Chronicles of Canterbury
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Chronicles of Canterbury december 2018
From the Rector
Are You Ready for the Kingdom?
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dvent means the Kingdom is coming and the King is on the move. Since the age of Constantine at least, Christians have observed the season of Advent as a time of preparation. It is a mini-season of making ready for the coming not just of Christmas, not just the long ago birth of Are you ready? Not for the Messiah, but also for his Christmas. The Holiday or coming again in power and the Holy Day. No, are you glory. ready for the Kingdom? Are When it comes to getting you ready for the coming of prepared for Christmas, you Christ? already know how to do that. You don’t need me to remind you to keep the Christ in Christmas. Because no matter how much we lament the commercialization of Christmas in the world, few readers of this church newsletter fail to know what Christmas celebrates. No, the deeper part of Advent preparation is not making ready the house for the holidays, or the church for the celebration of a once ago event. The deeper part of Advent is the preparation of the mind, the soul, and the
body for the promise that Jesus didn’t just come and leave 2,000 years ago — but came and left and said, “I’ll be back.” But, he said, when he does come back, it won’t be like what we’re used to. So, Advent isn’t just about the coming of Christmas. It’s about the Kingdom Come and the Second Coming, and Lord knows I bet you hadn’t thought about that. I know. And I know you’re secretly sick and tired of us “Watch and Wait... Make Ready” types when you’re dying to say “Merry Christmas” to everybody you see. But let me just ask: Are you ready? Not for Christmas. The Holiday or the Holy Day. No, are you ready for the Kingdom? Are you ready for the coming of Christ? Advent is about preparing the way of the Lord who is on the move. It is the symbolic season of that bit of discipleship where we’re working on getting ready for the King to come. Where we See RECTOR on page 3
Annual Fund 2019
What Would We Do without St. Michael’s? what’s inside 2 Keeping Christmas 4 Holy Michael Update 5 Belize 2019 6 Aw Shucks! 7 For all the Saints 8 Gifts of Grace 10 Briefly 11 Lifelong Disciple
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little over four weeks into our Generosity is Thanksgiving to God campaign, and Michele and I are happy to report that we are well on the way to a successful Annual Fund Drive. We have received more than 380 pledges, approaching our goal of 550 pledging households. We thank you. It’s a good start, but we still have a little way to go. We hope you, like us, found the booklet enclosed in your packet to be a great place to start. It helps all of us examine why we should give or renew your commitment to giving. If you’ve lost the booklet in the piles of snail mail, visit holymichael.org and download a copy. Of course, this message is about making your pledge to the life of St. Michael’s. Some of you may be thinking, “Not again!” But it is that time of year. The reality is our
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Vestry sets St. Michael’s budget each year. Your pledges fund the budget; 2019 is no exception. We have all been asked to think about what brought us to this place and what keeps us coming back. Why did we come here and why do we stay? Perhaps you’ve seen the Facebook posts and videos and read the stories in Chronicles. But maybe we should allow ourselves to think about what our lives would be like without St. Michael’s. Honestly, I don’t even want to think about that. Being here these 40+ years has positively changed our lives. We found most of our dearest friends here. We raised our children here. All but one of our five grandchildren were baptized here. We have been held up by this community in some See ANNUAL FUND on page 4
Chronicles of Canterbury The People of St. Michael’s Church Phone: (919) 782-0731 All area codes are 919 unless otherwise noted.
The Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones, Rector ext. 117 • jones@holymichael.org (c) 559-2004 The Rev. Holly Gloff, Associate Rector ext. 127 • gloff@holymichael.org (c) 612-7228 The Rev. Robert Fruehwirth Associate Rector ext. 105 • fruehwirth@holymichael.org (c) 475-0082 The Rev. David Crabtree, Deacon (c) 614-2164 Marion B. “Chip” Chase, Verger (h) 851-9576 VESTRY John Constance, Senior Warden • 332-2258 Anna McLamb, Jr. Warden • 848- 9012 Debbie Reed Treasurer • 783-8978 Joe Warenda, Clerk • 602-0839 Kristin Lingo, Recording Secretary Class of 2018 David Bull • 785-9860 | John Constance • 332-2258 Anna McLamb • 848- 9012 | Allen Marshall • 720-4236 Joe Warenda • 602-0839 Class of 2019 Tim Berry • 785-9573 | Dan Cahill • 785-1610 Valerie Jackson• 917-5164 Robin Kennedy • 571-3633 | Lee Walker • 232-7726 Class of 2020 Ashleigh Black •789-8284 John Connell • 336-407-891 | Rob Griffin• 510-9982 Marty Munt • 847-6780 | Karen Wagoner• 601-2881. STAFF Stella Attaway, Director of Christian Education attaway@holymichael.org • ext. 106 Ann Garey, Publications garey@holymichael.org • ext. 103 Charlotte Griffin, Director of Development griffin@holymichael.org • ext. 121 Lee Hayden, Director of Operations & Newcomer Ministry hayden@holymichael.org • ext.108 A bby Van Noppen, Director of Youth Ministry vannoppen@holymichael.org • ext. 115 Kevin Kerstetter, Director of Music kerstetter@holymichael.org • ext. 101 Susan Little, Financial Administrator little@holymichael.org • ext. 113 Carolyn L’Italien, Assitant to Children’s Ministres & Operations litalien@holymichael.org Jean Olson, Parish Secretary olson@holymichael.org • ext. 112 Susan Rountree, Director of Communications rountree@holymichael.org • ext.122 FACILITIES STAFF Jesús Epigmenio, Groundskeeper Marcela de la Cruz, Housekeeper PARISH DAY SCHOOL 782-6430 Mandy Annunziata, Director annunziata@holymichael.org • ext. 110 Cason Maddison, Assitant Director • ext.114
OFFICE HOURS Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm CANTERBURY SHOP HOURS Monday - Friday 10 am -1 pm Sundays 9 am – 9:30 am & 10:30 am-noon
Lifelong Disciple
Giving Truth to Christmas
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ne of the best things about the monastery where I once lived was how we feasted. Just as we fasted on fast days, so on festal days we feasted. In the chapel on feast days, we had special liturgies and sermons, and at table we enjoyed talking, meals, wine and dessert. Rules were relaxed. Time had more meaning because days and weeks were regularly set aside to celebrate the good things God had done. A day was not just 24 hours to get more things done, or to have more enjoyments. A day was something that could be set aside, offered to God and so made sacred. Time was regularly intersected by eternity. The earthly was leavened by the heavenly. The task of living was shot through with the whole purpose of living, which is responding to God and sharing in God’s life. Nowhere was the monastery practice of feasting more striking than during the Christmas season. My monastery kept all 12 days of Christmas as a 12-day continual feast. We enjoyed the crates of oranges, the boxes of chocolate, the tins of baked goods sent to us by friends, as well as special bottles of wine. Starting with a party after Midnight Mass — a party that often lasted until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. — we feasted for 12 days straight. Of course, unlike the surrounding culture, we had not celebrated the holidays all through December. We kept a sober, reflective Advent, with special devotions and a community retreat. On Christmas Eve, all the decorations finally went up all over the The purpose of keeping the 12 days of Christmas is monastery. And when our neighbors to reclaim Christmas as a were dragging their Christmas trees to be left forlorn at the curb, we were Christian holiday. The only reason to observe the full 12 not yet half-way through our 12-day days is devotion to Jesus, our feast. faith in the Incarnation. For everybody else, Christmas It was a different way to live. will end by December 26. For this Advent and Christmas season, I invite you to think about limiting your Christmas activities during Advent and then to feast more during the Christmas season. It wouldn’t be completely crazy to fast one day a week in December, or give up desserts through Advent, so as to enjoy them more for 12 whole days, all the way through January 6. You might take up a meditation practice as a way of waiting on the Lord, or engage in focused spiritual reading for the month of December. A remarkable meditation that I recommend is W.H. Auden’s Christmas Oratorio, For the Time Being. I have also always enjoyed the book Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. In my family, we have an Advent wreath and pray Advent devotions at dinner in the weeks before Christmas. On Christmas Day, we light a white Christ candle in the middle of the fully lit Advent wreath, which we then keep lighting for the full 12 days of Christmas. Again, there are special prayers to be said. My wife, Jane, and I try to find appropriate devotions to carry us through all 12 days of Christmas. I have toyed with the idea (pun-intended) of holding back 12 little gifts for each of my Continued on the next page
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talk about a King already born and now on his way back. Where we commit, again, to whether or not we really view Jesus as a King, and not just a myth, meek and mild, who is little more than a reason for a season. Putting the Christ back in Christmas is better than putting the Thor back in Thursday — I suppose — but it’s not even close to enough. No, now’s the time not to act holier than thou in the midst of a secular culture, but to act as if we really believed Jesus was the Messiah, who could appear at any time, and who is himself watching and waiting for us to follow him, for real.
OWLS CHRISTMAS PARTY
Preparing the Way of The Lord doesn’t mean decorating your house for Christmas, but rather, letting down your guard for Christ. And this requires accepting your issues.
Sunday, Dec. 16 2 p.m.
Yes, like me, you have your issues, and like everyone, you’ve built defenses against a fallen world — and now they’re falling in on you — and they must go for you to live. Preparing for the King means acceptance, that you and I are vulnerable people in need of great love and care, and forgiveness, mercy and help. When we have laid our mountains of defenses low, then the King will come to us, and we will be on the move with him.
in the Parish Hall Join us for a festive afternoon of fellowship, with Bob Spaziano at the piano
— The Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones
CHRISTMAS
From T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets:
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Men’s curiosity searches past and future And clings to that dimension. But to apprehend The point of intersection of the timeless With time, is an occupation for the saint — No occupation either, but something given And taken, in a lifetime’s death in love, Ardour and selflessness and self-surrender. For most of us, there is only the unattended Moment, the moment in and out of time, The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight, The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply That it is not heard at all, but you are the music While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses, Hints followed by guesses; and the rest Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action. The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.
children, so they would get a new gift every night through all 12 days. The purpose of keeping the 12 days of Christmas is to reclaim Christmas as a Christian holiday. The only reason to observe the full 12 days is devotion to Jesus, our faith in the Incarnation. For everybody else, Christmas will end by December 26. Furthermore, observing Christmas for 12 days gives the truth of Christmas — God choosing to dwell among us in vulnerability and poverty — time to sink in to our souls and speak to us. Amid the hubbub of Christmas Day, how can any of us really appreciate the revelation of a God who comes to us in the infant Jesus? How wonderful if our hearts could open, over 12 days, to a God who in Jesus joins us in our poverty and need, and establishes our hope right there. — The Rev. Robert Fruehwirth
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Chronicles of Canterbury Holy Michael Foundation
Help Us Reach the Fourth Quarter with a Win It’s the Middle of the Third Quarter
Bob Slaughter, the parishioner from whose estate the Holy Michael Foundation was born 13 years ago, was always willing to do more for the church he called home. Please help our Foundation do more and make a gift before the end of the year.
We’ve got the ball and YOU can help us finish the fourth quarter with a win! No, I’m not talking about football. I’m referring to the two-year window in which we await the Holy Michael Foundation’s first disbursement.
Our first goal of the Holy Michael Foundation has been realized. Our second – to disburse funds – is in sight. Let’s finish with a win! Give now to the Holy Michael Foundation by check, a gift of stock or other securities, give online, or give via text (NEW).
Our endowment reached its $1 million threshold in September 2017. Once two years elapse with its average balance remaining above $1 million, we can disburse up to 4.5% of the endowment to support the mission and ministries of St. Michael’s. We are ten months from realizing that goal!
To text a gift to the Holy Michael Foundation: ** You must have set up an online account previously to use this option. Click here to do so, or visit www.holymichael.org/give/ and press the GIVE NOW icon to set up your account. If you have given online previously, you already have an account.
The last few months have seen investors clinging to the safety bar of their roller coaster cars. The Holy Michael Foundation is no exception. Fortunately, our endowment has not been thrown from the car. Thanks to a sound investment model, our endowment remains in excess of $1 million.
Please contact Director of Development Charlotte Griffin with questions about giving.
Gifts to the Holy Michael Foundation, along with a sound investment strategy, are necessary to sustain and increase the size of our endowment. In turn, additional gifts now could mean an increase in the size of our first disbursement. A disbursement of 4.5% of $1.2 million, for example, would have more of an impact for our first recipient than 4.5% of $1 million. Imagine who, or how many, could benefit from 4.5% of two million dollars!
ANNUAL FUND
— Charlotte Griffin, Director of Development
from page 1
pretty bad times, and they have celebrated with us in the good times, too. We hope to rest in peace here at some point. And we have grown in our faith and relationship with Jesus here. We can’t put a price on that.
So, thank you for showing your thanksgiving to God of all that makes St. Michael’s the place you want to be. You’ve shown it, through your time talents and money. We’ve made a good start. For those who have pledged, thank you very much. Those yet to pledge, we ask that you prayerfully consider making your pledge to the life of St. Michael’s soon.
I don’t have to remind anyone that our world seems to be a bit off-kilter these days and even a little scary. We are thankful for St. Michael’s, where we can come to find a place that is joyful, peaceful, safe and away from the noise of the world. We are all accepted as part of the body of Christ every time we enter those doors. We are thankful for our clergy’s leadership, the outstanding staff at Saint Michael’s, who together make our church so welcoming. We are thankful for the lay ministers and volunteers who do their work quietly and embody all that makes this church our respite from the outside world.
Scott & Michele Murphy
Once again, Michele and I are honored and blessed to be a part of this amazing community.
— Scott Murphy, 2019 Annua Fund Co-chair
We are thankful for all the outreach and mission opportunities. Through this growing ministry, the people of St. Michael’s are taking what’s best about us outside our comfortable walls to serve the community we love in many ways.
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Chronicles of Canterbury
Belize Mission 2019: Might You Be Called to Join the Team? Excitement and anticipation are already building for our 2019 mission to Holy Cross Anglican School in Belize. Since helping found the school in the spring of 2007, St. Michael’s missioners have spent more than 10 years helping Holy Cross. We’ve constructed living quarters for “Mr. Freddy,” put pylons in for the computer learning lab, built walls for the composting toilet facility, rehabbed the kitchen and installed bathrooms, roofing and ceiling tiles. Our teams have had a lasting impact on Holy Cross’ ability to offer a quality, spiritually-based education for the many impoverished children who attend.
center and chapel —will be fostered. One of the first activities is to convert one of the existing classrooms on campus to the priest’s living quarters, and it looks like this will be the focus of St. Michael’s construction during our trip in April of next year. And, as in past years, we will offer a Vacation Bible School and assist in the sewing center and with other activities, matching the gifts and talents of our team with needs at the school and in the San Mateo community. Logistics for the first week are already set and similar to previous years; logistics for “Team 2” will be worked out during the winter months. Several parishioners have already indicated a willingness to devote the entire two week period in order to provide continuity between Team 1 and Team 2. Team 1 is open to adults and youth that have reached their 16th birthday by the time of team departure. Team 2 will be for adults only.
But as important as the construction work has been, it’s the relationships we’ve built with the children, their families, school staff and the wider community of support for Holy Cross that has perhaps made the most difference – in their lives – and in our own. For we find that when return, old friendships are renewed, new friendships are made, and Jesus is already there waiting for us with open arms and hearts of joy. We expect 2019 to be no different.
Might God be calling you to join either Team 1 or Team 2 this year (or both!)? Please do not hesitate to contact John McHenry, 919-306-3659 for more information.
While it is always possible for plans on the ground to evolve, the opportunity to expand our trip to include a two-week window is very real. The Holy Cross Education Foundation, in partnership with the Bishop of Belize, has entered into a process aimed at providing for a full-time priest presence at the school. In addition, the development and construction of a new multipurpose building — housing more classrooms, a community
— John McHenry, Belize Team Leader
Belize 2019: Important Dates Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019 11:30 a.m. Initial Informational Meeting Wednesday, Feb. 27 Youth Applications Due Sunday, March 10 11:30 a.m. Coffeehouse Planning Meeting Wednesday, March 13 Commitment Deadline Saturday, March 23 7 p.m. Coffeehouse Sunday, March 31 11:30 a.m Team Orientation Meeting Sunday, April 7 11:30 a.m. Final Preparation Meeting Saturday, April 13 Team 1 Departure 7:15 a.m. from Raleigh, arrive Belize ~11am Saturday April 20 Team 1 Return
St. Michael’s will send two teams of missioners to Belize next year to work with Holy Cross Anglican School on construction projects and Vacation Bible School. This ongoing mission has become an important part of our parish community and of Holy Cross.
Team 2 Departure and Return: TBD
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Aw Shucks!
Chronicles of Canterbury
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Chronicles of Canterbury For All the Saints
Nicholas Ferrar: Living by the Book of Common Prayer I am always fascinated by people who take their religion to heart with such passion and energy that they put the rest of us to shame. Don’t get me wrong – I love Jesus, but I also like to read novels, play the harp, travel and walk my dog. But my love for Jesus pales in comparison to Nicholas Ferrar. There, I said it. Nicholas was born in 1592, and as an overachiever, by age 5 he is said to have been reading perfectly. When he was confirmed, he managed to have had the Bishop’s hands laid on him twice! He was sent away to school in 1600, and in 1605 at age 13, he attended Clare College Cambridge. (You may remember the extraordinary Clare College Choir that sang at St. Michael’s and will return to perform for us again April 1, 2019 – an opportunity not to be missed.) While at Cambridge, Ferrar met, George Herbert, a famous metaphysical poet. and they became good friends. Years later, on his deathbed, Herbert sent a manuscript of his poems to Ferrar and asked him to have them published, if he felt they Nicholas Ferrar 1592-1637 were any good. Ferrar arranged to have them published and Herbert’s poems have been in print ever since.
point of every day and every night, someone kneeled at the altar, speaking or singing the Psalms. In this way, the family was able to faithfully keep the words, “pray without ceasing.” The community of family and friends wrote stories and books about various aspects of the Christian faith, and they prepared a “harmony” of the Gospels, through which each story in the Gospels was laid out next to the others, so they could be compared and contrasted. These harmonies of the Gospels remain popular to this day. I have a book of them on my bookshelf. This group of family and friends formed a community, but not a formal religious community. By that I mean that they had no Rule, no one took vows, and there was no enclosure. They just chose to live in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer and worshipped according to High Church traditions. They ate sparingly and fasted often, so they could share their food with the poor. Little Gidding became quite famous. King Charles I visited the community three times, once having taken refuge there after the Battle of Naseby. Centuries later, T.S. Eliot titled the last of his Four Quartets “Little Gidding.” It is considered to be one of the great religious poems of the 20th Century.
(Herbert is known as one of England’s great poets and one of the premiere poets and writer of prose in the Anglican church. He wrote two familiar hymns: King of Glory, King of Peace and Come My Way, My Truth My life. I recommend to you The Country Parson and the poem, Love Bade Me Welcome.)
In December 1637, Ferrar died, and his family carried on with the community. But after his siblings died in 1657 within a month of each other, the community began to disband.
The Ferrar family was actively involved in the Virginia Company of London, a joint stock venture with hopes of bringing a settlement to the New World. Sir Walter Raleigh, also part of the company, often visited the Ferrar family in their home. The family fortunes were lost when the Virginia Company floundered. Nicholas took deacon’s orders and he and his family and a few friends retired to the country, to Little Gidding in what is now Cambridgeshire.
— The Rev. Holly Gloff
In Little Gidding, the Ferrars restored an abandoned church building and began holding regular services there. They taught children who lived in the neighborhood and looked after the spiritual as well as physical health of the people in the parish. What astounded me was that not only did they meticulous say each service of the Book of Common Prayer, but day and night, they recited the entire Psalter. That’s 150 Psalms! At some
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Nicholas Ferrar is commemorated on the anniversary of his death, December 4 in the UK and in the US, on December 1.
Chronicles of Canterbury
Gifts of Grace: A Learning, Giving Experience Another successful Gifts of Grace is behind us. The Parish Hall has been restored to its normal state and all the food items have been sold, but the feeling of goodwill lingers. Twenty-one local agencies’ coffers are a little richer this year as a result of your generosity — thanks to you, we raised close to $40,000 this year. Gifts of Grace truly makes wonderful things happen, and the Committee extends its gratitude to all those who were able to participate. Many thanks to the volunteers who cooked, made dressing, manned tables, and set up the Parish Hall. And a very special thanks to David Hayden and Henry Shirley, who solicited donations for the Veteran’s Day poppies. We salute you for your willingness to once again serve! And thank you to the shoppers! Your Gifts of Grace do remarkable things for our community. A sampling of the shoppers gives a glimpse of why this annual event is so important to the life of our parish.
we may not know about,” says Henry Shirley. “There are many needs in our community that are not being met. Gifts of Grace reminds us that we can always give more.” “Gifts of Grace surely connects our parish to the community in a meaningful way,” says event Chair Clair Marshall. The Rev. Robert Fruehwirth said he felt Gifts of Grace goes both ways. “We are given a chance to minister to those most in need in Raleigh,” he says, “but the real surprise is how engaging in these ministries allows Jesus to teach, convert, and to minister to us.” “The growth of Gifts of Grace over the past 16 years is an acknowledgement that St. Michael’s truly cares about giving compassion, meaning and hope to God’s world,” says Scotty Steele, one of the original organizers of Gifts of Grace. “With our alternative Christmas gift-giving market, we are advocates for the Gospel by serving those in need in our community. The peace prayer of St. Francis of Assisi says it well, ‘For it is in giving that we receive.’”
“I do all my Christmas and birthday shopping at Gifts of Grace,” says parishioner Bob Spaziano, who looks forward to it every year. Parishioner Beth Grace, a new storyteller in Beckwith Chapel, helped shepherd first graders through a scavenger hunt. “Seeing this through their eyes made it even more special. The representatives of each organization explained to the kids what they do and why it’s important. When we got back to chapel, I asked the kids to tell me one thing they learned. Every one of them said in their own way that they had learned there are so many people in need and it’s our job to help them. If that’s not a success, I don’t know what is.”
The recipient organizations feel the benefit, and not only financially. Lisa Brusca, who works at Wheels4Hope, loves to bring her organization to congregations. “Lots of car donations come from congregations,” she says. “We love participating in Gifts of Grace because it helps us spread the word about Wheels4Hope and what we do in our community.” “Gifts of Grace every year; it is festive and fun, says Sharon Hayes, executive director of St. Saviour’s Center. “I get to be with people who do work like I do and get a chance to talk to them.” “I get to sit across from the students from Community Music School who are performing,” says Char Safly, who helped sell St. Elizabeth’s yeast rolls. “I love seeing how they have grown and developed over time.”
“I thought it was great getting to see all the people who came to St. Michael’s who are there to help others,” says third grader Chandler Rideout. Both Chandler and Ava Reiner reflected on what Gifts of Grace meant to them.
For Clair and Alan Marshall, it’s a family affair, with sons Hutch and Nelson giving their part. “Some places are so important to you like Safe Child, Family Promise and Diaper Train,” says Hutch. “I have worked at Diaper Train and so has my mom.”
“I thought it was great getting to see all the people who came to St. Michaels who are there to help others,” says Chandler. “It was very nice seeing people helping other people” says Ava, a second grader.
Nelson, a third grader, started Birthday Bags at Diaper Train. When children turn three, they age out of Diaper Train. “The Birthday Bags came from a third grade social studies project I had,” says Nelson. “The project had to help someone. I filled the bags with a party hat, a kazoo, a book about your third birthday, and a pair of underwear.” (The child actually picks the underwear out him/herself. His Birthday Bags project allowed him to serve those children without missing school.
“This festival of giving sets the priorities of the holiday season in the correct order,” says Senior Warden John Constance, “ by first, providing for the needs of our community. Second, enjoying the love and giving within our own families. We are blessed and have enough blessings to share.” “Gifts of Grace is an opportunity to make gifts to organizations
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Chronicles of Canterbury
Clockwise, from bottom left: The Canterbury Shop did a brisk business on Veteran’s Day’s Gift of Grace market; Ret. Col. David Hayden pins a poppy on Robert Fruehwirth in honor of Veteran’s Day; children from our Sunday School browsed the booths to learn about giving; a student from Community Music School performs. Photos by Matthew Busch & Jeff McLamb.
Gifts of Grace
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Caryl Emmanuel a student at Community Music School, played the cello this year. “I started Community Music School in the fourth grade, and I have been playing for nine years. Playing the cello was my mom’s idea, not mine. I was totally against it; I was more into sports and didn’t even know what a cello was. Thanks to the teachers at Community Music School, I have grown to love the cello. Once you have music,” she adds, “no one can take it from you. The cello is typically viewed as a male instrument, so as a female playing it, it is empowering.” A smiling Pansy Morton recalled, “We have grown so much since our first Gifts of Grace 16 years ago. We started out with Styrofoam signs and only a handful of organizations. Look at us now!” As we bring Gifts of Grace 2018 to a close, we look forward to a blessed and peaceful Christmas season and a new year filled with plans for next year. — Karen Wagoner Gifts of Grace Committee
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Annual Meeting Sunday, Dec. 2 9:30 a.m. During the Eucharist This is the ONLY service of the day.
Words & Wisdom 7 p.m., Wed., Dec. 12 Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard home of Anne & Dave Crawford 9008 Morden Court 27615
The Gathering 2019
‘Head, Heart, Hands’ Features Author Amy Julia Becker Author Amy Julia Becker describes her childhood growing up in Edenton, N.C. in the early 80s as the ‘good ol days,’ playing in backyard puddles, piano and ballet lessons, church, loving parents who never argued. Her parents had moved to Edenton from the northeast before she was born, so she didn’t know a life that didn’t include Caroline and Vera, the housekeepers and Samuel, the gardener. An avid reader, it never occurred to her that Caroline didn’t know how. “I loved Samuel and Vera and Caroline, but I never stopped to think what their lives might have been like if they had grown up in a different place or a different time or with a different set of social expectations,” she says in her book, White Picket Fences — Turning Toward Love in a World Divided by Privilege. Not until she was an adult did she learn that Caroline stopped going to school at age 6 because her mother hadn’t thought it was safe.
“I have come to believe that privilege harms everyone,” she writes in White Picket Fences. “Those who are excluded from it and those who benefit from it. I want this story to open up the conversation we are afraid to have, to prompt questions we are afraid to ask, and to lead us away from fear and toward love, in all its fragile and mysterious possibilities.” What if, in this broken world, we turn toward each other in love rather than hate? What if we use our heads, hearts and hands to listen and to learn, so we can participate in healing work in the world? Join us for The Gathering 2019, Friday & Saturday, Feb. 8 & 9, when we’ll explore how to set our divisions of race, privilege and circumstance aside. Amy Julia will lead us in learning and fellowship so we can discover our unity as God’s people. We hope to be empowered with faith & joy and, once renewed, use our lives to be a symbol of Christ to the world.
Amy Julia’s family moved back to their native Connecticut when she turned 10, and it was then she faced a different view of her home, the South. Kids in her class called her racist and prejudiced, all because of where she was born. Amy Julia will come to St. Michael’s as keynote speaker of The Gathering: Head, Heart, Hands, Feb. 8 &9 of next year. Our bi-ennial event for women will be designed to explore privilege and how women of faith can bring God into the middle of our privileged lives and use it for the better good of the world. A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, her essays about faith, family, and disability have appeared in the Washington Post, USA Today, Christianity Today, the Christian Century, and online for The New York Times, ABCNews, the Atlantic, Vox, and The Huffington Post. Amy Julia, the mother of three, first began exploring privilege when she was searching through her family’s bookshelf and discovered a startling lack of diversity in the titles. The African American Studies minor at Princeton, she had studied under author Toni Morrison while seeking her degree. “I never intended to write about privilege,” she says. “I was going to write a book about how to choose books for children.” When her oldest daughter, Penny was born with Down Syndrome, she began to see the world as prejudiced against disabled people.
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Registration is now open at https:// stmichaelsgathering.eventbrite.com. Early-bird tickets are $35 through Dec. 24 and includes the full event. Regular registration is $40. The event has been streamlined this year, with a Friday welcoming reception and book signing, followed by the keynote and Compline. Saturday’s program will include Morning Prayer and Hymn Sing, followed by a Schedule Friday, Feb. 8 6:30 p.m. Opening reception and book signing 7:30 p.m. Keynote: Amy Julia Becker 8:30 p.m. Compline Saturday, Feb. 9 8:30 a.m. Coffee 9 a.m. Hymn Sing & Morning Prayer 9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. Head, Heart, Hands workshop with Amy Julia Becker 11:30 a.m. Q&A Please note: There will be no lunch served at this event.
Chronicles of Canterbury
december Dec 2 ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Christmastide Events at St. Michael’s
December 9 with Holly Gloff Just in time for Xmas: Breaking the Cycle of Consumerism
Holly Gloff will look at the history of consumerism, how it binds us, how it breaks apart community - and more importantly, how we can BREAK that cycle.
lifelong disciple
December 16 The Great Divorce with Robert Fruehwirth
In ancient church tradition, Advent was a time to reflect on the second coming of Christ, on death, judgment, and the afterlife. Associate Rector Robert Fruehwirth will draw on C.S. Lewis’ classic tale of the afterlife, The Great Divorce, to lead a discussion on the challenge we face in living with God who is our destiny. Do we want what is real and true? Do we want the Love Who inexorably wants us (in full knowledge of who we truly are!) or would we prefer something more…shadowy?
December 23 Carol Sing and Theology with Kevin Kerstetter & Robert Fruehwirth
For centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the theological advances of the western church were expressed primarily in hymns. Our Christmas carols continue this tradition, subtly forming us in theology even as we sing the familiar melodies. In this variation on our annual Carol Sing, Kevin Kerstetter will lead us in carols, and Kevin and Robert will reflect on the history of the carols and the theology expressed in them. Great fun on the day before Christmas Eve!
Dec 30 NO PROGRAMS
Sunday, Dec. 23 8 a.m. Holy Eucharist 9:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 10:50 a.m. Carol Sing & Theology 11:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist Monday, Dec. 24 10 a.m. Family Eucharist & Children’s Pageant (nursery at this service only) 4:30 p.m. Music Prelude St. Michael’s Choir & strings 5 p.m. Holy Eucharist 10:30 p.m. Music Prelude St. Michael’s Choir & strings 11 p.m. Holy Eucharist Tuesday, Dec. 25 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist Sunday, Dec. 30 8 a.m. Holy Eucharist 9:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist* 11:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist* *Nursery only. No children’s programs
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St. Michael’s Episcopal Church 1520 Canterbury Rd. Raleigh NC 27608-1106 Phone: 919-782-0731 Fax: 919-782-5085 www.holymichael.org
NON-PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID Raleigh, NC PERMIT NO. 696
Chronicles of Canterbury is a publication of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church Editor: Susan B. Rountree Phone: 919-782-0731, ext. 122 Email: rountree@holymichael.org
Questions? Story Ideas? Susan Rountree, Director of Communications rountree@holymichael.org • 919-782-0731, ext. 122 www.holymichael.org, Chronicles of Canterbury, ThisWeek@St. Michael’s & Rector’s Weekly Epistle & Archangel Susan Rountree, Editor rountree@holymichael.org Canterbury Tales/brochures/bulletins: Ann Garey, Publications Coordinator garey@holymichael.org
Deadlines: • Canterbury Tales: noon Wednesday before Sunday publication
Day School Adds Kindergarten for 2019-20 St. Michael’s Parish Day School will hold registration for the 201920 school year beginning Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. We offer half-day classes for ages 6 months-5 years. Current students and their siblings should register during the week of Jan. 14-18. New families (including new church members, siblings of former students, and the general public) may apply January 22-25. Children will be placed in classes using a lottery system, and families will be notified by Feb. 1 whether children have been accepted or waitlisted. To apply, please turn in a registration form (available on the Day School website beginning January 7) and the registration fee of $175 per child. The Day School is pleased to announce the addition of a Kindergarten (5 year old) class for the 2019-20 school year. The class will meet from 9:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the curriculum will be based on kindergarten standards set forth by the NC Department of Public Instruction. All other Day School classes (ages 6 month-Pre-K) will meet from 9:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. For more information or to schedule a tour, please contact Mandy Annunziata, Parish Day School Director, annunziata@holymichael. org.
