Emmanuel Community Life

Tree Distribution--Island residents may sign up at the Farmers Market to get native trees!

Island residents are encouraged to stop by the IslandVision table on 8/30 or 9/13 at the MI Farmers Market to sign up for Vine Maple or Western Red Cedar (2 gallon size) trees to be distributed on Sunday, Oct 4 & 11th. This is a great way to green up your place and reduce your carbon footprint--these species have been chosen because they are healthy sinks for carbon dioxide and do well in our Pacific northwest environment. Very low cost, as the City is subsidizing the bulk tree purchase under their sustainability initiative!

Seasonal Liturgical Changes for the Fall

Seasons Change! As a part of Emmanuel's tradition of engaging in the broadness of the Episcopal Church's liturgy, you will notice some subtle changes as we move from the late days of summer into the fall. At the 10:30am Eucharist, we will be using Eucharistic Prayers from Enriching Our Worship, a supplement to The Book of Common Prayer. We will also be using an adapted form of the prayers of the people written specifically for us and engaging more voices of the congregation. At the 5:00pm liturgy we will be using Eucharistic Prayers and Prayers of the People similar to those at 10:30. The 8:00am Eucharist adaptations have already been implemented with the final hymn sung during the procession out of the church. You will notice the changes beginning on Welcome Home Sunday, September 14.

Union Gospel Mission Provided Ministry Opportunity for Emmanuelites

From Your Social Action Commission: Update on Union Gospel Mission Special Parish Project Event: On Wednesday August 19th eleven members of Emmanuel served dinner to approximately 180 men and women at the Union Gospel Mission. Some of us served dinner while others helped clean up and wash the dinner trays. It was a most worthwhile experience and the diners were very grateful. Many thanks to Marilee Clarke and McKay Duer for organizing this event and to Nile Clarke, Julie Baker, George Chambers, Claire Conway, Kris Dobbyn, Anna Gordon, Mark Greaves and Emily Greaves for their service. The Social Action Commission hopes to organize another volunteer opportunity at the Union Gospel Mission later on this year. For we who were there, it was a wonderful experience! The food for the month of August is jello and puddings. Foods that have protein such as canned stews, meats, fish and peanut butter are always needed as well as canned fruit. Please continue your generosity and keep the green barrel filled up at a time when it is especially needed.

Welcome Home Sunday September 13

Welcome Home Sunday is around the corner (September 13). We will kick off our program year with a festive intergenerational Eucharist at 10:30. Join us in two weeks for worship, fellowship and a chance to reconnect if you've been away for summer (or even a bit longer!) Come back home; we miss you.

Emmanuel Book Club resumes September 14

Emmanuel Book Club will meet on Monday September 14th (2nd Monday this month only, because of the Labor Day Holiday) at 9:30 am in the church library. The book for discussion is: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

Sunday Morning Church School Ministers Sought

Beginning this week we will be looking for teams of 4-6 people to minister to our children throughout the year. Ministers sign up for 1 hour of instruction a week for periods of 3-8 weeks. Because of the team teaching format, group members tend to have more flexibility in scheduling and curricular choices. We will continue with the Workshop Cycles curriculum this year.

Important information regarding Communion and the Flu

To the People of God in the Diocese of Olympia,

By now you have heard that there is an expectation of a reemergence of the Swine Flu in the next weeks and months. College campuses are already seeing cases. Washington State University has five cases currently. It is difficult to know how to prepare for this, but there are certainly some good guidelines emerging to help us.

Many of the guidelines are common sense, wash your hands often, if you feel sick stay home. Churches might consider making hand sanitizer widely available. For us as a liturgical, gathering community, we may well be faced with some difficult decisions. I would relay to you what Bishop Hampton has already sent to the Diocese of Oregon. I do not think I could say it much better than him so let me simply quote here.

 "Over the years I've become aware of the developing practice of communicants dipping their own hosts in the chalice in the belief that this reduces exposure to infection. The information I have read from medical authorities both in The Anglican Church of Canada and The Church of England strongly questions that assumption. In truth, they suggest, the more hands dipping into the chalice, the greater the possibility of infection as the hands are among the greatest carriers of "germs".

One might also question the Exchange of The Peace on similar grounds but I hesitate to sound an alarm at this stage, recalling how quickly many congregations moved to using two chalices when HIV/AIDS virus appeared on our radar screens in the early 1980s, only to discover that AIDS was normally transmitted in other ways.

For now, may I suggest that you encourage folks to follow the wisdom of the governmental authorities on prevention of the spread of this flu and to abandon the practice of individual dipping in the chalice by communicants." I would add that the CDC has shown the same.

If you insist on intinction, it is traditionally done by presenting it to the chalice bearer, to be intincted by him or her. Two further things to consider. The alcohol content in the wine, along with proper purificator use, (which means really using it,) greatly reduces the chances of spread through drinking from the common cup. Second, we believe that receiving the bread and/or wine is full communion. In other words, bread without wine, is considered full communion, and vice versa.

There's historical precedence for receiving "in one kind only", i.e. the bread, which dates from the 3rd century. In the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ are present in each of the consecrated species, and the fullness of communion can be experienced in receiving in "one kind only". Throughout history, the sick have been habitually communicated with one element. For many who have the disease of alcoholism, communion in "one kind only" is the norm. One should not feel diminished by this.

In addition, I have asked several people to attend some specific trainings that have been offered in the area. In the next few weeks we hope to call together a diocesan wide working group to help guide us even further. And finally, keep this all in your prayers. We will be vigilant and in touch.

Blessings, The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel Bishop of Olympia

This Sunday: Continuing Music and Liturgy Conversation

On August 23 and 30 at 9:15 AM Hunt will lead a conversation on worship with the theme Liturgy & Music: For Strength, Solace, Pardon and Renewal. We'll meet in the Parish Hall.

All summer we've been praying these words in the Eucharistic Prayer before communion: Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. The hope is that when we and others are in need of those, there's a place in the Sunday liturgy to find them. That means, of course, those who have spent their lives in the Episcopal Church and those who find themselves with us for the very first time. Again, this is a conversation for the entire congregation, those who consider themselves "musical" and those who do not. By the way, we're all musical.

Social Action Committee August News

With the approval of the Vestry the Social Action Commission has allocated money for the month of August to Northwest Harvest, Mercer Island Youth and Family Service, Union Gospel Mission, Congregations for Kids (Back to School), Operation Homefront, Eastside Domestic Violence (Backpacks). Five people with emergency crisis situations have been helped in July and the first week of August. The food for the month of August is jello and puddings. Foods that have protein such as canned stews, meats, fish and peanut butter are always needed as well as canned fruit. Please continue your generosity and keep the green barrel filled up at a time when it is especially needed.

A Message from Bishop Suffragan Nedi Rivera Regarding Her Retirement

1 August 2009

My Beloved Friends, Earlier this month I got an email from my daughter-in-law with a progress report on our twin grandsons. They are now walking and talking. They weren't doing either when we were last with them. I was sad to realize that I won't be able to see either them or their cousins in Maine until Thanksgiving or Christmas. My granddaughter and anamcara (Gaelic for "soul friend"), Katherine, is 6 years old. We get to go to church together only when we are in the same town and I'm not working. She and I are looking forward to planting a garden, to cleaning up the pond and to having tea parties on the porch at Granny's new house in Cincinnati where she and her family also live.

Recently I discovered on the window shelf next to where I pray in the morning, nine books that I have started to read but can't find time to finish. There are others stacked elsewhere in my office, on my bedside table and in my bookcases. Many of these are novels or other books I would read for fun, but I still don't have time to finish them. I have delighted in working with Bishop Rickel. He has given me room to grow, a voice in the development of this diocese and respect for who I am and what I do. Our families have a strong web of deep friendships. I love his sense of humor, his love for the church (which I share), his ability to listen to others as he makes decisions and his ability to make those decisions. I have come to believe in my heart that I have done what I was called to the Diocese of Olympia to do. Greg brings tremendous gifts to this diocese- gifts that need to be given full rein. He and I have, I think, a similar vision for the Diocese of Olympia, but we take different roads. I believe his roads are better and more direct.

I feel, for the first time in my life, that I am behind the times, slow on the uptake and out of sync with the future. I think I am part of the old order here. I have loved being in the Diocese of Olympia. I have learned so much from you, grown with you and delighted in my call here. I have many new friendships; I have done some good work; I have come to know and love the clergy and people of the hundred congregations.I have delighted in the amazing youth programs we have here. Our lives have become intertwined, and yet, like Abram who was called to leave those he loved behind, and move from place to place until he finally settled in Hebron, it is time for Bob and me to move (we hope) for the last time.

It's time for me to spend time with and delight in my children and grandchildren, to read my books, to get some exercise, to cook healthy food and to focus on discerning the future with and for the people of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon. In the end, there have been funds for the Diocese of Olympia to pay me when I was needed in this diocese. The income budget for 2010 brings a new reality that makes these other longings come into clearer focus and so I write to let you know that I will be retiring from the Diocese of Olympia at the end of January.

Greg and I will work out the details in the near future, but for now, I expect that I will be on the road to Cincinnati on 1 February. Thank you for your love and care for me, my family and the ministry we all share. I will treasure these five years, which have been the culmination of more than 34 years of ordained ministry and a deep, deep joy to both Bob and me.

Bendición, Nedi Rivera,
Bishop Suffragan As printed on the diocesan website www.ecww.org , accesses on 8/19/2009