Parish Newsletter – September 2021
NEWSLETTER THOUGHTS FROM FATHER DUANE . . . The psalmist declares, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity” (Psalm 133:1). Unity or not, I get the strong sense from our congregation that they would just like to get back to living together normally. The virus continues to wear on us daily, driving its wedge more deeply between us.
We long for, we pray for human contact – a mask less smile, a gentle, loving touch or a hug even.. What then to do? Continue to pray of course. More good is accomplished by prayer than without it, certainly. But please let’s all continue to reach out to one another in ways we safely can. Give a call. Check in. Write an email. Write a letter even. (Let’s not make this a lost art.) Express your concerns, your love, your encouragement and our prayers. Pray together by phone. And then cherish every contact you can give or receive. With gratitude and grace God’s Spirit leads us through. We will make it to the other side, and our lives richer together than we’ve felt our isolation apart. Amen!
JR. WARDEN INFO: Cheri reports she continues to seek estimates on landscaping services, to mow, blow leaves and keep our parking lot clean. If anyone has a recommendation please contact Cheri Ratay at cdr14@comcast.net . We also need to have some roofing adapted to better fit our gutters so that we do not get trapped leaves filling the gutters and causing backflow damage. The Garden Group will be preparing plants for the Fall and Winter to support our plant varieties in anticipation of spring emergence. A booklet is being created to identify our garden areas. There are many stories in our garden so we hope to share them with you.
TREASURERS INFO: Patti Case reports – St. David’s is like most churches. We don’t like to talk about finances, it’s sort of the “dirty underbelly” of the church and we’d rather talk about liturgy and sermons and dare I suggest? – coffee hour.
Fact is, it takes money to run a church. At St. David’s we spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $9000 a month keeping the heat on, the lights on, the priest and the musician and the sexton (that’s custodian in English) employed. Over the years, we’ve scrubbed and scrubbed to get that figure.
It also takes financial acumen, and Laurie McClanahan has done yeoman’s work as a volunteer bookkeeper/accountant/treasurer for many years. She is ready to move on, and we are looking for expertise to fill that total role. For those who haven’t heard, I hope I am not telling tales out of school when I share that Laurie’s building a hoop house at her home that will allow her to supply beautiful blooms nearly year-round. I’m sure that St. David’s will continue to benefit from Laurie’s amazing creations featuring God’s handiwork and her nurturing.
In the meantime, I have volunteered to step into the role of Treasurer. That is a volunteer job that holds responsibility for reporting our financial position to the Vestry. I did not volunteer as St. David’s bookkeeper. Just to be clear, I know how to read a financial statement with the best of them – my daddy the accountant taught me well – but writing one is another level entirely. We are not in this alone, Laurie is assisting when she can and we have been promised help from the diocese in sorting out our financial picture. The Vestry will hear more about this assistance when Reverend Arienne Davison, Canon to the Ordinary, visits on September 12.
If you have ideas, please give me a call or drop me an email. I welcome feedback as well as your patience during this transition.
PRAYER LIST… One of the gifts of our worship is the listing of our loved one’s names during the Prayers of the People each week. If there is someone you would like us to pray for, please email both Fr. Duane (djfister@email.com) and Cathy Warner (cathy@cathywarner.com) who will add their names to the bulletin. Please remember to notify them when the prayer need has changed so names can be removed when appropriate.
Here is our current list: Shawn, Mike & Judy, Doug, Barrett, Janet, Greg, Dave, David, Ann, Robin, Betty, Margaret, Jonathan & Christina, Sue, Jesse, Don, Kayla & Ryan, Anthony, Kurt & family, Suzy, Rogan & his family, Aimee, Kate and Myrna… Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
It helps our leadership to know who those names “belong to,” and there is a number of names on the list that we haven’t been able to identify, noted in italics above. If you know anything about them, please contact Fr. Duane and Cathy at the email addresses above.
SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS . . . Pat Honeysuckle, 9/7; Machel Ledford, 9/13; Robyn Dassel Peterson, 9/17; Dave Bayley 9/29 and Fr. Duane, 9/30 . . . Happy Birthday to all, enjoy your day, many happy returns!
SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS . . .
- Pat Honeysuckle, 9/7;
- Machel Ledford, 9/13;
- Robyn Dassel Peterson, 9/17;
- Dave Bayley, 9/29; and
- Fr. Duane, 9/30.
Happy Birthday to all, enjoy your day, many happy returns!
DATES TO REMEMBER. . .
September 1, at 10:30 am
VESTRY MEETING – Church Music Room.
September 5, 12, 19, 26, at 10:30 am
Worship Service at St. David’s and Live Streaming on YouTube.
September 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, from 10:00 am – Noon
Sit and Pray – Come when you can, stay as long as you like!
September 12, at 11:45 am
VESTRY MEETING – following Worship
