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Life today, in these difficult times, often has ahidden agenda. Often, the hidden agenda isselfish and self-serving. As times become moredifficult, the strategies are more devious, and itbecomes more difficult to get real information.Certainly we have been made aware of this inthe election campaign this year. Candidates wantto get elected. They will say anything. If they canmake you afraid of what the other candidatewill do, they don’t have to say anything aboutwhat they will do. It’s all about power and prestige and has very little to do with whatis good for the country. The sad thing is that this style of campaigning seems to workdespite our protests.Television ads have gone the devious route for years. They use wealth, power, youth,beauty, sex and being “in” for all the wrong reasons: they sell the illusion to get you tobuy
their
products, not because their products are so much better or less expensive. Itseems to work here, too, because they make it all look so easy, so good, and we’re sogullible.As we approach the holiday season, I would contrast the human agenda with the sacredone. Humans can be so devious in getting what they want. And it is about what theywant. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit want human happiness, too. It has been thetopic of theological talk from the beginning. Our understanding is that there is no hid-
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news
St.
Paul’s
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCHNOVEMBER 2010 — VOLUME 35, ISSUE 8
Church EventsNovember
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EWCOMERS
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-N-R
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B&PW
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LIZABETH
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By the Rev. Dr. Gordon F. Weller
The HiddenAgenda
Silver Bells Float:A First for St. Paul's
By Debby Pierce
This year we will be entering a St. Paul's float in the Light Parade of Silver Bells. As the time draws near, we will needhelp in preparing the float and, on the last days, preparing the vehicle hauling the float. The Parade Committee wantsenough lights to "dazzle" the crowd, and we plan on dazzling the crowd!The Bell Choirs will have a concert in the Church after the parade, lighting of the tree and the fireworks. After (and dur-ing) the Concert, we will be serving really, really good hot chocolate and cookies.If you are interested in working on the float, bringing cookies or helping to serve the hot chocolate, please call
Sally Law-rence
at 323-7211 or
Debby Pierce
at 394-4800. Please help us make this a success.
Page 2
4 F’s
By Nancy Sheldon
Please mark your calendars and join us for the 4 F’s Group in 2010-2011. This year, our meetings are the first andthird Mondays of each month (*exceptions noted). Anyone is invited who has time in the middle of the day!12 noon Eucharist 12:30 p.m. Lunch ($4.00)1 p.m. Bible Study (Steve Lange) 1:15-2 p.m. Program
November 1 – Programs by Altar Guild and on Kneelers
November 15 – Overview of Lutheranism by Amanda Highben of University Lutheran Church
December 6 – Someko Singers Christmas Celebration (with
Melanie Walker
and
Emily Laub
)
*January 10 – Program on Australia, Fiji and New Zealand by
Nancy Rudd
*January 24 – Program on Autism, its causes and treatments
February 7 – Visit to Ele’s Place (grief counseling for children)
February 21 – Rites of Passage
March 7 – Visit to Mt. Hope Assembly of God Church & Gideon Healing Center
*March 9 (Ash Wednesday) to April 24 (Easter) – 5 Lenten Book Reviews
May 2 – Visit the Buddhist Retreat Center (lunch & Eucharist at the
Millars’
)
May 16 – Annual Picnic, book review, planning session at
Nancy Sheldon’s
Evangelism andParish Life
By Sally Lawrence, VestryMember
By the time this article is in print,Parish Life will have held its fourthannual Family Game Night. Ourpopular book read is next and willtake place in January or February.We are still on the hunt for that per-fect book, so if you have a sugges-tion, please contact
Debby Pierce
or
John Craig
.Evangelism is planning a Newcom-ers’ Dinner on Friday, November 5.At that time ,we hope to make ournew people feel at home and wel-come at St. Paul’s. Now for our bignews, the Evangelism Committee,with the help of
Mike Young
, sub-mitted a successful float applicationto the Lansing Principal ShoppingDistrict. We are going to be in theSilver Bells Parade!! This will takeplace on Friday, November 19, somark your calendars. See DebbyPierce’s article on what is needed.
St. Elizabeth
By Debby Pierce, President
"The purpose of the St. ElizabethGuild of St. Paul's is to gather foreducation and fellowship..."The November meeting will be at12:30 p.m., on Tuesday, Nov. 16at Sally Lawrence’s home. If youwould like to join us, please call
Debby Pierce
at 394-4800 or485-5446 or e-mailmaxpierce@prodigy.net.
B&PW
By Debby Pierce
The Business & ProfessionalWomen (B&PW) will meet onTuesday, November 9 at 6 p.m.in the Hill Room. Our guest will beJim Childs who will give a poetryreading. Please call
DebbyPierce
for reservations at 394-4800 or 485-5446 or e-mail atmaxpierce@prodigy.net. Join usfor an evening with goodfriends good food and good Fel-lowship.
Page 3
Money Raised forCROP
By Barbara Heany, VestryMember
The Youth Group would like tothank everyone for their pledges ofsupport for CROP Walk 2010.Thanks to your generous donations,we far exceeded our goal of$1,100, bringing in $1,580 for thisvery important cause. CROP Hun-ger Walks are sponsored byChurch World Services and helpchildren and families worldwide,with 25 percent of the proceedsstaying right here in our own com-munity to aid services such as Ad-vent House Ministries, The GardenProject and Volunteers of America,among others.
Rake-N-Run
By Barbara Heany,Vestry Member
St. Paul’s Youth Groups are pray-ing for leaves. On November 7,they will be grabbing their rakesand running off to rake and bagleaves at parishioners’ homes. Thisyouth group event will take placeimmediately following the EnglandChoristers’ Brunch. Contact
BarbHeany
at 420-5316 or
ShelleySanford
at 482-9454 for moredetails.
St. Aelred’s Guild Has Its Own Therapy Dog
By Nancy Sheldon
St Paul’s began a ministry a number of years ago to offer spiritual friendship to members of our congregation in timeof need. We call it St. Aelred’s Guild and we have a small group of dedicated volunteers who offer spiritual friend-ship through notes, visitation, prayer list management, Eucharistic visits, celebration of births, and phone calls to shut-ins.The majority of our visits are to people in assisted living or nursing homes who usually are unable to come to churchbecause of age or health reasons. Maxwell, a certified Therapy Old English Sheepdog, who is often seen at St Paul’swith one of his owners (
Nancy or Pete Sheldon
) regularly visits some of our seniors, and they love to see him come. Heloves to visit, too, as he gets so much attention! His specialty is “giving kisses” as he licks faces on demand and his sizeis such that his large head fits perfectly in the lap of someone in a wheelchair, or he’ll lay his head on a pillow ofsomeone who is bedridden. Even though he is a boisterous three-year-old “adolescent” at home, he is trained to dowhat he does and knows when he enters a facility what his job is and goes to “work.” He picks up the spirits of every-one he passes, not just those whom he visits. We need to plan extra time for visits as it takes quite a bit of time just toget in and out of the hallways. He loves his work and we love taking him!
Yes, the ERD Used Book Sale Will Return
By Sue Millar
Come mid-winter or early spring, we will again offer used books for sale to raise money for Episcopal Relief and Devel-opment. This announcement will give you a heads-up to begin selecting books for which you no longer want to give book-shelf space but will still provide good reading for others. Watch for details in future issues of St. Paul’s News.
Personal NeedsCollection
By Barbara Heany,Vestry Member
The youth groups will be taking a“Personal Needs” collection duringthe month of November for the Ma-plewood Center, a homeless shelterfor women and children. Some ofthe items they will be collecting aredeodorant, shampoo, soap, tooth-paste, and socks and underwearfor women and children in varioussizes, including plus sizes. In addi-tion to the personal needs, the“noisy offering” collection takenthese past few months will be givento Maplewood Center. The youthare hoping for an opportunity totake their collections to the centerand have a tour of the facility.
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