The Message September 2018

SEPTEMBER 2018 • Volume 20, Number 5

Discipline: 2 God is the GOAT: 7 Mission Reflections: 10 Take Another Look: 11

FROM

In this issue:

Discipline

Music Ministry ...................... 6

This is Patrick’s eighth epistolary essay in this series about the Christian ministry.

Youth Ministry....................... 7

D

Family Ministry .................... 8 Our Church Life .................10 Great Commission..............11 Page Turners.......................12 From the Kitchen................13 Calendar of Events.............14 Photo Album........................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

Front Cover photo by Gavin Rogers Back Cover photo by Gretchen Duggan Editor Gretchen Duggan

You ask if your anger and resentment toward your older brother Jim PATRICK GAHAN Rector impedes your patrickg@cecsa.org ordination.

In a word, “Yes.” More importantly, they are impediments to realizing the full, abundant life Jesus promises all Christians. I appreciate your candor and bravery in elucidating the bitter, cheerless chasm steadily growing between the two of you. The fact that he is cold and impassive regarding your estrangement accentuates your ire, I’m certain. You say that he decries the fact that you demanded to go east to college when your parents were struggling financially due to your father’s earlier job loss. Never mind that Jim, at 26, was comfortably ensconced in Ft. Worth with a law degree in hand. That was almost five years ago, and yet he dispassionately continues to lord over you this truncated trespass. To this, you feel justified in severing all contact with him. Yet I wonder how justified you actually feel, in that you have again brought this pain out into the open.

Have you made a home in the jailhouse of your anger?

Many people do, of course. On that accord, I recall the poignant description of the Little Ease given by the admired author Frederick Buechner. The Little Ease is situated beneath the Tower of London. Specifically, it is underneath the light-flooded, luminous Chapel of St. John, where knights would pray through the night to prepare for battle on the next day. The Little Ease, on the other hand, is a tiny space measuring only four by four by five feet. It is a dungeon created to press you in; designed so that you cannot fully sit, stand or lie down. There is little hope in the Little Ease, for it is the anteroom of execution.

Speaking

2

ear Alex,

as

a

modern

prophet,

Buechner declares, “The Little Ease is a place of torment, but if you live there long enough, it eventually becomes home. If you manage to escape it, where do you go next, who do you become next? If after all those years you get well, what do you do with your wellness? The responsibility is staggering. The freedom is staggering.”1 So it is with the anger, vendettas, regret, and unforgiveness. We learn to live in these shrunken surroundings until it becomes home. The freedom of escape terrifies us.

Making your abode in the Little Ease does not disqualify you from ordination, nor will it partition you from God’s grace, but you will never experience the liberty of the sunlit mansion Christ has prepared for you to live in today, and neither will you be able to lead others to its doorstep (John 14:1-3). I strongly urge you to intrepidly step out into the light of reconciliation.

My friend Larry may be a help in unraveling this knot of fury within you.

Larry is quick to remind all of his friends, “Beware when JR shows up” – JR being “Justification and Rationalization.”

We humans, Christians included, are experts at pulling out JR. Any time we hear ourselves inveigh, “You don’t know how hard I work” or “I’ve tried, Lord knows I’ve tried” or “Every time I’m around her – every time…” we are likely justifying or rationalizing our dark feelings and actions. True, people do hurt us – especially those close to us. But to live in the Little Ease of anger and retribution diminishes and inhibits us. To be clear, I am not speaking of an abusive relationship, where physical and emotional harm is exerted and in which no person should remain.

No, I am speaking of a fractured relationship, resulting in two people forfeiting communion with one another – sometimes for reasons they have quite forgotten, yet, nevertheless, the other person stands condemned. You may feel justified, but that’s no place to hang your…collar.

Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets (New York: Harper Collins, 1991).

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From Our Rector...

In the first place, we are completely unable to justify ourselves. We cannot make ourselves right so that we are reconciled to God. Recall the great promise St. Paul announces to the Romans:

should pay back all he owed. Jesus then punctuates his parable with these arresting words, ‘This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’

Matthew 18:31-32

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Romans 5:8-10

Those of us who claim Jesus as Lord, no longer have to lord our power of judgment over others. We’ve been delivered from that vicious battlefield.

The earliest Christians made the radical and rather dangerous claim that “Jesus is the Kurios,” that is Jesus is the real Caesar. The one in Rome amidst all the pomp and circumstance and lording power over the entire western world is an imposter. (Talk like that will get a person thrown to the lions!)

died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.’

Romans 6:8-11 Paul is making a powerful word play here. In the kingdom where Christ reigns, the one crucified and raised, the kingdom where he is Lord – Kurios, death no longer can be lorded over – kurieuo – him or us.2 If we continue in our mad circle of unforgiveness and separation, we really have not moved out of Caesar’s prison. We are the living dead, stuck in the Little Ease, imagining all the while what a fine home we’ve made for ourselves.

How do we move out of Caesar’s digs?

How do we change kingdoms and come The scripture is quite clear that out into freedom and light? no amount of effort on our part First, we really do have to die, “...we seem to again and again fall can reconcile us to God. We have as Paul has stated. Caesar does a mountain of trespasses only back into the 4x4x5 prison of the not let go without a fight and Christ can remove, and he does only Christ has the weapon How do we stay encamped in so when we are at our worst. to defeat him – the cross. It is So, who are we to withhold the kingdom of the beloved Son? The the profoundest of paradoxes forgiveness and reunion? “You that the instrument that Caesar answer is discipline. Christians are don’t know how bad it’s been,” uses to execute Christ actually you retort. But Christ knows called to continually reorient our lives upends Caesar’s kingdom of because he knows how bad it’s retribution. When we accept the towards Christ’s kingdom.” been with you and me. call of Christ and submit to his sacrificial love, we necessarily Christ himself graphically die with him. Paul speaks for all illustrates this in a parable he directed That being said, the decision before of us when he exclaims, ‘I have been to Peter and the disciples when they us is much bigger than if we are going crucified with Christ and I no longer live, were justifying themselves and setting to forgive and be reconciled to one but Christ lives in me. The life I now live a rational limit on forgiveness. In the particular person or another. Our in the body, I live by faith in the Son of parable, a man owed his king hundreds baseline decision centers on which God, who loved me and gave himself for of thousands of dollars, which would kingdom do we choose to inhabit – me’ (Galatians 2:20). The only way to take the man no less than 150,000 Caesar’s or Christ’s. If we are obedient escape the shrunken kingdom of tooth years to repay. (By comparison, Bernie to Caesar, we lord our grievances over and claw is to die to it by the grace of Madoff is a light weight, who, by the way another until we exact retribution. Christ’s loving sacrifice. received a 150-year sentence.) Against If we are obedient to Christ and his all possibility of hope, the man pleaded kingdom, their trespass is forgiven just Even then, as you are experiencing, with the king to forgive him, and the as ours have been. (That has a certain kingdom living is not so easy. While king forgave him the entire debt. No ring to it, doesn’t it? Matthew 6:9-13) in our hearts we know that ‘God has sooner than the man was acquitted, In Caesar’s kingdom, there is a prison rescued us from the power of darkness he collars a man who owes him merely awaiting both the one who has hurt and transferred us into the kingdom of 100 days wages and insists that he be us and another one for us, as well. his beloved Son’ (Colossians 1:13), we thrown into jail. Upon hearing of this, Again, we turn to Paul’s masterful work seem to again and again fall back into in Romans to better understand our the 4x4x5 prison of the Little Ease. How the king is furious: choice of kingdoms to inhabit: do we stay encamped in the kingdom ‘You wicked servant,’ said the king, of the beloved Son? The answer is ‘But if we have died with Christ, we discipline. Christians are called to ‘I forgave all that debt of yours believe that we will also live with continually reorient our lives towards because you begged me to. Shouldn’t him. We know that Christ, being Christ’s kingdom. you have had mercy on your fellow raised from the dead, will never die servant just as I had on you?’ In again; death is no longer lorded anger his master handed him over 2 Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion (Grand over him. The death he died, he to the jailers to be tortured, until he

Ease.

Little

Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 547.

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From Our Rector...

Dawn and Don taught me how to do this – not my two seminaries, not my priestly mentors, not the procession of bishops in my life – but rather Dawn and Don, two brittle alcoholics in recovery. The two were married and were active in a parish I pastored just outside of Austin.

Keeping their daily discipline was a matter of life and death. If either began drinking again, he or she knew they would physically die, yet not before the relationships they held dear were first destroyed. Dawn and Don knew they were powerless before the forces which desired to obliterate them and that only a Power greater than themselves could save them.3 If we think we are in a different place than my two friends, we do so at our own peril. Dawn and Don had to bookend their day in prayer and meditation to remind themselves of where they belonged and ameliorate the siren voices that worked to woo them back into the confines of the Little Ease.

To that end, I recall a harrowing week when Don took off from his home, furious at Dawn, and did not phone her for days. When he returned, it was clear that he had not been drinking.

Nonetheless, he confessed, “I fell back into my old alcoholic behavior.”

Don demonstrates how easy it is to be enticed back into our old life, even after we have entered the new. Perhaps you have caught yourself playing those worn out tapes of shame, anger, and regret, or, worse still, caught yourself saying those things that advertise the dark life you left behind. This is the daily challenge of every Christian. As a pastor, you, Alex, will be as susceptible as any – perhaps even more so – and, on top of that, you must lead others to undertake vital disciplines that will yoke them to their new home and not the old one.

No pastor has done more to yoke Christians to their new home than Quaker Richard Foster. Just out of seminary, Foster was called to serve a fledgling parish in Southern California with an average Sunday attendance of seventy to eighty people from disparate, unremarkable backgrounds.

Through the insightful teaching of USC professor Dallas Willard and Forster’s attentive shepherding, the parish 3

12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

4

began to grow such that they needed to construct a larger ministry building.

The evening the church elders chose to announce the capital campaign, they called the entire congregation to spend two hours together in prayer. At the end of that time, Foster, who had assented to the effort as the necessary next step in the parish’s development, knew that God was not calling them to construct a larger building but rather build up a people where He would dwell.4 Celebration of Discipline is the result of Foster’s revelation that night, which is one of the most important Christian books penned in the 20th century. Foster opens the book with the unforgettable words, “Superficiality is the curse of our age.”5 This “superficiality” consigns us to live outside the mansion of grace and make our bed in the Little Ease.

Foster reminds his readers repeatedly that the classical disciplines are not heroic efforts to somehow make us acceptable to God. So, while these disciplines are not instruments of salvation, they are transformative means of grace. By way of explanation, look at Paul’s admonition to the Romans, ‘Be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ (Romans 12:2). Paul realized through his own experience and from observing those in the infant churches he founded that even the most enthusiastic believers can be conformed more to the world they inhabit than by Christ who actually inhabits their very bodies. Because we swim in a cultural ocean day and night that strives steadily to adulterate us, we must undertake measures to open ourselves more fully to Christ’s presence within us. Once open, the Holy Spirit will transform our inner nature, so that we know that we are created in God’s image and made to live in close communion with him.

We cannot begin to know these things if all we do is bob up and down in the sea of our surroundings. The constant chorus of the people and the drone of daily demands will drown out the “still small voice whispering within us” (I Kings 19:11-13). The disciplines, when consistently exercised, habituate Galli, Mark, “Interview with Richard Forster,” Christianity Today, September 17, 2008 5 Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: Harper Collins, 1978), 1.

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us more and more to the inner reality, which will reveal the person we were created to be. Paradoxically, we will never realize true freedom until we undertake the disciplines to which Christ draws us.

St. John of the Revelation illustrates our freedom when he records Jesus’ invitation to careworn Christians of the ancient world, ‘Behold! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me’ (Revelation 3:20). Most Christians are surprised to learn that Jesus is addressing believers with these words and not unbelievers. Revelation is written to seven churches established in Asia Minor during the first century.

Imperial persecution coupled with the encroaching fear and laxity of the congregants has led John, a leader in the church, to cry out for reassurance and guidance. Christ responds that he stands ready to enter more fully into each believer’s life, but a change of heart is necessary. These weary Christians are not to be conformed by the fear, avarice, and savagery imbued by the empire but transformed through a more intentional and intimate walk with Christ. That’s why Christ was knocking on their doors and now is knocking on ours.

The classical Christian disciplines are how we open wide the doors of our hearts to Christ’s entreaties and keep them open to him. Foster, in his foundational volume, artfully and clearly presents the four Inward Disciplines – meditation, prayer, fasting, and study; the four Outward Disciplines – simplicity, solitude, submission, and service; and the four Corporate Disciplines – confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. Due to time and space, I will not try to explicate all twelve disciplines in this letter. Foster’s book is an important addition to every Christian’s library and an essential one for all pastors. Studying these twelve you will discover some that should become staples of your daily walk and others you will practice during various seasons, trials, and passages in your life. “Practice” is the irreducible concept here. These classical disciplines are a means of grace which when practiced will gradually draw our mind, body, and

From our Rector... spirit into conformity with Christ. We desire to fly fish. I want to nimbly will be made whole, when we were once traverse hidden, rugged places, catch painfully fractured. The Apostle John my supper, grow closer to my friends, in his First Letter writes, ‘Beloved, we and ruminate on the utter majesty are God’s children now. What we shall of God’s creation. But to do so, I’m be is yet to be revealed. However, we in for years of humbling practice. know when we see Christ, we will be like Nevertheless, I should add that my him, for we will see him as he is’ (1 John practice does not make the stream beds 3:2). John reveals that the deep treasure more alluring, the trout more beguiling, of our inner life with Christ remains my friends more endearing, or God’s buried until we become dissatisfied or landscapes more breathtaking. No, the even repulsed by the homeostasis of our disciplined practice allows me to enter faith. John assures us that our salvation what is already there. is not what is at stake – ‘we are God’s children now,’ and yet we were made to So, it is with our practice of Prayer and be much more – ‘we shall be like him,’ Meditation, where God calls us into the one who saves us, and our vision intimate communion with Him that of who Christ is and who we are meant eternally awaits us and never wanes. to be shall be made clear – ‘for we shall Simplicity and Service draw us out of see him as his is.’ To practice these ourselves and expose our self-centered disciplines is to become more, much more, than “These classical disciplines are a means we were before.

of grace which when practiced will

To illustrate this gradually draw our mind, body, and process, I’ll use a sport to which I am drawn but spirit into conformity with Christ. We for which I am wholly will be made whole...” inadequate – fly fishing.

Wading in mountain streams and rivers, contending against consumerism, and then propel us into elusive trout, and spending hours of the true abundance Christ has always silence in the presence of dear friends offered. Worship and Celebration call to me. No matter how much I disabuse our fantasy that we are am pulled to fly fishing, I will never fine on our own and yokes us to the enter into the deep joy of it unless community constituted by the Spirit.

I exhaustively practice and allow fly All of these practices and the others fishing masters to disciple me. “Foam are akin to walking beneath a mountain is home,” these masters repeat. The cataract. We don’t move hurriedly or trout stealthily skulk in the dark water move in a straight line, and we fall a adjacent to gentle rapids and eddies. lot. And yet the promise of a real life Of course, knowing that is of no accord instead of this fraudulent one pulls us if you cannot cast the feathery fly into back to our feet. Simply put, we must those recesses. To do so will take hours die to the old vision of ourselves so that of practice. “Let the current take the the new can slowly come to life within fly,” the masters insist, which means us. Again, St. Paul confirms the avenue keep your leader, your line, out of the of our transformation, ‘Therefore we water, but the novice does not have the have been buried with him by baptism faintest idea how the fly should drift in into death, so that, just as Christ was the current, nor how to effectively keep raised from the dead by the glory of the the rod tip up and the leader high and Father, so we too might walk in newness dry. What presages the actual fishing, of life’ (Romans 6:3). however, is simply walking amongst the moss-covered rocks in the swift Alex, with all these meanderings, do moving water. On my first foray, I was not imagine that I have forgotten about flat on my back in the frigid river in less your festering contention with your than fifteen minutes. brother. St. Paul speaks of “death,” and the disciplines will lead you to die to With my clothes soaked and my pride this old weary version of yourself and bruised (along with my backside, I thereby “bury” your anger. To that end, might add), I was not deterred in my the genius Episcopal theologian Robert

Capon explains what must happen to us in his penetrating reflection on the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-36). We need not rehearse the entire story at this time but recall the improbable homecoming of the decadent younger son, which, against all expectations, throws the besieged venerable father into unguarded ecstasy. Quickly organizing a sumptuous “Welcome Home” celebration, the father races out to his doggedly faithful elder son to share the joy of his younger sibling’s unexpected return. The older son, however, is not amused and adamantly refuses his father’s invitation. He cannot abide the thought of even sharing the same room with his repellant kid brother.

Capon implores us to take a harder look at the father’s urgent entreaty to his resistant older son, ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice,’ the father pleads, ‘because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found’ (Luke 15:32). Do you catch the nuance of his intercession?

The younger brother, though once a libidinous, licentious, gluttonous drunk, has died to his former self and made the meandering, painful walk home. During his humbling, slow sojourn, he died to that old self and has unexpectedly entered into a new life of wholeness and joy. What painful irony it is that the older brother, on the other hand, has refused to die to his old self and is stuck outside in the coldness of his malignant heart.6 Alex, you will become a caricature of the older brother unless you die to this rancid version of yourself by taking on the classical disciplines handed down to us. These practices have never failed the long procession of Christians who came before us, and they will lead you on the slow, steady walk home to joy.

Your brother,

Patrick U Robert Farrer Capon, The Parables of Grace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 142-143. I caught this reference from a footnote in Fleming Rutledge’s The Crucifixion.

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5

MINISTRY Am I There Yet?

A

l a r m sirens wailed.

Loudspeakers screamed, “MOPP Alpha!

MOPP Alpha!

Take shelter!”

JOSH BENNINGER Hundreds of Director of Music us sprang into and Worship action.

We joshb@cecsa.org hastily put on our gas masks and sprinted to the nearest bunker. In the dark we waited for the threat to pass.

Sitting butt to butt, we were crammed together in a concrete bunker the size of a school bus. We were at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and Operation Iraqi Freedom was underway. I glanced over at the person next to me and saw what he was about to do. I told him not to do it, but he did it anyway. Using his pocket knife, he slashed open a sealed plastic bag, pulled out his chemical protective suit, and put it on. I and others around me shook our heads in disapproval.

Why did he do it? The order issued over the loudspeakers, MOPP Alpha, meant to put on gas masks and gloves only, and nothing else. Did he not get proper training before deploying? If he had, I’m confident he wouldn’t have let fear overtake him and cause him to ruin his suit. I’ll expand more on this later, but first a little background.

Military personnel are subjected to countless hours of training, followed by even more training. One part is devoted to learning what to do in a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack (CBRN). MOPP, or Mission Oriented Protective Posture, uses different levels, dependent on the threat condition, to indicate what gear should be worn. Trainees learn the MOPP levels and practice how to wear gasmasks, gloves, boots, and a suit.

In Qatar, far away from the conflict in Iraq, the suit was only to be worn if there was an imminent threat of a chemical attack. Therefore, our base commander deemed wearing the suit was unnecessary and counterproductive.

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Why is the suit a problem? Well, it’s thick, heavy, and awkward to wear. It is hot and labor intensive to work in.

Our commander also considered the longevity of the suit. Once freed from its sealed plastic bag, it degrades immediately and is only usable for 30 days.

You may think, “It’s just a suit, right?

Who cares. Uncle Sam can make more.”

But that misses the point. The airman ruined his suit by removing it from its protective bag without being ordered to. What happened here was a failure in training. The airman, like many others I encountered, were new to the Air Force. They had attended the chemical warfare course maybe only once, or not at all.

The objective of the CBRN course is to drill the basics until it becomes automatic, like running on autopilot.

When faced with a situation requiring quick action, there is no time to think about what to do. It must feel natural, like you’ve done it thousands of times.

This applies to weapons and combat training too. Proper training in these areas can make the difference between life and death. In sharing the bunker with this airman, it made us nervous to consider what other training he didn’t receive.

What about being a Christian? Can a lack of spiritual training mean the difference between life and death?

Years of studying scripture and living out our faith openly allows us to grow and blossom, so we may live full and abundant lives that Christ intends for us. The opposite is also true. By not fully embracing Christ into our lives we surrender ourselves to an empty life with no purpose.

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he writes, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7-8) Consider this as well from Hebrews, “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary

teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And God permitting, we will do so.”

(Hebrews 6:1-3) A few years ago, I took a hard look at my life in Christ. I realized I was only dipping my toe in God’s kingdom. This was my fault, not his. I wasn’t diving deep enough. There was much more available than what was offered at church on Sundays.

When granted the opportunity to teach a men’s weekday Bible study, I said yes. But it wasn’t enough, so I attended Wednesday evening classes and fellowship. I even started to help teach a class. The spiritual maturity I gained from these gatherings was amazing. I stepped out of my comfort zone and from myself in order to spend time with other Christians and learn from them.

Putting on the armor of God and trusting in Him is changing how I respond to anxiety and worry. Deciding to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit takes time and dedication.

With this deeper commitment to God, I hope, when faced with a difficult situation, I will pray about it instead of freaking out like that airman did in the bunker.

Am I finished with my training? Am I there yet? Of course not. I’m still learning

Josh Benninger

MINISTRY God

I

was reading through some of our youth’s devotional journals from our mission trip to Port Aransas and the first thing I read said “God AMY CASE is the GOAT.” Interim Youth For those of us Minister not familiar with amycase@gmail.com this acronym, it means “Greatest Of All Time” and even though I chuckled when I read it, my heart was so warmed, as well.

In July, 12 youth and five adults traveled to Port Aransas to assist residents who are still feeling the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. Port Aransas is in a transitional phase of their recovery – many businesses have rebuilt and are thriving, the beaches are pristine, many homes are under construction – but the financial and emotional toll this period has taken on the residents is clear.

The residents we met were hungry for more assistance and greeted us with gratitude and love.

The first resident we met, Danielle, needed help with her yard. Almost a year after Harvey, large chunks of concrete were strewn throughout her backyard, the ground was dangerously uneven and her landscape covered in weeds and debris. Danielle, who in the past maintained her own yard, had an infected wound on her leg and was under doctor’s orders to rest and let it heal. Our youth, eager to help, set straight to work in over 100 degree

is the

GOAT

heat, determined to restore Danielle’s yard to a state worthy of her huge heart and beaming smile. Danielle said to us, “I feel bad that you all are out sweating in this heat while I am inside in the air conditioning.” One of our volunteers told her, “Danielle, you have been through so much this year. Allow us to take some of the burden off of you.”

That night, Rob Harris led our group devotional with the scripture, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2).

This message of Christ-like service to others has been the recurring theme this summer among our youth at Christ Church. During our change of leadership in youth ministry, parents and volunteers stepped up immediately to keep our program thriving. Gavin Rogers took a group of high school students to Guatemala for two weeks and changed their lives forever through their service to that impoverished community – providing assistance in veterinary care, finance, women’s social work, and much more. I watched our students help people, whom they had only just met, lift heavy items in the sweltering heat of Port Aransas.

Justin and Susan Lindstrom accepted the call to Christ Church bringing with them years of knowledge, enthusiasm and genuine love for youth ministry.

And then Stephen Archer generously volunteered to help design a curriculum for our youth Sunday School for the entire year based on the book of Romans. I believe the Romans study will change the way our youth view God’s word forever.

CEC youth work hard and play hard!

It is humbling and beautiful to be witness to God’s grace as it manifests itself through these young people and those who love them. God is the GOAT. Amen.

Amy This Fall in Youth Ministry: Back to School Dinner for all 6th-12th graders at Grimaldi’s – Quarry Village Sunday, Sept. 9 6:30-8:00 PM (please bring a $5-10 donation if you are able) Sunday School in the Carriage House Sundays, Sept. 9 – May 19 10:10-10:50 a.m.

7th-12th grades A study of the book of Romans led by our youth team including Stephen Archer, Jennifer Berg, Heather & Ted Yun, Susan Lindstrom and Amy Case How does one go about reading the Bible? Where do I start? How do I connect the scripture to my daily life?

This year in the Carriage House we will embark on a year-long study of one of the richest texts of the Bible to connect our minds and hearts to the scripture, not only as individuals, but as a group. Supplementing with daily encouragement through email, text message, and social media, our goal is to equip our junior and high school youth to grow in their understanding of the gospel message in their relationships, social issues and mission work and to take that knowledge with them into their lives beyond the Carriage House.

As always, we will incorporate music, humor and fun!

Confirmation Classes - Nov. 11 - April 7 Open to all 7th & 8th grade students Confirmands attend Sunday School in the Carriage House from 10:1010:50 AM. Additional confirmation instruction from 11:00-11:30 after which confirmands will take Holy Communion together as a group during the 11 AM service and rejoin their families afterward.

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MINISTRY

Pressing “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:14 HALLETA HEINRICH Director of Family Ministries halletah@cecsa.org

I

n Children’s Ministry at Christ Church we have in

the past, and continue in the future, to press on to win the prize for which God has called us all heavenward in Christ Jesus. What beautiful words from Paul’s letter to the Philippians we have to inspire us as our Scripture theme for the year! This selection was one of Rob Harris’ final gifts to us at Christ Church before he left. I always ask the priests to select a Bible verse that we can focus on each year, a verse that seems to reflect where we are going and what we aspire to as a parish. Immediately, Rob came up with this verse from Philippians. He must have been reflecting on this rich verse for a while as something that would be a gift to us. Thanks Rob! This verse has everything in it – the past, present and future. We have pressed on in the past to provide the best for our children with the “Cadillac” of Children’s Christian Formation, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, as my first boss here, Ted Schroder, informed

on

Toward

the

Goal

me before my initial training. I came back and told him, “No, you are wrong.

It’s the “Rolls Royce” of Christian Formation. It is the “Pearl of Great Price,” but well worth it in its depth and deep respect for the spiritual potential and dignity of each child. We now have two age levels of Catechesis including preschoolers through second-grade. We have five trained Catechists including myself, Carmen Lewenthal, Carol Locke, and new Catechists Leita Carter and Monica Elliott. We are always seeking more!

Now we are pressing on toward the future in bringing the best from Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to our youngest and oldest children and even their parents. I attended a Parent/Toddler training in Virginia this summer that brings Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to children aged 18-months to young 3-year-olds and includes their parents. This is a simpler and more pared down version, but it provides a rich learning environment for the nursery-age child. A mom or dad is required to be with these little ones, which is beneficial, because they then learn the value of this method of formation. The parents guide their children in class and can apply these techniques at home. I often lamented, after I was trained in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, that I wished I would have had this for my own kids and would have applied the Montessori principles it includes at home, which builds self-esteem and independence in the child. I plan to start a “Meet Up” group with parents of young children that will begin with reading a chapter each month of the book How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way – A Parents’ Guide to Building Creativity, Confidence, and Independence.

I realize that most of our children will not attend

8

Montessori schools, but many of the principles can be applied at home.

Also, we are pressing on in making materials for a Level III Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium which includes our oldest children through adults and are also making some great Confirmation materials. I completed Level III training two years ago, so we are capable of expanding and using these materials to enhance our present curricula. I thank our “Coloring and

Materials Making Team” that includes Hilarie Blanco, Carmen Lewenthal, Carol Locke, and Susan Smith. We meet once a week and invite others to join us.

We are really growing in Children’s Ministry with the numbers of families with young children, nursery through sixth-grade, tripling in the last few years. I thank God for that! We want the best in Christian formation for our growing group of young families, and for all ages in our parish. The ultimate aim of all we do is to win the prize for which God has called each of us heavenward. We want to make sure our children are open to hear the call of God to fulfill his plan for their lives based in faith in Christ Jesus and to spread the message of hope he brings to others.

The prize is Jesus and our eternal home in Heaven. Until then, we will press on!

With Love and Gratitude,

Halleta

Family Ministry..

Have No Fear! not, I have spoken to the store manager about this!)

W

e celebrate the Saints with an “All Saints’ Celebration” each year at Christ Church the Sunday before Halloween, and actually, the Sunday before All Saints’ Day. We do this because I think it’s so important for our children to know that Halloween is not a celebration of death, but a celebration of light, love, and eternal life God brings to us through Christ. Have you been to our favorite party supply chain store lately (which will be unnamed, but you can guess!) during the weeks before Halloween?

Normally, it’s a fun, bright place where I do a lot of shopping for our kids’ celebrations. It takes on a different turn for Halloween. It’s all about scary things and is gruesomely pagan – a celebration of death and darkness. It’s not fun or funny! Don’t they know what Halloween really means? (Believe it or

Well, our children do know the true meaning of Halloween because one of my strongest calls to Children’s Ministry was to make sure that they have NO FEAR! I want them to know that NOTHING can separate them from the Love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 8:38 and 39) I teach each year that Halloween means Holy Evening or Evening of the Holy Ones in the language of the Celts. Early Christian missionaries to the British Isles counteracted the Druid holiday this time of the year where the dead were feared, and sacrifices were made to appease the dead and their gods.

These poor ancestors of many of us would dress up in scary costumes so they could fend off the dead and not be recognized by them. The missionaries taught that through Christ, we had nothing to fear, especially from those we had loved who had gone to eternal glory. Those who accepted Jesus were the Saints (Holy Ones) who should be celebrated for a life well lived and for

continuing on forever in eternity – “New Creations” through Christ.

This is why I ask each year that our children wear bright, happy costumes to church for our All Saints’ Celebration and for Halloween. We want to celebrate all those of faith that have gone on before us. I like to tell the children that the day a person dies is their Birthday into Heaven, as the Saints’ Days are the death days of the Saints. It’s the opposite viewpoint of this world’s idea of death and Halloween. “Let’s make it our mission to help them get it right!” is my challenge to the kids. Spread the word that we have nothing to fear. We are never alone. Jesus, our Light and Good Shepherd, is always with us.

His love is unconditional and eternal.

Through him in us and around us, we are eternal, too, along with all the Saints. Alleluia!

“For All the Saints” Children’s All Saints’ Celebration Sunday, October 28 During 11 AM Children’s Chapel

Trunk or Treat October 31  5 pm in the CEC Parking Lot Fun for all ghouls and boys

9

Taking

W

e had a very successful visit to Honduras in early August; thank you for your prayer support, which we can feel every day we are away. The usual ups and downs of political and economic life in Honduras did not get in the way of our mission visit at all!

Prayer is the key.

Terry was able to meet face to face and at length with three shop owners, all of whom are potential vendors of the beautiful embroidery that the women of the regions where we work have begun to produce. Each shop owner gave us valuable information about the market: customers, economic conditions, taxes, registration issues, margins, price points. It was like going back to school.

But we learned more than we could have imagined. The goal of the embroidery project is to become a self-sustaining

Beating

T

he Band and Bible Mission has completed its sixth tour to three Church of Uganda dioceses. The team this year included Eric Fenton of Christ Church, and returning for a 6th time, band director Richard Wallace of the Church of the Resurrection, San Antonio. Percussion instructor Robert Packer joined them. The Rev. Eric Fenton discovered that many dioceses in Uganda sponsor British-style brass bands that play for weddings, funerals, community celebrations, and in church services. They are very popular and an

the

Gospel

into the

World

Honduran venture over the next several years--so that the project lasts beyond Christ Church’s direct support and sponsorship.

This means that the artisan women must be able to sell their goods directly to the shops at a fair price without the presence of north Americans (like us) to bring the goods home for sale in the U.S. Significant progress was made.

Terry also spent a day in each of two regions reviewing, teaching, and purchasing embroidery. We celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary in the Chalmeca congregation, where we have been mission partners for the last ten years. Your support of Christ Church’s

our

Drums (and

horns)

Terry & Brien Koehler

For Christ

effective tool for evangelism. Most are primarily youth bands. The exception is the Nebbi Diocese Brass Band that was composed of adults who had played together for many years. The Nebbi band was challenged to reach out to young people and share their knowledge.

They did and are now training 15 boys and girls. The Bunyoro-Kitara Diocese Brass Band includes students from the area schools. The diocese supports an adult director for this band. Felix Kasumba has mastered writing music for the band on his computer. This year his arrangement of “Holy, Holy, Holy” was performed at their concert and shared with the Mengo Boys and Girls Brigade Band at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala.

Evangelism is always part of the program and you never know what will happen once the Holy Spirit takes hold of a person’s life.

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missions makes this work possible, and we are honored to be your representatives in this portion of our program.

Jannat, a band member from the B-K Diocese Brass Band, became a Christian the first year. Today she has graduated from a business school and has a job with a water company in Kampala where she lives with her sister. She shared her faith with her sister who also became a Christian. They prayed for their mother and she embraced Jesus. Their mother then shared with her sister who also became a Christian.

The young people who are part of these bands come from very poor families and they have few opportunities for education and careers. School fees and tuition are always a challenge.

Godfrey Muhumuza is one of scholars from the B-K Brass Band. He was living with his grandfather since his father and mother abandoned him. Every year it was Godfrey who took the Bible studies and continued to teach them with the band members. He was able to finish high school thanks to a soccer scholarship. He is now in a technical school studying television and film production.

Emmanuel Magoya was the band captain for the Mengo Brigade Band.

Our Church Life...

Band The band’s scholarship helped him finish a bachelor’s degree in Public Health from Makerere University. He has begun studies for a medical degree at Uganda Christian University. Richard Akugi is the current band captain and is studying computer science at Makerere University. This year there are 17 scholars assisted by this program, ranging from primary school through university. A committee of current and former band members distributes the scholarships. They are awarded based on academic ability, faithfulness to the

and

Bible Cont’d

band program and financial need.

Two years ago Rev. Eric told a group of budding scholars, who all wanted to go to university, that they should consider other options. He pointed out the one technical school student who was studying for an electrician’s license. He said that Jacob Kabazzi would have a job long before the college grads. Jacob came to visit this year to report that he has his license and is employed with an electric company installing power lines.

He wanted advice on how to handle

his tithe and how to contribute to the scholarship fund. He caught the vision.

The impact of the Band Mission has been very apparent this year in the players increasing musical skill. Comparing recording from the first year to this summer shows a definite improvement.

They are taking everything they are taught and putting it to work for the Glory of God.

Eric Fenton

SOCIETY

Take Another Look death of our devoted patriarch.

“Of course,” he responded.

Taking a gulp, I pressed, “May I ask what amount?”

“Certainly,” and in classic Tom Frost fashion he knew not only the amount but the timetable of how the gifts were to be distributed.

Now, gathering up all my courage, I inhaled a deep breath and ventured, “Tom, that’s not enough. When you die, we will step off a steep cliff financially here at Christ Church. I ask you to soften our fall. Please, take another look.”

“T

ake another look.” Six years ago, I sat in front of the most important, well-placed, influential man I knew, and asked him, “Please, take another look.”

Of course, the man was Tom Frost.

The two of us were discussing how to emphasize planned giving in the parish and begin the Great Commission Society, an association of those who remember Christ Church in their Last Will and Testaments. As we conversed about one matter and another, I finally broke off and asked, “Tom, have you made provision for Christ Church in your will?”

Silence now pervaded the space between us, and all sorts of doubts rose up within me during the interlude.

Who was I to ask that? I just arrived at the parish six months before. Oh well, I would just have to live with the consequences.

Finally, with the familiar half nod of his head, Tom responded. “You’re right. I’ll do that.” And I exhaled.

A week later Tom came by with details of his new arrangements. He took another look, and for that this parish is truly thankful even as we grieve the

If I was bold enough to ask Tom Frost to “take another look” at his testamentary provision for this Church we love, I am certainly brave enough to ask us the same question. We must realize that at our deaths our parish will feel the absence of our presence and the lack of our support. To add Christ Church to our testamentary giving or to increase that allocation is holy work – holy work that will continue even after we pass through the veil to the nearer presence of our Lord.

In that spirit, I urge you to call me in order to discuss this matter. We have several pressing areas of need, mainly in our endowments, which will safeguard our historic campus and advance our music and outreach ministries well into the future. If Christ Church is already named in your will, I would like to know that as well.

Perceiving the Gospel imprint of this church on our people and the ministries of mercy we share so selflessly with the city, I am in no way reluctant to ask you – as I ask Kay and myself – “to take another look!”

Your brother,

Patrick U 11

Our Church Life..

PAGE TURNERS – From

K

ay handed me the novel, Celine,

by Peter Heller, and merely said, “This book is wellwritten.

I’ll bet you’ll enjoy it.”

The author is a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writer’s workshop and a frequently published adventure reporter. Celine showcases both aspects of Heller’s gifts. Celine, a child of privilege, an East Coast elite education, and connections she both abhors and utilizes in the corridors of power, she transforms an adolescent misstep and the epic guilt associated with it into a vocation as a private eye. Celine’s specialty is reuniting families, which hints at her childhood trespass. As this novel opens, she is knocking on the door of 70; nevertheless, she exercises youthful energy to find a father, a famous photographer for National Geographic, whose supposed death from a grizzly bear attack was closed long ago. Celine smells a cover-up.

Assisted by her tight-lipped Mainer husband, the most endearing character in the book, she rattles the entrenched status quo at Yosemite National Park until she uncovers the truth for a longsuffering daughter.

“What are little boys made of?” asks the 19th century nursery rhyme and then quickly answers, “with snips and snails and puppy dogs’ tails.”

The truth is less poetic.

You and I – little boys and girls together – are actually made of seven thousand million trillion atoms—65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 1.4% calcium, 1.1% phosphorous, and a sampling of over 50 other chemical elements.

According to Alan Lightman in his Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine, there is little debate about the organic composition of human beings, but he has put a great deal of thought into what comprises a fully human life.

12

the

Rector’s Book Stack

Are we of divine origin? Do we have an innate capacity for love? How connected are we to other creatures with nearly identical atomic makeups? What is death? Can we aspire to transcendence?

Is there foundational truth? Lightman is imminently qualified to ask these seminal questions about existence. After all, he is the first, if not the only, person to ever be awarded dual professorship in Literature and Astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Lightman’s scientific specialty was “accretion discs” and “relativistic plasmas” (No, I don’t know what those are either.). To keep from becoming bored, he began writing fiction. His Einstein’s Dreams was a runner-up for the coveted National Book Award.

Lightman’s Searching for Stars began one night when he was moored off his isolated summer island home in Maine, and he decided to lie down on the hull of the boat. All at once, he was transfixed by the stars. He lost all sense of time, place, and self. He was slowly absorbed into the Milky Way. Lightman’s evocative essays proceed from that experience.

The subjects include Atoms, Ants, Truth, Transcendence, Doctrine, Motion, Death, Certainty, Humans, Origins, the Multiverse, and, of course, Stars. Louesa Gillespie, a lifetime member of St. Peter’s by-the-Sea, loaned Kay and me the book. We read it to one another as we drove to one mountainous hike after another, which are scattered about our summer haunts in Maine. Lightman’s agnostic conclusions are a challenge to the Christian reader, but on one thing we agree: We are marvelously made!

Two things about Detective Harry Bosch I can say with absolute certainty: One, almost to a person he is despised in the Los Angeles Police Department.

Two, they revile him because he will not let anything go – even the death of a crooked, wholly unattractive narcotics cop. In The Black Ice, the second Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly that I’ve read on holiday, the curmudgeon detective forgoes the leftovers he has

put aside for his Christmas Eve feast and the two greeting cards he received, and made his way to a seedy motel in Hollywood to inspect the supposed suicide of a has-been narcotics agent. From the highest offices in the department, all the way down to the coroner’s lab, the case is closed – Death

by Self-inflicted Gunshot Wounds. Harry won’t concede, and risking his already shaky career, he follows the vile rancid trail like a bloodhound.

Texans will take to this Bosch story because the trail leads to the border.

Under the cover of a prestigious American firm, a new lethal concoction of heroin, Black Ice, is being transported to L.A. by the literal truckloads.

The Christmas Eve death is only the beginning as drugs, money, and power work their poisonous magic.

John LeCarre’s novel, Our Game, is a mystery within a mystery. On the surface, longtime, yet now retired, British spymaster, Timothy Cranmer, is feverishly seeking his once star double agent Larry Pettifer and Cranmer’s former captivating mistress Emma. Larry’s rash of misdeeds and puzzling departure has pitted Cranmer’s former colleagues at MI6 as well as Scotland Yard against him, for they believe that he is actually in league with Larry and Emma. The accusations foist Cranmer into a heated chase across England, Russia and the Caucuses to find them and to clear his name.

Beneath the surface, however, Cranmer begins to uncover the mystery within.

Believing himself to be content in his comfortable retirement, replete with his inherited 17th century mansion and vineyards in southwest England, the protagonist begins slowly to discover that he is not on a quest to clear his name so much as to unearth who he really is. As Cranmer draws ever closer to capturing Pettifer, he confronts the question before every man or woman, whether an international spy, shop

Our Church Life...

From clerk, or homemaker: What am I living for, and what is worth dying for?

In the spirit of full disclosure, this is the first LeCarre’ novel I have read. Chance brought me together with it. While freezing in Maine, in mid-June no less, I rummaged through the York County Thrift Store seeking a sweater. Instead I found this novel for fifty cents. How that happened remains a mystery.

the

Rector’s Book Stack...

cont’d

Confessions by esteemed translator Sarah Ruden – but only after I drooled over the copy on his desk for months.

When all else fails – beg. I was not disappointed. Ruden’s work is highly accurate and enlightening in the same way that Eugene Peterson’s The Message opens up the Bible and convicts you in ways you avoided with more familiar translations. Allow me to serve up some of the well-known passages from Ruden’s edition of Confessions:

I came to Carthage, to the center of a skillet where outrageous love affairs hissed all around me. I wasn’t in love yet but was in love with the prospect of being in love. (Book 3)

In Yourself you rouse us, giving us delight in glorifying You, because you made us for Yourself as our goal, and our heart is restless until it rests in You. (Book 1)

I was so enamored by the language and its potency that I sat down and read the book from cover to cover on July 4th. Turning the last page, I sighed and lamented, “There really is nothing new under the sun.” Men, whether dressed in togas or business suits, pursue one dead end after another until our hearts rest in God.

I don’t know how someone goes from LeCarre’s Cold War spy drama to a fourth century religious biography, but I did so in the hope of some challenging inspiration.

Scott gave me this new 2018 translation of Augustine

A Recipe

My sin was that I sought not in God Himself, but in things he had created—in myself and the rest of His creation… (Book 1)

from the

Around eight years followed during which I rolled around in the mud of that deep pit and in the darkness of that deep lie, often trying to rise out of it but always taking a more forceful plunge back in. (Book 3)

Christ Church Kitchen

This is everyone’s favorite soup that we serve on Wednesday evening. It is the choir’s favorite too.

Enjoy, Elizabeth Martinez

Ferne’s Taco Soup Serving: 8

Servings: 24 - *Original recipe multiplied by 3 *Recipe rounded to nearest cooking fraction

2 lbs. ground beef 1 Tbsp. olive oil (if ground beef is very lean) 1 large onion, chopped 1 15 oz. pinto beans 1 15 oz. whole kernel corn, drained 1 15 oz. ranch style beans 1 14.5 oz. stew tomatoes - Mexican style if available 1 15 oz. Ro-Tel tomatoes 1 pkg. taco seasoning mix (1 oz.)

1 pkg. original hidden valley ranch dressing (dry) 2 1/2 cup beef broth

6 lbs. ground beef 3 Tbsp. olive oil (if ground beef is very lean) 3 large onions, chopped 3 15 oz. pinto beans 3 15 oz. whole kernel corn, drained 3 15 oz. ranch style beans 3 14.5 oz. stew tomatoes - Mexican style if available 3 15 oz. Ro-Tel tomatoes 3 pkg. taco seasoning mix (1 oz) 3 pkg. original hidden valley ranch dressing (dry) 7 1/2 cup beef broth

Preparation: Brown ground beef and onions in a large pan with olive oil if needed; drain off fat. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for an hour or so. When ready, served in big soup bowls, and have skillet of hot cornbread to eat too. -shared by Miz Suzi

13

OF EVENTS September 1:

Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM every Saturday, outside the

Carriage House

September 3:

Labor Day, church offices are closed

The Rev. Patrick Gahan, Rector patrickg@cecsa.org

September 8:

Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House The Well Battle of the Sexes Game Night, 7 PM off-campus

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

September 9:

Back to School Dinner for Youth, 6:30 PM off-campus

September 12:

Children’s Choirs Resume, 4:30 PM James Madison Tutoring, 4:30 PM Wednesday Night Discipleship Resumes, 6 PM

September 16:

The Well Guest Speaker, Wendell Hall, 10 AM in Room 246 Hunger Banquet, Parish Hall, 12:30 PM

September 22:

Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House

September 23:

The Well Brunch at the Duesings, off-campus following the 9 &

11 AM services Youth Acolyte and Psalm Reader training, 4:30 - 6 PM

Christ Church Staff:

The Rev. Brien Koehler, Associate Rector for Mission and Formation, brienk@cecsa.org The Rev. Justin Lindstrom, Associate Rector for Community Formation, justinl@cecsa.org Carol Miller, Pastoral Care Administrator, carolm@cecsa.org Halleta Heinrich, Director of Family Ministry, halletah@cecsa.org Lily Fenton, Nursery Director lilyf@cecsa.org

September 29:

Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House

September 30:

Ribbon Cutting for new campus, 12:30 PM

October 4:

Women’s Thursday Bible Study begins, 9:45-11 AM

Susan Lindstrom, Assistant Youth Minister, susanl@cecsa.org

October 6:

St. Francis Pet Blessing Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House

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

October 7:

The Well Guest Speaker, Justin Lindstrom, 10 AM in Room 246 The Well Brunch at the Scott’s, off-campus following the 9 &

11 AM services

October 13:

Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House

Robert Hanley, Parish Administrator parishadmin@cecsa.org

October 16:

Swing Dance Night in the Parish Hall

Darla Nelson, Office Manager darlan@cecsa.org

October 20:

Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House

October 27:

Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House

October 28:

Consecration Sunday Children’s All Saints’ Celebration, 11 AM in Children’s Chapel

Gretchen Comuzzi Duggan, Director of Communications, gretchend@cecsa.org

October 31:

Trunk or Treat, 5:30 PM, in the CEC parking lot

Monica Elliott, Executive Assistant to the Rector, monicae@cecsa.org

To have your CEC event (on or off campus) added to the Church Calendar please submit a CEC EVENT SCHEDULING FORM to the church receptionist either on the paper forms or on-line.

All church related activities, events, meetings, etc. MUST have a CEC EVENT SCHEDULING FORM submitted to the church receptionist, Donnis Carpenter. EVEN events that take place off-campus must be submitted in order to be added to the church’s master calendar. Submission forms can be found on the Lucite racks outside the reception office or at www.cecsa.org. Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the “event scheduling” link.

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Amy Case, Interim Youth Minister amycase@gmail.com

Charissa Fenton, Director of Children’s Music, cfenton1939@yahoo.com

Donna Franco, Financial Manager donnas@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

ALBUM

15

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 20, Number 5.

Jumping for Jesus at Rally Day