Chatham Interfaith Church Women's luncheon

Chatham Interfaith Church Women's annual salad luncheon will be held at 11:30 on Friday, October 2nd at St.Patrick's Roman Catholic Church. See Ann Bennett for reservations.

The Clothing of a Novice

On Saturday, August 08, 2009, Bill Shatzabel, a member of St. Paul's, was clothed as a novice in the Anamchara Fellowship.

Read all about it

Learning Through "EfM"

By Rosemary Wright

For the last several years I've been participating in an amazing program called Education for Ministry or "EfM." Every fall there's an opportunity for new people to join this life-changing program, and we would love to you join our adventure into deeper faith.

Wait. MINISTRY? Is Rosemary looking to be ordained? Put your mind at ease, and let me tell you about the program. It's NOT what the name suggests to some: preparation for becoming an ordained deacon or priest. EfM is, rather, a lay seminar of 6-12 people in which participants study, discuss, and examine the essential questions of life and religion in order to better understand and live out our faith.

EfM was developed by Sewanee University's seminary faculty. It covers "the basics of a theological education" in four one-year segments on, respectively, the Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, and Theological Issues and Philosophy in today's world.

How much time and how much money are required? We sign up for one year at a time. Excluding the summer months, we meet once a week for 3 hours, for which we prepare an additional 2-4 hours. The fee is $340 per year, which pays for our study materials.

What do we get out of it? Once a week we have the privilege of meeting with a small group of people, with whom we have formed a community in the most profound sense of the word.

We read (over two years) a large part of the Bible, which we take seriously, but in historical and social context. We compare notes from our particular year's readings, because all four years meet together. It's one thing to "learn" something, but we really "get it" when we help others understand a passage or an issue.

We also take turns bringing in topics on which we "theologically reflect." We discuss just about anything, from personal experience to current social norms to particular scripture to medieval art to current movies, drawing out what the topic at hand means to us as Christians.

We're always open to all points of view-faith and doubt, traditional and unconventional thought and feelings. We worship. We talk. We laugh. We cry. We eat. We meet in a beautiful setting. We miss our gatherings only for dire reasons, because the group has become so important to us.

The group to which I belong meets on Thursday mornings at the Convent of St. John the Baptist in Mendham. Our excellent and thought-provoking leader is Mark Waldon, rector of Christ Church, Totowa. Mark also guides another group which meets on Monday evenings in Totowa. Both seminars welcome a few new members every fall, as the fourth-year participants graduate.

If this sounds like something you'd like to explore, please check out the website (http://www.sewanee.edu/EFM/index.htm) and contact Mark Waldon (mark.efm@verizon.net ; 973/595-0349). If you call before August, you can sit in on an Aug. 6 sample session before signing up. Please consider joining us in this great adventure!

General Convention

Some of you will want to know where to get information about General Convention as it meets in Anaheim, July 8-18.

The following will give you a balance of perspectives:

• Episcopal LIfe Online - The 'official' source for news http://ecusa.anglican.org/episcopal_life.htm (Check out the series of bulletin inserts)
• Anglicans Online - http://anglicansonline.org/ a good place for balanced news from around the communion
• Episcopal Cafe - http://episcopalcafe.com/ -- Progressive (with liberal tendencies)
  The Living Church http://www.livingchurch.org/ - Conservative (with 'orthodox' tendencies)
• Center Aisle - from the Diocese of Virginia http://www.centeraisle.net/ Moderate voices in the church (Although they can sound pretty conservative. It's all relative, isn't it?)
  Issues - from The Consultation, a social justice coalition http://www.theconsultation.org/, progressive to unapologetically feisty liberal. (AKA "What's left of the Left.")
• Titus One Nine -- conservative to unapologetically uber orthodox http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/

There are many, many other sites and blogs to visit, including that of our own Bishop (http://forgatesofhope.blogspot.com/ ), as well as FaceBook sites, but this will keep you busy enough. You'll find links on many of these sites to other blogs on various places on the political spectrum.

Please keep our deputation and bishop and all who are attending General Convention in various capacities in your prayers.

St. Paul's 2009 Mission Trip

We ask for your prayers this week for all the participants in our 2009 Mission Trip to Oak Hill, WV (June 28-July 4, 2009).

Also, you can send notes of encouragement & support to our youth when they're on the mission trip. I'm sure they will love to get these little notes from you when they get back from a long hard day of work. Its simple, here's how it works:

1) Click on the link: http://www.groupworkcamps.com/Workcamps/Pages/EmailaCamper.aspx
2) Select a camp...Oak Hill, WV
3) Fill in the camper's name
4) Fill in who its from
5) Type your message
6) Hit the SUBMIT button

Messages will be posted on the bulletin board daily after they return from the worksite.

Mark Your Calendars

Sunday, August 2 will be Tim’s last Sunday with us before he leaves for a year to teach Conversational English at the University of Bejing. Plan to join us for his commissioning and a festive farewell.

Ordination to the Deaconate

Ordination to the Deaconate - June 6, 2009. Click on the link below to see photos of Jon Richardson and Sr Shane's ordination.
http://www.sharonsheridan.com/deacons.htm