St. Michael's Episcopal Church Fall 2021 Archangel

ARCHANGEL A Publication of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Raleigh, NC • V ol. 4, Issue 3, Fall 2021

YEARNING FOR HOME

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Table of Contents 4

Seeking First the Home of God

The Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones explores how yearning for home is engrained in each of us from our mothers’ wombs.

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Not All Who Wander Are Lost

The Rev. Dr. James L. Pahl Jr. finds similarities in the wilderness the Israelites wandered in, and our own pandemic one.

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Making the World Our Home Marnie Jones comes away from her mission to Belize with a new understanding of what it means to be home.

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Who’s Who at St. Michael’s Church Phone: (919) 782-0731

FEATURES 12

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A Home for Hope & Healing

Parishioner Allison Atkinson reflects on how her work at InterAct has changed her idea of ‘home sweet home.’

We Remember

Celebrating the lives of two long-time parishioners and two newcomers.

THE GOOD NEWS 10 Waffle Homecoming

Writer Anna McLamb finds an unlikely Sunday morning home in a booth at her favorite breakfast joint.

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Sweater Weather

Dee Moline has been knitting since she was a child, and at 87 she bundles toddlers in her hand-made creations.

Dear Jane Pauley

Beth Grace bids good-bye to her Sunday morning pandemic routine.

The Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones, Rector ext. 117 The Rev. James L Pahl Jr. Vicar ext. 105 The Rev. Holly Gloff, Associate Rector ext. 127 VESTRY

Class of 2020 Ashleigh Black |John Connell | Rob Griffin Marty Munt Karen Wagoner Class of 2021 Liz Driscoll | Matt Marchione | Katherine Poole Logan Price | Melissa Raley Class of 2022 Amanda Carson | Claren Englebreth Robert Marshall | Sam Taylor | Rose Vaughn Williams STAFF

Stella Attaway, Coordinator of Nursery Ministry • ext. 106 Ann Garey, Publications • ext. 103 Charlotte Griffin, Director of Development • ext. 121 Lee Hayden, Director of Operations & Newcomer Ministry • ext.108 Abby Van Noppen, Director of Children & Youth Ministries • ext. 115 Kevin Kerstetter, Director of Music • ext. 101 Susan Little, Financial Administrator • ext. 113 Carolyn L’Italien, Coordinator of Children’s Ministry • ext .130 Jean Olson, Parish Secretary • ext. 112 Susan Rountree, Director of Communications • ext.122 FACILITIES STAFF

Jesús Epigmenio, Groundskeeper Marcela de la Cruz, Housekeeper

On the Cover In 2021, we are headed home, to the community of St. Michael’s, after more than a year away. This ship filled with Christians is part of the seal of the Diocese of NC and is depicted in the stained glass Diocesan window in our Narthex.

PARISH DAY SCHOOL 782-6430 Mandy Annunziata, Director • ext. 110 Courtney Alford, Assistant Director • ext.114

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Seeking First the Home of God Words: The Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones, Rector

Photo: Susan Rountree

Jesus presents the Kingdom of God as the fulfillment of our yearning for home. If one substitutes the word ‘home’ for ‘Kingdom’ you can see what I mean. Imagine if Jesus said, ‘Seek ye first the Home of God.’ Or, ‘the righteous will shine like the sun in the Home of their Father.’ Or, ‘Home is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.’

Can you

What about you? go home?

A yearning for home is a universal human thing.

We all long for home, where it’s safe and warm and comforting. Home is a place we were made for — and we’ve tried to make homes wherever we can, whether cave, caravan or condo. Since God knit us together in our mothers’ wombs, we have yearned to be connected, cared for and expected at home.

But can you go home?

Home is what we long to go to — and come from — and work toward. And yet, so much of this life involves our leaving home. In good ways and bad.

Certainly a big part of growing up is leaving home and making a new one.

But, can you go home?

Jesus had a hard time at home. Consider his home life. His first home was a barn. Then he lived on the lam in Egypt as a refugee from Herod. Then he was raised in a podunk town, where when he announced his ministry at the age of 30, they tried to kill him. Which, just three years later the leadership of his father’s house, the Temple, succeeded in doing.

Yes, even Jesus had it hard at home, and his parents were saints.

Home, like life, can be a mixture of hopes and hurts.

Maybe like Jesus, you feel you cannot be yourself when you return home, either to parents, family, hometown, friends, or whatever. Maybe you still don’t want to go to your childhood home. Maybe you’ve had to start a new life, away from too much hurt at home, and not enough hope. I think we all struggle to match the inner yearning for home with the realities of where we are.

Jesus presents the Good News in an interesting way. I believe he presents the Kingdom of God as the fulfillment of our yearning for home. If one substitutes the word “home” for “Kingdom” you can see what I mean. Imagine if Jesus said, “Seek ye first the Home of God.” Or, “The righteous will shine like the sun in the Home of their Father.” Or, “Home is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.”

Jesus tells us that God’s dream is that all people have a home like this — ideally on earth as in heaven. The Good News of Jesus is that He has come to build the way to that home, and to offer us the materials for building such heavenly homes on earth (as best we can with God’s help). These materials of such homes are grace, mercy, forgiveness, and above all, love. Love not for self, but for others.

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These building materials are precious, and of course, we can’t forge them ourselves. This is where our prayer life and corporate life in Christ come in — we must obtain all we need to build our Kingdom homes from the Maker himself.

This, our fifth pandemic issue of Archangel, is all about yearning for home. Our writers explore where they have found home outside of church on those Sunday mornings when we could not offer in-person worship. They have found home at Waffle House, watching CBS This Morning, in the halls of InterAct and on the beaches of San Pedro, Belize.

Can you go home? I believe you can, if your true home is the one the Lord has in store and in mind for you. And you can actually go there now.

Not merely in thoughts and prayers (which are important), but in the flesh. To … church.

St. Michael’s is open for you to come home. It’s not the same in every way as it was before COVID — not yet anyway. But it’s open. And it’s home. And we need and want you to be here with us. For without you, we are not fully at home, and without us, you are not. The people of the Kingdom, or God’s Home, need one another in fellowship, worship and community.

This summer we had hoped we would not only fling our doors wide open, launch all our usual array of programs and activities, and toss our masks to the ground like garlands no longer needed. But such is not turning out to be the case. The surge we are seeing is giving us pause, and also is quite clearly a discouragement. But we are not going to let us go backward, either.

St. Michael’s, as of this writing in mid-August, is planning to offer some programs and activities for all ages, whether it be spaced, or masked, or limited, or on different days. Whatever it takes — we’re getting this house of God ready for you to be here.

Can you go home to the place where God and God’s children are gathering? Yes. It just boils down to if you will. It is time my brothers and sisters. Come home.

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Not All Who Wander Words: The Rev. James L. Pahl Jr., D. Min., Vicar

Photo Illustration: Susan Rountree

The late

theologian and author, Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks about “community,” what defines it and deems it successful in his book, Life Together. One cannot help but read Bonhoeffer’s words and put them in context of the very struggle and evil he was up against in Hitler and the Nazi Gestapo, which ultimately led to his execution on April 9, 1945. In the book, he shares some interesting thoughts which speak to our community which stretch us in good ways. And whether we like it or not, it is truly good to be stretched.

Bonhoeffer says, “The Christian belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work… God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a community the better for both… He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.”

The Christian life is not easy, as it is often defined in the struggle where we come to recognize God’s sovereignty and love. As community, we work for the common cause, even in the midst of various and sundry interests, because, regardless of our personal pursuits, we are “one community.” In the Church, that common cause is found in following Jesus. I dare say that in recent months, we have experienced the “shock of disillusionment.”

For a little less than two years, believe it or not, St. Michael’s community has looked different. We have not been able to gather in the ways we once did on Sunday mornings and throughout the week. But we have continued to gather in a way that still defines us as a “Christian Community.” As the Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry often says, “We are the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.” So as the Jesus Movement here at St. Michael’s, we have continued to bring people together virtually through videos and now a continued livestream of our service. And, we are gathering once again safely

in the Nave for worship Sunday after Sunday. Even in the midst of a COVID-19 resurgence, wearing masks.This is a blessing!

The theme this fall at St. Michael’s is “Come Home.”

Although we had begun planning for a somewhat normal program year kick-off on Sunday, Sept. 12, we have been forced to pivot slightly with the resurgence and new protocols. However, like many things in life, sometimes gifts are given to us in totally unsuspecting ways!

We have not had a normal program year opening since the fall of 2019 — two years in the making since we began a new year moving along at 100 miles per hour. The gift of our current state is that we can begin this new year slow and steady, focusing on our community, coming back safely to our spiritual home and kindling some form of fellowship that has been missing for so long. This must begin anew somewhere, somehow. And think about it: One year ago we couldn’t even do this!

What we continue to endure is not new to God’s creation.

The passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapter 8 comes to mind: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Yes, we will make it home … this is our yearning and our hope, hope in something that will look a little different, hope in our home that we are unable to fully visualize.

And yet, our ultimate hope is placed in the knowledge that God knows the way. The Lord is sovereign! Yet we often forget this, as we so easily fall into the trap of visions and dreams of what we believe our home should be and look like — avoiding the “shock of disillusionment,” as Bonhoeffer said.

You know, in many ways we are not unlike the Israelites, wandering through the desert, though it is difficult to say

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Are Lost at this point where we are in that journey. Can we see the Promised Land, or are we still on the other side of the sea, with Pharaoh and his chariots bearing down on us?

No matter where we are in this, there are a few lessons for us as a wandering desert people, yearning for home, groaning in pain with eager longing.

In the book of Exodus, we are told the Israelites endured many years of bondage under the Egyptians, and suddenly they find themselves free and wandering in the desert for 40 years. Their leader, Moses, wrestled with God and this calling. And in the book of Numbers the people begin to complain about the direction they feared they might be going. “What is going on here?” they asked.

“Where are you leading us, Moses? Where is the Lord taking us? Perhaps we would be better off going back to Egypt!“ The people were wandering about, hoping to make it to the Promised Land — whatever that may look like.

For 40 years the Israelites were like the Bedouins, settingup tents and moving about. There was no permanent temple or place of worship. Wherever the tent was located, there, too would be the holy of holies. They were a people of the Sinai — looking, yearning, hoping for Zion, that holy temple built on the mountain. Through this four-decade journey, the community of wanderers was “shocked with disillusionment” and given a new vision of hope. What they learned through this shock, is what we are now hopefully learning as well: • The pathway to the Promised Land is extremely difficult, but there are life-giving gifts found in the journey if we remain faithful; • The Lord will always meet us where we are, but our hope must rest in God’s time; •Through this faithfulness in the Lord’s sovereignty, we will discover God’s miraculous provisions; • In the midst of complaining and grappling, sin will always lead our hearts astray and separate us from the presence of God, though not God from us; • And finally, there are times when we feel lost in the wandering; yet, we come to recognize that in the lowest point of the journey, even though we don’t feel it, the Lord is faithful and ever present.

In discussing the theme for the fall with parishioner and theologian Jeff Hensley, he reminded me of a poignant quote from J.R.R. Tolkien and specifically these words: “Not all those who wander are lost.” So very true!

As we enter the fall of 2021, the St. Michael’s “community of wanderers” is still traversing the deserts of Sinai. But, the good news is we know where the beginning of Zion is to be found, and we come home to that place where heaven and earth intersect and Christ our Lord is moving through the power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe at this point, it is not quite the Zion we knew two years ago. However, it is “a preeminent locus of communication” between us and the Lord— a place where we seek to make sense of and discover heaven and hell. To this end, let the herald pass these words to all at St. Michael’s and beyond: “Come Home. Not all those who wander are lost!”

Join us on Sunday mornings, and plan to join us for five Tuesdays this fall, for the “Tuesday Night Forums.” These will be 45-minute teachings with questions and discussion to follow. (Child care will be provided.)

Wanderings in the Bible: “Not all those who wander are lost.”

6 p.m., second & fourth Tuesdays, this fall • “Abraham” – Sept. 14 • “Moses” –Sept. 28 • “The Israelites” – Oct. 12 • “Jonah” – Oct. 26 • “Job” – Nov. 9 “All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien

Making the World Our Home Words & Photo: Marnie Jones

A new mission to Belize has our writer reimagining what home can be.

The Wizard

of Oz famously taught that, “There is no place like home.” The pandemic shutdown reinforced that maxim, constricting our sense of home. While homes felt like the only safe space in a suddenly dangerous world, they also could become isolating sanctuaries. The 2021 Belize Mission trip encouraged us to remember to make the world our home.

This year’s team contributed to the ongoing work of supporting and expanding the campus at Holy Cross Anglican School. It is a special place that provides a spiritual home where children are seen, known and valued. The school provides security, nurture and reliable consistency. Thousands of volunteers build and support it because it expands our range to live the Golden Rule.

Holy Cross serves the desperately poor San Mateo neighborhood on Ambergris Caye. This community, as St. Michael’s parishioners who have served on Belize Mission teams know, can upset American visions of “home.”

Having experienced the Favelas of Rio de Janero and met with Chinese families living in caves, I found that San Mateo still disturbed me. The Red Cross defined it as the poorest community in Belize. I came to understand it as an amalgam of precarious hope built on despair.

San Mateo, hovering over water, was long a community without a literal foundation, but faith, inspiration and commitment transformed it. Twenty years ago there were no roads to homes perched on pylons above water. To come home, residents had to balance over an ingenious system of narrow planks. The community kept its sense of humor, referring to them as “London bridges” because they were always falling down.

Those who have come to work at Holy Cross live the truth that together we all share “this fragile earth, our island home.” (Eucharistic Prayer C, The Book of Common Prayer) That scores of teams have lived the Gospel means residents now walk, bike or drive golf carts on solid roads

when they come or leave home. With roads comes stability and, in the past few years, new neighborhood shops.

The school began when Vernon and Francis Wilson responded to a call from the Holy Spirit. Distressed by the lack of services in San Mateo—roads, sewers, electricity and running water — they listened to the community.

Neighbors told them a school was their highest priority.

Holy Cross School dramatically illustrates love’s triumph over despair. In the fall of 2006, 66 children attended school in three classrooms, in a place that had no buildings a month earlier. That is the power of love. Since then, volunteers have built a school home that now serves 450 children a year in 18 buildings. It seems nothing short of miraculous that this campus has been built on the eight acres of water granted to the Anglican diocese by the Belizean government.

The school functions as home for all the children who have attended. One can leave home to explore the larger world and come home transformed, but still accepted and valued. Viviana Paredes enrolled at Holy Cross in 7th grade; life took her away from the island the next year, but she has come home to serve as the Volunteer Coordinator.

Donicio Sanchez, once a Holy Cross teacher, came home in 2019 to enroll his stepson at Holy Cross.

When our small team — John McHenry, Catherine Lambe, Jonathan Stafford, Kelly Mitchell and I — arrived at the school, “Mr. Freddy” Trejo greeted our leader by saying, “Welcome home, Mr. John!” Parishioners who have been on more than one mission trip know the feeling of coming home to Holy Cross. This summer, people across the island greeted us warmly—as neighbors—when they learned where we worked. We saw pride sparkle in the eyes of Belizeans, even those who don’t have children enrolled, as they spoke of Holy Cross.

Major projects are moving toward completion. Thanks to the generosity of our parish, we brought eight crates

An abandoned home in San Pedro, Belize, perches precariously over water. The community, once without a literal foundation, now stands on solid ground, thanks to donations and mission teams like those from St. Michael’s. of books and supplies as well as the financial resources to complete the 34,000-gallon cistern, providing independence from the unreliable and expensive water system. St. Michael’s 2019 team built the future priest’s home from pylons to roof. Our team continued important carpentry inside the home, as well as rebuilding classroom walls and support for the literacy project.

The Holy Cross Education Foundation took advantage of a 50 percent decrease in the cost of landfill to invest $25,000 (US) so the Chapel can be built. The bay has been pushed back and the Chapel’s foundation has been laid.

It will serve as a hurricane shelter when area homes are threatened.

The children of Holy Cross could not come to their school home for a year during the pandemic. Online learning was not an option, so, for more than two months in 2020 and seven months in 2021, the school printed out school materials and assignments for parents to pick up and return.

Our small team is the first to have returned to work at Holy Cross since the Covid shutdown cancelled international travel. Even our trip—the last week of June 2021—was shaped by Covid requirements: vaccination to go on the trip; masks in all public spaces, even walking alone by the

beach; a 10 p.m. curfew; and the all-important negative antigen Covid test to return home to the U.S. Teachers and students now pray that the Delta variant will not delay their ability to come home to Holy Cross.

Prayers and an informal, ocean-side evening service marked time for us. One evening we sang of “God’s unchanging love”: Here I find my greatest treasure; hither by thy help, I’ve come and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. (Hymn 686) That morning’s payers invoked God to “Teach us to seek you in all that has life.”

If we seek God in all people, we are always coming home.

As a college professor, Marnie Jones designed opportunites for students to work with local partners — at home or abroad — to improve people’s lives.

New to Raleigh, she has attended St. Michael’s for 22 months.

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Waffle Homecoming Words: Anna McLamb

Art: Waffle House

When we

were newlyweds living in Atlanta, my husband and I fell in love with Waffle House. We found our favorite one, out of more than 260 in the metro area, and we went every week for breakfast on Saturday. It was our church before we became churchgoers.

Years later, after moving to Raleigh, finding a church home in St. Michael’s and adding children to our family, we kept finding ourselves arriving at church harried, sweaty and nursing hurt feelings or grudges against one another. God’s love and forgiveness and fellowship with fellow parishioners would always fix us right up, but it felt like there should be a better way.

In time, we realized that the Waffle House on Hillsborough Street was that better way. We had our regular table, we had our orders, and we came to know several of the wait staff, and likewise. If less than all of us showed up, they’d ask about who was missing. We’d ask after our regular waiter, Barz, when he wasn’t there. They’d act puzzled when we’d show up not wearing our Sunday best. We’d let them know when we planned to be out of town.

You know the story: COVID changed everything, Sunday rituals included. During quarantine, we went back to the Waffle House for takeout a time or two, but eating steamy hash browns and waffles from plastic containers in the car seriously missed the mark. We worried about the wait staff and occasionally dropped by an envelope

When she is not mothering or lawyering or singing in the choir, Anna McLamb sails with her family on every river, lake and sound she (or husband Jeff) can find.

of cash in lieu of the tips that we would’ve been paying them.

Weeks became months became a new reality, but then, the long-prayed-for miracle of vaccines arrived. Three out of four of us became eligible for vaccines and got them, in-person church services resumed, and eventually, it felt like we could safely return to our Waffle House.

Returning to something once familiar always carries anxiety with it. Will it look the same? Feel and smell the same? Will your people be there? Is it even fair to expect the same after all that’s happened?

I still remember my relief when, as a college student, I visited the house on Champaign Street in Charlotte that my family moved away from when I was nine. Not only did I find our same next-door neighbors at home, but everything inside their house, down to the wallpaper, was the same.

My old neighborhood was comforting, but our return to Waffle House was something else. It was joyful. We were

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welcomed like family, and everything that mattered was the same, whether we deserved it or not. Our table was taken the first time, but Barz was back (after a stint at RDU), and the waffles and hash browns—scattered hard and peppered—were just as mouth-watering as they had been some fifteen months ago.

We didn’t need the menu to know our orders, and once he heard them, Barz remembered everything. This place, and more importantly, all of us, had survived, a little banged up for sure, but we were back, right where we wanted to be. A true homecoming.

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A HOME FOR HOPE & HEALING

Home is not always where the heart is if you’re a victim of domestic or sexual violence.

And the pandemic has only increased the numbers of those suffering.

But InterAct provides a new kind of home for victims — a nesting place to foster independence.

Words: Allison Atkinson

Our homes

have been our fortresses these past 17 months. Our bunkers where pandemic restrictions are made bearable by the sustenance and comfort of family. Where mandates are tolerable because we remind each other they are for our collective protection. In the safety of home, we can believe that the loathsome plague will eventually fizzle out enough for our lives to return to some version of normal. When the world feels like it is coming apart, home is our consolation.

Now, imagine a different kind of home. Where threats, accusations, intimidation, and violence are the norm. A place where quiet times are simply interruptions in a cycle, a predictable period of tranquility before the next storm rages, serving to further destabilize and confuse the family members trapped within. Imagine a home where children must tiptoe and hide when chaos erupts. When the “lockdown” occurred and many were sent home to work and attend school remotely, the sense and reality of that danger escalated.

For more than 40 years, InterAct has been dedicated to the mission of ending domestic and sexual violence, helping to save lives, rebuild lives, and secure safer futures for survivors and their families. Since the early days of the pandemic, the numbers of survivors of domestic and sexual violence reaching out to InterAct for help have steadily increased. Alarmingly, the intensity and severity of the violence experienced by survivors has also increased and is thought to be linked to the period of “lockdown” — not just in Wake County but across the country, and around the world. InterAct has continued to provide a safe and secure “home away from home” without interruption for the duration of this crisis. A place where individuals and families escaping violence can begin to heal.

For almost 15 years, I have been involved in different aspects of InterAct’s work. From chairing the Board of Directors — a great privilege — to volunteering in many different roles, and to finally joining the staff almost three years ago after my husband retired. When I initially joined the staff after a 22-year work hiatus, I was recruited to work on a special project. When my role with the project ended, my devotion to the mission had grown, and I knew I had found a laterin-life “calling”.

I work on the Sunday, Nov. 14 development online at holymichael.org team with donors and InterAct is one of 21 organizations in Wake volunteers, County participating in our annual Gifts of educating and Grace alternative gift market. Join us virtually engaging our community. on holymichael.org on Sunday, Nov. 14, and make

Gifts of Grace

your gifts to others by donating to one or more The daily work of our participating organizations. of InterAct is to provide comprehensive services — crisis counseling and emergency shelter, case management, group and individual counseling, economic empowerment, court advocacy and children’s services.

InterAct has been able to respond with each of these services even at the height of the pandemic.

As the pandemic showed no signs of stopping, InterAct transitioned from a congregant to a non-congregant shelter nearly doubling our capacity. Although we discovered much counseling and crisis intervention work could be done remotely, the shelter is one area that obviously requires the physical presence of staff. The second is The Solace Center, InterAct’s community-based forensic exam

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Archangel center where specially trained nurses (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners or SANES) collect evidence after someone has experienced a sexual assault. Keeping the Solace Center open allowed these survivors to avoid the busy emergency departments overflowing with very sick Covid patients. And, in the aftermath of a sexual assault, awareness of available support services is vital. An individual may wait many years, or never choose to disclose a sexual assault. InterAct is there whenever the need arises – across the course of a lifetime. And services are available to all, regardless of identifying gender, or cultural preferences.

But when COVID became a reality, I was asked to dust off my nursing skills and help with a new priority: keeping our guests and our staff safe from infection. While working remotely, my own safety not in jeopardy, I took on a new role to screen shelter guests for health conditions that might increase their risk of complications if they were to contract COVID. In my discussions with our guests, I was quickly reminded that intimate partner violence does not discriminate. Pre-pandemic statistics from the CDC state that about 1 in 4 women and nearly 1 in 10 men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime. These numbers won’t let us deny that we all know someone who has been affected. They are our family members, our friends and our colleagues.

I am often jarred by the discrepancy between what I imagine the concerns of our guests will be — and what their actual concerns are. Fear of exposure to COVID isn’t always present when someone has escaped severe injury or even death at the hands of an abuser. Sometimes during health assessment interviews with survivors, I found the reality of the risk of COVID difficult to convey. How it must feel to face danger from all directions? We all have coping strategies. I remember during some difficult COVID days last spring when I found comfort watching birds building nests and then fledging in my backyard and thought about the

Gifts of Grace

Gifts of Grace, St. Michael’s premiere Mission & Outreach event, will once again be virtual. On Sunday, Nov. 14, we will gather digitally to support our community with donations to two dozen organizations that serve the needy in our area. The month of November has been designated Mission & Outreach month.

In October, each household will receive instructions by mail on how to give to individual organizations in thanksgiving for friends and family — or how to give a general Gifts of Grace donation that will be dispersed among all

way hurting families arrive at InterAct’s shelter — or nesting place — working each day on plans of independence.

And yet, as difficult as InterAct’s pandemic months have been, hope is flourishing. As I write this, I am excited to share that through grant funding and the generosity of donors, a cohort of 25 children are at “sleep away” camp for the very first time! Camp Hope America is an evidence-based week-long summer camp for children supported by year-round activities. Attending are children who have been exposed to trauma but are no longer in crisis.

Studies have shown that resilience, combined with hope, is a great predictor of a future open to possibility. Our staff have worked diligently to implement this program during the last two years so that children are learning the value of hope for their futures. And, more importantly, they are getting their childhoods back.

While so many of us at St. Michael’s long to return to “passing the peace” with a handshake, singing with the congregation without a mask, and literally drinking from the cup of salvation — let’s remember there are others who long for simple sweet memories like these. Those who cannot remember a time when they felt surrounded by love and support need the help of those of us who can. Bearing witness to the devastating consequences of violence and abuse is necessary in my role — sharing in the evidence of hope and healing is the privilege that follows. Supporting that work is a blessing.

Parishioner Allison Atkinson is Volunteer and Donor Engagement coordinator for InterAct of Wake County.

the participating organizations. We will post videos from our participating organizations online in early November, so parishioners can learn more about each organization and tailor their giving. On Gifts of Grace Sunday, and in the weeks thereafter, you’ll be able to donate securely online by visiting holymichael.org and connecting with our church payment portal, or mail your check to the church designating which organizations you are supporting.

Watch for more news of this important event in the life of our parish!

Sweater Weather Dee Moline has been knitting sweaters — one per week, for 32 years. That’s more than 1,600 bundles of warmth for toddlers from Raleigh to Michigan.

Words & Photos: Susan Rountree

Dee Moline

sits down in a chair in her living room and pulls a blue box from beneath the chair.

“These are the ones I simply can’t part with,” she says, opening the box and pulling out a half-dozen small, soft sweaters — a rainbow of yarn, carefully stitched, in yellows and violets and pinks. She lifts them up like a grandmother would the toddler she knitted them for, running her fingers over the stitches and buttons.

“It’s the color combinations,” she says. “I don’t think I can find this again.”

Dee has dozens of sweaters in boxes around her apartment, toddler sweaters in purples and browns and blues, sweaters with tiny flowers on the yokes and basket weave stitches down the torso, sweaters for rowdy little boys and grinning little girls.

Dee has been knitting so long she doesn’t remember who taught her how. “It wasn’t Mother,” she says, “She could only crochet. Later she would crochet the edges of baby blankets I knitted.”

At 87, she’s been knitting toddler sweaters — one per week — for 32 years. That’s 1,600 sweaters, 1,600

bundles of soft, colorful warmth — probably more.

“I have always been knitting something, as most knitters can say,” says Dee, her voice so lyrical it seems as if she’s singing. Before the pandemic, she did sing — she’s been in choirs most of her life — the latest the choir at The Church of the Nativity. “I call (knitting) an addiction, but kind people have called it an art form — the toddler sweaters, in particular.”

Dee’s sweaters hang in The Canterbury Shop and have since four years ago when she moved to Raleigh from Michigan to be closer to family. She has been donating them to the Shop, a practice she began with the hospital gift shop in her Cheboygan, Michigan hometown. When she moved to Raleigh, she contacted the gift shops at area hospitals but they weren’t interested in carrying them. Her daughter, Denise, had attended The Gathering and remembered The Canterbury Shop, so she made contact with Frances Fontaine.

We were so lucky to have been introduced to Dee!” Frances says. “The best part about having the sweaters is meeting Dee. She’s something.” The Shop has sold more than 75 Dee Moline sweaters, which retail for $40 each.

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Dee Moline, knitting at left, keeps a box of treasured sweaters she can’t part with in her north Raleigh apartment. The perfect color of yarn has been hard to come by during the pandemic, and each unique sweater is a treasure to her.

“I wasn’t interested in having a business,” Dee says. She buys her own materials, though people have donated buttons and some yarn through the years, and each sweater bears the label: Handmade with love by Dee Moline.

Dee’s passion for knitting began with Barbie doll sweaters and vests for her aunts and friends, until she settled on the toddler sweaters, which are often given as baby gifts. She keeps a photo album showing the children, smiling in their Dee Moline original.

No two sweaters are alike, she says, because she doesn’t know what color scheme she’ll use or pattern until she starts to knit. And so she sits, watching television and working her needles until a sweet garden of blue flowers forms, with a deep pink background. A cream

background might bloom with pink, purple and aqua flowers; or an aqua collar might lead the way to rows of blues and greens and pinks.

And a visitor can easily envision an adventurous three-year-old wrapped in warm layers of deep blue and yellow zigzag.

“I love watching a sweater develop,” she says. “I can picture it, but toward the end I can’t wait to get to the next one.”

Susan Rountree is director of communications for St. Michael’s.

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Archangel

Dear Jane Pauley Words: Beth Grace

A wizened former journalist finds that it’s time to break ties with her Sunday morning pandemic friend.

Dear Jane:

I’m leaving you. Apologies for being so blunt, but I’m in a hurry. Church starts soon, and I’m not used to moving so much or so fast on a Sunday morning. Also … where did I leave my shoes a year ago?

Seriously, girl. For more than a year, CBS Sunday Morning was my rod and my staff every pajama-clad Sunday, even in those first weeks when we were all certain the lockdown would blow over any day now.

Full disclosure, Jane, I’m also cc’ing Face the Nation, Meet the Press and the weekly Law & Order marathon that saw me and Raleigh T. Wonder Dog through some lonely pandemic Sundays. The political shows weren’t always great, but let’s agree: Lenny Briscoe never disappoints.

With the world reopening, so is my church — you know, the place I wept over more than once as I made this melancholy masked journey. My heart broke when those doors closed.

Sure, I tried to keep busy and make myself useful during the pandemic. I painted the kitchen— sage green, thank you, and it looks awesome — and stitching Christmas presents for everyone I ever met. I cleaned out closets, thinned bookshelves and learned every last word to the Hamilton! soundtrack. I am not throwing away my shot!

I bought festive masks to make me feel better. It did not make me feel better.

And God help me, Jane, I wore out my La-Z-Boy. It has been weird, making re-entry to this church I love.

The first week back, I forgot some of the words. I had to crack open the BCP. Can you imagine? An Episcopalian actually reading the BCP? Thank heaven for muscle memory.

I could still kneel and bow with the best of ‘em.

But Jane, I have to tell you – absence not only makes the heart grow fonder, it sheds a new light on things.

I see better now. I see people I love and actually remember to tell them that occasionally.

I’m not so quick to rise to anger. I mean, how can I get angry at anyone after having been deprived of the post-service handshakes, cheek-kisses and bear hugs for so long?

And I don’t take tomorrow for granted. I have lost too many friends to do that. We all have.

This isn’t the end, Jane. I can still DVR you and catch up after church, Sunday school and the weekly chowdown with my pew posse. Yes, thanks, tater tots for the table.

So … catch you in reruns, sister.

I Zoomed long after Zoom lost its zing.

It’s time for church.

I worked too much and too long. I cried more than my share.

Thanks be to God.

I whined. I mourned.

I worried. Oh, Lord, how I worried.

Beth Grace writes frequently for Archangel. She blogs at emergencysmarties.blogspotcom

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Archangel

We Remember

The master Scrabble player. The consumate family man. The amateur Ham radio operator.

The small town physican. They were all members of our family, and we will miss them dearly.

Words: Susan Rountree

Photos: St. Michael’s files & family archives

the daughter of the late Thomas Henry and Elizabeth Johnson Walker. She is survived by her daughter Elizabeth and grandson, Noah Cummings.

Dr. Walker Hawes Campbell March 26, 1937 - June 5, 2021 A relative newcomer to St. Michael’s, Walker passed away on June 5, at age 84, surrounded by his family. He and his wife, Charlotte, moved to Raleigh from Goldsboro to be closer to family.

He is survived by Charlotte and daughters Anne Campbell Robbins (Chris) and Sarah Campbell Thomas (Brad), and one grandson.

Walker practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Goldsboro for many years, and he and Charlotte were active at St. Francis Episcopal Church. Walker’s ministry extended outward, and he was a past chairman of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry Board.

“He was becoming more aware of the extreme challenges farmworkers were taking in North Carolina,” Charlotte says. “And he used his resources to respond to that. The board included people from both dioceses.”

He supported the establishment of a Spanish worship service at St. Francis, and he studied Spanish in Mexico for a month, she recalls.

“Walker loved music,” his obituary reads. “He sang in the St. Francis church choir, played the piano and organ, and served on the board of the

Despite being stricken by Multiple Sclerosis when she was in her late 30s, Katharine — who was wheelchair bound for years — kept her spirit and her attitude as she wheeled her way into The Canterbury Shop in search of cards, into the parish hall in search of a hot Wednesday meal, into Smedes Chapel for her weekly dose of church.

Walker Campbell, with wife, Charlotte and daughters Ann and Sarah.

NC Symphony. Other pleasures included travel, reading, walking, culinary adventures, his rose garden, and spoiling his adoring Kitty BooBoo.” Katharine Cummings Dec. 24, 1938 - July 4, 2021 Notorious Scrabble Player. Birthday card giver. Pianist. Seamstress. Grammar grappler. Teacher. Fierce friend.

Child of Jesus. These were all Katharine Walker Cummings, and so much more. Born on Christmas Eve 1938, Katharine died on Independence Day 2021, beloved by her St. Michael’s family and longtime friends. She was

She enjoyed attending theatre, ballet, and the symphony, and never let many years of MS slow her down.

She served on the Arts Access Board of Directors and for years advocated on behalf of people suffering from mental illness. Her greatest love was St. Michael’s, where she served on the Vestry, as a Sunday school teacher and in many other capacities. Katharine has been a favorite of newcomers, who listen to her recall the early years of St. Michael’s in the History of St. Michael’s video. Her parents were founding members. An accomplished pianist at an early age, she played the organ in the children’s chapel when she was 11 years old and served as a teacher’s helper.

She graduated from Duke undergrad and UNC graduate school, she taught Continued on the next page

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Archangel “Katherine made the most of what luck gave her. She built on what was already there. She made more out of less. And quite often, she played everything she had, and bingo! That’s the reason we all admire her so much.”

In her later years, Katharine relied on her church family and other friends, more than two dozen in all, to care for her in myriad ways — from washing her hair and addressing all those Christmas and birthday cards, to paying her bills and overseeing Katharine Cummings at her 80th birthday party at her medical care. Her “angels” as St. Michael’s in 2019. Below, a childhood photo. she called them, threw her elaborate birthday parties and took her to lunch, decorated her bulletin boards at Raleigh Rehab — where she lived for more than 20 years — and during the pandemic helped set her up with an iPad so she could FaceTime with friends and watch our recorded services.

middle school English for many years.

When an aunt died, Katharine donated collected books to create the St. Michael’s library, and she was a frequent library visitor. In his homily at her service, the Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones remembered Katharine.

“She was thoughtful and brave and intelligent and amusing and long-suffering in ways that make me feel so humble to have known one as strong as she — and she inspired the love and devotion and care of such a wide array of the best people I have ever met. She really was a good Scrabble player. And I can say I know this because I’m pretty good, and she was one of my favorite rivals on the old board. She played at a high level by any standard, let alone given her situation. Her approach to the game was symbolic of her approach and ultimately heart-won victory over the forces of illness which for so long aimed to keep her down.

Katharine was born with a sharp, sometimes acerbic wit and it served her well in the years after her diagnosis.

“God doesn’t love people who don’t like cripples,” she said in a 2019 interview for this magazine. “I never feel crippled. Walking is greatly overrated.”

“You have a history with people,” says Roberta Clark Smith, who served as Katharine’s medical power of attorney for more than 20 years. “She helped me write thank-you notes for two months when my husband died.” They were also raising daughters the same age. “I lived closest to her,” she adds, “and she took my daughter to dance school. She ran the Bible school.”

The MS was manageable for a time, but in the late 90s, strengthening treatments caused a bleeding ulcer that required Katharine have surgery.

The operation left her unable to care for herself, so she moved to Raleigh Rehab. When she arrived, she was so

severely depressed she wouldn’t eat.

“I’d wake up in the night and think, ‘What am I going to do?’” Katharine recalled of the time. “But that feeling wasn’t working for me. I knew I had family at the church.”

And her church friends pulled her through it. Mimi Keravouri looked out for her legal issues. Mary Smith set up a team to feed her when she couldn’t feed herself.

Margaret Nicholson organized her room.

Lynda Atkins played lots of Scrabble with her and sent out more than 100 Christmas cards every year. Kate Rivers transcribed many of her Advent and Lenten meditations.

As she lay dying, her friends — joined by her cousin, Katharine Watson, who lives in Maine — gathered around her bed and told stories about her.

Albert Reynolds, second Elizabeth, left, daughter

“She always loved holidays,” Roberta recalled. “I figured since she was born on Christmas Eve, she would [leave us] on the day before July 4.”

Katharine died early on the morning of July 4, Hayden Constance by her side.

“She has been put back together,” Greg said in her homily, “ Yet not in that old mess of a mortal life she had before, but in a perfect one. Yes, I believe she has been raised with Christ and now has a body like the one he had on that first Sunday morning.”

Albert Reynolds April 16, 1954 - June 23, 2021 Albert Reynolds and his wife, Elizabeth were relative newcomers to St.

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Archangel Michael’s when he died on June 23 at the age of 67. He is survived by Elizabeth and children David and Maria.

He loved his cats, his obituary states, “despite his edict, ‘no more cats.’ ” Albert was an engineer, and the family were long-time residents of North Augusta, S.C. He retired from the nearby Savannah River Site after 25 years. He was a trained Spiritual Director and faithful member of Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, in North Augusta, for 30 years.

An avid amateur radio operator, Albert held top-level “Amateur Extra” class licensure, and was a member of the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society.

from right, with wife, Maria and son, David.

“After Hurricane Diana hit the Wilmington area,” his daughter Maria says, “he reported to the airport there to help with communications.

“Mom and Dad once responded to a distress call over the radio,” she adds, “from a fellow Ham and his wife, whose car had broken down. They became longtime friends after that.”

“Sadly,” his obituary reads, “N4AGG, is now radio silent.

Harry Walker, Jr. Sept. 5,1925 - July 28, 2021 To say that Harry Walker, Jr. was a family man doesn’t tell the whole story. Father of four. Grandfather of 10.

Great-grandfather of five, all of whom gather yearly for Walker Week at the beach. When he died at age 95 on July 28 — nine years to the day that his wife, Sallie, died‚ the family was in the middle of Walker Week.

A native of Washington, N.C., he graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1947 after serving honorably in the U.S. Army Aircorpse at the end of World War II. He married his college love, Sallie Lee from Goldsboro, N.C., in December 1949 and they had 63 wonderful years together.

He and Sallie moved to Raleigh in 1960, where Harry started a partnership with a college friend in the auto parts distribution business that grew to become Walker Auto Stores, with 69 stores and employing over 700 people.

their education and life endeavors,” his obituary readss. “He taught them how to be successful in business but even more so in leading a life of friendship and family, of love and generosity.”

“Harry loved being with his family,” his grandson, Lee, said at his service.

“Especially at Atlantic Beach, swimming in the ocean, Spanish Mackerel fishing, cruising on the Sallie L II out to the cape, playing tennis and golf, most often with three generations by his side.”

“Both my mom and dad were lifelong Episcopalians,” says Harry, III. “Moving to Raleigh, they visited Christ Church first but heard about St. Michael’s. It was new, close by where they lived. So they visited and met Mr. Beckwith who welcomed them.They felt at home from the beginning. Ford and Isabel Worthy were great friends who were beginning to come to St. Michael’s also. Now four generations of Walkers have been members with two generations having been baptized here.”

Harry Walker, Jr., center, surrounded by five greatHarry, Jr., drove to church services grandchildren, his son Harry, III, grandson, Lee and past his 90th birthday, Harry, III grandaughter, Louisa. says. When he stopped driving, Harry is survived by his four sons and sons Harry, III, Dan or Nat brought their wives —Harry and Linda, Borden him almost every Sunday. and Michele, Dan and Kay, Nat and Curry. And his grandchildren and their “He was present for all five baptisms spouses: Lee and Elizabeth, Louisa of his great-grandchildren at and Perry, Kimberly, Lindsay and BriSt. Michael’s,” Harry, III, adds. “And an, Daniel and Abby, Drew and Sara, he always thought that financially Sara, Nathan, Ty, and Will and his five supporting the church with its annugreat grandchildren, Anna, Henry, al fund and other projects, whether Tuller, Perry and Walker. capital or mission oriented, was very important.”

The family will always remember his “energetic prodding to all — ‘What are He served on the Vestry of St. Miwe doing next?’ ” chael’s. He loved golf with his sons and boating and fishing with his grands and great-grands.

“He was generous and very supportive of his children and grandchildren in

ARCHANGEL

NON-PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID Raleigh, NC PERMIT NO. 696

A PUBLICATION OF ST. MICHAEL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 1520 Canterbury Rd. Raleigh NC 27608-1106 919.782.0731 holymichael.org

EDITOR: SUSAN B. ROUNTREE STORY IDEAS? ROUNTREE@HOLYMICHAEL.ORG

Fall Program Year Launches Sept. 12 Please register your child for our Sunday morning programs at holymichael.org

On September 12, we will launch our 2021-22 program year.Though it won’t look exactly like what we had planned, take a look at the schedule, which includes two Sunday services and programming for all.

Masks are required.

Sunday Worship 8 a.m. Said Holy Eucharist 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with organ & choir Nursery care for ages 6 weeks to 2 years.

10 a.m. - 11 a.m.

Children’s Program Ages 2-Fifth Grade Stories, Chapel services & more!

9:45 a.m. - 11 a.m.

Sunday EYC Program — 6th - 12th grades 1st & 3rd Sundays See holymichael.org for details & registration Adult Formation 6 p.m., Tuesdays, twice a month “Wanderings in the Bible: Not all those who wander are lost.”

• Abraham – Sept. 14 • Moses –Sept. 28 • The Israelites – Oct. 12 • Jonah – Oct. 26 • Job – Nov. 9