Living Compass App

Our friends at Living Compass Ministries have released an app for your smart phones, iphones and ipads.  The app is free, and you can find it by searching for "Living Well with Living Compass".  The Rev. Scott Stoner writes about this app, 

"Our app includes a variety of wellness resources, our Living Compass Self-Assessment, and a tool to help users create and track wellness action steps. In addition to a public cheering section, a place within the app where users can share intentions, successes, and cheer each other on, there is also the opportunity to create your own personal "cheering section" where you can invite and connect with friends and family who are also working on their wellness steps. We invite you to download it and try it out. We will update the app regularly as we to work to make it a powerful tool for those seeking to create an abundant life, and would appreciate your feedback which you can give us through the app. Like everything with Living Compass, this is a team effort."

For more information, contact the Rev. Dr. Scott Stoner at scott@livingcompass.org or visit http://livingcompass.org.

Women’s Mini-Week

I’m writing this article to let all of the women of St. James to know about a wonderful opportunity for rest and refreshment that is happening this August: the annual diocesan Women’s Mini-Week. Women’s Mini-Week is actually not a whole week long (thus, the word “mini”); it begins with dinner on Thursday, August 16 and goes through brunch on Sunday the 19th. However, due to work and home responsibilities, a number of women arrive on Friday and/or leave on Saturday. Women’s Mini-Week is held at Camp Lakotah (formerly our diocesan camp, Camp Webb) just outside of Wautoma, Wisconsin. I went to Women’s Mini-Week for the first time last year and loved it.

No Expectations

What I loved most about Women’s Mini-Week was the “no expectations” atmosphere. Women are free to come to as many or as few of the activities as they want. Because it was my first time to attend and because I didn’t know anybody, I went to almost everything. I went on nature walks, I went to Morning Prayer, I went to a soap felting workshop (ask me about it!), I joined the makeshift choir for the Saturday Eucharist, I went to Evening Prayer, I was in a group that made a labyrinth (ask me about it!), I went to the white elephant bingo, I went to a gorgeous candle-light Compline service, I went to cool off in the lake, I went to the campfire (a mellow s'mores and beer party), and I went to every meal (of course!). In contrast, there were some people I saw only at meals; the rest of the time they were at the lake. Nobody minded—at least, not as far as I could tell.

I didn’t grow up in this diocese, so Camp Lakotah didn’t bring back memories for me, but I really enjoyed hearing about everybody else’s memories. One Camp Webb “graduate” took me on a tour and told me funny stories about her summers at the camp. As for the accommodations, because I was a newbie, they put me up in the brand-new nurses’ quarters, with electricity and bathrooms. Wow! This summer, I’ve chosen to go more rustic and stay in one of the cabins with no electricity and no bathroom. If you’re interested, talk to me and/or click on this link.  Maybe we can even drive up together!

Sheryl Slocum

Summer Heat Request

With the summer heat just around the corner, we get requests from our guests from the Gathering meal program, for ChapStick. Sometimes we forget that the sun burns our lips in 

addition to our bodies.  Sundries from the Avenue, our ministry to distribute toiletries and other necessities,  is taking a special ChapStick collection from June 1 until July 20.  There will be a container to collect the ChapStick in the lounge.  Questions?  Please contact Kris Ochocki.

Kris Ochocki

General Convention Is Coming!

This summer, The Episcopal Church will meet in General Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, from July 3rd through the 13th. The Church gathers in Convention once every three years. The last Convention was in 2009, in Anaheim, California. This is so much more than just a big meeting. The General Convention is a remarkable part of the life of the church.

Governing Body of the Church

The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the entire Episcopal Church. Representatives from all 14 nations that constitute the Church will meet, to set the direction the church is going, develop and approve a budget, and craft the legislation that governs our common life. With the exception of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Constitution and Canons of the Church, the General Convention is the ultimate authority in the Episcopal Church. As a legislative assembly, it is the largest of its type in the world!

The Convention is structured much like our Congress. It is a legislative assembly made up of two houses: The House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. (Remarkably, the House of Deputies is considered the Senior House.) All bishops in the Church, even those retired, make up the membership of the House of Bishops. It is presided over by the Presiding Bishop. (This is the source of her title - almost all of her other duties are a result her holding the position of presiding over the House of Bishops.) Each Diocese in The Episcopal Church sends eight deputies to serve in the House of Deputies. Four of the diocesan deputies are clergy (priests or deacons) and four are lay people. The eight Deputies are elected by our diocese when it meets in its own conventions. The House of Deputies is presided over by its President, who can be elected from either the clergy or lay deputies.
Most the work of the convention comes in the form of considering legislation in the form of resolutions. They are submitted for consideration from several sources: diocesan conventions and dioceses; bishops and deputies themselves; and committees, commissions, boards and other bodies of the church. Committees hold hearings and discuss the legislation and prepare it for consideration in both houses. Resolutions must pass both houses in order to take effect. When one house has acted on the resolution it is sent to the other house for consideration.

The Two Houses Meet in Prayer

In addition to the legislative duties, the two Houses meet in prayer daily. These celebrations of the Holy Eucharist are spectacular! There are also representatives of other groups and business in a massive exhibit hall where almost any good or service related to the life and mission of the church can be found!

The convention will deal with more than 250 pieces of legislation in this assembly. Several of them will have special importance and significance to the life of the church: the blessing of same gender unions, the budget and structure of the church of the future, welcoming the unbaptized to our communion table, a church-wide health care plan, and the approval of the Anglican Covenant. Each of the topics could be an entire newsletter in itself, and so I will simply invite you to come to listening sessions to learn more about them. The next will be at St. Bartholomew Church in Pewaukee on the evening of June 21st. Also, feel free to talk to John Washbush, one the four lay deputies from the Diocese of Milwaukee. Finally, please keep the convention and its work in your prayers!

by John Washbush

Filling the Void Inside

Each one of us may have times in our lives when we feel a void inside. It’s like a big empty place in the pit of our stomach.  Sometimes we try to ignore it completely. Most of the time we try to fill it with something like people in our lives or with possessions to absorb our attention on activities that in our society may represent success.

Living a success-oriented life may, for a time, fill the void. It certainly gives us a way to try to fill it.
What of the values we accept for ourselves to maintain success:
1. Success at any price
2. Seek out “friends” who can help us up the ladder
3. Be seen at the right places in the right attire even if we can’t afford it
4. Work first, family and marriage if time allows.
 Any of these game plans for success ignore the question: what happens if we fail?

 
If success brings failure

What do we have to fall back on if success at any price brings failure? Who do we turn to if our only “friends” were our step ladders upward? Where are they when we are down? Do any of the outward visible ways of a “successful” person (possessions et al.) help us when we are down or do they become a way to avoid loss and the gaping void inside? Do alcohol and/or drugs, that always seem to hang around success-oriented lifestyles, become the escape to fill the void? Having ignored our family for success, will they be there for us in our failure to fill the void?

I would suggest that at a time of failure or at a time of success when we still feel that void, we need to ask ourselves some important questions.

Have the values I’ve been living by brought me to this place be it success or failure? If these values are so important to me, why do I still feel like something is missing in my life?

In a time of failure in my life, who could I turn to? Where were the “friends” that rode my wave of success with me? What do I have within me to get me through this?

Hopefully, a time will come when the question we face will be: what really gives meaning to my life? What’s missing? I feel that empty place inside; there has to be more.

We all come from different experiences with organized religion. Some may have grown up with no choice but to be in church, which later led us to rebel and leave. Some may have had a casual relationship, which has left little to hang onto. Some may have had no experience or have been taught to deny. Some may have had a good experience but put it aside when success came or were embarrassed to return in hard times.

A man is standing at a window in a treatment hospital. As he looks out into the woods, he is filled with a sense of peace and serenity he has never experience before. The void inside is filled with the realization that God loves you.  With these words, he comes to understand that all the living beyond his means, all the alcohol he had consumed, none of these things could fill the void. Only the simple words: God loves you, could do that.

Consider then these questions. Where is God in your life? Where is Jesus in your life? How do I find them? What can happen if I do?

Before you try to answer them, ask yourself if you are ready to find a way to live with peace in your heart that may make all the stuff you filled your life with meaningless.

Worth a try

If you are tired of that void inside, it’s certainly worth a try to seek out the answers.

With God in your life, with Jesus at your side, you will find new horizons opening for you. You will discover the joy of their love for you. You will find peace. Reach out to others you see who have found the way to fill the void inside.

Know always that God loves you. Take the word of the guy at the window.

by Deacon Ned Howe

PrideFest Booth and Parade

St. James will have an informational booth at PrideFest, and a float in the parade!  This is an opportunity to share our stories of welcome and service in the name of Christ with those we meet.  Vestry member Teresa Jackson is coordinating our participation in PrideFest.  If you will be at PrideFest, stop by the booth and introduce your friends to your faith community!  

Whoo-hoo!  Here are some pictures from our awesome at PrideFest: