Spirit of the Eagle – August 2012
Notes from Rector Bryan K. Newman
I don’t know about you, but I think this summer is just flying by! It is already more than two-thirds over. Personally I haven’t done half of what I intended to do this summer. Something I have to keep reminding myself is that things will come in God’s good time and not in my time. The urge to get everything we want to do done and the stress we create in attempting it, can create anxiety. I have to remind myself of St. Paul’s words in Philippians, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds.” As the end of summer approaches let us face it calmly. We may not have completed everything we wanted to but with God’s grace we can take comfort that we have done all we needed to do.
+++Yours-In-Christ+++
Fr. Bryan Newman
Healing Service for August
Our monthly Healing Service will be conducted on the first Sunday, of the month, August 5th, after Mass. It is inspired by St. James words, in his New Testament Epistle, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. Pray for one another, that you may be healed.” If you wish to be Anointed and offer your prayers for any that are suffering or are ill please join me after Mass on the 24th for this rewarding and reassuring service.
Florence Freedom Game
All are invited to attend the Florence Freedom game Friday, August 24th at 7 p.m. Please mark your calendars! Please invite your family and friends. Cost per ticket is $10. Money must be turned in to Brenda Strong by Sunday, August 12th. Tickets will be available on Sunday, August 19th. Let`s go to the ballgame and have peanuts, popcorn, and a hot dog!
Wednesday Holy Communion & Choir Practice Returns
Please join Fr. Newman on Wednesday August 22nd as our Wednesday Holy Communion service and Choir practice returns! As fall is just around the corner, it’s time to get back to our duties. Our Holy Communion service returns at 6 p.m. and Choir Practice at 7 p.m. Come Aug. 22, so you don’t have to wait a whole week to receive the grace of the Sacrament of the Altar. And join the Choir and make a joyful noise unto the Lord! August 22 we will observe the Feast of St. Bartholomew.
Fr. Newman on Vacation
I will not be here for the next two Sundays, as I will be on vacation in South Carolina. Fr. Butler will be celebrating the Mass on both the 12th and 19th. I can be reached in an emergency on my cell phone, 812-290-5188. I will be back to join you at our annual Florence Freedom game, on the 24th. While I am gone please be safe, stay healthy, and pray every day that God will bless us all.
+++Yours-In-Christ+++
Fr. Bryan Newman
End of the Month Club
The End of the Month Club is a chance for parishioners and friends to meet at a local restaurant to share a meal and fellowship. All are welcome. Most times we meet for lunch on the last Thursday of the month. A few times a year we meet for dinner, so those who can’t make the lunches have a chance to share in this fellowship. We will not be meeting in August; however we will meet for lunch at 1 p.m. on September 27 at Wertheim’s Restaurant, 514 W. Sixth in Covington.
IHN is now called Family Promise of Northern KY
Interfaith Hospitality Network has changed their name to Family Promise of Northern Kentucky. I have been the coordinator for IHN (Family Promise) for SJC for sixteen years. The name change is difficult for me, and only time will help.
Family Promise of Northern Kentucky is a faith-based collaborative that empowers Northern Kentucky children and their families experiencing temporary homelessness, to attain sustainable independence. In 2011, 26 families were served. Of the 81 individuals served, 49 were children and 28 (57%) of the children were under the age of 5. So far this year, 17 families were served consisting of 51 individuals, 29 of which are children.
Homelessness among families in our community is a very real problem. According to The State of Housing in Kentucky (March 2012), Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties have seen increases in foreclosures rising approximately 2% each year since 2008. Between 2010 and 2011, the number of evictions for these counties was up 8% from 4,238 to 4,618. Family homelessness is happening right in our own cities and suburbs.
In the three counties eleven churches are host churches (families stay and sleep for one week). SJC is a support church to host church Christ Church United Church of Christ in Ft. Thomas, Ky.
The week of July 15th four adults and seven children were in the program. Families consisted of a mom with two sons ages six and ten, a mom with a son age six and a daughter age four, a mom with two daughters ages four and seven, and a father and his son age six. $70.12 was spent for food for breakfasts and lunches.
SJC next rotation will be the week of September 30th.
A couple of training volunteer opportunities are coming up if anyone would be interested in volunteering. Training will be held on August 21st from 6:30 – 9 PM at Christ Church United Church of Christ in Ft. Thomas. Another training will be held at Burlington Baptist Church on September 13th from 6:30-9 PM.
Spiritual Tidbits for August from Father Tim
How does one respond to “overwhelming” love, generosity, and gracious fellowship? How does one explain these overwhelming gifts which one cannot wrap ones arms around but yet one “feels” the embrace? Without a doubt my simple words will always fall terribly short and will never do justice. To everyone at St. John’s the Butler Family wishes to express our deepest, most sincere “thank you” for your participation and generosity in Brittany’s 2012 Asbury University Church Match.
God’s Universal and Particular Gifts
We ought all of us always to give thanks to God for both the universal and the particular gifts of soul and body that He bestows on us. The universal gifts consist of the four elements and all that comes into being through them, as well as all the marvelous works of God mentioned in the divine Scriptures. The particular gifts consist of all that God has given to each individual. These include wealth, so that one can perform acts of charity; poverty, so that one can endure it with patience and gratitude; authority, so that one can exercise righteous judgment and establish virtue; obedience and service, so that one can more readily attain salvation of soul; health, so that one can assist those in need and undertake work worthy of God; sickness, so that one may earn the crown of patience; spiritual knowledge and strength, so that one may acquire virtue; weakness and ignorance, so that, turning one’s back on worldly things, one may be under obedience in stillness and humility; unsought loss of goods and possessions, so that one may deliberately seek to be saved and may be helped when incapable of shedding all one’s possessions or even of giving alms; ease and prosperity, so that one may voluntarily struggle and suffer to attain the virtues and thus become dispassionate and fit to save other souls; trials and hardship, so that those who cannot eradicate their own will may be saved in spite of themselves, and those capable of joyful endurance may attain perfection. ~St. Peter of Damaskos circa 1100 AD, God Has Done All Things For Our Benefit.
Some of you have asked me for a list of books to deeper understand our Christian faith. Following are my suggestions which should be read in the order listed.
1. The Bible (start reading this daily and never, ever stop)
- Use a Study Bible that includes bible history and scripture commentaries
- I recommend The Oxford Study Bible – Revised English Bible with the Apocrypha and…
- The Orthodox Study Bible – the Orthodox really know their spiritual interpretations (most of which have been forgotten in the west)
2. A Catechism (found on page 577 of your Book of Common Prayer)
3. Reflection on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis
4. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, edited by Michael W. Holmes
5. The Fathers of the Church: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers (Expanded Edition), Mike Aquilina
6. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, edited by Benedicta Ward
7. In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, by John Chryssavgis
8. Confessions, St. Augustine of Hippo
9. Rule of St. Benedict in English, by Timothy Fry
10. Ecclesiastical History of the English People, by the Venerable Bede
11. Monologion and Proslogion, by St. Anselm of Canterbury
12. A Shorter Summa: The Essential Philosophical Passages of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, by Peter J. Kreeft
13. The Imitation of Christ, Thomas `a Kempis (translation by Ronald Knox)
14. Martin Luther, Selections from His Writings, edited by John Dillenberger
15. Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan
16. Pilgrim’s Regress, C.S. Lewis
17. Introduction to the Devout Life, by St. Francis de Sales
18. The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
19. Paradise Lost, John Milton
20. Way of the Pilgrim, translated by Helen Bacovcin
21. Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
22. The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton
23. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
24. The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
25. The Challenge of Jesus, N.T. Wright
These 25 should keep you busy until next summer! These selections come from the religion curriculum of Andrew A. Campbell’s The Latin Centered Curriculum. Janet and I have read most of these and we still use them daily. Needless to say my office has turned into a Library (and Janet makes me dust it). If you need help finding a copy of anything above please let me know and I will help.
Father Tim
Jhesu sleepeth in thine heart ghostly, as He did sometime bodily, when He was in the ship with His disciples, but they for dread of perishing wakened Him and hastily He saved them from the tempest. Do thou stir Him by prayer and waken Him by great crying of desire, and He shall soon arise and help thee. ~Walter Hilton 14th century English Christian Mystic, The Scale of Perfection.
Please join us at our next Spirituality Class on August 19th. We just finished discussing “The Hope of Heaven” and will next be taking on Session Four in Surprised by Hope and discussing “The Hope of Jesus’ Second Coming”. The hope of the second coming is based on the biblical confidence that Jesus will one day return to this world bringing heaven with Him, restore creation, heal his people, and make all things new. Please come and join us!
Father Tim
Thoughts about Heaven
I
Heaven’s not a place,
Where time doth race
Across the flatted fields of edgeless space
Thou shalt not hear its news, nor its retreat discover.
No! ‘tis a dance
Where love perpetual,
Rhythmical,
Musical,
Maketh advance
Loved one to lover.
II
Heaven’s not a rest.
No! but to battle with new zest:
Untired, with warrior joy
The sharp clean spirit to employ
On life’s new enterprise.
It’s the surprise
Of keen delighted mind
That wakes to find
Old fetters gone,
Strong shining immortality put on.
III
Heaven is to be
In God at last made free,
There more and more
Strange secrets of communion to explore:
Within the mighty movements of his will
Our tangled loves fulfill:
To pluck the rosemary we cannot reach
With the mind’s span,
Theophany at Sinai
And so at last
Breathe the rich fragrance of our hoarded past
And learn the slow unfolding plan.
Together to unroll
The blazoned story of the pilgrim’s soul;
All the long ardent pain,
The craving and the bliss at last made plain.
Sometimes to sleep
Locked each to each
Within his deep,
Or playing in his wave
The sudden splendor of the flood to brave:
Great tide of his undimmed vitality
That breaks in beauty on the world’s wide beach
And draws all life again toward its heart,
Stirring to new and mutual increase
Love-quickened souls therein that have their part,
Therein that find their peace.
Evelyn Underhill, Theophanies
Theophany: An appearance of God in visible form, temporary and not necessarily material (c.f. e.g. Exodus 33:20). A contrast to the Incarnation. May your August days be beautiful, blessed, and full of Theophanies.
Father Tim
Altar Guild
The Altar Guild is responsible for making the sanctuary ready for all services. Its members maintain the church’s liturgical requirements for services by preparing the altar, laundering linens, preserving the sacred vessels, and arranging the floral displays that beautify the church. If you would be interested in serving on the Altar Guild, or if would like to give flowers for a Mass in memory of a loved one, please contact Joyce Murray.
August Birthdays & Anniversaries
Robert Hooks –Birthday- August 1
Odious Hickman Sr. –Birthday- August 18
Cathy Volter –Birthday- August 19
Fr. Neuroth –Birthday- August 22
Geneva Schmidt –Anniversary- August 23
Geneva Schmidt –Birthday- August 24
Carolyn Schmerge –Birthday- August 28
Janet Butler -Birthday- August 28
Fr. Tim & Janet Butler –Anniversary- August 28
Savannah Butler –Birthday- August 29
Tim Lenz –Birthday- August 29
Ethel Fahlbush –Birthday- August 30
Congratulations to Paul Hamilton (above left) for representing Northern KY so well in the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals. The state of KY finished in third place, upsetting the No. 1-seed Colorado along the way. Paul, who wrestles for Campbell County Camels, is currently nationally ranked No. 12 in his weight class.
Junior Warden’s Report
Our new steel door for the back of the parish hall will be installed on Monday, August 6. I would like to once again thank the ACW and Vestry for donating the remaining balance so we can have a functional door and emergency exit. Also, the new grill Mike Murray picked up can now be used year-round for coffee hours, not to mention the easy access we will have to the storage shed.
Also on August 6, Combined Lock & Door Service will be stopping by to replace all three Church door locks with new heavy duty commercial locks. This will end all of the confusion of needing multiple keys to enter different areas of the Church. I will need to re-distribute just one new key to everyone on the key holder list, so please bring your old set or master key to me at the coffee hour on August 12 and I will swap them out with you for a new one.
One last thing….. As keeper of the pop supply for the mini-fridge in the parish hall, I have noticed that money I use for replenishing stock is dwindling fast. Please remember to drop 50 cents in the cup whenever you reach for a cold pop. If you don’t have proper change, please remember the next one will cost you a buck.
“God’s Creation” Day Camp a Big Success
The 2nd Annual SJC Day Camp held on August 4 was a huge success. This year’s theme was “God’s Creation” and 17 children were treated to 5 hours of crafts, face painting, Bible Board Stories, games, a Scavenger Hunt, snacks and a pizza lunch from Pasquales. One of the highlights of the day was hearing Brenda Strong leading the kids in song, accompanied by Rachel Barnett on her soprano ukulele.
