St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church A Spiritual Oasis Where Lives are Transformed
Volume 22; Issue 11	December 2005

Advent means “the coming”. It is the liturgical season that precedes Christmas by about 4 weeks; a season during which we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Prince of Peace. When we clean out all of the clutter, narcissism, and extra busyness from our minds, hearts, and schedules, we allow for that “small, still, voice” to speak. This leads to a spirit of compassion, generosity, and inner peace. Once this happens, the celebration of Christmas becomes a blessed occasion.

Let’s face it. Most of us already have enough decorations, scarves, pajamas, cameras, and other toys to last us a lifetime. So, why spend precious time buying more stuff? There will be 52 weeks next year during which we can meet with friends, celebrate occasions, and to eat, drink, and be merry. So for now, why not take advantage of the holy season of Advent to make room in our hearts for the Prince of Peace?

Our families, our nation, and our world seem to be in a heightened state of anxiety. It seems to me that our priorities need to include: inner & outer healing, gaining wisdom, and reconnecting to God. Silence is one way to open up to God’s healing grace and wisdom. So let me review with you, the teaching on silence: Silence is God’s primary language. All other languages are poor translations. If you want true insight and healing, you must allow for silence in your life.

1. First, enter into solitude. Get away from the noise and chatter (go to a quiet room, car, garden).

2. Next, enter into silence by quieting the thoughts in your mind. Have no agenda except consenting to the presence of God.

3. Finally, become still and experience the presence of God.

On Saturday, December 3 rd, we will have an Advent Quiet Day with labyrinth and other Advent devotions. I hope you will join me and Lele Blackman in this event. Please see the Advent/Christmas insert for more information.

“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.”

Peace,

Did You Know?

• Five members of the parish will be elected for vestry at the annual meeting. If you would like to be on the vestry, please contact Peggy McNutt.

• Annette Rohr will be volunteering her time as one of our occasional Junior High Youth Chaperones, especially for our ETC (Episcopal Teen Community) events.

• Irene Kwok teaches music to the children of the Organization of Special Needs Families. She says it is spiritually satisfying.

• Nichole Hamilton, professional actress, stage manager and director, will assist Michael Morris with our Children’s Christmas pageant this year.

• Elena Lamp is organizing an “all parish” Christmas Caroling in the neighborhood event on Sunday, December 18, beginning with gathering in the Parish Hall at 4pm for warm-up and ending together with a simple meal.

• Pledge Cards are offered up to the altar in a special Thanksgiving celebration, 10:00 am, Thursday, November 24.

• “Prayers Around the Hearth” is a quiet prayer time Sunday, November 27, 9:15 am; we will be praying for discernment of ministry and mission of St. Jude's .

• Liz Jones represents St. Jude’s at the weekly meetings of the Mid-Peninsula Katrina Coalition. You can now find out what’s being done and how to help with time, items or money at the new website, http://www.katrinamidpen.org/

• Cupertino Live Oak Adult Day Services (on St. Jude’s campus) was featured in the Oct. 26 issue of The Cupertino Courier. Find out the meaning and value of this 25-year companionship between St. Jude’s and Adult Day Care in Cupertino at http://www.community-newspapers.com/archives/cupertinocourier/20051026/cu-news1.shtml or in Latest News at www.saintjudes.org

• The Colombage and Weerasooriya families traveled to Sri Lanka this summer and witnessed first-hand the use of the money sent from St. Jude’s after the South Asian tsunami. They saw the construction of 5 houses and assisted in providing ~27 families tools for livelihood in carpentry, fishing and sewing. See their new pictures and a letter from St. Matthias, Sri Lanka on the bulletin board in the Parish Hall (and online on the Social Justice page), and ask Rasika and Don to tell you about this ministry.

• The Adult Day Center, Live Oak, at St. Jude's is at 100% capacity, and has a waiting list?  Congratulations, staff and volunteers!

• The next View will be published early, on December 19 th. Input will be due on the 14 th.

This morning, I met with Jennifer Stern and Pastor Mary regarding the pre-school feasibility study. Hundreds of hours have been spent investigating the pros and cons, risks and benefits, and feasibility of such an undertaking. These findings have been presented to the parish and are available on our website. Jennifer has been vigilant in producing an excellent study that will serve us well into the future as we try to discern the mission and ministry of St. Jude’s in the face of the changing demographics in Cupertino. I want to thank the vestry and all those who worked on this goal for your good efforts and insights.

In order to discern parish support for this goal, I was going to place the decision making process before the people of St. Jude’s, by taking a vote at the Annual Meeting in January. By doing so, I had hoped to learn the “true level” of commitment and support for this goal. However, I now believe I have enough data to make that decision so there is no need to take a vote. At this point, we do not have enough people, passion, energy, leadership, or willingness to proceed with a pre-school at this time. There are just too many internal issues regarding property, individual preferences, power, focus, time, money, and spirituality that need to be attended to before such a goal could be successful. To move into action without acceptance would be divisive to the parish. Therefore, we will not proceed with a pre-school at this time.

As you know, the vestry came up with a seven point strategic plan in the spring of 2003 to respond to the changing demographics of Cupertino. In our Anglican Tradition, we are responsible for spreading the good news in Christ by word and deed within our parish boundaries. The parish boundaries of St. Jude’s is the city of Cupertino, although people from neighboring areas do attend our church.

The mission of the Church is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” [BCP 855] This means that we are to make disciples of Christ such that the condition of the human race is one of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. I invite you to join me in prayer as we discern how to best reach out to our neighbors to invite them to the banquet of Christ.

“So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” [Philippians 2]

Christmas Season: A Time For Christ to Bring Us Together
The Rev. Mary B. Blessing

“What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)

As our days grow darker in the deepest part of December, we gather with family, friends, and sometimes even strangers, to connect with one another in the name of Christ—to connect in name of the One who brought a bright light to a darkened world. Whatever you do this Christmas season, whether it is shopping for someone you love, or sharing your time and talent feeding strangers at a homeless shelter, or Christmas may you do it in the name of Christ, may you do it with a spirit of unconditional love.

The various ministries of which I am a part here at St. Jude’s are gathering for a variety of activities which will help us connect with one another and God in the name of Christ. While this is often a very “overscheduled” time of year, my prayer is that this year we will participate with a pace that will allow us to calmly enjoy quiet moments of personal reflection on the blessing we receive when Christ, the light of life, is at the center of our activities.

Please invite your NON-CHURCH-GOING friends to some of these Christ-centered activities:

• Advent Quiet Day : Walk the labyrinth, learn of its history, spiritual meditation tool, and current practices, Saturday, December 3, 9-1:00, simple lunch included. Children invited to participate or babysitting offered if you request in advance.

• Children’s Ministry : Christmas Pageant, set for 4pm, Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24. Rehearsals 11:45-12:30 following church services on Sundays, December 11 and December 18, with “dress rehearsal” prior to service on Christmas Eve.

• Youth Group has many outreach projects and events this holiday season: managing the Angel Tree (gifts for Santa Maria Urban Ministry) November 27; helping sell items for African Team Ministries, December 4 th, 11 th; shopping for Adopt-a-Family (Dec. 11) with money earned at 1 st Saturday De Anza Parking Lot Sales; attending an ETC event on “Consumerism” (Dec. 16 th and 17 th).

• College Students gather Wednesday, December 21, 6pm in the Fireside Room for food, fun and fellowship. Christmas cookie decorating, games, and chat time are on the list!

• Music of the Spirit (“praise band”) joins St. Jude’s Choir for a Christmas Concert with St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Sunnyvale, Sunday, December 11, 4pm.

• All Parish Christmas Caroling, Sunday, December 18, 4pm. Gather in Parish Hall to get voices warmed up, get into groupings, get our flyers to invite the neighbors, and go out into the neighborhood singing traditional Christmas carols. We will gather back at the Parish Hall for hot cider and pizza following. All ages invited.

• St. Jude’s Adult Choir sings at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral, as part of “Christmas in the Park”, Thursday, 7pm, or 8 pm December 22.

And, when the “Season of Christmas” ends, perhaps you can make a New Year’s resolution to invite your non-church-going friends to Sunday morning worship and fellowship in the name of Christ. You may not even know how much they are craving to have you bless their lives with this simple invitation to get to know The Light of the World.

• The 9 th edition of the Diocesan Newsletter (Along the King’s Highway) is now available; the Habitat for Humanity article is included. You can read Along the King’s Highway on-line at http://www.ecrweb.org/newsletter.html, receive it via email by contacting our Communications Coordinator - Edy Unthank at communications@edecr.org, or pick up a copy in the Parish Hall or Narthex.

• Updated information about Hurricane & Earthquake Relief and what the ERD (Episcopal Relief & Development) is doing can be found at the at www.er-d.org.

• To carry on the work begun by Ann McElroy, there will be an organizational meeting to revitalize the diocesan Peace & Justice Commission at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, December 2, 2005 at Mission House, Seaside. All interested persons are invited.  At this beginning meeting an initial focus for 2006 and whether to request some funding from the 2006 budget (which is still possible through the resolution process prior to convention) will be decided. The commission's history will be reviewed a chair (or co-chairs) and board/officers will be chosen as needed. For more information, please contact The Rev. Susan Miller, vicar of St. Matthias', Seaside, at 831-624-3375 or susanhmiller@earthlink.net. Directions to Mission House are at http://www.ecrweb.org/directions.html.

• Santa Maria Urban Ministry will begin a collection for Warm Heart Ministry - the distribution of blankets, sleeping bags, jackets/coats, warm clothing and NEW socks - in late November. Collection begins Monday Nov. 28 and distribution will run until the holiday break, Dec. 23. New and used blankets, sleeping bags, etc. are welcome. Please be sure that used items are clean, dry and serviceable. You can bring donations to the farmhouse or arrange to have them picked up by calling (408) 292-3314 or sending a request via e-mail to smum@sbcglobal.net.

• The Diocesan Funding Review Committee completed their study of mission strategies committed to the support of local ministry, diocesan-funded mission, and diocesan funding alternatives and reported their findings at 3 tri-deanery meetings throughout the diocese.  This committee recommends: for the 2007 budget year a 10% mandatory Fair Share based on current income. In addition, parishes and missions would be highly encouraged to voluntarily contribute over and above this amount in order that diocesan and community programs may continue and grow.  With the goal of moving the diocese from a posture of dealing with scarcity to creating abundance, the diocese and its parishes and missions would fund and implement evangelism programs and stewardship programs based upon the tithe as our standard of giving.  The full report is available on the diocesan website at the following link: http://www.ecrweb.org/f/Council-DFRC-20051020.pdf and on the kiosk.

• For more diocesan and deanery news, see the kiosk in the church entry (Narthex). For more information, please contact Linda Morris.

Attendance for October
Ned Snow

Attendance was up 6% in October 2005, compared with 2004.  The 8 o'clock service was up 4%, and the 10:30 service was up 7%.  Strong results for a parish that is experiencing the Holy Spirit BIG TIME!

Thank You to ALL Who Made Harvest Dinner Happen
Libby Varty

What a wonder evening it was and I want to say how much I appreciate all the help and support that was given by so MANY of you (give yourselves a pat on the back!). Your efforts were incredible and I thank each of you for your gifts that day. For the UCLA Cheese Casserole and the Lemonade Pie recipes, see the Saint Jude’s website .

Advent African Team Ministries Craft Sale - Dec 4 & 11
Judy Foot

Once again, we St. Jude’s parishioners have the opportunity to open our hearts and assist our African sisters and brothers, women and students as we purchase beautiful, inexpensive jewelry and craft items or sponsor an orphan.

Come to the Coffee Hour in the Parish Hall after worship services on Dec. 4th and Dec. 11 th to make unique holiday gift selections and learn about supporting an orphaned student.

The African crafts sale and student sponsorship has been specially scheduled at this holy time of the year not only for parishioners' gift giving convenience, but as a means of Advent preparation of the heart.

• Proceeds from the African Arts and Crafts Sale benefit women in the East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda by providing a sales outlet to their arts and crafts cooperative.

• The African Student Sponsorship Program is also timely at this special time of year; $20 a month is sufficient to keep an orphan child in school and off the streets; the sponsorship commitment is for one-year period. Sponsored students may write and/or send photos of themselves to sponsors at the sponsor's request.

Special Movie Preview: C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia (cancelled)

A special opportunity to invite your non-church friends to a church-friendly event: the new movie, C.S. Lewis' Narnia -- Thursday night, December 8, movie at 6:30pm. Santa Clara County Episcopal churches are renting a movie theatre on Winchester Blvd. (details to follow). Please invite your friends to come see this movie in a special preview night before it is shown to the general public. Ticket price is $9.75. This is a "church event" that you and your non-church going friends can share. It is an opportunity to introduce friends to basic Christian concepts, they may have read, but not understood, in Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia trilogy, which includes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. If you are interested in purchasing tickets, or have questions, please contact Pastor Mary Blessing at mary@saintjudes.org, or 408-252-4166.

St. Jude's Choir to Sing in Two Christmas Concerts
Linda Morris

St. Jude's Adult Choir will join St. Luke Lutheran Church Choir again this year in presenting a Christmas Concert on Sunday, December 11th at 4 pm.  Our Music of the Spirit Band will even be accompanying a couple of songs!  St. Luke Lutheran Church, 1025 The Dalles at Wright Ave., Sunnyvale, 94087.  A potluck dinner will follow the concert.  A free will offering will be taken during the concert to benefit Sunnyvale Community Services.  

The choir will also join St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Union Church to sing in "The Voices of Cupertino" on Thursday, December 22nd at 7 pm and again at 8 pm at St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica, 80 S. Market St. at W. San Fernando, San Jose, 95113. Free admission.  For more information, contact Michael Morris or music@saintjudes.org

Stephen Ministry Information Hour
Diane Snow

We need to find men and women of our congregation who are willing to answer Jesus' call to serve as Stephen Ministers, which begins with 50 hours of stimulating and useful training in Christian caring skills. The training which begins in January will be led by trained Stephen leaders and will include a variety of topics such as listening, Christian assertiveness, maintaining boundaries in care giving and grief. The training is distinctively Christian and focuses on God as the one who cures as we care. When Stephen Ministers have completed their training, they will be commissioned and ready to begin their ministry. Working under supervision, these Stephen Ministers will be available to meet weekly with persons experiencing such problems as these and many more: Bereavement, Single Parenting, Job loss, Terminal illness, Long-term hospitalization, Natural disasters. Stephen Ministers commit to at least two years for training, service, and regular supervision. Many Stephen Ministers enjoy their ministry so much that they choose to serve beyond the two years.

Adult Education in December
Bruce La Fetra

• Dec 4 - Finding Effective Ways to Treat AIDS/HIV in Kenya
  Kenya has a 60% unemployment rate, rampant corruption at all levels of government, tensions between 70+ rival tribes, and an HIV infection rate of around 20-25% of the population which has reduced life expectancy from the mid-50s to the late 30s or early 40s.
  The Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment for HIV/AIDS (AMPATH) is an innovative project for treating AIDS/HIV in Kenya founded by a retired doctor from the University of Indiana in partnership with a local teaching hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.
  Sara Chenette spent several weeks volunteering in the pediatric center in the spring of 2005. What she saw can only be described as an incredible experience. Mrs. Chenette talks about some of the issues/experiences of the U.S. medical students in the IU-Moi University exchange program, how the program has evolved over the years as the team `got smarter` about fighting HIV in Kenya, the efforts by the team over the years to gain trust and respect among the rural villagers, and the many layers/directions of the current efforts of the medical team in Eldoret.

• Dec 11 - Tragedy and Survival: The Sudanese Ministry
  In 1987 a number of boys ages 6-9 awoke, not knowing that in a couple of hours they would be fleeing for their lives and everything would change. From Sudan, they escaped to Ethiopia before making their way to Kenya in 1992. In 2001, Catholic Charities began resettling some of the 'Lost Boys of Sudan' in San Jose.
  Education has been foremost in their lives. When they fled from Ethiopia, the chose to take their school books with them over any other possession as they fled back across Sudan eventually into Kenya. `Education is our mother and father` is often something that they will say. Several of these young men recently graduated from De Anza College, San Jose City College, and Mission College.
  Through slides, commentary and conversation, The Sudanese will share some of the history of the tragedy in Sudan as well as moving personal histories. Come and hear a strong witness to survival, faith and friendship.

• Dec 18 - Music of the Season
  Get Ready for Christmas with a Christmas hymn sing and a little musical history with cider and hot chocolate led by our music director Michael Morris.

• Dec 25 - No Forum (Christmas)

• Jan 1 - Ask the Rector IV
  Come and ask Pastor Karen whatever you would like about theology and the Episcopal Church. This is a great opportunity for everyone, but especially kids. Last year, our youth asked some very interesting questions.

When You Give Securities to St. Jude’s, Your Dollars Can Do More for the Church and For You!
Nancy Symons, Planned Giving

When you contribute appreciated securities directly to St. Jude’s, you may eliminate capital gains, donate more to St. Jude’s and pay less in taxes. Let’s assume you have securities valued at $100,000 but that you paid only $40,000 for those securities. In other words, you have a gain of $60,000. The chart shows why it’s better to give your securities to St. Jude’s rather than to sell your securities and donate the proceeds.

By donating securities to St. Jude’s, you save about 60% in taxes and give $14,400 more to St. Jude’s! (Chart is for illustrative purposes only. Example assumes no reduction in itemized deductions. Also, there are restrictions on the amount of charitable deductions based on your AGI.)

Please note that if you have transferred securities to St. Jude’s in the past, that the transfer information has changed . The Church’s stockbroker has moved offices and St. Jude’s account information has changed. Please contact Liz Jones at 408-996-8324 for the new information.

Updated 12/6/2005

Top of Page