The Message - May 2019 by Christ Episcopal Church

MAY 2019 â&#x20AC;¢ Volume 21, Number 3

Hosea: 2 Before and After: 8 Reflections: 9 Stations: 10

FROM

In this issue:

Prophet Motive: Hosea

Music Ministry ...................... 7

Author’s Note: This is the third essay in a series I offer on the Twelve Minor Hebrew Prophets. Throughout the series, I will use The Message version of the Scriptures, in honor of its masterful and artistic translator, Eugene Peterson, who died October 22 of last year. Kay asked me to write this series, and, as she is both my muse and editor, I dedicate every line to her.

Youth Ministry....................... 8 Family Ministry .................... 9 Our Church Life .................10 Page Turners.......................12 Great Commission..............13 Photo Album........................14 Calendar of Events.............15

Sunday Services: 7:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite 1 9:00 a.m. Family-friendly Communion Service with Music 10:00 a.m. Christian Education for Children, Youth, and Adults 11:00 a.m. Choral Eucharist, Rite 2 6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite 2 Visit us on-line at www.cecsa.org

Cover photos by Susanna Kitayama Editor Gretchen Duggan

A PATRICK GAHAN Rector patrickg@cecsa.org

s a boy, without a model at hand, I fell into an almost mystical understanding of marriage. This

understanding did not overwhelm me all at once, but gradually took hold through literature and occasional interactions. The first such interaction I recall was during the summer of my freshmen year of high school, when I was asked to escort a family friend’s daughter to a formal dance. The next morning my mother proffered a comment during breakfast, which I have never been able to shake. “You know that girl’s father loves his wife too much.” Over my bowl of Frosted Flakes, I looked quizzically at Mom, the steadfast sage of my boyhood, and asked, “Can you love your wife too much?” She let my query hang in the air for my discovery at a later time. Back at boarding school in Sewanee for my sophomore year, I was ensconced in Emily Bronte’s dark gothic novel, Wuthering Heights. Although an esteemed part of the literary canon, the meandering love story was a curious choice for a boy’s school, and the dormitory resounded with complaint. I keep my peace, for Bronte’s work drew me out onto the Yorkshire moors, that liminal foreboding expanse, connecting the stately mansion of Thurcross Grange with stygian Wuthering Heights. I was entranced then as I am now with the improbable love that emerges on those empty, windswept moors between privileged Catherine Earnshaw and the dark orphan boy Heathcliff. Like the enchanted forest in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream that fosters the romance between Herma and Lysander, Catherine and Heathcliff’s childhood years spent on the moors weave an inscrutable love and an

intractable them.

understanding

between

The disorienting emptiness of the moors and the drapery of darkness over Wuthering Heights, predict the blade that will assault Catherine and Heathcliff’s bond. Once Catherine leaves the enchanted forest the two alone shared, she is beguiled by the gentility, receptivity, and gentleness of Edgar and Catherine Linton, and the bright orderliness of Thurcross Grange. Not surprisingly for any fiction reader, Catherine abandons her brooding childhood companion, Heathcliff, as well as her spectral home. When she does return to Wuthering Heights, it is to announce her engagement to Edgar. Nelly, the long serving maid at the Heights, wisely asks Catherine if she truly loves Edgar. Catherine almost flippantly, it seems, answers that she loves Edgar, yet with a different intensity from the love she bears for Heathcliff. She is unaware that Heathcliff is just beyond the door listening when she admits, “My love for (Edgar) will change with age as winter changes the trees.” Pressed further by Nelly, Catherine utters the most memorable lines of the long, wandering novel, “I am Heathcliff.” And then, in stark, biting comparison to the prospect of a functional affection for Edgar, she admits, “Heathcliff is like the rocks beneath the ground.”1 Catherine Earnshaw’s words gave me, even at fourteen, an understanding of how I felt about Kay and my fears surrounding our nascent relationship. Neither my mother, nor my childhood friends could conceive of the communion I felt with her at that young age. The fact that she did not return that love for most of our teenage years could not diminish my connection to her. In fact, I had resigned to the certainty that she would marry someone of her own social and economic class, and I 1 Emily Bronte (1818-1848), Wuthering Heights (London: Dover, 1996), Chapter 9

From Our Rector... would do the same. Yet, I was equally confident that the bedrock that existed beneath us would never crumble – no matter how many years passed. The fact that we did wed remains a miracle in my life commensurate with the parting of the Red Sea, and our fortythree years together, making a living, raising children, and fulfilling the countless rudiments of marriage, have not dispelled the mysterious union we share.

the mystifying yoke of this communion as an image of our relationship with God. Therefore, it is not surprising that Hosea’s prophetic career begins with Yahweh ordering him to marry. Shockingly, however, the prophet is told to marry a prostitute. He is commanded to do so because Israel, the Northern Kingdom, has fallen out of love with Yahweh and forsaken its longstanding covenant of devotion: The first time God spoke to Hosea he said: “Find a whore and marry her. Make this whore the mother of your children. And here’s why: This whole country has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God.” (Hosea 1:2, The Message)

Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, Wuthering Heights, 1939

Admittedly, my understanding of marriage is much more than a convenient matching of like minds and social strata. In marriage, as Jesus attested, ‘The two will become one flesh. So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate’ (Mark 10:8-9). The two becoming one is the Biblical understanding of marriage, for amongst all human institutions, marriage provides the bedrock understanding of our relationship with God. The Lord desires for us to live in marital union with Him, a relationship that transcends convention and convenience and becomes a rich unfailing covenant of love, which is the rock on which we stand with God. Thus, to grasp the Book of the Prophet Hosea, we must keep that mysterious understanding of marriage before our eyes, for the entire book is based on

Hosea obeys God and thereby becomes a sign of God’s displeasure with Israel and a forecast of what he plans to do with the people to whom He offered intimate communion with Him even though they rejected him. Hosea’s wife, Gomer, does as suspected, she leaves Hosea in search of other lovers, but not before she bears three children, whose names themselves are darkly prophetic. The oldest son is named Jezreel, the place of a bloody coup d’état in Israel’s past (2 Kings 9-10). Yahweh plans to overthrow Israel from its privileged place in His kingdom. The second child, a daughter, is named Lo-ruhama, which means “No Mercy,” because, as Yahweh explains in 1:6, he has run out of mercy to expend on Israel. The third, another son, is to be called Lo-àmmi, which means “Nobody,” for Israel has become like a nobody to God. Yahweh has washed his hands of Israel like an experiment that went terribly wrong. The consequences for Israel’s infidelity will be devastating. The children’s names, it seems, would surely be enough to press God’s point home, except that Yahweh next orders Hosea to go collect his philandering wife, return her to his home, and love her devotedly. For all those who have imagined God as primarily the vanguard of moral purity, His next order to Hosea is altogether stupefying: Then God ordered me, ‘Start all over: Love your wife again, your wife who’s in bed with her

latest boyfriend, your cheating wife. Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people, even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.’ Then I told her, ‘From now on you’re living with me. No more whoring, no more sleeping around. You’re living with me and I’m living with you.’ (Hosea 3:1 & 3 The Message) The entire fourteen chapters of Hosea are encapsulated in the first three chapters of the prophetic book. Through Hosea’s torturous marriage with Gomer, Yahweh is revealing his will and plan for Israel. First, Israel has been adulterous. She has become materially comfortable, leading her to prostitute herself to the gods of prosperity. These false gods have incited Israel to act unjustly, and wander away from the Lord, who led them to freedom in the land He gave them. Second, Yahweh insists there will be dire consequences for her harlotry. Israel’s sin will be exposed, and she will lose the Promised Land where she has proved faithless (2:10-11; 3:4). Restoration, not dissolution, will be the third and final word from God. Just as Hosea sought his unfaithful wife, God will seek and bring home Israel after her long season of suffering is over. To better grasp Hosea’s nuptial illustrated prophecy, we must retreat to the preceding century. Standing upon the same real estate of the Northern Kingdom as Hosea, the fearsome prophet Elijah is readying himself to go toe-to-toe with the apostate King Ahab and his entourage of yes-men seers. The state of affairs in the north is dire due to a long devastating drought. The people of Israel have left the worship of Yahweh in droves in order to ecstatically invoke the favor of Baal, the enduring Canaanite god of fertility and prosperity. Elijah preaches to the defectors of the Northern Kingdom that Yahweh alone will supply their agricultural needs and everything else. Elijah will prove this in one of the most memorable scenes in all of Biblical literature, in which he slays the coterie of Ahab’s pretend prophets, while the skies darken to announce the coming

From Our Rector... rain and the end of the drought (1 Kings 18:16-45). Hosea’s problem is the same as Elijah experienced one hundred years before: The people of Israel no longer know Yahweh. They do not know that He sends the rain, nor do they know that Yahweh gave them their land on which the rain falls. They have been given “a land flowing with milk and honey,” yet ensnared by their gluttonous amnesia, they no longer acknowledge the One who led them out of abject slavery to inhabit such an Edenic place. That being said, Hosea is not mainly concerned with this surface knowing about God. No, Hosea believes Israel has been set apart to know God intimately like only a wife knows her husband. The Hebrew word “yada” is used here in Hosea, and in other places in the Old Testament, to bespeak a deep communion and actual marital covenant with God. No other nation was invited into such an embrace with the creator of the universe. To this, the great rabbinic scholar of the 20th century, Abraham Heschel declared, “It is Hosea who flashes a glimpse into the inner life of God as He ponders His relationship to Israel. In parables and in lyrical outbursts the decisive motive behind God’s strategy in history is declared. The decisive motive is love.”2 In Chapters 4-10, Hosea accuses Israel of repudiating this inimitable relationship with Yahweh. “There’s no knowledge of God in the land” (4:1), resounds the prophet, which is the height of irony due to Israel’s marriage covenant with the Lord of all creation. While Yahweh’s message spoken through Hosea is laced with anger, it is even more so filled with sadness, for, above all God wants His people to bathe in His love and depend on His faithfulness. Instead, the land on which Israel stands is in mourning: No one knows the first thing about God… And because of all this, the very land itself weeps and everything in it is griefstricken— animals in the fields and birds on the wing, even the fish in the sea are listless, lifeless. Hosea 4:1-3 The Message 2 Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1962), 47.

Israel’s “falling out of love” with Yahweh is clearly evident in two blatant actions of infidelity. For one, Israel has adulterated her worship. The people have amalgamated their veneration of Yahweh with that of Baal (who seems to never disappear in the Hebrew Bible!). Secondly, rather than entrusting their future and the security of their land to Yahweh, they have played the whore and entered into foolish alliances with Egypt and – worst of all – Assyria. (If Hosea’s message sounds nearly identical to Amos’s, remember the two are close to contemporaneous with one another.)

Hosea and Gomer, Bible Historiale, 1372

Regarding the first, Israel’s adulterous worship, it is too little to imagine their divided fealty is merely an insult to Yahweh. Essentially, people become what they worship. In our modern world, if we worship wealth and power, we become soulless material beings, as the devastating legacies of Enron and Bernie Madoff attest. The same was true 2,800 years before in the diminutive nation of Israel. Once the people corrupted their sole devotion to Yahweh with equal adulation of the agrarian prosperity god Baal, they shattered the Ten Commandments more violently than Moses did when descending Mt. Sinai and seeing the people blissfully gyrating around a golden calf. Accordingly, the Northern Kingdom, now released from the confines of her marriage covenant with Yahweh, feel free to overtly objectify and diminish the poor and weak in their

nation. Injustice reigns in the place of charity. Hosea blasts Israel with God’s injunction: ‘Two-faced and doubletongued, they steal you blind, pick you clean. It never crosses their mind that I keep account of their every crime’ (7:12). Fittingly, those in power, who have led the people to dilute their sole devotion to Yahweh, end up diminishing themselves. In every age and nation, leaders have arisen who imagine they know better than God, for most often they decry the very existence of God. With no governor, they can orchestrate a “reign of terror” – to wit Robespierre, Mao Tse Tung, and Pol Pot. No doubt some reading this will counter with the Salem Witch Trials, the Rwandan Genocide, the Crusades, and the European and American Slave Trade. In all of those examples, fidelity to God was obfuscated, if not downright ameliorated, by a greater devotion to tribe, state, wealth, and power. We should never forget the American slave trade was in no small part financed by its prominent place on the British and French stock exchanges, an initial warning of a global economy gone bad. Yahweh countenances no challengers to His exclusive love relationship with His people. When the people hedge their bets and divide their loyalty, they plant the seeds of their own demise. In ancient Israel’s case, they deserted their confidence in Yahweh to protect and deliver them from the aggressive nations surrounding them, which is dumbfounding in the face of the Exodus, Israel’s foundational story. Instead, Israel first ventures a military alliance with Egypt, of all nations. Worse, however, Israel next extends herself to Assyria, who in less than a generation will brutally defeat Israel, destroy her radiant capital of Samaria, and utterly erase ten of the twelve tribes of Jacob who initially entered the Promised Land with Joshua. Deserting her true bridegroom for a succession of spurious lovers, Israel crumbles, and God allows her destruction: Ephraim (another title for Israel) is bird-brained, mindless, clueless, First chirping after Egypt, then fluttering after Assyria. I’ll throw my net over them. I’ll clip

From our Rector... their wings. I’ll teach them to mind me! Doom! They’ve run away from home. Hosea 7:11-13 The Message The seven chapters read like recorded testimonies at a capital murder trial. Yahweh, the mighty Judge of the universe, is poised to pass judgment on His fickle spouse, who has publicly and conspicuously rejected His love. Yet just before the gavel descends, Yahweh astounds the entire celestial court. In a verdict, only matched by the father in Jesus’s Parable of the Prodigal Son, Yahweh, filled with emotion, professes that he cannot cease loving his bride Israel. But how can I give up on you, Ephraim? How can I turn you loose, Israel? How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah, devastated like luckless Zeboim? I can’t bear to even think such thoughts. My insides churn in protest. And so I’m not going to act on my anger. I’m not going to destroy Ephraim. And why? Because I am God and not a human. I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst. Hebrews 11:8 the Message ‘I can’t give you up,” Yahweh confesses to Israel, “but I can tell you where you’ve gone wrong.” No sooner does the Lord bare His heart to Israel than he enumerates their sins. The reader is once again on the prophetic rollercoaster, where storyline is sacrificed for disturbing pronouncements. The prophet is caught up in ecstatic encounters with the Almighty that lead to spontaneous utterances with little or no transitions from the previous point or sentiment. While difficult to read, the changing landscape of the text lets us know that this is not a systematic, carefully conceived argument, but an urgent, emotive appeal of God through the mouth of the prophet. In Chapters 12-14, Hosea’s urgent outbursts make him sound less like the jilted lover and more like an exasperated parent. The prophet upbraids the Northern Kingdom for

its deceitfulness, ingratitude, and foolishness. “Exasperated” describes Hosea’s complaint well, because he accuses the people of repeating abominable behavior that hails all the way back to the days of the Patriarchs, 1,300 years before. “When will you ever learn?” the prophet laments, sounding all the more like an incensed mother. With regard to Hosea’s first rebuke – that Israel is deceitful – the prophet does not bother to compare them to B-team liars. No, he uses the Hebrew master of deception, Jacob, in order to ask Israel the hard question: ‘Are you going to repeat the life of your ancestor Jacob? He ran off guilty to Aram. Then sold his soul to get ahead and made it big through treachery and deceit’ (12:12; See Genesis 27 & 28). Like young Jacob, they tell lies and act treacherously from morning until night (12:1). In particular, He accuses the Samarian businessmen in the northern capital of wholesale fraud, and then justifying themselves because they have so cleverly covered the evidence of their destructive misdoings (12:7). Jacob should not be your guide, states Yahweh through Hosea, but the ones I sent to lead you out of abject slavery:

nothing. I took care of you, took care of all your needs, gave you everything you needed. You were spoiled. You thought you didn’t need me. You forgot me’ (13:4-6). Israel’s forgetfulness in Hosea’s present is compared to Israel’s sudden onset of amnesia in the wilderness. Less than two months after their dramatic liberation through Moses, they rapturously gyrate around a golden calf, a Baal idol, while God is holding court just above them on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32). For those believing the early Israelites were guilty of nothing more than a precautionary “hedging their bets,” Hosea assures them that ingratitude to the One who saves you from a servile, meaningless life, quickly puts you under the yoke of oppression. Yet again the prophet raises the alarm that the god you create is the one you will serve – even to the point of personal destruction. In Israel’s earlier years, this meant some in Israel would become so empty as to sacrifice their own infants, a practice detestable to Yahweh:

Your real identity is formed through God-sent prophets, who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors. As it is, Ephraim has continually and inexcusably insulted God. Now he has to pay for his lifedestroying ways. His Master will do to him what he has done. Hosea 12:9-10; 13-14 Message

Religion customized to taste. Professionals see to it: Anything you want in a god you can get. Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods— kill living babies and kiss golden calves! And now there’s nothing left to these people: hollow men, desiccated women, Like scraps of paper blown down the street, like smoke in a gusty wind. Hosea 13:2-3 The Message

Maintaining his incendiary parental guise, Yahweh next rebukes Israel for their rank ingratitude. The prophet’s words fulminate echoes of my own thoughts during our children’s adolescent years, “I put a roof over your head, food on your table, clothes on your back, and gas in your car, and this is the thanks I get?” The Lord’s complaint is more pronounced than mine directed at a sulky teenager. The prophet mouths His words, ‘I’m the only real God you’ve ever known. I’m the one and only God who delivers. I took care of you during the wilderness hard times, those years when you had

Third, and very likely the source of Israel’s deceitfulness and ingratitude, is the people’s foolishness. Yahweh has repeatedly invited them onto the path to real life with Him, but they refused His advances and chose a course to death. Using the image of birth, Hosea presses God’s point home: ‘When birth pangs signaled it was time to be born, Ephraim was too stupid to come out of the womb. When the passage into life opened up, he didn’t show’ (13:13). Israel’s ignorance leads to their indolence. They are frozen, such that Yahweh asks, ‘Shall I intervene and pull them into life? Shall I snatch them from

From our Rector... a certain death?’ (13:14). Reflecting on their stupidity, Yahweh, once again, compares them to their equally foolish forebears (13:1011). Having brought the people into Canaan, a land to which He led them and bequeathed to them, the people clamor for a king. Samuel, the prophet and judge to whom they make their demands, tells them they already have a King, Yahweh. No, they respond, we want to be like the other nations. God instructs Samuel to relent, and the people get Saul, who looks good on the outside, but is a miserable, brooding, disappointing leader (1 Samuel 8). Scores of disappointing kings will follow Saul in both Israel and in the southern kingdom, Judah. The crux of the people’s ignorance and ingratitude is when Yahweh insists that Samuel listen to the people and give them the king that they want. ‘Samuel,’ bemoans the Lord, ‘the people have not rejected you. They have rejected me’ (1 Samuel 8:7). Just as when Yahweh’s anger abated when the people demanded their first foolhardy king, Saul, three hundred years earlier, Yahweh’s furor against Hosea’s Northern Kingdom ebbs. The folly of Israel seems to circle back repeatedly. Hosea reveals Yahweh as not only being prodigiously merciful, but also altogether weary from dealing with Israel’s cycles of betrayal. The prophet takes poetic license in describing God so anthropomorphically, but the result is quite effective: ‘“I will heal their waywardness. I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out. I will make a fresh start with Israel’ (14:4).

Curiously, Hosea’s final words are not these ones of clemency. Instead, he ends with an admonition to his readers in latter generations to learn from Israel’s obstinate idiocy and take the high road to wisdom. True wisdom is to be found solely in obeying God. All other roads, as Hosea’s account has illustrated, lead to dead-end lives and destruction: If you want to live well, make sure you understand all of this. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll learn this inside and out. God’s paths get you where you want to go. Right-living people walk them easily; wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling. Hosea 14:9 The Message According to Hosea, “right-living people” do not so much grit their teeth in dogged, abject obedience to God as they open themselves to receive His love. They seek his presence above all others. The psalmist echoes the prophet’s sentiment in his impassioned pronouncement: My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek’ (Psalm 27:8). To that end, I recall the devastating event of my adolescence – my mother’s nervous breakdown. One Saturday morning in summer, just as I was leaving for work, my mother started sobbing deliriously and could not stop. In desperation, I phoned her oldest sister, who quickly dispatched an ambulance from the psychiatric hospital. Because of her call, I can say that I have literally seen “the men in white suits” and witnessed how swiftly they swoop someone up from your life.

June 10 - 13 VBS 2019 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Triumph Sports After VBS Camp

12 - 4 p.m. 6

www.cecsa.org/vbs

Heathcliff, Claire Leighton, from Wuthering Heights, 1931

Two of my aunts subsequently rescued the younger children, but they let me be, as the family now needed me to work more than ever. With the last departure, I felt eerily alone, almost haunted in the place where my mother fell to pieces hours before. For that reason, I set off to work by a circuitous route. I walked along the creek road bordering Kay’s backyard. I thought if I could just catch one glimpse of her that morning, I would then feel the rock beneath my feet. I sat on the creek bank, and after some time, she briefly appeared on the back deck and just as quickly disappeared, but the sight of her was enough. She, like Catherine Earnshaw confessing to Nelly at Wuthering Heights, was unaware that I was even there. But seeing her face was enough.

Your brother,

Patrick U

MINISTRY Pray. Pray. Pray Again.

“ G

o o d morning Christ Church! The Lord be with you.” You may recall me opening up worship on Sunday mornings JOSH BENNINGER with these words Director of Music and Worship during Lent. I joshb@cecsa.org followed it with a short prayer, and then the choir sang these words: Almighty God, to you we pray. Come flood our hearts with peace and joy. Help us to live our lives in love. Forgive our thoughtless ways. Amen. Many of you responded that you appreciated not merely the prayer and music, but also the brief period of quiet time that followed. One parishioner said, “It really set the best mental state in which to worship.” I agree, and I also want to stress that these prayers were never meant for Lent alone. They may be used anytime. I encourage you to use them at home, at work, at church, or wherever possible. The Lenten Prayers Almighty God, help us to change course. The world we live in fosters and

encourages greed, anger, violence, and thoughtless actions. When our compass needle points away from you, it is all too easy for us to fall victim to sin––like sinking into wet concrete that quickly hardens, locking us in place––making it a challenge to return to you. Therefore, gracious Lord, we ask that you unveil yourself to us, and hold us steadfast to your ways of truth, honesty, and love. This we pray to you, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Almighty God, we ask that you help remove the obstacles that prevent us from being close to you––so you may cast away our fears and doubts. As we humble ourselves before you, we acknowledge that your kingdom is the one we wish to live in, because our self-made kingdoms are false and temporary––while yours is true and timeless. Give us the grace to never forget this truth, so we may become servants of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Heavenly Father, assist us in taking a moment to slow down, stop, and take inventory of our lives and our happiness. We live in a state of perpetual want and desire. The world prays on this and encourages us to feel we are lacking. The world convinces us that happiness is a commercial transaction. Lord, we know this thinking is flawed. Only you can fill us with living water. Only by following you can we truly be happy

and content with our lives. Through Christ alone can we live a fruitful and fulfilling life. Lord, help direct our eyes to you, so we may see your glory and the love you have for us. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Almighty God and Father, as we prepare for worship, grant us the peace only you can give. Clear away all distractions. Free us from anxiety. Calm our spirits and quiet our minds so we may hear your voice––so we may discern and obey the call you have for us. Lord, we know we all have a purpose in your kingdom. Help us to know what that is so we can glorify your name in everything we do. In our Lord’s name we pray. Amen. Eternal God, we know we are undeserving of your grace––yet, you grant us grace. We know we are sinful creatures, not deserving of your love–– yet, you continue to love us. Even when we fail to obey and turn away from you to pursue earthly things––you stand ready to welcome us back with open arms. Your wondrous love is beyond our understanding. Your grace cannot be quantified. We pray that you assist us in staying close to you, to pray first in all things, instead of using you as a last resort when all other worldly solutions fail. Praise be to you and to your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Josh Benninger

MINISTRY Before

f you have spent any time on the Internet and/ or social media recently, you know it is rife with “Before and After” photos. Before and After kitchen AMY CASE renovations, Youth Minister Before and After amycase@gmail.com braces, Before and After weight loss, Before and After hairdos, aging, natural disasters, organizing, the list goes on and on. These photos are so interesting because they give a very satisfying, instant, and immediate look at big changes. Sometimes big changes do take place quite quickly, but sometimes change takes many years or even a lifetime. One of my favorite Before and After

and

After

photos I have ever seen recently is that of our confirmands as first and second graders in their First Communion photo and then as mature middle and high schoolers on their Confirmation Day (see cover of this magazine). What a difference six or seven years can make in the life of a child. The physical differences are obvious and stunning. But, it is the transformation that is taking place within these beautiful young people that is most profound – and not easily detected from a photo. By confirming their baptism, these 24 individuals agreed to take ownership of their faith. To spend time studying the Bible and applying it to their lives. To deepen their relationship with God through prayer, evangelism, attending worship and taking communion, resisting sin, serving others, and striving to live a peaceful life. These are not easy tasks for most of us and rarely happen instantaneously. It

takes commitment, perseverance, and courage to be a Christian. In fact, as Patrick told the confirmands at their retreat in March, if you want to be counter-culture in today’s world, try being a Christian – it is rarely the most popular and never the easiest thing to do. I pray for our youth, myself, and for all of us that we realize that the only “Before and After” that truly matters is not one that is easy to photograph or post on social media. It is the Before and After of our hearts as we become rooted in Jesus Christ. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. –Psalm 119:105

Amy

MINISTRY

Sunday School Reflections “Let the little children come to me…” Mathew 19:14

T HALLETA HEINRICH Director of Family Ministries halletah@cecsa.org

his year’s Sunday School teachers are the Best! They have taken seriously the command of Jesus to “Let the little children

come…” to Him. In the process they have also come closer to Christ because our children help point the way, for “… the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14. I asked our teachers to share some highlights of their teaching this year and they follow.

from our

Ministry at Christ Church. Anne is a teacher in our Level 2 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd class. “This year in third and fourth grade Sunday School, The Story, the Bible stories have brought us closer to God and each other. The study materials have made it very easy to engage the kids in conversation about their lives and experiences, to share our challenges and celebrations about life, and to send us into our weeks with strong Christian messages. During this time, I have also seen friendships and familiarity forming among the kids, and I know these will build further as they grow up around each other. It’s been a real pleasure to participate – the fun side effect for me personally is (obviously) that teaching brings me closer to God and His message. —Pete McLaughlin.

“I had looked into various Bible programs for my grandchildren before visiting Christ Church for a funeral service. While there, I heard about the Atrium program. The minute I met Halleta at the Parents/ Grandparents overview presentation of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, I knew immediately this was going to be the most amazing spiritual adventure both for me and my grandchildren. CEC led by HH and her incredible assistants Carmen and Carol is the place to be – if you want to be inspired and inspire children to know and love God in a joyful, happy, uplifting place.” –Anne Aderhold.

inside and out as God has created them. The practice of “being still and listening” has enhanced the beginning of our lessons. It sets the mood for silence and paying attention. I am so impressed by their ability to practice this. I am hopeful and pray that this will be the beginning of a lifetime of listening to themselves and talking to God whenever and wherever they desire.

I encourage you to practice with them at home as a family. There is a delightful story book (and a YouTube video) called Journey to the Heart: Centering Prayer for Children by Frank Jelenk. Ask your child to show you how to practice being silent and listen (contemplative prayer) with them, and see where your heart takes you. I promise it will begin to be filled with the love of the Holy Spirit.” – Monica Elliott. Thanks so much, Pete! It’s great to have dads in the classroom. You are a witness to the fact that the best way to learn, is to teach!

Thanks Anne! You are a great cheerleader for me and our Children’s

Teachers

“Our class youngsters (3-5) are ready for all the information we can give them and want to use it. We have been practicing contemplative prayer. This is a way for them to communicate with God one-on-one in their own way - getting them to the center of their hearts. We practice by listening to silence, while paying attention to our breathing and heartbeat – peace. Our children are so much more attentive to themselves because they are listening to their own being

Thank you, Monica! Monica is a trained Level 1 Catechist of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Amazingly, what she has done in the atrium has really worked and has made it a place where children can listen to the voice of Jesus, Our Good Shepherd. There will be a Teacher Recognition Celebration for all teachers of children and youth on Sunday, May 12. Please be there to thank these great ministers to our children. Contact me at the church if you would like to teach this summer or fall. We will need you! Love in Christ,

Halleta

The Stations

uring the Good Friday service, we make our path along The Way of the Cross or The Stations of the Cross. The stations traditionally track JUSTIN LINDSTROM the last steps Associate Rector Jesus Christ took for Community on his way to the Formation cross and the justinl@cecsa.org grave. A powerful journey that we take with Christ every year. We also, during the Season of Easter (50 days), journey with the resurrected Jesus and his disciples as he appears to them. It is another powerful journey that does not end on Easter Sunday, but just begins; a powerful journey that can change the perspective of our life and transforms our spiritual journey. There is a movement to trace the resurrected steps of Jesus in what have come to be called The Stations of the Resurrection. The following are the widely held stations that I invite you to walk this Easter: #1. THE EARTHQUAKE AND JESUS IS RAISED FROM THE DEAD (Matthew 28:1-6) After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. #2. MARY MAGDALENE MEETS THE RISEN JESUS (John 20:1-2) Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran

of the

Resurrection

and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ #3. THE DISCIPLES FIND THE EMPTY TOMB (John 20:3-8) Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed. #4. JESUS APPEARS ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS (Luke 24:13-27) Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the

tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. #5. JESUS IS KNOWN IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD (Luke 24:28-35) As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. #6. JESUS APPEARS TO THE DISCIPLES IN JERUSALEM (Luke 24:36-43) While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. #7. JESUS GIVES THE DISCIPLES HIS

Our Church Life... PEACE AND THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS (John 20:19-23) When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ #8. JESUS STRENGTHENS THE FAITH OF THOMAS (John 20:24-29) But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ #9. JESUS APPEARS BY THE SEA OF TIBERIAS (John 21:1-14) After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know

that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. #10. JESUS FORGIVES PETER AND COMMANDS HIM TO FEED HIS SHEEP (John 21:15-19) When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’

(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ #11. JESUS COMMISSIONS THE DISCIPLES UPON THE MOUNTAIN (Matthew 28:16-20) Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ #12. MARY AND THE DISCIPLES WAIT IN PRAYER (Luke 24:44-49) Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses* of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ #13. THE ASCENSION OF JESUS (Luke 24:50-53, Acts of the Apostles 1:6-11) So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and Continued on page 14...

Our Church Life..

PAGE TURNERS – From

eading Natalia Ginzburg’s, Family Lexicon, is like listening to a robust, cacophonous f a m i l y unobserved. Ginzburg (19161991) warns the reader from the outset that although her work is classified as a novel, she could not find a single fictional element in it. The youngest of five siblings, Natalia meticulously narrates the book chronicling her family’s feverish conversations and almost manic activities. No chapters divide the book, so the sense of uninterrupted, chaotic family life in Turin, Italy is accentuated. The mother sings, the father grumbles edicts, the brothers fight, while the dinner table conversation ranges from aggravating relatives to oppressive politics. Politics, while not overtly the theme of the novel, is certainly its foundation. Natalia’s father is Jewish, her mother Catholic, and all seven are avowed antifascists during the rise of Mussolini. In fact, the book is a political tract camouflaged as a mundane, often silly, family drama. Natalia Ginzburg, for her part, will pen more than twenty-five books in her lifetime and be hailed as one of Italy’s greatest and bravest antifascist voices. The story opens “between darkness and daylight,” with Juliet Armstrong stretched across the asphalt of a busy English thoroughfare. She is 60-years-old and knows she is dying after a speeding car hit her. Oddly, her thoughts go, not to her mortality, but to Russian composer Shostakovich, and the concerts of his work she will miss in the future she will

the

Rector’s Book Stack

not have. So begins Kate Atkinson’s latest novel, Transcription, which will follow Armstrong’s recruitment to MI-5 as a “transcriber” at age 18 and her subsequent roles in Britain’s shadowy web of espionage during WWII. During the war, she is initially assigned to a junior post, where she makes “transcriptions” of clandestinely recorded conversations amongst Nazi sympathizers in London, the so-called “Fifth Column.” Later in the war, she is given a new identity so that she may infiltrate the hierarchy of the Fifth Column, a role at which she is surprisingly adept. Like some of Atkinson’s other novels, this one alternately shifts time periods. In the 1950’s, a decade later, Armstrong is now working in BBC Radio creating children’s educational shows. The juxtaposition of her old life of cloak and dagger with her new one construing “A Visit to the Farm,” or “The Life of a Village Milkman” is comical. However, the amusement stops once the reader realizes MI-5 placed Armstrong in the BBC so that her role in the darker arts of espionage would continue. The story, as promised on the first page, continues “between the darkness and the daylight,” and few novelists could pull it off so artistically and convincingly as Kate Atkinson. Author of Life After Life and A God in Ruins, Atkinson’s knowledge and research of WWII is equal to that of a historian. Furthermore, her grasp of Shakespeare and myriad other classical texts adds substance to her work and, at the same time, a dose of levity. What’s more, there is a surprise ending, but I am not telling! On some Saturdays, Bob Goff shows up at McDonald’s, buys twenty Big Macs, and drives to one intersection after another to give one to each panhandler he finds. Most often, he gets out of his car and introduces himself. One night,

a convict accidentally phoned Goff’s residence from his prison cell. Rather than quickly hanging up for safety’s sake, Goff spoke to the inmate as long as the guards allowed, and thus began another one of Goff’s unusual friendships. Goff even helped the inmate be released on parole. Stories like those two crowd Everybody Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People. The thesis running through Goff’s book is “Don’t just agree with Jesus but start doing what he says.” In Goff’s estimation (and in the New Testament’s, I might add), Jesus calls us to love unreservedly and to lavish love on those who are decidedly unlovable… because that’s how Christ loves each one of us. Ouch! I had lots of “ouch” moments while reading Everybody Always. Chase Anderson and Elizabeth Hutchison gave me the book at their first premarital counseling session. Starting the next day, I began reading a chapter each morning before my prayers, which meant I met each sunrise in the knowledge that I had put a quota on my love, whereas Jesus’ flows like Niagara. The promise Jesus extends to me is the same as he gave to another sinner, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Goff is swimming in that water and calls us to join him. “Come on in. The water is fine,” he exclaims. After all, he adds, “We’ll become in our lives what we do with our love.” February 1, 1979, Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini, Shia Muslim religious leader, philosopher, and revolutionary politician arrived in Tehran on Air France. On that day, forty years ago, “Ayatollah Khomeini,” as he is known and routinely pilloried in the west, returned to his native land after fourteen years of exile, Shah Pahlavi fled, and the bright lights

Our Church Life...

Book Stack Cont’d.... of cosmopolitan Persian Iran went out. The fact that the harsh Muslim theocracy has endured for four decades borders on the unbelievable, given the education and desires of Iran’s middle class, and yet the cadre of severe imams continue to rule a country once known for its art and openness.

A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea, by Dina Nayeri in the audio format using the Libby app on my smartphone. Set just after the revolution, the novel serves up a concoction of memory, yearning, love, intrigue, and contemplation, which swirl around the plot like Muslim Sufi whirling dervishes.

As we neared the fortieth anniversary of the Ayatollah’s return, I realized that I really knew very little about the day-today life in Iran. Prior to the revolution, I trained with some of the Shah’s soldiers, but that was the extent of my connection, and that was with the old Iran. To amend my ignorance and my hunger for a good novel, I checked out

The story follows Saba Hafezi through her childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Saba, born into a prosperous family, is forced, after the Islamic Revolution, to move to a rural, rice-farming village in northern Iran, adjacent the Caspian Sea. While life is slower there and not as oppressive as the Sharia Law imposed

in the urban centers, Saba endures only through her fascination with modern American culture, and her steady flow of contraband English books and rock music tapes. Saba’s two faithful childhood friends, Reza and Ponneh, share her fascination and remain devoted to her throughout the years. Saba carries a burden of pain, however, that the two cannot lighten for her. On that personal agony and the destruction of an entire way of life, turns the entire novel. The moment Khomeini stepped from the Air France jet and onto Iran’s soil again, worlds disappeared – even the world of little girls.

SOCIETY

IRAs

and the

IRS

your current age and tax bracket….. UNLESS..... And that’s where John Buxie comes in. John is a Certified Public Accountant in the firm of Mastrodomenico and Buxie CPAs. He is my go-to guy for many things, but on tax advice, he is my pro. I sat down with him recently to ensure that I knew what the latest is in our ability to avoid the taxman with our hard-earned dollars. The questions were directed to the discussions around donating to Christ Church with funds from an IRA. Ferne: Can a person use money from an IRA to donate to charity?

hen we held our last “Are You Ready to Go” seminar earlier in the year, the topic of rolling over funds from your IRA came up. IRAs are a great way to avoid taxes while you are young and earning. Your money is taken from your check before taxes are applied and then it grows within the IRA. But, when it is time to obtain a distribution from it at any time, taxes must be paid on the money at the tax rate based on

John: Yes, you can use money from your IRA to donate to charity. What’s more, your donation from a traditional IRA will be nontaxable since Congress and President Obama made that tax break permanent at the end of 2015. It was agreed on year to year prior to that. Ferne: How exactly does that work? John: Normally, when you take a distribution from a traditional IRA, you pay taxes on it since you didn’t pay taxes on the money when you put

it into your IRA. But if you are age 70½ or older and make a contribution directly from your traditional IRA to a qualified charity, you can donate up to $100,000 without it being considered a taxable distribution. To avoid paying taxes on the donation, you must follow the IRS’s rules for qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), also called charitable IRA rollovers. Most churches, nonprofit charities, educational organizations, nonprofit hospitals, and medical research organizations are qualified charities. The charity you give to will not have to pay taxes on your donation. Ferne: Can I still list it in my Schedule A as a charitable donation? John: Ferne, you are selfish. Since you are already getting a tax break on your donation, you cannot double dip and also claim the donation as a deduction on Schedule A. You’re allowed just one tax break, not two. If you make other donations to charity that don’t use your IRA funds, however, you can still claim each of those donations as an itemized deduction on Schedule A. If you don’t itemize your deductions on Schedule A and you

Our Church Life...

IRAs take the standard deduction on your annual tax return instead, a charitable IRA rollover will give you a tax break that you otherwise couldn’t receive for donating money. Ferne: What about those who don’t really need their Required Minimum Distribution? John: Ferne, you’re not too bright, are you? You can also use your qualified charitable donation to meet all or part of your IRA’s required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year. Traditional IRA owners must start taking RMDs at age 70½ or face tax penalties. The charity must receive your donation by Dec. 31 for you to

cont’d...

apply it to that year’s tax return. Roth IRAs do not require distributions while the account holder is alive. Qualified charitable donations are also a good choice for individuals who otherwise could not deduct all or part of their charitable donations because of the IRS rule that says you cannot take a tax deduction for the amount of your donations that exceeds 60% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). At first glance, this rule might sound like it only affects wealthy taxpayers who give generously, but it also affects anyone who is retired and has little to no income but still wants to make a taxdeductible donation. Ferne: So, what’s the bottom line about donations and the Internal Revenue

Stations they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

ALBUM

Service? John: Using your IRA to make a charitable donation can help you lower your tax bill and help any charity you designate, as long as it is a qualified 501(c)3 organization. Keep in mind, too, that distributions must be made directly to the charity. All distribution checks need to be made payable to the charity or they will be counted as taxable distributions. Another way to donate IRA assets to charity is through your estate after you pass away by naming the charity as the designated beneficiary of your IRA. The charity will receive whatever percentage of your IRA assets you provide for on the beneficiary form.

cont’d...

#14. THE HOLY SPIRIT DESCENDS AT PENTECOST (Acts of the Apostles 2:14) When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire,

appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Happy Easter! In God’s Peace,

Justin+

OF EVENTS May 8:

Setting a Table in the Wilderness Dinner and Speaker, 5:30 p.m., St. David’s Episcopal Parish Hall

Christ Church Staff: The Rev. Patrick Gahan, Rector patrickg@cecsa.org

May 9:

CEC Women’s Luncheon, 11 a.m., Parish Hall

May 10:

DWTX Movie in the Park, 6 p.m., Bishop Jones Center

May 12:

Mother’s Day Teacher Recognition, 9 & 11 a.m., Sanctuary

The Rev. Brien Koehler, Associate Rector for Mission and Formation, brienk@cecsa.org

May 18:

The Well Bike and Brunch, off-campus

May 19:

Senior Sunday Brunch, 10 a.m., Parish Hall Blessing of new playground, 10:30 a.m. Active Shooter Training, 1 p.m., Parish Hall

The Rev. Justin Lindstrom, Associate Rector for Community Formation, justinl@cecsa.org

The Rev. Scott Kitayama, Associate Rector, scottk@cecsa.org

Carol Miller, Pastoral Care Administrator, carolm@cecsa.org

May 26:

Connections! Quarterly Stop By, off campus

May 27:

Memorial Day, Church offices are closed

May 30:

Ascension - Thy Kingdom Come worldwide prayer movement begins

June 2:

Summer Sunday School begins, 10 a.m.

Amy Case, Youth Minister amycase@gmail.com

June 10 - 13:

VBS 2019, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Christian Sports Camp, 12 - 4 p.m.

Susan Lindstrom, Director of College Ministry, susanl@cecsa.org

June 16:

Father’s Day

Joshua Benninger, Music Minister & Organist, joshb@cecsa.org

Halleta Heinrich, Director of Family Ministry, halletah@cecsa.org Lily Fenton, Nursery Director lilyf@cecsa.org

Charissa Fenton, Director of Children’s Music & Receptionist charissaf@cecsa.org Robert Hanley, Parish Administrator parishadmin@cecsa.org Darla Nelson, Office Manager darlan@cecsa.org Donna Franco, Financial Manager donnaf@cecsa.org Gretchen Comuzzi Duggan, Director of Communications, gretchend@cecsa.org Monica Elliott, Executive Assistant to the Rector, monicae@cecsa.org Elizabeth Martinez, Kitchen Manager elizabethm@cecsa.org Robert Vallejo, Facilities Manager robertv@cecsa.org Rudy Segovia, Hospitality Manager rudys@cecsa.org Joe Garcia, Sexton joeg@cecsa.org

Christ Episcopal Church 510 Belknap Place San Antonio, TX 78212 www.cecsa.org

The Message (USPS 471-710) is published bi-monthly by Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, San Antonio, TX 78212. Periodical postage paid in San Antonio, TX. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, San Antonio, TX 78212. Volume 21, Number 3.

Finding hidden treasures at the Easter Egg Hunt