If you would like to submit an article or information to be published in the Eagle Notes, all information must be in the church office no later than January 17 for February publication. Please have information on diskette or e-mail to: parishadmin@stjohnscollegepark.com

Cathedral Antiques Show & Tour of Homes

All proceeds from the 34th annual Cathedral Antiques Show and Tour of Homes, January 30—February 3, 2005, will go directly to the Georgia Justice Project (GJP). When a poor person is accused of a crime, most of society see this as an end. Georgia Justice Project sees it as a beginning. GJP is an unlikely mix of lawyers, social workers, and a landscaping company. GJP defends people accused of crimes and win or lose, stands with its clients as they rebuild their lives. GJP believes this is the only way to break the cycle of crime and poverty.

A goal of $100,00, the annual cost for an attorney and counselor team, has been set.

Any proceeds above and beyond the goal set will enable GJP to expand its program for juveniles. GJP and STRIVE receive no government grants, relying instead on foundations, individuals, religious congregations and corporations for their support.

You can help by being a sponsor (call the church office for more information) or making a donation. You may make a donation online by visiting the secure website, www.gjp.org, or giving a check to St. John’s marked Georgia Justice Project. Every dollar you share is the gift of a second chance for kids who may never experience one otherwise.

We are each called to serve Christ, and one another, through ministry. In the life of the church there are many opportunities to serve, each just as important as the other. Please look over some of the opportunities for ministry listed below and prayerfully consider signing up to help. If there is something you think you might like to be a part of that is not listed below please call the church office and talk to someone on staff. Check future Eagle Notes for more ways to serve.

Holy Comforter: Folks are need to help with the shopping, cooking, and serving meals at Holy Comforter. For more information or to sign up see Donn Blosser or call the church office.

Family Life Ministries: See below

Ray Townsend and I met with Rev. Jane Gunter at Family Life Ministries for the purpose of better defining ways to encourage St. John’s involvement Currently Ray is on the Board. St. John’s provides a monthly contribution from the general budget of the church, monthly Second Sunday food donations, donations from the Rector’s discretionary fund in response to specific needs, clothing from the Bargain Shop and occasionally personal cash donations. Other items needed are personal care items, blankets, furniture and in the summer fans.

The Family Life Ministries provides sack lunches, food baskets, MARTA tokens, referral to other programs and prayer groups to the hungry and homeless in the East Point/College Park area. It coordinates services for churches in the area to serve this population. Jane is a UMC minister who is a very active involved Director.

Family Life needs volunteers to answer phones, meet with people requesting help, prepare sack lunches, fill food baskets and participate in prayer groups. There are also many miscellaneous volunteer opportunities available

Donn Blosser

After a sabbatical from September 1^st -November 30^th, I am, to the delight of some and the chagrin of others, back! It seems odd to write about being back after almost a month on the job, but I’m aware that some of you can’t come to church or have missed church when I’ve discussed my sabbatical, so I wanted to put some of my impressions in writing.

I spent a lot of time sticking around home because I have family responsibilities (and a budget!) that don’t allow me to just take off to some exotic location for three months. While I was in the area, I maintained my responsibilities to the diocese, which included attending a clergy conference in September, the Annual Council of the Diocese in November, and lots of time and effort spent on the Commission for Congregational Growth and Development (of which I am co-chair), and the Emmaus House Advisory Board (of which I am chair). As luck would have it, both Congregational Growth and Development and Emmaus House were in important transition phases during my sabbatical, so I did not feel I could just disappear for three months. I believe in the mission of both endeavors, however, so I felt my time was well-spent.

I had lots of plans to read lots and lots of books, make outlines, prepare Sunday school classes, etc. Guess what? The best laid plans. . . .

I wasn’t around here all the time, though. I went to the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC for two week-long courses, one in photography and one in using the potter’s wheel. I loved both experiences. Photography is all about composition, color, and beauty, but it is also about time. Photographs represent moments. They don’t, as Kodak (or somebody) says, “capture the moment.” You can’t slice a moment out of the stream of time and save it. The moment is gone, never to return. We are left with a mere representation of an instant that blinked into and out of existence. These flashes of time string together to form our reality, our lives. When you look at a picture, let it remind you to live a life of appreciated moments.

Learning to throw pots (well, sort of) was an amazing experience, and I am reminded that God was a potter (and thank God for it!): “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” (Gen. 2:7). I loved creating something beautiful (well, sort of) out of a hunk of gray clay. I wonder how God felt at that moment. One of the things I learned was that each firing is unique, and one never knows precisely how the pottery will come out after it is glazed and fired. There is an inherent element of surprise in a potter’s life. I can’t help but think that God was a bit surprised by how this strange “Adam” ( a play on the Hebrew word for “dust”) pottery came out.

Charlotte and I also spent two weeks in Italy (Rome, Assisi, Florence, a region called Cinque Terre, and Venice). It was a magical trip. Careful — with half an excuse I’ll subject you to endless pictures!

A couple of insights into our common life at St. John’s: I’d like us to do more fun things together, and I’d like us to attend more to incorporating newcomers into our common life. If you can help suggest or organize something fun (a field trip, luncheon, anything), or can serve as a sponsor for new members, please let us know.

Finally, I want to share a vignette from Rome. It is a parable of sorts, and, like Jesus, I’ll leave you to interpret it:

In Rome, there are no traffic laws; there are traffic suggestions, which are widely ignored (at high speed). The streets are full of Vespas, small motorbikes that make a whining racket and dart in and out of traffic and whiz between cars and pedestrians alike. (I saw Vespa riders push off cars at high speed and think nothing of it!) Cars blow horns and change lanes (and occasionally sides of the road) on a whim, and on larger streets the traffic is as relentless as the Chattahoochee after a big rain.

For pedestrians, crossing this loud river of death is daunting (to say the least). There are many places where there are no traffic lights. Crosswalks exist, but are universally ignored by drivers distracted by Vespas cutting in front of them with only inches to spare.

As Charlotte and I were walking from one sight to another, following a stream of tourists from all over the world making the same trek, we came to one such crossing. A six-lane road, a large intersection, no light, relentless traffic without any breaks, and we all had to cross. We stood in the crowd of hand-wringing tourists looking with fear and doubt at the maniacs whizzing by. As the crowd on the sidewalk grew, the pressure to cross became more intense, but the line of tourists at the front, representing the nations and collected wisdom of the world, stood their sidewalk ground and refused to step into the certain death of the street.

I watched (and felt) the pressure to move build and build as the crowd got bigger and bigger. It was an anxious feeling that transcended language and culture as all of us felt the need for something to give.

Finally, it did. A Roman arrived. She was a young woman, maybe in her 20’s, and her looks, clothes, and confidence gave her away as a local. She casually made her way to the front of the anxious crowd, stopped for a moment to assess the situation, and then led us across. Honesty, I’m not sure how. But the traffic screeched to a halt for her, and we all hurried to exploit this break.

To this day, I don’t know what she did or how she did it, and I’m convinced that if I had tried it, I would have died that day on that Roman street after having been hit by sixty or so Vespas and small European cars, none of which would have stopped.

I leave it up to you to interpret this parable, partly because I’m not sure how it should be interpreted, and partly because I think that perhaps it should mean different things to different people. As for me, I’m reasonably sure it has something to do with leadership, fear, signals given without words or gestures, danger, presence, knowledge, comfort, anxiety, “group-think,” and trust.

I know only one thing about that young woman: she had no idea that she was functioning as a leader. In her mind, she crossed a street and went home — end of story.

On Wednesday, March 2, 2005, we will go to the High museum to see the Romare Bearden exhibit. Romare Bearden is widely acclaimed as one of the 20th century’s preeminent visual artists. His works evoke the places where he lived and worked: the rural south, Pittsburgh, Harlem, and the island of St. Martin. Religious subjects and ritual practices, jazz clubs, history, and literature are overlapping themes in his work. The exhibition features approximately 140 of Bearden’s collages, photomontages, watercolors, paintings, and monotypes from the 1940’s to the 1980’s.

We will meet at the church and car pool to have lunch near the High Museum and then see the exhibit. The museum cost of $8.00 includes your ticket, audio guide, and 10% off in the gift shop. This does not include the cost of your lunch.. Please call the church office to make your reservation by Tuesday, February 15.

The world has witnessed the devastation caused by the tsunamis in South Asia and parts of Africa. In one of the hardest hit areas in South India, the Rt. Rev. Thomas Samuel, Bishop of the Diocese of Madhya Kerala, says that destruction of such magnitude makes us aware of our need for one another and challenges us to reach out to others.

can partner with Episcopal Relief and Development to provide basic human needs such as food, clean water, medicine and shelter to vulnerable families. We encourage you to respond to this crisis and give generously to help vulnerable children and families. Make your checks payable to St. John’s, marked tsunamis.

Please join us and pray for those affected by the tsunamis in South Asia and Africa and reach out to them with your gifts.

Last class of The Study of Matthew, led by Ruth Healy

Archbishop John Lewis of the African Orthodox Catholic Church (which meets at St. John’s on Sunday nights) will discuss his Church, its history, our similarities and differences, and how we can help one another.

Jim Pritchett will lead “An Overview of the Bible.” This class is for those who say they don’t know much about the Bible, as well as being a good review for seasoned hands. Before you get lost in the details, get the big picture!