"The Triumph of Parental Love in all Species: Or "Mares eat Oats and Does eat Oats, and Send their Love Across the Ages"
At the end of my Chekhov essay, I left the old sled driver, Ionych, alone with his "petite mare" in a cab driver's barn after a rough night's work in a near blinding St Petersburg snowstorm. Ionych has recently lost his son, and has found no one with whom to share his loss. Only, that is, his loyal "friend" the mare, who, as he feeds her the last of his oats in the manger, seems to respond in her fashion to his expression of a father's love for his deceased child. While he talks, she slowly chews her oats, in counterpoint, through instinct and emotion, listening to his story, and remembering her mother's "story" of love, while rhythmically filling her oats. This sets up a kind of dual understanding between man and horse. She listens to her music of the past while she eats, as he tells her of his son's life. Thus a genuine communication takes place between the two of them. Earlier Ionych has spoken to her about their shared pasts growing up and living in faraway farmlands, he with his family, she with her foals. And we sense that in her act of eating those oats it must certainly evoke for her a time when she was young on that farm and eating to nourish her young.
 
Finally, as a footnote to these remarks, I would suggest that if you haven't yet played on You Tube most likely, the video of the chimpanzee mother reunited with her infant son while she recovered from a C-section and he from breathing problems, in the Sedgewick County Zoo in Kansas. Their reunion is as beautiful a moment in mother-child love as you can imagine. She returns alone to her room after two days, sits, abjectly, staring ahead, then down. And then a slender arm comes out from under a red (Christmas?) blanket. Her joy is boundless and the speed with which she picks him up and begins to sway with him in her arms, and the kiss she places on his head, and her crooning voice, amazing. All in one miraculous motion. God is everywhere!

John Simons
Join us for Sunday worship
In person in the Nave or online

Holy Eucharist
Sunday at 8am in the Nave

Holy Eucharist
Sunday at 10am in the Nave
The Zoom link for all online Sunday services is
Password: 866351
You can also connect to this time of prayer with a regular phone line by calling 
+1 253 215 8782 and entering the Meeting ID: 967 321 9751
Monday night potluck
December 12 & 19
6-8pm
 
Join us on the Monday nights of Advent for a potluck meal and discussion of the book "The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness."
We will gather in the parish house at 6 for a shared potluck meal and then spend some time with this challenging and inspirational book by Gregory Boyle.
The book is available from online booksellers and as an audiobook.
We hope you can make plans to be a part of this. All are very welcome.  
 
Morning Prayer
Join us for morning prayer every Thursday at 8am in St. Mary Chapel then stay for coffee, goodies and lively conversation. All are very welcome.
Food Pantry
The D2 Pantry (formerly known as The B Street Pantry), has moved to Stratmoor Hills Elementary and we are newly committing to serving the Pantry.

John Wilhite, our Community Liaison, met with Debra Mitguard to discuss their needs. Currently, they are requesting non-perishable food and personal items.

Each Sunday, we will collect the donations and bring them to the altar, where they will be blessed along with the people who will receive them, and the Pantry workers who will distribute them.

Items will be delivered to D2 Pantry on Tuesdays. This will be an ongoing ministry.

Printed shopping lists are in the narthex.

For more info: please see John or Susan Garsoe.
 
Donation List
Most critical items:
  • Peanut butter (small jars)
  • Jelly/jam/fruit spread (small jars)
  • Cereal (large boxes and single serving)
  • Canned chicken, tuna, Vienna sausage
  • Canned soups - ready-to-eat and condensed (could really use Chicken Noodle right now)
  • Chili
  • Canned Pasta
  • Single servings - juice, milk, or protein drinks
Other needs:
  • Instant oatmeal
  • Ramen noodles/ Maruchan soup cups
  • Hamburger helper
  • Tuna helper
  • Tomato sauce
  • Pasta sauce
  • Canned tomatoes
  • Refried beans
  • Pork and beans
  • Legumes - all kinds
  • Canned vegetables - all kinds
  • Fruit, Jell-O, and pudding cups
  • Instant hot chocolate/coffee
  • Crackers
  • Hand warmers
Flip top cans are most desirable as they are easy for our unhoused neighbors to open.
Weekly Recovery Meeting
Chapel of our Saviour is now hosting an open CA meeting on Thursdays at noon in St. Mary Chapel in the Parish House.
For more information, please contact DeSha Thomas.
Thrift House of the Episcopal Church Women (ECW)
Your thift house is in dire need of volunteers! Just one 3-hour shift once a month would help. Please consider donating your time. All are welcome!
Contact Frear Simons at frearsimons@gmail.com.
Children’s Ministry
in the Loft
(ages 4-12)

We are so excited to have your children join us on Sundays for our Children’s Program! We meet upstairs in the Nave in the Children's Loft at 9:50. Children rejoin their families in church during the Passing of the Peace.

If your children haven’t joined us yet, they are most welcome and we look forward to meeting and getting to know them. 

For more info, contact DeSha Thomas.
Nursery
For children 0 - 3 years. 9:30a - 11:30a Sundays
Upstairs in the Nave, right across the hall from the Loft.