One of the things I think is so cool about the partnership that we have with Mary H. Wright is that it has been so long term. Yes, it has had its ups and downs as most relationships do but we have been a regular part of life at that school since the 90's.
Another interesting piece of information that you may not know is that our church is painted on one of the main walls of the school. Below is a picture of Joy Oates and Julie Schwartz in front of the beautiful mural. They were there for the meet and greet with teachers handing out cookies and lemonade to students who are excited about starting the new year. This is such a great ministry to be involved in. They are now looking for help with class parties and connecting with classrooms. Please contact us if you are interested in knowing more!
0 Comments
It is summer and we are about to enjoy a little break from the grind with the festivities of Independence Day. Here at the church things slow down just a little bit in July but we have had some wonderful things happening in June. Here are a few Vacation Bible School!! We had over 70 children and even more volunteers that pulled together a wonderful program about the underground church in Rome. They also raised funds for Free Wheelchair mission and brought cans for local food banks. Mary H. Wright Elementary School (MHW) Students head to Washington, DC. Our church has a long-standing connection to MHW and supported 25 students from the 5th grade leadership club to go to Washington, D.C. They even got to meet the Vice President while there. Here are a few pictures. Men's Mission Team to the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee working with Housing Sewanee did an incredible job framing a home. It is amazing to see how our church is involved in wonderful Outreach opportunities. I believe lots of us would say that family is our first ministry. I certainly learned that as I served as a missionary in Ecuador from the families that I worked with, long before I was married or had children. Service, outreach, missions, and ministry all starts at home. In my 8 years of being married and two years with a child I can see how that is SO true.
So...as I write this I am almost 40 weeks pregnant and hoping that by next week I will have a little baby in my arms and will be taking a break from blogging on here for 6 weeks until I come back to work. If you need anything while I am gone please contact the church office (all the info is on the contact page here) I would love to explore the topic of being intentional about ministry at home soon - maybe that will be my first blog when I get back!! There will be lots going on while I'm gone... look for church communications on Mary H. Wright, The Northside work day, SPIHN, and mission teams. Here is a link back to our church website where you can look at the latest weekly events. On the bottom right it says Bell Ringer and that will have the latest edition. Until after baby!! Ciao!! I have been thinking a lot about this lately. What is serving? How do we serve? Why serve?
There has been so much information in my mind lately about service to others. As I observe people and churches, the most vibrant ones I have seen, are those that concentrate on serving others. There is a joy and a light that shines through when we put ourselves aside and focus on someone or something else. As a church community, I think serving others is essential to our success of shining Christ's light in our larger community and in the world. As the director of Outreach and Missions I wonder about the best ways to engage our church community in doing this. If you have any thoughts I would always love to hear them! That is my thought and challenge for today... We recently hosted our first 2017 SPIHN. I am always grateful for the experience to have these families at our church. It helps me to remember how much we need each other and what a blessing it is to give.
SPIHN is basically a homeless shelter that works to keep families together and keep costs low. It does that by housing families in churches for one week increments. The majority of the families are single moms working hard to make ends meet. There are usually moms in the program that have children close to my little boys age. It is so interesting to hear their stories, struggles, and reality. These are not dead-beat moms who can't get it together, they are moms just like me who are struggling to do the best they can for their family. However, for these moms the rug has been pulled out from under them. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to take my two year old to a new "home" week after week because we don't have a place of our own. I understand much more as a working mom the struggle that it can be to keep everything together. I am so grateful that I have my better half (my hubby) working by my side, but that is not a reality for all moms. I guess more than anything, SPIHN makes me realize how much we need each other as God's community of believers. We need to lift each other up, to offer a place to stay, to love on kids, to offer warm meals. This is not just for our friends it is for all. As we begin Lent, I want to continue to remember God's call to hospitality and love! I recently got to be a part of the latest outing for the Mary H. Wright Leadership Group.
The Leadership Group is 26 fifth graders that show leadership capabilities in their classes. They do not have to be the smartest, most popular, or make the best grades they just need to show a desire to lead and to serve. Ashley Brown, a teacher at the school with the Principal, Marc Zachary, and one of our church leaders Joy Oates have been instrumental in forming this group. The highlight at the end of the year will be a trip to Washington, D.C. sponsored by our church! During the year, they meet each week as well as have different activities and outings to serve the community. The latest outing was to our church kitchen. Gail and Jessica Owens, our famous kitchen ladies, had helped to prepare all that was needed for the 26 children to make cookies for Valentine's Day. These cookies would then be packaged and distributed to all the teachers at their school. I can't describe to you how excited they were to measure out the ingredients and make these cookies! Each person got to make his/her own pan of cookies. While they waited for them to cook they made cards for each teacher and got to taste a previously made batch of their creations. The next day, they packaged the cookies and handed them out. What a wonderful way to give and I am sure the teachers felt loved! Pictured below: left - students getting ready to make magic bar cookies right: Sally Hammond from the District 7 office with students from Mary H. Wright I was honored and so very flattered when Rev. Debbie asked me to be the speaker at this year's Women's Retreat. When she asked me to think through a topic that would be interesting to our congregation that related to our theme for the year Courage, Community, and Commitment, I immediately thought of friendship.
I think one of my biggest struggles in moving back to the US from South America has been finding close friendships... and beyond that even harder to find spiritual friendships. Those people who will intentionally pray for you when you are struggling or who will ask you the hard questions about how you are doing or your faith. True community and deep friendship is something we all need but I have witnessed and been a part of it being a difficult thing to cultivate. Yet, as my friend Alyson always says, "there's just something different about your church friends." I have found that to be so true and such a blessing to find those friends. I am thrilled to share the experience of leading the Women's Retreat with my close friend and mentor Sandi Miller. She was truly sent by God into my life at a time a deep struggle. I am so grateful for the role she has played and the wisdom she will also share with us. We are made for connection, yet sometimes that is the most difficult thing to form. I hope that you will join us for this great weekend! The dates are January 27 and 28. You can register online here. This year, Mary H. Wright hired a new art teacher. Her name is Erica Turner. The principal at the school was so excited, he couldn't wait for her to start. The artwork that these children have made over the past few months has been incredible! I have a passion for art and know how important it is for children to have the opportunity to create. (In my former life I began an art program for underpriveleged children in Ecuador) The few times I have been able to volunteer in the class room, the kids are SO excited to be able to paint and use color in all sorts of ways!
When I recently went by the school and walked the halls I snapped a few photos of these masterpieces. (see below) The other cool thing is that as many of you know, art is not on the priority list for funding. I received a call at the beginning of the school year to see if the Advent could help in any way to get a few things for the art class. I put some feelers out with little luck until Christmas. This Christmas we had the huge blessing of receiving a lot of folks that wanted to be sponsors of children in our Operation Magi program for the children at Mary H. Wright Elementary School. The school did not have as many children to give us this year and the Sunday School Class, the Gleaners, instead sponsored the art class!! What a wonderful way to bless these children!! Email me to find out more about how to help in the classrooms! The First Wednesday night dinner was a blast! Generally Outreach is not in charge of the First Wednesday dinner because it falls so close to Epiphany that we do a service then a meal. This year, Epiphany falls today!! This is the day that celebrates when the Wise men made it to see Jesus. The days from Christmas to Epiphany are the 12 days of Christmas. This is why our Christmas tree is still up! I love having the 12 days of Christmas after Christmas, it makes the celebration last longer.
Anyway, back to the Wednesday dinner... We had such a fun program this year. To start, families brought canned goods to give to our local food pantries. We encouraged everyone to bring three things to represent the three gifts the Wisemen brought Jesus. Then, everyone was encouraged to leave a shoe behind signifying the long journey the Wisemen took to get to Jesus (while everyone was eating we put gold chocolate stars in the shoes to show the start they followed). All this and we were just getting warmed up! After dinner, our dessert was a king cake that contained 3 beans and a little baby Jesus. The individuals that found the beans and baby Jesus were to represent three kings and baby Jesus. We had their costumes ready at the front. Some of our kids helped to dress them then we asked them to leave so we could prepare our "offerings" to them. We then passed out to each table a mad libs type story about Epiphany for them to fill out. This was a great way for tables to work together and there were some wonderful and hilarious words chosen to fit into the stories. The kings came back and someone from the table read the story. It was a wonderful intergenerational event as the children were laughing hysterically just like the adults! To end the evening we passed out sparklers. We were hoping to light these outside to sing together but it was too windy. So, we passed out the sparklers in the dining room, pretended they were lit and sang together, "This Little Light of Mine." The entire program was about 30 minutes, perfect timing for everyone! I know that I had a blast doing it and I hope everyone else did too!! Today was fabulous!! I got to play bingo with 4 classes of 1st graders! Christmas Bingo may be my new favorite thing to do. The children were thrilled to help pass out everything and help call the Bingo pictures. I also got the chance to ask what their favorite part of Christmas is ( I didn't let them use presents as an answer). Do you know what the number one answer was?? Spending time with family...and eating cookies was a close second! There were also many other activities like making gingerbread houses, decorating ornaments, and a gingerbread play. It was a wonderful day to be serving at Mary H. Wright!
|
Laura EstevezDirector of Outreach and Missions at the Episcopal Church of the Advent. Archives
June 2017
|