eConnections - September 30, 2023

eConnections
Notes & News from the Cathedral of Saint James
September 30, 2023

In this Week's eConnections:

Watch for a special Dean's List edition of eConnections next week in which I will outline much of the work the Chapter has been doing over the summer. In the meantime, lots of programming is about to resume following our summer hiatus. See what's happening below!

  • The Dean's List

  • Sunday Intergenerational Formation

  • Ecumenical Bible Study

  • Olori Professor Omotayo Olutoye Memorial

  • DoK Fall Assembly

  • Daughters of the King Christmas Outreach Project

  • Cathedral Calendar

  • Making Sunday Worship Happen: Volunteers for this Sunday

  • For Your Prayers


The Dean's List

A Ladder Day Saint
I was in Rochester, Indiana, this past Thursday at my regular monthly meeting with a group of Episcopal clergy colleagues when my wife, Tamisyn, called saying she had fallen from a step ladder while painting and that she had definitely broken her wrist, and maybe more. She was right: x-rays confirmed fractures to both the radius and ulna in her right (dominant) arm at the wrist and her right calcaneus (heel bone). After undergoing a procedure to reduce the fracture in her wrist, we were sent home. Fortunately, following my mother-in-law's June visit, her travel wheelchair was being stored in our garage, so Tim Gray and I were able to get her from the car into the house after being discharged from Memorial Hospital's ER. Because Tamisyn cannot neither bear weight on her right foot nor use her right arm, her mobility, for the moment, depends entirely upon me. We have some figuring out to do about that. 

Before that, though, there will be surgery. Yesterday, the orthopedic surgeon showed us just how much of a jumble her wrist is, recommending surgery next week. Her heel may require surgery as well, but the surgeon will make that call after she is sedated and they can take more accurate x-rays. If her heel also requires surgery, they will do both her heel and her wrist at the same time. In either case, the non-weight-bearing recovery period will be at least eight weeks.

In the short term, I am working from home as much as possible until we get the post-surgical lay of the land. Kids Thaddeus & Alison and Rose were home this afternoon cooking, cleaning, and conversing, which allowed me to go to the Cathedral to celebrate the wedding of the wonderful Chau-Ly Phan and Matthew Diehl. Bishop Frank Gray graciously covered yesterday's Noon Eucharist, and Canon Terri Bays will be at the Cathedral on tomorrow morning for both the 8 am and 10:30 am services. Kirk Philippsen gets a shout out for driving to Claypool, IN to pick-up portable ramps from our beloved friends Bill & Cindy Wandland and for helping construct a platform to tie everything together to make our front door wheelchair accessible.

Tamisyn and I are both extraordinarily grateful for the prayers, well wishes, and offers of help from so many within and beyond the Cathedral community. We are still in the "what needs to happen next" phase of crisis management, but will soon have a clearer idea of what will be helpful to us through her recovery. I believe a meal train is being set up, but when that may begin will depend on the surgery date, which we don't yet know. 

Thank you for everything.

Blessings,
Brian


Upcoming Events

Sunday Intergenerational Formation
9:15 am in the Butterfly Garden
(on an absolutely beautiful autumn Sunday morning!)

We have a new saint in the garden! St. Abigail, patron saint of bees and beekeepers, is holding a native bee house like the ones we will be building in Sunday school this week. She is surrounded by new plugs of bee friendly native plants that should look great NEXT fall-- whorled milkweed, purple prairie clover, prairie smoke, sky blue aster, grass leaved goldenrod, Little Lemon goldenrod, and sweet Joe Pye weed. For the time being, the bees are happily making do with the late boneset and Michelmas daisies.

Daughters of the King
Christmas Outreach Project

Since 1898, volunteers of the Seamen’s Church Institute have knitted, collected, packed, and distributed gifts to mariners who were miles away from home during the holidays. Today, for seafarers calling on the Port Newark and Elizabeth in New Jersey, the gift consists of two hand-knitted garments, a Christmas card, and information on SCI’s services for mariners along with toiletries like hand lotion, lip balm, and toothbrushes, and individually-packaged candy or snacks. The items for the seafarers’ gifts are housed in an individual hand-sewn ditty bag, and they are delivered to the ships by SCI chaplains from the Monday before Thanksgiving through Epiphany on January 6. Mariners working on U.S. inland rivers receive a box for each boat containing handmade Christmas cards and a knit for each mariner.

Items for the contents for Christmas at Sea Ditty Bags 

“Seafarers each receive a hand-sewn ditty bag housing two handmade knit gifts and a signed  Christmas card, along with an assortment of donated toiletries, fun games, and individually packaged  snacks or candy. If the needleworker includes a note with their knit gift, that would also be packed  with the knits. These items go fast when we are packing. Travel or sample size donations of  new products are greatly appreciated!” - Christmas at Sea

 Toothbrushes and travel-sized tubes of toothpaste
 Deodorant (unscented)
 Unscented hand lotion (4 oz bottles)
 Shampoo
 Conditioner
 Body wash
 Individually packaged non-perishable candy and snacks like granola bars
 Books or activities like Sudoku, word searches, or playing cards
 Facial tissue
 Microwave popcorn
 Pouches of hot chocolate mix
 Chewing gum
 Christmas cards

Captain Stephen Harris’ Christmas at Sea story
 

Captain Stephen Harris’ Christmas at Sea story is representative of what we hear over and over from mariners and seafarers. Both of his children were young. At age two, his daughter was anticipating Christmas for the first time and was excited about opening presents. Captain Harris had already missed his son’s eighth birthday party on December 15, and would still be working on the boat during his wife’s birthday on December 29.

“Anybody who hasn’t been home during the holidays knows what it is like when you have kids. I went to a really dark place. I started wondering if I was just selling my time. Was I carelessly relinquishing time with my family, something that is so sacred and precious to me? Facetime and talking on the phone weren’t doing the job,” says Capt. Harris. “However, as Captain, I am responsible for the morale on the boat. There was no one on the boat to confide in without jeopardizing morale.

The good part of working on the water when you are on for 28 days and then have 14 days home is that home becomes a vacation. Every homecoming is a party and a  honeymoon rolled into one. But I wasn’t thinking about that my first year as Captain. I just wanted to be with my family, and I felt so disconnected from them.”

For the sake of his crew, Captain Harris adopted a festive appearance when the CAS (Christmas at Sea) packages arrived. He ceremoniously read the Christmas cards in the care package aloud to the group while donning a CAS hat and scarf with a candy cane in his mouth. By the third name in the cards, he was puzzled at the coincidence. By the fifth name, he realized it wasn’t a coincidence. “My son’s second-grade class had made those Christmas cards for mariners and put them in the box not knowing their destination. The experience of discovering that the cards were from my son and his class is something that will stay with me forever.”

Years later, Captain Harris still remembers his hat from the box. It was a two-toned purple cap. “That beanie became part of my uniform on the boat. I wore it every day until spring arrived!”


Cathedral Calendar

This Week at CSJ

Sunday, October 1
The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
  Year A, Proper 21, Track 2
8:00 am  Holy Eucharist: Rite One
9:15 am Intergenerational Formation
10:30 am  Holy Eucharist: Rite Two
11:45 am  Hospitality
12:00 pm  Youth Group

Monday, October 2
Administrative Offices Closed
No Events Scheduled

Tuesday, October 3
Administrative Offices: 9 am - 1:30 pm
No Events Scheduled

Wednesday, October 4
Administrative Offices: 9 am - 1:30 pm
9:30 am  Raising Cane Bible Study
  Call (425) 436-6335; Access Code 782266
7:00 pm  Cathedral Choir Rehearsal

Thursday, October 5
Administrative Offices: 9 am - 1:30 pm
No Events Scheduled

Friday, October 6
Administrative Offices: 9 am - 1:30 pm
12:05 pm  Holy Eucharist

Saturday, October 7
No Events Scheduled

Sunday, October 8
The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
  Year A, Proper 22, Track 2
8:00 am  Holy Eucharist: Rite One
9:15 am Christian Formation

 - Growing in Our Worship

 - Storymakers

 - Adult Forum

10:30 am  Holy Eucharist: Rite Two
11:45 am  Hospitality
12:00 pm  Youth Group
12:30 pm Ecumenical Bible Study

Looking Ahead

Thursday, October 12
Julian Reflection Group

Thursday, October 26
Julian Reflection Group
Dining Out Group


Making Sunday Worship Happen

Sunday, October 1
The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Year A, Proper 21 Track Two

8:00 am  Lector  Jane Hunter
8:00 am  Eucharistic Minister  Volunteer Needed

10:30 am Lectors  Christopher Hillak & Stephen Drendall
10:30 am Server  Volunteer Needed
10:30 am Eucharistic Ministers  Bunmi Okanlami & Cherry Radin
10:30 am Ushers  Kay & Reg Klopfenstein
10:30 am Hospitality  Rhonda Culbertson

Counters: Wednesday, October 4: Nan Noecker & Rick Hilliard
Folder: Friday, October 6: Shela Raman McCabe

Flowers: The flowers adorning the altar this Sunday are given by Sue Lowe in loving memory of her husband, Harold Lowe.
   
Volunteers Needed

Sunday, October 8
8:00 am  Lay Minister
10:30 am Usher

Sunday, October 15
8:00 am Lector
8:00 am Lay Minister


For Your Prayers

  • For Tamisyn Grantz.

  • For the repose of the soul of Milo Wietstock, father of Dr. Steven Wietstock.

  • For the repose of the soul of Mary Evelyn Burman, sister of Tom Burman. 

  • For Connor Gibbons

  • For Olivia, who has leukemia, and her family.

  • For Sheila & family.

  • For Amber.

  • For the repose of the soul of Omotayo Olutoye, mother of Bunmi Okanlami. 

  • For Sandy.

  • For John G.

  • For Dede.

  • For John Monroe, brother of Sue Fain.

  • For Pat, who is working in California until November, and Shela.

  • Caitlin H.

  • Steve B.

  • Cherryl Andries.

  • The LaFiero family.

  • Sharron McGowan.

  • Kara.

  • Bernard.

  • Rhonda.

  • Tammy, daughter of Tony Molnar.

  • Alan Thompson.

  • Peju, Bunmi, and the Okanlami family.

  • Gussie Wietstock, mother of Steve Wietstock.

  • Mike Jaworski, and Lisa.

  • Marilyn Klopfenstein.

  • Tony Molnar.

  • Dan & Gail Mandell.

  • Russell Cartwright.

  • Ron Gunn.

  • Cobie.

  • Alissa Broussara.

  • Nan Noecker as she continues her diaconal formation.

  • Becky Ballentine; Jo Dorsch; Sharron McGowan; Joyce Marchant; Dave & Alice Miller; Fr. Paul Tracy; Ginger & Richard Bitner.

  • Al Caparell; Tony Lemna; Mike; Denise & Demetrius.

  • Congratulations, Prayers, and Best Wishes to Matthew Diehl & Chau-ly Phan who were married at the Cathedral on Saturday, September 30. 

  • For those awaiting the birth or adoption of a child: Christopher & Andrew Hillak.

Joe Anand-Obleton