This Sunday, May 9th: Regular service schedule with services of Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 10:00.
The 10:00 service will be followed by coffee, then we will gather for a brief Mission & Outreach discussion. We will be focussing on the Edith Junior School in Kenya, because some changes there mean that the tailoring program may not be the top priority at this time. We will keep that meeting short, especially since it's Mother's Day. [On May 23rd, we'll return to the broader question of where to put out Outreach & Mission focus.]
Special thanks to Grete & George Plender and Jennifer Manson & her daughters who stepped up to the plate last Sunday to cover Dinner Bell. True Gospel work: giving out food to the hungry! As a way of bringing newer parishioners on board and as a refresher for old-timers, the upcoming Mountain Top will include an article detailing how Dinner Bell works, how it is supported, and how people can participate.
Thanks, too, to all who participated in the Parish Work Day. A lot got accomplished, but if you missed out (or would like to lend your hands again) some painting and some gardening tasks still remain.
Our Italian Dinner is coming up: Friday, May 21st at 6:00. The proceeds will go to the support of Meals on Wheels, Agape Ministries, and Episcopal Relief and Development. We are still in need of volunteers for that event. There is a sign-up list in the Parish Hall, or call Lynne at 323-7046.
Food for thought from Karen Armstrong (author of A History of God [1994], The Spiral Staircase [2005], The Great Transformation [2006].
"The reality that we call God is transcendent -- and yet God is also the ground of all being and can be experienced almost as a presence in the depths of the psyche. All traditions went out of their way to emphasize that any idea we had of God bore no absolute relationship to the reality itself, which went beyond it. Our notion of a personal God is one symbolic way of speaking about the divine, but it cannot contain the far more elusive reality. Most would agree with the Greek Orthodox that any statement about God has to have two characteristics. It must be paradoxical, to remind us that God cannot be contained in a neat, coherent system of thought; and it must be apophatic, that is, it should lead us to a moment of silent awe or wonder, because when we are speaking of the reality of God, we are at the end of what words or thoughts can usually do." [Spiral Staircase, p. 292]
Eastertide continues!
See you in church.
Blessings,
Heidi+
