Epiphany News

What a good day for deep cleaning at Epiphany! Here are some of the projects we took on; I apologize for missing some of you and the hard work you were doing!

Here’s a little biographical information on The Rev. Ben Alford, who will be our celebrant this Sunday, July 8.

The Rev. Ben Alford is the Retired Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Wetumpka, Alabama. Ben was born in Albertville, Alabama, graduated from Albertville High School, The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Fr. Alford served in the Peace Corps, teaching and working at the National Forestry School in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. He taught Civil Engineering, Trigonometry, Soil Conservation and Forest Management. The project was a joint project of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the Dominican Government and the Peace Corps.

Before going to Seminary, Ben spent ten years working with The Boy Scouts of America as a Community Organizer and Field Director.

Ben has been married to Lynn Dugan Alford for 40 years. Ben and Lynn have one son, Seth who is a General Manager with Zoe’s Kitchen Restaurants in Scottsdale, Arizona.

When not preaching and teaching, Ben enjoys gardening, golf, kayaking, reading and sitting and looking at the lake.

Ben and Lynn love on Lake Jordan in Titus, Alabama.

Father Arnold asked me to tell you about this:

The Rev. Arnold A. Bush, Jr. has accepted an invitation to attend a CREDO conference from November 26 – December 3, 2012 at the Solomon Conference Center located in Loranger, Louisiana.

The eight-day conference provides participants with the means to find direction and clarity in four component areas: spiritual, health, vocational, and financial. CREDO provides a foundation for participants to embrace wellness and to prayerfully discern the direction of their vocation.

CREDO was founded in 1997 as a pilot program funded by The Church Pension Group. Episcopal clergy, deacons and bishops from virtually every diocese in the country have taken advantage of the CREDO benefit. Participants are selected at random from all active clergy with more than one year in the Pension Fund. The Church Pension Fund pays all but $500 of the conference costs.

The Rev. Arnold A. Bush, Jr. will join approximately 30 other clergy in the CREDO conference. Over the course of the conference, participants will meet in plenary sessions, small groups and private consultations with faculty members. Participants also have ample quiet time to reflect on their personal and professional lives.

Each participant commits to extensive reflection through pre-conference instruments and surveys that focus on personal and professional wellness. The work of CREDO is organized around four major areas in each person’s personal and professional life. Each of these components is explored as an integral part of the whole.

Spiritual – offers a sacred space where each participant can reflect on his or her interior life and relationship with God in Christ.
Vocational – provides opportunities for reflection, discernment, and planning in the professional areas of vocation, career, and work.
Health – encourages reflection on physical and emotional health and well-being, stewardship of the body, and development of a plan to address the individual’s health needs.
Financial – explores all aspects of personal financial management and encourages reflection on God-given resources and how best to use them in response to God’s call.

Through this discernment and visioning process, and with the help of a faculty team of professionals, each participant builds a CREDO Plan – a personal covenant based on his or her CREDO work and a formal expression of the CREDO experience. The CREDO Plan provides a personal baseline and strategy for effective implementation.

Here is Father Arnold’s outline for his sermon on May 13, 2012, entitled “What is the atmosphere in your home? You have a choice to be a thermometer or a thermostat.”

Sermon for May 13, 2012

Did you know Epiphany has a mission statement? I didn’t, but Jean Kerr remembered it and has provided it to Father Arnold. Developed during our parish’s uncertain birth, it rings with hope for the future:

The purpose is to establish a ministry in the Episcopal tradition in the community of Tallassee and the surrounding area in order to worship God in the Holy Eucharist, teach the gospel, and carry on the work of Christ.

Lately we’ve been having lots of conversation about an updated mission statement that can help us move our ministry forward. After a brief detour (that I caused by wanting everybody in the church to embrace my passion about food as ministry), we have been guided by two principles. The first is that our mission statement should be poetic enough to inspire us; the second is that it should be short enough that all can remember it.

Our small group at First Thursday last night, acutely aware that it had no portfolio or authority, nevertheless agreed to offer you two forms of a mission statement so we can continue the conversation. Here they are:

Option #1: “The purpose of Episcopal Church of the Epiphany is to know Christ and make Him known.”

Option #2: “The purpose of Episcopal Church of the Epiphany is to know Christ and make Him known to all through our open doors, open windows, and open hearts.”

After that meeting, Amanda and I reflected on the original mission statement and considered how we might adjust it incrementally rather than discarding it in its entirety. We particularly like the three-part task statement of worship, teaching, and carrying on Christ’s work. If we as a group decide to explore this option, our suggestion of a restatement of it is this: “The mission of Episcopal Church of the Epiphany is to worship God, share the gospel, and carry on the work of Christ.”

As you reflect and pray on these and any other options you consider, I hope you’ll ask some questions about it:

1. Does it reflect God’s plan for our ministry?
2. Does it inspire me?
3. Would I remember it?
4. Would it guide our ministries? That is, would it help us know what ministries are appropriate and what ministries are best left alone?

During the next few weeks we will be talking together about our mission statement. It’s essential that we develop consensus about our mission. It’s not essential that we do so quickly or that it be one of the two options shown above. It is possible but not necessary that we could reach consensus as early as Pentecost on May 27.

Here are the notes The Revd Canon Patrick J Wingo prepared for his sermon on April 29, 2012.

Sermon for April 29, 2012 – Pat Wingo

These are the notes Father Arnold prepared for his sermon on April 22, 2012, entitled “Asking Caring and Loving Questions – One Way of Communicating the Gospel.”

April 22, 2012 Sermon

Here are the notes Father Arnold prepared for his sermon on April 8, 2012, Easter Sunday.

Sermon outline for April 8, 2012

What a fun morning! Amanda and I are sorry that we had to leave so early, but we know it was a fun afternoon as well.

Here’s the picture of the assembled group after worship. You can click on it for a larger version suitable for downloading.
Here’s the version Tom Bray took of the two crosses, the one with all our flowers and the draped cross behind it. Thanks, Tom!
Here’s Tom’s picture of the kids ready to hunt. Probably getting a little put out with all the delays.
Here are all the Easter lilies, with Mike in the background collecting the offering.
And here’s one of Eddie Harper mowing on Saturday. This one’s another of mine, so there’s a full-resolution available if you click on it.

Happy Easter to all!

Here are the notes Father Arnold prepared for his sermon on March 25, 2012, entitled “When I Am Lifted Up, I Will Draw All People To Myself.”

Sermon outline for March 25, 2012