TRANSFORMER 2601 Main St. Torrington

The Rev. Brian Gross (307) 575-8800

Email: allsaintstorringtonwy@gmail.com

Web: allsaintstorrington.diowy.org

August, 2018 Vol. 8

All Saints’ Episcopal Church

The Mission of All Saints’ Torrington To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind, through vibrant, reverent, and relevant worship. To strive to love

our neighbors as ourselves through outreach missions in our community that benefit those in need with respect of the dignity of all persons. To choose to lift those who have fallen, feed those who are hungry, and pray for those who are

sick or in distress. With Christ’s help it is our mission to build bridges of connection between Christ and our community and the world.

God had something he wanted me to do

He has something for you to do as well.

Do you know what it is?

Have you said yes to Him yet?

August 6th is the Celebration Day of the Transfiguration of Jesus

Words cannot express the love and thanks I have for my family at All Saints’.

Thank you for supporting me in my three year (actually 65 year) journey to the

deaconate. My schooling at the IONA school in Casper helped me to know and

understand the Bible better and to answer tough questions in my Ethics and

Theology class. I know my learning curve continues to soar and with God’s help

I will be always in the learning mode.

The generosity you showed this last year, brings me to tears. I was able to take a

pilgrimage to the Holy Land. An experience I will never forget, and Easter and Christmas will

never be the same. I was there! I was where our Lord walked. To be ordained in a service that

still gives me goose bumps was the grandest evening of this journey. I will be forever grateful

for all of the hard work and hours that Fr. Brian put in to make it “just right”. He helped me

choose my music, put the bulletin together (we had no typos in the bulletin) make sure we

had plenty of help for the service, and so much more. Mary, Peggy and Janie made sure the

bishop and visiting priests were fed after the rehearsal. Jeanne played the organ and allowed

all to sing high the praises to God. Paula chanted the Litany, and Oh My how glorious it was!

My new alb is awesome and the stoles that the church purchased for me will complete my

attire and last for a lifetime. The additional gift certificate will be used to purchase clergy

attire.

As the deacon of All Saints’ I will proclaim the gospel, set the table at the altar and say

the dismissal. As a deacon I will take the church outside to the community and the world. As

part of my examination from the bishop I pledged to:

My sister, every Christian is called to follow Jesus Christ, serving God the Father,

through the power of the Holy Spirit. God now calls you to a special ministry of servanthood

directly under your bishop. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are to serve all people,

particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.

As a deacon in the Church, you are to study the Holy Scriptures, to seek nourishment

from them, and to model your life upon them. You are to make Christ and his redemptive love

known, by your word and example, to those among whom you live, and work, and worship.

You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world. You are to

assist the bishop and priests in public worship and in the ministration of God's Word and

Sacraments, and you are to carry out other duties assigned to you from time to time. At all

times, your life and teaching are to show Christ's people that in serving the helpless they are

serving Christ himself.

Thank you again.!!!!!

In Christ’s name,

Rev Sydney Johnson

CONSPIRE 2018

Theme: The path of descent is the path of transformation.

We will be hosting this online webcast September 21—23rd

All Saints’ Episcopal Church Fellowship Hall

It is open to all churches in the area

Join us for a weekend of contemplative teachings, practices, reflection, and conversation with Richard Rohr, Barbara Holmes, Brian McLaren, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Mirabai Starr. Conspirare. Let’s breathe together. Inhale and exhale, listen and share, let go and receive. Open heart, mind, and body to the surprising wisdom to be found in darkness and descent.

We invite you to reconsider darkness as sacred and find companionship, community, and courage for your own unique journey of becoming Love in our world. Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on your path, you are welcome. . . .

If you are doubting, welcome! If you are hurting, welcome!

If you are angry at injustice, welcome! If you are afraid but longing to let go, welcome!

If you feel far from home, welcome! The Beloved will meet you here.

The secret essence of the soul that knows the truth is calling out to God: Beloved, strip me of the consolations of my complacent spirituality. Plunge me into the darkness where I cannot rely on any of my old tricks for maintaining my separation. Let me give up on trying to convince myself that my own spiritual deeds are bound to be pleasing to you. Take all my juicy spiritual feelings, Beloved, and dry them up, and then please light them on fire. Take my lofty spiritual concepts and plunge them into darkness, and then burn them. Let me only love you, Beloved. Let me quietly and with unutterable simplicity just love you. —St. John of the Cross (paraphrased by Mirabai Starr)

A positive religious faith does not offer an illusion that we shall be exempt from pain and suffering, nor does it imbue us with the idea that life is a drama of unalloyed comfort and untroubled ease. Rather, it instills us with the inner equilibrium needed to face strains, burdens, and fears that inevitably come, and assures us that the universe is trustworthy and God is concerned. —Martin Luther King, Jr., The Strength to Love

How do we change and grow? How do we become our most whole selves, deeply connected with God and others? How do we learn to experience ourselves as interconnected so that we can truly love? The mystics of many spiritual traditions teach the path of descent—surrender, generative self-emptying, dying before you die—as the way of transformation. More than ideas or success, uncertainty, failure, relapse, suffering (personal and communal), and woundedness are our primary teachers.

The pattern of down and up, loss and renewal, enslavement and liberation, exile and return is quite clear in the Hebrew Scriptures. Through his own journey, Jesus modeled this counter-intuitive wisdom: “Unless the grain of wheat dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” To avoid the death of our small, separate self is to avoid transformation into God, into union with one another, into something more. We must lose our life to find our life.

For more information go on this conference you may visit:https://cac.org/conspire2018/ from which the above information was taken

Fresh Expressions Vision Day

Below is a reprint of a letter we received form the Bishop and from The Rev. Bobbe Fitzhugh. I would like for you to read it and discern if you want to attend the vision day in Casper on September 8th. I will need to know fairly soon. I think this will be an excellent opportunity. Thank you, Fr. Brian

To Churches in the Diocese of Wyoming –

We are excited to announce that a Diocesan-sponsored Fresh Expressions Vision Day will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2018 in Casper at The Lyric, a downtown venue. This day-long event will be facilitated by the Fresh Expressions US Team and will help us shape the vision for Fresh Expressions in the Diocese of Wyoming. To encourage all churches to participate, the Diocese will cover registration and meals the day of the conference, lodging costs for Friday, September 7th, and shared ride fuel reimbursement for up to three lay representatives to attend, although more are welcome. All active clergy are also expected to attend.

A Fresh Expression of Church is a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of those who are outside of the existing church. At its heart, Fresh Expressions is about two things:

Proclaiming that established churches have a critical, if not central, role to play in God’s mission in our time.

Empowering and equipping God’s people in every congregation to develop creative ways to reach the increasing diversity in our society.

Every church in the diocese can help foster fresh expressions of church. Every church can help pioneer something new and different. The vision for the Diocese of Wyoming is to develop one Fresh Expression of Church for every traditional church in the diocese in the next decade. In order to bring that dream to reality, we need to raise up a multitude of teams of lay and clergy who will act as catalysts for the movement – pioneers with apostolic gifts. For a successful fresh expression of church to occur, we need:

Permission-Givers – clergy or church leaders who release the people in their congregation to do what they’re called to do.

Pioneers – mission entrepreneurs who have the stirrings to go beyond existing church communities to engage in life and ministry with people, fostering fresh expressions of church that connect with those outside of the established church.

Supporters – the people within the congregation that pray for and resource this work. They are a constant encouragement emotionally, spiritually and sometimes financially.

Fresh Expressions Vision Days are one-day, interactive-learning experiences that inspire and equip church leaders and interested individuals to pioneer new ways to be the Church. At the Vision Day you will discover:

How Fresh Expressions are renewing the church around the world

What it means to be a Mission-Shaped Church

Tools for starting Fresh Expressions in your community

We have the opportunity to witness new forms of being and doing church again – alongside, and not in place of, our existing churches. We believe that God is moving in the Diocese in ways that we might never imagine.

A true movement of God begins with a sense of awe and wonder. So let us wonder. Where are the people we want to reach? Who are they? How do we work outside the walls of the church – but in partnership with the church to do so? Let us start building fresh expressions of church!

Fresh Expressions is such an important priority in the Diocese of Wyoming that the Foundation of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming has committed funds to staff and facilitate implementation of Fresh Expressions of Church throughout the diocese, including sponsoring this Vision Day. Bobbe Fitzhugh, as Missioner of Fresh Expressions of Church has been reaching out to all churches to help identify opportunities for development of fresh expressions and the theme of this year’s Diocesan Convention will revolve around this movement.

We look forward to seeing you in Casper on September 8th. A flyer and registration information is attached to this letter. Please contact either of us if you have questions.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. John S. Smylie The Rev. Bobbe Fitzhugh

Bishop of Wyoming Missioner for Fresh Expressions of Church

Happy Anniversary

3rd

Gary and Nancy DeBolt

7th Lance and Nancy Griggs

17th Doug and Lynnea Bartlett

19th Roger and Jeanne Hamer

29th Dave and Gertie Eddington

August

14th Kriss Hovis

16th Bob Stuckert

22nd

Candace Wardell

26th Melvin Krotz

31st Scott Krotz

We are in need of more volunteers to serve on the Altar Guild. You would be paired up with another member of the

Guild so you wouldn’t be alone. If you are interested or have any questions contact Paula Krotz.

Both women and men are welcome.

Lay Eucharistic Minister

Training

There will be a lay Eucharistic

Minister training following

Church on August 5th. Please

plan to attend if you are

currently a Eucharistic Minister/

Worship Leader or would like to

be one.

Daughters of the King

Deacon Sydney Johnson would like to explore starting a group of women to be part of the Daughters of the King Order. If you are interested in diuscussin this with her please get with her after Church any Sunday this month.

According to the Daughter’ of the King website (https://www.doknational.org):

“Daughters of the King are women and girls between the ages of seven and one hundred and seven who desire a closer walk with the Lord. We are Christian women, both lay and ordained, who are strengthened through the discipline of a Rule of Life, and supported through the companionship of our sisters. We are all at different stages of our Christian journey – some have just begun and some have been on this path for a long time. But no matter where we are on our sacred journeys, our primary goal is the same – to know Jesus Christ and to make Him known to others.”

Their vision statement is:

“Empowered by the Holy Spirit, our vision as Daughters of the King is to know Jesus Christ, to make Him known to others, and to become reflections of God’s love throughout the world”

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THUR

FRI

SAT

1 Eucharist/Bible Study 10:00am

2 Men’s

Breakfast

7:30am at Deacons

3

4

5 Holy Eucharist 10am LEM Training

6

The Transfiguration

of our Lord Jesus Christ

7 Crafts & Laughs 10

8 Eucharist/Bible Study 10:00am

9

PARADE

10

11

Pre-Convention

Meeting

12 Holy Eucharist 10am

13

OUTREACH 6:00pm

14 Crafts & Laughs 10

15 Eucharist/Bible Study 10:00am

16

Men’s Breakfast

7:30am at Deacons

17

18

19 Holy Eucharist 10am

20

OUTREACH 6:00pm

21 Crafts & Laughs 10

VESTRY 6:30pm

22 Eucharist/Bible Study 10:00am

23

24

25

26 Holy Eucharist 10am

27

28 Crafts & Laughs 10

29 Eucharist/Bible Study 10:00am

30 31

August 2018

August & September 2018 MINISTRY SCHEDULE

Sept 2

Sept 9

Sept 16

Sept 23

Sept 30

WORSHIP

LEADER Gary DeBolt Paula Gary France Robert Lynnea

ACOLYTE Sarah Vickie Roberto Helen Ayden

LAY

READER Janie Sandi Buff Julie John

GREETERS

Dick and Bud Chuck and

Myrna

Gary D. and L. Wayne

Lance and Nancy

Paula and

Melvin

COUNTERS L. Wayne and Dave

Janie and Paula John and Tom

A. Peggy and Don

Tom J. and L. Wayne

ALTAR

GUILD

Lynn Pace

August 5

August 12

August 19

August 26

WORSHIP

LEADER Robert Melonuk Gary France Peggy Steen Lynnea Bartlett

ACOLYTE

Vickie Sarah Helen Roberto

LAY

READER Buff OPEN Julie John

GREETERS

Lance and Nancy Gary D. and L.

Wayne Randy and Sandi Paula and Melvin

COUNTERS

Dave and Tom J. Janie and Paula John and Tom A.

Peggy and Don

ALTAR GUILD Paula and Celeste