FROM THE RECTOR

This Sunday will be the second Sunday of Advent. Advent is only four Sundays in length – and it comes at what is for many the busiest time of the year. The Season of Christmas is even shorter. There are twelve days of Christmas, and it begins on Christmas Eve. This year, since Christmas falls on a Sunday, there will be only two Sundays in the season, one on Christmas Day and the other on New Year’s Day. 

During Advent we sing hymns anticipating the coming of Christ and during Christmas we sing the familiar Christmas hymns celebrating the birth of Jesus. Our church music mirrors the focus of our church season – which is not necessarily in sync with what is happening all around us. Advent is not observed by many. There are no Advent sales events. Black Friday sales kicked off the commercialized season of Christmas before Thanksgiving. These events focus on gift giving and Santa – not Christ. Christmas decorations and lights can be seen everywhere – except at St. Paul’s. 

Advent Lessons and Carols is a special service combining scriptures and music to tell the story of humanity’s relationship with God from our creation until the birth of Christ. It begins with a “bidding prayer” in which we pray:

Beloved in Christ, in this season of Advent, let it be our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the Angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem, to see the Babe lying in a manger.

Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by his holy Child; and let us look forward to the yearly remembrance of his birth with hymns and songs of praise.

Like Lent, Advent is a time for us to remember the power of love made known to us in Jesus. Time and time again the people of God strayed from their relationship with Him. Time and time again we do too. Yet, God never gives up on us, again and again God reaches out to us. 

The secular Christmas season can, for many, be more a distraction from our yearly remembrance of Christ’s birth. I pray that in the midst of all the obligations and activities of this month, our church may be for you a true sanctuary where you can experience the power of the incarnation. 

God’s Peace,

Jim+

CHRISTMAS SERVICE SCHEDULE

This year Christmas falls on a Sunday. We will have two services on Christmas Eve – a family service at 5:00 pm (without a choir) and our principal service at 10:00 pm. A reception will follow the 10:00 service. Then, on Christmas morning we will have one service at 9:00 am. The next Sunday is New Year’s Day and part of our celebration of Christmas. Our choir will host a special service on that day – Christmas Lessons & Music, so we will again have only one service. That service will begin at 10:30 and will include some of our favorite Christmas Hymns.  

MEMBER PROFILE: SARAH HARMON

St. Paul’s received a blessing when the Harmons, Kirk and Sarah, moved to the area and started attending our church. This profile article features Sarah, a blue-haired bundle of enthusiasm and energy who seems to pop up at functions and projects throughout the church and the community.

Sarah was born and raised in Lake Charles, LA. Her parents were Blair and Mickey Stoker (both deceased). Her mother was an art teacher for 40 years. Sarah’s dad was an architect for many years and later taught graphic arts at a local high school. (Sarah actually was hired to take his place when he retired from that position.) Both parents were active in the Presbyterian Church.

Other members of the Stoker family included her three younger brothers, Benjamin, a district sales rep for SYSCO foods and lives in Denham Springs, LA., Michael, a graphic designer who lives in Fayetteville and John who is an architect and lives in Austin, TX.

After graduating from high school in 1989 Sarah came to Arkansas College (Lyon) through an art scholarship. She received a fine arts degree in 1993 and that’s also where she met Kirk. When she moved back to Louisiana after graduation he soon followed. The couple married at the Presbyterian Church in Lake Charles on June 24, 1995.

Prior to his enrollment at Arkansas College, Kirk had served in the US Army and served with the White House Communications Agency. Since their marriage, he has worked in the communications industry and currently works in disaster recovery.

After Sarah received her degree, she taught school as a substitute for a year before deciding teaching was her calling. She earned her teaching certificate at McNeese State in fall of 1994 and before she knew it, she was teaching art in grades K-12.

After teaching in grades 6-12 in public schools, she was hired to teach art at an alternative school. She said that was her favorite job, but the program was cut due to budget constraints.

After teaching art for twenty years in Calcasieu Parish, LA., Sarah took a service retirement and jumped over to her fitness career. She learned the techniques she now uses to teach yoga and core classes at the Batesville Community Center twice a week and once a week at the Bethesda Community Center. She is qualified as a Personal Trainer.

After two devastating hurricanes struck the part of Louisiana where Sarah and Kirk lived, they headed north to Kirk’s family’s farm in Bethesda making it their official home in 2021. Kirk is in the process of repairing the Lake Charles home to sell, a project nearing completion. After that he will be able to settle down in Bethesda.

While still in Louisiana, Sarah and Kirk were looking for a new church home. They fell in love with the Episcopal Church and were both confirmed at The Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Charles in 2017.

Sarah shares her beautiful voice with St. Paul’s choir and Batesville Community Choir. She volunteers with the museum and community theatre. She is a member of chapter DJ, PEO, and is an active member of ECW. She also volunteers for many church committees and projects. She rarely misses a Sunday service.

Our church’s wish list for the coming year, please send us five more Sarah Harmons!

HISTORY PIECE OF THE MONTH

-Nelson Barnett



The Bread of Life

In Batesville and the surrounding area, St. Paul’s has been known for many years for their Women of the Church cookbooks. I looked through Sandy’s collection and found several, the oldest being in pieces in a plastic bag with many hand-written notes and some menus. She is a good cook and has an extensive cookbook collection with some of the most used and tattered being the St. Paul’s The Bread of Life cookbooks. When you’ve lived as long as we have in the same place, the names posted on the recipes bring back wonderful memories. So, the books are not only the source of good food, but also delightful memories. And the nice thing about an organization or church cookbook is the recipes are ‘tried and true!’

The oldest one we have had lost its front cover, so the edition is not available, but one has the 3rd Edition on it. Later the books got a little more sophisticated, with the 4th Edition spiral bound. It was published in 2002. Also, in the 4th Edition the name was changed from The Bread of Life to The Staff of Life. Another change from the oldest book we have to the newest book is the use of names. Earlier Mrs. (with the husband’s name) was used. Later the names are first name and married name. Sometimes the maiden name is also included.

The advertisers in the earlier books bring back memories of businesses long closed including Lane’s Florist, Wayland’s Fashion Shop, Coat’s Jewelry Store, A. D. Hill Grocery, Wardrobe Cleaners, and John E. Bryant & Sons Lumber Company plus many others. The 4^th Edition has no advertisers listed.

Here’s a recipe from the earlier book:

           Heavenly Hash Cake – Mrs. Wayne McSpadden

3 sticks oleo, 4 tablespoons cocoa, 2 cups sugar, 1 ½ cups flour, 4 eggs and 1 cup nuts. Mix all together well, Pour into greased and floured loaf cake pan (9X13 inches). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. When done cover with miniature marshmallows and let melt. Ice in pan and cut in squares to serve.

Heavenly Hash Cake Icing

4 tablespoons cocoa, 1 stick oleo, 1 box powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons evaporated milk (or slightly more). Mix butter and cocoa, add sugar and milk alternately and mix until creamy.

And a recipe from the 2002 edition:

           Polish Sausage Soup – Rose Kealer Dozier

           2 Tbsp. butter, 1 lb. Kielbasa sausage, sliced, 1 onion, chopped, 2 c. celery with leaves, chopped, 4 c. cabbage, shredded, 2 carrots, sliced, 1 bay leaf, ½ tsp. dried thyme, 2 tsp. salt, 1 ½ c. beef bouillon, 5 c. water, 3 c. potatoes, pared and cubed. In large kettle, melt butter; add sausage, onion and celery. Cook until tender; drain. Add remaining ingredients except potatoes. Cover and cook 1 ½ hours. Add potatoes; cook until done. Might like to add a splash of German wine.

Editor’s Note: The recipes listed were picked at random with no thought of favoritism! Also, some of our readers have suggested that we feature a recipe of the month to be submitted by you! We would like to start this feature in our January edition of the Epistle so feel free to send yours to the church email address and we’ll see what happens!

Editor’s Note: We refer to Peyton as ‘Safari Barbie’ due to her Instagram handle name: safaribarbiep.

Peyton Olson flew from Little Rock on October 10, 2022. Her first stop was to Philadelphia for two days where she met up with her fellow Kenyan Peace Corps volunteers. She and 21 other people then flew to Nairobi, Kenya by way of Kenyan Air. Then on to Kisumu where they were housed in a hotel for 5 days to make sure that no one tested positive for Covid 19. From there, she was placed in a guest house of a Kenyan family with 4 other volunteers. The house does have electricity but no running water. She says much of their time is devoted to collecting and purifying water for cooking, cleaning, laundry. For a few days the cistern was dry and all water was rationed. Fortunately, rain came soon thereafter. 

Peyton and the other volunteers are there learning KSL (Kenyan Sign Language) and learning local customs.  She spends 2-3 days a week at a local school for the deaf and is improving her KSL skills by teaching Kindergarten aged children. Some American Sign Language signs translate to dirty words in KSL, that has been a fun learning experience! Two days a week are spent with her cohort of 22 learning about the political, economic, and social climate of the country.

Her location now is close to the equator and she says most days are hot. However, this morning she told me it was 60˚F and felt COLD.

In January, Peyton will be placed in a deaf school in Sega Kenya. This should be her “permanent” placement for the remainder of her time there. She is excited for many reasons to begin this part of her journey, but not the least reason being that she has been told her new situation has running water!



She will let us know what her mailing address is soon.

Sending packages is challenging at best.  Bill and I mailed a box 2 weeks ago. We have been notified that it has arrived in customs, but needs some additional documentation to clear customs. Trying to find out just what documentation has been difficult. Hopefully it arrives before Christmas. I put some stockings in there.

Bill and I hope to go see her in the summer and maybe go on a safari while we are there.

- Hayes Olson

CHURCHMEN'S CLUB 'HOLY SMOKERS'

The Churchmen’s Club would like to thank everyone who supported them by purchasing a turkey this year! See you for Mardi Gras!

OTHER NEWS:

Watch for St. Paul's float in the Christmas Parade

🎄Saturday, December 10th at 6 p.m.!🎄

PUB THEOLOGY

December’s Pub Theology will be held Tuesday, December 6th, at 6:00 pm at Fox Creek BBQ in their private room. This casual Dutch-treat dinner includes a theological discussion before dinner. If you’re able to come, we would love to have you . . . and bring a guest or two!

EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN

Our next ECW meeting will be December 13th at 6:00 pm at Sarah Drake’s home and it will be a potluck night.

CARE TEAM

St. Paul’s Care Team will meet on Sunday, December 18th at 6:00 pm in the Parish Hall. In addition to reviewing the needs of our members, we will plan parish events for the first quarter of 2023. Everyone’s input is appreciated; please make every effort to attend and bring your ideas!

CHRISTMAS GREENERY

We ordered extra 22” evergreen wreaths in order to get a price break. Even if you didn’t order, we have several for sale and ready to pick up at $35. Anyone wishing to purchase wreaths for decorating can call Jo Cargill-Krug at 870-613-6981 to reserve one. Greening of the church will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, December 21st.

PUZZLE SWAP

If anyone would like to be involved in a puzzle swap, Barbara Terrell, Cindy Allen and I love jigsaw puzzles and have quite a few to donate or swap. We could bring them to the Parish Hall and leave them in the free books area. – Jo Cargill-Krug

EUCHARISTIC MINISTER SCHEDULE

Altar Guild: Donna Fagan & Jo Cargill-Krug

EPISTLE STAFF

Jo Cargill-Krug, Editor

Fr. Jim McDonald, Publisher

Nelson Barnett, St. Paul's Historian

Katie Janke, Layout & Design