Seasonal Connections | 2013 | Pentecost and Summer

ConnectionsSeasonal

The quarterly magazine of St. Paul & the Redeemer. Pentecost and Summer 2013

4945 S Dorchester AveChicago IL 60615-2907

PentecostMay 18 and 19

Contents

ArticlesLetter from the Rector Peter Lane ……………………………………. Page 3

Silence, Shade, and Light:A Gullah Way of LifeRonne Hartfield with Mary Naftzger and Carolyn Pereira ……...………... Page 4

Infographic: Where is the Lowcountry? …………….…… Page 6

Come into the Praise HouseChristian Clough ………….…………….…… Page 8

Marking Time with the Wonderfully ExpectedBrian Ray ……………………………………. Page 11

ProgramsAdult Formation on May 12:Learn More about Gullah Culture …..……. Page 4

Pentecost WeekendCommunity Dinner Concertand Sunday Liturgies ……… Page 7

Getting Involved for Pentecost Weekend ….. Page 8

Connecting the Magnolia Singers ..…….…. Page 12

Getting Involved for Pentecost Weekend ….. Page 9

Our Latest Trip to Haiti ………………….. Page 9

Garden Open All Summer …………………… Page 13

Welcome Some New Leaders …………….. Page 14

Picnic and Sumer Schedule Change ………. Page 15

Vacation Bible Camp! …………………….. Page 16

Letter from the Rector

Dear People of St. Paul & the Redeemer:

At SPR, everyone--without exception--is invited to receive communion.  (And those that don’t want to receive communion are invited to worship God with us too.)  Why?  Because we share a conviction that people praise God in many ways and in many languages.  That “we” is not just lakeside liberals who attend SPR.  Rather, the “we” is that big part of the church inspired by the events of the first Pentecost when, as it says in Acts, “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in

other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”  There is a sense in which we are a pentecostal church, valuing that the Spirit inhabits each of us and gives us each different languages with which to praise God.

Anglicanism (Episcopalianism) understands this way of worship deeply.  Some 450 years ago, Queen Elizabeth I hit upon the brilliant idea that those with catholic leanings and those with protestant leanings could praise God together even if they understood the particulars in different ways.  How pentecostal!  It is why the Anglican (Episcopal) Church (unlike the Lutherans or Presbyterians) has not written any statements of faith.  You want to know what we believe?  Come worship with us.  Come praise God in your language with us, learn a little of other languages, and teach us yours.

Of course, we are a situated people who live out our faith in particular ways and in specific places.  We can’t and we shouldn’t give expression to every conceivable way of praising God.   We do not want to be a grab bag church, but rather want to invite people more deeply into particular ways of praising God.  We are willing to sacrifice some breadth for added depth.  In November, at the All Saints Mass, we went deeply into the minimalist 20th Century style of Arvo Part.  On Pentecost weekend, we will go deeply into the praise style of the Gullah people of the low country of South Carolina.

All are invited, without exception.  The blessings of that attitude surprised and brought joy to St. Peter and the rest of the disciples on that first Pentecost.  May the experience continue to surprise us and bring joy to St. Paul & the Redeemer. Sincerely,

The Reverend Peter C. LaneRector

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Silence, Not very long ago, I read a book of poems responding to the b e a u t i f u l p a i n t i n g s o f a contemporary Gullah artist, Jonathan Green. One poem that moved me especially included this phrase: “I live most when silence, shade, and light like this harvest me, a kind of prayer I’m gathered to…” It seemed to me a perfect way of thinking about the way Jonathan Green sees and creates the Gullah world on canvas, and also alludes to the living history of his people, the Gullah people of coastal South Carolina. The people Jonathan

Ronne Hartfieldwith Mary Naftzger and Carolyn PereiraParishioners

Photo: Vincent Johnson

Shade,andLight

A Gullah Way of Life

paints so vividly, and that we speak of as Gullah, are descendants of African slaves, brought forcibly across the Atlantic Ocean to the American port of Charleston, S. C., stolen from their homes in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and other places largely lost to memory when enslaved men, women, and children were divided one from another and sold away to the highest bidders. Some scholars have conjectured that the Gullah people originated in Angola, thus the sound of the term Gullah, but most scholars agree that these coastal Africans came from the Gola language group, located around Sierra Leone and Liberia. Predominantly, the expertise of these people was in rice-growing, the basis for their subsistence, and they brought those skills to America in the late seventeenth and throughout the e i gh teen th and n ine teen th cen tur i e s un t i l Emancipation, enriching slave owners in that part of the country and forming the largest part of the economic basis of the southeastern United States.

The stories of Gullah people and rice remain deeply intertwined. In fact, the Director of the famed Gullah Heritage Institute near Charleston, Emory Campbell, has said simply “Gullah IS rice.” Now rice is hard to harvest. In some ways, it was harder to harvest than cotton, because slaves had to stand knee-deep in infested waters for hours, always living with the danger of succumbing to malaria, yellow fever, and other water-borne diseases rampant in that part of the world. Slaves persisted with a powerful will to live, and Gullah cooks created an entire repertoire of race-based dishes, then as now enhanced by the shrimp and oysters that proliferate along the shores. Sea grass baskets of astonishing beauty were created from the reeds and grasses that grow alongside rice in the marshy shores of the Carolina Low Country, and examples of these reside in museums all across this country and internationally. Gullah men and women worked hard, but were bound together as a tightly-knit community for centuries. Living on what are now termed simply “the Sea Islands,” cut off from the mainland until the mid-twentieth century, the wider American culture accessible to them only by boat, they maintained more African traditions than any other single African group in the United States. Primary among the cultural retentions that sustained the Gullah people was the linguistic patois called ‘Gullah,” or sometimes “Geechee,” and religious forms that were — and still are — resonant with their native Africa. Religious traditions, much like those in other places, are often a source of strength and community, and here music plays a fundamental role. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to listen first-hand to the Magnolia Singers, whose repertoire represents the many strains of

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Learn Moreat Adult Formation:

Sunday, May 12at 10:20a inthe St Cecilia Room

Ronne Hartfield, Mary Naftzger, and Carolyn Pereira will give a talk on the history and culture of the Gullah communities of the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry as preparation for the arrival of The Magnolia Singers on May 18 and 19.

religious worship that have nurtured the Sea Island communities for centuries.

The richly colored paintings of Jonathan Green capture the worship forms of the Gullah people who nurtured him. One of his most a c c l a i m e d p a i n t i n g s , e n t i t l e d “Seeking,” evokes a ritual he took part in while he was growing up in the Gullah village of Gardens Corner. It was a puberty ritual, resonant with the centuries-old practice of West Africa, a journey into nature, a time to test a young man’s strength and skill, a time to prove oneself worthy of this next s t e p t o w a r d m a n h o o d . T h i s mythopoetic ritual is not radically dissimilar to those told in early heroic journey tales such as the Odyssey, or tales of seeking the Holy Grail. What is amazing is that it and other cultural forms survived the fearful middle-passage, survived through the terrors and tragedies of slavery, survived

through the anxious adjustment to something called freedom, in this strange land. This ‘Seeking’ ritual, affirming the human connection between the spiritual and natural worlds, is alive in our collective remembrance of the displaced Africans who lived and worked and died here in the Low Country, whose creativity and skill nourished this land alongside those who held them in shackles. Gullah survivors are taught that they owe homage to their predecessors, and that homage is made visible through art and audible through music. This homage is a kind of re/membering, putting together what had been severed, and is rooted in faith and community.

This homage is also a kind of testimony. In the words of James C o n e , a n A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n theologian, “Testimony is an integral part of the black religious tradition. It is the occasion where the believer

stands before the community of faith in order to give account of the hope that is in him or her. Although testimony is unquestionably personal, and primarily an individual story, it is also a story accessible to others in the community of faith. Indeed, the purpose of testimony is not only to strengthen an individual’s faith, but also to build a faith of the community. We in the community of St. Paul & the Redeemer are fortunate to have a rare opportunity to to be enriched by Gullah history and legacy, to experience the paintings of Jonathan Green and to join the musical testimony of the Magnolia Singers of Charleston, South Carolina. There is much to be learned, and for those who are interested in seeking further knowledge of the Gullah, please talk with parishioners Mary Naftzger and Carolyn Pereira, who have gathered a rich treasury of information.

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Where

The Lowcountry (or Low Country) often refers to particular counties in extreme southern South Carolina along its coast: Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper, and including the barrier Sea Islands and the municipalities of Beaufort and Hilton Head Island. However, the topographical, ecological, and cultural qualities that characterize this region extend beyond these counties, as far up the coast as Charleston and as far down the coast as the Georgian barrier islands and Savannah.

NC

SC

GA

FL`

Charleston

Savannah

Lowcountry?is the

Dinner Concertfor the People of SPR and Friends

Saturday, May 186:00 p.m.Down-home cooking!One-of-a-kind participatory performance!

On the poster board in the Narthex oronline at sp-r.org/magnolia

Please RSVP!

No tickets needed. Donations welcome at the door.Kid-friendly: Children welcome for the entire evening.The Nursery will also be open and fully staffed.

CommunityLiturgiesPentecost SundayOur Last Great Feast Before the Summer

Sunday, May 19Spoken Liturgy at 8:00 a.m.Magnolia Singers at 9:15 and 11:15

The Magnolia Singers will lead us in singingthe great spirituals of the Gullah people.

And, of course, more delicious foodfollowing each liturgy.

Pentecost Sunday is for unbridled celebration!

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PraiseHouse

Christian CloughDirector of Music

Involved:Getting

RSVP for the Dinner ConcertSign up yourself, your household, and/or your friends for the Community Dinner Concert at 6:00p on May 18. Grab a spot on the big poster board in the Narthex at church or email Dan Puchalla: [email protected]

Sign Up to VolunteerWe need servers and runners, cleaners, and decorators. Check out the sign up sheets on the Sign-up Table in the Narthex.

Wear Your Brightest on May 19We celebrate Pentecost with red ... and purple, and green, and yellow, and blue, and orange, and every other color, to show how beautifully and diversely God has created all of us. So, come to Pentecost Sunday showing off the brightest color you have!

Come in to the Pra i se House : Alphonso, our guide on the Gullah Tour of Charleston, pointed out the small sandwich board sign outside

Come into the

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Circular Congregational Church: "Praise House 7 PM." In Gullah, or a charmingly Gullah-inflected English accent, he recommended the weekly concert of Gullah spirituals that evening.

My partner Christopher and I were enjoying our fourth "Thanksgiving Prelude" in Charleston, SC, last November, before heading up coast to his mother's home for the holiday. Each year, we have tried to broaden our knowledge of "The Holy City," taking in a broad mix of sites of experiences. This year's winner was the three-hour Gullah Tour, in which we learned about the history and culture of the African-American community of the city and the surrounding Lowcountry.

And yet, as interesting as the Gullah Tour was, it was the recommendation of Praise House that set us on the path to building a relationship with the culture and community.

We shared our curiosity on the way back to our hotel, and decided to attend that night. In forty-five minutes, the Magnolia Singers taught, inspired and motivated us. We were a small audience — only about 12 people — but we all sang and danced to the spirituals that have comforted and strengthened the Lowcountry slave communities and their descendants for centuries.

The repertoire of Gullah spirituals includes some 6000 songs, some of which, such as "I'm-a going to eat at the welcome table" and "Ain'-a that good news" are familiar well beyond the Lowcountry and its people.

When we greeted the performers at the end of the concert, I said to Ann Caldwell, the group's leader, that a visit to SPR would be a great addition to our musical offerings.

It was a pipe dream.

Six months later, though, we will indeed welcome this dynamic, spirited ensemble to Hyde Park/Kenwood for a weekend full of singing, dancing, inspiration, learning and fellowship. As we celebrate Pentecost, and the coming together of the many voices of God's people, I hope that you will be here, moved by the Spirit through this music.

SPR is blessed to be able to share such a wonderful weekend of memorable and inspiring events. Please, come; get involved; but mostly, sing and dance your praise!

Our Diocese and NeighborhoodIn the afternoon before our Dinner Concert, the Magnolia Singers will lead an energetic rehearsal to teach our choirs in singing Gullah spirituals, to which we will also invite musicians from neighboring churches and the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.

Shoesmith SchoolThe morning before they depart, the Magnolia Singers will present an assembly for the students of Shoesmith School, our partner school right across Kenwood Park from the church.

Your CirclesInvite your friends and anyone you know to the Pentecost Sunday liturgies on May 19, to share in the rich cultural gift the Magnolia Singers bring.

Getting

in ChicagoConnected

Our Latest Trip

toHaitiAt the caves of Tom Gateau. Left to right: Doug Hoffman, Peter Lane, Linda Thisted, Pere Jean Fils Chery, and Charlo Durandisse.

In April, a team from SPR, including Doug Hoffman, Peter Lane, Patty Lane, Linda Thisted, and Jim Wright, traveled to Haiti to meet with our partners in ministry there.Read Peter’s report on their trip at sp-r.org/haiti-update

Tom Gateau children in front of their home.

A flute class at Ste. Trinite Music

School.

Women listen during a meeting at St.

Etienne Church.

Images taken by Jim

Wright. See more of Jim’s

photography from Haiti in

the new installation in the

upstairs hallway at church.

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Expected

I would never claim to be a good dinner guest. Outside of my family titles, I’m mostly known a s “ m a t h t e a c h e r ” a n d “vegetable gardener” both of which tend to be conversation enders. However, with the increasing interest in food ethics, I ’m find ing I have more occasions to talk about my home garden.  After I share more details than the listener is interested in about my eight varieties of tomatoes, they usually offer comments about how wonderful it is to have fresh,

Brian RayFood Garden Leader

Wonderfully

Photo: Dan Puchalla Image: Jim Wright

Marking

theTimewith

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organic, local food in our backyard.  While this is certainly true, I find that these labels are not at the heart of my passion.  These labels are modern, a critique of the food industry that has changed in the past 50 years and our devolving relationship with food and cooking that many of us would like to change. My passion, however, is rooted in something older than this modern debate.

The garden brings me into the natural cycles of earth and how the seasons define so much of our lives.  I believe in the importance of closely linking oneself to a season as a marker of time.  Whether it be a school calendar, a liturgical year, or the seasons of nature, I believe these keep us rooted in patterns that bring about expected events but also allow us to identify rarities when they occur.  

For my family, March is filled with anticipation and planning followed by the labor of April as the garden gets prepped.  May is exciting as we allow our plants to leave their safe environment inside and begin to be challenged by nature.   The summer m o n t h s a r e m a rk e d by d a i l y astonishments at new growth while trying to maintain the needs of every plant.  In late August the harvest becomes so plentiful that efforts are put to preserving the food instead of production.  The next few months are filled with recipe research in addition to dinner invitations as we find ways to share our food with others. By Thanksgiving, our efforts can be turned to other things until after the holidays when we can finally pause and breathe for two months. This cycle brings life to my family’s year and reminds us of the labor that used to permeate nearly every household.

As my family does much of this alone, we are reminded of how such rhythms in our year used to not only define a family’s work schedule but also a community’s interactions.  Small, rural towns would pride themselves in a

particular crop and throw a festival that a l igned wi th i t ’s season : strawberry festivals in the late spring, cherry festivals in the heat of summer and apple or pumpkin festivals in the fall.   If one household planted a field of sugar beets, then the others knew in a few months they would give up their weekend to help make molasses. In the fall, twenty gallon kettles would be filled with apples from everyone’s yards and put over a fire so they could slowly melt into apple butter over the course of many days under the watch of many neighbors.  

At St. Paul & the Redeemer, our garden allows us to experience both the wonders of the local seasons and our community.  Our garden offers us a place on a weekly basis to allow our hands to labor while freeing our minds to wonder at the power of nature and our ears and voices to listen and share with our community.  It is a place filled w i t h h a rd wo rk a n d c a l m i n g reflections, funny stories and spiritual moments.  It is a place worth visiting at least once but the more often you come, the more powerful your experience.

Brian working in his family’s garden with his daughter Nola.

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Garden Open AllSummer

MoreOpportunitiestoConnect

Confirmation LiturgySaturday, Jun 1, at 11:00a at St. James Cathedral (65 E Huron St). All are invited to come support and celebrate with our Confirmands: George Bartle, Eric Clark, Jr., Sam Curry, Emmi Gordon, Nadia Jesuthasan, Maggie Nancarrow, Jim Schaal, and Rachel Watson.

Is Your Child Entering Middle School or High School?Help us connect them to Youth Group and to their formation class for the fall. Contact ...Middle Schoolers — George Bartle:[email protected] | (773) 624-3185 x221

High Schoolers — Dan Puchalla:[email protected]| (773) 624-3185 x224

Women’s RetreatSave the date! The third annual Women’s Retreat will be Friday, Oct 18 - Sunday, Oct 20, at George Williams College in Aurora. The cost will be $125 for the weekend.

Every Saturday is a chance to‣ connect to nature and enjoy the outdoors

‣ learn skills and talk to knowledgeable folks about how to grow your own vegetables at home

‣ finally learn the name of that person you’ve sat in church with for months

‣ learn something new about that person you’ve known in church for years

‣ contribute to serving our neighbors who are hungry by growing organic produce for local soup kitchens

You’re welcome to come at 10:00a on any Saturday to join in the gardening, but it helps our leaders to plan if you sign up ahead of time. Add your name to the big board in the Narthex at church, or contact one of the Garden leaders:Sara Bigger: [email protected] | (773) 288-2089Brian Ray: [email protected] | (773) 524-1244Jim Schaal: (773) 818-1143 | [email protected]

Open KitchenOnce a month, we cook up a good meal for the Kenwood Open Kitchen feeding program. Come down to the Kitchen after the 10:00 liturgy on May 19, Jun 16, Jul 14, or Aug 18.

Help at Vacation Bible CampBe part of the terrific team of adults who make VBC one of our greatest events all year. If you’re interested, contact Heidi Olliff: [email protected] | (312) 576-8465

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I moved to the Hyde park area 2004 just before I graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology at 31st and State. I work for an IT consulting firm located in downtown Chicago. I have now been a member of the south east Chicago community for about 14 years. Hannah and I got married in 2010, and after getting settled down in Chicago in our physical home, we started earnestly looking for a new spiritual home that we can share together. I remember driving around Hyde Park one sunny Sunday late afternoon in 2010 and Hannah asking me to stop

the car so that she could take a look at an Episcopal church we just passed. We both immediately got a feeling of familiarity, and decided to try out a Sunday morning service, not knowing what to expect. It was a blessed experience the following Sunday. We both felt very welcome and included, and over the next few weeks, we confirmed our initial intuition of being part of a community that will allow us to build deeper relationships with God through service, and with our neighbors.

Tayo AdegokeVestry Class of 2014, (stepping in for Crystal Plummer)

Doug HoffmanTreasurer

I began serving as SPR's treasurer in February. My partner, Kevin Baldwin, and I began attending SPR about 5 years ago. We had been looking in the near north side for a parish to call home; but just could not seem to find one that felt right. Through happenstance or, perhaps,

Divine intervention, we learned about SPR from our friend, the distinguished composer and SPR parishioner, Richard Proulx. My interests include reading, traveling, eating, and the finer points of scotch whisky. I am currently engaged in private practice as a corporate and finance lawyer.

I was born and raised in Chicago. I am the second born out of four children to Ronald and Joycelin Larrieu. My upbringing has been based in the Catholic Church. I attended Saint Dorothy Elementary school and graduated from Academy of Our Lady Catholic High School. Upon graduation I attended Carson Newman College in Tennessee and obtained a Bachelors degree in Biology. After getting married to Grayson Kachingwe in 1985 we moved to Malawi Africa. There we were active members of Saint Peter’s Anglican Church in Lilongwe, Malawi. I was a regular reader of the Sunday scriptures and prayers, hospitality chair for Sunday Tea, and taught confirmation classes. I am a keen sports enthusiast. I lived in Malawi for 17 tears. While there I taught third grade, and later taught college level Anatomy and Physiology for a number of years. I also worked with my husband

in various business ventures such as farming, real estate, and industrial dry cleaning/laundry services. I was member of the American Women’s Association where I served as program chair person of a committee whose primary responsibility was to identify and support needy girls’ educational pursuits. Currently I work for Chicago Public Schools as a science teacher at Harper High School. I am certified to teach all science subjects, however I prefer to teach environmental science and physics. I have two children. Marsella 24, and Olivia 21. Both girls were born in Malawi and were baptized and confirmed in the Anglican Church. The girls are currently in college. We have been residents of Hyde Park for the past 10 years and have attended St Paul & the Redeemer during the entire period.

Donna LarrieuClerk of the Vestry

WelcomeSomeNew Leaders

Let’s

Picnic!Sunday, Jun 2

Right after the 10:00 liturgy*

We bring the meat, veggies, and fire.

You bring a side or dessert — sign up in the Narthex

*We’re also baptizing Vivienne Chlipala!

SummerScheduleStartsMay 26

AND

Liturgies at8:00 and 10:00

THE LANDS NEAR EGYPT ALSO HAD BAD YEARS. THE PEOPLE FROM THE LANDS NEAR EGYPT CAME TO JOSEPH TO BEG FOR FOOD. JACOB SENT TEN OF HIS SONS INTO EGYPT TO GET FOOD TO EAT. WHEN THE BROTHERS CAME TO EGYPT, THEY BOWED BEFORE JOSEPH. THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM, BUT JOSEPH KNEW WHO THEY WERE. HE KEPT ONE OF THE BROTHERS WITH HIM AND GAVE THE OTHERS GRAIN, AND TOLD TEM TO GO HOME. THEN ALL OF THEM CAME BACK. THIS TIME JOSEPH TOLD THEM WHO HE WAS. HE SAID, “GOD SENT ME BEFOR EYOU TO PRESERVE LIFE.” JOSEPH AND HIS FAMILY SEPTN THE REST OF THEIR DAYS IN EGYPT. WHEN JACOB DIED JOSEPH TOOK HIM HOME TO BE BURIED IN THE LAND OF THEIR FATHERS. THEN JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS RETURNED TO EGYPT, WHERE YEARS LATER THEIR CHILDREN WOULD BECOME SLAVES BECAUSE THE NEW PHARAOH FORGOT ALL THAT JOSEPH DID.

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VacationBibleCamp:Stories to Live ByAugust 5 - 9 | 9:00a - Noon

Campers: Ages 4 - 10Junior Counselors: Ages 11-12REGISTER ONLINE: sp-r.org/vbc

ST. PAUL & THE REDEEMER’S

VBC Sunday, August 12 | 10:00a

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