June 2014

ST. PAUL’S EPISTLE 250 Hwy 2 NE • P.O. Box 1225 • Corinth, MS 38835 • 662-286-2922

In this Issue

Church Family Life, p. 2

Happy Birthday/Anniversary! p. 2

New time for chair yoga, p.2

Outreach news & volunteer projects in June, p.2

St. Paul’s publishes new Directory, p. 3

Calendar, p. 3

CBG Civil Rights Pioneer Camp June 9-16, p. 3

Gray Center Semi-nar: Demystifying the “E” Word, p. 3

Treasurer’s Report, p. 4

Giving away good In our community, churchgoing is the norm. Some research indicates nearly 73% of the population is affiliated with a religious congregation (compared to 50% nationally).1 This is a dif-ferent figure than those who profess to be religious in the abstract, which is a higher number; this statistic is about people who are involved with a congregation. So who needs St. Paul's? We’re a small church in an overwhelm-ingly churched area. Many people in your social circles are—statistically speaking, anyway—likely to be affiliated with a congregation. And yet one quarter or more of the population does not have a faith community to support them in times of trial; to share joy; to practice seeing for God’s grace; to know the love of God and neighbor; to recognize the parts of one’s life and self that needs to die to be transformed by God’s grace so that life may be lived abundantly. So many of you have said to me that you found The Episcopal Church, in general, or St. Paul's, in particular, because you needed to hear that God loved you. You did not want to be scared into salvation, but invited into a loving relationship with God and neighbor. There are too many people who do not believe themselves to be loved by God, and have not experienced enough love by family or others to outweigh the hard knocks life has dealt them. Friends, we have good news to share. The gospel teaches us to love because we have been loved. We are called to share with others the truth of “what God believes” about each of us, to borrow from Bishop Alexander. God believes every one of us is worthy of love. In August, the Rev. Canon David Johnson will be in Corinth to continue a Mutual Ministry Review process with the vestry. It is designed to help priest and vestry think, pray, and act to-gether on the direction of the ministry of St. Paul's. What are our challenges? Where are we re-ceptive to the Holy Spirit working through us? What needs our attention? My prayer is that we will find ourselves prepared to share the good news of God’s love with a community that needs

to experience it. Ann+ 1 www.city-data.com. June 2014. Numbers relate to Corinth, MS, although the St. Paul's community includes much more!

Where’s the fire? At St. Paul’s

Pentecost Picnic!

Join us June 8 for our Pentecost Sunday service, followed by a picnic for

church family and friends. Grills will be fired up for hamburgers and hot-

dogs. Please bring a potluck side dish or dessert. Enjoy food, fun and

games outdoors, weather permitting, with indoor seating available. Bring

chairs or a blanket and wear red!

I used to believe that the important thing was what I believed

about God. I have discovered

the really important thing is what God

believes about me. –The Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander

in This Far By Grace.

2

Church Family Life News and notes about our parish family

Emma Hughes is a graduate too! She leaves behind Ramer to head to McNairy High School as a freshman in the fall. Emma was recognized for achieving the highest GPA in Social Studies, and was asked to lead the school pledge at the 8th grade graduation ceremony. Callie Emmons is nearing the end of her 6 weeks of IV antibiot-ics for a systemic infection. She is eager to recover so she can have her double knee replacement, which had been postponed due to infection. Recent symptoms Darrell Davis has experienced have been diagnosed as TIAs. Sarah Bullard is recovering well after returning home from the hospital where she fought off a second infec-tion and had a drainage device replaced. She plans to spend part of the summer in Oxford, MS. Sherry Smith is awaiting follow-up check with her cardiologist after tem-porary removal of her pacemaker, and then will receive a schedule for radiation to begin. The present thought is that 5-6 weeks of daily radiation will be the course, with scans to follow and determine whether chemotherapy will be called for. Seen on stage for the Corinth Theatre-Arts production of Big River: Jan Soltz, Cody Daniel, Jake Pearson, David Soltz, Will Senf, and Gail Vaughn (on guitar).

Happy Birthday! Suzanne Hedges, 6/8; Susan Adams 6/15; Bill Senf, 6/16; Roy Norman, 6/17; Sherry Smith, 6/20; Chris Thompson, 6/25.

Happy Anniversary! Beth and Scott Bauer, 6/2; April and David Dierks, 6/15.

Is your special day missing? To add your birthday, anniversary, or news, please call or email the church of-fice at stpaulscorinth@gmail.com.

You make outreach happen!

Several members of St. Paul's were in Tupelo on May 10 to pitch in with the cleanup efforts coordinated by All Saints’. (Word on the street is that the Corinth folks were great workers!). Half of May’s Outreach Sunday collection will go to the Diocesan Disaster Re-lief Fund. The Rev. Paul Stephens of All Saints’ thanked the St. Paul's workers who came, and encouraged us to come again.

Plans are underway for a St. Paul's-sponsored night at the Laundromat. Inspired by an Episcopal ministry in California, the idea is to put together a night in which persons can come to the Laundromat to wash “on us.” The nature of laundry—that one has to wait for it—provides us with a unique opportunity to talk with the persons who come in to wash. How can you help? Would you like to join in the planning conversation, including input from Michael Pratt, owner of the coop-erating Laundromat? We’ll work out logistics and the shape of this ministry.

St. Paul's is providing lunch for 25 folks at Sharing Hearts Alzheimer day care ministry on June 3. Thanks to all who signed up to participate!

Thank you for supporting the Honduras Medical Mission drive with your donations of:

20 boxes Aleve 24 bottles Tums 17 Pepto Bismol 5 kid’s Benadryl 6 hydrocortisone 25 eye drops 8 children’s acetaminophen 13 triple antibiotic ointment Assorted bandages, dental care, and wet wipes

Every family who comes through the clinic will receive a pack of household medicines. Thank you!

Weekly Chair Yoga Now 10am on Thursdays

Come try out one of St. Paul's newest offerings, a weekly yoga class geared to-ward seniors and open to all. Exercises are done in a seated position, and participants have noted gains in flexibility, strength, and overall feelings of well-being. Several community members have joined, making this a wonderful way to invite someone to church! Karen Beth Martin leads the exer-cises in the fellowship hall each week. The class now meets at 10am (note earlier time). Suggested donation is $5.

3 Sharing Hearts Lunch by St. Paul's 5 Pastoral Care Meeting, 2pm 8 Pentecost & Parish Picnic 16 Vestry Meeting, 6pm 19 Mission Mississippi, Martha’s Menu, 11:30am 29 Outreach Sunday 29 Pop-Up Book Club discussion

3

June

Camp Bratton-Green Civil Rights Pioneer Camp June 9-16

‘ $400 - Scholarships available We will be visiting cities and towns such as Oxford, McComb, Greenwood, Sumner, Money, Jackson, and ending with the Freedom Summer celebration in Philadelphia. We will be staying at local churches in each city and be trav-eling by bus and van. This is a amazing opportunity to delve deeper into the history of Mississippi and to take a role in the future to come. In the words of Bishop Gray, “This summer, 2014, we are look-ing at the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer. A time when ide-alistic young people came to this state willing to risk their lives for something they passionately believed in. Three of them – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner – did, indeed, make the ultimate sacrifice. Camp Bratton-Green program will be expanding to offer a new pioneer session we are calling our Pio-neer Civil Rights Session. This camp session will tour the state, stopping at significant sites in our state’s civil rights history and staying in local churches. They will learn the story of our people and those who came among us that we labeled ‘outside agitators’ who called out of us both the good, the bad, and the ugly.” “Underlying this week long camp will be the question we will pose to our young people: 50 years ago young people, many of them motivated by deep religious faith, risked their lives for something they believed in. For what, in Christ's name, are you willing to sacrifice, for even to the point of risking your life?”

To register visit graycenter.org. For questions email abram@graycenter.org.

Giving Church Another Chance Demystifying the “E” word

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew presents a one-day seminar with Dr. Todd D. Hunter June 9 at Gray Center. An author and Bishop in the Anglican Church, Dr. Hunter has traveled the Chris-tian church, fought through his own disillusionment and come out the other side with a blazing hope and love for the church. He will address the dismal statistics about the dwindling church and offer a solution to the church wondering: “How we can talk to outsiders at the point? Is the relationship between the church and the world so strained as to be hopelessly broken?” In this seminar he will help us understand this reality more deeply and how we can gain confidence in the Gos-pel and in liturgical and sacramental approaches to evangelism (that “E” word!) and discipleship. Registration starts at 7:30am, Eucharist at 8, seminar 9-4. For more information, visit the diocesan website or contact Bro. James Blauvelt at 601-766-5324 or BrAthanasius@yahoo.com.

Pop-Up Book Club to meet in June

Pick up a copy of Barbara Brown Taylor’s new book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, and plan to join others in a discussion at the end of the month. What’s a pop-up book club, you ask? One without an on-going commitment. If something “pops up” that looks worthy of dis-cussion, we’ll read it and gather to talk about it. Mark your calendar for the evening of Sunday, June 29. See you there!

2014 Directory Published in June

The latest edition of St. Paul’s Directory is available now! The new directory includes updated pictures and contact information for our parish family and friends. If you have not already picked up a copy for your family, be sure to get one when you’re here for the Pentecost service and picnic. Thanks to Beth Bauer for all the time she invested in this project, including finding new software and collect-ing and manually entering everyone’s contact informa-tion. Susan Adams took pictures for the new directory during after-church photo sessions earlier this year. Eventually, the directory will be available online for St. Paul’s members who log in with a password. Stay tuned for more information on how to access the direc-tory from your smartphone or computer.

Communion bread bakers

Thank you to Debby Orr who baked bread for May. Scott Bauer will be baking for us in June.

St. Paul's Church P.O. Box 1225 Corinth, MS 38835

Are you receiving St. Paul’s Weekly E-News? To subscribe, please email stpaulscorinth@gmail.com.

If you cannot get to church and would like to receive Holy Communion or a visit at your home or the hospital, please call the church at 286-2922.

Did you miss a Sunday? Sermons are posted on our website when available. Listen to the audio files at: www.stpaulscorinth.dioms.org/worship/sermons.html

Have you liked St. Paul's on Facebook yet?

Contact Information: (662) 286-2922 (Mon-Thurs) stpaulscorinth@gmail.com www.stpaulscorinth.dioms.org

Deadline: Please send your newsletter submission by the 21st of each month.

April Treasurer’s Report

Operating Fund Month YTD 2014 Budget Pledges 8,120 53,458 135,912 Plate 1,237 2,953 10,000

Building Fund

Building Fund Balance 33,026 Mortgage Balance 31,293

Thank you for keeping your pledge up to date.

Your generosity is an investment in our ministry and fellowship together in Christ’s name!

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Sunday Schedule: 9:30 Holy Eucharist Nursery available 9:15-12:00 The Rector and Vestry: The Rev. Ann Benton Fraser, Rector Beth Bauer, Senior Warden Cynthia Harrell, Junior Warden Tom Soltz, Treasurer Susan Adams, Clerk Barbara Barrett Jake Bland Dana Bullard Francis Criss Darrell Davis Kari Hughes Karen Lee

Do you receive The Missis-sippi Episcopalian? If you would like a subscription to the Mississippi Episcopalian, the monthly newspaper of the Diocese of MS, please let the church office know.

Redeemer of life and all that is in the

past, may our lives reflect Your love

and healing grace.

—Prayer written by

Callie Emmons