8:00 a.m.—Sunday

10:30 a.m.—Thursday

Christian Education

9:15 a.m.—Sunday

Holy Eucharist Rite II

10:30 a.m.—Sunday

Morning Prayer (Parlor)

9:15 a.m. Tuesday & Thursday

Evening Service

7 p.m.—Wednesday

Robbin Iddins Outreach/Civic Duty, Youth Sr. Warden

Debbie Reeves Finance Jr. Warden

Jason Barringer Youth, Finance

Jackie Berlin Outreach, Inreach

Al Dixon Finance, Buildings & Grounds

Carl Franzman Parish Life, Inreach

Sarah Clark Parish Growth/Development, Parish Life

David McLeod Worship, Parish Life

Carolyn Pierce Parish Life

Dan Seipel Parish Life, Outreach/Civic Duty

Martha Spring Parish Growth/Development, Inreach, Youth

E-mail submissions to parishadmin@stjohnscollegepark.com;

mail to 3480 Main Street, College Park, GA 30337;

deliver to the church office door mailbox;

or fax to 404-761-8403.

Holy Comforter in East Atlanta serves mentally disabled adults, most of whom live in group homes in the area. Several times a year, we make dinner for the parish, visit, and worship with them. Our next visit will be Wednesday, August 9th. We will meet and carpool in the St. John’s horseshoe parking lot at 5:30 p.m. Worship begins at 6:30 p.m. and dinner will follow. There will be no Wednesday evening service that evening. This is always a wonderful trip—please join us!

During the annual youth swim party we will have a discussion of the fall children's programs.supervision at the pool will be providedthe meeting takes place, but be sure to bring your bathing suit for after the meeting.

One of the new ideas we will be discussing for Sunday School will be the introduction of a curriculum called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for the 3 to 6-year old class.The basic principal of the approach is to "follow the child" in a manner similar to the Montessori style of teaching.A weekend training workshop for teachersbe scheduled in the near future. We will also be discussing changing the time of Sunday School.A number of the families who attend the 10:30 service have found it difficult to attend the 9:15 Sunday School class.As such we are going to explore moving the children's class to 10:15 and have class continue until the "Peace" break.The children could then be with their families in church or move over to the nursery.We will also discuss rotating teachers so that they do not miss too much time from worship.

A number of other ideas will be discussed, so please plan to join us on the 13th!

Barbarine Thorpe

Dorothy Scribner

Glen Cassell, Jr.

Trudy Ullman

Carolyn Davis

Jim & Carol Kadidlo

Howard Wise

Sheri, Gwen & Calvin Fields

Monica Volz

Tracy Trussell

Martha McLeod

Mandy Gray

Thomas Hughes

Dan Seipel

Marian Tillman

Ruth Crook

Rick Reeves

George, our President

Sonny, our Governor

Capt. Michael Peterson, who is serving in Iraq

Joy Lopez’s sister, Marcia

Jackie Berlin’s friend, Shirley

Ray Townsend’s cousin, Sue

Johnny Eckles and family

Jeanne Mull’s aunt, Marian, and friend, Jane

Jim and Charlotte Pritchett's nephew, Trey

The Springs’ friends, Katy, David, Sarah, & James

Mark Barnes

Sue Johnson’s friends, Pat and Rob Thomas

Calvin Field’s sister, Beverly

Paul Brady’s friends, Deana and Janet

The Sewell’s family, Hamilton, Carol, Tara, Tyler, & Jonah

Those who died in war this past month

Frank, our Presiding Bishop

Katharine, our Presiding Bishop-elect

Neil, our Bishop

Frank, our Assisting Bishop

Jim, our Rector

Ruth, our Priest Associate

For our blessings known

and unknown

The Sunday after I returned from General Convention, Charlotte and I changed clothes at church and took MARTA to midtown to join the Gay Pride parade. I had never marched in the parade before, and even on the train I still had mixed feelings about it. My concern came from my awareness that the parade engenders a festive, carnival atmosphere, and that many of the people marching and watching are intentionally flashy, glitzy, gaudy, flamboyant (add your own adjective). Although the Mardi Gras and Carnival parades in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro (for example) involve more lavish costumes and outrageous behavior (and dwarf the Gay Pride parade in Atlanta), they are not associated primarily with the gay community, and people do not tend to see them on the news and think, “That’s what heterosexuality is all about.” My concern has been that the news always shows the most sensational footage of the Gay Pride parade, and many straight people who do not know gays living quiet, responsible, faithful lives see a ten-second clip on the news and, having no other frame of reference, think, “That’s what being gay is all about.” It is not fair, but it may be a reality, and I was hesitant to contribute to it.

When Charlotte and I arrived, we were quickly discovered by other Episcopalians and taken to the staging area. About fifty Episcopalians from around the diocese marched together. Most wore beautiful purple tee shirts that said, “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.” I wore my clergy shirt and collar.

Before we started, the rev. Mac Thigpen, rector of St. Bart’s, called us together and reminded us that for many in the parade and on the sidelines, we would represent the only message they had ever gotten from a church that God loves them. “How true, and how sad,” I recall thinking.

We marched from the Civic Center MARTA Station to Piedmont Park. Despite threatening weather, the streets were lined with spectators. I was struck by how many, both gay and straight (I knew some of them), gave us a heartfelt “Thank you.” It was simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking.

For folks who are uptight about seeing men in drag wearing large headdresses and such, this would have been an uncomfortable event. For Charlotte and me, it was more fun than Halloween. It was indeed a festive, carnival atmosphere, and everyone was having fun.

When we got to Piedmont Park, the weather stopped being threatening and delivered on its promise. The rain came down in sheets, and Charlotte and I, who had no umbrella or cover, were quickly soaked to the bone. After a wet lunch, we hiked through the rain back to a MARTA station and rode home looking like “drowned rats.”

Would I do it again? Absolutely. Ironically, it was the media I was worried about, and it was the media God used to show me that I was in the right place. During the parade, a camera crew came up to me (no doubt because I was wearing a collar). An interviewer stuck a microphone in my face, told me what outfit he represented (I couldn’t make it out, but it was not CBS News or the like) and asked my name. Then he asked, “What message does God have for gay people today?”

Wow! Talk about cutting to the chase! Without thinking, I said, “You are my beloved children.” The interviewer seemed surprised and, after a pause, said, “How nice!” I traveled on.

Would I march again? The opportunity to say that into a microphone to so many people for whom such a message is revolutionary, undelivered, and unheard Good News, made it clear to me that I was in the right place. The message to my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters is the same as it is to my straight brothers and sisters: “You are my beloved children.”

Rehearsals for the Junior Choir will resume at the end of the month. Boys must be in at least the third grade and girls in the fourth or above to be eligible for the choir. We invite any of our young people who are interested to be present at the rehearsal. Some ability to sing desired but not required!

Thanks to Melissa Brady for having struggled with filling in the spaces for work personnel at the Bargain Shop this summer. We shall miss her and her efforts!

If you drive by the church and see water sprinklers going, do not think we are ignoring the ban on water or have no concern for the water shortage. St. John’s now has its own well, thanks to the hard work of Bill Sims, Dana Jones, and Earl Reagan.

Get ready for this year’s festival! College Park is planning to bring the best in artists and vendors to Barrett Park in College Park for the 2006 Arts festival. Mark your calendars!

I was very pleased to announce that Dock Anderson will serve as our new organist and choir director. I thought this would be a good occasion to get to know Dock a little better.

In the Disciples of Christ in Community course, we speak of the difference between knowing “about” someone and knowing “of” him. Knowing of someone means that you know his personality, character, and presence. You can only know of someone by getting to know him personally. You can know about someone, however, by learning biographical facts about him. This is the difference between getting to know someone by reading his resume or by becoming friends.

Many of us know Dock because we have been friends for years. But often we can know of someone for years, and not know as much about him as we think. (How many of us have read an obituary and learned things about friends or even relatives?) So, I thought it would be fun to get to know a little more about Dock. Here are some facts about his life. If you want to engage the person (which I recommend), come to Wednesday night services or, better yet, join the choir!

Dock’s family has lived on the same property since the 1930’s. His grandparents and their children built a house out of rocks that they gathered from the 100 acres his grandfather purchased in Red Oak, Georgia. That original house is still standing just down the hill from Dock’s current residence, which is the house he grew up in. When Dock was two months old and his family moved into the new house, it wasn’t quite finished yet—there was a cement slab floor and four cinderblock walls. No roof, no doors in the holes for doors, no windows in the holes for windows. Water came from the springs on the property.

Seven is the magic number in Dock’s family: he is the sixth of seven children; one of his sisters has seven children; two of his mother’s siblings each have seven children; his paternal grandmother was one of seven children, and he first saw the movie Star Wars on 7/7/77.

A word here about Dock’s mother, Tinha (pronounced TEENya). When Dock was in elementary school, she began suffering terribly from arthritis. (It took thirty minutes for her just to get out of bed.) She found a book called Arthritis and Common Sense, which advocated a radical change in diet. She followed it faithfully, and cured herself completely. She also began running and has accomplished incredible things over the years. In the 1992 Goodwill Games, she won the bronze medal in her age group in the marathon. To celebrate her 70th birthday, she ran the New York City marathon. When she was in her early seventies, she started doing triathlons. This year, for the first time in many years, she did not run the Peachtree Road Race — not because she couldn’t normally, but because she had gotten shin splints the week before, hiking a good portion of the Appalachian Trail. (She has always been strong, it seems,—when she was only four hours old, her mother took her into downtown Atlanta to go shopping!)

As soon as he could sit up, Dock wanted to sit at the piano. His first piano teacher was his big sister, Lalla. The first piece Dock remembers playing was “Kum Ba Yah” on the organ when he was four. Lalla and Dock are not the only musicians in the family; a few years ago at his younger sister’s commitment ceremony, Dock and three of his other siblings sang a four-part piece while Jon Marc accompanied them.

When Dock was in fifth grade, he got his first “gig”: accompanying his elementary school chorus. When he was in sixth grade, he joined the Atlanta Boy Choir; during his second year there, he became a soloist for the group. He traveled extensively with them — he sang for President Carter twice in Washington, D.C.; he sang at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London; at the Basilica in Brussels; up and down the east coast from Florida to Maryland. In the sixth grade, Dock also began playing for weekly services at his family’s church, Red Oak United Methodist, where he was the organist until he got to those rebellious teenage years. Like most teenagers, Dock had to rebel at some point, and when he was seventeen, it happened — he went to the Baptist church, where he stayed until he left for college.

During freshman orientation week at Birmingham-Southern College, Dock was talking with his organ professor, Dr. Cook. They were chatting, getting to know each other, when Dr. Cook paused, then asked, “Have you met Jon Marc yet?” Dock said he hadn’t, and Dr. Cook said, “ I think you’re going to like him.” Little did HE know…

For the next twenty-one years, Dock and Jon Marc were only separated for about ten months when Jon Marc was in graduate school in Los Angeles, and Dock was finishing up his undergraduate degree in Birmingham. It was this time apart that made them realize how important they were to each other. (Dock’s enormous phone bills also provided a clue.) So, after graduation, Dock also moved to L.A. and began attending graduate school at the University of Southern California. While he didn’t finish his degree there, he did get to work with some amazing teachers and even got a free trip to Poland with the USC Chamber Singers. While living in L.A., in addition to three church jobs between the two of them, they taught English as a Second Language for up to nine hours a day.

When they returned to Atlanta, Dock was hired as the assistant choral director at Woodward Academy and has been there for the last thirteen years. During that time, the choral department has added three choirs, increasing enrollment overall by fifty percent. The premier choral group at Woodward, the Festival Singers, tour Europe every two years. Under his direction, the group has achieved international acclaim. He has led the choir in concerts in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria.

The Training & Counseling Center (TACC) at St. Luke’s will offer a 4-hour pre-marital workshop on Saturday, August 12, from 8:30 a.m.—1:00 p.m. The cost is $125 per couple, and fulfills the pre-marital counseling requirement of the Episcopal Church, though it is open to any denomination. During the workshop, couples planning to marry will explore their own histories and religious traditions, planting seeds which, if tended, can become wonderful sources for growth and loving connections. TACC also provides couples’ therapy to hundreds of couples seeking to enrich their relationship with each other. For more information, please contact TACC at 404-876-6266 or pgardner@taccatstlukes.com.

Holy Trinity Parish in Decatur is offering a training conference Aug. 18-20 to prepare presenters and facilitators for DOCC, Disciples of Christ in Community. Jim Pritchett will be the presenter. The event will draw participants from throughout Province 4, the southeastern region of the Episcopal Church. Cost is $100 (speak with the rector if you need a scholarship).

DOCC is a means for congregation members to discover, renew and strengthen their faith and to revitalize the church at large as people claim and live out their baptismal call to ministry. For more information, contact the Rev. Anne Maxwell at maxwell@htparish.com or Jim Pritchett at the church.

Come enjoy a round of golf, fellowship with friends, and great prizes from fabulous sponsors. You will be supporting Camp Mikell and helping improve the experience for countless numbers of children. Fore!

The tournament will be held at the Providence Club, Monroe GA. $100 per golfer, sponsorship levels available at levels from $100-$1,000. To register or to learn more about the event, contact Kim Smith, Diocesan Youth Coordinator, 2744 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, GA 30305; 404-601-5354 or ksmith@episcopalatlanta.com

Come root for your favorite team at the 3rd annual Episcopal Charity Softball Tournament & Family Fun Day on August 26 at Heritage Park in McDonough! This is an exciting event, so please make plans to play, attend, and support the diocese. Which team will win the coveted Bishop's Trophy this year?

In addition to softball, there will be a Traveling Ministry Fair. Any and all ministries are welcome to join us. Two charities will split the event proceeds: The Grant Park Family Health Center, Inc., and The Alleluia Fund for Mission. Contact Judy at softball2005@bellsouth.net or call 770-833-7464 to register or find out about team requirements and fees, to set up a ministry booth, or to volunteer. There is much to do and all help is appreciated! Play ball!

There are eight established Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest by the target date of 2015 . They are:

Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Achieve Universal Primary Education for Children

Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Reduce Child Mortality

Improve Maternal Health

Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases

Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Create a Global Partnership for Development

The two governing bodies of the US Episcopal Church have joined in support of the eight MDGs, urging parishes, missions, congregations and dioceses across the Episcopal Church to work towards their implementation. At the 2006 General Convention, MDG resolution (D022) was passed. It:

Establishes achieving the MDGs as a stated mission priority of the Episcopal Church for the next three years;

Urges each diocese, congregation and parishioner to give .7% toward the MDGs by July 7, 2007; i.e. by 7/7/07;

Designates the Last Sunday after Pentecost as a special day of prayer, fasting and giving in the Episcopal Church toward global reconciliation andMDGs

Calls on every diocese to establish a global reconciliation commission to mobilize Episcopalians to work for achieving the goals of the MDGs;

Endorses the "ONE Episcopalian" campaign that calls on the U.S. government to spend an additional 1% of its budget to combat globalpoverty; and

Asks the Episcopal Church budget committee to consider a line item equal to 0.7% (or roughly $900,000) in the coming three-year budgetwork that supports the MDGs.

Voting is one of the most important rights and responsibilities granted to all Americans. As the Presiding Bishop points out, Episcopalians have a specific responsibility set forth in their baptismal covenant. Voting is an opportunity for Episcopalians to exercise both our right to vote and our baptismal promise by electing officials who will seek peace and justice for the common good. There have been federal, state, and local primary elections going on all around the country and there are still several more to come, not to mention the November 7 General Election. There is still time to register to vote – to visit the National Voter Registration Page, go to www.eac.gov/register_vote.asp.

Please encourage those you know to participate in our democracy. (In particular, young people have the lowest registration and voting percentages.) Many Americans made great sacrifices in order to expand voter enfranchisement –- but sadly, more people voted in the last American Idol T.V. talent show than voted in the last presidential election. There are many different voter registrations, voter education, and "get out the vote" efforts underway such as the We Are America Democracy Summer, Project Vote Smart, and Rock the Vote. To learn about these programs and others like them, visit the Episcopal Public Policy Network Election Year Resource Page at www.episcopalchurch.org.

The College Park Police Department has established a program available to seniors and homebound citizens of College Park, called the “Are You OK?” (R.U.O.K.) Telephone Reassurance Program. It is a computerized system designed to call subscribers once a day at approximately the same time and ask, “Are you OK?” If the subscriber is OK, he or she simply hangs up the telephone. If the subscriber does not answer or if the telephone is busy, two or more calls are made, then the computer sounds an “alert.” At this point, the police will call a previously arranged contact person who has agreed to assist in the case of an emergency, or emergency services personnel will be dispatched to the subscriber’s home.

In addition, the College Park Fire Department and Police Department are working together to establish a new program called F.R.I.E.N.D. (Facilitating Response in Emergencies and Natural Disasters.) The F.R.I.E.N.D. list is a database of College Park residents that may need assistance during an emergency or natural disaster.

There is no charge of any kind for either service.

To qualify, the subscriber must be

60 years of age or older and living alone or

Homebound or disabled of any age and living alone and

A resident of the city of College Park

(Special circumstances can be evaluated upon request.)

Eagle Notes

Our Saturday, July 15th tour of Historic College Park was the most fascinating trip I have had in a while! Approximately 70 people (2 bus loads) joined in the fun, and a great time was had by all. Jane Randolph, our fabulous tour guide, is a born story-teller, and a wealth of information about this city, mixing details from the National Historic Register with what she has learned in her 30 years of life here in College Park.

learned the answers to all of these captivating questions and many more from Jane and had a fun-filled, informative time as well. (If you missed the tour, make sure to ask your fellow parishioners what the answers to the above questions are during coffee/fellowship hour.) Thank you Jane — let's do the tour again soon!

Notice some changes lately in the way we worship? Welcome to Adventures in Liturgy! "Liturgy" means "work of the people." It usually describes the format we use in public worship, and St. John's, like every church, has its own unique traditions and style. I have a cartoon depicting a priest concluding his sermon as the church around him blows away in a tornado; the caption reads "What would your church do if something happened and the only thing left was the Rector?" I know what St. John's would do.

Recently, we were treated to several weeks of adventure in liturgy as the parish dealt with calamity and unforeseen challenges. One recent Sunday, the 10:30 service was held in Bott Hall because the church was too hot following air conditioning problems. Rather than bewail our loss and cancel services (or suffer in silence), volunteers leapt in and set up a church downstairs, complete with altar, pulpit, choir, narthex and congregation. Everything was there that was necessary for worship: bread, wine, water, light, word, table -- and most importantly, PEOPLE. Everyone except Celebrant Ruth Healy forsook vestments and if it was still hot and hard to hear, God was worshiped and our Lord Jesus praised with gusto and great good cheer. (If you couldn't hear Ruth's sermon, get a copy, it was one of her best!). We didn't spend time whining about the problems, but built what was needed and worshiped anyway -- then cheerfully took everything down again so the summer camp wouldn't be inconvenienced on Monday.

Faith manages.

Did we miss having the service in our wonderful and beautiful sanctuary? Very likely. Do we want to worship under those conditions on a regular basis? Not me. Did we do our work, our liturgy, joyfully and well? Most definitely. Was our Lord Jesus there with us? Absolutely! ("...for when two or three are gathered together in My name, I am in the midst of them….") WE are the church, we have met many such challenges in our 100 years together. And as we meet current and future challenges, I suspect we will encounter many more adventures in liturgy. Let's meet them together with confidence and joy!