AUGUST 2020

2021 ANNUAL STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN

So many phrases and adjectives have been used to describe 2020 thus far - unprecedented, extraordinary, unparalleled, and historic to name only a few. How many times have you said “in these crazy times” or “in the situation

we find ourselves” or even “in these uncertain times” in your daily talks with your friends and family? I know I have. Our plans, both large and small have been disrupted. We cannot go about daily life as we have come to know it. Our children are out of school, our small businesses are in jeopardy, we cannot gather with our extended families, we cannot socialize in groups or go to lunch with friends. We cannot even go to church! None of us has experienced anything exactly like this before. From the worldwide pandemic to our country’s unrest, I venture we are all a bit frazzled, a bit unsettled and are doing the best we can to keep things “normal.”

So very much has changed. And yet, so very much has remained the same. Perhaps the most important thing that has not changed is our Church and the love of God. Both have been steadfast. God continues to give Incarnation so much: a vibrant and growing church family, innovative pastors who are reaching out to us daily in new ways (hello Empty Pews), thoughtful Christian outreach to the Highlands community and abroad, and intentional pastoral care. I dare say “these times” are when we need Incarnation the most.

Incarnation is what it is today in large part because of your generosity. You have been steadfast. Your commitment to the parish enables our church to carry out the mission and ministry of Christ in this place. We are writing today to ask you to continue your support of Incarnation with a pledge for 2021. A pledge card has been mailed to your address for your review. Please return it to the church office by September 16, so that planning for next year may begin. You may also make a pledge online by going to https://incarnationwnc.org/giving/

In the next few weeks, you will hear from several of our ministries who have been steadfast in the work of the church. We hope that you will join us in sharing what God has given you with a loving, generous and grateful heart by pledging to the 2021 Stewardship Campaign.

Gratefully,

Keller and Sam Torrey 2021 Stewardship Chairs

“Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:58.

AUGUST FINANCIAL STATEMENT

A podcast created for spiritual and parish-wide connection during the COVID-19 pandemic, brought to you from the priests at Church of the Incarnation, Highlands.

Dear Incarnation Parishioner,

Thank you for your loving support of The Church of the Incarnation.

This message comes to you at a crucial time in the life of our parish. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all of our lives, disrupted our fellowship and created great uncertainty. At the church, in particular, we have been unable to worship in person since early March, and many of our summer parishioners have been unable to return to Highlands. To help sustain our faith, our staff has provided a wonderful ministry of online services and video updates, but gathering in person makes a big difference.

These circumstances have dramatically impacted our pledge and plate receipts. At the same time the bulk of our ongoing expenses, such as personnel, remain fixed. In response, your Vestry has cut non-essential expenses, initiated a spending freeze and scaled back our outreach to the community

proportionately. Even so, at current giving levels, the pledge and plate revenue for the year will fall short of budget by $200,000.

We need your faithful support. Whether you give to the church through an annual pledge or through regular contributions to the plate, we encourage you to keep your giving current. You may send your contributions directly to Church of the Incarnation, P.O. Box 729, Highlands, NC 28741. Or you may drop off pledge or plate payments at the church office. Simply call the office, and we will arrange curbside pickup.

Jesus said, “Fear not,” and we are not afraid. With God’s help and your loving support, we will pass through this time of trial and emerge an even stronger and more vibrant parish, now and in the future.

Sincerely,

The Finance Committee

GLOBAL MISSIONS GRANT

Incarnation has been given a grant of $6,000 by the Global Mission Committee of our diocese. The funds will be used to support Bon Saveur Enfants, a home for twenty four children located on the grounds of the Episcopal school and church in Cange, Haiti. These children were abandoned at the hospital in Cange because their parents could not care for them. Eight of the children have mental or physical limitations. Incarnation has helped to support the home for the past four years, providing funds to supplement their food and clothing and to provide additional staff, including a physical therapist. Thanks be to God for providing for these blessed children.

Like all, COVID has impacted the guild with less members making their annual summer visits to Highlands and with less financial resources in which to purchase flowers and supplies. However, as a group we have risen to the occasion in pooling our talents and foraging for flowers and greenery to provide a backdrop of beauty at the altar.

I want to especially thank the seasonal folks who have volunteered their time and talent to ensure weekly flowers are done for our Sunday service. Not only has this given our seasonal residents a way in which to help the Incarnation community, but it’s given the full time guild members a bit of a summer vacation! Thank you and welcome “home” Barbara Adams, Michael Burel, Lisa Dailey, Nancy Jamison, Sandy Norton and Miriam Skiles.

As a guild we have been asked to keep our spending at zero for the time being. I am proud to announce we’ve accomplished this with our foraging!

Anyone who has flowers in their garden they’d like to share and see on Sunday’s altar, please notify me and a guild member will gladly make arrangements to get them.

On another note, we will be preparing for the upcoming renovation of our new Glorious Vision space. A more efficient work space, but with less room will entail paring down our inventory of containers. Many of these containers are rarely used and with the altar space changing we are asking that anyone who has given containers for our use, please let me know if there are any you would like back. This does NOT include those given as memorial or gifts of thanksgiving. It is only those containers dropped by with the hope we could use them. Times are changing, and so must we!

Meanwhile, stay safe, and spend more time grooming those gardens during the snippets of sunshine! - Jill Helmer

Designed by Michael Burel for July 26th

NEWS FROM THE FLOWER GUILD

Bill and Rosemary Stiefel, two of the most affable, dedicated and well-liked members of Incarnation, met on a blind date in 1959. Bill was a student at Emory University’s School of Dentistry, and Rosemary was a student at Agnes Scott College majoring in Art and Philosophy. They got married a year later in May of 1960 and recently celebrated their 60th Anniversary. They have three sons: The oldest graduated from Yale in Philosophy and graduated from Stanford Medical School; the middle son graduated from the Oberlin Music Conservatory and is a composer and faculty member of a performing arts school in Germany; the youngest son also graduated from Yale in Music and then received his PhD in music theory and composition from Princeton. Bill and Rosemary have been blessed with seven grandchildren.

Bill (William, Jr.), first came to Cashiers with his parents in 1949, at the age of 11, when the family was on vacation from Tallahassee, FL. His family came every year after that, always staying at High Hampton until the early 1960’s, when his parents bought a house in Cashiers. Bill fell in love with the area and knew that he wanted eventually to retire here. While visiting High Hampton, he learned to play golf from an ageing but well known professional, Louise Suggs, who had played on the national women’s tour, and from a Tallahassee schoolmate, Bert Yancey who also became a tour player. Bill and his family attended the Church of the Good Shepherd in Cashiers during their family stays.

Rosemary grew up in Madison, FL. She was born into a Baptist family. Her grandmother had been an Episcopalian and had been baptized at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Madison, which Rosemary describes as a little white Carpenter Gothic building where she occasionally attended church in her youth. Even though her great-grandmother had been a founding member of St. Mary’s, Rosemary’s grandmother married a Baptist and joined the Baptist Church to maintain family unity. However, Rosemary had always felt the “pull” of St. Mary’s. Perhaps because she bore the same name as her great-grandmother, she was given her great-grandmother’s prayer book, and she took it to college with her. Like many students, she “rebelled” a bit at Agnes Scott and started attending All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta. She marveled at the beauty of All Saints, the magnificent stained-glass windows and the music that appealed to her soul as an artist.

Bill established his dental practice in Atlanta after two years of service as a Naval officer with the Second Marine Division at Camp LeJeune, NC, and later on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, where he was the only health care officer, doing both medical and dental sick call for a Marine Engineering unit and some Seabees among others. Atlanta gave Bill and Rosemary access to Bill’s parents’ Cashiers house, and they used it until 1971, when Bill’s father retried from IBM and his mother redecorated. By then, Bill

and Rosemary had three young sons and were looking for a Highlands house of their own, which they eventually found and bought. They became weekenders and attended Incarnation (today’s chapel), which at that time was another small Carpenter Gothic church that reminded Rosemary of St. Mary’s. In 1985, they bought the house where they live now, and they transferred their church membership from Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Decatur, GA, to Incarnation. Rosemary began living and practicing as an artist in Highlands while

Bill commuted from Atlanta.

Bill retired from his dental practice in 2003 and joined Rosemary on a full-time basis in Highlands, where he has dedicated himself largely to the needs of Incarnation and greater community. Incarnation rapidly became his and Rosemary’s “family” and “rock.” Bill has served on the Vestry and was Senior Warden for two years while Brian Sullivan was Rector. He was a member of the choir for seven years when Fletcher Wolfe was its director, and he has served as an usher for ten years. Additionally, he has served on the Finance Committee as its Budget chair, and for three years on the Executive Council of the Diocese, and on a search committee for a new Priest. He was elected as a Trustee of the University of the South (Sewanee) and has served in that capacity for twelve years. He hopes to be elected to a fifth term at this year’s diocesan convention in Asheville. In the greater Highlands community, Bill served on the Board of the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust for twenty years, including a term as its President, and on the Board of the Hudson Library for thirteen years, including two terms as its President.

In her career as an artist, Rosemary has had the honor of producing art works for a number of Episcopal churches. She spent several summers studying art in Europe, visiting magnificent cathedrals and museums as well as quaint churches in small villages. Studying the symbolism of the designs used in the cathedrals and churches inspired the designs that she later created in kneeling pillows, central isle carpets, altar crosses, urns and other religious art. She says that “her art has been her form of personal worship” and she is thankful that she still has enough eyesight to be able to work in her studio. She is deeply touched by the prayers that she knows have been offered of her behalf while she has experienced eye problems. She feels that her life as an artist has made “sheltering in place” a little easier to handle, and she thanks the “warm and welcoming” congregation and clergy of Incarnation, which remind her of both her childhood church family and the embracing and beautiful welcome that she felt at All Saints.

Bill and Rosemary are and have been stalwarts of Incarnation and the Highlands community. They are exemplary of the best in our church and community.

PARISHIONER SPOTLIGHT: BILL & ROSEMARY STIEFELPARISHIONER SPOTLIGHT:

NOTES FROM THE VESTRYJuly 2020

Present: The Rev. Bentley Manning, The Rev. Kellan Day, John Barnhardt, Patricia Catchings, Ruth Claiborne, Melanie Couch, Suzanne Duggan, Randy Foster, Jean Head, Lauch Magruder, Heath Massey, John Mitchener, Charlotte Muir, Bobby O’Dell, Bill Reeves, Nick Scielzo

Note: this meeting was held via videoconference.

Heath Massey opened with a reflection.

MINUTES – John Barnhardt moved to accept the June minutes. Suzanne Duggan seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

FINANCIALS – John Mitchener, Treasurer, reviewed the finances. There was a discussion about the current state of finances and the negative impact from the Covid-19 pandemic. The special CARES Act stimulus funds (PPP) have now been utilized ($77,000). We expect that this will become a grant once paperwork has been completed. The pandemic is directly affecting our pledge and plate receipts which are down significantly mid-year, resulting in a $120,000 shortfall. Some parishioners are not honoring their pledge commitments in a timely manner. It should be noted that given the experience in the first six months of this year, and without a change of course, our church will have a $200,000 shortfall for the year.

Due to this situation the Finance Committee is looking at budget cuts in order to prudently plan. The Finance Committee will be presenting a revised budget at the next Vestry meeting that reflects the results of these difficult decisions. The Vestry voted unanimously to accept the finance report.

BUILDING COMMITTEE UPDATE – Glorious Vision is on track and we are hopeful that all who have made pledges will continue to honor those pledges. Fr. Manning updated the Vestry on the progress. Our representative, Randy Foster, expects that J. Davis, building contractor, will provide total project numbers this week. Their response should include a timeline for construction as well. Randy has met this week with the Garden Committee to identify plants that would be impacted during construction and to formulate a plan for relocating them during the construction. Once plans are made and plants identified, bids will be taken for the relocation of the affected plants. Cram & Ferguson are still working on the final construction plans and the numbers from J. Davis will help inform the completion of those plans. Part of the motivation to get the project started as soon as possible – compressing the

construction to nine months rather than a 12-13 month project – is the projected savings of roughly $250,000 in building costs. Getting back into our worship space sooner is another bonus of the compressed building schedule.

ANNUAL MEETING - This year’s meeting is scheduled for Sept. 13th and will be a Zoom meeting due to our Covid-19 constraints. Committees and ministries will provide their reports and those will be available to parishioners. Confirmation of the Vestry candidates will also take place.

STEWARDSHIP – Kellar and Sam Torrey are our Stewardship Chairs this year and we are grateful for their leadership. In addition to stewardship letters being mailed to parishioners, we will highlight several ministries through emails and videos. The campaign will last for one month. As a reminder only the Finance Administrator and the Rector have access to information about individual pledges. Suzanne Duggan was also commended for her great work as chair of the stewardship campaign last year.

CHURCH SERVICES – In addition to the live-stream Sunday morning church service, there are currently Eucharist services being held in the Garden at noon on Mondays and Wednesdays, weather permitting. There was a discussion about holding outdoor services at off-site locations, but the consensus of the group was that adding more services in the Garden is preferable if the need arises. To encourage higher attendance, it was decided not to require advance reservations since folks may be more apt to attend if they do not have to plan far in advance.

OUTREACH – Mtr. Kellan reported on the Outreach survey which was recently sent to that committee. The responses indicate that the majority believe the greatest strength of Incarnation is the ability to give, and the greatest weakness is not having a focused vision for outreach efforts. Unfortunately, this year the ability to give has been strictly limited due to the uncertain financial condition of the Church. All other Church ministry budgets have been significantly reduced. Outreach budget cuts have been avoided thus far. However, after a discussion of the limitations of the reduced budget the Vestry voted unanimously to suspend any new allocation of funds to outreach grant applicants until there is Vestry approval at a later date.

Fr. Manning closed the meeting with a prayer.

August ANNIVERSARIES

Al Brady & Michael Lanzilotta – 8/1Teri & Mose Bond – 8/4

Fred & Margaret Ridolphi – 8/4Joan & Stan Starnes – 8/4

Joe & Virginia Parrott – 8/6Louree & William Greehey – 8/8

Marica & Bill Loyd – 8/11Barbara & John Roberts – 8/11Virginia & John Noland – 8/12Randy & Minji Ramey – 8/14

Don & Suzanne Duggan – 8/17

Brad & Lisa Armstrong – 8/23Ruth & Thomas Claiborne – 8/23

Liz & Bill Daughtrey – 8/23Jane & Selwyn Chalker – 8/24Rob & Suzie Dickinson – 8/24Adele & Nick Scielzo – 8/24Dan & Dorothy Lyles – 8/26

Barbara & Ross Neagley – 8/26Mary Ann & Knox Massey – 8/27

Jack & Lucy Kuhne – 8/29Cathy & Mike Crosby – 8/31

August BIRTHDAYS

Joe Parrott – 8/6Bill Terry – 8/6

John Noland – 8/7Kathy Eastman – 8/9Paul Cabiran - 8/9James Dillon – 8/10

Leila Chapman – 8/11Janis Erikson – 8/11

Louree Greehey – 8/12Linda Arnold – 8/12

Chic Holden – 8/14Paula Walsh – 8/15John Jones – 8/16

Tucker Chambers – 8/17Minnie Bob Campbell – 8/17

Jean Whitby – 8/18John Ingram – 8/18Patsy Penney – 8/19Lynn Howle – 8/19

Amanda Gregory – 8/19

Diane North – 8/24Frank Oliver – 8/24Andy Carter – 8/25

Barbara Neagley – 8/26Connie Dillingham – 8/27

Bobby O’Dell – 8/28Billy O’Dell – 8/28J.R. Kirby – 8/29Kellan Day – 8/29

Donald Leslie – 8/29

DONATIONS TO THE BELL TOWER ENDOWMENT

IN MEMORY OF ED WHITBY Peg Brannen

IN MEMORY OF CURT JAMISON & JIMMY EVANS Alwyn & Peachy Staley

IN MEMORY OF JOHN CLARKE Mr & Mrs Paul WetherallBirthday Buds: Marilyn Reafsnyder, Martha Goolsby,

Judy & Janet Stroud, Debra Jane Miller, Nancy Gray, Glenda Bingham

THE CHURCH OF THE INCARNATION520 Main Street; P. O. Box 729Highlands, North Carolina 28741-0729Phone (828) 526-2968Fax (828) 526-9290www.incarnationwnc.org

THE PARISH POST

The Rev. Bentley Manning Rector 828-526-2968, ext. 204 bentley@incarnationwnc.org

The Rev. Kellan Day Assistant Rector 828-526-2968, ext. 206 kellan@incarnationwnc.org

Charles M. Banks Organist and Choirmaster charlesmbanks@gmail.com

OUR MISSION STATEMENT: The Church of the Incarnation exists to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ through worship, love and service. As individuals and as a congregation, we dedicate ourselves to this purpose.