Volume 21 Issue 1 January 2017 Welcoming Worshiping Working

Celebrate the Visual Arts

at St. Stephen's

Walk into wonder free of charge when visual art,

which has been a part of worship and spirituality through

the centuries, is honored at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

as it begins its year-long 150th anniversary celebration.

Well-known artists, displays and informative talks be-

gin with an Art After Dark program Friday, January 6 from

6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

The two-day celebration continues Saturday, Janu-

ary 7, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Painting with Carol Astaire, weaving with Gina

Hafemeister and Pat Martin, metal-working with Crissa Hew-

itt, silversmith; sculpture, glass blowing with Chris

Anderson, floral design with Bob Gordon, stained glass with

Melissa Campbell, woodcraft with Barry Lundgren, ceram-

ics with Bob Nichols, and photography with Tom Meinhold

will be featured.

Informative talks take place in the sanctuary

Saturday, January 7, These include:

Crissa Hewitt, metal design, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Bob Gordon, floral design, 11:00 to noon

Melissa Campbell, painted glass, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Bruno Giberti, church architecture, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Tom Meinhold, photography, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

More details on our website

at www.ststephensslo.org/150th

Youth Collect Non-perishable Foods

for

Souper Bowl of Caring

Again this year, our youth will

be joining people in churches all

across the country to collect

money and non-perishable foods

for those who are hungry and

hurting.

It all started with a single prayer

in a church in South Carolina in

1990 "Lord, even as we enjoy the

Super Bowl football game, help us

to be mindful of those who are

without a bowl of soup to

eat." Since then over $90 million

has been generated through Sou-

per Bowl of Caring events.

Foods and funds collected by our

youth will be given to Grass Roots

II, a local agency that helps feed

the needy in San Luis Obispo.

Last year we collected 143lbs of

non-perishable foods and $35, and

we're sure we can collect more

this year.

Please search your pantry for non

-perishable foods to donate and

bring them to church on January

29th or February 5th.

The Witness Page 2

JANUARY

Jan. 14-16 - SSP Weekend

Jan. 29 & Feb. 5

Souper Bowl of Caring Food Drive

FEBRUARY

Plan and prep Valentines Party and

Birthday Party for homeless kids

sheltered in Ramsden Hall.

Feb 17 or 21, 5-7 p.m.

Bowling at Cal Poly

TEEN CLASS PAGE

Teen Class Reflections on Epiphany The manifestation of Jesus in San Luis Obispo

Upcoming Teen

Events & Activities

Ephesians 3.5-6

In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy

apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body,

and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Listening to Jesus

The St Stephen’s Christmas Breakfast is one sign of Jesus

in San Luis Obispo. Jesus wants us to take care of the peo-

ple who are homeless. He wants us to feed them and help them. So when we have our Christmas breakfast, it shows

that we are listening to Jesus. Our church wants the peo-

ple who are homeless to have a good breakfast, nice pre-sents and a Christmas celebration. When we serve them

food and share what we have with them, it shows we care.

It shows that we are trying to do what Jesus taught us.

- Chris Baldwin-Granger

Jesus Appears to Us

God appeared to the Magi through Jesus, and Jesus contin-

ues to appear to us now. Jesus is with us in SLO, and we too

can follow Him and God. He is with us in all the churches, not just St. Stephen’s, in the building and also in the people.

The building feels special and where Jesus is because it is a

place where many people come together to worship God. But Jesus is also in the people, who care enough to come

very week, remember each other’s names and likes, and

bring a lot of things for organizations like the For Kids

From Kid’s Toy Drive. - Isabelle Preston

Epiphany Word Find

Epiphany celebrates how God appeared in the form of His son,

Jesus. We can see Jesus appearing to us through the people around

us who show Him in words, thoughts, and actions. We celebrate

Epiphany sometimes by finding something like a coin hidden in a

cake. You can find smaller words in the word Epiphany by using

the letters to create more words See how many you can find!. For

example, “happy” and “pen”.

E P I P H A N Y - Isabelle Preston

Photo by Isabelle Preston

The Witness Page 3

VESTRY MEMBERS

Ian Delinger Rector

Gail Taylor Sr. Warden Bruno Giberti Jr. Warden

Liz Frost Fellowship

Lynn Hollister Outreach

Stewardship

Robert Misson Pastoral Care/

Membership

Carole Merrill

Doris Highland Education

Bud Zeuschner Stewardship

Chris Arndt Sexton Katie Arndt Treasurer

Linda Zeuschner Clerk

What!? No Christmas Card?

Happy New Year!

As you have probably figured out by now, I don’t do Christmas cards. When I lived in the Silicon Valley, I had a lengthy Christmas card list. It included people I knew wouldn’t reciprocate, and who even may have forgotten who I was, but who I hoped in vain considered me one of their closest friends. The best cure for this was moving overseas. I enthusiasti-cally wrote cards to that same list, which of course had grown, and though I don’t remember, the cards were probably Cambridge and/or London postcards. Having written all the cards, I trotted off to the post office only to be faced with a postage cost that was well beyond an over-seas grad student’s budget!

That’s not to say that I don’t wish you Christmas greetings! And I do ap-

preciate the cards I received, sometimes hanging onto them way too

long!! Thank you to those who sent me a Christmas card. What I have

done is made a donation to Episcopal Relief & Development specifically in

lieu of Christmas cards for the people of St Stephen’s. (See page 6)

Christmas cards are no doubt an extension of Christmas gift giving, which stems from the Magi bringing gifts to the Christ Child, which we remem-ber as we move into Epiphany. I would like to thank each of you for the gifts both large and small that you have given to St Stephen’s throughout 2016. Whether it has been diligent attendance on Sunday mornings, fi-nancial contributions, serving on Sundays, caring for the building, fi-nances, items for worship, music, food, supporting others, prayers, and much more, each of your contributions makes St Stephen’s a living and lively place to honor God and to be the Light of Christ in SLO. The Good People of St Stephen’s have been doing that for 150 years!

As we move into our 150th year and celebrate St Stephen’s’ history as a part of San Luis’ history, let us take a moment to remember the gifts of the Spirit, the gifts of our time, the gifts of our treasure, and the gifts of our prayers that will be utilized throughout 2017. The Church is the peo-ple; we make up the Body of Christ. The vibrancy of our 150th celebra-tions will be born out of none other than your gifts, both large and small.

Thank you for the cards; thank you for all the gifts you bring to St Stephen’s. Let us celebrate our 150th with gusto, shining the Light of Christ across San Luis Obispo!

Fr Ian

General Information

The Witness is a monthly newsletter published

by St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, San Luis

Obispo, CA to provide information about the

parish to the congregation. Subscriptions are

free to anyone. Send request along with your

name and mailing address to the church office.

Donations to help offset distribution costs are

appreciated. Make checks payable to

St. Stephen’s.

The Church’s e-mail address is:

office@ststephensslo.org

The Witness Editor is Chris Kellett.

Contribution of articles is encouraged.

Please e-mail submissions to the editor at

witness@ststephensslo.org

The deadline for emailed submission of articles

is Monday following the Vestry meeting. Call or

email editor with any questions. © Copyright

2017 by St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. All

rights reserved.

POSTMASTER: Please send address correc-

tions to: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church,

1344 Nipomo St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

-3935

The Witness Page 4

Ask the Treasurer

By the time you read this, we will have closed the books on 2016 and will be plan-

ning for 2017. We accomplished a lot last year, including having an external audit

of our books. I'm happy to report that we passed with flying colors with a few

housekeeping (or bookkeeping) suggestions. I would like to thank the finance

team for their support and the work they do to keep our books and procedures in

compliance. We said goodbye to Carole McHugh (she moved to Santa Barbara to

be closer to her daughter). I especially want to thank her for the many years

of being a "money counter". I miss seeing her big smile, bright and early on

Monday morning. I'll have more financial details (regarding 2016) for you at the

Annual Meeting.

So here are the Rabobank bank balances as of December 13, 2016:

Operating $88,078.56

Money Market $81,550.87

Endowment Checking $4,955.30

Blessing and Peace for the New Year,

Katie Arndt, Treasurer

Sexton’S RepoRt The Vestry approved the Willet Hauser quote for the stained

glass window maintenance. The contract was signed, deposit

submitted, and we are on the schedule for sometime next

summer.

I have been fixing outdoor lights. For the Ramsden Hall door,

I converted the fluorescent fixture to LED tubes and installed a new LED motion light. I tried to get the light over the nar-

thex door working, but the problem is more than a tube. I will

convert that and the wall wash lights on the St. Stephen’s window to LED, and replace the walk lights with LEDs before

Christmas. Depending on the weather, I will try to either re-

lamp or replace the light behind the Good Shepherd window

before Christmas Eve.

I also replaced the smoke detector in the

Children’s Chapel, and hauled the choir risers to church and back the day of the Christmas

Concert.

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Arndt

January 1, 2017

The Holy Name of Our Lord Numbers 6:22-27

Psalm 8

Philippians 2:5-11

Luke 2:15-21

January 8, 2017

The Epiphany

Isaiah 60: 1-6

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

January 15, 2017

2nd Sunday after the Epiphany

Isaiah 49:1-7

Psalm 40:1-12

I Corinthians 1:1-9

John 1:29-42

January 22, 2017

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany

Isaiah 9:1-4

Psalm 27:1, 5-13

I Corinthians 1:10-18

Matthew 4:12-23

January 29, 2017

4th Sunday after the Epiphany

Micah 6:1-8

Psalm 15

I Corinthians 1:18-31

Matthew 5:1-12

Scriptures for

January

The Witness Page 5

Hands-On Stewardship

at St. Stephen’s!

JANUARY

BIRTHDAYS

JANUARY ANNIVERSARIES

4th Carol Misson

6th Jane Alderman

7th Elisabeth Abrahams

Linda Zeuschner

13th Fr. Dennis Odekirk

15th Eleanor Coverdale

21st Fred Astaire, Jr.

22nd Mary McCorkle

25th Liz Frost

27th Mary Stuart

Pat Brown

30th Kate Riggins

1st Marshall Granger &

Mary Lud Baldwin

29th Hugh & Carolyn Platt

THANK YOU TO Pam Meyers for hosting a Coffee Hour in

December.

THANK YOU TO Gail Taylor for all her work getting the photographs

for the new Parish Directory scheduled with reminder calls.

THANK YOU TO Katya Gotsdiner-McMahan and Jumi Kim and the

choir for presenting Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio.

THANK YOU TO Roxanna Shaheen and her many kitchen helpers

and food donors for the potluck after the Christmas Oratorio concert.

THANK YOU TO children and adults who participated in the Family

Christmas Eve service.

THANK YOU TO everyone who

contributed to the “For Kids From

Kids Toy Drive.”

THANK YOU TO Christmas Carol-

ers who brought the joy of Christmas

to residents at Mission View, Bella

Vista and Garden Creek.

If you would like your birthday

and/or wedding anniversary

noted in The Witness please

contact Ann in the parish office.

A Special Thank You to St. Stephen’s and Grandmother’s House

As usual, you are very generous in sharing your time and money for

those who might not have had a Thanksgiving meal this year. We do-

nated turkeys with all the trimmings to 10 families. Two of the families

had 10 members each and 2 other families said they were inviting

friends. One mother called to tell me that her children were so excited

they danced all around and yelled when an item was pulled from the

boxes. Another handed us a thank you card signed by her children.

Clark Lewis donated a child’s car seat to a family with a 5 month old.

The mom grabbed the car seat, ran into the house yelling for everyone

to see her son’s new car seat. Every family said, “thank you” and

“bless you” over and over.

It is now my honor to say, THANK YOU AND BLESS YOU!

Lynn Holister

The Witness Page 6

The Witness Page 7 JANUARY 2017

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church 1344 Nipomo Street San Luis Obispo CA 93401-3935

Office: 805 543.7212 Ramsden Hall: 805 543.7215 Fax: 805 543.0744

office@ststephensslo.org http://ststephensslo.org

Office hours: Monday — Thursday 9:00 a.m.— 1:00 p.m.

Key: Ramsden Hall – RH; Boydston Room – BR; Library – L

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 The Holy Name 10am Eucharist (One service today)

2 3:30 History Com-mittee – BR

3 10am – Yoga RH 3:30 Handbell Choir 5:00pm Centering Prayer

4 11amWomen’s Prayer – L 12:15 Service

5

6 3:30 Children’s Choir 6pm-9pm Celebrating the Visual Arts – 150th Celebration Event

7 9am-5pm Celebrating the Visual Arts – 150th Celebration Event

8 The Epiphany 8am Eucharist 10am Eucharist 10am Sunday School

9

10 10am – Yoga RH 3:30 Handbell Choir 5:00pm Centering Prayer

11 8am Brotherhood of St. Andrew’s

Breakfast 11amWomen’s Prayer – L 12:15 Service

12 12pm Altar Guild

13 3:30 Children’s Choir

14

15 Epiphany II 8am Eucharist 10am Eucharist 10am Sunday School 11:30 Vestry BR

16 MLK, Jr. Day Parish Office Closed

17 10am – Yoga RH 3:30 Handbell Choir 5:00pm Centering Prayer

18 11amWomen’s Prayer – L 12:15 Service 5:15pm Choir Rehearsal

19

20 3:30 Children’s Choir

21

22 Epiphany III 8am Eucharist 10am Eucharist 10am Sunday School 11:45 – Annual Meeting & Potluck 5pm Teen Bowling at Cal Poly

23 5:00pm Witness Deadline

24 10am Yoga RH 3:30 Handbell Choir 5:00pm Centering Prayer

25 11amWomen’s Prayer – L 12:15 Service 5:15 Choir Rehearsal 6:30pm Adult Ed: Masculinity in 21st Century - RH

26

27 3:30 Children’s Choir

28

29 Epiphany IV 8am Eucharist 10am Eucharist 10am Sunday School Souper Bowl Food Drive

30 31 3:30 Handbell Choir 5:00pm Centering Prayer

The Witness Page 8

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage Paid

San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

Permit No. 57

ST. STEPHEN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 1344 NIPOMO ST

SAN LUIS OBISPO CA 93401-3935

Address Service Requested

The Witness

St. Stephen’s Services

Sunday 8:00 AM Holy Eucharist without music 9:00 AM Bible Forum in Boydston Room 10:00 AM Holy Eucharist Rite II with music Sunday School and Child Care available during 10:00 AM service

Tuesday 5:00 PM Centering Prayer

Wednesday 12:15 AM Holy Eucharist, Morning Prayer, or Healing Service

Office Hours Monday—Thursday 9:00 PM– 1:00 PM 1344 Nipomo Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3935 Office: 805-543-7212 Fax: 805-543-0744 Email: office@ststephensslo.org Website: http://ststephensslo.org

SHERRIED WILD RICE SOUP

Eleanor Coverdale Serves 6 - 8

1 c. wild rice

4 Tbs. butter

1 medium onion, chopped fine

2 c. mushrooms, sliced (about 8 oz)

½ c. celery, thinly sliced ¼ c. all purpose flour

5 ¼ c. chicken broth

½ tsp. curry powder

½ tsp. dry mustard

½ tsp. chervil

¼ tsp. ground white pepper

2 c. half-&-half

⅔ c. dry sherry Salt to taste

Garnish: minced fresh parsley, chives or

sliced mushrooms

Rinse the wild rice until the water runs clear. Heat 4 cups of water and 1 Tbs. salt to

boiling. Add the rice and cover. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until rice is tender

(or follow package directions.) Drain off excess water.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter, stir in the onion and cook 5 minutes or until golden. Stir in the mushrooms and celery and cook about 4 minutes. Stir the flour

into the butter mixture and then gradually blend in the chicken broth, stirring con-

stantly until slightly thickened. Stir in the wild rice, ½ tsp. salt, curry powder, dry

mustard, chervil and white pepper. Lower the heat and stir in the half-&-half and the

sherry. Heat to simmering, stirring occasionally. DO NOT BOIL. Garnish with

minced parsley, chives or sliced mushrooms.

This soup can be prepared a day ahead.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH