|
June 24,
2008
COVER
STORY
Grateful
for Summer
by The Rev. Alvin C. Johnson, Jr.
 Dear
St. Michael's Family and Friends,
There is
joy in a dunk tank. My own son Zach stood at the line took his
aim and fired. Down I went into the cool, cool water…and
we all laughed. The water was refreshing, the laughter was fun,
and the line grew ever so slowly for others to get a chance to
"dunk Fr J." I was "re-baptized in water and laughter"
about eight more times. Clark Beverly led the way with four dunks
in his 12 throws.
Thoughts of
the dunk tank come to mind as a reminder that we are now deeply
into summer. God has given us this time for the renewal of our
bodies, our minds, our hearts and our spirits. Please enjoy the
time and opportunities that come your way. Soak up the smells
and sounds of this time of year. Listen to the birds, the bugs
and the roar of the periodic thunderstorm. Enjoy the scattered
showers and the rainbows they produce. Sit in your yard or in
a park and have a cup of coffee, a cold beer, or a glass of wine
and just find that place of gratitude that lives within all our
hearts. Listen to children laugh, enjoy your bones being warm
to the marrow and count all the different colors of green that
paint our landscape. Maybe you can get away for a few days or
even longer. That is what this season is for…growth of God's
beautiful world and each of us who are the loves of God's heart.
Thanks to
the Partnership Picnic Team for the beautiful events of the morning
and early afternoon. What a joy these partnerships continue to
become as we share more and more of our life in Christ together.
May God bless these collective ministries. May God bless your
summer with recreation and renewal. Pray for my family as I will
pray for yours. Honor God by loving the joy of summer.
Love and Blessings,
Alvin+, grateful
for summer…
OUTREACH
You
Get What You Give
by Ann Ryba
 In
loving thanksgiving from the St. Michael's family to Kevin Callahan
for his extraordinary commitment, distinguished service and dedication
to youth...So reads the new plaque next to Room 3 in the state-of-the-art
Lawrence Hall Residential Treatment Center. The dedication service
on June 7 was a loving tribute to Kevin's devotion to young people
and a dialogue of shared stories, both touching and humorous.
Over 60 friends and family crowded into the living area of the
"pod" on the third floor to witness the room blessing.
"Kevin's room" will house a never-ending stream of young
people who may be coming to the first "home" they have
ever known.
Kevin shared
with us his philosophy—"you get what you give"—and
the crowd responded with delight by sharing stories of a life
well led—and not without humor, laughter and a few tears.
The tribute to Kevin was an unforgettable 'thank you' to a man
who continues to be a role model and leader for all of us, even
as he battles his cancer.
The resources
of Lawrence Hall are committed to helping at-risk children redefine
the paths of their own future, and the new Residential Treatment
Center's distinctive architecture and design create a healing
environment that is strengths based, outcomes driven and family
focused. It is only fitting that a man of Kevin Callahan's caliber
be honored at a place where a healing and safe environment is
provided to abused and neglected children so they may move on
to adulthood with resiliency and hope.
For more information
about Lawrence Hall, go to www.lawrencehall.org.
To donate to the Residential Treatment Center fund, please contact
Kim Lessner in the Parish Office at 847-381-2323, ext. 16, or
send a check to St. Michael's, with Lawrence Hall in the memo
line.
FORMATION
"One
Room" Sunday School Opens This Summer
by Irene Brown
Join us for
a special summertime opportunity offered for seven Sundays, June
29 through August 10 for 3-year-olds through 6th grade. Using
a new curriculum, we'll look at some favorite Bible stories and
passages using songs, crafts, and conversation. Each stand-alone
session, which will include both age-specific and all-ages activities
will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. and end when the children join
their parents in the Nave for Eucharist. A different team of St.
Michael's parents will lead each Sunday. There's no need to sign
up in advance; children may join us as often as they can, on St.
Michael's lower level in Room 5. This program is brought to you
through the leadership of Jenn and Pete Belden, Donna and Dave
Brooks, Irene and John Brown, Nerissa Brueckbauer, Melissa Buckley,
Teri Doran, Hayley Eissler, Kristy and Sean Harrington, Meredith
Perrine, Hilary Schultz, Sally and Greg Smith, Janette and Danny
Warner, Sue Wilder, Jeni and Jay Younger.
FORMATION
Youth
Opportunities This Summer
by Kevin Kasper
Welcome to
Summer! Sr. High Senior High students can look forward to a number
of great opportunities this summer:
Every year
our friends at "Jesus People, U.S.A." throw a 6-day
music festival called Cornerstone (think - Jesus meets Woodstock).
Music from bands like POD and Dave Crowder Band from noon until
the wee hours of the morning; speakers from Brian "head"
Welch (former lead guitarist of Korn) and Jamie Twordkowski (To
Write Love on Her Arms) to Miroslav Volf (Professor of Systematic
Theology at Yale Divinity School) and Patrick Prevost-Smith (Professor
of History of Christianity at Harvard Divinity School); Independent
Films from around the world; Music and Writing Workshops by Tayari
Jones (teacher at Rutgers-Newark University). And Music. This
year Cornerstone is from June 30 to July 5 and they are celebrating
their 25th anniversary. This event occurs immediately after the
mission trip. We will be going to Cornerstone for one day, July
4 for the Main Stage anniversary celebration. Cost is $90. We
will be leaving at 7:00 a.m. for the 4-5 hours to drive to Bushnell,
IL. To get a taste of what Cornerstone is like please visit: www.cornerstonefestival.com/firsthand/
On July 13
we start our S.M.U.S.H. Summer Sunday Evening Meetings. These
will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday evenings in the Sturtz
House. We will be looking at various texts in the Old Testament,
spend time "hanging-out," and have dinner together.
These summer evening times will happen each Sunday through August
17. On July 30 we will head up to Wisconsin, to the Kalahari Water
Park in the Dells. Information will be coming for that event will
be coming as it approaches. Sunday, August 24th begins regular
Sunday School at 10:30 a.m. in the Sturtz House.
Watch your
mail for more information or contact Kevin Kasper by phone at
847-381-2323 ext. 15 or by email at kkasper@stmichaelsbarrington.org.
St.
Michael's ECW is Looking for a Few Good Women!
St. Michael's
Episcopal Church Women's (ECW) Board of is looking for new members
for the 2008-2009 year. Being a board member involves coming to
planning meetings once a month (the second Monday of the month
at 7:00 p.m.) and helping with the various ECW activities. Your
involvement can vary depending on your time availability. ECW
is in need of both longtime and new members of St. Michael's to
provide input for the upcoming year. If you are looking for a
ministry at St. Michael's and you want to meet and get to know
other women in the church, then this is the organization for you!
Please call Marie Schriefer at 847-719-1012 if you would like
to learn more or if would like to join the ECW board.
The
Little Red Wagon
During the
month of July, food collected in St. Michael's Little Red Wagon
will be offered to the Cuba Township food pantry. Food collections
are down during the summer months and this food pantry has seen
22 new families since January due to the impact of the economic
situation in the area. Items that are most needed at this time
are spaghetti sauce and canned fruit. In addition, because of
the lack of public transportation in the area, gas cards are also
needed. Food can be left in the Little Red Wagon located in St.
Michael's narthex/front entrance each Sunday. Gas cards or cash
donations can be dropped off in the Parish Office or with Ruth
Silver.
Vacation
Bible School Explores "Twelve Who Changed the World"
Please don't
forget to include St. Michael's Vacation Bible School in your
summer plans! This year's program will run from Monday, July 14
through Thursday, July 17, 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. daily. Registration
forms are available on the website at www.stmichaelsbarrington.org/vbs.htm,
in the Parish Office or the Children's Ministries Office. You
may also call 847-381-2323 ext. 33. The week's faith lessons and
fun will also include a multimedia live performance by the Christian
Youth Theater Praise Team including drama, choreography, music
and testimonies. Come and see 22 of the Christian Youth Theater's
best students from all over Chicagoland perform!
Opportunities
for Favorite Hymns this Summer
On "Favorite
Hymns Sundays"—July 13, and August 10-the hymns we sing
at our 9:30 a.m. service will be hymns requested by members of
the congregation. Let us know your favorite hymns, and, while
there are no guarantees, we will do our best to make sure they
get included in worship on one of these three Sundays. This is
a great way to share those hymns that have meant so much to you
over the years with the rest of the St. Michael's faith community!
Young or old, music major or tone deaf, it matters not - just
let us know what you'd love to sing in church. Leave your list
on the receptionist's desk in the Parish Office, or send an email
to praymond@stmichaelsbarrington.org,
and come on "Favorite Hymns Sundays" prepared to make
joyful noises unto the Lord!
Around
the Neighborhood
Episcopal
Relief & Development responds to midwest flood victims
 The
devastating floodwaters that have overwhelmed Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin
and neighboring states are now heading south, threatening communities
all along the Mississippi River. Episcopal Relief & Development
needs your help to respond to this growing emergency.
There are
no words to convey the extent of the damage we have seen. Entire
towns in the Midwest have been submerged. Homes have been swept
away. Sewage systems have overflowed. Hospitals, churches, workplaces
— in many places, the entire infrastructure of life —
are filled with mud and muck under floodwaters that rise as high
as 30 feet and are contaminated with pollutants. Churches
up and down the Mississippi River valley are shouldering a special
— and nearly unbearable — burden. Many of their own
buildings have been destroyed at the very moment those within
their communities are turning to them for help.
Episcopal
Relief & Development has launched a Midwest Flood Fund to
respond to requests from churches in flood-stricken communities.
We are helping to restock food pantries, ensure access to clean
water, and provide rent assistance to the newly homeless and jobless.
For more information or to donate, visit www.er-d.org
or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129.
Lori Pepper
raising funds for "Small Miracles"
This spring
and summer St. Michael's parishioner Lori Pepper and the staff
at deLacey Family Education Center in Carpentersville have been
active raising funds in support of Bear Necessities Pediatric
Cancer Foundation. The organization is named after Barrett "Bear"
Krupa who attended Eastview School in Algonquin before losing
his fight to cancer at age 8. District 300 began a fundraising
campaign in April to support Bear Necessities "Small Miracles"
program to aid families touched by cancer and fund research to
battle the disease. The project will be capped off by a 5K/10K
at Eastview School on October 5. To donate or to find out more,
visit Lori's page at http://www.active.com/donate/d300wave/loripepper.
In
the Parish Family
Ellen Lindeen
receives grant to study Ghandi
Ellen Lindeen,
assistant professor of English at Waubonsee Community College,
will spend more than five weeks in India this summer as part of
a scholarly trip called "In Search of Gandhi's India: Teaching
and Learning Non-Violence in a Globalized World." The trip
is being funded by a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad Grant.
She will
travel throughout India, visiting all the key sites in Gandhi's
life, including where he was born, where he ended his salt march
against British taxes, and where he was assassinated. She plans
on using the knowledge she gains on her journey to help create
Waubonsee's first "Introduction to Peace Studies" course
in the spring 2009 semester. Ellen
departs on June 28 and will return on August 5.
New Citizen
Maggie Killick,
who is beginning her sixth year at St. Michael’s as a teacher
in the preschool, recently took her U.S. citizenship test. Maggie
came to America in 1999 from Wembley, England. Both Maggie and
her son, Aiden, passed the citizenship exam on Thursday, June
19, and will be sworn in as U.S. citizens sometime this summer.
Aiden
is 18 years old and just graduated from Barrington High School.
Preschool Director Elaine Quinn says, "Maggie is a very valuable
and integral part of the preschool staff who brings a different
perspective and cultural diversity to the program." (They
also love her British accent!) Congratulations to Maggie and Aiden!
Births
Steve and
Sue Barnum are grandparents for the second time to Cooper Jeffrey
Barnum, born June 5. Cooper is the son of Jeff and Jill Barnum
and weighed 9 lbs., 7 ozs. and was 22 inches at birth. Cooper
is the new brother of Brogan.
Clark and
Sue Beverly are the grandparents of a new grandson, George Jackson
Summerfield, born June 19. George is the son of Brian and Tina
Beverly Summerfield and weighed 8 lbs., 15 ozs. and was 22 inches
at birth.
Illness
Kevin Callahan
continues to battle cancer and returned to the hospital on June
21. Friends have requested that cards be sent to him at his home
at 1165 Patten Drive, Palatine, IL 60074. Please keep Kevin and
Marti in your prayers.
Those for
whom prayers have been requested
Joe, Emma,
Kevin, Krista, Mary, Brad, Mary, Patrick, Carol, Helen, William,
Wilbert, Jimmy, Frank, Jacque, Dolores, Nancy, Wauconda-Island
Lake Food Pantry, Greg & Family, Deirdre, Joanne, Barrington
High School Choir, Michael, Suzanne, Mary Beth, Kevin & Marti,
Karin, Ellen, John, military troops in danger, Amy, Kate
Anniversaries
This Week
Birthdays
- 6.28 Kristin
Knobe, Kasey Boetsch, Mary Schwind
- 6.29 Vicki
Schnure, Matthew Gonzalez, Jonathan Kampert, Jason Welsh
- 6.30 Bill
Ferry, Stuart Taylor, Janette Warner, Marty Guthrie, Anna Montgomery,
Arianna Scotti, Samuel Szarzynski, Jackson Watkins, Jack Eissler
- 7.1 Meredith
Young, Sean Nicol, Kalena Keclik, Maesyn Poidomani
- 7.2 Marianne
Anderson, Alexander Maraval, Jennifer Seyffert, Mason Guthrie
- 7.3 Ann
Daly, Leslie Yerger, Lance Hodgett, Lyle Kean
- 7.4 Ralph
Holvay, Michelle Smith, Rick Hardy
- 7.5 Saraid
Racicot
- 7.6 Jean
Cummings, Josh Arms, Kevin Kasper, Marija Waller
- 7.7 Ellen
Parr
- 7.8 Richard
Kraus, Jeffrey Anetsberger, Todd Ross
- 7.10 Bryan
Stallard, Barbara Papamarcos, Jennifer Belden, Alma Brooks
Anniversaries
- 6.29 Fran
& Bill Collins, Kim & Dick Garrity, Nancy & John
Daigler
- 7.3 Lindsay
& Rick Hardy
- 7.7 Joyce
& Timothy Cannon
- 7.8 Nancy
& James Carney
- 7.9 Karin
& Patrick Harrigan, Diane & Paul Clancy, Lynda &
Patrick Breisemeister
- 7.10 Kathi
& Dean Frelk
- 7.11 Laura
& Jack Dern, Valerie & John Baartz
Deaths
- 6.28 Marjorie
Hussey
- 6.29 Sarah
Rowe
- 7.4 Ned
Dally
- 7.5 Clark
Beverly, Sr.
- 7.7 Antoinette
Schirmer
- 7.8 George
Morgan
- 7.9 Edward
Dart, Helene Herrim
|
|
