St. George’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Virginia

A Diocese of Virginia parish serving God in Arlington, Virginia, since 1908; on the net since 1998
Our mission: to make God known.

April 2008 News

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April 2008

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Throughout time, as long as humans have been able to speak, people have told stories to one another. Stories are the way that we teach, preserve our culture, instill moral values, and make sense of our own lives and the world around us. Quite simply, storytelling is one person telling others of something. The story can be of a real event or it can be made up.

For most of us, telling stories is something we do automatically without much thought at all. When we call a friend on the phone to tell her about the ups and downs of our day, we are telling a story. Stories are the ways in which we begin to understand and get to know one another and ourselves. It doesn’t really matter whether or not the stories are completely factual. What matters is the basic truth of our experience. When we tell a story we are not imparting facts, we are instead revealing some of our own character and personality to those who are listening to the story. When we tell our story to another person, we are inviting that person into our own lives.

As faithful Christians, we are people of The Story: God’s story. The entire Bible is a collection of stories: mythic stories, legends, heroic stories, humorous stories, shameful stories, protest stories told by an oppressed people, and parables. The Bible is in essence the story of God’s interactions and relationship with his creation, and in particular one part of his creation, humans. When we listen to the Bible, to God’s story, we are being invited by God into God’s story and we become a part of God’s story, and God’s story becomes our story.

To truly understand where God’s story and our stories intersect, though, we must pause and reflect upon our own. Where were you born? When? What are the peaks and valleys in your memory of your life? When in your life did you have a particular sense of God’s presence? When did you feel that God was absent? Where can you see your life reflecting a Biblical story or stories?

On Saturday morning during our parish retreat at Shrine Mont we will be pausing to examine our own stories. We will take some time to reflect on our own lives and how our own lives are a part of the life of God. And in small groups we will have the opportunity, if we so choose, to share our stories with others. Through this sharing we hope that each participant will better understand his or her own personal spiritual journey.

-- Suzannah Rohman, Associate Rector

Ron’s Reflections:
Low Sundays – don’t check out early

Warden’s Word
Feasting on Lent and celebrating Easter

Food Pantry lunch

Looking forward to Shrine Mont

Food donations needed

EYC takes to the ice

Parents stay out late

Lenten series week one report

Amazing Metro Race 4/13

Ron’s Reflections
Low Sundays – don’t check out early

There is a tradition in the church that says the Sunday after a major celebration is a low Sunday. People point particularly at Easter Sunday because the weeks of preparation during Lent and the intensity of Holy Week, culminating in the festive celebration of Easter, leave us spent emotionally, spiritually, and physically. We want a vacation, time off, down time, time to recoup, and time to savor the memories of the Easter Day. To me, that makes sense. A person needs a break after an exhausting event to prepare for and participate in the next event, even when the “next event” is not spectacular.

I have used analogies about bicycling before and I will again here. If I have planned a 25-mile ride that includes several hill climbs, I need to see the ride in its entirety: all 25 miles, all hills, the direction of the wind, what I hope to accomplish in terms of training and pleasure, who is bicycling with me, and what that final leg home is going to be like. Climbing the first hill successfully at mile marker seven does not mean I can coast the rest of the way. Not if climb number two waits at mile marker 22, three miles before I arrive home. I need to save energy, enthusiasm, and focus for the rest of the ride.

At issue here is taking the long view. St. George’s community has at least 20 miles to go on this ride before summer arrives. As I write this during Holy Week, our celebration of Easter Day (hill climb #1) is five days away. This plans to be an exciting day and will surely be followed by the emotional, spiritual, and physical let down that follows a big celebration.

We will have our Centennial Celebration on April 20, an event that will demand our attention and focus. Our Shrine Mont Parish Retreat Weekend is a week later, followed by Arlington Neighborhood Day on May 10 and Pentecost on May 11, Parish Leaders’ mini-retreat on June 7, and our end-of-year celebration and Youth Sunday on June 8 (hill climb #2). We can then settle into the homeward leg, where we reflect on this program year and plan for the next. The rest of the year demands our attention and energy.

The biggest demand on our time and energy is our continuing work on growing the parish and providing for financial stability. Several programs that began in February will come into full bloom by June; some will begin in June and September. As I said in my annual report to the parish in January, “This year is a turning point.” This is a critical year in which we align ourselves for the future. For the first half of our Centennial Year, we have celebrated our past. As we approach June, we will turn our faces to the future to ask, “What is next? What is God inviting us into? And how shall we respond?”

-- Ron Crocker, Rector

Warden’s Word
Feasting on Lent and celebrating Easter

Spring is here…at least on the calendar…and SO welcome! I’d never associated spring with Lent. Easter, yes; but Lent? I associated with Lent with gloom—ashes, sin, discipline, fasting—or at least giving up favorite things. Then I stumbled upon one of those bits of information that we come upon from time to time: “Lent” = Spring!

“Lent” as a term to describe the forty days leading up to Easter Sunday is apparently unique to English. The Romance, Slavic, and Celtic languages use terms that derive from forty days. In the late Middle Ages, as sermons began to be given in the vernacular instead of Latin, the English word ‘lent’ was adopted. ‘Lent” simply meant spring (Old English ‘lencten’) and the Anglo-Saxon name for March (‘lenct’), as the main part of Lent before Easter, usually occurred in March.

I found myself changing my frame of reference…beginning to see Lent as a gift, a reflection of the glory and celebration of Easter Sunday. Karen Abrams recently offered a meditation, “Feasting on Lent” that invited us to give ourselves the gift of quiet moments with God; time with family friends and the church community; service, bearing in mind the hungry and the hopeless; the joy of God’s creation; the freedom of forgiveness; and the power of small choices to effect change. The meditation was for me an epiphany … a vision of all the St. Georgians who are teaching us how to “Feast on Lent.”

Blessings to

• The Urban Abbey, that offers the gift of quiet moments with God in its recent retreat, the Listening Groups, and the practice of contemplative prayer in the nave each Wednesday at 7:30 AM
• The Fellowship committee and all those who supported the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, the Chili Cook-Off, Sunday Coffee Hours, Parents’ Night Out, the Newcomers Dinner, the women who join in Time Out and the Men’s Breakfast Group, the book groups, the Lenten Evenings, all who make possible the activities for Children and Youth, and everyone who strengthens us as a community
• The Food Pantry, Winter Shelter, and Parish Care volunteers who care for others and for each other. “Feeding others is a form of contemplation.”
• Our Youth who are pursuing energy conservation, our cyclists and our Sea Scouts who celebrate the outdoors, “God’s creation”
• Our Choir and Music Director and the beauty of the music that fill us with the wonder of the Divine
• The Worship Committee and the Vestry who strove to enable a breath of worship styles that enrich Sunday worship in our church community
• All who preach from our pulpits and reminds us of the freedom of forgiveness.

Ron Crocker often speaks of the energy he is witnessing this year. Is it serendipity that the arrival of spring and Holy Week converge this our centennial year? The Lenten Evening, the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Services, the Easter vigil celebration with our neighbors and friends at St. Michael’s, and the jubilation of Easter Sunday with music that is truly “a joyful noise unto the Lord”—feasting on Lent, celebrating Easter, welcoming Spring, rejoicing in new life. Alleluia.

Food Pantry lunch

From hunger-inducing fragrances of Santa Fe Cafe chili wafting from the kitchen and through the halls, and finally to the festively decorated parish hall, volunteers and clients of St. George’s food pantry gathered on Saturday, March 1, for the Centennial Celebration Food Pantry Client and Volunteer Appreciation Lunch.

A hearty feast of chili, trimmed with chopped onions and shredded cheese, crackers, several varieties of fresh breads, lemonade, iced tea, and coffee, followed by an abundance of home-baked pies and cakes, topped with ice cream (if desired) was enjoyed by about 50 volunteers and clients.

Happy Olmstead, who had arranged for the chili from the Santa Fe Cafe, was assisted by Wesley Ann and Ron Godard, John Churchman, Ann and Dave Gray, Ann Swain, and Kay and Hal Bean in the kitchen chores and in parish hall preparations.

Among others enjoying the lunch and helping out were the rector, Ron Crocker, and his associate, Suzannah Rohman, as well as Cynthia Clark, Lindalou Friesen, Anne Michel, Joyce Fall, Valerie Cook, Paul Belanga, Betty Islei, Sonia Marsden, and Nancy McCracken. (If this reporter missed the names of later arrivals, he offers an apology.)

Looking forward to Shrine Mont

St. George’s annual weekend at Shrine Mont is coming up. Shrine Mont is a retreat center of the Diocese of Virginia located in Orkney Springs, Virginia. St. Georgians will gather at Shrine Mont, as we have for many years now, on the last weekend of April (April 25 through April 27, to be precise). Shrine Mont is a beautiful facility, located in the Shenandoah Mountains about two hours west of Arlington. You can learn more about the place at http://www.ShrineMont.com/.

The theme for the weekend, which is meant to complement our Centennial celebration, is “storytelling.” We’re planning an evening of storytelling for Friday, April 25, and on the next day, we will offer a morning program centered on the art of storytelling. We hope to share all sorts of stories over the weekend: stories of faith, stories of our history as a parish, stories that have informed our lives, and stories that have brought us wisdom or joy. On Sunday we will celebrate the Eucharist in the open-air Cathedral Shrine of the Transfiguration.

All of our planned activities are optional—you may join in as many or as few as you like. Shrine Mont offers ample time and space for all sorts of relaxation. Our tradition there is to spend a lot of social time together. This year’s schedule will include “porching,” hikes, and the popular game night/ice cream social on Saturday. The food at Shrine Mont is legendary (in many different respects), and plentiful. The weekend is exceptionally family-friendly: children rarely have difficulty entertaining themselves at Shrine Mont.

We will be providing more details on the Shrine Mont program and the registration process in the coming weeks. Registration will be held in the parish hall (after the 9:00 and 11:00 services) on the two Sundays following Easter. The cost for the weekend, which includes all meals, is $155 for adults, $90 for children 8-12, $40 for children 4-7 (children 3 and under are free). Scholarships are available. Please plan on joining your fellow St. Georgians for a great weekend in a beautiful setting.

Food donations needed

When we updated the prices on the Food Pantry COSTCO shopping list recently we realized that almost everything we order has gone up in cost from $0.30 to $2.00 a case. Likewise, the Food Bank’s prices have crept up.

Our annual total of meals served has increased every year since 2003, although client numbers for any one month are hard to predict. In January we served 909 meals, or 46 fewer than in January 2007. However, in February—a traditionally slow month—we served 931 meals, which was 193 more than we had served in February 2007.

In less financially austere years we have asked the vestry for five to ten percent more money to cover the next year’s inevitable increases. But this is one of those lean years, and the Food Pantry was fortunate to be funded at about our 2007 expenditure level when other ministries took up to 20% cuts. We know that the vestry is committed to meeting our expenses, but we have been looking for ways to stretch our resources. One way is to appeal to you, our parishioners, to donate food items that we ordinarily buy.

While we welcome all food donations, it would be particularly helpful to receive specific items on our shopping list like the following:

• Juice (individual boxes, bottles or packets, we stock Capri Sun)
• Main dish items such as:
  • Ravioli/other pasta w/meat product ( 15 oz can/ 7.5 oz. bowl)
  • Chili w/meat and beans (15 oz. can)
  • Tuna or Chicken (6.5 oz. can)
  • Vienna sausage (6 oz. can)
  • Beef Stew (1 lb. can)
  • Cup of soup (3 oz. cup)
• Vegetables (15 oz can: corn, collards, stewed tomatoes, green beans, kidney beans, etc.)
• Fruit (6 oz cup/15 oz. can: applesauce, peaches, pears, pineapple, etc.)
• Peanut butter crackers (individual packets about 6.5 oz)
• Raisins (1 oz. boxes)
• Plastic spoons
• Napkins

You can drop your food donations in the baskets provided on Sunday mornings at the back of the church, or in the box next to the credenza in the foyer. With your support and God’s help, we will stretch our “loaves and fishes” to feed all the hungry who enter our door.

Thank you.

-- Wesley Ann Godard, Al Brevard, and Gil Terry

Santa María needs English tutors

-- Kathie Panfil

Special Events

Visit St. George’s Calendar or Announcements pages to find out what’s happening. Our worship schedule is online, too!

Announcements

You can read all our announcements online.

Murky Book Club begins new book 3/26

Urban Abbey quarterly meeting 4/5

An important Abbey community meeting will take place on Saturday, April 5, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM in the parish hall. There will be brunch, morning prayer, and a contemplative time that will include lectio divina reading of Scripture. This meeting takes on added importance because the Abbey will select its Abbot or Abbess for the next two years. We will conclude with the Eucharist.

We will celebrate Thanksgiving for the Adoption of C.J. Milburn on Sunday, April 6, at the 11:00 AM service. Come rejoice with Scott, Stephanie, and Peter Milburn on the addition of C.J. to their family.

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (4250 N Glebe Rd) invites you to attend an inaugural concert of its newly-renovated pipe organ on Sunday, April 6, at 4:00 PM. There will be a reception after the concert. Admission is free (donations accepted). Child care will be available during the concert.

Arlington Trivium (20s and 30s) Episcopalians gather After Work on fourth Thursdays from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. After Work will meet at Chevy's at Ballston (4238 Wilson Blvd) on April 24.

St. George’s centennial history is here

EYC takes to the ice

Parents stay out late

On Saturday night, March 1, the parish hall was hopping with Parents Night Out. About 25 people gathered to have a relaxing evening of good food, good drink, and uninterrupted conversation. Thanks go out to Carrie Thomas, Kate Holemans, Joan Pepin, Anne Michel, and Sonya Marsden for helping to helping to make this event a success. For those of you who missed it, we plan to do it again. 

Lenten series week one report

“Prayer on our part is the simple realization and acknowledgment that God is for us and we are for God.” (Julian of Norwich)

“Prayer is an expression of love. Where there is no love, there cannot be any prayer… Prayer and love deepen each other… Prayer, therefore, and especially mutual intercession is one great means of increasing the volume of love in the world.” (William Temple)

Some 30 brave souls slid their way through the ice and stalled traffic on Tuesday, February 12, to hear the Rt. Rev. Mark Dyer of Virginia Theological Seminary speak at the first of this Region 3 Lenten series. St. Michael’s was the host church for this talk, and afterwards LAF (Loaves and Fishes, St. Michael’s Fellowship Ministry) provided a soup supper for the attendees.

Bishop Dyer’s theme, “Continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers,” was lived out that Tuesday night. We prayed, broke bread, enjoyed fellowship, and learned from Bishop Dyer, about the nature of prayer. He read the words on prayer quoted above, as well as those of Tertullian, Thomas Merton, and Deitrich Bonhoffer. He then talked about the Trinity—the Communion of Persons that is the living God, whose name is Love.

“The Trinity is the model for all human community; different persons united in a bond of mutual love,” he said. “The Holy Trinity, therefore, is neither a creed nor a doctrine. It is a life into which we are invited to enter, a love we are called to accept and pass on, a unity into which we, as a Church, must grow, so that we may foster the communion of all humans within the Communion of Persons that creates us, redeems us, dwells in our midst, and seeks our fulfillment only in the life of divine love.”

Will we continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers? This question is posed in the baptismal covenant. Our response—we will, with God’s help.

-- Laurie Conly, a member of St. Michael’s

Amazing Metro Race 4/13

Calling all youth to this year’s “Amazing Metro Race.” On Sunday, April 13, at 4:00 PM we will be gathering to race through our Metro system against the youth of other area Episcopal Churches. Who will triumph? Which church will navigate the tunnels of our system the fastest? Well, you will have to come to the race to find out. Following the race the youth will gather together in St. George’s Parish Hall for pizza and fellowship. If you have any questions, please contact me or David Grahn.

-- Suzannah Rohman

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