Last month's poll question was:  "Which of these is your favorite Bible verse about love?"  Here are the results:

1 Corinthians 13:4 ("Love is patient; love is kind . . .")                                        50%
1 John 4:19 ("We love because God first loved us . . .")                                       6%
John 15:9 ("As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you . . .")                     12%
Luke 10:27 ("You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart . . .")             19%  

                                                              by Gail Schilling      

 

A shamrock covered Beanie Baby® in Kristin Dunklee's office commemorates her first day of work at St. Paul's 10 years ago this St. Patrick's Day. "But," Kristin explains, "My job has never been what I was hired to do."  Originally hired as the "rector's assistant" by Rev. David Jones, she thought she would handle bills and a little secretarial work. That's what she thought...

Now, ten years later, Kristin is Parish Administrator, the Go-To person for the daily operation of St. Paul's. She does nearly everything. For example, she still handles bills (approving them, cutting checks and forwarding three or four dozen a month for signing). With her warm-as-a-hug welcome, she fields scores of phone calls: homeless persons looking for outreach, sick persons needing prescription assistance, emotional persons needing to schedule weddings and funerals, even the Secret Service when the Vice President came to town. Kristin is often first in line to smooth troubled waters, like that parking snafu involving a hearse and the Governor's office.

There's more. She prepares the annual financial report for the Diocese and manages the church calendar, that is, scheduling all meeting times and rooms. She proofreads the church bulletin, plans vestry retreats, and records births and burials. Unbelievably, she knows how to spell everyone's name and knows preferred nicknames. Most importantly, she knows who is sick or having a difficult time.

"I feel that a major piece of my job is to have to have good listening ears-and maintain confidentiality. One of the things that drew me to this job was dealing with people. Before, I worked for a corporation that was only looking at a bottom line. Here we're dealing with people's emotions and their lives. It's unbelievable what people go through."

A parish member since 1970, Kristin also serves on the Altar Guild and as an usher, a Eucharistic minister and reader, though her non-stop attention to detail can compromise her worship experience; she notices cobwebs or glitches in the bulletin or altar flowers before anyone else. Perhaps that's because she's quick to fulfill "other duties as necessary." These range from being on call as a Food Pantry substitute, sanding the parking lot in a pinch, or trimming twigs on the altar arrangements. 

So what keeps this woman going? "I have to tell you, I really love my job. I love the people. Most days, I feel like I've done something positive."

                                by Nancy Hopkins Greene                    

[This Lenten Reflection is reprinted from the Episcopal Relief & Development Agency's website, with permission.  Nancy Hopkins Greene is Assisting Priest at the Church of the Redeemer in Cincinnati, Ohio] 

                                    Give us this day our daily bread.

                                       -  Matthew 6:11

Sometimes grace at our dinner table consists of these simple words: "Feed the hungry, O God. And for those of us who have plenty, may we hunger for you." My kids like it mostly because it is short. But it also invites us to reflect on what we hunger for in our lives.  

In places of severe drought in the developing world, people can spend most of a day walking to a well for water or waiting in line for food. Getting these basic needs met is their primary occupation. As for those of us who have plenty to eat, are we content? No, we keep wanting other things: good wine, the latest electronic device, a better job. Our appetites, it would seem, are insatiable. What would it mean to hunger instead for God? 

Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us today our daily bread." It is important that we not spiritualize hunger and forget those who are physically starving. But asking God for "daily bread" means more than just food. It is asking God to give us what we truly need--not all the other stuff we think we need.  

What might daily bread be for you today? 

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

© St. Paul's Church, 2013. Next Newsletter: April 1; deadline for submissions: March 28.  Please do not reprint text or graphics without permission.