Epistle to the Philippians

ANNUAL MEETING On Sunday, January 27, the parish will hold its annual meeting at 9:00 am. We will hear reports from parish leaders and will elect four new members to the Vestry.

The nominating committee of the Vestry is pleased to announce the following slate of eight nominees:

Annette Montgomery

Charlie Steel

David Smith

Del Wigfall

Faye Broadwater

Hycy Bull

Jonah Binstock

Sherry Townsend

There will be a brief pre-meeting at each service on Sunday, January 13, when nominations can be made from the floor. To vote or to be nominated, you must have been confirmed at St. Philip’s or officially transferred here.

Ministry leaders can expect a request soon for their ministry’s annual report that will be included in the parish-wide annual report.

ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS

Friday December 21

Pageant Practice at 1:30 pm

Sunday, December 23 Advent 4

Holy Eucharist 8:00, 9:00, 11:00

Formation Hour for all ages 10:00

Greening of the Church following the 11 o’clock service

Monday, December 24 Christmas Eve

Pageant Rehearsal 3:00 pm

Children’s Service with Pageant & Holy Eucharist 4:00 pm

The Christ Mass 11:00 pm (music begins at 10:30)

Tuesday, December 25 Christmas Day

Holy Eucharist 10:00 am

Sunday December 30

Lessons & Carols 10:00

Holiday Office Hours

Closes at noon December 24

Closed for holidays Dec. 25 & 26

Closed for year-end Dec. 27 & 28

Open 9:00 to 10:00 December 31

Closed January 1 for holiday

Office reopens January 2

Although Vicki’s farewell party was on Sunday, December 16, she will still be at St. Philip’s through the service of Lessons and Carols on December 30 at 10 am.

For those who wish to contribute towards a parish-wide gift to Vicki, checks payable to St. Philip’s (marked “interim gift”) can be dropped in the offering plate or mailed to the office.

HOLIDAY HOURS On Monday, December 24, the church office will close at noon and will not reopen for normal activity until 9:00 am on Wednesday, January 2. Although staff will be present on the days after Christmas, they’ll be preoccupied with year-end activities. Please try to take care of any church business you have before Christmas, by December 21^st. We will be open briefly on Monday, December 31, between 9:00 and 10:00 am to receive any last-minute checks for the final deposit of 2007, but before Christmas will be a much better time to drop off or pick up anything from the church office

MOVING DAY We now expect to get occupancy of our new building during the week of January 14. The exact schedule of moving events is not established, but at some point it will become difficult to communicate with the church staff by church e-mail or office telephone. We’ll get you more information as moving day approaches. We can still use lots of sturdy, stackable boxes with lids, especially copy paper boxes. We heard that at the last construction meeting, the interiors are beautiful now that the paint and carpet are done. They are hoping to arrange for tours by small groups of parishioners on an upcoming Sunday.

Meeting our New Rector

After a year and a half of transitions and searching, it is almost time to retire our prayer for calling and welcoming a new rector. It is finally time to meet our new Rector.

The Vestry’s transition team – Clay Bordley, Holley Broughton, and Kelly Gilmer – has been working with the rest of the Vestry to help Jonah Kendall, our new rector, get settled at St. Philip’s and in Durham. We’re excited to share our plans with you and hope you will help us celebrate this joyful time in the life of St. Philip’s.

Mark your calendar for Jonah’s first Sunday: Jan. 6, 2008. Services will be held at 8 am, 9 am, and 11 am as usual. That morning, there will be two informal opportunities to meet Jonah and Caty.

During the 10 o’clock education hour, Jonah will visit the Catechesis and other classes that will be going on.

During the social hour after the 11 a.m. service, we will have a parish-wide potluck lunch of finger foods. (See page 11 for details.) Jonah will speak briefly, introducing himself and Caty and talking about his ministry.

For the first few weeks after Jonah’s first Sunday, we will schedule weekly lunches with the rector. These will be BYOL (Bring Your Own Lunch!), with the parish providing drinks and simple desserts. Look for sign-up sheets in the parish hall. Jonah also plans to visit with different ministries as they get underway in the new year.

We are also working to set up Jonah’s office and prepare meals for his first few weeks in Durham. Elizabeth Newman is coordinating the move-in meals through mid-January. Of course, we also have a few surprises up our sleeves for Jonah and Caty!

The celebration won’t end in January. We expect to plan other special events in the spring to bring us together as a community, including a celebration when the bishop installs Jonah as our rector. No date has been set, but we will keep you posted.

If you have ideas or want to help, please contact a member of the transition team.

December 2007

Dear People of St. Philip’s, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ and Friends one and all,

On a hot summer afternoon in New York City back in 2001, I opened the door of my apartment and found my neighbor, colleague and friend returning home from a jog. The next day was to be her last Sunday at Holy Trinity, and we began talking about the farewell sermon she was working on. Although I can’t recall most of what was said, there was one part of the conversation I have never forgotten.

“Jonah, I’m so happy. I’m going to the greatest church ever!”

“That’s wonderful. What’s it again?” I asked.

“St. Philip’s, Durham. You would love it!”

Well, it’s been more than six years in the making, but I am so excited that I am about to finally discover the full truth of Cathie Caimano’s words. This has made Advent a season of true expectation for Caty, me and, it seems, our little one on the way. John the Baptist has nothing on her (Luke 1:41.) She is kicking and leaping all over the place!

I am truly honored and humbled to be your next Rector. I am inspired by so many things: the balance you maintain between worship and action, your commitment to downtown Durham, the invitation you offer all people and especially the gracious love and hospitality the Search Committee, the Vestry, the Staff and many others shared with Caty and me throughout the whole search process. You have much to be proud of at St. Philip’s. Thank you for giving me this great privilege. I look forward to getting to know all of you and sharing our lives and faith.

With that in mind, I would like to extend a personal invitation to join Caty and me in the parish hall on Sunday, January 6^th, after the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services. You have seen our picture, read a little bit about us and, I’m sure, wondered much. My hope is that this time will offer us an opportunity to get better acquainted with each other as Caty and I introduce ourselves and tell you about the journey that led us to you.

We cannot wait to be with you on the 6^th. As with the Magi whose arrival at the manger we will celebrate on that day, Caty and I long to behold the glory of God’s love and the fulfillment of God’s promise in our coming together. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a joyous New Year.

God’s Peace,

The Rev. M. Jonah Kendall

From The Search Committee’s Files

A SERMON BY JONAH

Our new Rector preached the following sermon during Advent in the past and shared it with the Search Committee as a sample of his preaching.

Last Sunday afternoon Nick and I were here at the church getting ready for a youth group event. While we were setting up Nick says to me, “Jonah, when I was in college I majored in religion and philosophy.” “Oh, really, I’m not sure I knew that.” “Yeah, and you know recently I’ve been recalling something my professor said to me. He said, ‘Nick, you’re going to be like all the rest. You are going take these classes, get your degree and go off and be an insurance salesmen.’ And I looked at him. And he said, “Yeah, Jonah, I work for an insurance company.” At which point we both started laughing.

Now I share this story today, not so much because his professor’s prophecy had become partially true, but because his words and even our laughter convey a real temptation that some of us face in life. That is, that when we look at our lives and the things that we are doing and then we consider the glory of God, and the reality of a life with God, I think we tend to give ourselves a pretty hard time. Sometimes we look at the things we are doing and we ask ourselves, “Am I doing what God has asked me to do?” Is the career I’ve chosen, or the other things I’m doing in life, are they noble enough, holy enough, altruistic enough, faithful enough? Am I living up to God’s expectation of me?

I know this is something that I wrestle with a lot. Yeah, even as a priest I wonder whether I am doing what God really wants me to do. In my family there are two figures that have had a great impact on my life, my grandfather and his brother, my great uncle. They were born in Egypt, the sons of missionaries. Everyday they went with a local doctor into different impoverished villages where they helped people in great need. Each then grew up to be doctors themselves. Whenever I visit with them I am always awed by what they have done and seen in their lives. In fact, I do so much so that I find myself wondering what my life could be like if I were only braver or nobler, if I could find myself in some remote part of the world, where my life might more easily look like a biblical story. Would I know an even greater peace with God?

I once told my great uncle this. I told him I wished I were more like him and my late grandfather. And he told me something I will never forget. And I want to share it with you. In typical fashion he quoted from the Talmud, a book of rabbinical thought. He said, “Jonah. When you die and you come to God, God is not going to ask you why you weren’t Moses. God will ask you why you weren’t you.”

In today’s Gospel we come face to face with an angry John the Baptist. “You brood of Vipers,” he declares. That’s another one of those passages I have a hard time reading when I’m standing in the midst of all of you. But John is intentionally being confrontational because John wants to wake us up. He wants to get our attention. He wants us to open our eyes. John cares a lot about our relationship with God. His greatest fear is that God will only ever be an ideal, some heavenly thing that we can only dream or fantasize about. Rather John wants us to know that God is a living reality, a being we can relate to and share with. And that a life with God has the power to bring us peace, love, reconciliation, fulfillment… hope…

John stands on the banks of the Jordan River and says to all of us, “Get your heads out of the clouds. Stop thinking about Abraham; stop thinking about your ancestors, all those heroes in your family. Stop thinking about what you could be or who you should be and start being the person you are.

What he is essentially saying is, “Hey you want to be like Peter in that window over there. If you want to know God as Peter did. If you want that same kind of peace, you don’t need to start a new faith. No, no, you just need to share a coat with someone who is in need. If you want to be like Paul up in that window there, a beacon of righteousness with his sword, you don’t need to write a bunch of letters that form the beliefs of a new religion. No, maybe you have some extra food in your fridge that you can share with someone who is hungry. If you want to be like St. Augustine of Canterbury in that window there, you don’t need to run off and convert a bunch of pagans, you don’t need to flee from your jobs, leave all your influence behind and that skyscraper in the city where you work, no, you just need to be fair with the people you work with. To be with God is to embrace the gifts and talents that God has given you and to share them with the people with whom God has placed in your life. To be real with your life is to be real with God.

And so it’s real simple today.

On this third Sunday of Advent with Christmas just around the corner and a new year upon us, we are just now beginning to think about what might lie ahead. And as we might be forming resolutions about whom we want to be and what we want to do in the coming year, we are called to hear the words of the Baptist. And he is saying to us. Be patient…discerning…stop feeling as if you need to make some kind of change in your life to be complete, to be with God. You know, “if only I were younger and healthier.” Or as I tend to think, if only I were older and wiser.” “If only I had more money. If only I had less money. If only I were married. If only I had a child. If only I had a new house. Then my life would be what life is supposed to be. Well, John asks us to sweep all these fantasies out the door, so that we can start focusing on the life we have been given to live, coming to know the joy of God as we are faithful with all that God has placed before us.

In Christ’s name, Amen.

M. Jonah Kendall

Advent 3, Year C

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” MATTHEW 3:1-11

John’s disciples and their question are very much on my mind these days. I can’t imagine that there has ever been a more important question in history. But more important than the question is its answer because upon that answer the entire world depends. Jesus’ response is not a simple yes or no. Instead, he points to the proof of who he is, the results of his presence and action in the world—the blind see, the lame walk and the poor have good news brought to them.

We also have an important question to answer. Are we the Church we want to be or are we waiting on another? Like Jesus, our answer has been the results of our presence and action in the world. Casseroles have gone to the community kitchen, prisoners have been visited, houses have been built in Mississippi, children and teens have been formed in the image of their Savior, prayers have been offered, hymns sung, sermons preached and the Eucharist served. There is not space here to list all of the ministries that have gone out from St. Philip’s this year. But these are answers for the past year. What is our answer for the one in front of us?

Certainly, all of these ministries would not take place without our commitment of our time and talents. We are a parish that is rich in these. The truth, however, is that unless these gifts are matched with an operating budget that supports and sustains them our efforts will not reach their full potential—some of the blind may not see, some of the lame may not walk, the good news may not reach the poor.

We are the source of the funds that St. Philip’s needs to carry out its mission. One hundred percent of our operating budget comes from us and our pledges. Our collective giving determines our answer to the question “Are we the Church we want to be?”

As is so often the case with questions, you start with one and realize that it is not really the one you should be asking. As I’m writing this, I realize that this is true for me. Rather than asking “Are we the Church we want to be?”---each of us should be asking “Are we the Church Christ wants us to be or will He have to wait for another?” On December 31 we will know.

I want to thank all of you who have already turned in your pledges. You have moved us closer to answering our Savior’s call.

– Duncan Smith

Chair, 2008 Stewardship Campaign

A letter to St. Nicholas

Dear St. Nicholas,

You may have heard that St. Philip’s parish is about to move back into its renovated and expanded parish house. Although we have been very frugal and kept all our old furniture (except for things that were falling apart), what we have will not be sufficient to furnish our beautiful new classrooms and offices. You are well-known to this parish from your visits here during recent years, so we are hoping you can spread the word about our needs, which are detailed below.

An office for our new rector – We would love for Fr. Kendall to find a fully-furnished office waiting for him, with a beautiful desk, chair, bookshelves, seating area, and lamps.

Rugs for the parlor – Our parlor has lovely new hardwood floors that would be most attractive with oriental rugs.

Furniture for staff – Various offices need desks, chairs, 4-drawer filing cabinets, lamps, or bookshelves.

Library – The enlarged library has its old furniture: the conference table, chairs, and a number of mis-matched brown shelves, but it would be enhanced by new casework or matching wooden shelves for its books and some comfortable seating.

Kitchens – The main floor kitchen is equipped, but the kitchens upstairs and downstairs need a refrigerator, a microwave, cabinetry, and tables.

Atrium – The classrooms for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd are well-furnished with the attractive wooden materials previously built, but their new storage areas are bare. Shelves would be wonderful, either moveable or built-in.

Teen classrooms – Each of our 4 teen rooms needs seating for fifteen to twenty and could use items like bean bags, sofas, loveseats, and occasional chairs. Also welcome would be small shelves and tables (end, coffee, or occasional).

If you happen to know any St. Philippians who have any of these items in excellent condition (sturdy, stable, clean, and attractive), please suggest that they talk to a member of the staff about putting their item(s) on the list of possible furniture. We can’t take delivery until after we’ve moved and unpacked, and we can’t guarantee that a specific item can be used or be assigned permanently to a specific place. But we surely can use your help.

– St. Philip’s Parish

Other than common-sense civility - be nice, be patient, be fair - what advice would I give a congregation about welcoming a new pastor?

I would say, first, this moment of newness matters. Take it seriously. Revolving-door clergy happen, in large part, because new pastorates start poorly. A succession of short-term pastorates squanders resources.

Second, be honest. Calling committees rarely tell enough truth to prospective clergy. They're selling, after all, not confessing. Sales brochures aren't a basis for serious work, however. The "best foot" that you put forward, like the pastor's best foot, now needs to be joined by "the rest of the story."

This means more than bad news. It means being honest about your roles in the bad news. It takes an entire village to drive members away, to perpetuate old arguments, to undermine budgets and to allow infrastructure to deteriorate.

Third, let go. Let go of old wounds and frustrated expectations. Why burden the new pastor with unresolved issues from a former pastorate? If you didn't deal with them when the former pastor was here, or during the immediate aftermath, that's your burden to bear, not the new pastor's.

Let go of control. No community - church, family, marriage, workplace - can thrive if some are addicted to control. Forcing a new pastor into a box might satisfy your desire for safety, comfort, privilege or power. But it undermines trust and endangers tomorrow. Daily bread comes from God, not from your firm hand on the wheel.

Fourth, listen and learn. You want your new pastor to feel capable, wise, and empowered to dream, think and act. To draw the best out of your pastor, be a listener. Ask questions like, "What is your vision?" "What are you learning?" "What matters to you?"

This is more than stroking a clerical ego. It also is the best way for you to learn. Fresh eyes see differently. Fresh ears hear what you have stopped hearing. Fresh imagination dares to dream. You should encourage that freshness, not feel threatened by it or try to bury it in your words.

Fifth, refrain from the satisfaction of pouncing. You can assume that your new pastor will make mistakes. Not recognize people, not know local customs, not manage staff effectively, not make good decisions. It takes time for any leader to be effective. If you catalog mistakes and pounce on them, you only delay the onset of effectiveness and, quite likely, undercut confidence.

I know it feels good to catch your new pastor in error. But that is a child's form of feeling good. Be a partner in making progress, not a predator pouncing on weakness.

Finally, see the new pastorate for what it is: a fresh start. You might have wanted continuity, not a fresh start. You might be weary of the young-colt gawkiness of a new pastor - the amazed discoveries that aren't really discovery to you, the bright ideas that sound uninformed, the changes, intended or unintended, that strike you as unnecessary - but future vitality doesn't lie in your avoiding weariness, it lies in the freshness of a new leader.

In our journeys with God - as individuals and as communities - each day is a new day, each step must be forward to Canaan, not backward to bondage, and each valley must be filled with the grace of God, not with accumulated resentments, fears, stale bread, stale arguments and stale ideas.

Used by permission of Tom Ehrich, who writes a daily meditation (“On a Journey”) on finding God in daily life that is delivered by e-mail to readers across the country. See www.onajourney.org. He serves as Director of Church Growth and Development at St Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City and leads the Church Wellness Project, a best practices guide to healthy churches. A weekly Church Wellness newsletter is free of charge. See www.churchwellness.com.

SHARE YOUR CHRISTMAS Annie Nashold and Jonah Binstock report that St. Philip’s delivered 65 gift cards to Social Services for a total of $1,615 for the Share Your Christmas Program.

HELP! Especially this time of year, it is very helpful if you mark any check you give the church with what it’s for (operating pledge? capital campaign? Vicki’s gift? alter guild? etc.) AND which year (2007? 2008?)

WELCOME HOSPITALITY We’re putting together a welcome basket full of things to introduce Jonah and Caty to Durham. Drop your contribution into the basket in the parish hall.

· Cards, notes, drawings, (kids, too!)

· Homemade non-perishable food items – pickles, jam, nuts, brownies, things that hold up or could be frozen

· Gift cards to favorite Durham places.

POTLUCK LUNCH JANUARY 6 For lunch on Jonah’s first Sunday, let’s show off our cooking skills with delicious food that does not require a knife or a fork:

A - H      Main Dish (fried chicken?)
I - P       Side Dish
Q – Z     Dessert
Please sign up in the parish hall so we know how much food to count on. To help, call Holley Broughton (489.3433, holleybb@mindspring.com).

CHRISTMAS PAGEANT Beth Suttie and Nancy Davis welcome all children to take part in the annual pageant at the 4 o’clock service on Christmas Eve. If you can’t pick up a costume at 1:30 on Friday 12/21, come at 3:00 on Monday to dress for the service.

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Permit No. 267 The Epistle

St. Philip’s Episcopal Church

P.O. Box 218

403 East Main Street

Durham, NC 27702

Phone: (919) 682-5708

Fax: (919) 683-1857

Website: www.stphilipsdurham.org

Year-End 2007 Epistle to the Philippians

For more pictures form Vicki’s farewell party, see page. 2