ST. TIMOTHY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
www.sttimothy.indydio.org
Sunday
Service Time
Holy Eucharist
Coffee Hour follows the service
We are now e-mailing our newsletter. If you would like to receive the newsletter via
e-mail, please let Sandee
know by putting a note in her mail slot or calling
her (783-2566) and giving her your e-mail address. We will
continue to use regular mail for those who do not have
e-mail. No need to call if your e-mail
address is in the
church directory.
ST.
TIMOTHY’S TIMES
Rev.
Kirsteen Wilkinson, Vicar Mrs. Carolyn Williams, Altar Guild
Mr. Ed Champa, Sr.
Warden Mr. Chuck Nemeth, Treasurer
Mrs. Sheryl Otter, Jr. Warden Mr. Jim Herre, Organist/Choirmaster
The Rev.
Donna Olsen, Deacon Mrs. Sandee Norcross, Secretary
Mr. Hal
Olsen, Pledge Clerk Mr. & Mrs. Bill Hess, Custodians
LENT
As early as the mid-fourth century,
Christians have observed a time of preparation before the Easter celebration.
The Lenten season begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for 40 days. The forty days
of Lent recall the 40-day fast of Jesus in the wilderness after his baptism
(Matthew 4:2, Luke 4:1-2) and Moses' 40-day fast on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28).
It is a time of simplicity and preparation.
Today, Lent is marked by a time of prayer
and preparation to celebrate Easter. Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection
of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the
40 days of Lent, and are referred to as the Sundays in Lent. Christians
today use this period of time for introspection, self examination, and
repentance. This season of the year is equal only to the
Season of Advent in importance in the Christian year, and is
part of the second major grouping of Christian festivals and sacred time that
includes Holy
Week, Easter, and Pentecost.
Through prayer that gives up self, we seek
to open ourselves up before God, and to hear anew the call "Come unto
me!" We seek to recognize and respond afresh to God’s presence in our
lives and in our world. We seek to place our needs, our fears, our failures,
our hopes, our very lives in God’s hands, again. And we seek by abandoning
ourselves in Jesus’ death to recognize again who God is, to allow His
transforming grace to work in us once more and to come to worship Him on Easter
Sunday with a fresh victory and hope that goes beyond the new clothes, the
Spring flowers, the happy music.
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday, is the
first day of the Season of Lent. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing
ashes on worshippers’ heads or foreheads as a sign of humility before God, a
symbol of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It
not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the
worshipper in a position to realize the consequences of sin. Ash
Wednesday is a somber day of reflection on what needs to change in our lives if
we are to be fully Christian.
Ashes
symbolize several aspects of our human existence:
v
Ashes remind us of God's condemnation of sin, as God said to
Adam, "Dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis
v
Ashes remind us
of the shortness of human life, for it is said as we are buried: "earth to
earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
v
Ashes are a
symbol of our need to repent, confess our sins, and return to God.
In the Ash Wednesday liturgy, the confession and
imposition of ashes follow the proclamation of the Word of God in biblical
readings, sermon, and song. This confession marks the beginning of a
season of penitence. The Maundy Thursday absolution is the structural response
to the Ash Wednesday confession, marking off Lent as a penitential time. At the
conclusion of the Ash Wednesday confession and imposition of ashes, a
declaration of grace is used, coupled with a plea for mercy.
Mardi Gras or Carnival
Carnival, which comes from a Latin phrase meaning "removal of meat," is the three-day period preceding the beginning of Lent, the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday immediately before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of the Lenten Season. The three days before Ash Wednesday are also known as Shrovetide ("shrove" is an Old English word meaning "to repent"). The Tuesday just before Ash Wednesday is called Shrove Tuesday, or is more popularly known by the French term Mardi Gras, meaning "Fat Tuesday," contrasting to the fasting during Lent. The entire three-day period has now come to be known in many areas as Mardi Gras.
Carnival or Mardi Gras is usually a period of celebration, originally a festival before the fasting during the season of Lent. Now it is celebrated in many places with parades, costumes, dancing, and music. Many churches now observe Mardi Gras with a church pancake breakfast or other church meal, eating together as a community before the symbolic fasting of Lent begins.
IMPORTANT
UPCOMING DATES
February
Birthdays February Anniversaries
Todd Krebs (4) Erin and Jason Moore (7)
Kormasa Sworh
(8) Kormasa and Benjamin Sworh (24)
Aimee Formo (9)
Josh Smith (16)
Clara Kurek (21)
Sheryl Otter (27)
Johanne Taghon-Gregor (27)
Claire Long (28)
Schedule of Lenten Activities
Tuesday,
February 16 - Pancake Supper
Wednesday,
February 17 - Ash Wednesday
Services at
Adult
Faith Formation during Lent
Sunday mornings
Wednesday evening: Soup and Study
Holy Eucharist at
Soup supper at
Lenten Study from
Bishop’s
yearly visit – March 14
REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES
* Vestry
Thank you to Kitty Herndon, Sheryl Otter, and Charles
Park for their service on the vestry.
Congratulations to our newest vestry members:
Steve Bridgewater,
Michelle Carter, and
Aimee Formo.
Also,
thank you
Kitty Herndon for filling in a one year term.
Minutes from the last
vestry meeting and Annual Meeting are located on St. Timothy’s web page as well
as posted on the bulletin board.
The next vestry meeting
is February 18 at
* Worship
The Worship Committee is
meeting February 4 at
Income Expenses
Net
Year
End 107,777.90 112,627.63 -4,849.73
January
12,830.10 13,294.53 -464.39
*
Property
The gutter on north side
of the education wing has fallen and needs to be put back up.
Three windows in Craine Hall and one in the Vicar’s
office need to be replaced.
We are still looking for people to be a part of this
committee
*
Parish Life
Parish Life is having an Italian Dinner Wednesday Feb
3 at
At this
time we do not have an outreach committee
We have a Children’s Faith Formation led by Sheryl
Otter and an Adult Faith Formation headed by the Vicar. This committee searches for curriculums that
fit the needs of our congregation. Additional members are needed.
People who can come in for an hour or so and help
Kirsteen clean our file cabinets and organize the files. Files have been found that date back to 1985!
I woke from a nap just a minute
ago..was it a dream?
Wallowing in something
sticky..sweet-tasting like ice cream?
But now wide awake, the dream seemed
so true…
Sticky was the maple
syrup, the cream sweet melting butter.
While in the kitchen, I stumbled, fell
into a lurch…
Hubcaps were being produced…right here
at St. Timothy’s church!
Be ready my friends, for pancakes that
have that syrupy sheen….
6-7:30,
that is the time, Fat Tuesday, February 16!
Kirsteen’s Korner
The Church as the body of Christ, as
Christ living in the world, has a mission to support, nurture and guide its own
members. It is also called to be a
witness to the love of God made visible in Jesus. Before his death, Jesus prayed for his
followers, “as you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world”
(John
Henri Nouwen “Bread for the Journey”
At the Annual Meeting, I spoke of St. Timothy’s
needing more to fulfill our call to be witnesses. Yes, we do have a number of mission projects
in place: food pantry, allowing outside groups to use our space, and the
Vicar’s and Deacon’s discretionary funds.
The food pantry is the only mission where members of the congregation
are involved whether it is by donating food items or volunteering at the
pantry.
My challenge to our community is to identify other
opportunities for mission – reaching those outside our doors- that we as a
congregation can do.
Here are a couple opportunities that we can think on
and discuss at a later time.
First is CICOA: Aging & In-Home Solutions. Their purpose is to help build communities
that enable older persons and those of any age with a disability to live with
the greatest possible independence, dignity and quality of life. There are two parts of this program that we,
as a church and as individuals can do.
·
Neighborhood
Meals Program
: Hot, nutritious meals are served weekdays at more than 30
neighborhood locations including senior
centers, churches and apartment communities
throughout CICOA’s service
area. Could St. Timothy’s be a location
for this service?
CICOA prepares the meals. We
provide the space and a few volunteers.
·
Home Visitation:
Individual volunteers who will take
the time to visit and also help with some light
housekeeping tasks, organizing living area, and
possibly run some errands for an elderly client.
Second is using the parish hall as an internet
café: This idea came from one of our
parishioners and has been discussed at vestry meetings. One evening a week we would open up the
church for people who do not have computer access. They can fill out job
applications, look for housing, research other resources for their needs.
What is needed:
·
laptops – we can refurbish
old laptops
·
At least two people to be here in the
evening to supervise, assist people, prepare coffee and
snacks for the
people
Are there other opportunities
available? I’m sure there are. Let us
pray to God to guide us to finding ways that we can be His hands and feet in
the world about us.
God’s peace and grace to you.
Kirsteen+
Pancake
Supper - 
