Upcoming Congregational Activities
Sunday, July 17: 12 noon to 4:00pm: Olentangy River Bike Ride and Family Fun Day
Sunday, July 24 – Aug 14: MAKE for children during the 10:30am service
Pastoral Care Coverage
Deacon Pam Elwell has graciously agreed to be the coordinator for pastoral care calls. Several clergy will be available for pastoral care: The Rev. Bruce Smith, the Rev Deacon Sherm Everett, the Rev. Karl Stevens, and the Rev. Deacon Pam Elwell. Please call Pam first—she will know who is on call at any particular time. Pam’s contact information is: 614-736-1204 or pamelwell@gmail.com .
Sunday, July 17
This Sunday, July 17, we welcome Deacon Pam Elwell to preach and The Rev. Hanci Newberry celebrate at both services.
Saint Stephen’s Gratitude Project
Olentangy River Bike Ride and Family Fun Day
Sunday, July 17, 2016 12 noon to 4 p.m.
What are we doing?
- Riding bikes (@ 4 miles) on the Olentangy River Trail
- Listening to stories about the efforts to restore the natural flow of the river.
- Learning about the natural environment of the watershed and the benefits of caring for its preservation.
- Exploring ways that stewardship of the natural world can be a spiritual practice.
- Celebrating at the Annual Chadwick Arboretum Open House.
Who are we doing it with?
- Our friends and neighbors in the greater campus and North Columbus communities.
Where do you find more information?
- Visit the River Ride 2016 webpage at: http://olentangyriverride.weebly.com/
- Send an email to: river_ride@ststephens-columbus.org
Potential Parking Difficulty: July 17
On Thursday the office was alerted by a parishioner to the following construction update from the University: https://fod.osu.edu/woodruff_04 We have reached out to our contacts at OSU and received the following clarification: You will still be able to access the church from College Ave. You can turn right on 18th Ave. from High St. This closure will not affect your parking spots on Woodruff Ave. nor the parking lot, you will just have to go around the Road Closed Signs.
NSI Donations for July
The items for July will be canned vegetables.
BACK TO SCHOOL AT NSI
NSI distributes school supplies for children in kindergarten through grade 12. You can help by donating backpacks and school supplies: crayons, glue sticks, #2 pencils, pens, boxes of tissues, rulers, pocket folders (both with and without prongs), pink erasers, wide-ruled and college-ruled notebook paper, scissors (blunt and pointed), colored pencils, regular and scientific calculators, 3-ring binders, spiral notebooks and dictionaries.
If you don’t want to shop, you can provide a cash donation that will be used to buy school supplies. Help is need at NSI on Friday, August 5, to fill backpacks and Monday – Thursday, August 8 – 11. to distribute them. All the information can be found in the brochures on the table as you enter the sanctuary. Have the backpacks and school supplies to church by Sunday July 31.
BREAD Updates
BREAD Investment Drive – A personal view
Years ago Peg Davies invited me to be part of the social concerns committee here at St Stephen’s. Our parish involvement with BREAD is an extension of that work and addresses the larger issues faith communities in the Columbus area cannot address alone.
I’ve worked with the jobs and economic opportunity research committee this year in part out of an abiding desire to build justice in this city as an extension into retirement from my work life building justice in the workplace. I also find sharing a faith journey for justice with folks from Jewish, Unitarian, Muslim, and other Christian traditions strengthens my own sense of the sacred being made real in this here and now. The committee’s work was extensive and came up with dynamic innovative solutions to a well-defined problem. The BREAD staff support and outreach are in large measure responsible for our capacity to do the work of justice here in this place and time.
I was blessed with a good job, with decent wages and benefits and have a real pension as well as Social Security. Out of the abundance of my life of work and out of wanting to have a way to stand hand in hand with my sisters and brothers of many traditions seeking ways for righteousness to break through I am investing $800 this year in the work of BREAD to make justice happen. BREAD – Rises
I ask that you consider investing what you can in the work of BREAD.
Norm Wernet
PiMiL Luncheon, Saturday July 23: 12:30-3:30pm
PIMIL (Partners-in-Ministry-in-Liberia) Seventh Annual International Luncheon and Silent Auction Fundraiser will be from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on July 23 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Worthington. Exciting cultural & education moments! Delicious food! Activities for children! Sponsor and Silent Auction forms available. Tickets: $15 – Adults; $5 Children & Youth. Join us!
Contact: Edward Lasseigne – (504) 874-3350
The Farmer’s Market will be ending at 12 noon. Here is where you can park according to the Office of St. John’s, 700 High Street, Worthington.
Available parking:
- U S Bank- 688 High Street, available after 12 noon. There is a walkway from their lot to ours.
- Kilbourne Middle School, 50 E. Dublin Granville Rd. Behind the school.
- Huntington Bank, 800 High Street, available after 12 noon.
- There is also a public lot behind the shops at High and New England and just south of there at the Methodist Church (600 High Street).
Thanks to Agnes
It is with great regret, but also with deep appreciation for her insight and service, that I write to let the church know that Agnes Burris is stepping down from her position as curator of the EASE Gallery. When I began EASE in March of 2013, it was with very little experience of running a gallery and almost no contacts in the arts world. I decided to make the old Bookworm space into a gallery at the suggestion of Pete Anderson, who pointed out that there were a lot of art students, not to mention adjunct professors, who didn’t have space to show their work, and that a gallery might be a really good outreach to campus. I called the OSU Art Department, and the secretary agreed to send out a notice, and within two hours of it going out, I had heard from six artists who were eager to show. Then began the hard work of converting the space.
We got a lot of things wrong, and we probably would have kept getting things wrong if Agnes hadn’t shown up to set things right. An artist herself, Agnes had some experience with running a gallery, and had made inroads into the Columbus arts community. Her contacts there meant that we could gradually increase our local reputation, and begin working with more and more prominent artists, while remaining true to our mission of showcasing the work of unknown artists as well. More than that, Agnes had a keen sense of the needs and struggles of artists, who usually have to pay galleries to show their work, often under the smoke screen of paying contest submissions fees. Even if a gallery agrees to represent them, the gallery always takes a cut when the work is sold, meaning that it’s very rare for an artist to earn the full value of her work. But this unjust system persists because artists need to show their work and build their resumes, especially when they’re just starting out. Beyond that, art is often created in isolation, and young artists struggle to find community, particularly if they’re working as adjunct professors, a position that puts them permanently on the outskirts of a university’s art department.
Agnes has been a fierce advocate for artists, and has led us to address these concerns in a variety of ways. For several years, she organized a yearly show in which adjunct professors displayed work together. She’s been instrumental in the themed books and shows that we’ve created, and reached out to the activist community to bring together two shows that dealt with justice-related issues. She also brought us into relationship with social practice artists, such as Jeni Hansen Gard and Lori Esposito, who take their work out into the neighborhoods and involve a wide variety of people in the creation of their pieces. Her work for the gallery has been so successful that she was asked, earlier this year, to be part of a group that included the head curator of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and was working on creating a Midwest arts journal under the leadership of OSU Art History Professor Kris Paulsen.
I’m profoundly grateful for all of these things, and also that for three years I got to work with a person of deep passion and vision. Agnes can do things that I simply don’t know how to do, and that is always impressive to me. She can lead in ways that I can’t, but always with an eye to collaboration. The community that she brought together at the gallery has been deeply inspiring to me. I learned things I would have never learned otherwise, and found myself spiritually transformed as I began examining the possibility of making my own art. It is not enough to say that I’m grateful. I’ve been changed by her, and that is always the call and the gift of Christian community.
-The Rev. Karl Stevens
OSU Volunteer Opportunity: Ohio State Move-In Day!
Remember moving in to the residence halls when you lived on campus? Help Ohio State’s Office of Student Life roll out the scarlet carpet for students and their families. Ohio State Move-In Day volunteers will manage traffic, assist with unloading, give directions and answer questions, not to mention spread Buckeye spirit in the residence halls! Start the students’ school year right with a warm welcome from Ohio State alumni!
Thursday, August 18, 2016 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, August 20, 2016 7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Registration
This is a family-friendly, group-friendly volunteer opportunity, and you are encouraged to register guests.
Please click here to register you and your guests for Thursday, August 18, 2016, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Please click here to register you and your guests for Saturday, August 20, 2016, 7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Need help registering? Click here to learn how to create an account and sign in to Ohio State VolunteerMatch, or call The Ohio State University Alumni Association Customer Service Center at 800-762-5646.
Questions
Please contact Aubrie Smith at smith.4488@osu.edu or 614-247-1669.
Reminder: If you’re mailing something to the church, especially time-sensitive materials, we recommend using the PO Box! St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, PO Box 82263
Columbus, OH 43202
