St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Carson City
News and Inspirations

 

775-882-1534     www.stpeterscarsoncity.org   314 N. Division St., Carson City, Nevada 
June 2, 2016
In This Issue
Many Thanks
Ice Cream Social
Women's Retreat
Love Letter from the Divine
Male Spirituality
Lighter Side
Upcoming
 Lectionary Readings
Info Links
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From the Rector


Dear people of St Peter's,

       The very first day of his month-long and well-earned  sabbatical, Bishop Dan sent a photo of the statue of St. Peter in Verona, Italy.  My first impulse was 'St Peter looks like a conehead!' (it's a medieval Bishop's mitre).  My second impulse was the realization that we are thought of and held in regard by our Bishop, who is studying and traveling around Italy with Linda his wife.  We are blessed by God to have such leadership.  Our prayers precede and follow Bishop Dan always, especially on his sabbatical for safe travel there and home again.

      This month begins the round of summer commitments.  I'll be at Galilee next weekend for the Commission on Ordination & Licensing, known in Nevada as COOL.  The week following Marietta & I are at Galilee for Counselor Training.  We anticipate an excellent staff to lead a wonderful summer.  We're volunteering weeks 5 & 6 toward the end of July, Jr & Sr High camps. 

       Last e-blast I mentioned our various graduates.  As of May 23rd we have two more.  First, Sandy Burnette  earned her AA degree from WNC with honors ---Magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.  Well done, Sandy!  And, last but not least, my eldest son, Jeremy,  graduated WNC  Phi Theta Kappa with an Associate of Science degree.  He goes on in the fall to UNR, pursuing degrees in astrophysics.  Go Jeremy!

       Be well in the warming days of summer.  Be blessed.  In turn, bless the earth.
Jeff+ 
      

Gratitude
   

   Thanks to all who engage in acts of service out in the wider community.  Many of you volunteer for a wide variety of organizations, schools, social justice causes, etc.  Thank you for walking the talk and making Carson City reflect more and more of the Kingdom of God.

Join Us!
ice cream social
Mark Your Calendars! 
 
Back by popular demand, the St. Peter's Ice Cream Social will be held on the afternoon of Saturday, July 30.  Much fun and several surprises are being planned for this annual event.  Stay tuned for more details.  Please start thinking about which friends and family you'd like to invite.

Annual Women's Retreat at Tahoe: Circles of Community
Ladies: Give yourself a peaceful respite over Labor Day weekend
September 2 - 5 at Camp Galilee, Lake Tahoe 
 
Somewhere there are people to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our throats.  Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power.

"Within the struggle, joy, pain, and delight that attend our life, there is an invisible circle of grace that enfolds and encompasses us in every moment.  Blessings help us to perceive this circle of grace, to find our place of belonging within it, and to receive the strength the circle holds for us." --Jan Richardson

Come and join other women at Camp Galilee to experience together the blessings of Circles in Community. It's time to register.   Click here for the brochure with more details.

A Moment to Ponder.......

 
It is the things
        that you cannot do anything about
and the things
      that you cannot do anything with
that do something with you.

                                                       ~~Fr. Richard Rohr  

Writing as a Spiritual Practice
The Heart of Our Story.... Learning who we are and why we are here
 
Writing can be a powerful and transformative spiritual practice -- through which we can cultivate an expansive mind, open heart, authentic relationships, liberated creativity and a freer soul.  This space is going to give examples of PROMPTS that are intended to give you a launching pad for some writing.  Please approach this as a spiritual practice and invite the Holy into your writing time.  Here are some suggestions to begin with:
 
HOW:  If you'd like to engage in a bit of self-discovery,
consider setting a timer for 15 minutes and  begin with one of the PROMPTs below (or other topic that calls to you).  Then just write whatever comes to mind until the buzzer goes off.  (Don't edit it, don't correct your spelling or worry about punctuation.  This is NOT that kind of writing.  The only person who's going to look at it when you are done, is you.  And if you want to keep going, reset the timer for additional time.)   Later, feel free to dive into the other PROMPT if it begins to call to you.  

PROMPTS for this time:

Looking back, I'd say that my greatest teacher in this school called "Life" has been _________ because ____________________________.

When I was a kid, and summer came around, I used to love to  ___________________.
 
 
Practicing the Presence of Spirit--
Even on a Busy Day
  graphic of seeing with love
Seed Thought:
Paying bills is a great spiritual teaching and even a cause for gratitude when seen rightly.  We are alive; we are doing a co-creative dance with those people from whom we've bought services; and we are learning to make choices about how we allocate our resources and what is most important to us.  Paying the bills tells us a lot about our world-view as optimists or pessimists.  The optimist feels grateful for what has been given and received.  The pessimist is more likely to indulge in a poverty of spirit that blames others for overcharging or cheating or having more than their "share."

Prayer/Practice:
Gracious God, thank you for extending mindfulness of attitude into every corner of my life, particularly my view of money, which is a sensitive indicator of the richness or poverty of my spirit.  Help me see how the choices I make in spending reflect the values by which I live my life.

Spend a few minutes centering yourself by focusing on your breathing, and then get your checkbook and last month's credit card bills if you have any.  What is your attitude toward your expenses?  Does your spending reflect your basic values, (does where you spend your "treasure" reflect where your heart lies)?  If not, what changes can you make?
   
[Adapted from p. 165, of Pocketful of Miracles, by Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.]   

A Love Letter from the Divine.....
good_morning.jpg 

     You are uncomfortable in your own skin.  Allow me to love you.  Permit me to teach you loving ways to treat yourself.  Every hair on your head is precious to me, every inch of your skin.  You are not a beast of burden.  I do not intend you to work yourself to exhaustion, calling it virtue.  Rest in me, my little one.  Allow me to brush out your hair, to knead the sore muscles of your back.  I am tender to you.  Eat, sleep, refresh yourself.
     When you regard your body, do so with tenderness.  You are beautiful to me.  You are unique and priceless.  Learn to praise the beauties of your form.  I have made you sturdy.  I have given you health and strength.  Your body is graceful to me.  I am able to love an endless myriad of shapes and sizes.  Do not turn a cruel eye to your body.  It is the beloved vehicle for your spirit.  It carries you faithfully.
     Let me teach you to love yourself.  Let me bathe and clothe you.  You are a divine child.  I find beauty in you always.  It is my pleasure that you have comfort.  It is for your enjoyment.  Your sense of touch is sacred.  Do not be cold and loveless, calling that grace.  Warmth and compassion are my gifts to you.  Relax and enjoy the gift of your body.
    
[This is an excerpt from Answered Prayers, Love Letters from the Divine, by Julia Cameron, p. 73.]
 

A Moment of Zen


Male Spirituality --- Encouraging an Inner Life 
mens rites of passage 
This is a series of articles aimed specifically for the Men of St. Peter's.  The material is taken from the written works of Fr. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest who is renowned for his retreats and lectures on male spirituality.  This is not intended to be a "daily devotional."  It is meant to be more confrontational.  It is truthful and brave; and invites you to be the same.   
 
The Sacred Marriage      
     We have grown up with a patriarchal (father-centered) religion that emphasized law, structure, organization, obedience, group and loyalty.  These are commendable virtues, but they tell only half the story.  We've come to the point in human consciousness where we are ready for the sacred marriage of the mature feminine and the mature masculine.  The mature feminine would honor compassion, mercy, exception, holy disorder, forgiveness, and healing to balance out the more masculine qualities. 
     Our job is to find what is true in both.  We need to mend this tragic breach between the masculine and the feminine.  If we had developed a stronger feminine soul as a church and as a culture, we would never have plundered this planet, killed millions in wars, abused and raped so many innocents, excluded so many from our definitions of salvation, tolerated health care only for the few, or engendered so many evil dictators, as we have during the recent centuries.  Christian nations would have been known for healing and reconciliation instead of war and greed.        
---What would a more mother-centered religion look and feel like to me?  
 
[Adapted from p. 158 of On the Threshold of Transformation: Daily Meditations for Men, by Fr. Richard Rohr]

Do You Shop on Amazon.Com???   

You can painlessly benefit St. Peter's when you shop Amazon.com.  Until we figure out a more generic way to connect this e-mail to Amazon's site, we'll be using a featured book link.  Click on  the "Shop Now" link and it will take you to the book's information, but you don't have to buy it.  From there, you can then go wherever else you want on Amazon and your purchase will benefit St. Peter's (with no extra cost to you). 

   Our featured book this edition is timely as we have just passed Memorial Day. 
Best-selling author Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war. 
Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries --panic, exhaustion, heat, noise-- and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them.  Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is a problem for a sniper. She visits a repurposed movie studio where amputee actors help prepare Marine Corps medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds. At Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, in east Africa, we learn how diarrhea can be a threat to national security. She answers questions not found in any other book on the military: Why is DARPA interested in ducks? How is a wedding gown like a bomb suit? Why are shrimp more dangerous to sailors than sharks? Take a tour of duty with Roach, and you'll never see our nation's defenders in the same way again.

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War
by Mary Roach  
Hardcover ~ to be released June 7th 
 
List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $17.27
 
 
 On the Lighter Side

(Thanks to Isobel for sharing this cartoon with us!)
 

Ongoing Fellowship Activities

Please Join Us (in the Parish Hall unless* otherwise indicated) 1st Monday at 5:30pm--
Women Together Against Cancer 
Every Tuesday from 6 to 7:30pm -- Centering Prayer
               *(meets in The Rectory, next door to the church) 
 
Every Wednesday from 6 to 8pm -- Circles of Support Community
 
1st and 3rd Thursdays at 5:30pm -- Caregivers' Exchange Group
      (information and fellowship for anyone who's a caregiver)

1st Saturday at 9:30am -- Prayer Shawl Knitters 
           *(meets at a private residence, for info contact Pat F-P or Karen L-F) 

1st Saturday from Noon to 5:00pm -- Wine Walk
             (our sanctuary and parish hall are open for hospitality) 

2nd Wednesday from 11:00am to noon -- St. Peter's Ladies' Group                                      (all St. Peter's women are cordially invited)

2nd Thursday from 5:30 to 7:00pm -- Mary~Martha Guild   
                    (all St. Peter's women are cordially invited)

 2nd Saturday from 8:00 to 9:30am -- Men's Breakfast
            (all St. Peter's men are cordially invited)

4th Friday from 5:45 to 8:30pm --  Sophia's Salon Reading Group
       *(meets at a private residence, for info contact the Rev. Kim)


St. P's Gratitude Garden: Planning is beginning.
  (Our contact is Rory Hogen.) 


Schedule of Worship Services
Watercolor painting of St.P's altar by pat f-p
St. Peter's Altar ~~ by Pat Frederick-Perona

Sundays    

8 am:  Holy Communion: Rite II  
10 am: Contemporary Worship Service 
                       and Sunday School with Godly Play (in the Rectory)  
    
Wednesdays
10 am: Healing Service and Holy Communion

We at St. Peter's are a lively spiritual fellowship blessed with the rich heritage of community involvement.  We are open-minded, inclusive, and family-friendly.  We hope you find us to be intellectually and spiritually stimulating.  

The Rev. Kim Morgan, Associate Priest and E-news Editor