Happy Thanksgiving

It is in fact that time of year - as hard as I'm finding it to believe.

I hope that all of you have safe travel and a happy thanksgiving.

We all have so much to be thankful for - it's good to take some time and stop and remember it.

Moving Quickly into fall

I can't believe how quickly fall has not only come - but has moved on.

Fall events have happened one on another. 

We did Sunday School kick-off and youth group kick-off with hot dogs on September 11.

We had a Ministry Fair on September 18.

We blessed pets on October 2.

We've gone to the UB game.

We are having a fall food festival and a Halloween Party.

This is a busy place - please let me know if there is something else that you would like to have happen - hold on tight, Advent and Christmas will be here before you know it.

Remembering 9-11

I'm struggling with the sermon for Sunday - the 10th anniversary of 9-11.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to say - you'll have to come to church or check out the sermon on the web-site on Monday to find out - but, the media has already begun talking about the anniversary and NPR has been having various people share their memories of that day.

But one of the things that I am thinking about is - oddly enough - Mount St. Helen's - the volcano in Washington St.  I have aunts and cousins in Oregon and we went out to visit them just after the 1980 erruption and visited Mt. St. Helen's.  My mother still has a jar of the ash.  One of the things that I remember about 9-11 was how much the ash that covered people and buildings reminded me of the Mt. St. Helen's ash that covered everything. 

However, the reason I'm thinking about it today is that about 5 years after the erruption we went back to visit Mt. St. Helen's and the trees and flowers were beginning to push their way through the ash - the ash was still there - but there were saplings and flowers growing in the midst of the ash. 

I'm hoping that as the 10th annivesary of 9-11 nears that we are able to see some saplings and flowers pushing up through the ash of that day as well.

Making a Difference

This is a picture of some of the school supplies that we collected this year.

We filled 20 backpacks and two big bins with school supplies and still had a few bags of supplies too.

In addition to the basic providing of supplies - I hope that we also sent the message to the kids that receive them that there are other people who think that education is important and who think that they are important. That is so much more vital than having a new pencil - knowing that there is someone out there who thinks you are important and who wants you to succeed - that is outreach to the soul.

Thank you all.

Wealth and Riches

In the recent debates over the debt ceiling there has been lots of talk about "the rich" and what "the rich" are doing or not doing.

It got me thinking - everything depends on your perspective - I mostly don't think of myself at one of the rich - however - everyone else in the world does.

Don't believe me - go to globalrichlist.com and see where you fall in terms of the richest people in the world - I bet you'll be surprised.

Once you've done that - if you want to easily help those less fortunate than yourself go to freerice.com and by answering some trivia questions you can donate rice to people who have much, much less than you.

Twenty First Century Stuff

We are using more and more social media here at St. Paul's. Right now it's just additional ways to stay connected - but I'm hoping over the summer and into the fall to move to more spiritually focused contact as well.

We have decided to move from Facebook groups to a facebook page - you can "like" us at St. Paul's Episcopal Church - Harris Hill on Facebook. We'll be posting some thoughts for reflection as well as parish news.

I'm also going to be using my Twitter account for some thoughts and prayer tweets - you can follow me @vdzust if you use twitter - but be warned you might get some things about my life as well as the church

When Help Isn't Helpful

I don't know if you saw this article about donations flowing in to Alabama after the tornados. In brief the article says that they have received so much stuff - some of it useful but most of it not - that they are inundated and the tasks of finding storage space and sorting through the piles of used underwear and broken toys to get to the few things they can actually use is a huge challenge.

This seems to happen after every major disaster - people want to help - but in trying to help they get in the way- I remember a friend who was helping out after 9/11 at St. Paul's Chapel where the rescue workers were being fed and counselled and otherwise cared for. She talked about the 4 truckloads of stuffed animals that people sent. It was a nice thought - but they had no use for stuffed animals and had to either dispose of them (and pay for it) or figure out where they could be used and get them there.

Uniformally those who work in post-disaster relief say that the most useful thing that people can do is send money. With money they can purchase exactly what they need in ways that they can process efficiently or provide funds to victims directly - with the added benefit that purchasing things locally helps the economy begin to recover.

Our Christian instinct is to help those in need - but we need to be sure that our help if really helpful - not just what we want to give but what is really needed.

That's part of the reason I'm so proud of all of you - for example $285 for Japan just from people's donations - well done.