May 2008

• Pastor's Corner
• Deacon's Bench
• Wardens' Wanderings
• Music Notes
• Last Month

Musings

 

 

May is a wonderful time of year!  The season is noticeably changing bringing with it welcomed warmth.  The days follow suit with added hours of daylight luring us outside where we were created to be.  More often than not in the church we celebrate Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit descended, as if in a violent wind, on the disciples in the form of divided tongues as of fire.  It is a powerful gift image, if you can bring yourself to see it as such.  It was probably a frightening event to behold and to experience.  At the very least, with all the different voices and foreign tongues, it was confusing to those first Christians.  So much so was the craziness, that even the most spiritually devout among them thought the disciples were drunk “on a new wine.”

We are entering a new season here at St. Paul’s—Lakewood.  A new chapter in the life of this parish is being written by the hand of Spirit in this place.  And I, your new Priest-in-Charge, feel honored and blessed to be a part of this vibrant community—a part of the story which is unfolding before us.  As I look at the signs of new life blossoming everywhere in our midst, I am grateful for having been invited into a place so open and ready to be blessed and to be a blessing.

On a personal note to you the people of this community, I want to thank you all for the warm and enthusiastic reception you have given me.  The kindness of a warm reception is a powerful gift, one not forgotten too soon.  By your invitation to serve you as your priest, I feel as though I have been invited to participate in an act of the Holy Spirit.  There is no doubt, God has poured Spirit into this place and filled our cups with a new wine.  In gratitude for what God has done for us, may we drink and be Merry.  And may we invite others, all others, into the midst of our new found enthusiasm for what God can do for us, in us, and through us. 

 

God bless you all,

Allan+     

 

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May  2008       

DEACON’S BENCH

If you were in church on a Sunday at the end of March you would have heard an important announcement:  Last November the youth entertained the congregation to help raise funds ($1000) toward purchasing a Shelterbox.  At that event $1150 was raised, $1000 being used to sponsor a Shelterbox and the other $150 to sponsor Emily Ebner on a trip to visit the Heifer Project.  Emily went to visit the Heifer Project at the end of March, AND the youth were notified at the end of March that the Shelterbox was deployed to Kenya.  Below is information about the events which led up to the need of Shelterboxes in Kenya.  Thank you to the youth who participated in the event, and to each person who made a financial contribution.  Remember, one person can make a difference!

                                                Charlotte

 

 

 

KENYA, A MIRACLE IS BORN DURING THE CONFLICT

 

January 17th - Rift Valley, Kenya: Shelterbox has set up a well organized and peaceful camp in Nukuru, Rift Valley, amidst Kenya’s national protest. Vulnerable women and children are now safely under shelter in a showground tightly packed with Shelterbox tents. The first response team, Mark Pearson & Greg Rogers, put up an impressive 200 tents in 48 hours with the help from the Scouts. People are living together and in the past two days numbers have swelled from 2500 to 4000. More displaced families are expected over the next few days; all are Kikuyu tribe members from Eldoret, Kitale, Kisumu and Burnt Forest.

In this violent and man-made situation there is still a need for aid as the victims are the innocent. Until Shelterbox arrived the women were exposed and exhausted sitting up all night to watch over their sleeping children. One women’s house was burnt to the ground, she traveled alone and frightened to the camp and miraculously gave birth to a healthy baby inside a Shelterbox tent put up minutes before. The camp is said to be secure, with some medical facilities and an adequate supply of food. The skilled Scouts have created a well managed situation that Baden Powell himself would have been proud of with communal cooking and ordered camp rules.

The Shelterbox SRT team have investigated and identified other areas that need help. 40 km North West of Nakuru in Molo 15,000 displaced people are living under the stars in terrible conditions with up to 2000 each sharing one sanitary facility. The rise in illness such as respiratory infections due to exposure is mounting hourly. Shelterbox has responded by sending another 200 boxes of aid which will reach these families by the weekend.

SHELTERBOX TENT IS THE FIRST HOME FOR KENYAN BABY, ‘FAVOUR’

January 18th - Rift Valley, Kenya: In the history of Shelterbox only one other baby has been born in a tent during an 'Immediate Relief deployment'. It has been a proud moment, not only for the SRT's, but everyone at HQ. Mark Pearson describes the situation. "Mother Louise Kimani, Father Paul Kimani, and two day old baby, Favour, were forcibly removed from the village of Kericho seven days ago, and until we gave her shelter they were living rough in the stadium. She gave birth on Tuesday the same day she moved into our Shelterbox tent. She is a School teacher and her husband is a farmer they have two other children." Louise Kamani said, "We have no where to go but here, and it is dangerous in the town and there is nothing left. Everything was burnt down including the primary school and secondary school"

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 WARDEN’S CORNER

Letter to the Congregation:

 

When I had a lengthy cell phone interview last October with Reverend Allan Cole on the side of I-70 close to Grand Junction, I had no idea where that phone call would take me.  I knew my car was pointed towards a vacation in Colorado and Utah but these adventures in God’s country had only just begun.  After a second interview in person with our Deacon Charlotte Shepic and Jr. Warden Jill Massey, we agreed on a short-term contract with Father Allan to replace our previous interim rector, Rev’d Garry Horle. We then continued on with the search process for a new Rector at St. Paul’s.  As most of you know, that search process did not present us with a Rector at St. Paul’s as we had all hoped.  We did, however, discover that the minister we hired in good faith on a temporary basis was leading us in worship, visiting the sick, counseling those in need, meeting with many various groups and leading us in Christian Education sessions.  In short, Father Allan was doing the things we had been searching for in a full time minister.  Like the snow in the Rocky Mountains, the melting starts slowly at first and then quickly turns into the flow of good water that we call spring.  So too, came the realization we had found our next Rector for St. Paul’s. 

After long discussion in the vestry along with communication and advice from Bishop O’Neill, the vestry decided to start with a Priest-In-Charge contract with Father Allan.  A Priest-In-Charge contract is an agreement that could last up to three years and ends in most cases with the Priest-In-Charge being asked to become the new Rector.  The Priest-In-Charge has all the normal operating authority of a Rector.  In my mind, I see two main differences between a Priest-In-Charge contract and a Rector contract.  In a Priest-In-Charge contract, there is an end date three years down the road in which both parties have to decide if they will, or will not, continue the Minister relation- ship. A Rector contract is open-ended. Also, in a Priest-In-Charge contract, we have a connection with the Bishop’s staff that enables us to draw on their knowledge and advice on how to develop goals, and to monitor the progress of those goals.  I look at this as an advantage, especially since the Bishop was agreeable to my request for that person to be Reverend Lou Blanchard.  The first time I saw Reverend Blanchard was at last year’s Diocesan Convention in Denver when she gave a report for the Bishop. I was truly impressed with her competence and skill.  Many of you may remember Rev’d. Blanchard preach at St. Paul’s a few months ago when she made a good impression on many.  I consider her assistance in goal setting an advantage, and I also think this will help St. Paul’s create new positive ties with the Bishop. 

In the life of St. Paul’s the winter is finished and the spring flow is over.  We are looking forward to this wonderful summer of growth and development.  With so many good things we do for the community and for ourselves, I believe with new leadership we can do more good things and do them better.  Let us all consider the many ways we can share our joy and serve God in this wonderful community of St. Paul’s.

           In peace,

          Walt Colligan

Senior Warden

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MUSIC NOTES

 Piano lessons for everyone!

                    Have you ever wanted to play piano and wished you hadn't quit lessons when you were young? Do you have children or grandchildren who want to make music? I am currently accepting new students, ages 7 through adults, starting in September.  I will be teaching some of the lessons at the church and some at my home near Wadsworth and Belleview.  Please see me after church or call me at 303-425-7367.

Nancy Getzinger

Choir Director

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Musings

from the Pastor's Corner April '08 

 We are an Easter people!  Having known death, still we are defined by life—new life in Jesus our Lord.

 Indeed, the Lord is Risen!  And we are raised with Him.  Everything around us is screaming “new life!”  The season has changed.  There is more light during the day now.  Heat is beginning to radiate in and warm our cold bones.  Everywhere light and heat are rebuilding the landscape.  The land is calling us outside to experience the newness of spring.  And God, through every avenue and symbol available, is yelling for us to LIVE!

There is more to being an Easter people than the simple recognition that the world is bursting with new life.  Even the unbeliever has no problem seeing that things are changing.  The season of spring is not visible to believers alone.  Far beyond mere senses and season, an Easter people have to make the acclamation that life has triumphed over death.  An Easter people—and we are an Easter people—have to stand up in faith and courage and claim this life, not only for themselves, but for the whole world.  And on the other side of our Easter acclamation that life has triumphed over death, we have to live in such a way that we show the world that we mean what we say.  That because Jesus was absent from what was to be his final resting place, we, as believers in new life and the resurrection, not only have a reason, but we have the power to make a difference in this world—a difference that began with Jesus, and, if we mean what we say, a difference which is to continue with us. 

By our claiming the life that God intends for us and for all people, and by living like we mean it through helping God to build a better world, we can “let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection (Prayer Book, 281).”       

“Alleluia, Christ is Risen.”

Blessings in our new life together,

Allan+

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