Please Welcome Jeff Eskew!

You may have noticed that there is a new musician behind the organ. He is none other than Jeff Eskew, our new interim organist/choirmaster at St. Nicholas.

Jeff has a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Columbus State University. After graduating from CSU, Jeff was appointed Associate Instructor of Music at Indiana University where he studied organ with Marilyn Keiser.  For the past five years, Jeff has served as organist/choirmaster at Grace Episcopal Church in Anderson, South Carolina.  He has served as guest organist for the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium (GAMAC) for various concerts. He was the winner of the Regional Competition for Young Organists (RCYO) in 2001 and 2002.  In 2003 Jeff placed first for the Georgia Music Teachers National Association (GMTNA) in organ performance.  During his studies at CSU, Jeff served as organist for Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus under the direction of Mike Marcades. Prior to his studies at CSU, Jeff collaborated with many local music groups in Anderson and attended Brevard Music Camp.  He was the recipient of the John Philip Sousa Award from T.L. Hanna High School.  Jeff was appointed his first church position at the age of thirteen.

Jeff will be with us until after Christmas as we discern the future of our music program. First, we will gather at the Music Workshop with Trey Clegg, who will be our consultant in our process. After that workshop, we will begin to get a vision for our music program, then will begin our search for a longer-term musician based on that vision.

Please stop by and thank Jeff for being with us and welcome him into our parish family.

My Week at TAP

Last week, I had the pleasure of serving as Spiritual Director for the Thompson-Pound Art Program (TAP) in Columbus. TAP is a program sponsored by Chattahoochee Valley Episcopal Ministry, which is a convocational outreach effort in the wider Columbus area.

Since coming to St. Nicholas, I had wanted to get involved in something with CVEM, excited that there was such an organization here. Vicky Partin, the director of CVEM, put me in touch with Debbie Anderson, the incredibly gifted organizer and director of TAP. Merely two weeks before TAP started, I met with Debbie for the first time to discuss my possible role at TAP.

So what is TAP? TAP is a week-long summer art program for children in 1st through 5th grades from various economic, cultural, and religious background. The intention is to get as many different kids involved as possible from these various backgrounds to focus on peace, unity, and love through the medium of art. I’ve never seen a goal as ambitious as TAP’s, and was delighted to see how well it works.

My role was to be a present religious leader for the children. While there were Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Agnostics, Atheists, and more represented, I was asked to simply “be there” and participate, which I did happily.

The mornings began at 8:45am with an opening song that I played on my guitar, and a daily “meditation,” which was given by a variety of different religious representatives. Our theme for the week was “Home,” and so the first day, we learned about Native American home customs. Day 2 we we were graced by a Muslim gentlemen who spoke about prayer in his religion. Next, we learned about the culture of Colombia, South America. Then, we learned about Jewish home rituals. Finally, I summed up the week by talking about home communion and the significance of the Eucharist.

The goal is not to proselytize, but rather share our differences in order to better understand one another better. I learned so much! I learned that when Muslims greet one another, they say the equivalent of “Peace be with you! And also with you!” I learned that Jews regularly break bread and drink wine in a meal very similar to our Eucharist. I learned that Native Americans send religious leaders into the home to bring healing to those who are sick. While our theologies may be different, the way we live our faiths are strikingly similar.

The children rotate through four classes during the day: Performance, where they learned a special “bee dance” (the honey bee was the mascot of the week) and wrote very beautiful and touching poetry; Art, where they created this year’s Unity Piece, a painting of “welcome” in various languages with the children’s names woven together in a tapestry; Snack, where they learned the customs of the various religious leaders more in-depth as well as sampling food derived from these cultures; and Focus, which had another speaker present to give another facet of the theme of “home,” including a bee-keeper, a former orphan from Vietnam, and volunteers from Habitat for Humanity.

While the week wore me out, having to drive to the Rankin Art Center every morning, it was so gratifying. On Thursday night of the week, we gathered at the Mildred Terry Public Library to see the children present what they had learned. We were all so happy to see these children, rich and poor, black and white, Jew and Gentile, laughing with one another, playing with one another, hugging one another. It was a truly beautiful gift and I’m looking forward to being even more involved next year.

If you are interested in participating in any way with this program, please come and talk to me. If you are interested in art, and the ability art can have in unifying people, this is a program for you. If you are interested in learning about different cultures and religions from people who actually practice them, I invite you to join us. For more info on TAP, click here.

Also, check out the Ledger-Enquirer’s article on TAP.

Spirit of St. Nicholas July Issue is UP!

Check out the July issue of the Spirit of St. Nicholas by clicking here!

In this issue

Music Workshop P. 1

Rector’s Message P. 2

Worship News P.3 & 4

Hospitality News P.

Schedules P. 5

Summer Flicks at St. Nick P. 8

Calendar P. 6

Episcopal 101 Class P. 7

Christian Education P. 9

Meet our Acolytes P.9

Youth Group News P.11

Birthdays , Anniversaries

And Family News P.12 & 13

Parish Life Events P.15

Outreach Ministries P.16

Travel Opportunities P. 17

Recipe for Mitford Cake P. 19

Web Site update P. 20

Church Music Workshop Saturday, July 11

Come join us on Saturday, July 11 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, when Trey Clegg of St. Paul’s in Atlanta will be with us to lead a fun-filled day of music, singing and learning as we begin for form a plan for our music program.  In order to help us plan for food and sheet music, we ask that you sign up for this free workshop. You can do so by visiting stnicholashamilton.org/signup.  Youth and older children are welcome to participate in the workshop. If you have children for the nursery, please provide us with their names and ages so that we may plan appropriate activities.  Look forward to seeing you there.  See the July newsletter for more information.

Here’s the schedule of the day:

9:00—9:15 AM Continental Breakfast

9:15—10:00 AM Morning Prayer (with music)

10:00—11:00 AM Renewing the Spirit:  An Introduction to Creative Worship

11:00—11:15 AM Break

11:15 AM—12:15 PM Widen Your Repertoire:  An Introduction to Diversity in Sacred Music

12:15—1:30 PM Lunch

1:30—2:00 PM Plenary Session “Nobody Ever Left Church Humming a Sermon:  Music and the Homily”

2:00—4:00 PM Join the Choir for a Weekend:  Rehearsal for Sunday Service

Be a part of this wonderful opportunity to create a shared vision by participating and letting us know what you like to sing and hear during worship.  Trey’s approach is joyful, humorous and empowering.  You will hear and be led in singing many different types of hymns…some familiar, some not, but all uplifting and presented with excitement, clarity and expressiveness.  So come on, join us, have some fun and learn about the wonderful music opportunities that await us.  There is no charge for the workshop.

Your Week at St. Nick 28 June – 4 July

Sunday, June 28
10:30am Holy Eucharist
Holy Baptism of Liam Jackson (Fr. Sam Buice to preach)

Ushers
Joe and Kathie Torres
Greeter
Gene Demonet
LEM & 2nd Chalice
Moody/Hinnant
Altar Guild
Dixon/Tomlin
Flower Guild
Barbara Bradley
Lemonade
Michelle
Acolytes
Table Abbey A.
Crucifer Robin
Gospel Dalton
Offer. Dalton
Torch Abbey A. and Sam

Monday, June 29
6:30 pm Summer Flicks at St. Nick
Movie: Groundhog Day–starring Bill Murray with a message of conversion (101 min.)

Wednesday, July 1
6:30pm Evening Prayer Service

1 – 8 July Father Jeff away at Camp Mikell

2 – 8 July, Junior Camp–Rising 6th and 7th Graders

We’re on the web! stnicholashamilton.org

The Episcopal Church REALLY DOES Welcome You!

As you’re driving down Hwy 27 or Hwy 116 or even Mountain View Road, you can now see St. Nicholas’ NEW “Episcopal Church Welcomes You” signs, complete with the address to this very website. Many thanks to Liz Dixon for lending me the “liquid wrench” to get the old, rusty signs down, and to another local preacher who goes by “Uncle Nate,” who helped me get one of the signs up.

And, if you are curious as to why we got new signs, check out this episode of my friend Father Matthew Moretz video blog–Father Matthew Presents.

Listen to Episcopal 101

Can’t come to our Episcopal 101 class each month? Or perhaps you missed a class or simply forgot about it? Starting with this past week’s session (our 3rd session), Episcopal 101 will be podcast on this site. All you have to do is go to the Podcast window to the right of the screen (over there —>), and click on Episcopal 101… If you don’t see it, just scroll down the list of podcasts to find it. I hope it’s helpful to you!

Men’s Cookout Pics!

We had a great time yesterday at the Men’s Cookout. About 10 guys showed up to eat, drink, and be merry! We were also joined by three gentlemen from St. Peter & St. Paul in Atlanta, who spoke to us about their Men’s Group, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. As we begin to think about organizing a regular Men’s Group, it was good to hear about what other churches do. If you have any questions about the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, or want to have a hand in getting a regular Men’s Group started, please come talk to Fr. Jeff.

Thank you to Michelle Moody for organizing the event, Lynn and Kenny Hall and Sean Moody for all their help in setting up, and to all the guys who showed up! Check out Lynn’s pictures of the event below!

Also, Kenny Hall and Fr. Jeff took on Bobo Morgan and Sean Moody in an intense game of bean-bag toss. After a lengthy effort, Kenny and Jeff pulled out a victory!

The Brooks’ Alaskan Adventure

Ben & Virgina Brooks spent a wonderful week on an Alaskan cruise, and wanted to share their pictures with everyone.

Please visit Ben’s Flickr photostream by clicking here.

Your Week at St. Nick 21 – 27 June

Sunday, June 21 (Father’s Day)
10:30am Holy Eucharist

Ushers
Tom and Sharon Cheatham
Greeter
Graham Horne
LEM & 2nd Chalice
Martin/Halmrast
Altar Guild
Hinnant/Nordin
Flower Guild
Sharon Cheatham
Lemonade
Gina Durham
Acolytes
Table Ivy
Crucifer Cody
Gospel M&M
Offer. M&M
Torch Ivy and Austin

Monday, June 22
6:30 pm Summer Flicks at St. Nick
Movie: Babette’s Feast–a Danish film with a Eucharistic message (102 min.)

Wednesday, June 24
6:30pm Holy Eucharist

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