Parish Picnic This Sunday!

Don’t forget that we are gathering at the lovely home of Cason and Nancy Callaway’s Blue Springs home for our annual Parish Picnic this Sunday! Parking is limited, so feel free to carpool from St. Nicholas.

Blue Springs is located halfway between Mobley Road (where the church is) and Interstate 185 on Highway 116. Turn right out of the church parking lot, a right on 116, and keep going until you see the “Episcopal Church Meets Here” sign and balloons.

We will begin gathering at 10:00 am, and our service of Holy Eucharist will begin at 10:30 am. Following the service, we will have our potluck lunch and then swimming in the Callaway’s pool. No lifeguard will be on duty, so swim at your own risk!

Remember to bring:
A chair and/or blankets to sit on
Sunscreen
Bathing suits and towels (there’s a bath house to change in)
And most importantly…

Bring a friend! This is a great way to introduce folks to St. Nicholas!

See you on Sunday!

LOBSTERFEST 2009!

Click on the lobster to make reservations!

Friday, September 25, 2009

5:30pm  —  9:30pm

Sweet Home Plantation, Pine Mountain, GA

It’s that time of year! St. Nicholas’ annual event is back! We are hoping to make this year’s Lobsterfest the most successful of all. This year, we’re using Lobsterfest to raise money for our building fund. So all proceeds will go to the continuation of doing God’s mission in this place. It will be a wonderful night full of fun, friends, family, and fellowship.

Each 1 & 1/2 lb. lobster is shipped fresh directly from Maine. Beef tenderloin is also available for non-lobster-eaters. Roasted potatoes and cole slaw will be served with both meals on the side. There will also be homemade cakes and pies served to order. Children’s plates are also available with a hot dog, chips, a cookie, and a drink. A cash bar with beer and wine will also be open.

Entertainment will be provided by the Main Street Trio of LaGrange, Georgia. Bring your dancing shoes!

We’ll also have a silent auction which will include many wonderful items including vacation home rentals, artwork, and many other things! Don’t forget that we’ll be drawing the winner of our golf cart raffle!

Lobster dinners are $45.00 each.

Beef tenderloin dinners are $35.00 each.

Children’s dinners are $5.00 each.

So how can you reserve a spot? You can visit the main Lobsterfest page by clicking here or by clicking on the lobster at the top of the page! You can fill out your form which will be sent directly to Lobsterfest chair Sharon Cheatham.

Due to advanced ordering, all meals are prepaid and checks must be received by September  17^th.  Sorry, no tickets will be sold at the door.

Please mail checks and reservation form to: St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 752, Hamilton Georgia 31811

Reservations for tables of 8 are available.  For information call 706-628-7272. Remember to tell your friends that all proceeds benefit St. Nicholas Episcopal Church building fund!

Volunteers are needed! Please sign up to help out at Lobsterfest by clicking here.

Golf Cart Raffle!

St. Nicholas Episcopal Church will raffle this beautiful golf cart donated by Southern Cart Services in LaGrange on September 25, 2009 at their annual Lobsterfest held at Sweet Home Plantation in Pine Mountain.

You can win this EZgo golf cart from Southern Golf Services in LaGrange!

Win this EZgo Golf Cart -  2005 model with a 2008 battery upgrade and headlights.  Backseats are being added as upgrades by Southern Cart Services.  Additional upgrades are available from Southern Cart Services at winner’s expense.  Approximate value of the golf cart is $3,500.

Your Week at St. Nick, 16 – 22 August 2009

Sunday, August 16
10:30am Holy Eucharist
11:45am Brief Inreach Training Mtg and Light Lunch (Sunday School Room)

Ushers
Karen Kurtz
Mark Kurtz
Greeter
Jan Pylant

LEM & 2nd Chalice
Hogg/Brent
Altar Guild
Cheatham/Edison

Flower Guild
Nancy

Acolytes
Table Austin
Crucifer Cody
Gospel Cody
Offer. Ivy
Torch Ivy/Austin

Wednesday, August 19
6:30pm Holy Eucharist
7:15pm Episcopal 101 Worship: Responding to God’s Blessings

Bad Choices

Tonight, my son made a bad choice. He was playing with his younger brother who is only 5 months old, which they both enjoy very much. While playing, big brother decided to spit on baby brother. In his innocence, he didn’t see anything wrong with it. However, it was a bad choice.

I happened to see him do it and immediately called him on it. Of course, he burst into tears, knowing that while he was not intending to cause harm, he made a mistake. I sent him to a

chair in the corner while I took his brother and gave him a bath, also wondering what I was going to do with him.

In his mind, he probably knew that spitting on the baby was not good. But he was genuinely sorry for making the mistake, which was evidenced by the tears he was spilling.

In the corner, I heard him say, “I’m bad!” through gasping breaths.

Later, when everyone had calmed down, and after I had explained to him why spitting on people isn’t very nice, I assured him that everything was going to be OK. He apologized to his brother (who at five months old doesn’t know anything that’s going on), brushed his teeth, and got in bed.

Bedtime is sacred in our house. We refer to it as “snuggies.” We say prayers, give hugs and kisses, and every now and then, strike upon great theological issues.

“I’m bad for spitting on him,” he whispered.

“No. You are not bad. You just made a bad choice,” I whispered back. “We all make bad choices, but that never means that we’ve lost God’s love. God will always love us, just like I will always love you. Even I make bad choices.”

“Like what?”

(Confession time.)

“Well, last night I was on my way home from a trip and I was going too fast in my car, and a policeman pulled me over and gave me a ticket. Now I have to pay the fine for driving too fast. That’s my punishment.”

“What else? What other bad choices have you made?”

I shared a couple more with him. He smiled, understandingly.

We all make bad choices, some intentionally and some unintentionally. When we feel the sting of those choices, we can feel alone and isolated. We can begin to see ourselves as “bad.”

However, as part of God’s creation, none of us is “bad.” In the beginning, God created and called us “good.” In God’s eyes, that’s all we are.

I kissed my son’s tear-stained face and told him he is forgiven. God forgives him and I forgive him. As one who has experienced the pain of bad choices and one who has experienced forgiveness of those choices, what else could I do but extend the same grace to my little boy?

I was overwhelmed by this mundane circumstance and realized how these types of things are anything but mundane. God says to each of us, “You are not bad. You are forgiven.”

You are not bad.

You are forgiven.

Valley of Hope

Don’t forget Wednesday night’s viewing of Valley of Hope, a documentary of the history of Pine Mountain Valley. Eucharist is at 6:30pm and the film will follow at 7:00pm.

We have gotten a lot of phone calls in regard to the film, so I wouldn’t doubt it if there was quite a turn-out. This may be an opportunity to welcome some new guests into our church. It would be helpful to have some of you to be greeters to welcome people tomorrow night. If you are available, please come and be on hand to greet people as they come in.

For more information on Valley of Hope, click here.

Your Week at St. Nick, 9 – 15 August 2009

Your Week at St. Nick, 9 – 15 August 2009

Sunday, August 9
10:30am Holy Eucharist
Lobsterfest tickets go on sale today.

Ushers
Charlotte Winsness
Cha Cha Parmer
Greeter
John Winsness

LEM & 2nd Chalice
Hinnant/Blackmon
Altar Guild
Winsness/Cox

Flower Guild
Barbara

Acolytes
Table Kendra
Crucifer Kendra
Gospel Kendra
Offer. Anna
Torch Abbey B./Anna

Wednesday, August 12
6:30pm Holy Eucharist
7:00pm Valley of Hope: Pine Mountain Valley Resettlement Village,
Pine Mountain Valley, GA A film produced by David Johnson & Paul Johnston
After interviewing and compiling history for more than a year, David Johnson, coupled with Paul Johnston, have produced a 60-minute DVD creating a narrative about one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most complete resettlement villages of the 1930’s. The villages were in response to the displacement caused by the great Depression of 1929.

The story is narrated, in part, by thirteen children of the original settlers. They remember their experiences growing up in the Valley during this historic era. It is, in fact, a history from the “back porch” by children who were there.

There is historical background leading up to the Depression and a pictorial history of the Village as it was being built. This DVD shows a rare piece of American history. Join us for a screening August 12, at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church. David and Paul, people who are featured in the film, and the film makers will be attendance and available for questions and discussion.

Please join us. The program will last approximately one hour. You are also invited come early and join us for Holy Eucharist at 6:30pm.

Safeguarding God’s Children

At our recent Sunday School Teachers meeting, the question came up about the Safeguarding God’s Children program. SGC is a program that trains and informs parishes on best practices for keeping our children & communities safe from sexual predators. In the past, the only way you could get this information was through a 3-hour program. Many of you have taken that program and I am so thankful that the lessons learned in that program are practiced here with our children and youth. In the Diocese of Georgia, I was one of the 3 original trainers who was responsible for disseminating all that information. I did literally HUNDREDS of these workshops.

Now, thanks be to God, there is a more accessible way to take SGC. Safeguarding Online provides parishes with the same core information but with updated sections. It allows us also to come up with a very easy way to keep a database of people who have taken the course. Finally, it helps the people who are getting this information by allowing them to set the time to do the course.

Safeguarding Online is set into many modules that take 30-45 min. each. The person taking it doesn’t have to do it all at one time, but can fit it easily into their own schedules.

Now the question is, “Who needs to take this?” It’s my understanding that it’s been over 3 years since a course has been taught here. Every 3 years, people need to have a refresher course. So even if you took SGC 3 years ago, you need to take Safeguarding Online so that you have the refresher and get put into the database. So who needs to take Safeguarding Online? EVERYBODY! The more people who take this, the more people who are equipped to help keep our church safe.

For some people, this course is MANDATORY in order to work with our children and youth and for the leadership of St. Nicholas. These people include:

The Vestry

Sunday School Teachers

Nursery Workers

Youth Group Leaders

Teen Class Leaders

All Church Employees (Administrators, Organists/Choirmasters, etc.)

Anyone who has regular contact with young people in a program at St. Nicholas

For others, it is vitally important information to have, and while you may not ever work with kids directly at St. Nicholas, you will want to have taken this course. This includes:

Parents

Grandparents

Teachers

Older teenagers

Some who has a friend with kids or grandkids

Someone who knows a child or has ever seen one

Anyone else with a pulse

As the body of Christ in Harris County, we want St. Nicholas to continue to be a place of safety and love. We want our wonderful children to have contact with all our wonderful adults and vice versa, so that both can grow in love and faith.

When you are ready to take the course, send me an e-mail. I will need to set you up with a username and password before you take it. It’s very easy to do, and the course is very easy to take. If you know someone who needs to take this but doesn’t have access to a computer, let me know and they can use mine!

If you have any questions or concerns, or if this subject matter is sensitive territory for you, please come and talk to me.

From Balance to Rhythm

This past weekend, Michelle Moody and I attended the Diocese of Atlanta’s Youth Worker’s Retreat at Camp Mikell. We had a great drive up to Toccoa, even though it was more eventful than we had wanted.

It was very rainy on Friday and we had just gotten on I-85 North when a car ahead of us hydroplaned, spun, got hit by the car behind her, and spun some more. Of course, we pulled over immediately. Michelle called 911 and I went to check on everyone. Thanks be to God, no one was seriously hurt. The girl who hydroplaned was hyperventilating and her muscles locked up. The guys in the other car weren’t hurt at all. We stayed with her, held her hand, and prayed with her until the police and EMTs showed up. It was certainly a scary moment for her, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to be there.

We finally got to Camp Mikell, a little late, but there nonetheless. Immediately, we were into a workshop on team building with youth groups. We had a small group task of balancing a bunch of nails on the head of another nail connected to a block of wood. A seemingly impossible task, but one we completed!

Perhaps the most interesting workshop for me was the second one. Pam Drisell, a Presbyterian minister from Athens, led a workshop on finding a rhythm to life rather than always trying to balance everything. Balancing takes all our focus, and once we do find a balance, we can immediately lose it. Pam suggested viewing our lives more as a dance, and finding the rhythm therein. When life gets busy, the tempo picks up, when life slows down, so does that tempo. If we can look at our lives like a dance, we are less likely to find ourselves over-stressed and burnt out. I have a CD of her entire talk if anyone is interested.

We did a variety of other workshops, including sculpting clay blindfolded, taking pictures to get a sense of looking at things from various perspectives, being quiet for 20 minutes during a session in contemplative prayer and Lectio Divina, and learning new music for youth.

We met new friends, rekindled old friendships, and simply had a wonderful time.

I encourage any of you who are parents, grandparents, youth leaders, or anyone who has contact with teenagers to attend weekends like these. They are so much more than learning the newest and coolest tricks. They are all about feeding your own soul in the midst of your ministry. Literally, these types of retreats are helpful to finding the own rhythm of your lives. The Diocese of Atlanta does a great job of being a resource to us. Even if you’re not a youth leader, there many other such retreats and programs to help encourage you in your specific ministry and gift.

Below are some pictures that Michelle took in the photography workshop.

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