Sunday May 26, 2019

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Service Times: 8:30am and 10:30am

*The Rev. John R. Johanssen,Celebrant and Preacher***

Choir Rehearsal 9:30 am in the Chapel

Adult Bible Discussion Group9:15am in Hobson Hall

Thrive! Children, Youth & Families Ministry – Meet in Outer Office during 10:30am serivce, then upstairs in Hobson Hall

Mid-Week Prayer and Luncheon – Wednesdays, 12:30pm

Campus Ministry will resume at the beginning of Fall Semester 2019

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Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal’s visit to St. Stephen’s has been rescheduled for Sunday, June 16th. There will be a Q&A session with Bishop Breidenthal after the 10:30am service.

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Sunday Morning Adult Bible Discussion for May 26th

The Adult Discussion this week will focus on The Last Supper as told in the 4 Gospels. Everyone is invited to join us around the table at 9:15am on Sunday morning. Chapter 5 in Amy Jill Levine’s book, Risking the Loss of Friends, is a resource for our discussion– along with the Gospel stories.

All are invited around our table for coffee, donuts, and thoughtful conversation!

For information and resources about “The Big Read,” go to http://dsobeloved.org/big-read-home/.

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Children, Youth & Families Ministry News

Thrive! Children’s spiritual formation class will meet during the 10:30am service.

Final Thrive Sunday

This Sunday, May 26^th, Thrive! will be meeting in the kitchen to put together Manna Lunches. On Manna Sundays, we prepare bagged lunches for Friends of the Homeless Shelter on the Near East Side.

As a reminder, this this will be the last time we meet for Thrive! until September. We’re very excited for some of the updates that will be made to our upstairs meeting space over the summer and look forward to sharing them with the parish upon our return in the fall.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us this year; from teaching, to helping with the Christmas pageant, to sharing words of gratitude and encouragement- it all means so much!

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Horticultural Intervention Day Sunday, May 26^th after the 10:30am service

Let’s garden at St. Stephen’s immediately after the 10:30am service on May 26th! Bring jeans, work clothes, garden gloves and any gardening tool you might find useful and help transform St. Stephen’s into a horticultural wonder!

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A special thanks to all who helped to make Reba Riley’s visit and Q&A luncheon this past Sunday a wonderful success: Kaitlin Raver, Cindy Olmstead, Charles Baker, Linda Richter, Janet McNaughton, Mikalene Guiser and James Marquart. Your work and dedication toward the mission of St. Stephen’s is deeply appreciated.

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Gift for Deacon Jared Talbot

Deacon Jared Talbot has announced that he and his family are moving to Maine this summer, where he will begin a faculty position at the University of Maine. The Vestry of St. Stephen’s is asking all who feel so inclined to contribute to a monetary gift for Jared to thank him for his time at St. Stephen’s and send him on his way with our good wishes. Please make checks out to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church with the memo noted as “Jared’s gift”. Gifts for Jared will be accepted now through June 9th. This gift will be presented to Jared before Jared and his family move later this summer. We will miss Jared and wish him and his family the very best for their new life in Maine!

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Campus Ministry Update

Since the term is over, we are bringing the Tuesday Night Oasis to a close for the summer. Look forward to new adventures starting in August for the 2019-2020 academic term!

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2019 Partners in Ministry in Liberia 10th Anniversary Fundraising Envent

Saturday, July 20, 2019 12:30pm-3:30pm

St. Philip Episcopal Church, 166 Woodland Avenue, Columbus

Please join the “Special” Tenth Annual International Luncheon and Silent Auction Fundraiser for PIMIL. This is the primary source of funds to support our students in Liberia. This year’s goal is $15,000, which will be used to provide ongoing education for the present 183 students that include 101 Ebola orphans. The event is a family affair that includes American and Liberian food and exciting intercultural and educational activities.

Guest Speaker: The Rev. John W. Sackie, Sr., Coordinator of the PIMIL’s Ebola program from Liberia

For more information about the work of PIMIL, go to http://pimil.org/

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BREAD Update

Highlights from BREAD Nehemiah Action on May 6th:

“Higher and Better Pay! Don’t Throw Away!”: On our jobs campaign, we celebrated that our work toward a worker-owned business has been awarded a $58,000 grant through OSU Connect and Collaborate which will allow funding to partner with the Democracy Collaborative and 1/2 year funding for a full time coordinator!

Juvenile Justice: While Superintendent Dixon was not in attendance, we celebrated the leadership of Dr. John Stanford who came in her place. Dr. Stanford has been working with us since his time as Interim Superintendent to get Restorative Practices implemented in the schools. Dr. Stanford was authorized to answer “yes” on behalf of Dr. Dixon. This “yes” indicates that Dixon will monitor progress of Restorative Practices to ensure fidelity, evaluate the program by the end of July 2019, and meet with BREAD quarterly beginning in August!

Eldercare: Lt. Matthew Parrish, Columbus Division of Fire agreed to meet with us following an evaluation of the pilot program. This program in the Columbus Fire Department connects a COAAA Social Worker to older adults who are frequently calling 911- many of whom are in vulnerable neighborhoods. He also agreed to exploring possible funding options, and to attend BREAD’s Annual Assembly on November 11th.

Joe Mazzola, Health Commissioner of Franklin County Public Health committed to co-lead a “Life Expectancy Task Force” with Director Michelle Missler from the Franklin County Office on Aging. He also agreed to strongly recommend that agencies at the July “Health Works Meeting” participate in this task force. The goal of this effort is to gather existing agencies to research the 27-year gap in life expectancy between neighborhoods and collaborate on evidence based solutions.

“Welcome Columbus”: No Columbus City Councilmembers attended to commit to work with One ID Columbus to advance the ID program. The committee will continue to look for a new champion on Council. This champion would be expected to convene a meeting of stakeholders, develop a finance plan for the program, and introduce [the already drafted] legislation by the end of this year.

“Families First and Housing Now”: Councilmember Favor and County Commissioners did not show up last night. Today, nearly 60 people showed to meet with the Councilmember at First Congregational Church. Here’s a video of her watching footage from last night of us standing in response to the impact of the housing crisis on all of us: click here. Our people power last night and today sent a strong message. She agreed to work with us on a plan to encourage developers to set aside 20% of new units! We made sure that she knew that we want those units to be for families making LESS THAN $42,000 a year. Today, she did not agree to work to secure an additional $5 million for the Trust Fund. BREAD leaders stood firm and we want to work to change that “no” into a “yes”. We will meet with her in September in order to move forward.

From your B.R.E.A.D. team:

Rae Fellows, Kaethe Sandman, Norm Wernet, and Mignonne Whitlow

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NSI News

Neighborhood Services, Inc., is our neighborhood food pantry, supported by multiple congregations in the North Campus area. The need for food services is increasing, and St. Stephen’s is responding.

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The NSI collection for May is Canned Fruit

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Book Club for June 2019

Book Club News:

Book Club News: Book Club will be back to the second Wednesday of the month for May-July, then move to the first Wednesday of the month for the rest of 2019. The June Book Club meets on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 starting at 6:30 PM. We’ll begin with a potluck meal; please bring food and/or beverage to share. Jerrie Cribb is hosting (614-400-2505 jerriecello@gmail.com). Please let Jerrie know in advance if you plan to attend. After dinner we’ll be discussing Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson (Fiction). If you wish to get a head start on reading, the July book is No Time to Spare: Thinking about What Matters by Ursula LeGuin (Non-fiction). Everyone is invited and welcome to any book club meeting.

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Calling St. Stephen’s Soul Sisters! Soul Sisters Meet-ups for June 2019

Hi “Soul Sisters” of St. Stephen’s!

You are invited to participate in fellowship with the women of St. Stephen’s in the Spirit of Friendship, Encouragement, Support, Gratitude, Hope, and Love as we share a moment in life’s journey together. It is a time out from daily doings to just BE in Friendship over a cup of tea with conversations to feed the soul.

We meet twice monthly: the first Thursday morning of the month will offer a “Coffee Klatch” from 9:30-11:30am for those available to meet during the day (kiddos welcome) the third Thursday evening offers a “Girls Night Out or In” from 7:00-9:00pm.

New for 2019: All morning gatherings on the 1st Thursday of each month will be held in the Chapel at St. Stephen’s. Centralized for all, no need to remember where to show up, and kid-friendly! Coffee and breakfast treats will be provided. If you need a ride, transportation can be arranged.

June 2019 Meeting Dates:

June 6th @ St. Stephen’s Chapel, 9:30am – 11:30am

June 20th @ Grass Skirt Tiki, 105 N. Grant Ave, Columbus, 7:00pm – 9:00pm

(Always looking for monthly hosts and/or open to ideas for places to meet or excursion sites conducive to conversation and new experiences.)