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In This Issue
Photos
Parish Notes
Marian's Corner
The Propers
Last Sunday's Sermon

Upcoming Events

Sunday, Oct. 12:

Vietnamese Bible Study
9:15 PM 


 
The First of our Ask the Interim Series 

 

Tuesday, Oct. 14:
Commissions & Vestry  6:30 PM

 

Saturday, Oct. 25:

Feed the Homeless

10:30 AM


 
Sunday, Oct. 26:

Falls Church CROP Hunger Walk
Registration: 1:00 p.m.    Walk start: 1:30 p.m.
 

Odeon Concert, 4:00 PM

 

Altar at Easter 2013

       

Birthdays

October

2 Charles Hiller
4 Nghia Nguyen
6 Catherine Leonard
12 Jean Wetrich
12 Viet-Long Tran
14 Hong Van Phan
16 Joe Hiller
17 Natalie Dang-Ellis
17 Jorden Benjamin
22 Emmeline Pizzola
22 Matthew Pizzola
22 Tess Miller
23 Paul Los, Jr.
27 Victoria Coker-Gunter
28 Harriette Benjamin
30 Carolyn Gawarecki
 

Our Prayer List

We remember in our prayer:

 

Cathy Anderson, Dee Bailey, Kari Boeskov, Brandon, Rachel Burgess, Jane Chapman, Marie Cosimano, Tim Clary, Dorothy Connelly, John Davis, Michael Dickinson, Loretta Dougherty, Steve Escobar, Nance Finegan, Luis Garay, Carolyn Gawarecki, Louise Gibney, Jean Graham, Katherine Hafele, Margaret Ellis Harris, Alek Hensley, Leslie Hogan, Cindy Hogman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Michael Horn,  Lindsay Johns, Gray Johnson, Jamie Kaplon, Laura Kennedy, Iona Kiger, Quinn Kimball, Alice King, Michael Knowles, Ashley Kolitz, Peter Kosutic, Susan Lawrence, Thai Lee, Bruce Lineker, Evelyn Morgan, Danielle Morgan, Que Nguyen, Chick Nixon, Mary Esther Obremskey, Tom Olander, Olive Oliver, Jim Owens, Gary Owens, Valerie Parkhouse, William Ross, Fern Shuck, Irene Skowron, Josh Smithers, Inez Stanton, Candi Stewart, Patrick Stefl, Barbara Stefl, Kara Stryker, Walter Sushko, George Thomas, Elizabeth Trigg, Tammy Vanphung, Michael Weekes, Warren Weinstein, The Crowley Family, The Westfall Family, Meredith Wiech, Bernard Williams, Rev. Letha Wilson-Barnard, Rudy Zimpel.

               ____ 

 

Note: If you have a loved one or friend who needs prayer please call the church and leave a message at 703-532-5656, or write to Winnie Lebo at

thelebos@verizon.net  or call her at 703-536-2075.  Also, should a name need be removed from the list, please let Winnie know promptly, and give the reason.  

 

 

Saint Patrick's Ministers 

The Ministers of Saint Patrick's Church are the People of this Parish

 

supported by

 

The Rev. Marian Humphrey, Interim Rector

 

We serve our Lord as part of the Diocese of Virginia

 

led by

our chief pastors

 

The Rt. Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston, Bishop

 

The Rt. Rev. Susan Goff

Bishop Suffragan 

 

and  

The Rt. Rev. Ted Gulick,

Assistant Bishop 

The Vision of St. Patrick's

Saint Patrick's Episcopal Church is a community of care, called to be Christ-centered and multicultural in worship, Christian education and action to proclaim  Christ's love to the world.

   

Previous Issues of the Epistle
Please click here if you wish to see the previous issues of The Epistle

St. Patrick's Organized for Missions and Ministry 

 

SAINT PATRICK'S ORGANIZED

FOR MISSIONS AND MINISTRY

 
Vestry Committee:
Senior Warden: Kathy Oliver; Junior Warden:  Bill Houston;
Registrar: Winnie Lebo;
Treasurer:  Kathy Oliver; 

Other members of the Vestry:   Elisabeth Nguyen, Milton Thomas, Victoria Kennedy, Ann Nelson. 

 

GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES

 

Altar Guild:  Lois Cascella;  
Bell Choir:  Mariko Hiller; 
Sunday Service Bulletin:  Diem Nguyen, Steve Lebo;
Offering Counters:  Bob Cascella; Diocesan Council Delegate: Bill Houston (Kathy Oliver, alternate delegate);
St. Margaret's Circle:  Ann Nelson; Telephone Chain:
Alice King; Feed the Homeless:  Elisabeth Nguyen;
Odeon Chamber Music Series:  Mariko Hiller;
Westlawn Elementary School:  Winnie Lebo;
Falls Church Community Services: Catherine Dubas;
Hypothermia Shelter Program:  Hao Nguyen; 
The Epistle Newsletter Editors: Winnie Lebo; Flea Market:
Prison Ministry: Nancy Burch;
Meals-on-Wheels: Sunrise/Bluemont:
Michael Knowles   

 

 

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October 9. 2014
Photos
 
 
Altar flowers arranged by Ann Nelson
Blessing the animals

Blessing the animals

Cookies For Coeds

Cookies For Coeds
Parish Notes
- The flowers for Sunday October 512th are given by Van Phan. 

- Falls Church CROP Hunger Walk

http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/site/TR/2014FallCROPHungerWalk/TR-Fall2014?fr_id=19875&pg=entry 

Sunday, October 26, 2014 * Falls Church, VA

Registration: 1:00 p.m.    Walk start: 1:30 p.m.     Rain or shine  begins and ends at Lee-Graham Swimming Pool parking lot

 

CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events that bring people together in a common mission: helping hungry people at home and around the world.    25% of the monies raised will go to FCS

 

This walk is being organized by the  Falls Church Community Service Council, Inc. (FCS), established in 1969, a coalition of 16 member churches and human service organizations in the greater Falls Church area.     FCS services those in need in my community. (For more information about FCCSC website :  http://www.fcswecare.org/communities.html)
 
To Make donations directly to FCCSC website:  http://www.fcswecare.org/donate.html
 
The purpose of the FCS organization is to provide needed human services to poor and disadvantaged individuals and families in the Falls Church community. The assistance primarily is for short term and emergency needs with the overall mission of helping individuals and families achieve self-sufficiency, an improved quality of life and avoid homelessness.
 
Help Crop Walk make a difference. Please visit St. Patrick's Episcopal Church online web page, where you can make a secure donation. Your gift can help save someone's life! 
 http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/site/TR/2014FallCROPHungerWalk/TR-Fall2014?team_id=110009&pg=team&fr_id=19875

- Cookies for Coeds was a success on Sunday!  Ten boxes were packed "to the gills" with homemade cookies, snack packs, raisins, and even some fun stationary items to send to our college students.  We hope that the boxes will be a real sign to them that we are remembering them always and praying for them.  In fact, we did pray for the colleges and universities where they attend, and for the students.  All this is timed to coincide with mid-term exams.  May they truly be encouraged!

 

A special thank you to Kathy Oliver who provided all the boxes and the lovely cards that everyone signed (thank you!!),  to our four teenagers who showed up to help pack and stuff the boxes, to Lois Cascella for making enough chili for a dozen hungry packers, and to Ann Nelson who provided wonderful fresh green salad and cole slaw.  It was a feast, and we enjoyed the fellowship after the packing was done!

 

Last, a thank you to those who provided cookies and other goodies, and to those who donated to help offset the cost of postage.  If you would like to contribute to the postage it's not too late-just mail a check to the office or put a check in the offering plate next Sunday.  Please make your check payable to St. Patrick's Episcopal Church with Cookies for Coeds postage in the memo line.

 

Catherine Dubas

- Anyone wishing to be baptized or confirmed by Bishop Gulick on October 26, 2014, must speak with Rev. Marian ASAP. You can reach her in the church office by calling 703 532-5656.

- A series of Telling the Story of St. Patrick's Events is currently being planned. If anyone would like to work on the committee, please let Rev. Marian know.

- Next Sunday- October 12th- The First of our Ask the Interim Series. Stay after the service and join Rev. Marian for conversation. Tell her what's on your mind!

- Join the Interim Rector for a Mid-week break! You're invited to Noontime prayer with healing . Stay for Soup and Conversation. The soup's on me! Beginning October 15th at St. Patrick's.

- The care package came today...thank you so much!! And please let everyone else know I said thanks.  My roommates and study buddies and I will definitely enjoy it! 
Ashby Nelson


Marian's Corner
Change is all around us

 

A look around the parish property tells me that fall has definitely arrived. The trees surrounding the church are beginning to change into a spectacular array of colors. Daylight shortens and the evening shadows make their appearance earlier in the late afternoon.  Our lives have resumed our regular activities now that summer is past. An example of this is the new Odeon Concert Series has begun. Under the supervision of our Music Director, Mariko Hiller, the new season promises to be an exciting opportunity to listen to a variety of musical talents right within our midst!

Just like the seasons, St. Patrick's has been undergoing a change as well. Since Father Tinh retired and moved away to be nearer to his family, St. Patrick's has been adjusting to life without his gentle presence. Your Vestry has called me to be your Interim Rector and it is a privilege to be here with all of you.

It is clear to me that St. Patrick's has a rich history of outreach and welcome. Your invitation to the Vietnamese community to join you in 1995 is evidence that you are serious about Jesus' mandate to, "Go and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19). At the present time, I see your generosity made visible with collections to assist the individuals and families stricken with Ebola. The feeding of the homeless at the Bailey's Crossroads Shelter is another way the parish makes Christ known.

In the days and weeks ahead, the Vestry and I will be offering opportunities for you to come and share your thoughts and ideas concerning the future of St. Patrick's. God wants to use all of us for the healing of the world.  Beginning October 6, I will be conducting office hours at the IHOP at 6655 Arlington Blvd Falls Church (703-237 5191) from 9 to 11 am every Tuesday. Drop by and have a cup of coffee with me.

Let us listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit among us leading this parish into a bright and fulfilling future. Let us reflect on the words of the prophet, Isaiah in chapter 43:19, "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"

May God's blessings be yours!

Faithfully,

Marian +

Rev. Marian Humphrey, Interim Rector

The Propers 

Sunday, October 12, 2014
This Sunday is the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Texts: 

Exodus 32:1-14

Collect: 

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

 

Last Sunday's Sermon

Given by The Rev. Marian Humphrey  

October 5, 2014

 

"Our Long-Suffering God"

 

The Scriptures for today center on the themes of putting God first and the blessings of persistence. Another way of understanding the Scriptures for today's worship is to think of Israel's love story with God which is actually a story of "unrequited love".[1]  Unrequited means that a love is not returned in the same way. The love is not reciprocated by the one loved.


Unrequited love is a subject that has long fascinated playwrights and song writers. It is such a part of the human story that Shakespeare the English playwright of the 15th Century wrote two plays, "All's Well that Ends Well" and "Othello", on the topic. The great opera, "Bizet" is another example of this all too familiar human experience.  The best example of what it means is to think about spurned love is to reflect on some popular country western songs.


Bonnie Raitt sang, "I can't make you love me."Just hold me close, don't patronize - don't patronize me. 'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't. You can't make your heart feel something it won't.


Dolly Parton's song, "I will always love you" made famous by the great performer, Whitney Houston,

"If I should stay, well, I would only be in your way. And so I'll go, and yet I know that I'll think of you each step of my way. And I will always love you. I will always love you".

And my personal favorite, singer, Patsy Cline, with her song, "Sweet Dreams":

Sweet dreams of you
Every night I go through
Why can't I forget you and start my life anew
Instead of having sweet dreams about you.

 

Who among us has not experienced the heart wrenching pain of unreciprocated love especially during our adolescence?  We thought our lives would end and we'd never find anyone else who would love us. Looking back, I think that that painful time was all part of God's plan to help us realize real love when we finally see it.


Biblical history tells the story of God's long lasting love affair with humanity. In the beginning, the Book of Genesis states, God created the heavens and the earth. God then created human beings.  He created humans to be in relationship with him and with one another.  From that point on it seems humanity betrayed God's unconditional love with sin, jealousy, lying, murder, adultery, and deception. Just to name a few of humanity's shortcomings. Despite humanity's poor track record with loving and honoring God; God has never tired of pursuing human beings. Over and over again, God reaches out to heal and to save human beings from themselves and their sinful choices and decisions.


"The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob" hears the complaints of his people against Egyptian slave drivers and knows their sufferings, comes down to rescue them and makes with them a covenant of enduring fidelity (Ex. 3:4-9) [2]and even then as well as now we are unfaithful people with very short memories of God's goodness towards us- His people.


God's "Divine pathos" as author Joshua Heschel refers to it is God's divine longing to be in relationship with humanity and God's suffering when that love is not reciprocated. This love that eventually will "empty itself; even on a cross" for the life of another is expressed by Jesus as He laments over Jerusalem. "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it." How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing." (Matt. 23:37-38).


Our Gospel is an allegory about the love of God for God's people Israel. God, of course, is the owner of the vineyard. Vineyards are traditionally used as symbols for Israel. We're told that the owner of the vineyard takes care of his property by planting the vines putting a fence around the property so intruders cannot get inside. He digs a wine press and constructs a watchtower.


The tenants will have the benefit of all these upgrades to the property when it is time for the growing season and the harvest. When the harvest arrives, the tenants instead of feeling gratitude for the generosity of the land owner as his slaves arrive to retrieve what is rightfully the owner's share, beat and kill the slaves. Instead, the tenants used violence against the owner's slaves. They felt envious about the Son's inheritance. They felt greed towards the fruits of the harvest. Their stubbornness and selfish blindness kept them from recognizing the abundance offered to them by the landowner.


The vineyard owner tries again and sends another group of slaves to receive the fruits of the vineyard and those slaves are also beaten and killed. Feeling rather desperate to reach these ruthless people, the landowner sends his own son. But tragically, the result is the same. The owner's son is also beaten and murdered.


Clearly, Jesus tells this story as an allegory. An allegory is a metaphor- a comparison of two realities. The slaves are symbolic of the prophets who called even at their peril; the people to repentance and a return to the righteous living of God's covenant. And the vineyard owner's son is a metaphor for Jesus who was killed by the Roman authorities at the behest of the Jewish officials.


Jesus is making in a statement against the religious establishment in Jerusalem. Matthew notes that the chief priests and elders indict themselves when asked by Jesus "what will the vineyard owner do the people that killed his servants and his son?" They answer that the owner will put those evil tenants to a miserable death and give the vineyard to others who will care for it." With those words, the chief priests recognize that Jesus was telling the story about their refusal to recognize Him as God's own Son. Their indignation made them want to get rid of Jesus but they decided to wait because they feared the reaction of the crowds.


Today's Gospel challenges us to ask ourselves do we refuse the love God wants to give us? Do we reject God's attempts to be in relationship with us? Do we ignore God's commandments and try to persistently structure our lives according to the way we think is best rather than live according to the way of Christ?

Let us go forth from this place to love others with God's inclusive love. Let us go forth into the world as children of the same father. Let us strive to work towards the healing of creation as Christ's co-workers in the vineyard. AMEN



[1] Burkett, Christopher. "The Parable of the Long Suffering God". www.PreacherRhetorica. 2014

[2] Donahue, John R. "Love's Labor's Lost"  America, September 30, 2002

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

May God bless and keep you, and may God grant us peace.  

Please pray for Saint Patrick's throughout the process of transition 

 

Saint Patrick's Episcopal Church

Falls Church, Virginia