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.
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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!! |
Laura EstevezDirector of Outreach and Missions at the Episcopal Church of the Advent. Archives
June 2017
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