God is Good, All the Time! · 2016-07-09 · God did not choose to give Diabetes to my son. A virus...

JULY 2016

EUCHARISTIC LECTIONARY YEAR C

SUNDAY WORSHIP

7:45 AM Holy Eucharist Rite I

9:00 AM Holy Eucharist Rite II

11:00 AM Holy Eucharist Rite II

Children’s Chapel

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

10:00 am Adult Classes

Encouragers

WEEKDAY WORSHIP

6:00 PM Wednesday,

Holy Eucharist Rite II

12:00 pm Thursdays Holy Eucharist &

Healing (Chapel)

At Camp Capers, every gathering is begun by the Chaplain saying,

“God is good” and the children answering, “All the time!” It is some-

what simplistic but it is something adults and children need to re-

member every minute of every day.

As you read this, my family and I are observing the one-year anniver-

sary of my eight-year-old son’s diagnosis with Type 1 Diabetes. At the

time, I went quickly through most of the emotions: shock, denial, an-

ger, pity for myself, and pity for my son. I ultimately reached a place

where I could say in all honesty – “God is good, all the time!”

As we rushed from doctor’s office to Dell Children’s Hospital in Aus-

tin, my faith was strengthened every mile that we drove. God’s love

was very much present in the kindness of the doctors, nurses, social

services workers, and hospital staff. Although my whole family (my

wife, daughter, son and I) spent four days huddled in a small hospital

room, my son declared each passing moment to be “the best ever.”

And in an odd way it was -- we were together and he was feeling bet-

ter. God is good, all the time!

I‘ve noticed some huge changes in all of our lives. We sit down as a

family for breakfast and dinner. We watch what we are eating. We

are closer to our immediate family. We are more respectful of each

other. We are more patient with each other.

I celebrate that God gave some people the gift of wisdom and

knowledge to be doctors and nurses and researchers. These people

have taken a disease that would have at one time killed my son and

made it where he can live with few inconveniences.

God did not choose to give Diabetes to my son. A virus may have trig-

gered the disease or my son’s DNA may have contributed to the dis-

ease, but it wasn’t God. God does not take healthy, happy little boys

and inflict disease upon them. God loves us, all the time! God is

good, all the time!

(continued on page 2)

God is Good, All the Time!

Carl Luckenbach

We often hear that STEWARDSHIP includes not only treasure, but also time and talent. Well, a

perfect opportunity to offer your time and talent is coming up during August 1—5, 2016 at St. Bar-

nabas Vacation Bible School. Karen Young and her volunteer staff need your help in transforming

our Parish Hall into Egypt and sharing the story of Joseph from prison to palace.

Available volunteer positions are:

Family leaders (teachers) Music leaders

Marketplace leaders (crafts) Recreation leaders

All ages are welcome! Share the excitement! To learn more details and to sign

up, contact Karen Young at 800 285-1012 or kyoung002@austin.rr.com.

Volunteer at Vacation Bible School

(continued from page 1)

When tragedy or illness invades your life, please don’t turn away from God. You can be angry at

God. You can yell at God (God can handle it)! But don’t turn away from God. It is God who will get

you through the difficult times. It is God who will give you comfort and strength. It is God who is

good— all the time!

If you turn away from God, most times you will be filled with bitterness and grief about “what God

did to you.” If you continue to be in prayer with God, you will realize that God is good all the time.

You will realize that miracles are happening around you every moment, even the darker moments

of your life. You will realize that life is good, even though it may be changed.

A few weeks ago, my son was at his first Camp Capers session. A few tears welled up in my eyes

when I heard the chaplain for the week say, “God is good” and heard my son answering, “All the

time!”

Father Bur

New Daughters of the King Installed

Father Jeff installed Joan Petty,

Millie Bennet, Debbie Agnew

and Nancy Braunitzer into the

Daughters of the King on June

5, as Discernment Leader,

Evelyn Burns looks on.

Get ready for a mission trip to beautiful Honduras!

St. Barnabas is funding a project to drill a water well in a rural village in the El Paraiso region of Honduras.

The Texas Water Mission (TWM), which is responsible for the project, is inviting a mission team to go to

Honduras during the drilling, and we’re starting to make plans for the trip.

The trip will be from Thursday, January 19 to Thursday, January 26, 2017. We’ll stay at the Kellogg Cen-

ter at Zamorano Agricultural University. The rooms are comfortable and it’s very safe. We will travel as a

group to the drilling site and other places we’ll visit. The actual drilling is done by Honduran crews, but

there is other work to be done at the project site. We’ll have daily devotional services and, on Sunday,

we’ll attend services at the local Episcopal church.

In addition to drilling the well, the TWM conducts Health and Hygiene training for people in the surround-

ing area. The training focusses on how to use the clean water from the well, and how to maintain good

hygiene in food preparation and other daily activities. While the H&H training is going on, the TWM also

holds Bible school for the children in the village and surrounding area. The mission team will see and par-

ticipate in all of these activities.

The TWM takes on the obligation to maintain the wells for five years. Commercially drilled wells and wells

drilled by NGOs usually don’t have this follow-up. To carry out this obligation, we have a Honduran crew to

test the water and repair the wells when something breaks. The mission team will also be able to see and

participate in this program.

We will have two pre-mission meetings in Fredericksburg, one in November and another in early January

The trip will cost approximately $1,400 per person, the major portion being the air fare. You will need to

have a passport. I f you are interested in going, please contact David Spencer at 830-995-2912, or John-

ny Gorden at 830-285-7867. Praise the Lord! David Spencer

St. Barnabas’ Boy Scout Troop 137 will be attending sum-

mer camp July 17—23 at Buffalo Trails Scout Ranch in the

Davis Mountains of West Texas. Scouts will be divided into

two groups with the younger boys participating in the Intro-

duction to Backpacking program. The older boys will hike

the 65-mile Davis Mountain Trek. All Scouts will partici-

pate in several short practice hikes between now and sum-

mer camp. Boys ages 11 to 18 are invited to join in these

events and in the adventures to follow! Troop 137 meets

each Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:00 in the Parish Hall.

Contact Scoutmaster Gayne C. Young at 830-285-1011 or

at gayne@gaynecyoung.com for details.

Troop 137 members Barrett Young, John Fotschky,

Liam Mattes, Michael Penton, Carl Wilger on a prac-

tice hike at Pedernales State Park June 4.

Troop 137 to Attend Summer Camp in Late July

May 2016 Financials St Barnabas Financials as of May 31, 2016

May 16

Actuals

Monthly

Budget

$ +/- Budg-

et

Jan-May

Actuals

YTD

Budget

$ +/-

Budget

Annual

Budget

Income 43,205 40,230 2,975 213,952 201,150 12,802 482,750

Expenses:

Staff 30,415 26,685 3,730 130,566 133,425 -2,859 320,199

Operating 5,101 6,449 30,691 30,691 32,245 -1,554 77,400

Ministry 3,884 2,778 1,106 14,575 13,890 685 33,350

Apportionment 5,381 5,381 0 26,905 26,905 0 64,572

Total Expenses 44,781 41,293 3,488 202,737 206,465 -3,728 495,521

Net Income -1,576 -1,063 -513 11,215 -5,315 16,530 -12,771

Balance Sheet: There was a decrease of $10,532. The following is the breakdown by area:

Monthly Operations -$1,575 (explained below)

Moms Morning Off +$ 554 (explained below)

Prepaid Pledges +$2,440

Funds -$6,866

Office relocation and Maintenance (-$2,269)

Outreach Donations, (-$5,083)

Significant activity from other funds was as follows: Columbarium (+$1,076), Dugat MMO Scholarship

(-$256), Endowment (+$659), Rector Discretionary (-$887)

Monthly Operations: Overall there was a deficit of $1,575 versus a budgeted deficit of $1,063. Close

enough for the month to call it good. However, income was higher than budgeted by $2,975, while ex-

penses were over budget by $3,488. The higher than budgeted expenses were primarily driven by an

annual payment of the medical spending account for the assistant priest. The YTD balance is still posi-

tive $11,213 versus a budgeted -$5,315. Things are still looking good.

MMO: MMO had a small surplus of $554. In June, expenses will be incurred with no income so the

expectation will be a deficit for the month. The YTD balance is a positive $8,305.

From the Senior Warden

Save these dates! September 11, 2016, October 16, 2016, and January 15, 2017! These are Sun-

days that we will have One Service/Meal to Follow. In September, we will bless the students and

teachers for their new school year. Then in October, we will kick-off the Stewardship Campaign and

finally in January we will have our Annual Parish Meeting. There were so many positive comments

about our One Service/Meal on May 1 to welcome Fr. Bur and his family, that the vestry is honoring

your requests……to have more One Service/Meal Sundays.

Be watching in the coming weeks for construction that will expand the Columbarium. This process

has been ongoing for over a year. Many thanks to the Columbarium Expansion Committee that met

and made plans for this expansion. You may remember that Jack Oates, our Junior Warden, staked

out for your input where the expansion will be.

The coffee and donuts between and after services has been a big success. More people have been

talking and visiting and getting to know one another in a lovely setting. Fr. Bur is to be thanked for

getting this going! He is really full of ideas one of which is having a Newcomer’s Dinner every six

weeks or so for those who may be new to the parish. Look for more information on that in the future!

(continued next page)

(Continued from the previous page)

A new balcony rail has been installed. Now we are “up to code” and we don’t have to worry about Hazel

anymore!

The Parish Hall will have some new tables soon. The vestry approved at its last meeting the sale of the

old wooden tables in the Parish Hall and the purchase of new round, rectangular, and seminar tables.

The new tables will be more lightweight and very sturdy.

There are going to be some changes in the Sunday School Program for our youth. Fr. Jeff and Fr. Bur

have shared a few of those changes with the vestry with more information to come. Sunday school

teachers and potential Sunday school teachers will be excited and of course, the youth will, as well.

New church directories are in the works. Fr. Bur has promised them in four weeks! You should have re-

ceived a directory information form in the mail. Please fill it out and return it so that the directory will

have the most complete and up-to-date information.

Each and every one of you is important to St. Barnabas and its mission to serve Christ and others. You

are missed when you are not present!

Faithfully, Vicki

The Hymn of the Pearl The Journey Home

St. Barnabas Wisdom School is sponsoring a retreat on The Hymn of the Pearl, a text from the Acts of

Thomas, written in the second or third century about the Apostle Thomas and his travels in India. St.

Thomas fostered the spread of Christianity and ministered for 20 years in the southern part of India,

where Christianity continues today. On the evening prior to his execution, tradition says St. Thomas re-

ceived the Hymn of the Pearl, which he sang, or recited, throughout the evening.

Only recently, with the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas in 1945, has the beauty and importance of

this hymn been realized in the Western Stream of Christianity. It has been used and recognized for a

much longer period within the Eastern Christian Communities, in their liturgy and in their teachings.

During this weekend retreat, we will offer an introduction to the beauty of The Hymn of the Pearl and its

relationship to our personal spiritual growth. We will be using music, image, and text to broaden our

openness to the metaphors, sacred symbols, and other elements contained in the hymn.

Dates: Friday, August 19 and Saturday, August-20, 2016

Friday Evening: St Barnabas Parish Hall, 6:00—8:30 p.m. Introduction to Hymn of the Pearl

Saturday: Way of the Wolf Retreat Center, 9:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.

Presenter: Ron Poidevin with Facilitators: Richard Mickelson, Karen Poidevin, Tom Christof-

ferson, and Debbie Gorden.

Registration: St. Barnabas Episcopal Church Office, stbarnabasfbg.org, (830) 997-5762.

Fee: $30 includes a contemporary translation for the “Hymn of the Pearl”

Bring a light lunch on Saturday

. Directions to Way of the Wolf will be provided Friday night.

What is Community of Hope? It is a lay pastoral care ministry dedicated to

“creating Christian communities of lay pastoral care givers united in prayer,

shaped by Benedictine spirituality and equipped for and serving in pastoral

care ministries.” COH ministries at St. Barnabas include visiting the home-

bound as well as individuals in the hospital and nursing homes. Caregivers

are also involved with the St. Barnabas Food Ministry, providing transporta-

tion, mentoring, prison ministry, literacy programs, women’s shelter, Wound-

ed Warriors, Meals on Wheels and American Gold Star Mothers.

What does it mean for St. Barnabas? COH provides the opportunity to learn the how's and why’s of

such ministries, and to undertake them in a mutually supportive way. For many people, a level of inse-

curity holds them back from taking on these kinds of personal ministries. In a world marked more by

isolation than connection, the skills and discernment needed to minister effectively don’t come easily.

It can be difficult to love well; it really helps to know what you are doing and have others walk with you.

What is “Benedictine spirituality? It is a mode of living, a “rule of life,” developed by St. Benedict in the

5th century. It offers a way towards balance, moderation and reasonableness in everyday life. It is a

guide to loving others and helping ourselves stay sane. Training for COH includes 15 training modules

covering such topics as Benedictine Spirituality, Theology of Pastoral Care, Listening skills, Prayer,

Grief: Coping with Loss, and Pastoral Care for Seniors. Classes will begin in September and will be held

from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday or Tuesday evenings, depending on the group’s preference.

How can you learn more? Pick up a brochure at the church office and contact Steve Neale at 990-

1497 or snealefbg@gmail.com. Or talk to these current COH caregivers: Debbie Agnew, Cindy Beeman,

Bill Burns, Janice and Tom Christofferson, Sheila Dubois, Jane Good, Margaret Hawn, Marianna Lively,

Richard and Cydney Mickelson, Nan Mosley, Bud Parrish, Carol Schreider, Lyda Slayton, Bernie

Swanzy, Judy and Tom Taylor, Karen Welch, Morey Weldon, Pris Williams, and Sandy Wuest.

A New Community of Hope Class Begins This Fall

Community of Hope International

“A School for God’s Service”

A Prayer for Our Country

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech

thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do

thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners.

Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from

every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multi-

tudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wis-

dom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there

may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may

show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our

hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail;

all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP)

MEETINGS & M INISTRIES

ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS Wednesday—6 p.m. in CEB

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

Sun Mon Tues Wed Fri Sat

8 p.m. in CEB

Spanish Speaking Meeting

Sun & Mon 6:30 p.m. in CEB

Thurs, Closed Meeting (Women)

7 p.m. in CEB

AL-ANON Monday—6:30 p.m. in CEB

Friday—6:30 p.m. in CEB

BELL CHOIR Off for the summer

BIBLE STUDIES Monday—7 a.m. in Library

Thursday—10 a.m. in CEB

BOY SCOUT TROOP 137

CHOIR Off until further notice

DAUGHTERS OF THE KING 2nd Saturday of the Month

9:30 a.m. in Sanctuary

LIBRARY GUILD 1st Thursday of the Month

10 a.m. in the Library

MEN’S BREAKFAST Thursday—7 a.m. in Parish Hall

MMO (MOM’S MORNING OFF) Resumes late August

VESTRY 3rd Monday of the Month—5 p.m.

in Conference Room

WISDOM SCHOOL Hymn of the Pearl

August 19-20

JULY

1st Lynne Cross

Martha Davis

Frances Money

3rd Stella Hill

4th Jane Elwood

Rebecca Williams

7th Luke Cowsar

9th James Muncey

11th Evelyn Burns

Paula Provost

12th Stephen McCrummen

Pam Montandon

Michael Swanzy

13th Shelly Kothmann

Asher Seracen

14th Thea Setterbo

16th Mike Massengale

17th Mell Jackson, Jr.

Tracy Mason

Eleanor Russell

18th Jack Daffern

19th Cindy Scroggins

21st Jana Neale

Kristina Seracen

24th Bostyn Woolverton

25th Rex White

26th Joan Harris

Cydney Mickelson

Bill Sadd

28th Meridith Clements

Rosamond Haertlein

30th Carly McMahon

Marilee Pankratz

Morey Weldon

B IRTHDAYS

ANNIVERSARIES 7th Tom & Judy Taylor

12th Stella & Billy Hill

14th Chris & Katharine Brundrett

Jonathan & Sharla Godfrey

15th Harvey & Elizabeth Coe

17th Tom & Janice Christofferson

Robert & Ginny Thomason

22nd Jimmy & Beth Davis

26th Rex & Mary Lou White

27th Morey & Bill Weldon

30th Richard & Cydney Mickelson

Happy

Independence

Day

Lost and Found

A blue and black bag with notebooks,

math flash cards, pencils and pens was

left in the office. Please claim before

July 15 when it will go to Goodwill.

Summer is here and “Egypt” is coming to St. Barnabas Episcopal

Church. The church will be transformed into Egypt for Vacation

Bible School August 1-5, 9:00 a.m. to noon. This year’s VBS kids

will visit Egypt, where they will explore the life of Joseph who, with

the help of God, moved from a prison cell to a palace. Kids will par-

ticipate in a Bible-times marketplace, sing songs, play games,

taste Egyptian snacks, create Bible-time crafts, visit Joseph in pris-

on and then in his palace home, and collect Bible

Memory Makers to remind them of God’s Word.

The children will look for evidence of God all around

them through something called God Sightings.

There is no charge to attend VBS at St. Barnabas. It is a gift from our church to the

children and grandchildren of St. Barnabas, to their friends and to the wider Freder-

icksburg community. Children ages four through twelve are eligible for VBS at St.

Barnabas. Registration is due by July 29. Visit our website at ww.stbarnabasfbg.org

to register on line. Registration forms are also available in the church office. Call

(830) 997-5762 for more information.

CHURCH CLERGY AND STAFF:

Rector: The Rev. Jeff Hammond

Assistant Rector: The Rev. Bur Dobbins

Lay Pastoral Minister: Morey Weldon

Clergy Associate: The Rev. Dr. Dyana Orrin

Clergy Associate: The Rev. Anne Finn

Clergy Associate: The Rev. Tom Luck

Parish Administrator: Rachael Cole

Office Assistant: Carol Schreider

Youth Director: Marilee Pankratz

Director of Music: Hazel Hanson

Lay Ministry Coordinator: Steve Neale

Mom’s Morning Off Director: Deanne Moellering

Nursery Director: Madeline Clanton

Housekeeper: Patty Ramirez

Return Service Requested

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