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Advent 2015, Page 1
Rector’s Letter
The Rev. Leyla King
I’m writing this little note for our Advent edition of Thankful Tidings on Wednesday evening. Earlier today, I saw the news about yet another shooting – this one in San Bernadino, California. It’s almost unbelievable. And in a jarring juxtaposition tonight especially, my Facebook feed has been filled with some friends commenting on all the Christmas decorations they’ve put up and the gifts they’re buying for friends and family. And, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!
But, at the same time, it feels a little bit like watching a surrealist film or art installation, with so much indiscriminate violence going on against the backdrop of Christmas muzak and overdone department-store displays. (My sister used to look at that kind of thing and say, “It looks like Santa threw up all over that store!”) I find myself wanting to yell, “STOP!”
And while the Church may not always have the power to stop any kind of crazy globally, Advent does give us the opportunity to stop the craziness at least personally, to find the space within us to be quiet, to hear the still, small voice of God calling out, in this wilderness, asking us to prepare a place for Christ in our hearts, in our lives, and, yes, as much as we are able, even in this crazy world around us. I hope and pray that, along with all your Thankful family, you will listen for that voice in this Advent season.
Thankful Tidings
A Quarterly E-Newsletter of Thankful Memorial Episcopal Church, Chattanooga
Advent 2015
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E
1 Rector’s Letter
2 Annual Parish Meeting
Seminarian Transitions
Christian Education
3 Newest Thankful Members
Stewardship Report
4 OMG! (holiday edition)
Vestry Notes
5 Garden Thank You
Thankful Grateful Gobblers
From the Diocesan Office
6 Upcoming Events
Office Notes
continued on page 3
Celebration of Holy Eucharist on Christmas Eve at Thankful will be on December 24 at 6:00 p.m.
Music begins at 5:30
Advent 2015, Page 2
Seminarian Transitions
Saying Goodbye (sort of)… We’ll be honoring and thanking our 2015
seminarian, Rob Donehue on Sunday, Dec. 13. Be sure to come to the
church to take part in giving thanks to God for Rob’s ministry among
us. But, we won’t really be saying goodbye to Rob and wife Davis yet!
They’ll be back at Thankful in January in some capacity, still
participating in our life and worship together.
Saying Hello… And we’re also
welcoming a new Seminarian
for 2016. Claire Makins comes
from the Diocese of West Texas
and is in her second year at
the School of Theology. She
will be beginning her learning
and ministry at Thankful in January. Please welcome Claire, her
husband Daniel, and their two boys, Cal & James.
Mark your calendars for our
Annual Parish Meeting
Sunday, January 24
after the 10:00 a.m. service
Our annual parish meeting is a critical time in our life together at
Thankful Memorial, and it’s important that all our parishioners
attend. We’ll hear reports about what we’ve done together as a
parish in the past year, elect new vestry members, and look
forward to our plans for the future. The hospitality team will be
cooking up something delicious to keep us going through the
lunch hour, so please make plans to attend!
And Adult Formation
Our fall Adult Sunday School series, looking at prayer with Rob Donehue and Holli Richey (with a cameo at the end from Ben King) was englightening! Thank you to the many of you who participated.
During Advent, OMG has taken over Sunday School (see more in the box on page 4). Then, Adult Sunday School will be on vacation throughout the rest of December and January. After our Annual Parish Meeting, the Sunday School hour will give us all a chance to hear more from the Vestry about plans for our property (Jan. 31) and our resources as a church, including planned giving (Feb. 7). Our regular Adult Sunday School program will pick up again in Lent.
The question now is: what would you like to study during the Lenten season? Last year’s consideration of Addiction & Grace with Holli Richey was a great success. Is there something similar you’d like to discuss this year? Or, we could read together the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2016 Lent Book: I Am With You by Kathryn Greene-McCreight. Have another idea? Let Mother Leyla know!
Advent 2015, Page 3
Congratulations to our newest members of Thankful!
Stewardship Report
from the Stewardship Ministry Team Our Stewardship Campaign at Thankful officially ended at the beginning of October, but we continue to receive pledge cards and are eager to receive yours. If you have not yet turned in your 2016 pledge card, please do so now. You can pick them up in the church and either mail them back using the address on the card or drop them in the offering plate on any Sunday. It is integral to our life together that we receive pledge cards from every Thankful One before the end of the year.
We found the conversations we had with many of you in September about why you contribute to Thankful and what your hopes are for our life and ministry together to be fruitful. And we hope that such conversations continue to take place among all of us here at Thankful and that they help you to prayerfully and thoughtfully consider your pledge for 2016 and continue to inform your stewardship.
At the time of this newsletter, we have received 39 pledges, which represent about 70% of our Thankful families. So far, the total amount pledged by parishioners for 2016 is $102,090.00 and 15 of us have increased our pledges! For those of you who have done so and for those of you who are already tithing, we are especially grateful. Even the slightest increase makes a huge difference in the possibilities for Christ’s mission we can accomplish here at Thankful. To all of you who have pledged, thank you for all the ways you have given and continue to give graciously and generously of your time, talent and treasure to the glory of God at Thankful.
Thankful’s financial stewardship is based on our hopes and visions for the future. In order for this parish to continue to do God’s work in this community and beyond – and in order to keep the lights on and our buildings intact – we must become financially stable, which we are well on our way towards being. Over the past few years, Thankful Ones’ commitments to the life and mission of our parish has enabled us to move from a financial crisis to a place of abundance where we can begin to think both about properly updating our buildings and physical resources and reaching out to the community around us with more intentional and focused mission goals through the OMG’s work with Metropolitan Ministries. All of this is possible because Thankful Ones make financial contributions to our parish that reflect our shared faith in the work of Christ that we do here. We invite you therefore, if you haven’t already, to be part of Thankful’s present and future by offering a financial commitment that speaks of your hope for and investment in this community of faith. And thank you!
.
Holli Richey and Beatrice King have
been “unofficial” members of
Thankful for some time now, but Holli
was received into the Episcopal
Church last August, and Beatrice was
baptized just a few weeks ago. We’re
glad they’re both now officially
Thankful Ones!
Advent 2015, Page 4
.
Vestry Notes Over the past few months, the Vestry has taken a number of steps to become better stewards of the
resources we have at Thankful. As many of you have already noticed, with the help of a number of Thankful
Ones who contributed financially beyond their pledges, we hired a landscaper to clean up our garden (see box on
p. 5). And there’s much more we hope to do to update our properties. Vestry members are in the process of
gathering estimates to: 1) Fix and clean exterior siding of St. Mary’s Parish Hall, 2) Fix roofing issues 3) Update
HVAC systems, 4) Consider better security options, 5) Update the handicapped-accessible ramp to the Church and
6) Fully renovate the basement of the Church. The Vestry hopes to fund many of these projects by grants
available through the diocese, but we are still very much in the “research” phase. On Sunday, Jan. 31, we will
present some of our findings and engage the congregation in a conversation about our needs, priorities, and
resources. Please join the conversation.
In addition to these plans for our properties, throughout the fall, the Vestry has been discussing the fruits
of our 2015-2016 stewardship campaign, the (ever-smaller but still present) gap between our pledged income and
our operating budget, and our hopes to commit more and more of our parish’s treasures to Outreach. And, at its
last meeting in November, the Vestry elected Thankful’s delegates to Diocesan Convention: Bob Bodine, Holli
Richey and Lynn Swearingen. Thank you to these three Thankful Ones for their service.
And huge thanks, too, to those Vestry members who will be finishing their terms of service after
January’s Vestry meeting. We’ll be honoring and thanking John Grant, Mike Gray and Linda Puckett at our All-
Parish Meeting (as Treasurer, Mike will continue to attend Vestry meetings). We’ll also be officially electing
three new Vestry members to take their place. As of now, the slate of nominees for Vestry terms beginning 2016
includes Charles Perry, Holli Richey and Bonnie Currey Stamps.
OMG! (holiday edition) Thankful’s Outreach Ministry Group (OMG) had such a great 2015, we’re doing it again in 2016 – only bigger!
2015 in Review: Our “posterboards project” for Metropolitan Ministries this year contributed almost $3000 in funds and much-needed “goods.” Best of all, MetMin is now able to assist 33 people per week, up from 31 at the beginning of this year. And, when the Superior Creek Lodge in East Ridge was closed, evicting more than 350 families, MetMin helped more than 50 of them obtain permanent housing. Thankful provided more than $1000 in funds for that emergency. Thank you! MetMin tells us that our help throughout the year really makes a difference! The OMG is so grateful to all the Thankful Ones who have supported our outreach.
Next up, please join the OMG for our holiday outreach projects: Christmas Breakfast at MetMin: Sunday, December 6: We’ll put together personal care kits and breakfast for MetMin after church. Meet us in St. Mary’s Parish Hall, grab some coffee, and help us put it all together! We’ll take breakfast for 45 people and 60 kits for men and women to MetMin on Monday, December 7. Susan Street is providing all the items for the kits. If you’d like to donate funds for the breakfast food, they are welcome! Then, Monday, December 7: Meet at MetMin (1112 McCallie Avenue) by 7:30 am to serve breakfast, tour the offices, set out the care kits, and meet some of the clients! Perez Family Christmas: The Perez family was so grateful for our 2014 gifts! The OMG has some funds left over from last year, so we’ll use those for Christmas 2015. Additional funds are always welcome, of course! Lynn Swearingen is making the list, and soon we’ll take a shopping trip and get everything to the Perez home by Christmas Eve. Come join the fun! Toys for Salvation Army: The Salvation Army is going to place a barrel in the parish hall. When you buy toys and gifts this season, pick up an extra one for the barrel. All items should be unwrapped, although wrapping paper is welcome. The Salvation Army will pick up the barrel before Christmas.
(see the continuation of this article in the box on p. 6)
And one more thing from MetMin: The MetMin King Oehmig Memorial Classic Golf Tournament to benefit MetMin’s clients is already scheduled for May 16, 2016 at the Black Creek Golf Club. Pre-registration for a team for this event is available by filling out this form and mailing it to Miller Blain. For more information, contact Miller at [email protected] or 423-624-9654x105.
Advent 2015, Page 5
Thank you… from the Garden! As you may have noticed, the jungle that was our garden and landscape area has been tamed.
The pruning is complete and pressure washing and some other detail work will happen in the Spring. The Vestry wants to give a special Thank You to those Thankful Ones who made an extra contribution to support this work: Bob & Evie Bodine, Bob & Joan Dorrill, John Grant, Anne Henniss, Hunter & Prestine Huckabay, Ben & Leyla King, John Phillips, Kathy Prior, Walter & Linda Puckett, Tom Trevor & Ann Coulter THANK YOU! The garden is brighter and more open now and even more welcoming to those who want a spot to pray or meditate. Everyone’s invited to stop by and check out the new views.
from the Diocese of East Tennessee…
A note from the Bishop about Rick Govan: Dear friends, Rick Govan, who has served the Diocese of East Tennessee as Deputy for Lay Ministry and Congregational Vitality for over 13 years, is retiring December 31, 2015. Rick has touched so many of our lives in various ways – working with Licensed Ministries, leading vestry retreats and trainings, facilitating small church gatherings, serving on the Commission on Ministry, meeting with people in all steps of various discernment processes, and basically being a companion, mentor, and friend to so many of us. We have been blessed to know and love Rick, and we will miss him tremendously! We want to invite you to write a note of gratitude to Rick that we will put together in a scrapbook to give to Rick. You may send a card to Diocesan House, or send an email that we’ll print. Please send to us at 814 Episcopal School Way, Knoxville 37932 (Attn: Lisa Whitacre), or email to [email protected]. One of Rick’s great loves is fly fishing, and our plan is to present him with a new fly fishing rod. If you want to participate in that gift, please mail a check to the above address made out to “Diocese of East Tennessee,” memo – “Rick Govan gift.” We will present these gifts to Rick at our Diocesan Convention February 5, 2016 at the evening banquet, and we hope to make the whole thing a surprise. So – shhhhhh! Thank you! Peace, +George Young And a letter to Episcopalians in East Tennessee: In mid-November, Bishop George also sent this letter to clergy and lay leaders of the Diocese to be distributed among
parishioners. You can read the letter by clicking on the link.
Isn’t this a fine looking bunch of Thankful Grateful Gobblers!
Susan Street, Prestine & Hunter Hucakabay and Jill Guess
walked the Grateful Gobbler as one Thankful group!
Advent 2015, Page 6
U P C O M I N G E V E N T S
(Advent/Christmas Season Events are in red!)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6
OMG HOLIDAY PREP: AFTER SERVICE, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
Help other Thankful Ones put together personal care kits and
prep for the breakfast for clients at MetMin on Monday morning.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7
METMIN BREAKFAST: 7:00 A.M., 1112 MCCALLIE AVE.
Gather with other Thankful Ones to meet MetMin clients, serve
breakfast and get a tour of the facilities.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8
VESTRY: 6:00 P.M., CONFERENCE RM, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
Minutes of meetings are available by calling the church office.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13
PRE-CHRISTMAS BRUNCH: AFTER SERVICE, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
This will also be Rob’s last Sunday with us as our “official”
seminarian. Contact Ann Webster (322-4163,
[email protected]) to let her know what you’ll
bring to our feast.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE: 6:00 P.M., CHURCH
Music begins at 5:30. Children are invited and encouraged to
attend the service with their families.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12
VESTRY: 6:00 P.M., CONFERENCE RM, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
The last vestry meeting before Vestry membership changes.
Minutes of meetings are available by calling the church office.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 24
ANNUAL MEETING: AFTER THE SERVICE, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
Lunch will be served.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 31
PROPERTY UPDATE: AFTER THE SERVICE, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
We’ll hear from Vestry Members about options, ideas and plans
for renovating and updating much of our property.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7
PLANNED GIVING: AFTER THE SERVICE, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
Dana Perry, John Oehmig and.others will offer a presentation
about planned giving and other options for contributing to the
ongoing mission and ministry of Christ at Thankful.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9
VESTRY: 6:00 P.M., CONFERENCE RM, ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
PANCAKE SUPPER: TIME TBD. ST. MARY’S PARISH HALL
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10
ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE: 6:00 P.M., CHURCH
Service of Holy Eucharist and Imposition of Ashes
1607 W. 43rd St., Mail to: P.O. Box 2274
Chattanooga, TN 37409
423-821-3135, [email protected]
www.thankfulmemorial.dioet.org
Office Notes If you’ve called the office at all during November,
you know that we’ve had a change in our
administrative staff. Julia Hunter, who served as our
Secretary for over a year, moved to Seattle at the end
of October for some new adventures. She is missed.
But, the good news is that Julia’s position has been
filled by an equally talented new Church Secretary.
Erin Worthington began work
at Thankful in early
November. Erin is a member
of St. Paul’s Episcopal,
though she travels in from
Cleveland where she lives
with her husband, Josh, and
runs her own
photography business.
Regular office hours at Thankful continue as usual,
10:00-4:00, Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, the
office will be closed Dec. 24 – Jan. 5 for Christmas
and New Year’s holidays. Mother Leyla will still be
checking email and is available by cell phone (617-
416-8166) in case of emergencies.
And, please note that, since we may be switching to
EPB from Comcast shortly, our email addresses may
change. If and when that happens, you can reach the
office at [email protected] and Mother
Leyla at [email protected]
OMG! (holiday edition) continued from p. 4
OMG 2016 Plans: The OMG will have the three new-and-improved posterboards for the MetMin Posterboards Project available by Dec. 13 with opportunities to help in all three categories – Funds, Goods and Hands-on Help. There are also ways to contribute to the ongoing assistance for families from Superior Creek Lodge, through the Chattanooga Furniture Bank and the Community Kitchen.
More information about all of these projects and opportunities can be found in this presentation put together by the OMG. Click on the link and take some time to read it all over and prayerfully consider how you are called to help in the mission and ministry of Christ at and through Thankful, in the holiday season and throughout the coming year. Thank you!
