships of love and trust with those whom we serve. We don’t just drop in and then drop out.
are about loving our neighbors, some near and some far. Loving God, and loving our neighbors is God’s plan for action among his people. I am particularly thankful for the way we do our neighborly ministry here at Christ Church, because I believe it is our response to the word and example of Jesus in Luke, Chapter 10—because he used the question “and who is my neighbor” to tell us about “foreign mission” in the story of the Good Samaritan. The beaten and robbed man should have been lifted up from the roadside by his own people— the people of his neighborhood, if you will. But when the locals came by, they looked the other way and avoided the opportunity for mercy. It was left to an outsider—a stranger—to show the love and compassion of God when the locals didn’t. That is the pattern for outreach and mission, whether it is in our near vicinity or on the other side of the world. God calls us to people who need a loving neighbor and often none can be found nearby. So, we go. We go a few blocks, or across an ocean or two. But we go. And in our going, we carry the love of God with us. And we do the same kind of lifting up,
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We will be at work with Mission Waco from Thursday, July 25 through Sunday, July 28. This will be our fifth visit to work with them. Mission Waco is a diverse ministry organization serving families and individuals at risk in the greater Waco area. Ministry to the addicted, the homeless, the unemployed, abused families, you name it. They serve all ages in all conditions, and all in the name of Jesus. Christ Church’s team participates with Mission Waco in five ways: 1. Service projects to help maintain and improve the more than thirty buildings all over Waco that are used to conduct the various programs and ministry of Mission
Waco. (Painting, fix-up, clean-up, etc). 2. We present a pop-up Bible school in public housing complexes called “street camp” including puppet shows, games, crafts, and refreshments on each of three days. 3. We serve a meal or two at the ministry center for the homeless, and we meet for a time of fellowship and worship at the transitional homeless shelter one evening, worshipping with some of those we served at mealtime. We also worship at the famous “Church under the Bridge,” which was founded by Mission Waco decades ago. 4. We learn new perspectives on poverty, ministry, racism, and community development, with the possibility of a new idea being brought back to be implemented here in San Antonio. Our team lives and eats together during our three nights in Waco, and we build new and lasting friendships. First-timers are welcome, and we are recruiting for the July 2019 trip. It is likely that there are a few spots left, so please pray and see if you are being called into a new neighbor ministry in a place you might not have ever considered before! Information about Mission Waco 2019 is available from Brien (brienk@cecsa.org) or Justin (justinl@ cecsa.org).
Namirembe Cathedral Boys and Girls Brigade Band Scholarships in a program to gain an electrician’s certificate and license. He graduated and last year met with me to say he had a job working on installing electric power lines. He had two questions. Since he was working in another part of the country and was attending church there, how does he handle his tithe to include his home church? The other questions was, how to support the scholarship program. He caught the vision.
by Eric Fenton
It all began with one student who asked
me for tuition to attend a school for legal assistants. It was a two-year training program and it seemed a reasonable request from the young man who had been the band Captain (leader) and had organized the first Band and Bible Mission in 2013. There was only one problem. He told everyone in the band how Rev. Eric had been so generous in paying his tuition. So the next summer, I was inundated with requests from band members asking for help. There was no way I could personally meet this financial burden. So a creative solution had to be found. Uganda schools are on the British system and even though they are government funded, they all require students to pay some form of tuition. Students are also required to provide their own uniforms. Costs for lower grades is about $35 a semester, upper level is $80 per semester, technical school is $300, and the cost to attend university is $400. Even the smallest amounts can be impossible for many
families. As a result most children do not progress beyond the elementary level. I met with the band leaders and proposed they handle these requests. I would raise the funds and they would award scholarships based on criteria that included need, ability, commitment to the band and its mission, as well as a commitment to Jesus Christ. After the first year they presented a detailed report showing who was awarded scholarships, the amount, where they were in school, their home situation and their grade reports. This annual report was their idea. It comes from their training in the Boys and Girls Brigade.
Emma was a Band Captain who completed a degree in Public Health from Makarare University. Now he wanted to go to Medical School. Uganda Christian University opened a school at the nearby Mengo Hospital where he could get the best medical education in Uganda. A scholarship was raised and the simplicity of sending the funds through Uganda Christian University Partners here in the US makes the transfer of funds simple and secure. He is now completing his first year. The investment in education has and will continue to make a difference in the lives of these young people. It will help them better support themselves and their families. They will be able to contribute to the mission of their church and the relief of those in need. They will also be better citizens of Uganda making their mark in the servant leadership of their communities.
Every summer the Band and Bible Mission Team meets with the Scholarship Committee and scholars to review the program. One year as they shared their hopes to continue to university, I suggested that college wasn’t for everyone. A technical school program might be more practical. I said a tech school grad will have a job long before a college grad. One student, Jacob, agreed and enrolled
Jacob, the electrician
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So the Band Plays on... Great Commission Society
The following is a 2019 interview by the
Great Commission Society with Mimi Weber, longtime, faithful member of Christ Church. If you come to the 11 AM celebration, you will undoubtedly catch sight of Mimi, adorned in bright clothes that will make you want to break out in song, which makes perfect sense since she and her late husband Don joined with other families to “orchestrate” the immensely popular Jazz Mass each year at Mardi Gras time. GCS: Mimi, what initially brought you to Christ Church? Mimi: My mom brought me here when I was five years old. We lived just up the road at 129 E. Summit Avenue, and my mother made the decision to leave the Methodist Church and come to Christ Church. We loved Sam Capers so much that we never looked back. GCS: What brought Don to Christ Church? Mimi: I did. When we were dating and contemplating marriage, I said, “Don, I want a husband who goes to church with me – every Sunday. And one more thing, you can’t play gin rummy at the Country Club. The bets are too high.” He agreed to both… which is good, since I started beating him at rummy. Seriously though, our marriage was so strong due to trust. Through that trust 12
we experienced tremendous freedom. We both knew trust and freedom like that could only come through our Christian life. GCS: Don really seemed to love his life at Christ Church. Mimi: Don loved people so much. Now, months after his death, I keep running into people who tell me how he went out of his way to greet them and be kind to them. Just the other day, an attendant at the gym where he exercised told me how much she missed Don every day at work, because he spoke to her and was genuinely interested in her well-being. In the same way, he loved the menagerie of people at Christ Church. Each Sunday, Don would enter the sanctuary and sit there quietly, contentedly, and, I’m quite certain, with not a small amount of inner-joy. GCS: What made Don want to bring the nationally famous Jim Cullum and his band to Christ Church? Mimi: For one thing, Don loved jazz. He was playing jazz records all the time. He loved fast cars, too. Perhaps the two go together. So, when he had a chance with others at Christ Church to bring Jim Cullum to lead the Jazz Mass, he was overjoyed. Teaming up with his friends Jamie Browning and Kyle Beck, they insured the dream would become reality. Don looked forward to the Last Sunday of Epiphany every year for that reason, and people thanked Jamie, Kyle, and him repeatedly. GCS: You are making a special gift to Christ
Episcopal Church. Mimi: Yes, some time ago I began a SEP IRA (A Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Arrangement), and now that I am over 70.5 years of age, I must take a yearly distribution from the fund. Through careful planning and saving, I am fortunate to be doing okay financially. Thus, I have directed the yearly distribution to the Christ Church Endowment. GCS: What moved you to take such a step? Mimi: I have believed for a number of years that we are all on this earth as a miracle from God. When I think how special that is, it is important to keep reminding myself how lucky I am. I have had a very good life, which some others have not experienced. I feel a responsibility to God to do what I can to help those who are not so fortunate and are struggling through no fault of their own. I have good feelings when I give to others. The fact that Christ Church is reaching out to so many week after week is very gratifying to me, and I have decided that I want to begin giving some of what I had planned to share only after I died. I can be part of the joy of giving and be part of keeping Christ Church strong and vibrant into the future. The church that drew my mother and me here on the corner of Russell and Belknap will remain as a sign of hope to countless others long after my death. GCS: Just one more thing, Mimi. Will the Jazz Mass continue? Mimi: You can bet on it!
PAGE TURNERS – From the Rector’s Book Stack For some time now I have been buying
the Little Histories published by Yale University Press. I have done so in the belief that our grandchildren will one day enjoy and perhaps even treasure them, which I know may be wishful thinking on my part. Yale has published A Little History of the World, A Little History of Philosophy, A Little History of Economics, A Little History of the United States, and so on. Each is authored by an esteemed expert in the particular area of study and the volumes are well-written and accessible for all of us non-academics. My latest purchase has been A Little History of Religion, by Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburg, the highest post in the Anglican Church of Scotland. With the publication of this volume, Holloway’s published books number thirty. He is a prolific author, but I should warn the reader in advance, a free thinker, as well. Holloway, now retired, has been at odds with orthodox Anglicans on a number of issues and has been forthcoming with his criticism of the Church. So, be prepared to disagree with Holloway on any number of points. Nevertheless, his skepticism and facile mind has enabled him to write a mostly balanced account of the world religions, ranging from Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Shinto, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Native American religions, Mormonism, Bhai – as well as sects, such as Scientology and the Moonies. I was most intrigued by Holloway’s description of the various Reformation movements and Christian personalities that fomented those religious revolutions. As one could predict, his portrayals of Mary Queen of Scots and John Knox are particularly colorful. Holloway concludes with a strong nod to the United States. Bewailing the violence that has attended religion through the
ages, from which Christianity is not exempt, he admires the Enlightenment principles uniquely enshrined in the American Constitution. For one, the great document forbids discrimination against religion and proffers toleration. Secondly, while all religions are tolerated, none should be given control over society. As we Christians are experiencing now, this balance is not easily maintained. Douglas Steere begins his short, but mighty, book with a warning, “You can be the same person at 60 that you were at 26” … if you do not humble yourself, become receptive to God, and begin to honestly pray. Steere, an internationally celebrated Quaker and master of Christian prayer, died in 1995. His wife Dorothy, in a magnanimous act of love, updated his classic primer on prayer in 1997, Dimensions of Prayer: Cultivating a Relationship with God. I would have never read the book if a new friend had not given it to me. The 102-page volume became my Holy Week reading. On most every page, a penetrating, and often uncomfortable spiritual truth was revealed to me. Hence, I had the best Holy Week I’ve experienced in years! Steere mines the work of prayer masters from previous generations and offers their guidance to all of us. From Søren Kierkegaard (Danish, 1813-1855) – “Through unspeakable grace and the help of God, I have become myself;” Robert Frost (American, 1874-1963) – “In prayer it is a matter of being present where you are;” Bernard of Clairvaux (French, 1090-1153) – “Prayer is the business of businesses, when I awaken to that love, the alternative falls away;” Jean Grou (French, 1731-1803) – “To pray is to be continually converted;” C.S. Lewis (English, 1898-1963) – “Prayer is lethal to the devil’s cause;” Archbishop William Temple (English, 1881-1944) – “When
I pray, coincidences happen;” Martin Luther (German, 1483-1546) – “If Moses had waited until he understood how Israel could elude Pharaoh’s army, they might be in Egypt still. Prayer demands action;” and Frances de Sales (French, 1567-1622) – “When we cannot give God fresh roses, we give him dry ones, for the dry have more strength and sweetness.” The book is an ongoing dialogue between Steere and the masters of prayer, both modern and ancient. Steere is wholly conversant with this procession of sages, missionaries, and reformers. More importantly, the truths he personally reveals about the possibility of an intimate life with Christ push the reader toward a dramatic change of habit. The only problem with the short treatise is that once finishing it, you realize that you need to read it again – but much more slowly. The spring that I graduated from high school, everyone in my class was asked to choose two books to add to our school library. Without a moment’s hesitation, I chose two books by foreign news correspondents. At that time, I was certain that I would spend my first working years as a journalist on the coveted international beat. The day I enlisted in the Army, I betrayed those dreams, but the allure of writing in exotic, if not immensely dangerous locales, remained with me. For that reason, when April and Edward Groos offered me a chance to read Traveling on the Edge: Journeys in the Footsteps of Graham Greene, I eagerly accepted. Of all the twentieth century journalists, Greene (1904-1991) rises to the summit of my list. Greene not only reported from some of the most dangerous and unattractive nations on earth, he construed provocative novels in each dark venue, and he would live for months, if not years, in some of cont’d on page 14
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Book Stack Cont’d.... these unattractive countries and return to them in different seasons of his life. What magnifies the appeal of the book is the author, Julia Llewellyn Smith, a British journalist with The Telegraph, who is known for a range of news and fiction writing from fashion and romance to on-site reports from war torn and famine-stricken regions. With that stated, her chronicling of Greene’s travels tests her mettle. She begins in Chiapas, Mexico, amongst the Zapatistas, which in the year
2,000, remained dangerous ground for westerners. Yet it was here that Greene wrote his most highly regarded novel, The Power and the Glory, exposing the despotic Mexican religious purges of the 1930’s. In Vietnam, Smith speaks with those still living who remember Greene’s sympathy for their nation’s struggle against French colonialism. It was here, unfortunately, that Greene began to distrust, if not detest, American involvement in foreign nations, which is clearly evident in The Quiet American.
Smith continues her travels into Sierra Leone (The Heart of the Matter), Cuba (Our Man in Havana), Paraguay (Travels with My Aunt), and most challenging of all – Haiti (The Comedians). Towards the end of her travels, Smith concludes, “Greene never stopped picking at the scab of the human condition,” which is why he chose to live his life in these dark places. And yet Greene came to love them all… and so does Smith.
From the Kitchen by Elizabeth Martinez
Summer fun is in full swing! In June,
my husband Greg and I went on a road trip with friends to Virginia Beach. It was a great trip passing through Louisiana, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and back to Texas. Along the way, we ate some delicious meals. One of the meals was from a local restaurant in Williamsburg, VA. It was a pecan crusted chicken breast with a meuniere, steakhouse style garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus with a lemon butter cream sauce and pistachio gremolata, and sweet potato cornbread muffin, and to top it off, an apple Tansey. It was mouth-watering! This is one of the meals the kitchen will be preparing in the fall along with other delicious meals from our southern road trip. From July 8-July 26, the kitchen will close 14
for its annual cleaning. A Continental breakfast that includes breakfast tacos, danishes, orange juice and coffee, will be served on Sunday, July 14, 21, and 28. On Tuesday, July 30 at 10:00 a.m. the kitchen will host a minister (volunteer) training. Ferne Burney will conduct the training. It is a hands-on training and lunch will be provided. Anyone who loves to cook and knows their way around a kitchen is welcome to get a refresher course. For those who are considering volunteering in the kitchen, it is a great way to know the ins and outs of a commercial kitchen. The training promotes correct hand washing, when to use gloves, cooking food to the right temperature, and food safety tips and tricks. Wearing the proper clothing and shoes in a commercial kitchen will also be part of the discussions. Please RSVP to
Elizabeth Martinez at elizabethm@cecsa. org. *Fun Facts: Did you know…. if all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year. The amount of wood and paper thrown away each year is enough to heat 50,000.000 homes for 20 years! Approximately one billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S. Every day American businesses generate enough paper to circle the earth 20 times. And if every household in the U.S. reused a paper bag for one shopping trip, about 60,000 trees would be saved! So, considering these fun facts, the kitchen ministry will soon be using biodegradable products. Let’s go Green! *www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts. html
Photo Album
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Christ Episcopal Church 510 Belknap Place San Antonio, TX 78212 www.cecsa.org
The Message (USPS 471-710) is published bi-monthly by Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, San Antonio, TX 78212. Periodical postage paid in San Antonio, TX. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, San Antonio, TX 78212. Volume 21, Number 4.
VBS 2019