Mars Hill Proclaimer

St. Paul's Episcopal Church September 2023

Newletter

FROM THE SENIOR WARDEN

Dear St. Paul’s Parish,

Joy Joy Joy. It has been a summer of joys and sadness all mixed up.

By far, being Andrew’s sponsor for baptism was a highlight. Having Michael, Marilyn, and Bill step up to teach a class on the “Outline of Our Faith” in the Book of Common Prayer was a joy. Then, two other people requested adult baptisms. I learned about affusion, immersion, and submersion baptisms. I learned about what other churches offer and how one Episcopal priest would guide me.

Earlier this summer, a guest requested a Bible. Not being a priest, I put a great deal of thought into these experiences. My number one goal was for the experience of the person making these requests. I wanted their memory of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to be a good memory. They are welcome to become a member, of course. But they are also welcome to ask for what they need now. They need a Bible. We can provide a Bible. They want to be baptized into the family of Christ. We can teach a catechism class and baptize them. They want immersion or submersion baptism. We can connect them with other local churches if that is what they need. They can also come back and still be welcome. This whole experience has been extraordinary. One of our local pastor friends even offered to meet me at the Kishwaukee River for a joyful, old-fashioned baptism. Perhaps a poster campaign about baptism and the Outline of our Faith in the Episcopal Church is a way to meet a need in our community. We have had three young men walk through our doors asking for baptism and we didn’t even try. How should we meet people where they are?

Volunteer Coffee Hour Welcomers: Please contact the office on which Sundays you can be the designated coffee hour welcomers or "butterfly" that goes table to table checking in with folks and visiting with new people.

Tap a partner and ask them to start usher training with you. Please contact the office if you and a friend or a new friend will learn to be an usher. Susan will connect you with Marilyn, Cliff, Bill, Peg, or Jennie.

Contact Susan in the office for a full list of ministries. We have an Altar and a Flower Guild. The choir will be meeting on Thursday nights. We have a Garden Team, Fellowship Ministry, and a list of more.

Rectory updates and preparations should be completed in September. Walk throughs offered upon request.

A calendar of events has been developed through the end of the year. Please consider a donation of support to the Fellowship budget. Plans are in place for a Poetry Night, a Classic Movie Night, and a Pipe Organ Recital. A Fellowship Dinner Group, the Episcopal Church Women meeting, and a Men’s Breakfast Group are starting this semester. Please monitor the church website/calendar, Facebook page, bulletin boards, Sunday bulletins, E-Blasts, and our Proclaimer newsletter for more.

I had mentioned joys mixed up with sadness. The sadness of missing Rick’s presence is strong in our hearts and memory. His beaming smile and his love for his church home is also with us.

Wishing you joy,

Jennie

WEEKLY DEVOTIONS AND

OCCASIONS TO CONNECT

Green Team meetings variable due to weather

MONDAYS

Green Team 8:00 AM

TUESDAYS

Fellowship Dinner, 9/19, 6:00 PM

WEDNESDAYS

Poetry Reading, 9/13, 7:00 PM

THURSDAYS

Green Team 8:00 AM

Choir Practice 7:30 PM (beginning 9/14)

FRIDAYS

Classic Movie Night, 9/8, 6:00 PM

SATURDAYS

ECW Meeting, 9/16, 10:00 AM

SUNDAYS

9:30 AM

Liturgy of The Word and Table

We have Supply Priests for scheduled for all

September Sundays

In Sanctuary and on Zoom

Coffee Hour following

For now, our Sunday service time will remain at 9:30 a.m. This will provide consistency for our members, guests, and visiting clergy as we continue seeking new leadership.

FELLOWSHIP FUN!

Fellowship Dinners will resume in September! Our first outing will be

at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 19th at Sorrento’s Restaurant in Maple Park.

Please RSVP to Peg Newby by Sunday, September 17th if you plan to attend.

MOVIE NIGHT

On Friday, September 8 at 6:00 pm, we will be holding our first

movie night of the season with a classic comedy, His Girl Friday. The film explores the raucous days of

Chicago newspaper reporting, where truth is sometimes sacrificed to lurid story and headline. But that

isn’t the only source of comedy the film offers; especially delicious is the ongoing language battle of the

sexes between Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. The talk is fast and always fun. A 1930s film, it is still

current as it explores the ethical problems in news reporting and the ongoing struggle between women

and men. But come. It’s so much fun. It’s free and refreshments will be provided.

POETRY READING

A second evening devoted to the fine art of language is Wonderment: An Evening of Poetry with Five DeKalb Poets. It will be offered on Wednesday, September 13th , 7 pm – 8:15. The poets, all DeKalb residents, are John Bradley, Rebecca Parfitt, Joseph Gastiger, and Susan Azar Porterfield, recognized in the world of poetry through their awards and many books and journal publications. The event will be hosted by Marilyn Cleland, who will also read.

The topic has been chosen now as we face climate change and war and violence. The event is free; there will be a free-will donation available for the Environmental Defense Fund. Light refreshments will be offered after the readings, offering an opportunity to talk with the poets. This is open to the public; we hope members of St. Paul’s will be there to welcome them.

JULY 2023 APPROVED

VESTRY MINUTES

TREASURER'S REPORT

August, 2023

As of July 31^st, our Heartland Bank checking account balance stood at $76,596.62.

We spent $17,785.23 respectively from our General fund in July, and we took in a total of $24,673.10. This total included $15,000 of an Episcopal Garden Grant being administered via NIU and a reimbursement of $2,609.10 that was an overpayment of Mother Barbara’s Pension. Total pledges included 6,855. So far in 2023 we have spent 54.7% of our annual budget, and we have taken in 60.6% of our expected revenue.

The Rector’s Discretionary Fund has $920 in it.

The remainder of the Garden Fund has been spent on planting soil, labels, and rototiller repairs. The fund is currently at a negative 28.94.

July is the first full month of no clergy expenses. You will see that there was a refund of Clergy Pension.

Thank you so much to Jennie Cummings for taking on the position of general contractor and organizing the remodeling of the rectory. Rectory Maintenance and repairs have increased, once the allotted budget has been used, we will start taking the funds out of the Capital Campaign Funds. 2023 budgeted amount of Rectory Maintenance and repairs is $4,000. We are currently at $2,469.

As of July 31^st, the Endowment Fund was valued at $1,973,317.71. The Capital Fund at Edward Jones was $52,889.69.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Brown, Assistant Treasurer

Bill Cummings, Advisor

GREEN TEAM NEWS

August has been just an incredible month for St Paul's Community Gardens! The Green Team has been busy, busy, busy, and we have much to report.

Partnership is the word at the heart of our efforts. In August we have both continued and initiated partnerships with our community. Our goals are to build presence, attract young people to us, and build a faith community that can adequately address food insecurity in our area.

Our continuing partnership with NIU has provided internships for students, brought us our own weather station (see www.wunderground.com, DeKalb location), and a means to establish a solar irrigation system in the Spring.

Kris has been working closely with Lori Brown, creator of The Sweet Life Garden Group, Inc. Lori's vast talents, knowledge, and energy has greatly enhanced our gardens. Thank you, Lori!

In August, The Green Team began establishing a partnership with New Life Baptist Church. We met with Pastor Joseph Mitchell, and two of his food pantry volunteers, Denise Bailey and Roy Nicholson. Roy recently toured our gardens and our church. We will continue our efforts to help our churches work to gether in the future.

Kris and Jo have begun work toward a suitable plaque for our Memorial Garden, dedicated to our greatly loved and greatly missed member, Rick Johns. Have you noticed our Scarlet Runner Beans have grown beyond the 8' trellises Rick built for us?

The garden itself is expanding, with newly-added eastern beds for garlic, herbs and rhubarb. Even a bed for a pumpkin patch is in the works!

The harvest is a bit late this year, due to the recent drought. But our harvest is in full swing now! We are picking tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, radishes, lettuce, collards, kale, summer squash, zucchini, red cabbage, tomatillos, and a few more vegetables I'm sure I forgot!

In September, St. Paul's Women's Group will make a tour of the garden. Also, Kris' students and environmental technology students will visit the garden, to help and to learn. Our garden intern, Thomas, will assist Kris with this.

We hope that Rhys will build us a box for the garden where members of St. Paul's can log the amounts of produce they take. In the meantime, please give us a guesstimate of produce you pick. We track data of our harvest from year to year.

We are in need of volunteers to pull weeds and deadhead roses.

But, before closing, I would be remiss not to offer a big THANK YOU to our dedicated St. Paul's members, Rebecca, Brad, Jo, Steve, and Jane, who volunteer their time and effort to help this garden become something greater, with God's help!

We continue to meet Monday and Thursday mornings at 8am, and as needed. Please see Kris or Jo if you can help us.

Respectfully submitted,

Jo Plenger-Schulz

AN INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS

Jo: Thomas, I wanted to conduct this interview with you because I've been so impressed with your hard work in improving and expanding St Paul's Community Garden. I thought our church members needed to know more about you. Give me some basic information about yourself.

Thomas: I am 22 years old, and am originally from Gurney. I'm starting my senior year at NIU, and my major is Environmental Studies and Environmental Policies.

Jo: What early experiences did you have with gardens?

Thomas: In 6th grade, my school partnered with a local farm. Our class participated twice a week in that process. I discovered there that I enjoyed working outside, and seeing the plants grow and thrive. I found the work fulfilling.

Jo: When did you learn about the internship opportunity here at St. Paul's?

Thomas: Last semester, I took a Sustainable Food Systems class with Dr. Borre. She thought I might do well here. In the coming semester, I will be assisting Dr. Borre with that same class. I'll be helping supervise her students once a week, here at the garden, until the frost comes. I'll be averaging about 10 hours a week here, 3 times a week.

Jo: You will leave us with excellent recommendations, I'm sure. After graduation, what would a dream career look like for you?

Thomas: I'd love a Remediation job. That is the process of using plants to decontaminate soil so it could be useful again. Otherwise, I'd like to work for the California Fire Agency, as a Policy Analyst.

Jo: Thomas, I sense you have a strong commitment to your work. What's at the heart of your dedication?

Thomas: I care deeply about inequality of food distribution and food insecurity. The price of food has skyrocketed and people need help. Community Gardens can ease that problem. Basically, I believe that food security leads to doing better in school, which leads to getting better jobs.

I'm happy about the work I've done here. I've helped to make a foundation to build on in the future. More hope for better outcomes.

Jo: Well-said, Thomas. We are very grateful for your work at our church. You aren't afraid of hard work, and I think you have a bright future ahead of you. Best of luck to you!

AT ST PAUL'S IN AUGUST

ECW REPORTS

St. Paul's

Episcopal Church Women (ECW) News

St. Paul’s ECW continues to meet regularly. This year, we have tasked ourselves with having quarterly “charitable giving” basket collections to benefit local agencies. Our first effort resulted in a nice donation of money and personal products to Barb Food Mart.

Starting in September, we will be collecting for the Barb City Manor Resident Assistance Program. The funds will be given in honor of our own Maureen Gerrity, who recently retired following 28 years of service to the independent living facility. Because Barb City Manor is for low to moderate income residents, there is often a need to help those whose monthly income falls short of meeting rent obligations. This giving will take place until the end of September. Baskets will be in the rear of the church and in Parish Hall. Please be generous!

Submitted by Peg Newby

The Choir will be singing again

in September

Rehearsals will resume September 14th, 7:30 PM

We'll be singing at the service on the 17th

RENEWING A RELATIONSHIP

St. Paul's Rector's Discretionary Fund has not been utilized in several months. The process of determining the best way to assist those who present with needs is not easy. It is hoped that we will resume giving to Love, INC regularly, as they have the means to help those in need find not only immediate assistance, but also referrals to other services that could be helpful to them.

In response to several parishioners' concerns about the practices of Love INC, Jennie, Peg, and Susan met recently with Nathan Scott of that agency. Concerns regarding the need to commit to a Christian religion were relieved, as were concerns about sexual orientation being a deciding factor in receiving services. Nathan was very clear that Love, INC's intake form does not ask those questions. People may share the info, but it is not used in determining qualification for services.

In the past, St. Paul's has given a percentage of what was in the Discretionary Fund to Love, INC on a monthly basis. A small amount was kept in the Discretionary Fund to be used at the Rector's discretion. A return to this practice would allow St. Paul's to use the Discretionary Funds responsibly, with a goal of getting help to those in need.

Read "A Love Story" from Love INC's newsletter.

ZOOM BIBLE STUDIES

On Wednesday mornings at 10:00 AM you can join Fr. Mike Dwyer, our Rockford Dean, for a study of the the Book of Genesis, beginning September 13th. On Monday nights you can join the Rev. John Seraphine for a Yale Bible Study on 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Contact the Parish Office for the links if you'd like to participate.