Life Center Project Update

1) The City of Medina has spent a full week in their temporary space on the Eastern edge of the parish. The demolition work on Medina City Hall will begin next week.

2) New parking, paving and sidewalks have been installed on campus by the City of Medina. The City, Parish and Saint Thomas School benefit from the additions.

3) The Enrichment Gatherings Team continues to inform and contact households. More than 280 people have been told about the Life Center.

4) The Advance Commitment Team has begun meeting with scores of households. Invitations are being received for the Advance Commitment event scheduled for November 21, after church.

5) Final interviews by the Audio Visual Team were recorded at church today. Work is also underway on the brochure, which will be sent to all parish households.

6) Studio 216 finalized their computer graphic work on the Life Center.

7) Arrangements for the all parish banquets at The Harbor Club in Bellevue, on December 3 and 4, are well underway.

8) The Friends of Saint Thomas effort has continued moving ahead with outreach to schools, neighbors, publications, foundations, and major donors.

9) The Building Committee meets this week to discuss building materials for the Life Center.

10) The Vestry continues to fund, support and oversee the Life Center effort.

11) Gifts, pledges and in kind contributions to the Life Center Project now exceed $500,0000.


Peace,

Bob Simeone
Project Manager
Life Center at Saint Thomas

Building for the Hospitality of God, in Christ, in our community and for future generations.

The Narrow Door

sermon preached at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, WA
by the Rev. Karen Haig, Priest Associate
Wednesday, October 27, 2010

“Lord, will only a few be saved?” - Luke 13:22-30

I recently flew to California, and because I booked my flight so late, I found myself in a middle seat, sitting between two rather large men. The man by the window had on a ball cap sporting the words “Man of Faith” on the front, and in very large letters, “Jesus” on the back. The man by the aisle was a bit imposing – very sure of himself and seemingly used to being in charge. Squeezing into my middle seat, the space between those two big men felt very, very narrow.

Settling in, I pulled out my prayer book, and no sooner had I done that than the Man of Faith exclaimed, “Amen sister, I’m praising God because we are all believers!” Being the good Episcopalian I am, I smiled at him and replied that yes, that was lovely, and quickly returned to my prayer book. The man on the aisle began to ask questions of the Man of Faith, who by now had spoken enough for me to recognize a significant slowness in his speech, and an inability to completely formulate his words. “God is awesome, man!” he drawled. “God saved my life and I’ve been a believer for 20 years.” He reached into the seat pocket in front of him and pulled out two cards, handing one to me, and one to the man on the aisle. “Look, this is my Mom, this is her ministry.” I read the card, which conveyed a brief version of the story of this man’s near-fatal car accident 20 years earlier, and of his recovery and the entire family’s conversion to Christianity.

“Oh my,” I thought. “I’m in for a long ride …”

As I tried to read my prayers, the two men talked back and forth, each of them leaning in a little toward one another in order to more closely converse. It was a funny feeling … as though I wasn’t even there. And my narrow little middle-seat space was becoming increasingly narrow. I invited either of them to change seats so that they might more comfortably converse, but the Man of Faith wanted the window seat, and the Man in Charge needed the leg room of the aisle.

Understanding clearly that this was not a circumstance conducive to reading my prayers, I closed my book and paid attention to these two men. “What do you do?” the man on the aisle asked me. “Uh-oh,” I thought. I hadn’t planned on a theological debate. I had planned to pray.

As I had been trying to read my prayers, the Man of Faith told the story of his accident, his recovery, his journey to conversion and his beautiful life as a Christian. This man had very certain and specific knowledge of God and of God’s plan for every person on earth. I would venture, in fact, that he would have had an answer to that question posed to Jesus in our Gospel reading today: “Lord, will only a few be saved?” “YES,” I imagine him saying with absolute certainty! “Only a few will be saved.” He’d already made known his very narrow definitions about who would be saved, what all of us must do to be saved, and how if you look at specific verses in the Bible and take them seriously (which to him meant taking them literally), you would know what you had to DO to be saved. Quoting scriptural passages popular among fundamentalist Christians, the Man of Faith described a god I do not know and certainly don’t believe in: an angry, vengeful god whose primary job it was to sort the good from the bad, casting aside all those who did not see the world through the same very narrow lens as did this Man of Faith.

I don’t think this is the way Jesus wanted us to understand the narrow door. This is a difficult passage, though, especially for those of us who understand God to be expansive and compassionate, a God of self-effusive and overflowing love. While we know Jesus often answered specific questions with expansive stories and parables, it is hard to understand his response in today’s Gospel. Why must the door be so narrow? Why will it be closed to many? Why would a gracious God make the doorway so narrow and the path to salvation so difficult? We know the answer to this question. Our good and gracious God did not make the path so difficult. WE make the path difficult.

We make the path difficult every time we exclude someone from God’s love. We make the path difficult when tend to ourselves at the expense of others or turn a blind eye to the injustices of the world. We make the path difficult when we lose track of our prayer life or forget that all we have is gift from God. We make the path difficult any time we allow anything in the world to separate us—or any one of God’s beloved—from the God who loves us all.

That’s why the doorway seems narrow. Because when we’re not paying very careful attention, we find that we’ve gone off the path – perhaps missed the doorway all together.

I think this is why Jesus tells us we must strive to take the less traveled and narrow way – because God knows that which is ugly in the world is indeed powerful. Jesus isn’t saying that what we DO brings us salvation or that our striving will bring us to the banquet feast. Rather, he is saying that being a Christian is big work, that it requires deep attention and intention and that we can’t rest once we’ve self-identified as a woman or a man of faith. We need to be mindful. We need to be prayerful. We need to be humble.

Sitting in that narrow middle seat on the airplane, I knew I needed to honestly engage the conversation that surrounded me. And because it was such an important conversation, I knew I needed to choose my words with great love, real attention, and deep prayer. One cannot proclaim the Good News of God’s all-encompassing and redeeming love in the world by telling someone he is narrow-minded and wrong!

This is a real story of the Christian life, isn’t it? A life where there are always choices. We can choose to take the easy way of disengaging, pretending not to notice the need for God’s love all around us and so not offering that love. Or we can choose to lovingly engage, and do the hard work of squeezing ourselves through that narrow door, choosing our words and actions with great love, real attention, and deep prayer.

What narrow pathways are you negotiating? Where are the very narrow doorways in your life? How are you striving? Take a few minutes of quiet. During that time, I invite you to reflect on these questions and to offer them to God, whose guidance and grace will surely sustain you and help you find your way through that narrow door.

Shared Values

“Our mission is to support programs which help children and families reach their highest potential,” said Craig Stewart, President and Trustee of the Apex Foundation. His blue eyes were intense as he continued, “It’s truly blessed work.”

As a teacher and coach, Stewart learned the importance of providing a safe environment for children. He recognizes the early years make the most difference. Providing positive role models for youth and parents fosters a well-rounded and moral family.

At the Apex Foundation he helps Jolene and Bruce McCaw use their blessings to make the biggest impact they can. Their focused efforts on the education of children and parents build positive results for generations to come.

As Stewart looks at St. Thomas’ plans for a New Life Center, he recognizes these shared values – values he instilled in his own children and values by which he’s lives his life.

by, Mikaela Cowles

New Pictures of the Life Center

Thanksgiving @ St. Thomas: Many ways to help!

For the sixth year, St. Thomas is partnering with Hopelink (http://www.hope-link.org/) to prepare and deliver dinner for hundreds of hungry people in our community. We don’t just deliver meals, though – we provide a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner, using the same food you would eat at home. We cap the project with a celebratory Thanksgiving dinner, for the parish and the community, in the Great Hall.

Each of us has many opportunities to pitch in and help. You can sign up any Sunday between now and Thanksgiving  to volunteer in many meaningful ways. These include:

Roast a turkey at home. Pick up a turkey that we will supply, roast it at home, and deliver it hot to the Church Thanksgiving morning. Turkeys will be distributed the Sunday before Thanksgiving, or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week if necessary.

Bake a pie. Pumpkin, pecan and apple pies are a signature part of Thanksgiving. Sign up to bake or buy a 9-inch or larger pie. Pies should be delivered in a non-returnable pie pan to St. Thomas on the day before Thanksgiving.

Cook and portion side dishes. The day before Thanksgiving, the kitchen and Great Hall are abuzz with activity making mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans and yams. Sign up to help cook or portion these side dishes in containers ready for deliver the next day.

Box up dinners for delivery. On Thanksgiving morning we put the complete dinners in boxes and bags ready for pickup by our delivery volunteers.

Deliver Thanksgiving dinner to families. Our most crucial – and most rewarding – task is delivering three to five dinners to hungry families on the Eastside. Pre-set routes make it easy and convenient, and you get to see first-hand the impact your work has in our community.

Share Thanksgiving dinner with parishioners and community. We open the doors of St. Thomas to anyone to join us in a celebratory Thanksgiving dinner after all meals have been delivered. Plan to join us for a great deal of fun and fellowship!

Clean up and send leftovers to Seattle to feed the homeless. Each year, we have had enough leftovers to help provide additional meals to homeless people in Seattle. This final, critical activity gives you one last opportunity to help make Thanksgiving better for folks in our community.

No matter what your Thanksgiving plans may be this year, you will find an opportunity that fits your schedule.  Sign up soon to join us in this fun and meaningful effort!

- Tammy Waddell and Bill McSherry

Life Center Project Updates

At church today someone asked me how things are going on the Life Center Project. Here is an update. Please share this with others.

1) The City of Medina has installed the infrastructure and facilities for their modular structures.

2) New parking, paving, and sidewalks are the most visible change which will benefit the City, the Parish, and the School.

3) The City of Medina Police Department has moved onto campus.

4) The City of Medina City Hall opens on the morning of Monday the 25th.

5) The Enrichment Gatherings Team has made contact with more than 250 people, informing them of the plans for the Life Center.

6) The Advance Commitment Team has mailed to scores of households. They will call those households in the next 10 days.

7) The Promotions and A/V Team continue to develop and refine the publications and electronic media for the campaign.

8) Studio 216 will finalize their computer graphic work by the end of the week.

9) The final video filming for the next version of the parish video takes place this week with the Bishop of Olympia.

10) Work on the Advance Commitment event and all parish Banquets are well underway.

11) The Friends of Saint Thomas work effort moves ahead with outreach to schools, neighbors, publications, foundations, and major donors.

12) Bonnie and Lex will update the Saint Thomas School Board of Directors on the Life Center on the evening of 24 October.

13) The Building Committee is prepared to refine their initial plans should they be called back into action by the Steering Committee or the Vestry.

14) The Vestry continues to fund, support, and oversee the Life Center effort.

Thanks to each of you for your respective efforts to make the Combined Campaign and Life Center efforts as successful as they have already been.


Peace,

Bob Simeone
Project Manager
Life Center at Saint Thomas

Building for the Hospitality of God, in Christ, in our community and for future generations.

I'll Be Close to Him Today

This will be my article in the November issue of The Collect. I figure, hey, why not publish it here in advance? That way you get bonus points for visiting the blog.

- Josh Hosler, Associate for Christian Formation


---

In her first week of kindergarten, my daughter Sarah befriended a little boy named Eric. The entire class was trying to adjust to the kindergarten routine, and Eric dealt with it by crying every morning on his way from before-care into the classroom.

One morning the before-care teacher was consoling Eric as he cried. Sarah came up to her and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be close to him today.”

My memories of age five are not clear enough to remember what this kind of grief felt like. I have experienced grief many times since then, but when you’re only five, even little losses must feel overwhelming. Sarah spent the summer preparing to grieve the loss of her preschool, her weekly day with her grandparents, and our weekly “Daddy-Daughter Day.” By September, she was ready. Having dealt with her grief in advance, she knew how Eric felt. And she was able to come close to him.

“Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Could this be the bleakest lament in the Bible? It is attributed to a field of bones that represent—in Ezekiel’s psychedelic vision—the people of Israel, God’s chosen people [Ezekiel 37:1-14]. But at one time or another, these bones also represent each of us. No matter our age or the size of our loss, we are all grieving something.

Every week when we gather for worship, there are people among us who are grieving, who feel dried up and hopeless, cut off completely. Christians are those who don’t allow people to remain cut off. We strive to live like Jesus did: pouring ourselves out for others, and finding meaning in our life even as we pour it out. One way we can give ourselves away is to be fully present and attentive as the Holy Spirit drops opportunities for ministry into our laps, like the opportunity Sarah found with Eric.

This Sunday, talk to a stranger. When you pass the peace, don’t just greet people you already know. Seek out somebody you don’t know. Begin a conversation and continue it at coffee hour. Welcome people. Include people. Invite people. This is our mission: practicing the hospitality of God. And hospitality is one of the tools God uses to breathe new life into old, dry bones. You never know who God is calling you to come close to.

A landmark day for kids and youth at St. Thomas

Wow. Rarely have I come home from church so exhausted, even after a ten-hour day. But it was a great day. 

As parishioners gathered for a 9:15 forum on Christian Life in Palestine, our childcare opened -- and it stayed open for nearly four hours. With Erica Flores joining Danielle Smoot, we now have two paid childcare providers and are able to offer childcare every week during the Sunday forum.

One thing that really made my day was seeing the Junior Choristers, Senior Choristers and Youth Ensemble in action. But here's the amazing thing: despite the fact that 18 kids were busy singing with the Choristers yesterday, we had above-average attendance in Sunday school at the same time!

As usual, we had a spirited group of acolytes -- coincidentally, this week, they were all middle school boys. Back in the sacristy before church, they held a countdown and watched the clock until it struck 10:10:10 a.m. on 10/10/10. 

On other weeks, our middle school Seekers have been busily writing questions and wonderings all over their church programs. We'll gather all our Seekers' weekly questions and go over them at our next get-together in November. But this week, it seems all our Seekers were busy as acolytes, singers, lectors, and instrumentalists. Everyone was so busy creating the liturgy that not a single question got written down! Actually, come to think of it, that's pretty neat.

After church the parishioners gathered in the Great Hall for the first "enrichment gathering," an informational session for the entire congregation about the plans for the new Life Center. We crammed 13 young kids into the childcare room while 16 kids in grades 3-5 met in the Choir Room for Kids' Club. (Why the Choir Room? Because there was so much going on, there was literally no other place they could go.) And some kids even opted to attend the enrichment gathering (along with older youth) instead of Kids' Club. 

The Kids' Club ate lunch and then disbursed funds. Remember the Vacation Bible Camp coin drive? After the kids had given over $500 to Episcopal Relief and Development's Gifts for Life program, another $284.50 came in. So now the kids got their chance to give that away, too.

The kids talked about the money they receive from chores, pet-sitting, grandparents, etc. What do we do with the money? Save it all? Spend it all? How about sharing some, saving some, and spending some? Since the kids will be major beneficiaries of the new Life Center (most of these kids will be in youth group by the time it is completed), I encouraged them to make their own pledge to the capital stewardship campaign.

Finally, we went outside and posed with our Treasure Garden, the garden the Vacation Bible Camp kids planted in July. Look at it now! Anybody want some vegetables?

I gathered with the high school youth in the afternoon to discuss the direction of the group and to brainstorm ideas for service projects and fellowship. On November 5-6, the parish will hold a 24-hour prayer vigil in support of the Life Center project. Our youth in grades 6-12 will be the anchors for that event, pulling a corporate all-nighter to keep the prayers going.

As the youth group dispersed at 6:00 p.m., Danielle and Erica were back to offer childcare again, this time for the Palestinian Women's Potluck and Panel Discussion. What a busy day, and a landmark week for kids and youth at St. Thomas! And I don't know about you, but I'm having a ball.

Christian Life in Palestine: Forum

Sunday forum presented at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, WA, on October 10, 2010, by Claude Souda

Take Comfort ... But Don't Stop There

A couple weeks ago we had a conversation going here about the new Starbucks slogan, "Take Comfort in Rituals." Here's the original post.

It got me thinking a lot about the Eucharist, and I was especially reminded of the convoluted but beautiful passage we hear in Eucharistic Prayer C (Book of Common Prayer, p. 372):

"Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name. Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the Bread."

If we take comfort and stop there, we are guilty of hoarding.

Notes from the field: El Salvador 2010

On September 19, the youth of St. Thomas hosted 100+ El Salvador “stockholders,” serving them dinner and presenting them with reflections on their pilgrimage. The evening concluded with an exciting question-and-answer session.

Back in July, during the week our youth were in El Salvador, I posted this 2008 piece from Lily Moodey. Lily was one of four 2008 pilgrims who returned to El Salvador in 2010. By way of comparison, I’d like to share her reflection from this year’s trip as well.

(photo by Rachel Best)

The most striking part of my second experience in El Salvador came not from culture shock, the surprising lack of digestive problems, or even our detention, but from the realization that a mere two years’ difference in perspective could change my experience of the country in such an intense way.

A rising senior in high school, I feel myself suddenly faced with the breathtaking prospect of opportunity. With college applications in my immediate future, adults are perpetually telling me that I’m entering the prime of my life. Left and right people ask me what I aspire to be, assuring me that I’m allowed to change my mind, telling me this is what youth is all about … except not everybody is given that luxury.

While I face an array of choices and exciting experiences, the youth I’ve met and become friends with in El Salvador live in a different, more daunting reality. With ridiculous living costs and wages that don’t match them, it is nearly impossible for anyone to battle poverty without getting involved with the rising gang presence and, in turn, drugs, violence and danger. For them, this is not a desire or even a choice, but an inescapable trap.

Bishop Barahona talked to us about the church’s approach to the situation, trying to offer youth a way out, even when the prospective laws make any association illegal. It was hard to imagine, as I kicked the soccer ball around with new friends from Santa Maria Virgín, or exchanged email addresses with a boy named Francisco, or played with Jennifer and Abél, our cook Mercedes’ kids, that while they have the same passion, energy, excitement, drive, insecurities, faith, and love that I do, they could be facing such a different, scarier future. To me, the difference in our futures was ten times as disturbing as the differences in our material situations and lifestyles that had hit me so hard last time I visited the country.

This trip, however, was not about comparing what they have to what I have and feeling bad about it. Too often, I see something horrible and I stuff my guilt away to deal with later. There’s a lot more that I can learn from the people I’ve met than what I get from merely comparing our situations. I will undoubtedly go about my future questioning who I am to take the opportunities given to me, but I plan to do so using what I’ve learned from the people I met in El Salvador.

The tour guide at the Romero museum brought up a point that resonated with me through the rest of the trip. She affirmed that our ability to stop the injustices in El Salvador are limited, just as much injustice and need exist at home in our community. But by simply respecting the people around us—be it the people who pick up our trash or immigrants who come to our country—we are helping move toward the justice craved by those who are denied it.

I plan to take this advice, along with the patience I learned from a man willing to talk to me in Spanish for an hour despite my difficulty in communicating, the kindness I learned from Mercedes and the other people who welcomed us into their communities, and the strength I learned from the youth of El Salvador as I face whatever comes next. All the while, I will pray that they are given the chance to follow their own dreams.

- Lily Moodey

You can read the entire El Salvador 2010 retrospective here. (Be patient after you click; the file is huge.) My thanks go out to the pilgrims and to the stockholders for their commitment to this very important project.

The Joy of Generosity: Forum

Do you still have burning questions about the capital stewardship campaign and its plan to create a new building in place of the Great Hall? The first thing you should do is listen to this forum (play button below).

Next, attend one of our three upcoming Enrichment Gatherings, where you will have a chance to hear all about the proposed building. Why a new building? Why now? What will it be like? All of these questions and more will be answered. These gatherings are informational and are NOT an ask for money! No pledges will be taken yet.

The Enrichment Gatherings will be held:

Sunday, October 10, after the 10:15 service
(light lunch and childcare included)

Sunday, October 17, after the 10:15 service
(light lunch and childcare included)

Wednesday, October 20 at 6:00 p.m.
(light dinner and childcare included)

Please RSVP to Joanne DelBene.

Third, save the date of our all-parish 24-hour prayer vigil, November 5-6.

But first: listen to this fabulous spiritual reflection, "The Joy of Generosity."

Sunday forum presented at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, WA, on October 3, 2010, by Marc Rieke, our capital stewardship campaign consultant from The Enrichment Group.