The Emmanuel Way
July 2015
THE EMMANUEL WAY Newsletter of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, Virginia
July 2015
May we strive to live in Christ and do His work from this place. Rector’s Message………….1 Sr Warden’s Message……2 Worship……………….………3 Formation………..…………..5 Outreach………………………6
View from the Rector’s Desk
Parish Life……………………7
Dear Friends, I hope you are having a wonderful summer. The rhythm of church life changes over the summer. We enjoy being together as one congregation at 10 a.m. Many of you have told me how wonderful it is each summer to get reacquainted with folks who usually attend the “other” service. Yet each Sunday, travel for vacations, college trips, sports, and camps change the faces that gather to worship. Although vacations and other travel plans take many of us out of town during the summer months, life at Emmanuel is anything but quiet. We enjoyed another very successful Vacation Bible School, themed this year as “Earth, Our Island Home.” Almost 50 campers and dozens of volunteers kept our grounds busy during the week of 22-‐26 June. Thank you to all who made this wonderful week possible.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood Parish 7599 Rockfish Gap Turnpike P.O. Box 38 Greenwood, VA 22943 540-‐456-‐6334 www.emmanuelgreenwood.org
In June we also celebrated the retirement of Janice Fischer, who served faithfully as our Parish Administrator for over fifteen years. I cannot thank Janice enough for the work she did to make my transition as new Rector a smooth one. We welcome Anne Rothenberger, our new administrator, who has had a wonderful first month. Please stop by, introduce yourself to Anne, and welcome her if you haven’t met her already. During July and August, your staff will do as much preparation as possible for a busy program year to come. I will take vacation during the first week of August. In just a few short weeks, we gather for our annual parish retreat at Shrine Mont on 4, 5, and 6 September, and then we will go back to two services on Sunday mornings, with a full program of Christian formation for all ages. We will welcome the Rt Rev Susan Goff, our Suffragan Bishop, for the annual Bishop’s visit on 27 September. Best wishes for a wonderful summer!
The Emmanuel Way
July 2015
Senior Warden’s Message I am honored to be greeting you as the Senior Warden! Emmanuel holds a very special place in my heart and I have enjoyed serving in this capacity. There are so many exciting things happening at our special church! Kathy Stone, Emmanuel ‘s Senior Warden I will tell you a little about what brought me to Emmanuel. I grew up attending and was baptized in a Church of Christ. As an adult, I had lost my connection with the church but after my girls, Madison and Emily, were born I started to feel the need to renew my faith. My husband’s job required us to move multiple times while the children were young which added a layer of difficulty to my journey. Fortunately, living in three states in four years gave us the opportunity to visit many types of churches and try them on for size. We never connected to any one church, but that all changed the moment we walked through the doors of Emmanuel. We attended Easter services in the spring of 2008 and immediately felt as though we had come home. The warm, welcoming, loving spirit of Emmanuel was unlike anything we had experienced before. I was received into the church November 13, 2011, and Madison and Emily were baptized that same day by Bishop Shannon. Since then, I have committed myself to our parish. I co-‐led our Women’s Bible Study group for 3 years, was elected to the Vestry in 2013, became chair of the Finance Committee in 2013, and recently became a Eucharistic Minister. I also participated in the mission trip to Haiti last February with an amazing group of folks from Emmanuel and came back even more committed to our church community. Now, I get the opportunity to lead our vestry. What a special gift. My hopes for this year are simple. I want to strengthen my relationship with God and with every member of our Emmanuel community. I want to be a strong support for our fearless leader, Christopher, and I want our parish to continue our long-‐standing tradition of being an active, welcoming, and loving church. I am committed to Emmanuel and to each of you. I am blessed to call you all family. Sincerely, Kathy Stone
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The Emmanuel Way
Summer Service time
July 2015
Worship
We are in the midst of our summer service schedule. Our switch back to 9am and 11am services will take place after our Shrine Mont retreat (September 4-‐6) on Sunday, September 13.
Many hands What do all of these ministries have in common: altar guild, greeters, ushers, acolytes, choir, children’s chapel leaders, lectors, intercessors, Eucharistic ministers, presenters, coffee hour hosts, and counters? Each group plays a role in our Sunday worship. Each group provides volunteers every week. Most important, each group welcomes you, needs your support and participation, and would be happy to train you to take an active role in our liturgy. If you would like to be part of any of these groups, please call the church office, and we will be happy to connect you.
Altar Guild The Altar Guild at Emmanuel is made up of over twenty members of the church. They prepare the Altar for services of Holy Eucharist, including preparing and putting out the vessels, linens, wine, and wafers. They also change the paraments to the color shown on the liturgical calendar for the day of the service. Polishing the silver, laundering the linens, filling the candles with oil, and cleaning up after the services are all a part of their duties. They set up for Holy Baptism, Weddings, and Funerals. The busiest time for the Altar Guild is at Christmas, Holy Week, and Easter. New members are always welcome and are trained by their team. At the present, we have men and women serving on six teams. Each team serves one week of the month, which normally takes less than two hours unless there is an additional service such as a wedding or funeral. We would love to have more members and if you would like to be a part of this joyful and rewarding ministry, please call Mary Ann Carman at (434) 361-‐1118 or see her at church.
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The Emmanuel Way
July 2015
Worship continued Music Just as the colored hangings in the church change with each season, so does some of our service music. Our hymnal has many beautiful arrangements for the “service music” – those parts of the liturgy that are traditionally sung: the Gloria, our opening hymn of praise; the Sanctus, as we begin Holy Eucharist, “joining our voices with angels and archangels”; and the fraction anthem, sung as we break bread and prepare to serve the Eucharist. During the summer, we’re using David Hurd’s New Plainsong settings on most Sundays. Throughout the year, on Rite One Sundays (second Sunday of each month), we sing to Healey Willan’s Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena. And when the paraments change to blue at Advent, we’ll mark the change in liturgical season with a change in service music, once again. So open your hymnal to the selections marked “S-‐…” at the front, and meet some new musical friends.
Ushers Serving as an usher is a great way to assist our Sunday worship services. Ushers are often also needed for funerals, memorial services, and special events. Welcoming with a smile everyone who walks through the door to attend a service is an important role of an usher. Two ushers are expected for each service. Handing out bulletins, assisting with seating and questions, distributing the offering plate during the presentation, directing parishioners to the altar during the Eucharist, and helping with any needs during the service are all usher responsibilities as well. All are welcome as ushers! Training is handled through our Head Usher, Harry Lankenau. A new usher is always paired with an experienced usher. Please contact Harry directly (by phone: 434-‐ 760-‐9507; or email:
[email protected]), or the church office if you are interested in learning more about the opportunity to serve. Folks in the current usher pool can sign up using the schedule posted on this link, or by contacting Harry or the church office. Thank you for your interest in serving as an usher at Emmanuel.
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The Emmanuel Way
July 2015
Formation Camp Emmanuel thank-‐yous Many, many thanks go out to all campers, counselors, staff, and parishioners who made Camp Emmanuel, Earth Our Island Home a huge success! We are especially thankful to Madame Director Dara Parker and family, who gave countless hours of thought, time, and energy to Camp E. Our campers worked each night to do small things to be better caretakers of our Earth. Each and every one of them earned a “Gardener Badge.” Generous sponsors have pledged $10 per camper that will go to support the Crozet Park Fund. There is still time to sponsor a camper! Contact Cathy Boyd for details. We appreciate your prayers and active support of Camp Emmanuel!
School Supplies & Backpacks! As a summer outreach project, we are partnering with several area churches to fill 120 backpacks with school supplies for area students. Our share is 30 backpacks for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Groups or individuals can contribute one backpack or a share of a backpack. Every contribution matters! Sign up after church in the Courtyard or online. The ingathering for these supplies is Sunday, August 9th at 10am. The following Sunday, August 16th, we will offer a blessing over our Emmanuel students and give them a token of our blessings to put in their backpacks. Students of all ages are welcome!
Emmanuel Sunday School will be “irresistible!” That’s how the curriculum that we will be using this coming year is described: irresistible! For grades preK-‐5, we will be using a Workshop Rotation curriculum. This means that children work on the same story or concept for several weeks, using different learning approaches in each workshop room they visit. So on the first Sunday of a new topic, all ages meet together for an introduction of the topic. Then the next several Sundays are devoted to studying that topic through different media: art, cooking, drama, video, service project, outdoor activities, etc. The culminating event of a unit might be a presentation or a party. We are pleased to announce that the first unit will be in pursuit of the many answers to the question, What makes Emmanuel special? We will explore the Emmanuel mission statement, May we strive to live in Christ and do His work from this place, by interviewing current members, touring our grounds, and helping with outreach projects. We are hoping the end product of this unit can be a short video about Emmanuel from a child’s perspective. This approach to Sunday School is inspired by the creative projects that have already taken place in Emmanuel Sunday School classrooms through the years. Through building an ark, cooking for shut-‐ ins, showing interesting videos, and more, the Emmanuel Sunday School teachers know how children like to learn. This method will allow for many people to be involved in teaching, with jobs and roles divided into manageable parts. Updates on plans and specific ways people help are forthcoming! Questions, ideas, suggestion? Email Cathy Boyd at
[email protected].
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The Emmanuel Way
July 2015
Outreach Disciples Kitchen Emmanuel participates in the Disciples Kitchen soup kitchen twice a month, for breakfast on the 3rd Saturday of every odd month, and for lunch on the third Monday of every even numbered month. At the June lunch event, 65 folks came to dine in, with 13 takers for a second helping, and 3 people took meals to go. Volunteer coordinators Steve Walsworth and Kaye Pietrowicz are grateful to those who prepared the meal, to those who served it, and especially to those who did both! They “could not have asked for any better dedication to feeding those that wanted a meal!” The watermelon and coleslaw were big hits; thank you, Amanda and BB! The June lunch was even more extraordinary because Appalachian Trail hikers and city road crew members came by for a meal. At the end, all the food was eaten except for a small bit of chili. Our next DK service is breakfast on July 18th (Saturday), where we serve the ever-‐famous Emmanuel Episcopal egg-‐sausage casserole at the Basic United Methodist Church. Here's the LINK to information and the sign-‐up for that event: http://www.perfectpotluck.com/meals.php?t=SGUC4005 Would you like to participate in the DK program? Please contact Steve Walsworth (
[email protected]) or Kaye Pietrowicz (
[email protected]) to get added to our DK email list. Our remaining events for this year are July 18, August 17, September 19, October 19, N ovember 21, December 21. Odd months are breakfast service on Saturdays from 10-‐10:45 at the Basic United Methodist Church. Even months are lunch on Mondays from 11:30-‐12:15 at the Second Presbyterian Church.
The United Thank Offering The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a worldwide effort we participate in twice a year to help meet the compelling human needs and in expanding the mission of the Episcopal Church nationally and worldwide. Last year, participating churches collected $102, 233 which was used to b uild a new kitchen in a rural parish where feeding the population was of utmost importance as they had no other means of supplying food to a group of local residents. The overseas grant went to war-‐torn South Sudan to the Rt. Rev. Wilson Kamani in the Ibba Diocese to purchase a vehicle for his use to minister to his rural parishes. Each year, our church holds two in-‐ gatherings for the UTO, in the spring and in the fall. Every penny that is collected in the blue boxes is granted for the missions of the church. Our fall UTO ingathering is scheduled for October 22. Blue UTO boxes are in the narthex! Questions? Contact Mary Mac Laing at 434-‐963-‐7900.
Shawl Ministry The Shawl Ministry is an opportunity for crafters to make Healing Shawls for individuals who are battling an illness or facing difficulty. These are hand-‐made by church members and are then blessed during a service. Although most shawls are knitted or crocheted, hand-‐woven, quilted, or sewn ones have also been used. A card with prayers for healing is attached and the shawls are given to someone who is need of an “outward and visible sign of God’s love.” We welcome donations for yarn and encourage those who can to make a shawl. Knit & crochet instructions are available by contacting the church office at 540-‐456-‐6334. The church has a copy of “Knitting into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl-‐Knitting Ministry” by Susan S. Jorgensen and Susan S. Izard, the founders of this movement.
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The Emmanuel Way
July 2015
Parish Life Shrine Mont Parish Retreat Our annual parish retreat to Shrine Mont will be Friday, September 4-‐6, 2015! Shrine Mont is the home of the Cathedral Shrine of the Transfiguration—the cathedral of the Diocese of Virginia. It is “a place where people give thanks to God for his creation — from the beauty of the streams, flowers and wildlife which are at home here, to the people who come to this place to celebrate being part of the family of God,” as beautifully stated on Shrine Mont’s web site. Emmanuel’s annual parish weekend at Shrine Mont is designed to bring us together through fellowship, recreation, reflection, worship and song, all in a lovely setting featuring fresh air, blue skies, springs, and friendly people. More plans are in the works for this year’s retreat, so look for updates in our weekly emails and on our website. A registration table will be set up in our courtyard for the next several Sundays, and registration is available on our website. Questions? See our Shrine Mont web page (under the Parish Life tab) or call Anne Dagner at (434) 882-‐3630.
Shrine Mont Book Sale The annual used book sale to raise funds for our parish weekend at Shrine Mont will be held July 26 -‐ August 9. Please bring your used books to donate to the parish hall by Saturday, July 25th! We would love to have your hardbacks and paperbacks, fiction and non-‐fiction. We regret that we are unable to put CDs, audiotapes or videotapes to good use, but all your books of all kinds are welcome!! Plan to shop after services on Sunday July 26th! Thank you!
Parish Hall Bulletin Board Update With the help of Nanette Alcaro and Charley Chabot, the Parish Hall bulletin boards are being updated! Many, many thanks to Deloris Smith and the Emmanuel Youth Group for keeping them covered recently. Our rehabbed boards will feature descriptions of ministries at Emmanuel, pictures of special events, and a “Sign-‐Up Station” where you can sign up for events and ministries at Emmanuel.
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The Emmanuel Way
July 2015
Scenes along the Way
Many thanks to all who made Camp Emmanuel a huge success!
Emmanuel Episcopal Church P.O. Box 38 Greenwood, VA 22943