The St. Paul's Epistle
August 16-31, 2006
Contents
Dear Members and Friends of St. Paul's
Back to School, Sunday, September 10
What to Say???
Rector to be Celebrated
Rochester Marathon 2006
Outreach Opportunities at School #9
Religion Speaks to Contemporary Conditions or it
Dies
You can help
Dear Members and Friends of St. Paul's
Every edition of the prayer book has provided for the communion of the sick. The intention, generally, was for the clergy to celebrate the eucharist in its entirety at the bedside. If it was "expedient", the service could be shortened, but not by much. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer provided greater flexibility, and certainly more pastoral sensitivity, in providing for communion to those unable to attend a public celebration.
The theological and historical foundations for this ministry emerge in the middle of the second century. Justin Martyr, in one of the earliest accounts of the Sunday eucharist (c. 150 CE), describes how deacons took communion to the sick, those in prison, and to those who, for any reason, could not attend the community eucharist. Cyprian, writing a century later, notes that all present at the Sunday celebration were encouraged to take a portion of the consecrated bread home with them so that during the week they could begin each day with communion. In both cases, it is clear that receiving communion was a primary sign of one's desires to be in the Body of Christ, the Church.
This core understanding became distorted during the middle ages to the point that receiving communion apart from a public service was thought of as a "last rite" - something done just prior to death. Instead of being a sign of being connected to the living community of Christ, it became an elaborate rite of ministry to the dying.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, author of the 1549 BCP, attempted to recover the communal character of the early church's ministry to the absent, but with only moderate success. It wasn't until the American book of 1892 that reference to imminent peril of death was deleted.
This return to the practice and theology of the early church also contributed to the revival of reservation of the sacrament as greater and greater demands were placed upon clergy for this rite. Although fully aware of this shift, the church did not make any provisions for this ministry in the 1928 revisions. Nonetheless, clergy continued to respond to pastoral needs.
The 1979 BCP, however, provided specific directions and authorization for communion under "special circumstances" (see pages 396-99) from the reserved sacrament. And in 1985, General Convention adopted a resolution that enabled parishes to utilize laity in taking communion from the Sunday service to those unable to be present.
In March of this year, St. Paul's commissioned three people to be Eucharistic Visitors, charged with taking communion to members of this community unable to be with us at our Sunday celebrations. Whether these folk are recovering from a hospital stay or confined to home due to health reasons, receiving communion from the Sunday service connects them with those of us gathered to give thanks to God for God's many blessings, including bread and wine made holy.
If you are unable to come to church for a period of time due to health issues, our Eucharistic Visitors would be delighted to visit you and bring the sacrament. Simply give me a call. Unlike the middle ages, where the theology was about death, this is about life - being connected to the Body of Christ in this place and in this time through receiving God's blessing through communion.
Faithfully,
Thomas McCart
Back to School, Sunday, September 10.
Start the school year at the Back to School Breakfast, served buffet style, on Sunday, September 10, from 8:45 to 9:30 a.m. All are invited to welcome students and families and greet the teachers. Classes will meet at 9:40 and then join the 10 a.m. service for commissioning for the new year. Maps of locations will be provided at the registration table.
The teachers and staff, all returning from last year, are joined this fall by Nancy Kleintop and Tim Davis. Nancy and Tim will support young people preparing for confirmation. We all look forward to gathering each Sunday at 9:40 for our various programs. Each of our groups thrives on participation and support, and we all look forward to a year of learning together, growing in faith and life as we work and play together, getting to know our God, our faith, our parish and our community.
Watch for more information about specific opportunities. In the meantime, plan to join in on September 10!
High School: Journey to Adulthood
Donna Bayley and Erik Warner
Confirmation: Making Disciples
Nancy Kleintop and Tim Davis
Grades 6/7/8: Rite 13 - Celebration of
Adulthood
Louise Moore, Steve Bewlay
Grades 3/4/5: Exploring the Lectionary
Peter Doyle, Chris Fitzstevens, Jessica Wood
Grades 1/2: Godly Play
Sandra Stenzel, Ashley Torres
PK/Kindergarten: Godly Play
Sue Hall, Tom Milliman
Nursery: Loving Care
Missy McMullen, Becky Hall
Minister for Families
The Rev. Leslie St. Louis
Youth Music Director
Laura Dunbar
Coordinator for Christian Formation
Barbara Warner
What To Say???
Introducing ourselves to someone we don't know can be very awkward. I remember greeting someone I didn't know after church only to discover that they were founding members! (They had been on a six-month cruise, and I had only been on staff four months).
One of the simplest ways to begin a conversation with someone you don't know is to introduce yourself and say, "I don't believe we've met, have we?" This goes a long way toward solving the problem of greeting an unrecognized fellow member and also provides some direction for the conversation.
Once you've started, you can do any or all of the following:
- If the person is a visitor, ask, "What brings you to our church today?" This may provide some information on how the church may continue to be of service to that person.
- At some point in the conversation, you might want to state in one sentence what you most appreciate about St. Paul's, such as "I really like this church because…"
- Draw their attention to the tract racks and the new brochure describing St. Paul's, and ask if they completed a Visitor Card.
- Invite the person to join you for coffee fellowship after the service, and before you leave them, invite them to return for another service or program.
- If it can be done graciously, introduce the visitor to someone who shares a common interest or who can speak to the information gleaned from your conversation.
We're all in the business of welcoming. I hope the above will help you welcome people this summer and throughout the year.
Thomas McCart
Rector to be Celebrated
In 1995...
- the San Francisco 49ers became the first team to win five Super Bowls
- the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 4,000 for the first time
- Microsoft released Windows 95
- the Reverend Frederic W. Reynolds was installed as 20th Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
Chris Moore and Stan Refermat, Wardens, invite all the congregation to recognize with them Fred Reynolds and his ten years of ministry to St. Paul's on Sunday, September 17, at the 10 a.m. service. Stay to join in the festivities at the Welcome Back Picnic following the service.
Barbara Warner
Rochester Marathon 2006
On Sunday, September 17, the second annual Preferred Care Rochester Marathon will take place. Participants will begin downtown and proceed up East Avenue past St. Paul's. Runners begin the race at 8 a.m. and should be well past St. Paul's by our 10 a.m. service. However, the marathon will cause a number of streets to be closed at various times, and you will certainly have to take streets other than East Avenue on Sunday. Streets will open as runners pass.
Although they may be some challenges that morning, you won't want to miss church. The 17th will be our wonderful picnic, and it is also the day we'll celebrate Fred Reynolds's ten years as rector of St. Paul's.
A complete posting of road closures and times is on the marathon's web site.
Outreach Opportunities at School #9
It's nearly Fall and soon children will be returning to school. It is St. Paul's mission to support programs that will enhance student's learning at Martin Luther King School #9, located at 485 North Clinton Avenue. One look at all the smiling faces tells you that our School #9 Project is a joy for students and volunteers!
We are pleased that our program, begun 7 years ago with 10 St. Paul's volunteers, has expanded to include 60 volunteers. Our volunteers are our best "recruiters" and we are pleased to have formed partnerships with St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Christ Church (Pittsford), St. Luke's (Fairport), Incarnate Word Lutheran Church and St. Thomas Episcopal Church. St. Mary's funds the school's Birthday Book project and Christ Church in Pittsford funds the vacation lunch project. Here's what we at St. Paul's do at School #9:
- Provide training, materials and administrative support for the Adopt-a-Classroom Tutoring Program. Volunteer tutors provide 1600 hours of tutoring and in-class support to kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classrooms as well as targeted tutoring for six students in 3rd and 4th grades.
- Recruit volunteers to provide support for the school library and field trips.
- Provide Junior Great Books reading materials and teacher guides for volunteers who meet twice a week to read and discuss Junior Great Books series with small groups of 4th graders.
- Provide study guides and books for Literacy Circle volunteers who meet twice a week with small groups of 5th and 6th graders to review and discuss challenging literature.
- Fund the annual Springdale Farm field trip for all kindergarten classes.
- Provide grants to kindergarten and first grade classrooms for enhanced learning materials.
- Provide Christmas books, kindergarten and literacy circle graduation cakes and summer reading books and magazines for more than 160 children.
How can you support these wonderful programs? If you can commit to an hour or two a week between October and May, please consider joining our tutoring team. If you'd like to help, but can't be available during the school day, there are lots of "back office" jobs for people who like to wrap presents, shop for supplies or coordinate scheduling. Just tear off the form below and let us know if you (or a friend) would like to get involved!
I'd like to help with School #9 Outreach Projects. I am interested in (please circle):
Tutoring - Reading Groups - Scheduling - Purchasing - Wrapping - Grant Writing - Other
Name: Address: Phone: e mail: Return this form to: Liz Cook, 314 Bonnie Brae Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618
or email.
Religion Speaks to Contemporary
Conditions or it Dies
Christian Pathways has selected The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong for our next reading. The sessions will begin October 1, 2006, and run for about twenty weeks, until the end of February, 2007. The book is long, but lends itself to being read and discussed selectively. Pathways meets at 9:00 am Sundays in the Conference Room. We are a diverse group including people from various religions or none. We are committed to the premise that what we do in church should be centered on the most pressing spiritual concerns of our own troubled times.
The Great Transformation deals primarily with pre-Christian religious history because, according to Armstrong, it is the spiritual stars of the Axial Age who speak best to conditions today. The great thinkers of modern times tend to be found in science rather than religion.
Armstrong's main sources are ancients such as Buddha, Isaiah, Socrates, Confucius and Lao Tzu, but her concern is always the practice of religion today. Armstrong presents the great religious leaders as non-conformists who questioned everything. Those who engage in this critique of religion give up some of the security we have come to expect from religious institutions, but gain, it is claimed, a closer fit with the sources.
Armstrong's global theology is based on living with compassion. What she finds in all the Axial faiths is an absorption in fullness of life in this world with less concern for the afterlife or for any propositional claims about a transcendent reality.
All these matters are controversial, and we present Armstrong's work as the popular religious writing it is, not to be confused with serious academic work in theology or history of religions. The previous Axial work we read in Christian Pathways was by John Macquarrie, but Armstrong's book is much more detailed and passionate. A principal source of appeal for Episcopalians is that when Armstrong advocates for the primacy of practice, she clearly has in mind both the ethics of everyday life and religious rituals.
For more information, or to reserve a book, please contact David or Linda White (585-482-2616 or email.
You can help
Jesus provides direct guidance for us as we attempt to live Christian lives. In Matthew 25:35-45, he lists a number of activities that we can undertake, then states that "as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me," and "as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me." Our own community has many of "the least of these." There is so much need that we can become overwhelmed and feel that we are unable to help. Yet, doing even a little can make a huge difference.
St. Paul also provides some guidance for us when he notes in First Corinthians 12:4-12 that the Spirit has endowed each of us with different gifts to be shared as needed to build the Church, or body of Christ. He notes that none of us can do everything, but we can each do something well.
St. Paul's Parish sponsors a variety of activities that seek to serve "the least of these" so that, no matter what your individual gifts, you can find at least one way that you can live your faith as Jesus asks. Here are some of our many activities that depend on each of us.
- To help those in need of food, you can help to prepare meals for Christ Church's A Meal and More or St. Joseph's House of Hospitality, and/or bring donations of food to church to be shared through the Southeast Ecumenical Ministries (SEM) food cupboard. Through SEM you can also volunteer to provide transportation to those in need.
- To help those in need of housing, you can help St. Paul's host homeless families during a part of one of the four weeks per year that our parish provides temporary housing as part of RAIHN (Rochester Area Interfaith Housing Network).
- To help the large numbers of refugees from the Sudan who came here to escape persecution, a variety of gifts are needed to provide support and counseling through our Sudanese Ministries.
- If your gifts include a love of working with children, you can participate in St. Paul's tutoring program on school days at Rochester's School #9 on Clinton Avenue.
To learn more about any of these opportunities to use your gifts to help meet the needs of others, contact Judy Wadsworth at 442-4737 or by email.