Mars Hill Proclaimer
St. Paul's Episcopal Church October Newsletter 2022
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The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi,
October 4, 2022
Dear Siblings,
I find myself keen to keep up with the news on the war in Ukraine, and to keep praying. And then praying some more, and considering the effects of violence, and of all the kinds and evil so obvious in our world today. Sometimes I have to remind myself that these events are not at all unprecedented. Humanity's in-humanity to itself and to the animals and all of creation are nothing new. God knows and Christ Jesus knew ahead, the trouble God's faithful would have in this world.
"I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart, for I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Christ promises and urges us to hold on, keep trusting, doing our part patiently and with love. As I did some research today, I stumbled onto a piece titled "Prayer," taken from Fyodor Dostoevesky's The Brothers Karamazov. It's good to think about, today, the Feast of St. Francis:
Love all God's creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand.
Love every leaf, every ray of God's light!
Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.
If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.
And once you have perceived it,
you will begin to comprehend it ceaselessly
more and more every day.
And you will at last come to love the whole world
with an abiding, universal love.
Faithfully,
Barbara+
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A late note:
In our Diocesan Leadership zoom meeting, I am happy to say that Bishop Paula Clark advised us to resume using the "common cup" or chalice in our services of Holy Eucharist. If anyone doesn't want to sip from the cup, they may dip their host and take wine by "intinction." If neither of those is satisfactory, please know that the consecrated bread is, in itself, sufficient for Holy Communion, too.
Barbara+
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Join us for a meditative candlelit gathering that is simple, beautiful, and more about praying and listening with the whole self than with the mind only.
Taizé, an ecumenical community in France, has long been committed to promoting and praying for reconciliation, peace, and unity.
Taizé Gatherings will be offered the first Friday of the month at 7:00 PM. They will also be Zoomed and streamed on Youtube. Look for the link on our website.
Here's our flyer if you'd like to encourage your friends to come!
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GRACE PLACE CAMPUS MINISTRY |
St. Paul's is the new host for Grace Place Campus Ministry for the weekly services and meals. You are welcome to join on Wednesdays at 6:00 PM.
Various churches in town will be preparing meals for the gatherings. St. Paul's turn to bring a meal will be on Wednesday, October 5th. Pastor Mack estimates about ten guests at this time.
Your donation and/or help preparing food and setting up on October 5th, is much appreciated! Our next date for bringing food is November 30th. For more information, please contact: Donna deOliveira
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As I was pondering my Proclaimer article this week, I felt a tug to write about “our individual” and “corporate” PURPOSE in life. Of course, we have the most control over our individual efforts to fulfill our Divine Designed Purpose. If we believe God created us for his Glory and that we are on earth to fulfill his purpose for us – do we ever take the time to review and assess where we are in this process? We have free will which is why we need to participate in this process. The corporate question is harder because that is decision making and action involving a group of people with their own vision. It has been said that within a group, 10%-20% do 90% of the “work”. Whether work means actual physical work like preparing a meal for the Church and or whether the work is decision making regarding anything from repairs to who will lead us in the future once Mother Barbara retires.
The question I wanted to ask for this month’s article was reaffirmed more than ever by this Sunday reading of 1 Timothy 1:1-14 “…relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace” and Mother Barbara’s sermon. It was interesting that all these ideas and sentiments converged simultaneously.
So, with that said here I am again asking us to reflect on where we see our individual purpose within the future of St. Paul’s. I would assume that we see St Paul’s purpose to be a beacon of God’s Love. HIS definition of LOVE is for us to LOVE our Neighbor as ourselves. Also, the best definition of Love is in 1 Corinthians 13. So, what does that mean for our Church’s mission…?
I encourage each of us to share our ideas so we can narrow down our purpose and fulfill our Creator's purpose for the next chapter of St Paul’s. It is very encouraging that we have come together to meet the goals of the Capital Campaign. This confirms that we are optimistic about the future of St. Paul’s.
One of the ways we are opening St Paul’s to the community is this Friday’s Taizé Service which gives an opportunity for the congregation to dwell in the presence of Christ with those from all Christian faiths. Then our Wednesday evening participation with Grace Place is an opportunity for us to reach out to the NIU community. Mother Barbara is finally able to reconnect with the retirement communities. Lastly, the Garden crew has been sharing God’s love by providing wonderful fruits and vegetables to those who are food insecure. These are just some of the ways we are sharing God’s love.
It should be noted that there is nothing more rewarding than knowing we are being who we are designed to be and being open to God’s call for our life.
The vestry as always is eager to hear from each of you since we are here to represent you.
Prayerfully Submitted,
Lucinda
Senior Warden
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Dear St. Paul's Family,
What a beautiful day it was! I am grateful for a quiet, peaceful day with my parents and Bill today. We had an adventurer to Hornbaker's Nursery and Gardens in Princeton, IL. I had heard about their extraordinary selection of hosta varieties. The colors, shades of green, shapes, and textures of the various hosta varieties were almost as much fun as their names: Blue Mouse Ears, Color Festival, Curly Fries, Empress Wu, First Frost, Fragrant Bouquet, and Francee.
It is hard to believe that it is October this week. I've been preparing and planning for the leaves to fall and for snow. Ugh! Being Autumn, the vestry will be reviewing and discussing the 2023 budget. We will be reviewing bylaws and preparing for the 2023 slate of vestry members. How can you keep up to date and informed? I want to encourage you to review the vestry minutes, the weekly E-Blasts, the monthly Proclaimer, and the Sunday bulletins. I am open to your suggestions for better or more easily found communications. Please reach out to a vestry member to discuss your thoughts and concerns. Vestry: Lucinda Brunner, Jennie Cummings, Pat Brown, Steve DeGolier, Marilyn Cleland, Lori Judkins, and Rhys Prall. Treasurer: Rick Johns. A few townhall meetings with the entire church will be planned for this fall too with more information to come by mid October.
I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the Capital Campaign. As of September 29, 2022, the current pledges are $34,500 of the $50,000 requested over a three year period. Pledge cards and the original capital campaign letter can be requested via emails to parishoffice@stpaulsdekalb.org or by calling 815-756-4888. Thank you for turning in your pledge cards as soon as possible. I am very grateful for the response, so far. Memo line: Capital Campaign.
There is much going on at St. Paul's. We recently had Kick Off Sunday with our choir's beautiful music. Starting this Friday, the Evenings of Taize again brings us a meditative, candlelit gathering with music. https://stpaulsdekalb.org/annual-events/ Please plan to attend and invite your friends. The Garden Committee has weeded, harvested, packaged, and delivered carloads of fresh garden produce to local food pantries. In September, St. Paul's hosted a Watch Party for the northwest suburbs for Bishop Paula Clark's consecration ceremony in Chicago. At the beginning of NIU's fall semester, Grace Place Campus Ministry with Pastor Mack Patrick began offering their Wednesday night services and meals at St. Paul's. I have heard nothing but excitement to have these college students among us. I encourage you to check out our south side pathway and prayerful, intentional signage. Instead of discouraging trespassing, we welcome those choosing to walk our campus with intentional words of comfort and a bench to lighten their load. I believe the right word for the garden this year is lush! The garden is for everyone, neighbors, and the hungry. We have again been intentional with planning and sharing produce of the garden.
Thank you for sharing your gifts and your time and your prayers for the vestry and for the people of St. Paul's, and for our DeKalb community.
Jennie
Junior Warden
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WEEKLY DEVOTIONS AND
OCCASIONS TO CONNECT
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MONDAYS
Gardening, 2:00 PM
WEDNESDAYS
Contemplative Prayer, 11:30 AM-Noon
Grace Place Campus Ministry, 6:00 PM
THURSDAYS
Choir 7:00 PM
SUNDAYS
Liturgy of the Word and Table
8:00 AM in Sanctuary (Rite I, no music)
10:30 AM
In Sanctuary and on Zoom (with music)
Coffee Hour following
"Evening of Taize" returns the first Friday of October
St. Paul's will offer a 2:00 PM service at OakCrest on the last Thursday of each month
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TREASURER'S REPORT
SEPTEMBER 19, 2022
As of September 18, our Heartland Bank checking account balance stood at $48,285.08. I expect that we will need to take some more money from the Endowment Fund before the end of October. I am hoping that we can keep the total amount withdrawn to less than 7% of the fund’s value, but this is not a guarantee. I will be talking about this more as the year progresses.
We spent $19,236 from our General fund in June, and we took in $8343 from pledges and regular contributions. We also took in $1770 from the revolving and pass-through funds, and spent $456. We have spent 66.4% of our budgeted figures so far this year; we are 66.7% of the way through the year.
As of July 29, the Endowment fund is valued at $1,995,458.15 and the Capital Fund at Edward Jones is $31,501.95. Our Apache stock was worth $212.50 on February 22. The stock market fluctuates in unpredictable ways. However, I note that we are now earning interest on our money market-based Capital Fund for the first time in a few years.
Bill Cummings and Roy Mason submitted the audit report, although I don’t know that it has been submitted to the diocesan office—I will check on this. They seemed satisfied that all is well, which makes me happy.
We are starting to get pledges for the Capital Campaign—at least $20,000 pledged so far.
I want to mention a source of additional expenses we are facing: the cost of natural gas. In August 2020, the cost was $0.24 per therm; in August 2021 it was $0.53 per therm; in August 2022, the cost is $1.23 per therm. This is approximately a 5-fold increase over the past 2 years, and it is contributing to a serious underestimate in our utilities budget.
Cleaning costs have gone up as we are now recognizing the market prices. Our new cleaning contractor is paid hourly, so costs will vary, but the base pay has been revised to reflect what is expected for the work.
It is getting to be time to start considering next year’s budget (along with everything else that needs considering)!
Respectfully submitted,
Rick Johns, Treasurer
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Come and sing a joyful song!
The choir rehearses Thursday evenngs at 7:00 PM, and also on Sunday mornings, 9:45-10:15 AM. Join us on any day you can!
The first Thursday of every month we include Taizé music to our rehearsals in preparations for the first Friday of every months "Taizé Gatherings".
Additionally, the choir assists in leading the music for Sunday morning worship services at 10:30 AM.
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Bringing back a song (a prayer) for the congregation to learn and sing.
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Lorraine Langer
Hannah Buckle
Assistant Director of Music/Pianist
Kathleen Johnson
Pipe Organist
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Streaming Ministries
Enhancing the Quality of In-Person and On-Line Worship Services
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Streaming offers us the opportunity to share moments with our parishioners as well as family and friends and affords us the opportunity to engage the greater community.
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Our new streaming ministries sound and video system continues to enhance our:
- Intelligibility of spoken and sung worship in-person and on-line;
- Ability to stream live via YouTube in tandem with Zoom to our Parishioners and community; and
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Ability to offer an Assisted Listening System (ALS) "Listen EVERYWHERE" to enhance their ability to hear the service more clearly.
Zoom is available for coffee hour, for the parishioners zooming in from home after the service on Sundays to join in fellowship and essentially any meeting (book group, vestry, staff, etc).
Streaming Ministers:
Peg Newby, Gretchen Schlabach, Katt Scott, Hannah Buckle, Lorraine Langer
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YouTube and Zoom Links are below for easy access! |
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Taizé Gatherings at St. Paul's will be Streaming Live via Zoom and YouTube. |
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Come join us in-person or live-streamed.
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As we go into October, our gardening year is coming to a close.
All of our lovely green plants are now past their prime. However, they continue to produce, albeit at a slower pace. We have slowed our pace, too. We now meet only once a week, but we continue to make much-appreciated deliveries to our community food pantries.
As we harvest the last of our many variety of vegetables, we admire one still yet to be harvested--our butternut squash! We have several doing very nicely.
There is a sense of contentment and gratitude as we near the end of the season. We reflect on the bounty of our work, with so few hands, and the help of God. It feels good to know that our combined efforts helped ease the anxiety of those among us without enough to eat.
Soon we will be enjoying our yearly bonfire. It seems to me that our yard waste pile is bigger than last year's. We look forward to a warm, glowing fire and the fellowship of our church members and guests at this event!
The Green Team is also looking forward to our annual end-of-the-season field trip, most likely at Honey Hill. Somehow, apple cider donuts are indeed the perfect way to end another blessed growing season!
We anticipate the return of our much-missed members, Jocelyn and Rhys! Both of them are so appreciated for their efforts in the gardening at St Paul's. Rhys did the work of creating new garden beds, both for the Durning Memorial Garden, and for our pollinator beds. And Jocelyn is our veteran gardener, who helped get the gardening going this spring, while a few teammates were unable to help.
For those of you who would like to try your hand at pollinaor gardening, now is the time to collect ornamental milkweed seeds and zinnia seeds from the garden. Zinnias are so easy to grow, and are a favorite flower for butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds!
Next month, we will have our total produce weights for our 2022 garden.
In closing, I'd like to thank everyone who consistently showed up to help our garden grow! Without you, there would be no garden at St Paul's!
If you've been thinking about lending a hand, but haven't, we have a new afternoon gardening time. Please join us Mondays throughout October at 2 p.m.!
Respectfully submitted,
Jo Plenger-Schulz
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BISHOP PAULA CLARK WATCH PARTY |
On September 17th, we celebrated the consecration of our new Bishop, Paula Clark. In-person tickets were made available for the service at the Westin in Lombard.
Mother Barbara, Lorraine Langer (who participated in the music offerings), and Gretchen Schlabach attended in person.
Here at St. Paul’s, we hosted a ‘watch party’ in Parish Hall. Light refreshments were served to those in attendance. We had 2 guests from St. Peter’s in Sycamore. They were most grateful for the opportunity to observe up close the consecration and mass. Attending from St. Paul’s were Peg Newby, Bill Cummings, Mary Lincoln, and Hannah Buckle, who connected us to the service. Our large screen monitor made it feel like we were there. This was a wonderful fellowship event.
Peg Newby
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From Bishop Clark: Our Shared Ministry Has Begun |
September 30, 2022
Dear People of the Diocese of Chicago,
It is a great joy to write to you as your bishop! Now that the festival of the ordination and consecration is a glorious memory, we have work to do together, and I am eager to get started. I give thanks to God that our shared ministry has finally begun.
In the last several months, many of you have asked me what my priorities as your bishop will be. I have responded the same way each time: The most important thing to me right now is to learn more about you. I want to learn about what your congregations need to respond to the complicated world in which we find ourselves, and what you need most from a bishop in these times. I want to hear your stories, ask questions about your ministries, and find out what you need to respond to God’s call in your communities. My calendar is filling up with opportunities to meet with lay and clergy leaders about all of the questions, challenges and joys you encounter in serving God, and I am looking forward to every one of those conversations.
In the weeks ahead, as we talk and pray together, we will develop our shared priorities for ministry and mission. I want to assure you that I am committed to two priorities I already know we share. Your longstanding witness against violence on our streets and in our communities is known across the Episcopal Church. I am proud to join you in work that was also part of my ministry in Washington D.C. I have also heard from so many of you that our lives on the shores of Lake Michigan and on the prairies and bluffs of central Illinois commit us to caring for God’s creation. I am eager to join you in advocating for policies, practices, and initiatives that honor and safeguard the abundance and diversity of God’s creation.
Between now and when we gather online for diocesan convention, I look forward to meeting and talking with many of you about how, together, we can courageously serve God and our neighbors. Thank you for your steadfast faithfulness in these challenging times.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine!
The Rt. Rev. Paula E. Clark
Bishop of Chicago
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Come Away to a Quiet Place:
Finding Spiritual Resilience in Difficult Times
October 21-23, 2022
DeKoven Retreat Ctr. Racine, WI
+ Zoom
Retreat Leader: Rev. Eileen Shanley-Roberts
We will recapture the ancient prayer tradition of Meditation
Here is the flyer for the retreat |
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As we approach cooler temperatures outside, it might be time to review how our building is heated.
There are four thermostats in the St. Paul's building.
1) One for Parish Hall that controls the Parish Hall, the Kitchen and the Choir Room.
2) One for the Parish Office which controls the Parish Office, the Rector's Office, the Conference Room and the restrooms.
3) One for the Sanctuary that controls upstairs.
4) One for the St. Timothy Center that controls the downstairs.
They are all programmed according to the schedule we expect to happen. St. Timothy Center will stay at 62 degrees as there are no activities scheduled. The Sanctuary is set to stay at 62 degrees and have heat come on to 70 degrees two hours before the 8 AM service on Sunday and fall back to 62 degrees at noon. The Parish Hall will stay at 62 degrees except for Sundays from 9 AM to Noon when it will go to 68 degrees and from 5 PM to 8 PM when Bread and Roses rehearses. It can be manually set for Grace Place Wednesdays and Choir Practice on Thursdays. The Parish Office is programmed to be at 68 degrees during office hours Tuesdays through Fridays, and 62 degrees when no one is there.
If you have an event, you can turn the heat up for your event and if you use the "temporary hold" setting it will return to 62 degrees in two hours. If you need the heat on for a longer time, you can use the "permanent hold" setting, but you must remember to return the setting to the program mode when you are done.
It is also important to remember to only heat the zone you need - don't make the Parish Office heat the breezeway and the Sanctuary by leaving the door to the breezeway open during the week. And don't make the Parish Office heat the Parish Hall by leaving the door to the hallway open when no one is here.
With the cost of "therms" expected to increase by a factor of five this winter it will be important to conserve when we can. Your help is appreciated.
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The Rector's
Discretionary Fund Collection
Donations allow us to assist people in need
in our community.
Remember that donations can be mailed at any time.
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October Birthdays and Anniversaries |
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Birthdays
10/3 Richard Dowen
10/3 Kris Borre
10/8 Lori Buckle
10/10 Lonnie Piper
10/10 Debi Meyers
10/11 Jordan Meyers
10/19 Linda Lorbach
10/21 Rhys Prall
10/31 Jo Plenger-Schulz
Anniversaries
10/11/03 Doug and Lynn Roberts
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St. Paul's Episcopal Church Contact Information |
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900 Normal Rd., DeKalb, IL 60115
Parish Office: (815) 756-4888
The Rev. Barbara A.T Wilson, Rector
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