VOICE of The Redeemer www.TheRedeemer.org 610-525-2486

FelloWshipA 8 Voice of The Redeemer June 2016

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Jill and dan sHare tHeir story WitH ken garner

JIll and dan MIllerpeople MakIng the redeeMer theIr spIrItual hoMe

How long have you been attending services here?We started attending services last Septem-ber, so we have been part of The Redeemer community for eight or nine months.Are you life-long Episcopalians? No - we are not life-long Episcopalians. Dan grew up Catholic, and my family attended a number of Protestant churches throughout my early years, from Methodist to Lutheran to Baptist to Episcopal. Dan and I were mar-ried in an Episcopal church—Christ Church in Watertown, Connecticut—and we have attended two other Episcopal churche—All Saints, Wynnewood and Epiphany Parish, Seattle. When Dan and I met we found common ground in The Episcopal Church and its beautiful liturgy. We were married in Christ Church in Watertown, Connecticut, my parents’ church at the time, but did not find our own church until we moved 24 years ago from Chicago to the Main Line and attended All Saints Church in Wynnewood. We were happy there until our son Rudy was ready for Sunday School, and we switched to Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, which had a more robust children’s program including a preschool which Rudy attended. We stayed for a number of years, never fully enjoying the services but enjoying the people and appreciating our son’s experience. What brought us back to The Episcopal Church was a brief move to Seattle, where Dan had taken a job with Starbucks. There we found our true church home in Epiphany Parish, a small but vibrant and growing community right in our neighborhood. When we moved back to the Main Line, our greatest sor-row was leaving Epiphany. We still miss the parish, but we feel blessed to have “found” Redeemer after all these years, and we know we are meant to be here.How did you find The Redeemer?During our first stint on the Main Line, we lived right in The Redeemer neighborhood and passed the church every day, not only in the car but also on foot and on bicycle.

Our son learned to ride his bike in Redeemer’s parking lot, and I attended several of the Christmas Bazaars. In fact, I still have many of the items I pur-chased over the years. Oddly enough, though, at the time we did not consider The Redeemer for our church home.What inspired you to attend?When we came back from Seattle for our second stint on the Main Line, I attended a memorial service in Redeemer’s beautiful sanctuary and was impressed by the service and the priests. Dan and I figured we should

give the Sunday service a try. We did, and we have not looked back.What would you want to tell others about The Redeemer to encourage them to come and explore our parish?Church of the Redeemer does not have an ulterior motive. You won’t feel compelled to join a committee or teach Sunday School the moment you arrive. You will be allowed to walk through the doors on your own terms, take respite in the calm beauty of the sanc-tuary, and find nourishment for your heart, mind and soul. When you are ready, there will be plenty of opportunities to volunteer and serve, but these opportunities don’t overshadow the importance of individual and communal worship, of finding peace each Sunday in the midst of a chaotic world. Tell us a bit about yourself outside of The Redeemer—your job, your fam-ily, your hobbies.Dan is a chemical engineer and has spent his career making process improvements in both the food industry and the medical device industry. Currently Dan is program manager for Terumo Medical in Elkton, Maryland. He has an hour commute each way, which seems especially unfair compared with my commute—a three-minute walk across the street to The Haverford School, where I work as a major gift officer in the alumni and development office. We have one son named Rudy, who graduated from Haverford and is now a sophomore at Cornell University, studying operations research engineering, and engaging in squash, bowling, choir and a club that “watches” campus parties to make sure no one gets hurt. Dan’s hobbies include doubles squash, cricket and photography. We have a beautiful collection of lighthouse im-ages taken with his Hasselblad camera. My hobbies are really just daily activities—run-ning, spinning and walking—that fit around my work and graduate classes. When we are together as a family, we love to be active and outdoors, particularly when we are in our favorite place, coastal Maine.

sMIles aBound at thegarden partYsold out agaIn thIs YearBy daVid Woods

The halls were alive with the sound of music, laughter, and convivial conversation at the most recent Church of the Redeemer Garden Party at Appleford. For the second sold-out year in a row, an increasingly diverse group of parishioners enjoyed an afternoon of food and song as they helped raise funds for the music program in support of this year’s Music & Mission trip to Ireland in late June. As chair of the Music Committee and a member of the Redeemer Choir, I have a unique perspective from which to observe how music both informs worship and invites participation in the larger life of the community. It is encouraging to see how

each year more and more Redeemer folk have been coming out to enjoy music programs offered outside of the Sunday services. The All Souls Requiem, the Service of Lessons and Carols, Dining with Divas, Winter Concert, and the Garden Party, while all centered on a musical performance, serve to bring us closer together and grow membership in our community.

Attendees at this year’s Garden Party on May 1 represented a broad spectrum of parish life—young and old, new members and life-long Redeemerites. Musical offerings representing selections that will be performed on tour were presented by all four of The Redeemer choirs in and around a catered affair. A silent auction of baskets appealed to a wide variety of interests for both youth and adults. Plans are already being made for next year’s Garden Party, tentatively to be held on May 7, so I encourage the many parishioners who haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful rite of spring, to mark it on your calendars. The event usually sells out quickly.

Photos by Jessica Harper