Diocese of East CarolinaThe Rt. Rev’d. Rob Skirving Bishopwww.diocese-eastcarolina.org

ClergyThe Very Rev. John T. Frazierrector@stpaulsinthepines.net

Vestry Senior Warden Roy LowderJunior Warden Penny FlemingChristian Formation Bill PerhamFund Raising Tara BartalHospitality Suzanne TuttleMissions & Outreach Jane CrabillPastoral Care Kenny WestStewardship Robin BurrsWorship Leslie Flom

Committees and StaffAltar Guild Chair Charity SwickTreasurer Donna RorabackClerk of the Vestry Cindi Pettigrew Stained Glass Preservation Penny Fleming

Administrator, Webmaster & Epistle Editor………. Robin Minnick

We are the Church...Let us hold in our prayers our government leaders and our Armed Forces on deployment; the millions of refu-gees worldwide in need of help; and our young people growing up in a challenging world.

For our families and friends who need our prayers Gloria McEvilleyFaith SwickBrooke LarsenMary Lee ShanahanAgnes Bally Lori (Frawley) BuffintonDianne Helfrich Saran McLean-HasingerCJ Wheeler, Gail’s nephew Sydney Finau (J. Krantz)Dana and Jennifer FrawleyDanny Caron, (Doreen DeJaynes)Jimmy Bildrens, (Doreen DeJaynes)The DeJaynes FamilyMichael AshfordBea RorabackRichard Johnson (M. Winder)Ann HagelbergerViolet & Stephen Johnson (Judith Johnson)John Clardy (Judith Johnson)Chuck & Debbie LiebersChris Cammack (Jo Anne Lowder)Ronnie Smith, lung cancer (Pam Frawley)Brian Mason (Fr. John)Tim FlemingAndrea Eubanks

St. Paul’s-in-the-Pines“As a diverse family we seek and serve God through joyful

worship, love and respect for creation, promotion of social just ice, and growth into the image of Christ.”

From Our Rector’s Study...

office@stpaulsinthepines.net MARCH 2015 www.stpaulsinthepines.net

Greetings, In many science fiction movies there are creatures known as “Shape Shifters!” This im-plies that the creature can, at will, change his or her outward appearance to look different. Moreover, they normally change to look like some known person for the purposes of fact-finding or sabotage. Still, the unique feature is that they can change who they appear to be.

This ability to change who we are reminds me of a Deuteronomy reading discussed by our Chapter of the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew. The reading was this, “So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. 5And you shall build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. 6You must build the altar of the Lord your God of unhewn stones.” (Deut. 27:4-6)

This building of an altar for the worship of God required a discriminating and dis-cerning search. The stones we selected and then used as a way to focus worship and praise on God. The stones could not be “reshaped” with tools. They could only be covered “prepared” with plaster so that the fitting would be precise and solid.

As human beings we have it within ourselves to “reshape” our selves so as to be select mem-bers, fitting and ready for the plaster of cohesive worship. Yes, it’s not so much about some-body changing us; it’s about each Christian engaging in their own shape shifting. This is what repenting and reflection is all about. This Lenten season is about looking again at how important Christian community – “Church” is in our lives and the lives of those we love.

We are shaped by our habits. Our habits form us and in many ways define us. If we practice healthy behavior (diet and exercise) we, over time, become healthy. Con-versely, eating all the sugary, salty, and fatty stuff leads to poor health. The same is true for our spiritual lives. Coming together in community, be it The Brotherhood of St Andrew, Women’s Bible Study, Education for Ministry, Lenten Study, Wednes-day Evening Healing Eucharist and Sunday Morning Holy Eucharist, enables us to “Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.” We can glean from the words of scripture new and exciting messages like the selection of stones for worship being a metaphor for being in right relationship with God for the purpose of worshiping God.

Stones that do not fit are just rocks. But if we rocks commit to real change, real reflection, real repentance, we too can, and will, be picked up and used as a building stone for the Altar of God. So, let’s do some shape-shifting. Let’s re-shape our spiritual lives by regu-larly participating in a spiritual group that seeks to hear what God is saying. No person, priest, pastor or preacher can change us. We must be stones “on which you have not used an iron tool.” We must ourselves be the agent of change with God’s help. We can-not please God without God. The first thing is to WANT to change, to want to be among the selected. It is not too late. Go, mix with like minded believers. Hear the Word only as it applies to you in your time of need. Let the Word reshape you for holy selection.

Blessings, John+

Discipline : Respect : Integrity : Prayer : Patience

J. Johnson D. DeJaynes

D. George T. Bartal J. Johnson J.

JohnsonNoon

T. Bartal

G. Brown R. Lowder L. Flom D. Roraback L. Flom L. Flom

L. Frawley I. Martin B. Perham

R. Lowder I. Martin 5:30

Stations

L. FrawleyI. Martin

B. Perham

A. Eubanks L. James J. Frantz K. West J. Crabill M.

Edmund-son

L. Flom

J. Frantz

C. Charon S. Gibbs T. Frantz J. Huskey A. Gibbs C. Charon

S. Gibbs S. Gibbs7:00Lamenta-

tions

L. FlomD.

Roraback

A. Gibbs

K. West D. Lucas G. Brown L. Frawley K. West K. West

G. Winder J. Ashford B. Flom J.A. Lowder B. Flom G.

Winder

J. Krantz C. Swick G. Brown D. George P. Perham All All

D. Walter J.A. Lowder L. Flom V.

Barrett J. Krantz

B. Perham W. Ganzer T. Bartal J. Ashford R. Burrs

C. Swick S. Tuttle P. Perham H. Gale S. Tuttle

1 8 15 22 29 April 2 3 4

2 Lent 3 Lent 4 Lent 5 LentSunday of

the Passion: Palm Sunday

Maundy Thusday

Good Friday

Holy Saturday

March 2015Year B

8:00 am EM

10::30 am EM

Chalice

Lector

Crucifer

Acolytes & extras

UshersGreeters &Front Doors

Altar Guild

Tellers

Nursery

TEAM LEADERS-- please remember to call your team prior to the Sunday you are assigned. If it is impossible for you to serve, please find your own re-placement before the assigned Sunday and inform the Parish Administrator of the change by Wednesday of your assigned week. Please submit in writing to the worship liason the dates you are not available. LECTORS— please utilize the Illuminations sheet for the lessons (found in the folder kept by the mailboxes) on your assigned Sunday.

Please pray for the following during March

1 St. Peter’s, Sunbury St. Christopher’s, Elizabethtown *La Gran Comisión, Doña Lila8 Christ Church, Elizabeth City The Rev’d Walter “Chip” Broadfoot, Rector The Rev’d Deacon Grace Marie Wood *Santo Tomas, Gautier15 Emmanuel, Farmville Church of the Good Shepherd, Fayetteville *San Mateo, Jalonga22 St. Philip’s, Southport The Rev’d Betty Glover, Interim Rector *San Antonio de Padúa, Carretón29 The Bishop and Staff of the Diocese of East Carolina The Rt. Rev’d Robert S. Skirving The Rev’d Canon Matthew E. Stockard St. Joseph’s, Fayetteville The Rev’d Teddra Hussey-Smith *Jesús Peregrino, Barahona

A

Diocese in Prayer

Next Vestry meeting will be March 8th.

A Parish Clean-up Day is scheduled for March 21st, but special thanks to Carol Clise for cleaning and organizing the kitchen

Worship Committee will continue to meet and plan for upcoming Sundays. We will be seeking back-up musicians for services.

We are continuing to develop fundraisers and participate in diocesan ones.

Lenten Study February 25-March 25 at 7 pm, with light meal provided. The Perhams are also conduct-ing a Lenten study for children at the same time.

A Sabbatical Committee has been formed to review and plan for the time here whileFr. John is on Sabbatical this summer, June 8-August 17.

See notes about Convention on page 4.The idea of a retreat at Trinity Center was brought

up for discussion; it it being checked into.

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Vestry

Summary

Ronnie Smith, lung cancer (Pam Frawley)Rita Tetterton (Nancy)Nancy TettertonDebby Tunning, cancer (Jane S. family)George WinderHelen Glock (the Perhams)Sarah Smith, brain tumorToni Berry (Suzanne Tuttle)Sammie Barrett Long (Vance B. Jan P)John St. Onge, Leukemia (Ray St. Onge)Chloe Boyce, NICU (Troy & Nicole Boyce)Jay DeJaynes, kidney issuesLouise Braxton (the Perhams)Eldrean Robbins (Christina Barnett)Barbara Turner (Christina Barnett)Rosemary Brooks, David & Nikki (the Perhams)Susan SwickGrace White, age 6, inoperable brain tumor (Doreen DeJaynes)Chris Fritz, in AfghaniistanRon HuskeyJulie HuskeyBill Roraback, kidneyJay Chandler, in Afghanistan (the Pettigrews)The Gardiner family (JA Lowder)Jan PetersSharon RobertsonMichelle (Sharon Robertson)Curt S. (Sharon Roberstson)David Colby (DeJaynes family)

We did it when we became afraid. When we stopped trust-ing in ourselves and the others and decided there was only a right way and a wrong way, and of course, our own was what had to be right.

We did it when we grew afraid because we’d been attacked and no longer felt safe - about anything, forgetting that we never have been safe.

Progress is a wonderful thing, but it seems we have pro-gressed so far that we think that pain and suffering is somehow abnormal, that somehow we are entitled to live in complete safety and security.

Of course that should be the goal. Conscious efforts of good people work toward that end, but bad things in this world are inevitable, and to fall into disarray because they happen, to blame and fingerpoint and feel we cannot func-tion unless everything in our world is put back exactly the way we want is impractical, self-centric, and unrealistic.

The world, God’s world, is a big beautiful and scary place full of a miraculous variety of people, places, creatures, cul-tures, and philosophies. THAT is the norm. THAT is what God created. The test is to see what we do with it, what we make of it.

We can be full of hate, we can fight and argue and mix in an-ger and hatred and let it escalate to loathing and violence, even the murder of innocents. Or we can trust in the fact that God made this world, and that therefore, there must be good in it He wants us to see. We can open our eyes to that good, support it, celebrate it, and emulate it .

It is no small feat to replace fear and doubt with trust and acceptance. It is no small feat to stand up to the fearmon-gers and move the world past them. But anything else is surrendering to terror, and not surrendering to God.

Blessings. Robin the PA

I sit here on a particularly gloomy day, a Friday the thirteenth, just a few days after three young Muslim people lost their lives in a senseless act by an an-gry, unthinking, unfeeling man.

I will caution you that I am thinking this out as I write, so I may make a mis-step or two, and these are my thoughts alone, unauthorized by anyone but myself, but they are sincere as I try to make sense of this world.

I am however, indebted to the words of Father Kevin Mat-thews, an Episcopal priest in Greensboro, who is my daugh-ter’s friend and whose posts I read periodically. In a post that followed the first vigil held to honor Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha., Fr. Kevin brings up the point that “we are being led down a false path” if we look upon killing three people over a parking dispute as somehow ‘slightly better’ than having killed them for the brand of religion they follow. Yet, as he says, we are being sold that notion “death after death.”

My own son was angry at the many posts he saw and words he heard from people labelling it a hate crime be-fore supporting evidence surfaced. He said the question deserved to be examined, and it might very well be true, but there needed to be evidence before the label could be rightly applied. He wondered aloud about why we jump to that conclusion.

My reply of the moment was that in this day and age, it was a natural leap. What felt positive about it was that mostly he heard this from angry non-Muslims trying to show their empathy for the situation, trying to distance themselves from those who hate and take violent action. This seems to be somewhat laudable, and perhaps it will demonstrate that we are not all alike.

We are not all alike.

The two-edged sword that simultaneously serves and hangs over the heads of humankind. Like a tool that can be used as a weapon, our diversity both helps and hurts us. And what has happened in recent years, as we all polarize and draw back in fear, is that we have succumbed to the real meaning of terrorism.

And it does not stop at the line in the sand that is war.

Look at our government - our political parties. Look at what has come to be called the war on women. Look at the class wars that have once again reared their ugly heads. How have we, once so determined to pull together and raise each other up, become so entrenched in our individual be-liefs that we cannot consider those of another? When did we decide that the solution lies in tearing down the other person’s life-structure of ideas and values? When did we de-cide to stop working with others?

When did we make the other, ANY other, our enemy?

Wordsandnotes Page 3March

We are the Church....Through the Window

Vestrynotes Page 4 March

Spring Clean-up March 21,2015 9 am til ??. Pick your chore: Dust blinds and window sills, Polish alters and the wooden lecturn, mop& wax tile floor in sanctuary,move pine straw to garden on Ireland Dr. side, transplant azaleas, assist Alter Guild with brass polishing. These are suggestions. If you know of something that needs attention Let me know.See you there,

Penny

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Accountants Needed to Help with Parish Au-dits

On a Paid Contract BasisFor more information,

please call Bonnie Holton at 252-522-0885, ext. 229

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From the Junior Warden’s Workbbench

From Charity Swick…

There is a new Flowers and Bread & Wine sign-up board in the back of the Parish Hall, ready for use. Please remember, however, that we do not ‘do flow-ers’ during Lent.

Also, the envelopes for Easter flowers are now in the pews. Please be sure to include a list of the peo-ple you wish to honor or remember with your gift.

Want to help?

visit www.CumberlandCropWalk.orgto see how you can help end hungerConCern for the Christians

Convention Notes

Convention went well for all delegates. There is much excitement around our new Bishop Robert Skirving and the leadership he is providing for our diocese.Penny Fleming and Ron Huskey received our plaque at Conven-tion giving thanks for the grant we received from the Diocesan Episcopal Foundation, which we used to complete the window protection for our stained glass windows.Jillian Flom spoke at the convention about the Episcopal Lutheran Ministry at UNC Pembroke.

There will be baptisims

at the Easter Vigil.

The following link (http://wapo.st/1FToAch) leads to a page on the Washington Post web site and a story on the ab-duction of Syrian Christians by Islamic extremists.

As modern Christians in North Carolina, this kind of danger seems remote, and even ancient, to us. However, it has become a part of the war these extremists are bent on waging and a daily fear to those in their path.

It has been noted in sermons that these are sinful and horrific acts being perpetrated on innocents. It has been suggested that it is essential that we, with our relative safety and protection of our government, need to speak out on behalf of the victims of these atrocities.

We must all consider what our next steps are to be. Among them can be contacting members of Congress, expressing out-rage and demanding appropriate action to protect our fellow Christians in other nations. We can also spread the word, publi-cizing the fact that our brethren are among those being harmed, enslaved, and murdered.

War often seems far away. We spend a lot of worry about how to keep it from our shores. Perhaps it is time to address what is happening now, in these foreign places. It doesn’t matter where the vicitms are; they are victims nonetheless, and they need our help.

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Birthdays & Anniversaries--- 2nd Christine Flores; 3rd Ann Ashford; 5th Roy & Cynthia Lowder; 8th Leslie Flom, 9th Chuck Liebers; 13th Bea Roraback, Nancy Tetterton; 15th Bill Perham; 24th Robin Burrs and Susan Lees, Heather Stewart, John Edmundson; 30th Jan Peters

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

March

1 Birthday Sunday

Holy Eucharist 8:00 amChristian Formation 9:15 am Holy Eucharist 10:30 am

2 3Women’s Bible Study

1:00 pm

4Holy Eucharist & Healing

6:00 pm

Lenten Study7:00 pm

5 6 78:00 am

Brotherhood of St. Andrew10:00 am

Worship Support Training

8 Holy Eucharist 8:00 amChristian Formation 9:15 am Holy Eucharist 10:30 am Vestry Meeting after service

9 10 Women’s Bible Study

1:00 pm

11 Holy Eucharist & Healing

6:00 pm

Lenten Study7:00 pm

12

13 14 8:00 amBrotherhood of St. Andrew

10:00 amWorship Support Training

11:00 amWorship Committee

15 Holy Eucharist 8:00 amChristian Formation 9:15 am Holy Eucharist 10:30 am

16 17 Women’s Bible Study

1:00 pm

18Holy Eucharist & Healing

6:00 pm

Lenten Study7:00 pm

19 20 21 8:00 amBrotherhood of St. Andrew

10:00 amWorship Support Training

22Holy Eucharist 8:00 amChristian Formation 9:15 am Holy Eucharist 10:30 am

23 24Women’s Bible Study

1:00 pm

25 Holy Eucharist & Healing

6:00 pm

Lenten Study7:00 pm

26 27 28 8:00 amBrotherhood of St. Andrew

10:00 amWorship Support Training

29 Sunday of the Passion:

Palm Sunday30 31

Women’s Bible Study 1:00 pm

April 1 Holy Eucharist & Healing

6:00 pm

Lenten Study (final)7:00 pm

2 Maundy Thursday

Gathering at 6:00 pm

3Good FridayServices at:

12 Noon5:30 pm7:00 pm

4Holy Saturday8:00 am - Yard work10:00 am - Service & Practice for Vigil7:30 pm - Easter Vigil

Saint Paul’s-in-the-Pines Episcopal Church1800 Saint Paul AvenueFayetteville NC 28304Phone: (910) 485-7098

Email: office@stpaulsinthepines.netWebsite: www.stpaulsinthepines.net

Non-Profit OrganizationUS Postage PAIDFayetteville, North Carolina 28302Permit No. 164

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I n s i d e : March Fr. John’s message ................ page 1 Prayer lists .................. pages 1 and 3Through the Window .............. page3