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January
29, 2008
COVER
STORY
Living
Into Our Mission
by The Rev. Alvin C. Johnson, Jr.
 Dear
Pilgrims,
Lives formed
and changed through deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ. Wow!
This past weekend ten members of our parish community and Holy
Apostles attended the Great Church Conference at All Saints, Beverly
Hills. Who attended? Sarah Widelski, Leigh VanderMeer, Martha
Gillette, Judy Heinrich, Nerissa Brueckbauer, Kim Lessner, Nancy
Holmes, Elaine Quinn, Aline Denges and me. We were challenged
to look at how our parish lives her mission to transform lives.
We have lots of work to do and first on the list is bringing all
of you up to date on what we learned and how what we learned speaks
to our community.
Here are several
pieces of information essential to our community life. On Sunday,
February 3, we will gather for our annual parish meeting. Worship
will take place on Saturday at 5:00 p.m., Sunday at 7:45 a.m.
and 9:00 a.m.. Our meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. and last until
noon. All members of our community 16 and older are welcome to
attend the meeting. Our time together will feature stories celebrating
ministry, new wardens, new vestry members, times of gratitude
and much more. There is also care set for children and infants.
Again, please join our community celebration.
At our last
vestry meeting, three important staff decisions were made. First,
the vestry concurred with my call to Nerissa to serve as our Associate
for Formation. Her duties in this area of ministry begin officially
on February 1. We also chose to hold off searching for another
full-time priest for the next 12 months or so. Third, we approved
a sabbatical request from our fabulous Deacon, Judy Heinrich,
for 10 weeks of rest and relaxation beginning February 10.
Thank you
for all your incredible efforts and gifts in serving Jesus and
our community both here and beyond. See you Sunday.
Love and Blessings,
Alvin, a pilgrim
and seeker ready to commit…
FORMATION
The
Registration Station: One Place, Many Opportunities
by Sally Smith
St. Michael's
has been blessed with an abundance of spiritual, social, and service
opportunities. Just look at the Lenten "Windows of Opportunities,"
announcements on the wall in the foyer, the Outreach table and
the area outside of the Community Room and you will see a sampling
of the many ways to step into transformation and engage our mission,
Lives formed and changed...through deeper intimacy with Jesus
Christ.
A new "Registration
Station" has been placed in the hallway between the narthex/front
entrance and the church office. The Registration Station consists
of a podium that holds a binder. Currently, inside the binder
there are tabbed registration sheets for each Lenten opportunity.
Simply select an opportunity and sign-up on the spot.
All ministry
leaders and facilitators have been encouraged to place every registration
sheet in this binder so that there is one place to direct all
of St. Michael's wonderful opportunities.
Everyone is
invited to stop by the "Registration Station" regularly
to take a look at the many opportunities for spiritual, social
and service involvement and transformation at St. Michael's...one
place, many opportunities.
PARTNERSHIPS
A
Bishop in Sudan
by Marie Schriefer
This is
the third in a series of articles about life in Sudan and the
second of two parts about Bishop Daniel Deng Bul. This series
is offered by members of St. Michael's Renk Ministry Partnership.
In 1992, the
Diocese of Renk was created in the upper Nile region of southern
Sudan. Bishop Daniel was called to be the first bishop of the
diocese, the position he still holds today. Under his leadership,
the church in Renk has started 12 parish churches and dozens of
preaching centers, opened primary and secondary schools, run a
medical clinic, begun projects to move towards self-support (an
agricultural project and guest houses), built the Cathedral of
St. Matthew, and created the Renk Theological College.
In Renk, Bishop
Daniel has faced many adversities in dealing with the Islamic
fundamentalist government. When he first arrived, he was met with
hostility from the Government Security Office. He had to report
there daily as did priests from other denominations. During a
meeting of the Sudan Council of Churches, he told the other priests
not to report to the Security Office the next day, but to tell
the government officials to go and see Bishop Daniel. When an
official came and demanded that Bishop Daniel go with him to the
Security Office, Bishop Daniel refused to go without an official
letter from the office stating why he was needed. This took the
Security Official by surprise. He left but came back with five
armed soldiers. Bishop Daniel still held his ground and refused
to go without an official letter. The official left and that night
a town security meeting was called. Many people believed that
Bishop Daniel would be forcefully removed, but the people at the
security meeting were divided as to what should happen. The army
commander left the meeting unhappily, and no one came back to
arrest Bishop Daniel. Eventually, the priests no longer had to
report to the Security Office.
In 1993 during
Christmas, Bishop Daniel asked the Sudan Council of Churches staff
to assign him the responsibility of distributing food to the churches.
Previously, the government had forbidden that any food be distributed,
wanting it for the Islamic schools. Bishop Daniel made a list
allocating food to each church and gave a copy to the Government
Security Office for their information, telling them that he was
giving the food to the needy people of the area. The government
called a meeting of the town's Provincial Relief Committee which
Bishop Daniel attended. After five hours with no headway, Bishop
Daniel and others from the Sudan Council of Churches left the
meeting and started to distribute the food. Upon hearing this,
the Christians of the town all rallied behind them. Within hours,
Bishop Daniel received a letter from the Commissioner confirming
permission to give the food to the displaced people. "I will
always remember that meeting as a great step forward that God
helped me take. Although I did not fear for my own life, I admit
fearing for the lives of the other believers," said the bishop.
Another run-in
with the fundamentalist Islamic government came in 1995 when the
Muslim commissioner declared the school for displaced children
closed so that the building could be used by the Islamic army.
The children were turned away and the teachers and headmaster
of the school were arrested. Bishop Daniel called a meeting of
the church leaders, and within one hour over 2000 Christians came
to the school. The police came and left when they saw the huge
crowd. Then the army came with tanks. The Christians held their
ground and eventually the commissioner changed his mind about
closing the school. Fortunately, everything ended peacefully.
When commenting on this and other times Bishop Daniel confronted
the government on the behalf of the displaced people, he said,
"By the grace of God, no serious injuries were done to me
other than putting me under arrest several times. I was always
released quickly since all the denominations were behind me."
In 2004, more
harassment came as the government decided to build a road through
the south. They claimed by eminent domain the land where the Theological
College and the Senior Secondary school stood. After Bishop Daniel
hired a lawyer, new land was given to the Diocese, but no money
for construction. The parishioners at St. Michael's raised the
money for a new Bible College, and construction was started. Twice
the government tried to stop the construction, and the Diocese's
supervisor for the project was even arrested once. The building
continued, though, and much of the Theological College has been
completed.
Bishop Daniel
is married to Deborah Abuk Atem and has six children and three
grandchildren. He was appointed as the chairman of the Peace,
Justice and Reconciliation Committee of the Episcopal Church of
Sudan in 2004. The commission works to equip southerners and church
leaders to help the millions of refugees as they return home following
the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Bishop Daniel seeks for
peace not by being aggressive or submitting, but by standing his
ground, looking to God for strength, and demanding justice.
Bishop Daniel
was recently nominated as one of the candidates for the Archbishop
of Sudan. The election will take place on February 14, 2008. Please
pray for Bishop Daniel, his family, and the Episcopal Church of
Sudan.
St.
Michael's Annual Meeting
St. Michael's
2008 Annual Meeting will take place this Sunday, February 3 at
10:30 a.m. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear first hand
how St. Michael's has impacted not only the lives of those within
her community, but the lives of those in the broader community
and in other corners of the world. Light refreshments will be
offered by Java Jam hosts, the members of St. Michael's Vestry.
Worship on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. or Sunday morning at 7:45 a.m.
and 9:00 a.m. (Church School will meet only at 8:45 a.m. on that
morning.) The meeting will end at noon. The Annual Report will
be available on St. Michael's website prior to the meeting.
For those
interested in detailed budget information, there will be a Budget
Review Meeting on Thursday, January 31, at 6:30 p.m. If you are
interested in attending this meeting, contact Kim Lessner at 847-381-2323
ext. 16 or klessner@stmichaelsbarrington.org
by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 31.
Nominees
for St. Michael's Vestry
John Schmidt,
June Kramer, Dave Waring and Peter Belden have been nominated
to serve three year terms on St. Michael's Vestry; and Rich Padula
has been nominated to serve as Junior Warden. For information
about the nominees, visit the Vestry page of St. Michael's website
at www.stmichaelsbarrington.org/vestry.htm
or contact the parish office at 847-381-2323 for printed information.
 February
is Greeting Card Month at And All The Angels
Stock up on
all of your greeting card needs during the month of February at
And All The Angels gift shop. Buy three cards at the regular
price and receive the fourth free! Small Tickelopes and Gel Gem
cards are included! And All The Angels is located on St. Michael's
lower level.
Around
the Neighborhood
The Ordination
and Consecration of the New Bishop of Chicago
The ordination
and consecration of the Rev. Jeffrey Lee, bishop-elect of the
Diocese of Chicago, will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, February
2 at the House of Hope Arena in Chicago's Pullman district (Far
South Side). As the arena holds 10,000, all clergy and lay members
are enthusiastically invited to participate. Because of security
policies at the House of Hope Arena, this will be a ticketed event.
Tickets are free and St. Michael's has a limited supply available.
Bus transportation is being arranged. For more information contact
Pat Raymond in the Parish Office at 847-381-2323.
In
the Parish Family
Those for
whom prayers have been requested
This week
prayers are asked for: Military troops in danger, Bp. Persell,
John, Mary, Sarah, Margo, Church of the Redeemer, Sara, Jim, Nathan,
Sue, the Callahan family, Bob, Norman, Ray, Maribeth, the Moon
family, Patti, Carol, Kathy, Teri, Sue, Shirley & Bob, Mary
Beth, the Galasso family, Katy, Constance, Kevin, Suzanne, &
Dolores
Anniversaries
This Week
Birthdays
- 2.2 Florence
Compton, Geoffrey Vollman, Mark McIntosh, Genelle Howe
- 2.3 Dorothy
Holvay
- 2.4 Norm
Lenz, Wendy O'Riordan, Ronan Allord
- 2.5 Jeff
Lorenzo, Jim Couch, Bob Sundeen, Julia Stegvik
- 2.6 Anne
Jaenicke, Zachary Rhodes
- 2.7 Cynthia
Chapman, Sergio Scotti
- 2.8 Bill
Baar, Dennis Campbell, Abbott Wright
Anniversaries
- 2.2 Diane
& Wayne Stallard, Patti & Jeff Cross, Sheryl & Jim
Romer
- 2.4 Kaky
& Bob Bowles
- 2.5 Phyllis
& Raymond Raufeisen
- 2.6 Isabel
& Michael Peltier
- 2.7 Viki
& Trey Johnson
Deaths
- 2.4 Jane
Bachini
- 2.5 Suzanne
Jantz
- 2.6 Kent
Taylor
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