August 2016

From father Robert MANY BLESSINGS

NEWS FROM THE NARTHEX

At Emmanuel Episcopal Church, we strive to provide people the opportunity for growth in their faith through our mutual love, respect and acceptance of one another.

I hope that your summer is peaceful and restful. I was going to say refreshing but in this heat that might be a stretch. The summer at

Emmanuel has been different in a number of ways. We are celebrating our Sunday Eucharist’s not in the church. This is a bit

unsettling, even for me at some levels, but the piece I need to keep in front of me is that the location and the accouterments don’t

really matter. It is the gathered community celebrating the presence and goodness of God who comes to us in Word and Sacrament to

strengthen us on our journeys that really matters.

For those who come to the services taking place in the Chapel we are a bit closer together than we are used to. I think that is a good

experience to take back with us once we are celebrating in the church again. In that bigger space it doesn’t take much work to separate

ourselves from one another thinking we should be participating with a whole lot more space around me, just me and God doing our

thing. Yet, attending church, participating in the Eucharist, are never solitary acts. It has to be about community. For those who have

been attending in the Common Room, I have been personally encouraged to hear the community say how much they like the intimacy

of the setting – how “warm it is”. That’s a real positive because that is the sense of intimacy we are trying to create in our worship

space in the church.

For good or for bad, whether you have agreed or not, of late I have been focusing not so much on the physical “changes”, but on how

our moving forward with this project has really been a gift and a grace from God. We have unearthed a number of things that in reality

could have been a disaster for us to deal with sometime down the road. The pictures above are from the sanctuary.

News from the narthex

My daddy used to tell me that I would do better to listen to what God said, rather than talk his ear off, as I was wont to do. I rarely listened to Daddy and probably did a bad job of listening to God too.

But after I was grown and teaching English at Valdosta High School, my department head didn’t give me the idea as advice. She simply said, “we are instituting elective quarter courses next year, and I want you to design and teach a course on ‘Science Fiction and the Supernatural.’” My answer was one that only a 21-year-old, newly entered into the world of work, could have given. I explained I appreciated it, but that I didn’t know anything about science fiction, didn’t like it, and would prefer not to teach it.

After assuring me that she was not asking but assigning, she asked how I knew I didn’t like it if I hadn’t read and studied it? Wanting to keep my job, I agreed and told her I would very much appreciate the opportunity to learn about something unfamiliar.

When I told my daddy about the conversation, I first reminded him this was NOT God talking, and he reminded me it did not matter. It was my responsibility to make the most of a situation I thought—emphasizing the word “thought”—I would not like. He added that I just might learn something from it. My parents—like those of their generation—didn’t support my angst but encouraged me to deal with it. So I dealt with it.

I spent the summer studying science fiction and exploring its

worth. I read everything from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King. I read criticism about its literary value, and, after that, I fell in love with it. I read avidly. I read hungrily. And I became ready to proffer it to high school seniors as literature. It worked. Those who had never liked reading suddenly became avid readers. And I learned a valuable lesson about myself. Sometimes, when I’m not comfortable, I have a chance to learn the most. When working on my Educational Specialist certification, I did my specialist paper on “Using Science Fiction to Teach All Levels of Learners.” It had become my own area of expertise.

Now, serving on the Vestry, I have a similar opportunity to learn through unexpected service. I’ve never been much of a hostess, preferring, as a principal, to climb on the roof of a building to check on the air-conditioning system over making sure there were refreshments at faculty meetings. I didn’t see the value in that. And I was not going to make coffee for anyone!

But now, having worked with Crysty Odom on the Parish Life Commission, I am learning to appreciate the value of these gifts. Yes, it is all about learning through service and, perhaps, finding that you can do what you thought was out of your comfort zone, and growing mentally and spiritually from what God just might want you to learn. When the call about Vestry service comes, you too might consider listening for what God wants you to hear and learn.

Learning Through Service a reflection by Ellen Cowne

The one on the left portrays the floor

behind the altar rail which supported

those small 3” x 3” marble tiles. The

photo on the right shows the last of three

beams left (barely) which supported the

altar platform. Other photos will

hopefully help to tell the story and make

clear the how and why Emmanuel took

the steps she did to insure the future life

of the physical structure of the church for

the next many many years years.

It has been a good summer for us, a kind

of learning as we go. The Altar and

Flower Guilds are working hard to

accommodate our services being held in

the Chapel and Common Room. The

Verger is losing a lot of weight running

back and forth and the choir continues to

make good music. We are being

stretched to step outside of our “boxes”

and sort of go with the flow and it’s

working. I do look forward to creating a

new normal in our renewed space.

During all of the work being done we are

still feeding the poor (thank you),

sheltering the homeless (thank you)

taking care of the needs of children as

well as those feeble and aged. In looking

towards the coming months, we will be

taking a small survey regarding a retreat

program for the parishioners of

Emmanuel. It should be self-evident once

you have it in your hands but until then

please know that we are taking seriously

our commitment to evangelization by

growing in our own personal relationship

with Jesus and with one another.

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SWING FOR HOPE:

GOLFING FOR A CAUSE

The Ark’s Annual Charity Golf Tournament, Swing for Hope, will be held at the UGA gold course on Saturday August 13th. Registration is $100 and includes breakfast, snacks and drinks during the tournament, a catered lunch, prizes for winners (and losers) and mulligan drawings. You may register online at athensark.org.

Emmanuel is a founding member of The Ark, an organization of the Athens faith community that provides financial and other kinds of assistance to people who have an emergency because of an unexpected financial setback. Lee Albright (leealbright207 @gmail.com) is Emmanuel’s delegate to The Ark. Contact her if you would like more information about The Ark.

This summer during our renovation and preservation project, members of Emmanuel are invited to help build out within the community while we are building within. We are partnering with Habitat for Humanity to assist them. Our next workday is scheduled for August 13th. Sign up either to help build or to bring lunch. This summer Habitat is renovating and preserving existing housing within Athens and building ramps for handicapped accessibility. If you would like to sign up to build or to provide lunch, sign up on the sheets located near the Chapel or email philipbettendorf@synovus.com. Phil Bettendorf

“Harvest”—a word that speaks of abundance and opportunity. A word that

implies planting and watering has already happened and now the fruit of

these labors is ready for the gathering. God alone could do all of this, but

God has decided to include us in the joy of making an eternal difference in

the world.

Harvest is how God’s people can embody and make contemporary, “For God

so loved the world…” In the face of a plentiful harvest, God asks us to be

laborers right alongside him.

DIOCESAN ACOLYTE

FESTIVAL

The Diocesan Acolyte Festival will take place on September 10th, 8:00am to 6:00pm. All acolytes, from beginners to captains, should put this date on their calendars.

This is a day to grow in love and service to Jesus. Bishops Wright and Whitmore at the Cathedral in

Atlanta are hosting the Festival. You will participate in various activities based on your age and experience as an acolyte. Emmanuel will cover the cost to attend so it is important that you register with Fr. Chris by August 21st.

Mentors: The BEST Back-to-School Supply Be Someone Who Matters to

Someone Who Matters Classes begin August 9th in the Clarke County School District, and hundreds of children are on waiting lists to receive a mentor—a role model, listener and friend who can help them succeed in school and in life. Mentors visit their “mentee” at school, once each week for a meal, homework help, games and conversation. Scheduling is flexible. A minimum one-year commitment is required. Volunteers complete an application, background check and training session. Training begins on Tuesday, August 16, 6-8pm at the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce. For more information, contact Clarke County Mentor Program, 706-549-6800, ext. 227, mentor@athensga.com or contact Nancy McDuff, nmcduff@uga.edu who, along with others from Emmanuel, is a current mentor.

News from the narthex

Twelve of Emmanuel’s worker bee Catechesis teachers met the last week of June to experience a mission and an adventure. The adventure, as defined by Sofia Cavalletti who began this course of study, is “When something takes you where you do not know, and yet all along the way, God continues to provide, it is an adventure. And there is nothing more beautiful.” Her vision was to bring this adventure to all the children involved in Catechesis and to all the Catechesis teachers receiving the training. And it happened right here in Athens at Emmanuel.

More than fifty years ago, her new vision arose accidentally when she began to work individually with a friend’s child in his spiritual development and realized that being in the presence of God is unique to each child and that adults need to try to see God through the child’s eyes. Her friend, Montessori-trained teacher Gianna Gobbi, became her collaborator, and together they created “The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.” This new approach to spiritual development is based on the idea of letting children experience the Scripture and the Eucharist instead of just explaining their meaning to them. Rather than telling children what to think, teachers listen to what children are thinking and what they see in their own relationship with God. Rather than deciding what we want our children to know, we ask the question, “What does the child need to develop his or her relationship with God?”

Here at Emmanuel, “The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd” was incorporated into our children’s formation program in 2007. It is a combination of the Montessori approach and the Discovery Method of instruction and places the child’s need to learn above the teachers’ need to instruct. About twelve men and women met for training in this method in June, some taking an advanced course in it, having worked with the program already. Bobbie Brandinburg and Lillian Richards from Charlotte came to train them. With our Georgia Collier there to coordinate it all, Anna Hurdle from Charlotte and Kerry Hogan from Emmanuel were there to extend their skills. Along with other Emmanuelites, Ralph Stevens and Ellen Dolphus were treated to Lillian’s modeling approach to instruction. In this training, Lillian first modeled each lesson the children would experience so the participants could receive it as children would. Then they returned to another room to talk about what had happened with each lesson of Scripture and to absorb the experience as adults. Lillian said it was all about helping them know when “to enter the mystery with the child.” The Catechesis program uses materials to give a child a hands-on experience with the Scripture and allow them to act out the Scripture. Materials such as dioramas, dolls, sheep, candles, coins, etc. give the young ones an opportunity to experience the parables that Jesus taught and decide for themselves what questions to ask and to think about. Then they have a chance to go to a box of wooden tablets with Scriptures on them and to find others that may have similar ideas or prompt similar questions.

As an educator for forty years, I am convinced—no, I am enamored of this learning method although I experienced only an hour of two of instruction with the group. With all the technology that our children have that enable them to experience various adventures, this spiritual experience fits right in with their learning needs. Their spiritual learning must be an adventure for them. It must be exciting and hands on. It must make room for their own questioning and interest. It must be for them and not for the adults. “The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd” program fills this need for modern children who are always full of questions. They know, and adults must catch on to, the fact that it is not about the answer. It’s all about the questions. Ellen Cowne

On a mission & an adventure

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TRANSITIONS To EMMANUEL

Thomas Rostas from

St. Mark’s Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Robert Eller Davis

from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Columbia, SC

Louise S. Freeman from

St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Atlanta, GA

EMMANUEL ELDER

CONNECTION

DINNER

Join old friends and meet new ones at

our Dutch Treat dinner on Thursday,

August 18th at 6:00 P.M. at Hilltop

Grille, 2310 W. Broad St. To reserve

your place at the private room table,

call Gwen Bottoms, 770-725-4512 or

email her at gbottoms@depauw.edu

by August 14.

News from the narthex

August Birthdays

1: Mary Eberhard, Amber Pitt, Christina Stanfield 2: Will Power 3: Brad Koch 4: Erik Wells, Laney Mallet 5: Rebecca Mullis, Brittany McCaskey, Myles Shepley 6: Charley Jones, Sydney Cobb, Lane Stewart 7: Janet Griffith, Marie Garrison 8: Rosemary Magill, Margaret Smith, Debbie

Grainger 9: Clint Allen 10: John Hancock, Chris Mallet, Christopher Luken 11: Mckenzie Cook, William Snead, Bo Rentz 12: William Kahlstorf, London Moore 13: Linda Ford 15: Beth Thrasher 16: Oliver Pryor, Solon Pitt 17: Linda Keen 18: Gabi York, Emma

Clarke 19: Anna Alexander, Sumit Alexander, Charlotte Surratt 20: Patty Jones 21: Kim Green, Mary Palmer Roberts 22: Suzanne Lindsay 23: Holly Allen 24: Evlyn Pound, Mary Moore, Kerry Hogan, John Stovall 25: Susan Tuggle

26: John Northcutt, Sarah Pylant 27: Michael Fitzgerald 28: Phyllis Vangotum, Ray Hemphill, Margarete Warwick, Phyllis Niolon, Richard Connelly 29: Michael Chestnut, Cindy McAlister 30: Jenny Sligh, Jim Griffith, Betty Varnadore, Courtney Gray, Nicholas Byrne

At one point in my life I would have considered myself an

athlete - at least I played sports. The lessons I received on and

around the field of play have proven valuable thus far in life. For all

this inspiration, one short coming that I must claim, that time has

clarified, was how I handled physical and emotional pain. Most

athletes are familiar with the dismissive lackluster expression “no

pain, no gain.” Each knows the experience of pain, I wonder if as

much can be said about giving expression to this pain in a style more

becoming than the remedial jargons often used? I sure didn’t!

Whether an athlete or a bug collector, every human faces

the dilemma of pain. It’s one of few forces powerful enough to

break the strongest of wills and most dedicated of

relationships. Simply put, its earth shattering. How one handles

pain can determine the difference between agitation and calmness,

desolation and comfort, and in more extreme cases death and life.

Living in a society where pain clinics are becoming more

and more common; I often wonder to what degree do the drugs

prescribed in these places address the impetus of one’s pain? Much

less, how the means of alcohol and remedial jargons prevent one’s

capacity to address pain - leaving this misery to flounder inside

the spirit, before settling into the recesses of one’s consciousness,

unmercifully in control.

Richard Rohr suggest, “If there isn't some way to find

deeper meaning to our suffering, to find that God is somehow in

it, and can even use it for good, we will normally close up and

close down, becoming negative and bitter when we can't place

our pain.”

What do you do with your pain? As you consider your

handling of pain, remember that Jesus doesn't hide, dismiss or

numb himself from pain - he enters into it - need we forget Good

Friday. This bold and confident proclamation that God doesn't

work in spite of our pain but rather in the very midst of it, is

reason to name and consider pain with a graceful and holy hope. I

pray that this hope will bring you closer to the peace and salvation

of God.

What Do You do

with your pain?

Thrift House needs kids toys and books, kid’s gear (like

blankets, sleep sacks, unused cups, bottles and pacifiers),

men’s shorts and shoes, and small appliances. Clean out

your closets and cupboards and increase Emmanuel’s

outreach by donating your surplus to the Thrift House.

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Emmanuel’s Service & Faith Formation schedule is as follows; only exceptions are listed on the calendar below:

Wednesdays: 5:30 pm Healing Service & Eucharist, Chapel

Saturdays: 5:30 pm Holy Eucharist Rite II, Chapel

Sundays: 8:30 am Holy Eucharist Rite I, Church; 9:15 am Faith Formation for Children & Youth; 9:30 am Adult Formation, Westminster, and 10:30 am Holy Eucharist Rite II, Church

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5 6 10:00 Natural

Spirituality, Library 7:30 Al-Anon, Old Music Suite

1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, Old Music Suite

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Noon: Natural Spirituality, Library Noon: Homeless Day Center Prep, Common Room

10:00 Natural Spirituality, Library 7:30 Al-Anon, Old Music Suite

1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, Old Music Suite

7:00 pm Back to School Night at Emmanuel Day School

9:00 am Meet the teachers at Emmanuel Day School

4:45 Daughters of the King

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Noon: Natural Spirituality, Library

9:30 Emmanuel Day School Returns

10:00 Natural Spirituality, Library 7:30 Al-Anon, Old Music Suite

1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, Old Music Suite

11:00 Eucharist,

Lanier Gardens 6:00 Elder Connection @ Hilltop Grille

6:30 Stephen

Ministry, library

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Noon: Natural Spirituality, Library Noon: Homeless Day Center Prep, Common Room

4:00 Daughters of the King, Canterbury

10:00 Natural Spirituality, Library 7:30 Al-Anon, Old Music Suite

1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, Old Music Suite 7:00 Vestry Meeting

4:45 Daughters of the King

28 29 30 31 noon: Natural Spirituality, Library

10:00 Natural Spirituality, Library 7:30 Al-Anon, Old Music Suite

1:15 Gentle Yoga 3:30 Gentle Yoga, Old Music Suite

News from the narthex August 2016

498 Prince Avenue

Athens, GA 30606

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

ATHENS, GA

PERMIT NO. 231

The chapel is open for Morning Prayer

Monday – Friday at 8:00 a.m.

The Vestry Covenant

We, the Vestry of Emmanuel Church, promise to honor God by nurturing the spirit and ministering to God’s people. We will support everyone’s gifts for service and leadership made possible by God’s grace. Ministry to the poor will be at the center of all we do. We promise to welcome with Christian hospitality all persons and to offer opportunities to all to grow in faith. We will strengthen ourselves through faithfulness in worship, daily prayer, and stewardship of our time, talents and treasure. We will foster love and joy in God’s service.

Emmanuel episcopal church

St. Matthew’s Altar on Easter morning 2016