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NEWSLETTER
____________________________________
Episcopal Parish of Ames April 2018
I'm reprinting the end of my Easter sermon below, which is a portion of a Paschal
homily from St. John Chrysostom (died 407 AD) that is often read aloud with
interactive participation from the congregation at Easter - as we did - in the Orthodox
and Catholic Churches of the East. What would it mean for you - and for St. John's - to
"practice resurrection" here and now in light of this radical (yet orthodox)
proclamation?
For if any be a lover of God, let her partake of this fair and radiant festival!
If any be a faithful servant, let him come in rejoicing in the joy of his Lord!
If any have labored in faith from the first hour, let her today receive her rightful due!
If any arrive only at the eleventh hour, let him not be fearful on account of his slowness!
For the Master is bountiful and receives the last even as the first!
He gives rest to him of the eleventh hour even as to her who labored from the first!
Enter ye all, therefore, into the joy of our Lord,
And let both the first and those who come after partake of the reward!
Rich and poor, dance with one another!
Ye who fast and ye who fast not, rejoice today!
The table is full-laden; Do ye all fare sumptuously!
The calf is ample; Let none go forth hungry!
Let all partake of the banquet of faith!
Let all partake of the riches of goodness!
Let none lament her poverty, for the Kingdom is manifested for all!
Let none bewail his transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the tomb!
Let none fear death, for the death of the Savior has set us free!
He has quenched death, who was subdued by it!
He has despoiled Hell, who descended into Hell!
Hell was embittered when it tasted of his good flesh?
It was embittered, for it was rendered void!
It was embittered, for it was mocked!
It was embittered, for it was slain!
It was embittered, for it was despoiled!
It was embittered, for it was fettered!
It received a body, and it encountered God!
It received earth, and came face to face with Heaven!
O Death, where is thy sting! O Hell, where is thy victory!
Christ is risen and thou art cast down!
Christ is risen and the demons have fallen!
Christ is risen and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen and life is made free!
Christ is risen and there are none dead in the tomb!
Fr. Ben+
Photos from the Maundy Thursday Event.
EPISCOPAL PARISH OF AMES
Parish Office
St. John’s by the Campus
Episcopal Parish and Student Center
2338 Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014
Clergy
The Reverend Benjamin Webb, Interim Priest
The Reverend Donald R. Payer, Deacon
Emeritus
Parish Assistants
Jeannie Garcia, Secretary
David Moore, Chaplain
Dr. Miriam Zach, Music Director/Organist
Amy Mellies, Director of Christian Formation
Wendy Ware, Organist
Jane Galyon, Newsletter Editor
How to Communicate
St. John’s Office: (515) 292-6655
St. John’s e-mail: [email protected]
St. John’s fax: (515) 292-1941
Fr. Webb: [email protected]
Amy Mellies [email protected]
Dr. Miriam Zach: [email protected]
St. John’s Website: www.stjohns-ames.org
Diocese of Iowa: www.iowaepiscopal.org
Vestry, 2018
Senior Warden: George Smith Junior Warden: Bruce Bjorklund Treasurer: John Levis Clerk: Deb Fisher
Nicola Bowler Michael Howell
John Levis Maddy Losby
Doug McCay Dorothy Yoerger
Newsletter, April 2018, Vol 24, Num 4
This publication, Newsletter, is published
monthly except July by the Episcopal Parish of
Ames, a non-profit organization, 2338 Lincoln
Way, Ames, Iowa 50014. Comments or inquiries
may be sent to the church office. The deadline
for the next Newsletter is Monday, April 23.
Submit articles to Jeannie at St. John’s or via
email to [email protected] and
April Coffee Hour
April 1 8 & 10 a.m. VOLUNTEER NEEDED April 8 8 & 10 a.m. VOLUNTEER NEEDED April 15 8 & 10 a.m. VOLUNTEER NEEDED April 22 8 & 10 a.m. VOLUNTEER NEEDED April 29 8 & 10 a.m. VOLUNTEER NEEDED April Lectionary
April 1
The First Lesson: Isaiah 25:6-9
The Psalm: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
The Second Lesson: Acts 10::34-43
The Gospel: John 2:13-22
April 8
The First Lesson: Acts 4:32-35
The Psalm: Psalm 133
The Second Lesson: 1 John 1:1-2:2
The Gospel: John 20:19-31
April 15
The First Lesson: Acts 3:12-19
The Psalm: Psalm 4
The Second Lesson: 1 John 3:1-7
The Gospel: Luke 24:36b-48
April 22
The First Lesson: Acts 4:5-12
The Psalm: Psalm 23
The Second Lesson: 1 John 3:16-24
The Gospel: John 10:11-18
April 29
The First Lesson: Acts 8:26-40
The Psalm: Psalm 22:24-30
The Second Lesson: 1 John 4:7-21
The Gospel: John 15:1-8
Transition Update and CAT Findings
Dear St. John’s Parishioners,
As a reminder, Rev. Steven Godfrey, the
Diocesan Missioner for Congregational
Development and Transitions, will be present at
St. John’s on April 15, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. in the
Parish Hall for Adult Forum. Rev. Steve will
discuss the findings of the Congregational
Assessment Tool (CAT) which was conducted
last autumn. He will be available to answer any
questions related to the CAT and other
transitional issues.
Last week, the CAT revealed that 47% of church
members are clearly satisfied with things in the
church. When asked how satisfied they are,
church members focused on the issues addressed
below:
a. The pastor’s communication with people in a
way that keeps them informed and
connected.
b. The pastor’s help accomplishing the parish
mission by bringing out the best in everyone.
c. The church’s help for each member to
understand that he or she is called to
ministry.
d. The pastor’s articulation of a clear vision for
the church and keeping it before the people
in a compelling way.
e. The pastor’s presence in times of crisis.
These results indicate that St. John’s is currently
a “pastor-centered” church where member’s
satisfaction is tied to their feelings about the
pastor. Because it is risky to depend too much on
the rector’s work to guide satisfaction, it is
especially important to focus on developing our
member’s call to ministry and increasing lay
involvement in leadership.
How do we shift from a “pastor-centered” church
to a “lay-centered” church? What challenges do
you foresee?
Next Week: The CAT reveals our top five
priorities and the three goals that are unusually
strong for this church.
George K. Smith, Senior Warden
IT IS TRIVIA TIME
We need to get our team(s) ready for the
next Heartland Senior Services Trivia
Community Night on Friday, April 20th at
6:30pm at City Church, 2400 Oakwood Rd
Church, Ames, IA. Contact Joanna Muggli to be
on a team 515-556-3697.
Website for St. John’s
Madeleine Rothmayer, St. John's website
designer and programmer for the last 7 years is
stepping down at the end of March. A sincere
thank you to her from the whole parish for her
hard work and cooperation in building the site
and her diligence in keeping it running. For those
of us who have worked closely with Madeleine
on the website in the past and present, it was a
consistent pleasure and we will miss her. Thank
you to Tim Muggli for offering to be our short -
term site overseer upon Madeleine's departure.
Bronwyn and Tim and Pete and Amy-
Adult Forum
On April 8, Bill Gutowski will share about his
time he lived in South Africa and worked with
African scientists. April 15th will bring in Fr.
Steve Godfrey to discuss how the search process
is progressing. On April 22 Chuck and Sandra
Deppe will share about their time spent in the
Peace Corp and in Guatemala, and John
Lowthian will share about his experiences in
Haiti. On April 29 Steve Prater with present on
Antonio Gaudi's, Basilica de la Sagrada Familia
in Barcelona, Spain.
Food at First
On March 24 we served 25 guests and had 7
people on the crew. Thanks to Beverly Baustian,
Thomas Phillips, Sarah Terrones, Leigh Ann and
Natalie Long, Michael Howell and Larry Davis.
Thank you for bringing your clean plastic
containers to St. John’s! We re-use plastic food
containers with lids for take home meals.
Containers larger than 8 oz. with lids work
best. 16 oz. cottage cheese containers with lids
are always in demand. All donated plastic
containers must go through the Hobart sanitizer
before re-use, so they must be able to survive
high heat.
St. John’s serves meals on the 4th Saturday of
each month. Our next dates will be April 28,
May 26 and June 26. A signup sheet is available
in the parish hall. For more information contact
Michael Howell, Joanna Muggli, or Ed Gillott.
We begin meal prep at 9:00 a.m. are usually
finished with cleanup by 2 p.m. You can sign up
for partial shifts or the whole kielbasa! See you
there!
Meal prep - 9:00 to 11:30
Meal service - 11:15 to 12:20
Clean-up - 12 to 2
Deepening Faith
If you would like to add prayer, reflection and
fellowship to your spiritual journey we invite
you to join us for Deepening Faith. This is a
prayer group of 2 to 6 parishioners that practice
contemplative prayer, Lectio Divina, and explore
the treasure of prayers available in the Book of
Common Prayer. The contemplative prayer is a
way to practice ‘the habit of holy silence.’ Lectio
Divina is the practice of reading a selection from
scripture 3 times with periods of silence in
between for quiet reflection, and a time for group
discussion after the third reading. Meetings start
at 7 p.m. in the parlor and close at 8:30 p.m. The
format is flexible and there is not a structured
curriculum track, so it is easy to join at any
time. Participants range from young adult to
seniors with a nice mix of life experience and
spiritual perspectives. The Deepening Faith
group will meet on the following dates.
• April 12, 2018 at 7:00 pm
• April 26, 2018 at 7:00 pm
• May 10, 2018 at 7:00 pm
• May 24, 2018 at 7:00 pm
For more information, contact Ed Gillott or
Steve Prater.
Cathedral Church of St. Paul
The Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Des Moines
is celebrating two milestones this year: 1) The
25th Anniversary of our magnificent Casavant
Pipe Organ and 2) The 25th Anniversary of being
named the Cathedral for Iowa. We are planning
some special events to celebrate and hope
members of your church will want to join us!
Saturday 14 April at 7:30 p.m. – Christopher
Houlihan, organ recitalist- Celebrating 25
Years of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s (Des
Moines) Glorious Casavant Pipe Organ
Christopher Houlihan is an internationally
acclaimed, young rising star in the organ world
from New York City. The concert is free and
open to the public. There is a dinner in advance
of the concert. Tickets/reservations need to be
made in advance for the dinner.
http://cathedralchurchofstpaul.org/
Tickets may be purchased on-line or by calling
the Cathedral Office 515-288-7297.
The 25th Anniversary of both the organ and the
naming of the Cathedral are helping us to be
more intentional about our mission and desire to
connect with Episcopalians across the state. The
arts and beautiful liturgy are central to our
identity as the Cathedral. We hope to share the
beauty of the space, our organ, and our rich
musical traditions with the larger
community. We experience God’s grace, beauty,
love, joy, and peace richly through the Cathedral
Arts series. We sincerely hope members of your
congregation will join us in celebration of God’s
rich blessings.
Flower Chart
The following dates are open: April 15, 22: June
24; July 29; September 30; and December 23. If
you are interested in any of these dates, please
sign up on the flower chart by the water fountain
or call Jeannie at 292-6655 and she can enter the
date(s) you prefer.
Readers for the 10 a.m. Service
We need volunteers to sign up to read for the
service. A signup sheet is in the Parish Hall.
Christian Formation Announcements:
Sunday School Classes:
Godly Play is for children 4 years old to 4th
grade. #JesusSquad is for youth 5th - 8th grade.
The Den is for youth 9th - 12th grade. Calendars
of Sunday school dates will be available in the
parish hall.
Sunday school classes will meet on April 8 and
22 at 9 a.m.
EYC (Episcopal Youth Community)
We will meet at 5 p.m. on April 8.
New Beginnings #20
New Beginnings is a youth retreat for 6th-9th
graders. #20 will be held at St. Paul’s in Council
Bluffs April 27-29. Registration for staff and
participants is open at www.iowaepiscopal.org
on the Children and Youth Ministry page. St.
John’s will cover half of your registration costs,
please choose to pay by check when registering.
Mission Trip to Houston
Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast of Texas on
August 24, 2017 with catastrophic rainfall-
triggered flooding in the Houston area. In the
four-day period, many areas received more than
40 inches causing unprecedented flooding. The
resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands
of homes, displaced more than 30,000 people,
and prompted more than 17,000 rescues.
Neighbors were helping neighbors and the whole
city came together to start helping with the
recovery process.
People from across the nation reached out to help
with the recovery efforts and we have received a
large amount of request of how youth groups can
come help with the recovery efforts this summer.
With so many requests, a couple of youth
ministers with the backing of the Episcopal
Diocese of Texas as well as many churches and
recovery programs, we have planned a week-
long Mission trip for youth groups from across
the nation to come together and help. Contact
Amy Mellies if you are interested in attending.
Objective: To bring together Episcopal youth
groups and adults from throughout the country
who want to come and help with Harvey relief
efforts in the summer of 2018.
Mission Work: We will be serving multiple
areas around Houston devastated by the flooding
from Hurricane Harvey. Relief projects will
include home repair and/or service projects in the
affected areas.
Trip Details:
• Cost - $350 per person
• Ages – Entering 7th grade +
• Dates – Starting Sunday, June 24 and
finishing up on Saturday, June 30th
Please respond by May 6 if you are interested.
Mark Your Calendar for these Upcoming
Youth Events:
April 8 - Sunday school at 9am, EYC at 5pm
April 15 - No Sunday school or EYC
April 21 - EYC at Overflow Thrift Store 2-4pm
April 22 - Sunday school at 9am
January Vestry Minutes
Clergy Present: Fr. Ben Webb
Vestry Members Present: George Smith,
Maddy Losby, Doug McCay, Phyllis Heffron,
Bruce Bjorklund, Dorothy Yoerger, Deb Fisher,
Michael Howell, Nicola Bowler
Others Present: Amy Mellies
Minutes: There were no issues or concerns
concerning the minutes of the December vestry
meeting.
Christian Formation/Youth: Amy reported on
the past and upcoming activities of the youth.
December 22nd three to four youth participated in
volunteering their services at the animal shelter.
January 7th was a family movie night with
participation from five to six families. The
annual ski trip took place the weekend of
January 13th and 14th. Amy thanked Bruce
Bjorklund for manning the kitchen. Upcoming
events include regular youth group, a February
4th EYC prepared meal for the Emergency
Residence Project, and Happening March 2-4 in
Mason City. Amy has been in contact with Jerry
Davenport about the possibility of mission trip
opportunities for youth in the Houston area.
Campus Ministry: There was no report from
David. Deb Fisher asked for budget clarification
for program dollars available for the chaplaincy
program. It was determined that the 2018 budget
allocated $3000, but there was a carryover of
$3000 from the previous year, so the total
available for programming is $6000.
Treasurer’s Report: The financial reports were
approved as presented. There were a couple of
details discussed. Fr. Ben’s credit card has been
ordered. Amy will serve as a temporary church
officer in the absence of a permanent priest in
order to get a new credit card issued for Fr. Ben.
Housing Resolution: Fr. Ben circulated a
resolution that allowed for a portion of his salary
to be allocated as a housing allowance for tax
purposes.
Consent Agenda Approval: Doug McCay
made a motion to approve the items contained in
the consent agenda. Bruce Bjorklund seconded
the motion. The motion carried.
Announcements: Nicola Bowler announced
that there will be a youth breakfast on January
21to raise money for this year’s pilgrimage to
England. Charlotte Bowler is participating from
St. John’s, along with a number of youth from
St. Timothy’s. The St. Timothy’s youth and
families will be participating on the 21st, and we
are all encouraged to make them feel welcome.
Prayerful Considerations:
• Treasurer Appointment: A parishioner has
volunteered to help as treasurer. There was a
discussion concerning the possibility of
having co-treasurers, in order for the
financial assistant to have better access to
someone to sign checks and deal with any
issues that might arise.
• Discretionary Fund Audit: Fr. Ben stated
that the discretionary fund should be audited
annually, and so we will arrange to have that
completed, either along with the annual
outside audit of our books, or internally.
• Rector’s Office Updates: The decision has
been made to install new carpet in the
Rector’s office, at the time of the carpet
installation throughout the rest of the church.
In addition, Bruce will contact Converse
Heating and Cooling about the inadequate
heating in the Rector’s office. New doors
with glass panels will be installed on the
Rector’s office and the outer office rear door.
These will improve safety and security in
those areas. A mail slot will be installed in
the main hallway door to Jeannie’s office.
• Annual Meeting Prep: A proposed agenda
was passed around and discussed. Fr. Ben
will request a letter from the Bishop
explaining the importance of retaining the
current vestry during the time of transition.
He also suggested we nominate Convention
Delegates at the annual meeting. Deb Fisher
and Diane Bjorklund will present the 2018
budget and answer any questions concerning
financial issues. We will also include a
search committee update. Anything to be
included in the Annual Report needs to be on
Jeannie’s desk by January 22.
• The 2018 Plate count sheet was passed for
sign up.
• Columbarium update: Deb Fisher will check
with Rowat Stone on the status of our panel
order.
Maintenance Issues and Parking: Other
maintenance issues discussed besides the
Rector’s office included issues with the Sacristy
door not shutting properly. Bruce Bjorklund will
look at it to see what needs to be done to
improve it. The carpet installation is beginning
this week and a large dumpster is on site.
Other Items:
• Jeannie will be gone from February 13-20.
Phyllis Heffron will coordinate some
volunteers to staff the office during that time.
• Doug McCay reported on the performance of
the Endowment Fund and Long Term
Maintenance Fund. A motion was made by
George Smith and seconded by Phyllis
Heffron to pay $2500 each to Good Neighbor
and Emergency Residence Fund, and $2400
to Matthew 25 for our 2018 contribution.
These grants will be paid by the Endowment
Fund. The motion carried.
• Pledges continue to come in. Deb Fisher will
prepare an update for the bulletin. • Fr. Ben led a discussion of the transition and
what needs to be accomplished during this
time. We identified that better organization
is needed and regular committees and
leadership roles were identified and
discussed. We will plan to invite Steve
Godfrey to our next meeting and continue
our discussion.
Search: Fr. Ben was dismissed and Nicola
Bowler and Michael Howell gave an update on
the search process. The parish profile and the
ministerial portfolio are nearly completed. Steve
Godfrey has reviewed the work completed to
date, and his suggestions are currently being
reworked.
The meeting adjourned following the reading of
the Compline, led by Maddy Losby.
Submitted by: Deb Fisher, Clerk of the Vestry
April Events 2018
April 8 (Sunday)
Potluck Goodbye for Students after the 10 a.m.
service
April 14 (Saturday)
Memorial Service for Ruth Swenson 11:00 a.m.
April 15 (Sunday)
Adult Forum 9:00 with
Rev. Steven Godfrey, Diocesan Missioner
Daughters of the King meeting
April 17 (Tuesday) Vestry Meeting 6:00 p.m.
April 27 - 29 (Friday - Sunday)
New Beginnings #20 St. Paul’s in Council
Bluffs
April 28 (Saturday) Food at First 10:30 a.m.
