Monthly Archives: October 2015

This Week (November 1, 2015) at St. John’s

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The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs (about 1423-24) by Fra Angelico. Tempera on wood. National Gallery, London.

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs (about 1423-24) by Fra Angelico. Tempera on wood. National Gallery, London.

This Sunday is All Saints Sunday. We will be remember all those who have died in the last year.

News & Notes

Pastoral Needs: If a pastoral need arises, please call the church office at 606-528-1659 and leave a message. Voicemail messages will automatically be forwarded to a member of the vestry who can arrange pastoral care. You may also contact the senior warden, Bruce W. Cory, by phone at 440-227-0035 or by e-mail at bwcory@gmail.com

Next Sunday, November 8, will be a service of Holy Eucharist (Communion).

Adult Forum: For the month of November we will be discussing the Last Things: Death, Judgment and the Afterlife each Sunday morning at 10:15 am.

Godly Play is available at 10am each Sunday to support the spiritual guidance for all children.

Al-Anon Family Group: An Al-Anon Family Group will meet in St. John’s Parish Hall on Tuesdays from 7-8pm.

Wednesday Fellowship: Gather at 6pm on Wednesday evenings for a service and fellowship.

Belk Charity Day Sale – The Belk Charity Day Sale is Nov. 7 from 6a m to 10 am. Tickets are $5 each and the proceeds go directly to St. John’s. The ticket then entitles you to $5 off your purchase at Belk Nov.7. Free gift cards will be given at the front entrance to the first 100 customers starting at 6 am during the Charity Day Sale.

Are you interested in assisting with the Sunday service? Readers, Eucharistic Ministers, Crucifers, Altar Guild Members and choir members are all important for each Sunday service. If you’re interested in serving, please let Bruce Cory know.

United Thank Offering. Remember to get your box for your thank offerings for this ministry of The Episcopal Church. The next collection will be in the fall.

The vestry has voted to keep a supply of 5 $20.00 Kroger gift cards each month available to distribute to people who call for food or fuel assistance. If you would like to contribute toward this outreach, please mark your contribution as “Outreach”.

Serving Our Neighbors – See baskets in the parlor.

  • Everlasting Arms, Corbin’s shelter for people who are homeless, is in need of men’s and women’s razors, gloves, deodorant and socks.
  • The Food Pantry at Corbin Presbyterian Church is always in need of nonperishable food items. Vegetables are especially appreciated.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Subscribe to our Website Feed!

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsCorbin

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/StJohnsCorbin

Website:  http://stjohnscorbin.org/

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/stjohnscorbin/

St. John’s Statement of Inclusion

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY, is a proudly inclusive Christian community. All members are encouraged to participate fully in the life and leadership of the church regardless of age, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, economic condition, physical or mental ability. We believe all people are created by God to model the diversity in unity which is the Holy Trinity and we seek to live out that diversity in unity within the faith community.

This Week (October 18, 2015) at St. John’s

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Bishop's VisitationIt will be a busy Sunday this weekend. Bishop Doug Hahn will be at St. John’s for his annual visit. We will be celebrating the confirmations of three members of our community, and having a potluck after the service. Vestry will also have a meeting with the bishop after the potluck.

News & Notes

Pastoral Needs: If a pastoral need arises, please call the church office at 606-528-1659 and leave a message. Voicemail messages will automatically be forwarded to a member of the vestry who can arrange pastoral care. You may also contact the senior warden, Bruce W. Cory, by phone at 440-227-0035 or by e-mail at bwcory@gmail.com

Next Sunday will be a service of Holy Eucharist.

Adult Forum: We will continue our study of the Gospel of Mark each Sunday morning at 10:15 am.

Al-Anon Family Group: An Al-Anon Family Group will meet in St. John’s Parish Hall on Tuesdays from 7-8pm.

Wednesday Fellowship: Gather at 6pm on Wednesday evenings for a service and fellowship.

Belk Charity Day Sale – The Belk Charity Day Sale is Nov. 7 from 6a m to 10 am. Tickets are $5 each and the proceeds go directly to St. John’s. The ticket then entitles you to $5 off your purchase at Belk Nov.7. Free gift cards will be given at the front entrance to the first 100 customers starting at 6 am durig the Charity Day Sale.

Hymn Selection Group If you’d like to choose hymns for services, join this group. You will choose hymns for an upcoming service and then meet with the entire group to confirm the final selections. See Billy Hibbitts if you are interested.

Are you interested in assisting with the Sunday service? Readers, Eucharistic Ministers, Crucifers, Altar Guild Members and choir members are all important for each Sunday service. If you’re interested in serving, please let Bruce know.

United Thank Offering. Remember to get your box for your thank offerings for this ministry of The Episcopal Church. The next collection will be in the fall.

The vestry has voted to keep a supply of 5 $20.00 Kroger gift cards each month available to distribute to people who call for food or fuel assistance. If you would like to contribute toward this outreach, please mark your contribution as “Outreach”.

God’s Pantry sponsors a senior food program through Corbin Presbyterian Church that unloads, packs and distributes food to 312 low income seniors in our area. The truck load of food (about 10,000 pounds) arrives at the church on the 4th Monday (October 26) of each month about 10:00, and the cases of food are unloaded and stacked in the church fellowship hall. The next night (October 27) at 6:00 we get together and pack the food into 312 boxes. Then, Wednesday (October 28) from 9:00 to 12:30 is the great day when the seniors come to the church to pick up their food and we desperately need people who can carry the boxes to their cars. All of this is labor intensive, and requires some lifting on Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday we pack the boxes in an assembly line. We are acutely aware that most people who can do this easily are working on Monday and Wednesday, but we would certainly welcome any help we can get!

Serving Our Neighbors – See baskets in the parlor.

  • Everlasting Arms, Corbin’s shelter for people who are homeless, is in need of men’s and women’s razors, gloves, deodorant and socks.
  • The Food Pantry at Corbin Presbyterian Church is always in need of nonperishable food items. Vegetables are especially appreciated.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Subscribe to our Website Feed!

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsCorbin

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/StJohnsCorbin

Website:  http://stjohnscorbin.org/

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/stjohnscorbin/

This Week at St. John’s (11 September 2015)

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When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Mark 10:22)Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Mark 10:21-22)

A significant amount of ink has been poured over this passage. Does Jesus require all Christians to sell everything they have and give it to the poor? But won’t that just leave the Christians as poor themselves? St. Francis of Assisi, the late 12th/early 13th century founder of a religious order called the Order of Friars Minor (“Friars Minor” meaning “lesser/poorer brothers”), took this passage quite seriously. His new order took strict vows of poverty and relied on charity and begging for its subsistence. Does one necessarily need to give up everything? Jesus’ advice here is to a particular “rich young man” who has led a virtuous life so far. He has kept all the commandments. However, he is also quite attached to his possessions. To some extent it seems his possessions own him rather than the other way around.

How attached are we to our possessions? If we were told we had to part with everything and give it to the poor, would we be “shocked” and “grieving”? Do our possessions own us, or do we own them?

News & Notes

Pastoral Needs: If a pastoral need arises, please call the church office at 606-528-1659 and leave a message. Voicemail messages will automatically be forwarded to a member of the vestry who can arrange pastoral care. You may also contact the senior warden, Bruce W. Cory, by phone at 440-227-0035 or by e-mail at bwcory@gmail.com

Next Sunday Bishop Doug Hahn will be visiting St. John’s. We will also be celebrating the confirmations of Melinda Allen, Ward Brown, and Mike Myers.

Pot Luck Sunday: Our pot luck schedule shifts in October. The next pot luck will be next Sunday, October 18, when Bishop Doug Hahn visits.

Adult Forum: Sunday, October 18, please plan on attending the Adult Forum with Bishop Doug Hahn.

Al-Anon Family Group: An Al-Anon Family Group will meet in St. John’s Parish Hall on Tuesdays from 7-8pm.

Wednesday Fellowship: Gather at 6pm on Wednesday evenings for a service and fellowship.

Belk Charity Day Sale – The Belk Charity Day Sale is Nov. 7 from 6a m to 10 am. Tickets are $5 each and the proceeds go directly to St. John’s. The ticket then entitles you to $5 off your purchase at Belk Nov.7. Free gift cards will be given at the front entrance to the first 100 customers starting at 6 am durig the Charity Day Sale.

Hymn Selection Group If you’d like to choose hymns for services, join this group. You will choose hymns for an upcoming service and then meet with the entire group to confirm the final selections. See Billy Hibbitts if you are interested.

Are you interested in assisting with the Sunday service? Readers, Eucharistic Ministers, Crucifers, Altar Guild Members and choir members are all important for each Sunday service. If you’re interested in serving, please let Bruce know.

United Thank Offering. Remember to get your box for your thank offerings for this ministry of The Episcopal Church. The next collection will be in the fall.

The vestry has voted to keep a supply of 5 $20.00 Kroger gift cards each month available to distribute to people who call for food or fuel assistance. If you would like to contribute toward this outreach, please mark your contribution as “Outreach”.

The KCEOC Women’s Emergency Support Center will be holding a food drive next week October 12-16th. If you would like to donate, please drop off your donation in the KCEOC Lobby or just bring it to the shelter. Also, the shelter is currently at full capacity with women and children. Please consider bringing food items that are appealing to children, such as snacks, cereal, fruit snacks, or other items that your children enjoy, we would really appreciate it as well.

Serving Our Neighbors – See baskets in the parlor.

  • Everlasting Arms, Corbin’s shelter for people who are homeless, is in need of men’s and women’s razors, gloves, deodorant and socks.
  • The Food Pantry at Corbin Presbyterian Church is always in need of nonperishable food items. Vegetables are especially appreciated.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Subscribe to our Website Feed!

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsCorbin

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/StJohnsCorbin

Website:  http://stjohnscorbin.org/

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/stjohnscorbin/

St. John’s Statement of Inclusion

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY, is a proudly inclusive Christian community. All members are encouraged to participate fully in the life and leadership of the church regardless of age, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, economic condition, physical or mental ability. We believe all people are created by God to model the diversity in unity which is the Holy Trinity and we seek to live out that diversity in unity within the faith community.

KCEOC Women’s Emergency Support Center Food Drive

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Food Drive graphicI received this through my Union College e-mail. I would encourage members of St. John’s to participate individually, and if we could do a collection at church and take it as a donation from St. John’s, that would be even better!

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I would like to announce that the KCEOC Women’s Emergency Support Center will be holding a food drive next week October 12-16th. If you would like to donate, please drop off your donation in the KCEOC Lobby or just bring it to the shelter. Also, the shelter is currently at full capacity with women and children. Please consider bringing food items that are appealing to children, such as snacks, cereal, fruit snacks, or other items that your children enjoy, we would really appreciate it as well.

“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” – Sermon (Proper B20 – 4 October 2015)

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Jesus and a couple

I spent a lot of time thinking about the texts for this Sunday. Had I been involved with the compilation of the Revised Common Lectionary, I would have omitted a portion of this Sunday’s gospel. Yes, I will admit it: When I first read the gospel for this Sunday I was very uncomfortable with Jesus’ words about divorce and my initial response was to look for something else as a focus. However, as I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that if I were made uncomfortable by Jesus’ words on divorce, I am sure others here would be uncomfortable, too. Ignoring or passing over Jesus’ words here would be irresponsible and cowardly on my part and could allow someone to leave this space feeling marginalized, judged, condemned, or even self-righteous in his or her own marital status.

Jesus’ words on marriage and divorce seem fairly clear: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mark 11b-12). There is danger in taking a text out of context, so let’s look more closely at why Jesus makes this statement. The Pharisees have approached Jesus and placed before him a question in the hopes of trapping him. Their question seems very simple, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2b). However, this question takes place within a larger dialogue. Jesus asks the next important question, “What did Moses command you?” (Mark 10:3b). In a typical Jewish legal dispute, Jesus refers to the law as written in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Here the law seems fairly clear:

Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house 2 and goes off to become another man’s wife. 3 Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies); 4 her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession. (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).

The law permitted the man to issue a certificate of divorce and send a wife away. There is a context, however, for this permission that was somewhat unclear and frequently debated in Jewish legal circles. What constituted “something objectionable about her”? Two main schools of thought had arisen over the interpretations of the “something objectionable.” Two Jewish rabbis, Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai, represented these schools of thought. Rabbi Hillel was the more “progressive” of the two. He maintained that the “something objectionable” could be something as simple as ruining a meal. Rabbi Shammai, Rabbi Hillel’s contemporary, took a more “conservative” view. He maintained only something of a serious moral nature, such as adultery on the part of the woman.

The Pharisees may be attempting to trap Jesus into taking one of those two positions, thereby alienating followers who may fall into the opposite camp. However, as is frequently the case, Jesus does not fall into this trap. Jesus maintains that divorce is only allowed because of “hardness of heart.” Jesus cite the Genesis creation narrative to maintain the indissolubility of marriage with no exceptions, a position perhaps closer to that of Rabbi Shammai, but with the typical moral intensification that characterizes Jesus application of the law.

Some interpreters believe there is something more at stake here than simple obedience to an abstract law and ideals of marriage. We must remember what would happen to a woman, and potential her children from the marriage, were a woman sent away by her husband. While she could return to her family of origin, the experience would still be traumatic, as all divorces are, and she would be uprooted socially, economically and emotionally. She would have no grounds to contest the divorce, nor could she have initiated a divorce had she desired to do so. She would be completely dependent on the will of her husband.

That this power of the husband over his wife is at least part of the issue here is intimated in the version of this story found in Matthew 10:2-6. Here is attributed to Jesus’ disciples the objection, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Matthew 10:6). In other words, if a man cannot divorce his wife even with the excuse of finding something “objectionable” about her, is it worth the risk to get married? Obviously if a man does not have this power over his wife, it is not worth getting married.

There may be deeper issues here than simply whether divorce should be legal or not. What may be at stake here is the just treatment of one’s partner in a relationship. The ability to arbitrarily divorce one’s partner and leave that partner with no recourse creates an uneven relationship, and one of the characteristics of the Reign of God that we see through the ministry of Jesus is reciprocity and respect. That is the core of what we commonly call the Golden Rule, “In everything do to others what you would have them do to you; for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). When a couple decides to separate, this process should be one that leads to healing and liberation for both parties, not just for one. I am a realist and I know divorces can be filled with pain and angry words, for each partner is now extremely vulnerable to the other. Many raw emotions are flowing. In a time like this the couple most needs to be in counselling to help process these emotions so they can mutually release each other from a relationship that may not be working well for either of them. Counselling, in addition to the legal advice of lawyers, may help bring some degree of healing to people who are being torn apart. Those of us who are on the peripheries of the divorce as families, friends, co-workers, and church-family, need to be supportive and sensitive during and after this time of transition, not judgemental or distance.

Relationships can be difficult, and the ending of a relationship, particularly one as intimate as a marriage, can be extraordinarily painful. In our stages of our relationships we need to treat each other with reciprocity and respect. The Golden Rule of do to other what you would have them do to you needs to be central throughout our dealings with others, whether those relationships are just beginning, going through a plateau phase of mutual comfort, or a painful decent into separation. Imagine a world where we truly lived out the Golden Rule. Maybe in that world, a divorce might not even be necessary.