Celebrating the 60th Wedding Anniversary of Keith and Iris Ringold - Sunday, October 18  

This Sunday we will celebrate Keith and Iris Ringold's 60th Wedding Anniversary at the 10:30am service and afterward in the parish hall.  We are so grateful for the Ringold family and are happy to celebrate this joyous day with all of them at St. Matthew's. Many of you will recognize the beautiful, careful woodworking Keith has undertaken with the new recycling station in the undercroft, our parish sign on the front lawn and countless repairs to our church property.

The couple met recently with the Rev. Blair Pogue and offered these words of wisdom based on their 60 years together.

Keith and Iris Ringold's Recipe for a Long and Happy Marriage:
  • Pray together -- prayer is important and powerful
  • Talk through any disagreements - don't let them simmer
  • Love each other and respect one another's wishes
  • Compromise
  • Remember the importance of humor and perspective
  • Cultivate shared interests
  • Make time to get away regularly with your spouse and family
Adult Faith Forum with Dr. Karen McKinney: October 18
 
Dr. Karen McKinney from Bethel University will return this week to continue the conversation we started last spring on race and reconciliation.   Each session begins at 9:15am in the parish library.

On Oct. 18 we will have a conversation about institutional racism. Our goal is to gain insight on how racism is institutionalized in society, and how we can start to dismantle it.

On Oct. 25 we will focus on increasing the tools in our tool box for reconciliation. We will learn about code switching and explore how we think about language and the power of language in our racialized society.

Thank You from The Rev. Blair Pogue 

Dear Friends from St. Matthew's:
Thank you for the lovely 10th anniversary celebration last Sunday! I appreciated the am and pm celebrations, and am so thankful for the Minnesota stole (thank you Laura Bathke) and the generous gift to my discretionary fund. Special thanks to Katie White, Mike Christenson, Lis Christenson, and Lisa Wiens Heinsohn for two cakes, and lots of prayers and love.

I am also so grateful to Lis Christenson for the beautiful memory book she put together, in which she documented the last ten years at St. Matthew's. I will always treasure the stole, the memory book, and the lovely cards many of you sent. I will also treasure all I have learned from and with you. Please know how blessed I am to be a part of the St. Matthew's community.
With gratitude,
Blair
Celtic Cross
5 Things We Love About The Celtic Liturgy... 
 
Every Fall, we return to the Celtic Liturgy at St. Matthew's - prayers and music from Iona Abbey in Scotland.  We asked parishioners to share what they loved best ... and these brave souls offered their thoughts on The City:
  • The fresh and creation-oriented language and the joy I feel when I sing and pray. I also love the Sanctus. I feel like I am singing surrounded by angels and the Communion of Saints. - The Rev. Blair Pogue
  • The music is beautiful and touches my heart. The Celtic tradition is part of my ancestral heritage, too. - Felicia R Cochran
  • I like praying for/with Sts. Columba, Margaret, Patrick, Bridget, etc. It re-focuses the mind during the liturgical routine. - Elizabeth Hosch
  • The Celtic music helps me to connect. The lyrics are prayers, which I can deeply focus on. - Larry O'Toole
  • I love the language. Like the other liturgies we use, the words are slightly different - and by reading them, and listening to them, and saying them aloud, I get all kinds of tiny insights to what we do each week. It makes church feel new. And then, it's beautiful in the way Irish poetry is beautiful - something about the cadence, coupled with plain language. - Katrina Vandenberg
  • Being a person who has Scots-Irish ancestry, I love the words and the music, especially Michael's compositions. I'm not very musical but I find that when music touches me I tend to find myself singing it to myself. The period that we use the Celtic liturgy is too short for me. I'd love to see us use it more frequently. - Marilyn Grantham
-Before the dinner, The St. Matthew's serving team received their instructions.                

African Dinner Accomplishes Goals to Support the Blue House Girls 
By Marilyn Grantham, HMI Board Member

Together we raised the money needed to provide postsecondary education AND to fill the 10 empty beds at the Blue House orphanage. Beatrice Garubanda's dream continues! Many, many thanks to all of you who helped in one way or another to make the African Dinner a success ... making or donating items to be sold at the silent and live auctions, buying tickets and auction items, making donations, and volunteering in many, many ways.

After all expenses were paid, the dinner netted just over $31,100. This is enough money to cover tuition and other expenses for the three young women ... Grace, Ovious and Peace ... currently enrolled at Makarere University AND to pay the additional operating expenses ... about $1,000 per girl ... for up to 10 new girls to come to live in the Blue House. However, this is basically the cost for one year ... so if you couldn't come to the dinner and would still like to donate, or can give more money at any time, we welcome additional funds for this worthy cause. You can put checks made to HMI (Hope Multipurpose, Inc. ... our nonprofit name) in the offering plate or donate via our website www.hopemultipurpose.org.

At their monthly board meeting on Saturday, Oct. 10, the HMI board of directors approved the postsecondary education expenditures for the three university students and authorized Aine Abel, the Blue House director, with the help of the BH social worker, to review the waiting list of girls wanting to come to BH and determine who is still interested and eligible. The Ugandan board of directors will also be involved in the selection process. We hope that at least five new girls will come in time to start school in the second term which begins in February 2016.

Watch for our fall newsletter and our website for news about who the new girls are. And put December 5 and 6 on your calendar. Those are the dates this year for our annual Holiday Boutique at St. Matthew's ... always a great opportunity to do your gift shopping AND support a wonderful cause at the same time! 

Race & Reconciliation Book Discussion: The New Jim Crow

Everyone is welcome to a book discussion of  The New Jim Crow  Monday, November 9th in the library at 7:00pm.

According to Amazon, here is a brief synopsis of the book: "Once in a great while a book comes along that changes the way we see the world and helps to fuel a nationwide social movement.  The New Jim Crow directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness. With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control - relegating millions to a permanent second-class status - even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a "call to action."
City Tips: What is going well?   

  • We have over 113 members on The City! Many of you are jumping right in - adding sign-up documents, posting schedules, offering comments, making prayer requests and connecting in your smaller groups.  Thanks to everyone for your patience as we make this transition to a better way of communicating at St. Matthew's!
  • Are you on The City?  There are several ways to do this -  put your email on a sign up sheet located in the parish hall and we will send you an invitation.  Individual help is also available after the services.  Any questions, please call the Church Office at 651 645-3058.
Faith + Learning Resources     
  • St. Matthew's parishioner Mike Lopez recommends a social justice opportunity to fellow parishioners at Bridging - a nonprofit offering household furnishings to recently homeless people just starting to set up a home. Mike has volunteered with this organization over the last year. Here is more information about Bridging.
  • Join the conversation about race and reconciliation (see above) by reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
  • Do you have a book, event, opportunity or other resource to share?  Send them to Tidings.
Looking Ahead: Calendar Highlights
  • October 18: Faith Forum with Dr. Karen McKinney, 9:15am
  • October 18: 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration for Keith & Iris Ringold at the 10:30am service and afterward in the parish hall.
  • Oct 18 & 25: New Member Class: A two session class for anyone interested in officially joining the St. Matthew's faith community - from noon - 1:30 in the church Library.
  • October 25: Commitment Sunday: Dedication of pledges and luncheon.
  • November 1: All Saints Sunday
  • November 9: Book Discussion of The New Jim Crow at 7:00pm
 
Please share your news and photos with us: tidings@stmatthewsmn.org 

Visit our website for the prayer list, calendar and sermons