November - All Faith Episcopal Church

All Faith Episcopal Church’s November Newsletter
Parish Established - C. 1655
Incorporated – 1692 Present Church Erected – 1767
The End of a Family Tradition
the farms of Mary Jane Bonham, Lois Groome,
Kenny Burroughs, and Harold Burroughs. The
making of the swags, requiring holly and pine spread
throughout the Wrabley house and outside on the
picnic tables. Loading the finished swags took many
hands and hanging of the swags in the church on
decorating Sunday was carefully orchestrated under
the direction of the master artist, Tootie. This was a
family affair enjoyed by Tootie and her whole
family. Sadly, last Christmas was the end.
By: Deborah Curtis
For me there are no words that can
adequately express how blessed and grateful I feel,
and I know I can speak for the entire church when I
say thank you Tootie and your wonderful family for
your gift to All Faith Church.
It was my first Christmas season in charge of
decorations and I had no clue. I was present on
decorating Sunday but I was not quite sure who
gathered all the greens, made them ready to hang,
and brought them to the church on time. To say I
was in a dilemma is an understatement. Christmas
was fast approaching, and I needed help.
Thank You
With the love of Jesus may you have a blessed day.
Thanks be to God our Sunday
school is open again and we are
trying to get on schedule! The
children are learning about the
Holy Eucharist and how Jesus
gave this sacrement to us. We
are also learning how we
should prepare ourselves to
receive this blessed sacrament and are
studying from the Bible and our Book of
Common Prayer. Our younger class have
been learning about the different ways to
pray and the different prayers we pray. In
October the Sunday school children packed
bagged lunches for the St. Paul’s Sandwich
program. They are very organized and did a
great job! They get into line, put on their
gloves, put the food in the bags and 40
bagged lunches are assembled in no time at
all! Thank you to our October teachers:
Jessica Light, Nelly Sommerkamp, Donna
Dolinar and Hannah Meinhardt for your help.
It was a sunny morning when I got a phone
call from Mary Wrabley; known to her friends and
family as Tootie. Tootie explained she and her
family gathered the greens and prepared the swags
that went down the middle of the church. She asked
me if I would like her to continue doing the swags.
What an understatement that was! I admit I
remember seeing Tootie at the church on decoration
Sunday but like the other decorations, I figured the
swags going down the middle just happened, like a
miracle. That morning an angel called my house and
gave me a miracle.
During the next couple of years, I learned the
center decorations were a Wrabley Family Tradition
for 20 plus years. It started with Tootie and her
husband, Bob, and then their sons, Neal and Brian
who grew up, married, and enrolled their wives,
Debbie and Sheila. The family continued to grow to
include grandsons, Ross and Kyle who were also
recruited. The whole Wrabley clan participated in
the gathering of the greens, which included trips to
Yours in Christ,
Ms. Alma
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Thank you Christine
Meinhardt who did an
excellent job for the months
of September and October.
All Faith Activities by
Paul Dolinar
Mark Kaylor and I hosted the
first breakfast in the newly
renovated hall on 14 October!
The next breakfast is scheduled
for 11 November at 09:15
(between our 08:00 and 10:30
services). I will supply pancakes, eggs, juice and
coffee, the rest is pot luck. Please continue to spread
the word to your friends and neighbors. Please
come and show your support for the church and
enjoy a good breakfast with us.
Altar Duty for the month of November is:
November 4
November 11
November 18
November 25
Donna Dolinar
Fran Brooks
Sheri Kaylor
Cathy King and Sue Clifton
Cathy King is in charge of the polishing team
and on polishing day, everyone is invited to
help.
We have also resumed Family
Game night on the 3rd Friday of
the month. We held the first event
of the fall on 19 October! The next
game night is 16 November at the
normal time of 6:30-8:00PM. I will
supply hot dogs, snacks and drinks. Please bring
your favorite game to play, Nelly Sommerkamp is
trying to have enough folks to play some rounds of
Bunco. We will likely have outdoor games for the
kids as the weather should be good. Please invite a
neighbor or a friend, the kids have a great time!
October 7
Altar flowers are given to the
Glory of God and in memory of Ward Alan
Virts by his parents, Bud and Nancy Virts.
October 14 In celebration of their 70th
wedding anniversary the flowers are given to
Glory of God by Skeets and Marian Richardson.
October 21 The flowers are given to the Glory
of God in memory of Ben Burroughs, Sr. by his
son’s family, Ben Jr. and Joan Burroughs.
October 28 The flowers are given to the Glory
of God in memory of Paul Bailey by his family,
Bud and Nancy Virts.
NOVEMBER
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LECTIONARY
4th: Ruth 1:1-18
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:11-14
Mark 12:28-34
18th: 1 Samuel 1:4-20
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hebrews 10:11-25
Mark 13:1-8
11th: Ruth 3:1-5;
4:13-17; Psalm 127
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
25th: 2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 132:1-13-19
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37
that we are approaching the end then there are a
few more things to do. We thank God for what we
have been able to do. Currrently repair work is
being done on the bell tower and we are hoping to
get the front of the parish hall refinished before
long.
ANNIVERSARIES
18th
9th
19th
Mark & Sheryl Kaylor
Michael & Lori Riess
James & Marbeth Raley
BIRTHDAYS
1st
5th
8th
10th
15th
17th
20th
24th
26th
27th
28th
28th
30th
As ever in Christ,
Alma Rawlings
Christopher Young
Keegan Laessig
Mary Geary
Henry Virts
Hannah Meinhardt
Charles Sommerkamp
Susan Clifton
James Raley
Gerald Stauffer
Terry Ressler
Deborah Curtis
Sue Cropper
Andy Sedlock
Father Geoff update: He had his postop appointment on Monday afternoon. The
drainage tubes were taken out and he is now much
more comfortable. We were able to go home to
Williamsburg on Tuesday. There was no traffic on
the interstate except the utility trucks going north!
Geoff was even able to drive part of the way, but
got tired. He ran a few errands this morning
(November 1) by himself - he is now really on the
road to recovery. I thank all of you for your
patience, your prayers, and your concern. We have
gotten over 200 cards which were a great source of
comfort and strength during this difficult time. With
my love and prayers,thanks and praise, faithfully,
Kathie Price+
I would like to thank Father Robison for coming to
our rescue and being our supply priest during
Father Geoff’s illness. Father Robison is planning
on being with us until Father Geoff returns around
Thanksgiving. I’m sure that all of you know by now
that Father Robison has had pneumonia and cannot
return to Florida for several weeks. Please keep
both Father Geoff and Father Robison’s health in
your prayers.
NOVEMBER SCHEDULE
Due to the ongoing work in the parish hall; as well
as a minor health problem I had a few weeks back;
coupled with Father Geoff’s illness we have not
been able to do many home or hospital visitations.
If anyone is in need of anything, or in hospital, or
would like to be added to the prayer list please
contact myself or the church office. We hope to
resume our regular schedule soon.
13th
Vestry meeting 6:00 p.m.
16th
Family Night 6:30 p.m.
21st
Thanksgiving Eve Interdenominational
Service at Immaculate Conception.
7:00 p.m.
22nd Free Thanksgiving Dinner at Immaculate
Heart of Mary Parish Hall, 22375 Three
Notch Road Lexington Park, MD on
Thanksgiving Day from 11:30 a.m.– 3:00
p.m. All are welcome. Anyone wishing to
volunteer contact their church office
@ 301-863-8144.
Praise be to the Lord that our parish hall did not
flood or leak like it has done in the past. Our
prayers and thoughts go out to all those that were
affected by Hurricane Sandy. The work on the
church hall is slowly coming to a finish. As we think
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Devotional
1 Samuel 15:22
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2
3
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Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.
Saul had been commanded to completely wipe out
all the Amalekites and their cattle. Instead of doing
so, he preserved the king and allowed his people to
take the best of the oxen and of the sheep. When
called to account for this, he declared that he did it
with a view to offering sacrifice to God; but Samuel
met him at once with the assurance that sacrifices
were no excuse for an act of direct rebellion.
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10
11
12
14
16
17
The sentence before us is worthy to be printed in
letters of gold and to be displayed before the eyes of
the present idolatrous generation, who are very fond
of making a show of obedience but who utterly
neglect the laws of God. Never forget that to keep
strictly to the path of your Savior's command is
better than any outward form of religion; and to pay
attention to His precept is better than to bring
animals or other precious things to lay upon His
altar.
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22
23
25
28
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If you are failing to keep the least of Christ's
commands to His disciples, I urge you to be
disobedient no longer. All the pretensions you make
of attachment to your Master and all the devout
actions that you may perform are no substitute for
disobedience. "To obey," even in the slightest and
smallest thing, "is better than sacrifice," however
pompous. Forget the Gregorian chants, sumptuous
robes, incense, and banners; the first thing that God
requires of His child is obedience; and even if you
gave your body to be burned and all your goods to
feed the poor, if you did not listen to the Lord's
commands, all your formalities would profit you
nothing.
All Saints Day
Commemoration of All Faithful Departed
Richard Hooker, Priest, 1600
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury,
1944
Willibrord, Archbishop of Utrecht,
Missionary to Frisia, 739
Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461
Martin, Bishop of Tours, 397
Charles Simeon, Priest, 1836
Samuel Seabury, First American Bishop,
1796
Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1093
Hugh, 1200, and Robert Grosseteste, 1253,
Bishops of Lincoln
Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680
Elizabeth, Princess of Hungary, 1231
Edmund, King of East Anglia, 870
C. S. Lewis, Apologist and spiritual Writer,
1963
Clement, Bishop of Rome, c. 100
James Otis Sargent Huntington, Priest and
Monk, 1935
Kamehameha and Emma, King and Queen
of Hawaii, 1864, 1885
Saint Andrew the Apostle
December Schedule
It is a blessed thing to be teachable as a little child,
but it is a much more blessed thing, when one has
been taught the lesson, to carry it out to the letter.
How many adorn their temples and decorate their
priests, but refuse to obey the word of the Lord! My
soul, do not share in their deceit.
9th
No Pancake Breakfast. St Nicholas Party
after the 2nd service.
16th
Church decorating after the 2nd service.
Potluck lunch, please bring a dish to share.
23rd
Children’s Nativity Pageant during the 2nd
service.
24th
6:00 p.m. Christmas Eve potluck dinner.
Please bring a dish to share.
7:30 p.m. Christmas Eve Service with carols
Taken from Morning and Evening by C. H. Spurgeon and edited by Alistair
Begg. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
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Bread for the World Sunday started on October
Kamehameha IV
21 in conjunction with our special Thanksgiving
Food Drive. The litany for the Sunday was read and
a special song was sung in honor of Bread for the
World Sunday. Many thanks to those who have
taken the grocery bags and filled them. Our Bread
for the World Outreach ends on Thanksgiving Eve,
November 21. The need is great, but we can help a
little at a time.
King of the Hawaiian Islands
Born February 9, 1834
Died November 30, 1863,
Interdenominational Service - We reported in
the past that the Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service
will be at All Faith this year. Due to
miscommunication it won’t be at All Faith this year
but our turn will be in 2013. This year the
Thanksgiving Eve Service will be held Wednesday
November 21, 7:00 pm at Immaculate Conception
Catholic Church, 28297 Old Village Road,
Mechanicsville, MD. Each year the churches which
support the Hungry Team gather to worship and
give thanks to God for his mercy, grace and
provision. Everyone is encouraged to bring nonperishable food items for the Hungry Team Food
Pantry. A free-will offering will be taken to
support the efforts of the Hungry Team to help
relieve a variety of financial needs in St. Mary’s
County.
Queen Emma
Born January 2, 1836
Died April 25, 1885
Feast day - November 28 on the liturgical
calendar of the U.S. Episcopal Church.
Kamehameha IV, born Alexander Lolani Liholiho
Keawenui , reigned as the fourth king of the
Kingdom of Hawaii from January 11, 1855 to
November 30, 1863.
All Faith Community Outreach - We are raising
money for “Shop with a Cop” for both St. Mary’s
and Charles County Sheriff Offices. Shop with a Cop
is a non-profit program that provides clothing and
toys to needy children for the Christmas holiday.
The intent of the program is to provide these
children with a positive experience dealing with
members of law enforcement while having a
memorable shopping experience before Christmas.
On the day of the event the children are picked up
at their homes by a uniformed police officer, given
breakfast and then are given a police escort to a
local Wal-Mart where they are given a set amount
of money to purchase clothes and toys and then
those items are wrapped by volunteers for the
child to open on Christmas. This has always proven
to be a great day for all involved. There will also
be separate envelopes at the front of the church
where you can make a donation. Please donate for
this worthy cause. Checks can be made out to All
Faith Church with “shop with a cop” in the subject
line. The children and the community are very
appreciative.
Alexander was born in Honolulu on the island of
Oahu. His father was High Chief Mataio
Kekūanāoa, Royal Governor of Oahu. His mother
was Princess Elizabeth Kīnau the Prime Minister of
the Kingdom. He was educated by Calvinist
missionaries at the Chief’s Children's School;
played the flute and the piano, and enjoyed
singing, acting, and cricket. When he was 14 he left
the Royal School and went to law school. When he
was 15, he went on a government trip to England,
the United States and Panama. Alexander
recorded the events of his trip in a journal.
Alexander and his brother were well travelled.
They visited California, continued to Panama,
Jamaica, New York and Washington, DC. He and
his family also toured Europe and met with various
heads of state. Speaking both French and English,
Alexander was well received in European society.
He met president of France Louis Napoleon and
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other European heads of state. In May 1850, the
royal brothers, boarded a ship in England and
sailed to the United States of America for a more
extensive stay before returning. At Washington
D.C., they met with President Zachary Taylor and
Vice President Millard Filmore. Alexander
experienced American racism firsthand when he
was almost removed from his train car for being of
darker color. Someone had arrived at the door of
the compartment and questioned his right to be
there. The young prince wrote in his journal, "I
found he was the conductor, and took me for
somebody's servant just because I had a darker
skin than he had. Confounded fool; the first time
that I have ever received such treatment, not in
England or France or anywhere else...In England
an African can pay his fare and sit alongside Queen
Victoria. The Americans talk and think a great deal
about their liberty, and strangers often find that
too many liberties are taken of their comfort just
because his hosts are a free people."
advisor and companion. She also was
Kamehameha's (first) great-grandniece. After
marrying in 1856, the royal couple had their only
child in May 1858, named Prince Albert Edward
Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha. Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland was Prince Albert's godmother (by
proxy) at his christening in Honolulu. At the age of
four, the young prince died on August 27, 1862.
At the time of Alexander's assumption to the
throne, the American population in the Hawaiian
islands continued to grow and exert economic and
political pressure in the Kingdom. Alexander
worried that the United States of America would
make a move to conquer his nation; an annexation
treaty was proposed in Kamehameha III's reign.
He strongly felt that annexation would mean the
end of the monarchy and the Hawaiian people.
Liholiho instead wanted a reciprocity treaty,
involving trade and taxes, between the United
States and Hawaii. He was not successful. In an
effort to balance the amount of influence exerted
by American interests, Alexander began a
campaign to limit Hawaii's dependence on
American trade and commerce. He sought deals
with the British and other European governments,
but his reign did not survive long enough to make
them.
At a dinner party in New York with friends the
princes were again exposed to a racist incident.
Helen Kinau Wilder recalled in her memoirs: In
Geneva (New York), visiting friends, the butler was
very averse to serving "blacks" as he called them,
and revenged himself by putting bibs at their
places. Alexander unfolded his, saw the unusual
shape, but as he had seen many strange things on
his travels concluded that must be something
new, so quietly fitted the place cut out for the
neck to his waist. Their hostess was very angry
when she found what a mean trick her servant had
played on them.
Alexander and Queen Emma devoted much of
their reign to providing quality healthcare and
education for their subjects. They were concerned
that foreign ailments and diseases like leprosy and
influenza were decimating the native Hawaiian
population. In 1855, Alexander addressed his
legislature to promote an ambitious public
healthcare agenda that included the building of
public hospitals and homes for the elderly. The
legislature, empowered by the Constitution of
1852 which limited the King's authority, struck
down the healthcare plan. Alexander and Queen
Emma responded to the legislature's refusal by
lobbying local businessmen, merchants and
wealthy residents to fund their healthcare agenda.
The fundraising was an overwhelming success and
the royal couple built The Queen's Medical Center,
one of the most technologically advanced medical
Kamehameha III (Alexander’s uncle) died on
December 15, 1854. On January 11, 1855 Alexander
took the oath as King Kamehameha IV, succeeding
his uncle when he was only 20 years old.
Emma, a British descendant and great grand niece
of Hawaii's first king, was Kamehameha IV's
Queen Consort.
Only a year after assuming the throne, Alexander
took the hand of Emma Rooke as his queen.
Queen Emma was the granddaughter of John
Young, Kamehameha the Great's British royal
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centers in the world today. The fundraising efforts
also yielded separate funds for the development
of a leprosy treatment facility built on the island of
Maui.
Despite the great differences in their kingdoms,
Queen Emma and Queen Victoria became lifelong
friends; both had lost sons and spouses. They
exchanged letters, and Emma traveled to London
in 1865 to visit and spend a night at Windsor Castle
on November 27. Queen Emma was warmly
received by Queen Victoria of the United
Kingdom. The two widow queens sympathized
with each other. Queen Victoria remarked of
Emma, "Nothing could be nicer or more dignified
than her manner."
In 1856, Kamehameha IV decreed that December
25 would be celebrated as the kingdom's national
day of Thanksgiving, accepting the persuasions of
the conservative American missionaries who
objected to Christmas on the grounds that it was a
pagan celebration. Six years later, he would
rescind his decree and formally proclaim Christmas
as a national holiday of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
On her way back, she had a reception given for her
on August 14, 1866 by Andrew Johnson at the
White House. Some note this as the first time
anyone with the title "Queen" had had an official
visit to the U.S. presidential residence. Emma was
known to be strongly against republicanism, she
was once quoted as saying: "We have yet the right
to dispose of our country as we wish, and be
assured that it will never be to a Republic!"
In an interview, Kanahele, author of Queen Emma:
Hawaii's remarkable queen said: "She was
different from any of her contemporaries. Emma is
Emma. There’s no one like her. A devout Christian
who chose to be baptized in the Anglican church
in adulthood, and a typically Victorian woman who
wore widow’s weeds, gardened, drank tea,
patronized charities and gave dinner parties, she
yet remained quintessentially Hawaiian. She wrote
exquisite chants of lament in Hawaiian, craved
Hawaiian food when she was away from it, loved
to fish, hike, ride and camp out (activities she kept
up to the end of her life) and, throughout her life,
took very seriously her role as a protector of the
people’s welfare. In a way, she was a harbinger of
things to come in terms of Hawaii’s multi-ethnic,
multi-cultural society. You have to be impressed
with her eclecticism — spiritually, emotionally and
physically. She was kind of our first renaissance
queen."
In 1860, Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV
petitioned the Church of England to help establish
the Church of Hawaii. Upon the arrival of Anglican
bishop Thomas Nettleship Staley and two priests,
they both were baptized on October 21, 1862 and
confirmed in November 1862. In 1862 King
Kamehameha translated the Book of Common
Prayer into the Hawaiian language. Along with her
husband, Queen Emma championed the Anglican
(Episcopal) church in Hawaii and founded St.
Andrew’s Cathedral, raising funds for the building.
In 1867 she founded Saint Andrew's Priory School
for Girls. She also laid the groundwork for an
Episcopal secondary school for boys originally
named for Saint Alban, and later Lolani School in
honor of her husband.
Alexander died of chronic asthma on November
30, 1863 and was succeeded by his brother, who
took the name Kamehameha V. Alexander was
only 29 years old. At his funeral eight hundred
children and teachers walked to say goodbye. He
was buried with his son at Mauna Ala on February
3, 1864.
Queen Emma remained active in politics. With the
end of the Kamehameha dynasty and King William
C. Lunalilo dying without an heir of his own, Queen
Emma ran unsuccessfully to become the
Kingdom's ruling monarch. She lost to David
Kalākaua who would establish a dynasty of his
own — the last king to rule Hawaii.
In 1883, Emma suffered the first of several small
strokes and died two years later on April 25, 1885
at the age of 49.
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