emmanuel october 2009 newsletter

October 2009

Where to Find It:

Blessing of the Animals 1

Convention Resolutions 1

2009 Annual Picnic Photos 2

All Hallow’s Labyrinth Walk 3

Pumpkin Carving Challenge 3

Newsletter Submissions 3

Rector’s Ruminations 4

Parable of a Fig Tree 5

Parish Calendar 6

Birthdays/ Anniversaries 6

Camp Huston Events 7

Vestry Members 7

Contact Info 7

Emmanuel Episcopal Parish of Orcas Island

~ Diocese of Olympia ~

Generally known as a lover of birds, animals, and creation in general – statutes of St. Francis frequently appear in gardens – Francis of Assisi was also a strong champion of the poor and outcast of his time and society. The son of a wealthy Italian cloth merchant, Francis underwent a deep spiritual transformation and lived a humble, peaceful life, rebuilding the ruins of church buildings as places of worship and refuge. Emmanuel Parish invites you to the Blessing of the Animals at 11:00 am, October 4

th, following the combined 9:00 worship service. Bring your pet or a picture if they

cannot come in person to the churchyard. We will also be collecting donations of animal food for the island Food Bank.

Did you hear…..? Two animal related Resolutions put forth at General Convention both passed this summer. Resolution D015: Humane & Merciful Treatment of All God's Creatures and Resolution C078 Liturgy For Loss of Companion Animal. See the links to the Episcopal Network for Animal Welfare.org on the church website.

St. Francis

and

Blessing of the Animals

Emmanuel Episcopal Parish

Newsletter

Parish Newsletter

2009 Annual Picnic

in pictures

Emmanuel Breaks Bread together

Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Newsletter – October 2009 of 8

There will be two age categories - Children (Toddlers to teens) and Adult. However, anyone is eligible to enter either category! Prizes will be awarded. Suggestions for other categories accepted.

Subject: Anything to do with a pumpkin except cooking.

Tools: Anything except a chainsaw

Date and Place: Parish Hall, Friday afternoon, Oct. 30 at 4:00 PM. Judging and prizes to follow. Put on your imagination hat, buy your pumpkin, bring your own tools, props, etc and newspaper. Please join me and try to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!

All Hallow’s Eve

Labyrinth Walk

Saturday, October 31st

5:00 – 6:30 PM

Children, adults, and all ghosties, ghoulies and long-legged beasties are invited to wear their costumes as they walk the indoor labyrinth at the Emmanuel Parish Hall. Come any time between 5:00 and 6:30, either as a prelude or ending to your Halloween fun. Receive a circle of light and enjoy a cup of warm “Jack-O-Lantern Soup” afterward. Help is needed to provide soup. If you would like to assist in providing ingredients or in preparing this special Harvest-time soup, please talk to Cheryl.

Have something to

Share With the

Rest of Us?

Your Viewpoint

and Creativity is

Valued!

Please submit your text entries in a Word .doc file to Karen Blinn via email. (Since you would type it anyway, submitting electronically saves the office staff from needing to retype – Thanks!) Your photos of Parish Events are appreciated! Photos are gratefully accepted and may be submitted electronically to Karen as well, preferably in .JPG .GIF, or .TIF file formats. Please note that the deadline for submissions to Emmanuel’s Newsletter is now the 25

th of every

month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“I am proposing an Emmanuel Pumpkin Challenge.”“I am proposing an Emmanuel Pumpkin Challenge.”

~ Tony Ayer

Rector’s Ruminations

On Health Care

From our founding, we as a nation have espoused the notion that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are inalienable rights. Today at least 45 million people in our country are without the most basic human right, life, which assumes a modicum of health. Health and health care is an individual and social responsibility. Moreover for Christians it is a moral responsibility. As such it is the prophetic task of the Church to call government, the health care profession and individuals to a reformation that will support the sacred gift of life. The Church’s ministry of healing, following the example of Jesus, intends health and wholeness for all of creation. As human beings created in the image and likeness of God, it is our common vocation, under God’s command to have dominion, to be stewards and co-caregivers of the earth and all its creatures. Hypocrisy is the only word to describe how we as a nation have criticized other nations for “human rights violations” while denying the basic human right of health care to almost 20 percent of our population. It is an economic and moral outrage that we spend more money than any other nation on health care and are one of the most unhealthy nations given the ongoing rise of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Who bears the responsibility for the reform of health care in our nation? Government, the health care professions, insurance companies and individuals all share the responsibility. It is ironic that we elected a President with the clear expectation that he would reform health care and now are embroiled in partisan politics that threaten the needed reform that we mandated our President to deliver. Lies and fantasies about health care reform coupled with lies about our President have escalated to the point of being despicable, e.g. “Obama is plotting to set up ‘death panels: government tribunals authorized to euthanize the old and the sick,’” or “Obama was born in Kenya and therefore his very presidency is unconstitutional,” or “Obama will cut Medicare benefits to provide coverage to illegal aliens,” or “Obama seeks to indoctrinate children in Marxist ideology and put teenagers in reeducation camps,” or “Obama is a Communist,” or “Obama is a Fascist.” Lies – given a patina of legitimacy by a conservative media alliance built around talk radio and cable television, especially Fox News. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Michael Savage not reporting news but creating news through influence by way of lies, smears and hateful sound bites supported unfortunately by nominally respectable corporations and funded by national advertisers. Health care reform as a human right and moral imperative transcends partisan politics. The character of a nation will be judged on how it cares for those who are sick and in need of healing, especially “the least of these…” Greed, litigation, skyrocketing health care premiums and the self-interest of health care as a business are in need of reform and government regulation. Without it the current situation will only worsen. There is also another industry often unidentified that is a primary contributor to disease in our country: the food industry. In a recent op-ed piece in The New York Times (September 10), Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, states that “The American way of eating has become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care.” According to Pollan, we are spending $147 billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to treat diabetes and hundreds of billions more to treat cardiovascular disease and many types of cancer that have been linked to the so-called Western diet. “One recent study estimated that 30 percent of the increase in health care spending over the past 20 years could be attributed to the soaring rate of obesity, a condition that now accounts for nearly a tenth of all spending on health care.” Pollan notes that the food system reform has not figured in the national conversation about health care reform. A related irony, health care insurers who you would think would be interested and want to promote prevention of chronic diseases find it to be better business and more profitable to keep patients at risk for chronic disease and toss patients overboard when they become ill. Pollan concludes by noting that passing a health care reform bill, no matter how ambitious, is only the first step in solving our health care crisis. To keep from bankrupting ourselves, we will then have to get to work on improving our actual health – which means going to work on “The American way of eating.” All of which brings me to my final point – we as individuals bear the responsibility for health care reform. What we eat, how we eat, daily exercise, ample rest cannot be mandated by the government, insurance companies or the health care profession. The responsibility for such reform is ours and requires a personal and community resolve to develop healthy habits in our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. A concluding theological postscript: health care reform, although it has not been directly related to the Genesis Covenant, should be in that it is an essential ingredient in caring for our environment of which we as human beings are a part. Health, wholeness and holiness are related and point to the sanctity of all life. Take care of your health that it may serve you to serve God, Bishop Craig Anderson, Rector, Emmanuel Episcopal Parish


Parable of a fig tree There is a fig tree in my orchard. It has been there for more than 20 years, planted by the previous owner, and small when we arrived. We had purchased an OLD farm, very much deteriorated, and at first we had many concerns besides the fig tree. It languished for years, no doubt feeling abandoned, producing no fruit, and no good as a shade tree, either.

The vine withers, the fig tree droops…. Joel 1: 12

We thought to eliminate it in order to give the other fruit trees more light and space. A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig

tree, and still I find none. Cut it down!!” Luke 13:6 But then, as our other cares diminished, we looked at the poor tree and decided to give it a chance. There is always hope for a tree; …..it can start its life again. Its roots may be decayed in the earth, its stump withering in the soil, But let it scent water, and it buds and puts our branches like a plant new set. Job 14: 7 Bob pruned the surrounding trees to allow the sun to peek through: Let there be light! Genesis 1:3 I watered, Give me springs of water….. Joshua 15: 19 but Neither the planter nor the waterer matters; Only God, who makes things grow. We are God’s farm. 1 Corinthians 3:7

The fig tree grew. We watched with wonder at the growth of just one season! The leaves appeared – and then the figs!!

The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom, they give forth fragrance. Song of Solomon 2:13

Now, what to do with the figs? Personally, I don’t care for them. But I learned some things: Figs, unlike much other fruit, do not ripen further once they are picked. For cut off from me you can do nothing. John 15: 5 Now that we have nurtured the tree, we have become fond of it. I might get to like figs. Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit… Proverbs 27: 18

Figs and fig trees are very biblical, used often as symbols and stories to draw us to God…..

Think of the fig tree and indeed every tree. As soon as you see them bud, you know that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near. Luke 21: 29 God is revealed in the ordinary. Even the fig tree. Submitted by Catherine Clemens


October Birthdays 2 Amanda Reid 3 Kathi Anderson 7 Dana Sabine 15 Peggy Wareham 17 Jennifer

Johnson 17 Steve Sabine 17 Linda Bryant 18 Aaron Bennett 19 Catherine

Pederson 20 Steve Malott 24 Sarah Geiser 25 Andy Troxell October Anniversaries 7 Gil & Karen

Blinn 7 Robert & Louise

Tucker 11 David & Barbara

Evans 12 Bruce & Victoria

Parker 18 Mike & Jan Reid

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

12:00

Rector’s

Forum

4:30 PM

EFM

2

3

9:30 AM

Centering

Prayer

4

9:00 am

Combined

service

Followed

by

Breakfast

11:00 AM

Blessing of

the Animals

rev. Craig

Anderson

5

6

11:00 AM

Tai Chi

6:30 PM

Grief

Recovery

Group

7

8

12:00

Rector’s

Forum

4:30 PM

EFM

9 10

9:30 AM

Centering

Prayer

3:00 PM

Outdoor

Wedding

11

8:00 and

10:00 am

services

Rev. David

Moore

12

13

11:00 AM

Tai Chi

14

15

12:00

Rector’s

Forum

4:30 PM

EFM

16

Diocesan

Convention

in

Vancouver,

WA

17

Diocesan

Convention

9:30 AM

Centering

Prayer

18

8:00 and

10:00 am

services

Rev. Nancy

Tiederman

5:00 pm

Third

Sunday

potluck

19

Noon

Vestry

Meeting

20

11:00 AM

Tai Chi

21

Noon

Labyrinth

Committee

Mtg

22

12:00

Rector’s

Forum

4:30 PM

EFM

23

24

9:30 AM

Centering

Prayer

25

8:00 and

10:00 am

services

Rev. Nancy

Tiederman

26

27

11:00 AM

Tai Chi

28

4 – 5:30 PM

Prayer

Shawl

Knitting

Group

29

12:00

Rector’s

Forum

4:30 PM

EFM

30

3:30 PM

Halloween

Pumpkin

Carving

Party

31

9:30 AM

Centering

Prayer

4:00 – 5:00

PM

Adult

Halloween

Labyrinth

Walk

5:00 – 6:30

PM

All Ages

Halloween

Labyrinth

Walk


October 2009 Calendar

Parish

Administrators:

Karen Blinn

Noel Jeffrey

Coordinator,

Youth &

Intergenerational

Ministry:

Cheryl Hunnicutt

Danskin

Organist & Choir

Director

Marianne Lewis

Rector:

Bishop Craig B.

Anderson

Camp Huston Events

19th Annual Thanksgiving Family Camp

Enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday and let someone else do all the work! Bring your family and friends to Huston Center, November 26-29, 2009, for homecooked meals starting with Thanksgiving dinner! There will be enough crafts to keep you busy all weekend long, opportunities to hike, hunt for Huston’s Christmas tree, play a friendly Turkey Bowl football game, make Christmas wreaths, practice archery, have campfires, and share experiences with friends, old and new. We look forward to this weekend all year long! Cost is $150/adults and $100/children 3-12 years old. Cost includes lodging, meals, and all activities offered. Scholarships available. Visit www.huston.org for registration form today!

New! – Custom Scrapbooking Event

Join us November 13-15, 2009 for a new opportunity at Huston Center! Bring your scrapbook projects to work on. Enjoy the company of other scrapbookers and the luxury of time to spend on your hobby! The only scheduled events are meals and the rest of the time is yours to work and relax. $136-$172/person. Cost includes accommodation in our Paddock Lodge and homecooked meals. Please print a registration form from www.huston.org or request a form from the office. We look forward to this new event taking off!

Other Upcoming Events

Quilters Holiday Retreat – December 9-13, 2009 Women’s Getaway Retreat – January 15-18, 2009 Please visit www.huston.org for more information and registration forms!

2009 .Vestry

Members

Fritz Kraetzer

376-2373

Beth Lorenzen

376-7444

Thomas Wendland

376-5623

Jan Cleveland

376-2709

Chris Kenady

376-5303

Marguerite Olson

376-2220

Scott Heisinger

376-6788

Scott Jones

376-5799

Darleen Kent

376-2508

Jan Titus

376-3394

Beth Jurgensen

376-4565

Bob Cook

376-5028


Emmanuel

Episcopal

Parish of

Orcas Island

Have You Noticed…..

- Newsletter content can often be found online long before the Newsletter is

compiled?

- If you are an usher, worship leader, or greeter, that your schedule is posted on the church website?

- That you can start a conversation on any topic with other Emmanuel

parishioners via the online message boards? - That the Sunday Lectionary readings are posted online so you can read ahead?

(Click on the Service Participants’ Schedule Quick Link) - That any updates to your contact information (phone number, address, email

address, etc.) can now be made online? - That we often post videos on our website coming from the Diocesan website?

- That photos from events around the church are often updated on the website?

(The next batch may include YOU!)

We’re on the Web!

Visit Us at:

www.orcasislandepiscopalchurch.org

EMMANUEL

EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Phone:

360.376.2352

E-Mail:

[email protected]

EMMANUEL

EPISCOPAL CHURCH

PO Box 8

Eastsound, WA

98245

Address Service Requested

emmanuel october 2009 newsletter

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