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Immanuel Highlands Voice Immanuel Highlands Episcopal Church August 1, 2021 | Volume 18, Number 29 | Tenth Sunday after Pentecost In this issue: This week in the parish Parish administrator vacation Lessons and readings The doors are open! Regathering information Adult Education Children's Bible stories in the Library Thanks from EDR Cornerstone II update Celebration! August 8 Episcopal Women's Retreat planned Birthdays and anniversaries From the editor From the Rector This week in the parish Sunday, August 1 9:30 am - Holy Eucharist 11 am - Adult Education 6:00 pm - Compline Wednesday, August 4 12:15 pm - Holy Eucharist, Chapel The Parish Administrator will be on vacation starting Thursday July 29th and returning to the office on Tuesday, August 10. Have a great vacation, Jon! Lessons and Readings 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a Psalm 51:1-13 Ephesians 4:1-16 John 6:24-35 Link to readings: Lectionary Page The doors are open! All doors to the sanctuary are now open! Ushers will greet you and hand out service bulletins at all entrances to the sanctuary. The nametags will be in the back of the church, and you are encouraged to wear yours. Come to church! Regathering Guidelines Let us celebrate together, as a community: Registration is no longer required. Fully vaccinated people are not required to wear face coverings inside the church building Non-vaccinated people must wear a face covering in the church building Social distancing of 3 feet is suggested All doors to the sanctuary are open Watch online: Immanuel Church Highlands Facebook Livestream Adult Education 11:00 am The Way of Love Bible Challenge   GO - Cross Boundaries, Listen Deeply, & Live Like Jesus: Aug 1 - Pages 138-149 (Kindle 1-4), led by Sue Welles Aug 8 - Pages 150-159 (Kindle 5-7) led by Hollie Skaggs Join us in the Common Room or via Zoom: Adult Education Zoom Meeting Contact Lyn Newsom for more information lynnewsom@gmail.com, or visit our website at Adult Education Do you love sharing Bible adventure stories with children? Immanuel's library has 45 Guideposts Bible adventure stories which can be read aloud to young children. Children who are reading on their own will love these stories, too. So, jump into summer fun with: Samson the Strong Man Gideon Fights for God The Princess and the Baby Ruth's New Family Joseph and the King of Egypt and many more! To borrow these books, sign out the card in the back of the book and leave it in the basket. Going on vacation? Sign out 5 or 6 books for a great family adventure! Letter of Thanks from the Emmanuel Dining Room Our EDR cooking team received a letter of thanks upon delivery of meals to the EMMANUEL Dining Room (EDR) in downtown Wilmington. A excerpt is below; the full text of the newsletter can be found on the Parish Ministries page of the ICH website. "We thank you for your continuing support of drop-off prepared meals, which have been extremely helpful in feeding families. We also thank you for your monetary donations, which have been a true blessing in supporting our day-to-day operations of the Emmanuel Dining Room, but most of all, we are grateful and humbled by your caring hearts … It is through your remarkable and amazing acts of love and hope that many lives have been changed. Your enormous giving has touched many hearts in our community." Sincerely, ReeNee Lafate Emmanuel Dining Room Program Director Cornerstone II Update: Work Continues Work on the Cornerstone II building restoration project has begun! The scaffolding is up, and work is underway. Our fundraising efforts continue. A letter to Immanuel parishioners and friends describing the fundraising effort has been sent. During this initial phase of fundraising, your contribution will be matched by the diocese at 50 cents on the dollar. Please give careful thought and prayer to what you can do to help. To make a contribution, make your check payable to Immanuel Church Highlands, with Cornerstone II in the memo line. Write “attn: Ken Germain” on the envelope. If you have any questions, contact Ken Germain, Beth Burnam, or Rob Volko. For more information on the project, and to see the fundraising letter and project history, click on this link: Cornerstone II Let’s Celebrate!   One year ago, Fr. Curt, Sellers, Grayton, and Henry Kennington moved from Alabama to Delaware to serve as our rector and shepherds. We are blessed to have them in our Immanuel family!   Please join the Vestry and Search Committee as we acknowledge this first challenging and wonderful year at Immanuel. We have much to celebrate!   The Search Committee will host an old fashioned, pre-Covid style coffee hour in the Parish Hall, following the Sunday service on August 8th. All are welcome!   Adult Sunday Education will meet that morning, so plan to celebrate and get some refreshments first! Stay tuned for any adjustment in the start time of the class.   *We will follow safe serving of the food and beverages. There is plenty of seating and space in the undercroft, and elevator service is available. Hear Ye, Hear Ye… Women of the Episcopal Church in Delaware Are you interested in participating in a Women’s Retreat?   As women, our lives are usually busy and stressful. Often, we are caring for others and have little time left to care for ourselves? If you are interested in setting aside nagging obligations to spend time in reflection, renewal, fellowship, and connecting with and listening for what God may have planned for you, then let us hear from you. We are imagining a retreat for women of all ages at Memorial House in Rehoboth Beach. For more information, including how to sign up, click on this link to The Net. AUGUST Birthdays August 4 Lennart Di Santo August 4 Rob Volko August 9 Bob Maunder August 14 Anna Mae Buhl August 15 Grayton Kennington August 18 Rachael Murray Zito August 19 The Rev. Kim Capwell August 24 MaryAnn Byrne August 26 John Hoover August 28 Chris Pollock August 31 Ken McCourt   August 31 Sharon Davis Anniversaries August 4 Alex Lehr-Maunder and Bob Maunder August 6 Kay and Richard Wack August 6 Rev. Sheila and Richard Sharpe August 6 Peggy and Rev. William Dunning August 13 Sherry and the Rev. Kim Capwell August 25 Nancy Kusik and Harry Gillen From the Editor If you have an item to be included in the Voice, please email it to me, Bonnie Swan, by the Tuesday before the Thursday release of the newsletter. If you don't have access to email, please leave your written request in my mail slot in the mailboxes across from the Parish Administrator's office no later than the Sunday before the Voice goes out. Thank you! Bonnie Swan (bonnie.swan@verizon.net) From the Rector Saying Goodbye John Davis, my father-in-law, shared many things in our time together: his sense of humor, his complicated charm, his joy for his grandsons, and yeah, his love. As the years passed, and even in his decline, there was love. In all the chaos and obstacles of in-laws, Sellers and I knew his love. It was real.   I find these things hard to represent in an article. Maybe the best poets have it figured out. Such was my relationship with John, who two weeks ago died from acute supernuclear palsy and complications from Alzheimer’s. We were not there when he died, and we know he died in peace. We know we had our peace with him.   Had I been there, I might have leaned in and said the two words that had been resonating in my mind for days, “Thank you.”   Remember gratitude. Remember love. Saying nice things to one another. There are moments of despair. Of anger and unfairness. Relationships, especially with the ones we love the most, are intricate. The devil will jump in and take his shots, and the Good News is, the Devil loses. Every time.   People are here one day, and then they’re gone. The gift of our Christian heritage is that death is an Easter moment. One of resurrection, the promise of eternal life, the knowledge that death does not have the last word. John knew this. His death was merciful, and he will not be forgotten – all of him – the good, the hard, the difficult, the beautiful. So, I leave the end of this message to the better poets.   I don't wonder anymore what I'll tell God when I go to heaven when we sit in the chairs under the tree, outside the city...I'll tell these things to God, and he'll laugh, I think and he'll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that were his favorite. We'll sit and remember my story together, and then he'll stand and put his arms around me and say, "well done," and that he liked my story. And my soul won't be thirsty anymore. Finally he'll turn and we'll walk toward the city, a city he will have spoken into existence a city built in a place where once there'd been nothing. ― Donald Miller Faithfully, Curt+  Immanuel Church, HIghlands immanuelhighlands.church ‌ ‌ ‌