FROM THE RECTOR

I continue to be encouraged by what is happening at St. Paul’s. In my report to the parish for our annual meeting, I likened it to the time between Christ’s resurrection and the day of Pentecost. We have seen the resurrected Jesus and experience the hope this brings. What he said, what he did, and what he taught us before his crucifixion did not die with him on the cross. The promise of a better time, of a better life, of God’s kingdom is before us. The Corona Virus may not have gone away, but it no longer carries the same level of threat to our well-being that it once did.  Our life together is slowly returning to what it was prior to the pandemic.  

Throughout the pandemic, one thing remained constant. Our St. Paul’s community continued to worship together, albeit virtually for many months. We continue to offer online services as an option, yet over the past couple of months we are seeing more people attending in person. We are also gathering more often for fellowship, service, and study. 

The season of Epiphany, which I think of as the season of light (because so many of our prayers and scriptures make reference to light) is about to come to a close. We will end this Epiphany with a party on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). I think of this party as a celebration of life, a time to gather and share a wonderful meal with others. The next morning; we begin the season of Lent. In our tradition, Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is a day of fasting. We hold services in which our members come forward and have ashes smeared upon their foreheads as the priest says, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” This is a reminder of our mortality, of the temporal nature of our life on earth. Ash Wednesday is an abrupt end to the joyous season of Epiphany.  

Lent is somber, yet living in the face of death is what we do every day. Many people attempt to avoid the reality of our mortality, but we do learn at an early age that this life comes to an end. Lent is not about contemplating our end; it is about shining a light into the darkness that is a part of all our lives. We shine the light of Christ upon our sins and allow him to show us the way of life he revealed to us upon the cross – the way of truth and life and love. Jesus teaches us to follow him on a path that is anything but easy, for it leads us to the cross. Lent will prepare us to observe Holy Week which concludes with the promise of a new life in Christ. Deep within us, Lent prepares us see the risen Christ on Easter. 

This Lent, we will offer opportunities for you to deepen your faith through participation in a Lenten Study. We will offer two – one on Sunday afternoons by Nelson Barnett and Cathy McDonald on The Screw Tape Letters by CS Lewis, and one on Tuesday evenings lead by the Rev. Katherine Wren which will be offered on-line. I encourage you to consider participating in one of these as a Lenten discipline (not all Lenten disciplines require us to “give-up” something).

God’s Peace,

Jim+

LENTEN OFFERINGS

Ash Wednesday Services

There will be two services offered on Ash Wednesday, February 22nd. The first will be at noon, the second at 6:00 pm. Those who will serve will be announced at a later date.

Lenten Studies

Feeling devilish?

Join us for a Lenten study of C.S. Lewis’ classic The Screwtape Letters. Led by Cathy McDonald and Nelson Barnett, we will meet on Sunday afternoons from February 26 through March 26 @ 2pm. Participants are asked to provide their own books (available from Amazon and other vendors). Please join us for a wickedly good discussion!

Lenten Book Study via Zoom

All are invited to participate in a Lenten book study via Zoom discussing the book Lies We Believe About God by William Paul Young. The Rev. Katherine Wren of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Blytheville will lead the study. It is not necessary to have a strong background in theology to participate! Participants will read selected chapters each week and then discuss on Tuesdays, beginning February 28^th and finishing before Holy Week. Email saintstephens.blytheville@gmail.com if you are interested in joining us or have any questions.

-The Rev. Katherine Wren

MEMBER PROFILE: SANDY BARNETT

My name, of course is Sandra Slaughter, I gave up Sandra for Sandy along about the time I was eight years old, and I added Barnett in 1960 when my beloved Nelson and I were married in the Conway First Methodist Church on June 18. To save you time from having to do the math we will have been married for 63 this year, and I was twenty-one when we married. So, to save you some more time, yes, I am 84. Hard to believe. Where did all the time go?

I’ve lived in Batesville longer than anywhere else. But I had about 20 years growing up in Conway, about 2 years in Tuckerman, during WWII when my mother and I moved in with my grandmother while my daddy was “in the army.” Other than a year in Dallas, the first year Nelson and I were married so we could do some graduate work following our degrees from Hendrix, I have been in Batesville and in the midst of his rather large family ever since. I am an only child, but contrary to the stereotype regarding only children, I am not selfish or stingy, but I’m fairly certain I am spoiled.

I ran the bookstore at Lyon College for 20 years, and taught Creative Writing there for several years after I received my Masters from the University of Memphis. I have written a book. You should read it. You can get it from Amazon, Dead in the Shadow of Doubt, under the authorship of Sandy Slaughter. If you have not read it, shame on you! The book is not perfect, the language somewhat blue, but I learned every bad word I know at Girl Scout Camp.

Nelson and I were blessed with two perfect daughters. One perfect son-in-law remains. 4 perfect grandchildren, plus 2 more perfect grandchildren by law that we borrowed from other families, the Coxes and the Emerys, both lovely Batesville families.

Here’s the Ta-Da, Nelson and I are expecting our first great grandchild in July. She will, of course, be perfect.

I have been a Methodist, a Presbyterian, and an Episcopalian. Each was wonderful for the period of time in which I was a member of these denominations. But St. Paul’s is my true home. 

HISTORY PIECE OF THE MONTH

-Nelson Barnett

The Episcopal Church in Arkansas                     

From The Encyclopedia of Arkansas – https:encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/episcopalians

The Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas encompasses the geographic boundaries of the state of Arkansas. The diocese is composed of twenty-four self-sustaining parishes and thirty-one mission churches overseen by the Bishop of Arkansas. The bishop is assisted in pastoral work by approximately 100 ordained clergy, including priests and deacons both active and retired. As of 2006, the Episcopal Church in Arkansas has approximately 15,000 members who are subsequently members of the 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church in the United States and the seventy-seven-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church’s beginnings in Arkansas in 1835, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dealt with how to evangelize the American West. It established three large missionary districts encompassing all territories outside the Church’s three large territories, which extended from the Church’s establishment in the East to the Pacific Ocean. In 1838, two years after Arkansas became a state, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Episcopal Church sent the Reverend Leonidas Polk to be the first missionary bishop of Arkansas, with jurisdiction over all parts of the United States south of the latitude 36.5° where the Episcopal Church was unorganized. This added Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) to his care and included oversight of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and the Republic of Texas.

Arkansas’s Early Bishops At the time of Bishop Polk’s arrival in Arkansas, there were no Episcopal churches anywhere in the state; the first service he oversaw was in a Presbyterian church. Polk organized the first Arkansas congregation of the Episcopal Church at the Little Rock (Pulaski County) home of Chester Ashley, the state’s third U.S. senator and one of its wealthiest men. The new congregation was named Christ Church after historic Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, which several members had attended prior to their move to Arkansas. Polk traveled throughout Arkansas on his first missionary visit, scouting out places where he believed the Episcopal Church might be established. In his reports home, he pleaded for clergymen to come to Arkansas to serve as missionaries, and in December 1838, the Board of Missions sent William Mitchell to serve as Arkansas’s first missionary, working in the Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) area. The building for Christ Church was erected in 1841–42, and the Reverend William Christopher Yeager later became the first rector. That same year, a congregation was founded in Fayetteville (Washington County). As a missionary bishop with other responsibilities, Polk only spent approximately three months in Arkansas from the time of his appointment as its bishop. In 1841, James Hervey Otey was appointed the provisional bishop of Arkansas following Polk’s transfer to the Diocese of Louisiana that year. George Washington Freeman was appointed as Arkansas’s second missionary bishop in 1844 and occupied the office until his death in 1858 (after which Otey again temporarily resumed his role as provisional bishop). By that time, the fledgling missionary diocese had grown from one congregation to seven, from just a handful of members to 400. Congregations established during this period were Trinity Church in Van Buren (Crawford County) in 1845, St. John’s in Fort Smith (Sebastian County) in 1847, St. Mary’s in El Dorado (Union County) in 1850, St. John’s in Camden (Ouachita County) in 1850, St. John’s Trinity Church in Pine Bluff in 1851, and St. John’s in Helena (Phillips County) in 1853.

The third missionary bishop of Arkansas, the Right Reverend Henry Champlin Lay, held Episcopal oversight during the Civil War. Following the secession of Arkansas from the Union in 1861, the Episcopal Church in the state, which had advanced beyond missionary status, joined the Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America (CSA). After the war, Arkansas reverted to its missionary status.

The war had a devastating effect upon the Episcopalians in Arkansas, with most parishes being broken up and priests leaving the state. Bishop Lay estimated that the war turned the clock back on Church efforts some twenty years. (When he returned after the war one of his first visits was to Batesville where he organized St. Paul’s. {WOMP/Britton/Ferguson} He also organized St. John’s Associate Mission School near Fayetteville, though it was only active for a few years. 

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Submitted by Rhonda Mundy

Hungarian Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

• 1 large onion diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• ½ pound lean ground pork
• ¾ cup uncooked long grain rice
• 1 medium head cabbage chopped (core removed), about 8 cups
• 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 ½ cups V8 or other vegetable juice
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• In a large pot, brown onion, garlic, pork and beef. Drain any fat.
• Stir in chopped cabbage and let cook until slightly softened (about 3 minutes).
• Add all remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and reduced heat to medium low. Cover and simmer on low until rice is fully cooked (about 25-30 minutes)
• Remove bay leaf and serve.

TWELTH NIGHT PARTY

On January 6th, the Care Team hosted a Twelfth Night Party at the Barnett Farm. Those gathered participated in a blessing of the chalk to be used by them to bless their homes. Afterwards, we enjoyed a feast of “heavy Hors d’oeuvres., ” Some of us gathered outside for “burning of the greens” where we burned the greenery that had been used to decorated our church for Christmas. We will use the ashes from this in our Ash Wednesday services. Note: The ashes for Ash Wednesday are most often from burning the left over palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday, but may be obtained from other sources as) well.  

OTHER NEWS:

PUB THEOLOGY

Pub Theology will be held Tuesday, February 7th at 6:00 pm at The River in their private room. This casual Dutch-treat dinner includes a theological discussion before dinner. If you’re able to come, we would love to have you . . . and bring a guest or two!

DIOCESAN CONVENTION

St. Paul’s delegates to the 151st Diocesan Convention this year are Nikki Bittle, Jon Healey with Brenda Bittle and Sally Fittsizer as alternates. The convention will be held February 17th and 18th in Little Rock. Friday events will take place at Trinity Cathedral and Sunday’s events will be held at Episcopal Collegiate School.

These delegates will also serve as delegates to the Electing Convention to be held in August at which the Bishop of Arkansas will be elected.

CHURCHMEN’S CLUB

The Churchmen’s Club is hosting their annual Mardi Gras Party on Tuesday, February 21st at 6:00pm. Tickets are available to purchase at the church office or from a member of the Churchmen’s Club and are $25 each. 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN (ECW)

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) will meet on Wednesday, February 8th at 6:00 pm at Jo Cargill-Krug’s home to finalize plans for the soup sale. This will be the only meeting this month for ECW.

CARE TEAM

St. Paul’s Care Team will meet next on Sunday, February 26th at 6:00 pm in the Parish Hall. We will have a potluck dinner and then meet to plan activities for the Spring. 

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Make plans to join St. Paul’s Mardi Gras Parade down the aisle Sunday, February 19th! Sunday School has already started making medallions and everyone (young & young at heart) is invited to make medallions on the Sundays leading up to that date; come at 9:30 am for medallion making!

PUZZLE SWAP

If anyone would like to be involved in a puzzle swap, Barbara Terrell, Cindy Allen and I love jigsaw puzzles and have quite a few to donate or swap. We could bring them to the Parish Hall and leave them in the free books area. – Jo Cargill-Krug

MONTHLY RECIPE

Some of our readers have suggested that we feature a recipe of the month to be submitted by you! Feel free to send yours to the church email address at stpaulsbatesville@gmail.com and we will compile it into the next issue!

FLOWER CHART 2023

It’s time to plan our flower donations for the new year. We try to fill the first of the year up to Ash Wednesday first and then the dates after Easter. However, any date can be reserved now. Please call or text Jo Cargill-Krug at 870-613-6981 to reserve a date. Here are some dates available after the Lent season: April 23rd & 30th and May 14th & 21st. 

EUCHARISTIC MINISTER SCHEDULE

Altar Guild: Paul & Laura Hance

We could always use more volunteers to do altar work. We try to assign teams of two workers for each month’s work. Requires about an hour and a half each Saturday and thirty minutes on Sundays. For more information, contact Jo Cargill-Krug by phone at 870-613-6981 or by email at jo33car@gmail.com.

EPISTLE STAFF

Jo Cargill-Krug, Editor

Fr. Jim McDonald, Publisher

Nelson Barnett, St. Paul's Historian

Katie Janke, Layout & Design