Holy
Trinity Episcopal Church
Oxford, Ohio
February, 2008
Welcoming all seekers and believers
[Submissions and comments welcome: submit to the Church Office or call Mary Fahnestock-Thomas at 513-523-6235, e-mail <thomasrj-at-muohio.edu> (link altered to foil spammers). Due date for submissions is the 20th of the month.]
| Bulletin Board: Adult Forum Plans for February and March. . . | Adult Forum meets in the Undercroft from 9:15 to 10:15 preceded by tea and coffee at 9:00.
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| . . . Shrove Tuesday . . . | 5 February— Youth-Sponsored Corn Hole Tournament and Pancake supper !!
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| . . . Books and Brown Bag . . . | Reading/Discussion Schedule for 2008
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| . . . 2008 Lenten Concert Series . . . | Tuesday, Feb. 26, 12:05 pm: A recital of solo piano music performed by pianist Robert Thomas Tuesday, Mar. 4, 12:05 pm: A recital of music for violin and piano performed by violinist Elizabeth Hofeldt and pianist Stephen Phillips Tuesday, Mar. 11, 12:05 pm: A recital of music for solo organ performed by organist Heather MacPhail |
| . . . Film Series from Cincinnati Earth Institute | The films that the Cincinnati Earth Institute is showing once a month will now also be shown in Oxford on the first Sunday of the month (except May and June) at 1:30 pm at the Campus Ministry, 16 S. Campus Ave. Discussion is optional. The events are open to the public—bring a friend or two! The schedule:
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| From the Rector | Fasting, Feasting, Festivals Early in February we encounter Shrove Tuesday (February 5th) and Ash Wednesday (February 6th). At a recent Sunday Adult Forum on “Faith and Food,” we were reminded that people “don’t fast much anymore.” How ironic for a nation in which billions and billions of dollars are spent on diets and invasive procedures for the latest body-look. Yet the historical fasting we remember for Ash Wednesday and Lent is not fundamentally about losing weight or reshaping our physical bodies. It is a spiritual discipline to help us reshape our lives, making room in our “inns” for the reception of the divine. If you cannot fast for the forty days of Lent, choosing a day or two may be beneficial. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday come to mind, each at one end of the Lenten season. If you cannot fast at all, why not add a brief time of prayer to your daily routine? The eve before Lent is Shrove Tuesday, a time of festivals, sometimes raucous. The Mardi Gras in New Orleans is one example extraordinaire. Since Katrina I am more aware that one thing we can do during Lent is to fast in order that others might feast. There are a number of ways to fast, including not doing something you regularly do (e.g., eat pizza every week, go out to eat every week, eat meat several times a week, etc.). Since “almsgiving” is also a discipline of Lent, why not give up one pizza a week, or one meal out a week, or one meat meal a week, and give the money it would have cost to others, that they may feast. If you are not sure where to make that offering, Holy Trinity’s Outreach committee would know! This is the fourth church I have served and the fourth church in which I have encountered people who have experienced, are experiencing, or are declaring, bankruptcy.* Our simple suppers may be others’ feasts aplenty. On Shrove Tuesday, Holy Trinity’s youth will be offering a pancake supper and corn hole tournament beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the undercroft. They are raising money for their June ’08 Dominican trip, so please join them for feasting, fun, and fundraising. The next day, Ash Wednesday, begin your forty-day Lenten season by worshipping at 12:05 or 7:00 p.m. at one of the most powerful services in our tradition. Please come and be reminded of your at-onement with God and all others. Bring friends, especially if they have never been to this service. Invite them simply to “watch,” if that makes them more comfortable. I look forward to this holy season with each and all of you, and wish you every blessing, as together, we journey to Jerusalem.
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| From the Outgoing Senior Warden | At the Annual Meeting I announced a chance to go to St. Matthew's Westerville in order to support those who, after the split in the parish over concerns about gay ordination and the like, have chosen to stay with the Episcopal Church in the U.S. Our Bishop has asked parishes to “adopt” the St. Matthew's loyalists by supporting their programs on a regular basis or just to go worship with them in a show of support. They are probably too far away for an “adoption,” so a show of support seems more reasonable. If you would like to go to Westerville to worship with them at the Firefighters' Civic Center, please send me a message at KaySA@MUOhio.edu or call me at 523-8651 and leave a message. I think we ought to look for a Sunday near the middle or end of March (for weather reasons). So, just let me know the Sundays that you are free to go. If you could take a car, that would be great too! I did get a couple of names at the annual meeting, but I'm sure there are others who are interested. Just contact me!
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| Lenten Soup and Salad Suppers | This year, our Lenten soup and salad suppers will be on Tuesday evenings, rather than Wednesday as in the past. This change is being made to avoid the complications of having the Community Dinner and a Lenten event compete for time on Wednesday evenings. The dates are February 12, 19, 26, March 4 and 11. Supper will start at 6:00 and the one-hour program will begin about 6:30. "Journey to Jerusalem" will be the topic this year. Each Tuesday evening we will study three or four Bible readings related to a specific theme such as self, other (non-self), God, death, and life. A different theme will be chosen for each week. Reading, reflecting, small group interaction, and whole group discussion will be used to analyze and learn from the readings. Carrie Galsworthy and Elizabeth Taylor are the leaders for this Lenten series. Please join us in the undercroft for the beginning of this year’s Lenten supper and program on Tuesday, February 12 at 6:00 pm.
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| Gifts and Memorials | Gift from Susan Kay, on behalf of Anita Atkinson and Luis Bautista,
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| Holy Trinity Wins ECSF Grant | The ECSF board voted Jan. 12 to award a $5,000 grant to Holy Trinity for the Oxford Community Choice Pantry. This was the full amount requested, and one of the largest of the 45 grants awarded this year. Bill Nelsen of St. Barnabas, Montgomery, who visited HT as part of the ECSF grants committee, was deeply impressed by the stewardship and prudent planning that have made this ecumenical ministry come into being. He spoke with great admiration of the beneficial effect of providing choice in a food pantry, and the sweat equity you've contributed to making this great advance in Oxford's capacity to help people cope with and move beyond emergencies. Heartfelt thanks to Holy Trinity as a parish, as well as to several individual parishioners who contributed so generously to ECSF during Advent. Your support equipped the grants committee to award $120.160 in grants to 45 different ministries through which Episcopal churches in this diocese will help over 30,000 people in need to meet challenges from homelessness to unemployment to illiteracy. It's a joy and a privilege to have your support in strengthening the safety net throughout Southern Ohio.
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| Save the Date; 'Marching for Action' | On Sunday, March 2, 2008 the Social Justice Commission will present the film http://www.jancannonfilms.com/climatechange.htm.
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| About Future Adult Forums | Dear Holy T friend, It’s the season of Epiphany, of revelations large and small. I would like to request your assistance in helping your fellow Holy T-ers understand their revelations. Beginning March 30th it will be my turn to coordinate a four-week session for Adult Forum. I'm writing to recruit 4 or 5 people from Holy Trinity who would be willing to come to this series and share their stories in a meaningful way with their fellow parishioners. The series is called “Journeys: Travels Through our Lives”. It will be a follow-up to the “Transitions” series I coordinated in in 2006 and the “Connections” series in 2007. It will run for 4 weeks, from March 30th through April 20th. These sessions will not be lectures; they will, I hope, be vehicles for us to get to know our fellow parishioners and find common experiences through the sharing of stories. No particular “answers” will be provided, or expected. Each Sunday in this Forum I will ask one person (sometimes two) from Holy Trinity to talk about his or her pathway through life. Members of Holy Trinity have come from a diversity of backgrounds — Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Other and None of the Above. One of our participants will talk about growing up in a society where Christianity was actively discouraged (to say the least). However, I don’t want to stipulate that the journeys would be specifically about our faith experiences, much less our church participation. Rather, I would hope we could all get a sense of the course of life’s events that have contributed to what we are; and possibly, where we are heading. Has there been a major turning point in your life? Or a series of small epiphanies? Or are you, like many of us, still waiting for that moment to arise? What does your journey mean to you as you look back and look forward? As you can see, I'm looking for more than just stories about "Well, here's my bio." I hope that people will share of themselves, their struggles, strengths and challenges. As I see it, each session will consist of an opening general conversation of about 15 minutes. Then I'll ask the person volunteering for that day to talk for about 20 or 25 minutes on a question like the above. And of course we'll leave time for questions at the end. I’ll repeat what I stipulated for one of the previous sessions: I'm not looking for this to be a commercial for Holy Trinity or the Episcopal Church. Sometimes the journeys in our lives involve doubt, uncertainty, compromise and struggle. As there was in the past sessions, there will be some vulnerability, and probably some reluctance. But since this is Holy Trinity I believe there will also be acceptance and caring. I hope it will be a rewarding experience for all participants. I have no idea how many people will be willing to volunteer. If I have more than 4 or 5 -- well, I'll cross that bridge later. I hope you will give this your earnest consideration.
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| Oxford Senior Center | Oxford Senior Center is planning to extend senior transportation hours and operation of the Center until 7:30 p.m on Mondays. This will serve a three-fold purpose. First, it will provide transportation to the Choice Pantry for those in need of such a service. Second, the Center will be open for the membership to socialize and to attend planned events and classes. Third, transportation will be available for those who wish to catch a matinee movie and/or an early dinner or other social event. In order for the extended hours to be offered, it is necessary to recruit volunteer drivers and dispatchers. The drivers will be required to have a drug screen, cpr training, and two classroom driver courses. Being a volunteer driver is not for the faint of heart; it will take commitment. Training will also be provided for dispatching. Five volunteer drivers and five dispatchers are being sought. A grant is being written to cover the start-up costs of this program. Additional days of extended transportation will be added as the program progresses. Please consider volunteering to help provide these services to our community. Thank you.
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| From Two of the Guest Speakers at the MLK Service at Holy T | Dr. Martin Luther King…. Dr. Martin Luther King has influenced me in many ways. One way he influenced me was his main objective to work for peace. In my daily interactions with friends, I try to resolve disagreements between us in a peaceful manner. I have found out that this is the best way to maintain friendships with my peers. Dr. Martin Luther King also influenced about the fact that he was a hard working man. I personally admired his ability to be successful in school through hard work. I would like to follow Dr. King’s footsteps and obtain a PHD in my mid twenties. A couple other things that Dr. King influenced me were how he was always willing to learn from other people. For example Dr. King learned that violence is an awful thing from Mahatma Gandhi. I always continue to learn from successful people like Dr. King who have made the world a better place to live in. Dr. King was able to bring people together regardless of their skin color. Dr. King, because of your great ideas, I am able to have friends from all races. In my opinion Dr. King was a loving, caring, and hard working man and also a great peace maker. And above all, he was a great speaker. I would like to become a great speaker like Dr. King someday. By: Andrew M. Mogga
Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. Martin Luther King was a very smart, kind, and trusting African American man. Dr. King is a role model to me. He influences me in many ways. Dr. Martin Luther King influenced me that young people can do what is right if they put their mind to it. For example Dr. King skipped 9-12 grades and became a minister of a church at age 18! And with that he got his PhD at age 26. Dr. King’s success in school reminds me that if I do what is right and work hard in school, I too can become successful in life. Another way Dr. Martin Luther King influenced me to use your abilities to do good things for other people. As I grow up, I want to be involved in my community. One of the things I would like to do is to use my talents and skills to help those who are oppressed. I want to become a leader who can organize those who are oppressed and bring positive change through peaceful means. Also, Dr. King is my role model with regards to how he treated people with respect, both black and white. I have learned from Dr. King that people can live in peace and harmony irrespective of their race, color or religion. My best friends here in Oxford are Indian, Muslim, white, and blacks. I am welcome in their homes and they are welcome in my home too. Dr. King, thank you very much for all the good you did when you were alive. Your legacy as a peace maker lives with us today as we celebrate your life. By: Wagner K. Mogga
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| From Another Young Activist | Dear All at Holy T., After three and a half months near a New England beach, I found myself, for the first time, relieved to be landlocked in Ohio this past Christmas. September marked the beginning of my ten month commitment to the Americorps program City Year in Atlantic New Hampshire. Established in 1988, before the Americorps was even founded, this organization takes over 1,300 diverse young adults each year, dresses them in red uniforms, and sends them to one of seventeen sites across the nation and South Africa to, in short, inspire even younger generations. City Year members literally go into elementary, middle, and high schools and try to make kids more aware of their capabilities both inside and outside of the classroom, and help America's youth help themselves succeed and make dreams reality. The pretty basic title of 'City Year Corps Member' is an umbrella for an incredible number of other roles. I find myself in a public middle school in Hampton, New Hampshire, four days a week, spending ten hours a day as a combination of teacher, tutor, guidance counselor, big brother, summer camp counselor, and teacher's aid; the rest of the week is devoted to other service projects in and around multiple New England communities. I have cut felt, made cookies, planted trees, chipped trees, painted walls, high-fived, sung, taught long division, discussed proto-Judaic religion, separated verbs from adverbs, carted compost, and driven the same 15-passenger unmarked white van into a middle school parking lot more times than anyone would care to count, a vast majority of the time laden with seventh graders. I am living on foodstamps in a New-England-beachfront apartment (quite different from Flordia-beachfront) with two young women my age, so far without my own car, and the three of us are always looking for ways to inflict our new leadership abilities on each other. It's rather a lot of work. But at the same time, I'm learning more about myself and everyone else in single days than many people do in years. These 10 months of service are part of a year-long deferral of my admission to Stanford University, which is looking more and more like the epliogue to City Year than City Year is looking like an introduction to Stanford. Serving the nation is a wonderful, whirlwind experience that every American has the opportunity to enjoy. Coming back to Oxford for Winter Vacation at first didn't seem as much like “time off” as potential “time on,” and I found myself ringing bells for the Salvation Army, planning a Spring Break Camp for New Hampshire students, and giving a speech to the combined junior and senior classes at Talawanda High School about the benefits of taking a gap year to do service. (Winter lethargy has since settled me down a bit; three and a half months of leadership development wasn't that long after all!) It's a blessing to be a member of Holy Trinity, a community that is so committed to the physically-greater community of Oxford. From I Hate Litter, to a Dominican mission trip down the road, to Community Dinners, to the Sharing Shelf, the church family is always planting the seeds of generosity and caring without discrimination. Personally, it's a good feeling that I might have caught the service bug from a group that so frequently uses the spirit of compassion to express the Holy Spirit. Thanks for having me back, Holy T., and have a happy new year!
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| December 07 Dohn letter |
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Counting how fast an infant or small child is breathing can be difficult. Also, children can be … well … uncooperative at times. However, a child’s respiratory rate is a key factor in determining the correct management for children with respiratory infections. To practice evaluating children, we gather mothers with their young children and health promoters-in-training. The promoters examine the children to gain skill and confidence. Generally, these are lively (often noisy) sessions with 25 promoters going from child to child (double checking their results with the other promoters or asking for help from the instructors), 30 mothers talking to other mothers and their children, and older siblings playing around the room. Most of the children seem to enjoy the experience, the mothers get bottles of liquid acetaminophen and decongestant for their children, and everyone who is old enough gets juice and cookies. Several days before a recent practical session, Maura (a new promoter-in-training) had been preparing by examining her own children. She found to her surprise that one of them with a cold was in the “at risk” category by her evaluation. She took her child to the local clinic, from which she was referred to the hospital. Her daughter was admitted and started on intravenous antibiotics for pneumonia. Respiratory infections are one of top five causes of preventable childhood deaths in developing countries. Serious respiratory infections in children are often overlooked. Mostly this is because what looks like a simple cold in a child, may really be a deadly pneumonia. An intentional evaluation is the best way to sort-out what may be going on. After the session, one of the promoters told me, “I seem to be looking at all children differently now … looking for signs of problems and distress wherever I see them.” And that is what we want: Skilled promoters who are always on the alert and ready to help a child. Keep praying, Michael
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| January 08 Dohn letter | We have attendance forms for workshops, for community meetings, for informal talks, and even for parties! There are spaces for names, phone numbers, national ID numbers, community/organizational affiliations, and signatures. Among other things, the signed attendance lists demonstrate that we did something, help justify expenditures, and provide accountability for projects that have funding from grants. This time it was different. Each talk was in a separate building at the largest garment factory in town. We spoke using a microphone through the PA system on the manufacturing floor (being careful to stay within the yellow lines marking the safe areas) while the workers sewed, trimmed, punched, and otherwise fashioned articles of clothing all around us. During the talk, the factory’s personnel manager, her assistant, and the employee health nurse circulated among the workers and collected written questions. Despite the noise of the sewing machines (big “industrial-strength” sewing machines), the other equipment, the fast running lines of thread and spinning bobbins, people listened. They laughed at the humorous parts and submitted great questions, often expanding upon or clarifying points in the talk. As we finished, the noise level at least doubled. People had not stopped working, but they had slowed down to listen. The personnel manager told us that 700 people had clocked-in that morning in the one shop and over 800 in the other. It was quite a unique experience for us to address that many people about AIDS as well as some theology on human sexuality that is included in our talk (not to mention the publicity for the Clinic and the Episcopal Church). We are calling the attendance 1,500 people. However, we don’t have signed attendance forms. You will just have to take our word on this one. Keep praying, Michael
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| February birthdays... | 2 Peter Dahoda, Nancy Averett
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| ..and anniversaries! | 1 Hayden & Cynthia May, Carolyn & Jim Wilson
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| the Triad | The Triad is published monthly by Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church The
Rev. Karen Burnard, Rector Jackie Engelhard, Parish Secretary (htoffice-AT-woh.rr.com) Vestry as of 1/20/08: Chris Church --, Christian Education Director
Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, editor Deadline for March 2008: February 20 |
Anita and Michael Dohn are physicians serving as missionaries with La Iglesia Episcopal Dominicana through the South American Missionary Society. They live along the southern coast in San Pedro de Macorís in the Dominican Republic. | Sunday, 3 February | Wednesday, 6 February | Sunday, 10 February | Sunday, 17 February | Sunday, 24 February | |
| Epiphany Last/Transfiguration | Ash Wednesday | Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | |
| Lectionary (RCL) | Exodus 24:12–18 | Joel 2:1–2,12–17 | Genesis 2:15–17; 3:1–7 | Genesis 12:1–4a | Exodus 17:1–7 |
| Psalm 2 or 99 | Psalm 103 | Psalm 32 | Psalm 121 | Psalm 95 | |
| 2 Peter 1:16–21 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10 | Romans 5:12–19 | Romans 4:1–5, 13–17 | Romans 5:1–11 | |
| Matthew 17:1–9 | Matthew 6:1–6,16–21 | Matthew 4:1–11 | John 3:1–17 | John 4:5–42 | |
| Adult Forum 9:15 | Faith & Violence | na | Faith & Relationships | Julian of Norwich | Jewish Mysticism |
| Youth 7th–12th Gr. | w o r k i n g t o w a r d | t o w a r d | t r i p t o | D o m i n i c a n | R e p u b l i c |
| Children (10:15 am) | Ellen Phelps ... | ||||
| Early Service | Rob Thomas | Rich Bement | Carty Ellis | Kathleen Carels | |
| Reader: OT Lesson | Kathleen Flanagan | Rosalyn Benson | Chris Church | Barbara Hamilton | |
| Reader: Psalm | Laura Poppendeck | Cleve Callison | Mary Fahnestock-Thomas | Glenn Julian | |
| Reader: Epistle | Walter Secrest | Kathleen Carels | Kathleen Flanagan | Phil Macklin | |
| Reader: Prayers | Ginger Smith | Mary Cayton | Carrie Galsworthy | Mary Jo McMillin | |
| Chalice 1 | Bob Benson | Dick Smith | Peter Williams | Rich Bement | |
| Chalice 2 | Carty Ellis | Ted Schmitt | Rob Thomas | Bill Bausano | |
| Choir Cross | Bob Benson | Jordan Secrest | Steve Elliott | Jordan Secrest | |
| Altar Server | Wagner Mogga | Laura Harlan | Andrew Mogga | Stephanie McCabe | |
| Torch Bearer | Andrew Mogga | Rachel Houser | Wagner Mogga | Rachel Houser | |
| Greeters | Cleve Callison | na | Anne & Dick Lodge | Gary & Eula Martin | Dick Nault |
| Ted & Harriet Schmitt | Elaine Brandner | Yero Peterson | Judy Shaw | ||
| Jack Southard | |||||
| Flowers | Dick & Ginger Smith | LENT - NO FLOWERS | LENT - NO FLOWERS | LENT - NO FLOWERS | LENT - NO FLOWERS |
| Altar Guild | Kathy Ferguson | ||||
| Oblationists | Mary Melv. & Kathleen Flan. | -- | Margo & Carty Ellis | Mila & Venelin Ganev | Jane Strippel & Bonne Brown |
| Ushers | Bill Miller, Peter Dahoda, Jack | Heitsman | |||
| Coffee | Jim & Sarah Michael | na | Mary & Bill Bausano | Diana Uhlman & Yero Peterson | Bob & Rosalyn Benson |
If unable to serve, PLEASE find a substitute. THANK YOU!