Who's In the Pew?

By Jean Steele

Jennifer Stikeleather throws pots! Don’t duck! She is a ceramicist. She began this work three years ago at the Hawaii Potters Guild in Moilili. She describes the people there as a rich community which has offered her studio time, support and mentorship. She says it’s important that it is a community of mixed generations, the oldest members dating from the Guild’s founding in 1967. Jennifer has been making vases and sculptural pieces and is now embarking on lamps. She likes the functionality of the lamps and how they connect to their surroundings.

Yes, she likes working with her hands, getting dirty and surrendering to the process. Jennifer says she has found her stride and is on a trajectory to making bigger and bigger pieces. She likes holding the bigger vessels and being physically connected to them. Sometimes she likes to add to the surface of her work by painting it with “slip” (watery clay). Jennifer enjoys having her daughter “Charlie” see her artistic practice; sometimes she lays out a large piece of paper for her to watercolor on. Her own mother was a museum docent and took Jennifer to art classes when she was young. She says art was something she “leaned into.”

Born in Wahiawā, Jennifer spent her early years in Korea, her mother’s home.  Then her father’s career took her to California and Kansas, but her middle and high school years found her back in Korea. She attended college in California’s Bay Area, waiting on tables to meet expenses. Subsequently, she worked for three Korean-American brothers who operated a restaurant and were committed to heirloom vegetables. Jennifer became invested in their operation and learned a lot about the food industry. This experience illustrated how “very special” the Bay Area is.

The Art Explorium provided very meaningful work for Jennifer. It’s now closed, due to the pandemic, but it was a non-profit organization in Kaimuki that provided art opportunities for youth with a focus on using reused materials. Jennifer was the Education Coordinator, managing the workshop programming, and was involved in local family events and art festivals in town. Many important relationships (personal and professional) grew from her time at Art Explorium, which she treasured.

At February’s Annual Meeting, Jennifer was elected to Holy Nativity’s Vestry. Her father, Ed, serves on our school’s board and ushers on Sundays.

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Altar Guild Aloha

A children’s “catechism” recites “The cross says ‘God loves us.’ The flowers say ‘We love God.’ The candles say ‘Christ is the light of the world.’” It could be the creed of our Altar Guild who care for the silver and brass, the flowers and the candles. 

Our flowers are an offering, and may be provided by parishioners by prior arrangement with the Altar Guild. Or you may make a gift to the church to fund the purchase of flowers. It is a special way to acknowledge a memorial, anniversary, as an act of thanksgiving or other special occasion!  

If you would like to give flowers, please reach out to an Altar Guild member.

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~Announcements~

This week, Rev. Jenn and Mike are away in Minnesota celebrating Miles’s graduation from Macalester College.

Rev. Jenn will be back on Monday, May 13th.

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Rev. Libby will be away beginning Wednesday, May 15th to see family in the Midwest and on the East Coast. While Rev. Libby is away, please be in touch with Rev. Jenn or our Senior Warden, Tusi Mayer, with pastoral or parish concerns.

Rev. Libby will return Thursday, June 13th

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Mother’s Day is a holiday honoring motherhood that is observed in different forms throughout the world. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis (who had no children) in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914.

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”(the main church in the vicinity of their home) for a

special service. 

In the United States, Mother’s Day continues to be celebrated by presenting mothers and other women with gifts and flowers; carnations were traditionally the flower of choice!

FYI, The first thing most babies can vocalize is the 'ma' sound, which is why in almost every language the word for mother begins with the letter 'M' or is some iteration of the 'ma' sound.

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REMINDERS

New Day by Day devotionals for May/June/July are available outside the nave and in the office.

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Our Thrift Shop Will be closed

on

Friday, May 17th

and also on

Wednesday, May 22nd.

Thrift shop bargains the month of May, all items with Red Tags 50% off.

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Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.

William Makepeace Thackery

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