NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER

• Vacation Bible School -
• Schedule
• First Sundays
• Youth - Calendar
• Nursery Help Needed
   
• Adult Education - Young at Heart
• ST. PAUL’S LITERARY SOCIETY
• An Invitation to Contemplative Prayer and Lectio Divina

Nursery Help needed

We could use some extra help in the nursery.  Channel is our paid nursery attendant and she is very experienced and great with the kids, but we need to have two helpers in the nursery.  Teenagers are welcome to help.  We need someone both at 9 a.m. and at 10 a.m.; however, the need is greater at 10 a.m.  If you would like to help, please contact Renee Parkhurst.

 

YOUTH* MINISTRY ACTIVITIES

May, 2008

                  Date           Activity              Other Events

Date	Youth Reflections	Other Events
5/04/08	Youth Reflections
5/11/08	Youth Reflection
5/17/08		SHARE Distribution
5/18/08	Last Sunday	Picnic Celebration

*From grades 6 - 12

EPISCOPAL

 YOUTH SUMMER CAMPS 2008

 

June 15-21	Entering Grades  6-8	Middle School Camp
June 22-29	Entering Grades  2-5	Elementary I Camp
July 16-12	Entering Grades  2-5	Elementary II Camp
July 13-19	Entering Grades  9-12	High School Camp
July 27-August 3	Entering Grades 10-12	High School Camp

 

Activities include:

 

            Archery                                  Hiking

            Ropes Course                        Horseback Riding

            Mountain Biking                  Leadership

            Skills Building                       White Water Rafting

                                                           (Jr. & Sr. High)

 

                        …and much more!

 

If you are interested in these camps, see the bulletin board in Royster Hall, or contact the office.

 

 

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 What is Fair Trade Coffee?

            Fair Trade provides coffee farmers a fair price for their harvest with a guaranteed minimum, which means they can invest in their crops, their communities, and their future.

            Coffee is the second most heavily traded commodity in the world, and trading prices fluctuate wildly.  Farmers never know how much they will be paid for their beans.  When coffee prices fall below production costs, farmers are forced off their land.  Prices have hovered at historic lows for several years.

            With a Fair Trade price for their coffee, farmers can afford better healthcare, nutrition and housing.  Families stay together, and children stay in school.  The environment benefits, too.  Family farmers are the best stewards of the land, and Fair Trade supports their efforts to protect the soil. Preserve natural habitat, and produce the highest-quality beans.  Fair Trade certification ensures better coffee for you, and a better life for millions.  It’s a simple choice that everyone can live with.

                         Charlotte Shepic

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Adult Education Opportunities:

• Sundays at 9:00 a.m. in the Library.  Topics vary.  Please contact Carol Davenport for information or to share ideas for discussion.  The first Sunday of each month is a joint meeting with the Middle School/Senior High youth for a discussion of Current Events.

• Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. in the Nave or Library.  Centering Prayer followed by discussion and Service of Compline or Vespers.
   

• CATHEDRAL TALK:   Religion As A Source For Peace In The World: by Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Sufi Master, Sunday, April 13^th, 3 to 5 p.m. at St. John’s Cathedral.  Shaykh Kabbani, Sufi Master of the Naqshabandi Order, has been invited to speak regarding the role of religious faith as a source for establishing peace rather than conflict between individuals, peoples and nations.  Free to the public.

   

St. Paul's Literary Society

St. Paul’s Literary Society will meet June 25^th in the library at 7 p.m.  Please note there is no meeting in May.

The book for the month of June is The Shack by William P. Young.  During a family outing, Mack (MacKenzie) Phillips’ daughter is abducted and murdered by a serial killer. Mack is left in deep grief, struggling in his marriage and with a fractured relationship with God.  After years of struggle with his profound sadness, Mack receives a note, apparently from God, inviting him back to the shack where signs of his daughter’s murder were found.  The book covers a wide variety of theological topics dealing with Mack’s suffering and his inability to trust a God who could allow his daughter’s violent death.  The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?”  The answers Mack receives deserve close scrutiny as to their affect on the reader and their theological accuracy.

Books are on sale at Peddler Paul’s, and there will be a sign up sheet in Royster Hall. If you have questions, contact Carol Davenport.

 Carol Davenport

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:Not sure that Centering Prayer is for you? 

So, you are not a contemplative?  You tried meditation once and it was uncomfortable.  What if you are not doing it right?  What is the point of sitting in a group and not talking?  I don’t have TIME to come to the church at dinner time when I have to be at a meeting at 7 p.m.  Contemplative Prayer is not a method.  It is not a talent.  There is no wrong way to pray to God.

The Centering Prayer Opportunity invites you to give us a try in April.  We meet in the Nave – in the choir space near the table in common.  However, if you would be more comfortable sitting in the pews, you are welcome to sit where you choose.  We open with the sound of a bell and the reading of a Psalm.  We acknowledge the presence of God and our intention to be present to God.  What “happens” next is very personal.  We observe silence for approximately 25-30 minutes and indicate the end of the silent period with the sound of the bell.

During the month of April we will be practicing a technique of Bible study that is known as “Lectio Divina” from a monastic (Latin) term which merely means divine reading.  A short passage of scripture is read 4 times.  The first reading is to answer the question “What?”  followed by 2-3 minutes of silence.  Then the same scripture is read a second time keeping in mind the question “What is God saying to me in this passage?”  followed by a brief silence.  The passage is read a third time keeping in mind the question “What do I want to say to God?” followed again by brief silence.  The passage is read a fourth time in a spirit of contemplation or “resting in God”.  After the last silence the group is open to sharing insights or thoughts or questions that were raised by the Scripture.  Ben Gardner and Elaine Miller trade off the facilitator role each week.  The evening concludes at approximately 7:30 p.m. with a reading of the office of Evening Prayer or Vespers or Compline.

There are many instances where Jesus took his disciples aside from the crowds that gathered for teaching and for prayer.  We can practice contemplation alone, but we invite you to share our discipline of a once a week meeting to encourage each other on our journey.  If you are unable to join us for the silence at 6:00 p.m., please feel free to join us at 6:30 p.m. for the study and sharing. 

The study in May will be the book Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton (with an introduction by Thich Nhat Hanh).

                                                 Elaine Miller

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