Centered Becoming Deeply Rooted in Love - The Signal Spring 2023 - St Timothy's Episcopal Church
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The Signal
Spring 2023
Centered :
Becoming
Deeply Rooted
in Love
1
Members of our 2023 Vestry at Grace Point
Realm Connect is a valuable resource for the church and can
A Word From Our Wardens also be a useful tool for each of you. With it, you can find
by Bob Wood and Bob McKenzie current contact info for your fellow parishioners, photos to
help jog your memory of who is who, and a record of your
As we enter Lent and consider the theme of this newsletter, own personal giving for the year. Access to Realm Connect
“Centered: Becoming Deeply Rooted in Love”, consider the is available by contacting Beth Hackett via email at sttims@
oft-quoted words of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry: “If it’s sttimothysignal.org. She will give you instructions on how to
AI generated image
not about love, it’s not about God”. We ask you to ponder log on to the Realm website and how to download the App
relationship with the God who created us and loves us
Let Us Look for the “God-Shaped unconditionally.
the question: where at St Timothy’s do you experience God’s for use on your mobile device. With the app you will always
love? Is it during Sunday worship? While helping feed our
Vacuum” Inside of Ourselves As we approach the penitential season of Lent, let us neighbors in need? At EYC? The men’s book club? Serving
have the most current church directory in digital form on
your tablet or smart phone. And for those who choose not
by Rev. Taylor Dinsmore carve out some moments to center ourselves and be with on the Altar Guild? At dinner with your Foyer Group? to go digital, plans are underway to produce a print version
St. Augustine is quoted as saying, “You have made us for God. Praying, holy reading, reaching out to someone During Morning Prayer or Compline? All these groups and available soon for a nominal contribution.
yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests experiences, and myriad more, are available at St. Timothy’s,
who is lonely, sitting in silence, or living in gratitude. It There are other projects and activities going on at St.
a place where you can share God’s love with each other
in you.” The writer, Blaize Pascale said something very doesn’t take much time…it is the intention that matters Timothy’s, some of which you’ll read about in this newsletter.
through meaningful, authentic relationship. Each ministry is
similar, “There is a ‘God-shaped vacuum’ in the heart to God. important, and each of you is important. To borrow the Met/ One to highlight is the completed installation of acoustical
of every person which cannot be filled by any created Discovering ways to slow down, pay attention to that Min slogan, “You Matter” in the life of our church. panels in the nave to improve the sound in our worship
thing, but only by God.” space. This project was accomplished in large part due to
‘vacuum’ that exists within our souls is our goal for this But there are so many ministries and so many new faces at the generous contributions of Smith Faris in loving memory
Life in our culture moves so fast that we have no idea Lenten season. Our Lenten Supper Conversations will the church. How do we get a handle on it all? For starters, of his sister-in-law, Patsy Jones. As one grateful parishioner
that something is even missing. We go to work, we be on Sunday evenings from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. They St. Timothy’s is gathering information to update our parish recently shared regarding the sound upgrades: “These past
come home, we have dinner, we have children to raise, will offer fellowship, holy conversation and space to directory. Many of you have recently had your photograph few weeks I’ve been able to hear every word”.
and homework to help with. We live fast and complicated help us rediscover our center and fill it with God’s all- taken before or after Sunday services by Reed Hampton, who
has graciously donated his time and talent to help with this We love hearing that positive feedback. But as always, if you
lives. We never seem to slow down, because we might encompassing Love. There will also be a book study in also have concerns or suggestions to share, please reach out
effort. These photographs, and the updated contact info, are
miss out on something…and yet, we are missing the conference room during the adult Sunday school to one of us or any member of your vestry. •
being uploaded by Beth Hackett into “Realm Connect”, the
out on the most important thing in our lives…our hour. Please join us. • online database the church uses to track our membership. Your servants,
This same database is used by Amy Cox, our financial
Bob Wood Bob McKenzie
director, to record the financial support given by each family.
Senior Warden Junior Warden
The Realm database has many benefits that our staff at St. Timothy's utilize;
from Director of Finance’s the ability to track pledges to communicating
with small groups, it is now an essential tool for parish administration.
Join us as we gather and share a simple soup supper on Sunday evenings from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm during However, Realm is not only for the staff. Realm Connect is an app that
Lent. This will be an opportunity to slow down and center ourselves before a new week begins. In our everyone can use. EYC parents can catch up on the news. EFM can
time together we will try to become more deeply rooted in our relationship with God and with each other. discuss class needs. But the most exciting piece of Realm is the online
It will be a time of focusing on the importance of our faith. We hope to have several tables to join in the directory. An easy-to-access online directory on your phone with
discussion, so if you are interested in helping facilitate the questions, please let us know at up-to-date information is an incredibly helpful tool to have.
sttims@sttimothysignal.org. Scan here to
sign up Realm Connect can be downloaded on your phone.
Feel free to bring a friend who you think might enjoy a meal and fellowship. or on our
website: Contact Beth to get help setting it up!
Childcare can be provided, if needed. sttimothysignal. Beth Hackett: sttims@sttimothysignal.org
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program called ‘Love, Period.’ This program is focused
on providing period products to people who are in
need. While this may seem like a minor problem, the
impacts of period poverty can be especially challenging
for teens in school. Recent studies have shown that 23%
of teenagers have struggled to afford period products,
and almost 20% have either missed school or left early
due to a lack of access to these supplies. This challenge
is not limited to just teenagers; 10% of girls in college
experience a lack of access every month. Women with
low incomes report that more than half of the time
Stone Labyrinth Stock Photo
they were unable to buy these products (which are not
covered under federal assistance programs). Love is the Centerpiece and Foundation In discussing what it means to “love like Jesus,” one
by Mark Hackett of my favorite contemporary theologians, Richard
Copyright Aunt Flow In order to help the women and girls in our communities Rohr, offers this advice: “As Jesus put it, ‘cut off from
Love Period. we are partnering with St. Paul’s and will be organizing “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your the vine, you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). The ‘vine
by Natalie Tate, Community Visioning Team our own collection and distribution activities and the branches’ offer one of the greatest Christian
throughout the year. Right now we have information mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
The concept of love runs throughout the bible and in And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as mystical images of the non-duality between God and
on ‘Love, Period.’ on our Community Corner memo the soul. In and with God, I can love everything and
many ways love defines who we are as Christians. Jesus yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on
board, and you’ll see more everyone—even my enemies. Alone and by myself, my
shared and showed love in his teachings and his actions, these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40).
details coming soon along willpower and intellect will seldom be able to love in
and we are called to do this same with ourselves and
with various ways you Love is the centerpiece and foundation of all the difficult situations over time. Many folks try to love by
our neighbors – both those we know and those we don’t
can help support these teachings of Jesus. The love to which Jesus calls us is willpower, with themselves as the only source. They try
directly know. As we look outward the Community
efforts. Helping to address inclusive, unconditional, and extends to those that we to obey the second commandment without the first. It
Team would like to share an opportunity we feel
basic needs that are often likely find difficult to love. In the parable of the Good usually does not work long-term….” Rohr again: “The
supports loving those in our communities in a way that
overlooked is a way of Samaritan (Luke 10:29–37), Jesus shows us that our only way I know how to teach anyone to love God, and
may seem small and even simple, but can have positive
showing and sharing love, “neighbor” includes those whom we would rather not how I myself seek to love God, is to love what God loves,
impacts in the long term.
and we hope you join us. • love, and elsewhere Jesus directly calls on us to “love which is everything and everyone, including you and
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Athens has started a
‘ Copyright St. Paul’s Athens. your enemies.” (Luke 6:27; Matthew 5:44). including me! … ‘If we love one another, God remains
Womens Retreat
So -- What does it mean to love God with all your in us, and God’s love is brought to perfection in us’ (1
heart, soul, and mind? What does it mean to love your John 4:12). Then we love with God’s infinite love that can
neighbor as yourself? How are we supposed to love our always flow through us. We are able to love things for
enemies? What does that look like? Is it possible to love themselves… and not for what they do for us. That takes
like Christ loves -- or at least strive to do so? If so, how both work and surrender. As we get ourselves out of the
Embrace Community
do we do that? What practices help us in that effort? way, there is a slow but real expansion of consciousness.
On behalf of the Worship and Formation Visioning We are not the central reference point anymore. We
Team of St. Timothy’s Vestry, I invite you to explore love in greater and greater circles until we can finally do
what Jesus did: love and forgive even our enemies.”
You’re invited to join us for the upcoming Women’s Retreat! these questions together with your fellow parishioners
and clergy as we start a new Lenten program and As we prepare to enter the Lenten Season, the Worship
Beginning Friday evening,April 14, to Sunday, April 16, at St. formation offering called “Centered: Becoming Deeply and Formation Team invites you to attend the upcoming
Rooted in Love / A Christian Discipleship Experience.” Rector’s Forum classes that will focus on the meaning
Mary’s, Sewanee, all St. Timothy’s women are welcome and Beginning on February 26 and continuing throughout and practices of Ash Wednesday and Lent, help create
encouraged to attend! Lent, St. Timothy’s will offer a series of Sunday evening
gatherings based on the Centered theme to explore
the Alleluia Banner at an intergenerational Sunday
School class on February 19, come feast with the EYC
together how we might become more deeply rooted in at the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on February 21,
love -- with God and one another. These “Lenten Supper and attend Ash Wednesday services on February 22.
Conversations” will take place on Sunday evenings in Then, we hope you will join us as we share a meal and
the Parish Hall and will feature a simple meal (e.g., soup, explore what it means to “walk in love” at the upcoming
salad, etc.), prayer, and small group discussions led by Lenten Supper Conversations on Sunday evenings
volunteer “table leaders” to facilitate conversation. throughout Lent. •
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Roll on into VBS!
by Evie Durant, Children’s Director
This summer, St. Timothy’s is having a Food Truck Party
for VBS! “Food Truck Party” invites children to pray as
Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:11: “Give us this day our
daily bread.” These words remind us that everything we
have comes from God and that it’s by talking to God
in prayer that our needs will be met. We have a special
friend, DJ Cupcake, to help our campers learn about
the “Daily Specials” like, “God is Great” and “By God’s
Hands We All are Fed.” Each day we will explore these
“Daily Special” messages through fun activities, games,
songs, and of course, food, grounded in stories from
both the Old and New Testaments. The goal of VBS
Children’s Chapel Logo
at St. Timothy’s is to open kids’ eyes to the countless
ways God provides, loves, and cares for for all of us
Children’s Chapel is Growing!
while inviting them to join God in providing, loving, by Evie Durant, Children’s Director Happening #81 Group Photo
and caring for others. Over the past year, we have all been re-acclimating Happening: Renewal, Community Building,
been a member of this church, 3 youth have served as
our daily lives and deciding what aspects are essential
We will host our Food Truck Party the week of June to add back in and what to let go of. Making church a
and LOVE! lay rector and dozens have served on team. We have
by Julie Novak, EYC Cooridinator
12-16, from 9 am to 12 pm. Campers are rising grades priority is not easy, and we are humbled that you choose five St. Timothy's youth that will serve in March - Ruth
Happening is a spiritual awakening and renewal
preK - 5th. Middle School and High School kids can to worship with us. As a staff, we continue to seek the Novak, Mary Claire Blanton, Sophia Dockery, Nyim
weekend where high school students (Grades 9-12) have
get in on our party too! Counselors have as much fun right balance of what to offer and when to simplify. Edwards, and Rinn Laney, Registration is open now
a face-to face encounter with the love of Jesus through
as our campers being group leaders and sous chefs. St. This past year we have seen a resurgence in Sunday for high schoolers that would like to join this amazing
Christian community. This is done through a series of
Timothy’s and STEPS families can sign up early until attendance and fellowship offerings. One of the joyous community at etnyouth.org •
talks, given by youth and adults about their experiences
May 1, and then we will open it up to families outside discoveries has been the draw to Children’s Chapel! All
in faith and in life.
the Parish. • the carpet squares get filled regularly, and listening to This weekend is honest and up-front. The weekend
Food Truck Party Registration is now open!! children hum “Father, I Adore You” as they walk down follows a format of talks, each followed by small-group
the hall is heartwarming. discussion and activities. Topics covered throughout the
June 12-16, 2023 9 am - 12am
Campers: rising preK - 5th grade weekend include prayer, faith, Jesus, and our individual
Counselors: rising 6 - 12 graders We need parents to help meet our Safe Church, Safe calls to ministry in the world. Scattered between the
Scan to register Communities guidelines, to help with activities, and talks and small group sessions are lots of fun songs and
for campers crowd control. Starting in Lent, current Children’s games, and worship. We come together for praise, for
Chapel families will get a Sunday through the spring reconciliation, for healing. Of course, there are a few
to come and be our parent help. We have 8 weeks of fun surprises throughout the weekend!
Chapel before our outdoor summer services start on I attended Happening #11 in the Diocese of Atlanta over
May 14, so each parent or parent team should only have 35 years ago. It was one of those amazing weekends that
to serve one time. Please let Evie know if you know of I have held on to all these years. I still have relationships
Scan to register a weekend you would like to help. Weekends will begin with the other youth involved in the weekend. It has also
for counselors! being doled out on the March Server Schedule. You can meant so much to both of my children - EJ served as the
switch out with someone if you find you are unable to lay rector last spring and Ruth will serve on the team for
serve. It is important that we have a helper each week. the third time in March. She currently is member of the
Thank you for bringing your children to St. Timothy’s Diocesan Steering Committee as well.
and trusting us with their spiritual growth! We are excited St. Timothy's has a strong history of being involved
for this program to keep growing and succeeding, and in the Happening Community. In the 9 years I have
6 with your help, we can make that happen! 7
For the 50th annual series some amazing people have
been brought in as Keynote Speakers:
March 1: The Rev. Becca Stevens, Thistle Farms
March 8: Reflections on 50 Years of the Thorne
Sparkman School of Religion
Panelists: The Very Rev. John Bonner III,
The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Abts Wright, Mr.
Joel King, and The Very Rev. Jim Turrell
March 15: Bishop Kevin Strickland, Evangelical
Lutheran Church of America
March 22: Dr. Catherine Meeks, The Absalom
Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing
The Right Rev. Brian Cole, Bishop of the
March 29:
Thorne Sparkman Lenten Series Diocese of East Tennessee of the Sunday Morning 10:30 service
50 Years of Lenten Discovery Episcopal Church • Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord; St. Teresa of Avila has written “Christ has now no
Be Swift to Love and Make Haste to Be Kind. body on earth but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are
The early followers of Jesus fashioned the season of Lent
the eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks
as an intentional time of spiritual practice and devotion THORNE SPARKMAN by George Hamrick, Stewardship Chair
I love the liturgy and worship of God found within our out on the world. Yours are the feet with which he is
to prepare for the Resurrection of Christ at Easter and
the baptism of new believers.
+School of Religion+ Episcopal church services. The emphasis is on praise, to go about doing good. And yours are the hands with
thanks and gratefulness to our gracious and loving God which he is to bless us now.” As we all go into this new
Thorne Sparkman offers an opportunity to join Class Registration & Fees for all the wondrous blessings given to us. I also enjoy year I pray that we can reach out in service and love
Christians across time and space in renewing our the music of both our fantastic choir and Zammarin. to one another and do as Christ has commanded us to
commitment to growing in knowledge and love of Online Registration opened February 1, 2023. do. St. Timothy’s Church has many ministries which
I like the fact that sermons usually end in about ten
God through learning, study, self-examination, and Lecture series: follow the example set by Jesus. This year St. Timothy’s
minutes and not the forty minute sermons of my youth,
meditation on the Scriptures in a community devoted • $30 for adults growing up in a southern Baptist church in Nashville. Stewardship Team will try our best to make you aware
to excellence in scholarship and a lively faith for the • $20 for students But maybe my favorite part of our worship service is the of the these opportunities to be the body of Christ. At
good of all creation. • $15 for children. end of it! Not because it has been too lengthy or boring times we may even reach out and ask for your service,
There will be an organ meditation and a service of the but because of what is said as we are dismissed by our your time and your talent. Please let us know if we can
Eucharist beginning at 5:15. A light soup supper will
Soup supper for all 5 weeks: help you to find ministries with which to be involved or
Scan to clergy. We are dismissed with the words, “Go in peace
follow at 5:45. Lectures will begin at 6:30 p.m. each $30 per person. register! to love and serve the Lord” or “Life is short so make even to start a new one. May this new year find us all
Wednesday evening of the School. ‘ haste to be kind”! going in peace to love and serve the Lord! •
Confirmation at St. Timothys 2023
These words center me, they direct and remind me of Valentine made during Children’s Chapel
what I should do and what I should be as I go out from
the church building into our world. We are to go in
April 23, April 30, May 7. May 14. May 21, May 28, June 4, June 11 kindness to love and serve the Lord! Well, how exactly
Sundays at 4:00 p.m. | Conference Room do we do this? This is another of those “easier said
than done statements” we encounter in life. However,
Have you ever wondered about how to join the Episcopal Church? I believe the way we follow this directive is by actively
Do you want some answers to some of your questions about why and how we do things? serving others and actively loving others. Jesus himself
Would you like to look at the scripture in a new way? directs us in what is known as the new commandment
If so, join us for our Confirmation Classes 2023 as we cover a wide variety of subjects found in John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to
related to our Episcopal faith and traditions. Classes will begin at 4:00 p.m. on the above you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, you
Sunday afternoons. Youth preparing for Confirmation will be included in these classes. We also should love one another.” As Jesus loved us we are
will talk about the Bible, Church tradition, the three-legged stool, Bishops, beliefs and all to love one another! How did he love us? He sacrificed,
sorts of things. We also hope to have guest speakers like we did last year. Classes will culminate he healed, he listened, he gave of his time, he fed and
with Bishop’s Annual Visit and Confirmation on Father’s Day, June 18. Come and bring a friend. he prayed for others. This is how he loved, by giving of
For more information, or to sign up: himself to people in need. I feel we’re called to do the
tdinsmore@sttimothysignal.org or sttims@sttimothysignal.org same. Quite a challenge!
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Lenten Sunday Morning Book Study
by Rev. Taylor Dinsmore
Lent I, February 26 - Lent 5, March 26
9:30 am to 10:15 am, Community Room
For the season of Lent we
invite everyone to come and
participate in our Lenten Book
Study on Sunday mornings
from 9:30 - 10:15 am during
our Rector’s Forum. We will
gather in the Community
Room each Sunday in Lent,
February 26 - March 26 to read
and discuss “Inspired: Slaying
Giants, Walking on Water, and
Loving the Bible Again”, by
Rachel Held Evans.
Rachel Held Evans was a product of our own part of
the south and a communicant of St. Luke’s Episcopal
Church in Cleveland, Tennessee. She was a prophetic
writer during her short life on earth. She was raised in
the Evangelical Church, until she began to have deep
theological questions about her faith that “inspired”
such a wonderful journey. If the Bible isn't a science
book or an instruction manual, then what is it? What do
people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When
Rachel Held Evans found herself asking these questions,
she began a quest to better understand what the Bible
is and how it is meant to be read. What she discovered
changed her – and it will change us as well.
“Drawing on the best in recent scholarship and using
her well-honed literary expertise, Evans examines
some of our favorite Bible stories and possible
interpretations, retelling them through memoir,
original poetry, short stories, soliloquies, and even
a short screenplay. Undaunted by the Bible's most
difficult passages, Evans wrestles through the process
of doubting, imagining, and debating Scripture's
mysteries. The Bible, she discovers, is not a static work
but is a living, breathing, captivating, and confounding Met/Min Evensong
book that is able to equip us to join God's loving and
February 26, 5:00 - 6:00 pm
redemptive work in the world.” - Book description
Amazon.com The combined choirs of St. Paul’s, Grace
Church, Good Shepherd, and St. Timothy’s
“Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Living sing Noble’s Evening Service in B minor and
the Bible Again” can be purchased on Amazon and is Chilcott’s “God So Loved the World.” The
available for Kindle. • offering received at the service will be given
to Metropolitan Ministries.
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St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church 630 Mississippi Ave. Signal Mtn. TN 37377 423.886.2281 sttimothysignal.org
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