Beacon Issue 4 : simplebooklet.com

IN THIS ISSUE:From Our Rector......................... 4Vestry ..............................................5Rector’s Bookshelf .................6-7Gecko’s of St. Chris ................8-9Invite Welcome Connect ....10-11Pet Partners ........................12-13Back to School ...........................14Scouts ...........................................14Women’s Bible Study .............15 Altar Guild ...................................16Contemporary Worship ........16Kairos ............................................17Recipes ..................................18-19EDITOR IN CHIEF KAT MCPHERSONCREATIVE EDITOR ALYSSA KELLEYVISIT US ONLINE ATWWW.STCHRISCHURCH.ORG2 | THE BEACON FALL 2024MISSION STATEMENT: To restore all people to unity withgod and each other in Christ.VISION STATEMENT:St. Christopher Episcopal Church isan inviting and welcomingcommunity of Jesus’ followers wholove and serve all people. FACEBOOKStChrisEpiscopalYOU TUBE st.christopherleaguecity4071SUNDAY SERVICE SCHEDULE:8:00a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite I9:15a.m. Christian Education - for all ages10:30a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite II in the Sanctuary10:30a.m. Contemporary Eucharist in Buckner Hall

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Our Book of Common Prayer is a great gift. As Anglicans, it is an expression ofwho we believe the triune God to be, our relationship with God, and God’s relationship with us. Itorders our worship, our daily prayer, our calendar year, and outlines our Episcopal tradition inthe catechism.Yet good, faithful, reverent Episcopalians often do not venture beyond pages 323-393.Understandably so, for it is within these pages we find the liturgies for Holy Eucharist. Evenmore, in the day of full text bulletins, often the Book of Common Prayer (and Hymnal 1982) is allbut forgotten, collecting dust in our pews and on our shelves.This is unfortunate. Our BCP is steeped in theology, corporate and personal prayer, rich imagery,speaks to all sorts of human conditions, and is grounded in the three-legged stool of scripture,tradition, and reason, plus our personal and shared experiences. Too often we overlook thispowerful gift given to The Church by The Church for The Church.As an invitation to our congregation to pick it up again, dust it off, and explore its treasures, Iwant to share with you one of my favorite prayers from the section titled, appropriately enough,“Prayers and Thanksgivings”, beginning on page 814. It is called “A Prayer of Self-Dedication”,and it begins on page 832. Written as a corporate prayer (to be said in community worship), Ihave adapted it to reflect a personal prayer, one that can be said daily as you begin anew, layingthe foundation for God to do a good work in you each day.“Almighty and eternal God, so draw my heart to you, so guide my mind, so fill my imagination, so controlmy will, that I may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use me, I pray, as you will, andalways to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.”Fr. Brian+4 | THE BEACON FALL 2024From Our Rector A Prayer of Self-Dedication

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Our church has survived another hurricane and we are deep into the hottest part of summer. Several committees are deciding on how to better use St. Christopher andparishioner resources after a major storm. Another committee isworking to further remediate if not stop the flooding in various partsof the Nave and Administrative Wing of the campus. Alyssa Kelleyneeds to have relief from the frequent damage to her office and Fr.Brian, as well, in the water removal. Our finances are in-line with thebudget.Of note is the completion of one Eagle Scout project that providesoversized planters for the children. Mother’s Day Out will benefit themost from the construction. Be sure to view them from the west endof the Education Wing. Another project for Eagle Scout rank is underreview and if approved will be completed in late Fall. The Invite, Welcome and Connect (IWC) group has completed thenew welcome area. The location, on Sundays, will greet newcomersand be a resource of information for our members.Vestry has welcomed a new addition to our group. Amber Millerjoined the Vestry in August. She has been orientated to theleadership team and duties. Watch for her first day of Vestry of theDay duties in September. Please congratulate her on the new positionof leadership.The Foundation group (members of our church) administering thedonation from Bob Chepulis’ Estate is completing its policies andprocedures for the managing committee of the Donor-advised Fund(DAF).Please consider becoming a member of the Vestry for 2025. Electionswill be held in October. If you desire to join, please contact Fr. Brianor Greg Decker.Thank you for allowing me to serve our Parish. Peace be with you.Greg Decker, Senior Warden 20245 | THE BEACON FALL 2024VestryVestry Members2024*Greg DeckerLupe CarrilloKim GerryJim McCalla2025*Lizette GaudinAmber MillerKat McPhersonMark Sales2026*Bob FablingJack HylandLisa LothropRay McPhail *term expiration Vestry members helparticulate and supportthe congregation’smission. We welcomeyour questions andconcerns which as aVestry we will discernat our next monthlymeeting.

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Faith Is Not A Feeling: Choosing To Take God At His WordNey BaileyIn Faith is Not a Feeling, Ney reveals how life’s tragedies and challenges lead each of us to an important decision about how we will relate toGod. Building on a foundation of experiences all believers can relate to,this well-loved speaker and teacher shows how you can take advantage of the endless opportunities life provided to deepen your trust in the Lord. Devotions For A Deeper Life Oswald Chambers Devotions for a Deeper Life, excerpted from lesser known essays Chambers wrote in the early 20th century, will instruct and encourage you with its accuracy and poignant reflections on the Christian life. This daily devotional dives into what it means to live out your faith in dynamic and compelling ways.6 | THE BEACON FALL 2024What is Fr. Brian reading? Fr. Brian suggests the following selections from his bookshelf when you are looking for inspiredreadings:Surprise the WorldMichael FrostChristians are called to be a witness for Christ in daily life, to surprise people around us with the good news of the gospel. Yet putting thatmission into regular practice can seem overwhelming. Author Michael

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7 | THE BEACON FALL 2024From the Rector’s BookshelfGod Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and ChristmasDietrich BonhoefferThese forty stirring devotions will guide and inspire readers as they move thematically through the weeks of Advent and Christmas, from waiting and mystery to redemption, incarnation, and joy. Supplementedby an informative introduction, short excerpts from Bonhoeffer'sletters, and passages from Bonhoeffer's Christmas sermons, these dailyreflections are timeless and moving reminders of the true meaning of Christmas. Now repackaged in a beautiful hardback edition, it makes the perfect holidaygift. With The End In Mind: Dying, Death, And Wisdom In An Age Of Denial Kathryn Mannix Weaving the details of her own experiences as a caregiver through stories of her patients, their families, and their distinctive lives, Dr. Mannix reacquaints us with the universal, but deeply personal, process of dying. With insightful meditations on life, death, and the space between them, With the End in Mind describes the possibility of meeting death gently, with forethought and preparation, and showsthe unexpected beauty, dignity, and profound humanity of life coming to an end. The Holidays are just around the corner. Advent is the season when we prepare to celebrate thebirth of the Christ Child into the world!Fr. Brian suggests a book that provides a format to reflect upon as we await the blessed event:Frost, a renowned expert on evangelism, offers refreshingly simple tactics to makeevangelism fulfilling, exciting, and effective.

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8 | THE BEACON FALL 2024Months ago we were approached regarding helping Biology Department P.h.D. students(one a sister-in-law of a parishioner here) at Texas A&M University (Gig ‘Em!) who are conducting their dissertation research on the local gecko populations, specifically Mediterranean house geckos, which are highlyprevalent in this area, and their parasites. In June of this year two graduate students and an undergraduate student collected geckos from the exterior of the building. These collections took place by hand-capturing (you can imagine howfast these little geckos are) late at night. There are 2 species of lizards that have been the most abundant at St. Chris that the students havefound in their collections: the Mediterranean house gecko and the Cuban brown anole. The gecko isnocturnal and has been spotted across all of the buildings, out hunting for various insects. The anoleis diurnal and has been found napping under various rain gutters and in the plants (your landscapingis beautiful!) during collections. Other species that were spotted while sampling include little brownskinks (Scincella lateralis), gulf coast toads (Incilius nebulifer), and gray tree frogs (Hyla versicolor). Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidacty- lusturcicus) are an invasive species of gecko that has been broadly introduced across the southeastern US and is host to a variety of internal macroparasites (generally called helminths; includes pentastomes, nematodes, trematodes, and cestodes). Our research covers 2 main avenues of exploration: 1) how doesgenetic and genomic variation in the gecko influence its susceptibility to parasitic infection and howdo factors like variation in the immune system and inbreeding play a role ininfection across different populations, and 2) how do genetic and genomic factors in their tapeworm parasites (cestodes; Oochoristica javaensis)influence virulence (damage to the host) and parasite counter defense to thehost’s immune system. To address these questions, we are sampling geckos from 6 populations across Texas to acquire both gecko tissue samples and their helminth parasites for whole genome sequencing. Geckos of St. ChrisDid you know that St. Christopher Episcopal Church is home to a wide variety of Geckos?

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This research will address some critical gaps in our understanding of the evolution of theimmune system in vertebrates, how within-host genetic variation plays a role influencingvirulence in parasitic helminths, and examining how selection acts on the genes involved in host immunity and parasite counter defense. Their sampling efforts take place at night, as the gecko is primarily asleep during the daytime hours, typically inside the walls of buildings. Geckos are captured by hand, sometimes with the help of a collapsiblefishing pole used to chase them down the side of buildings until they'rewithin reach. Something interesting about the geckos that you might notexpect is how varied their diet is, which we can determine in part from the types of parasites they harbor. They eat a wide variety of arthropods and molluscs, including beetles (which transmit the tapeworm), crickets (some types of nematodes), cockroaches (pentastomes), and even snails (trematodes). Additionally, while this is technically an invasive species, these geckos have not pushed out any native species (to our knowledge)and have simply filled an unoccupied ecological niche in our area for at least the last several hundred years. For this reason, the students typically refer to them as introduced. This is in stark contrast to the Cuban brown anole,which has indeed started to push our native green anole into different habitats (typicallyhigher up in trees) since they occupy the same ecological niche but are better competitorsthan our native greens.9 | THE BEACON FALL 2024Geckos of St. Chris

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Have you noticed our brand new welcome center immediately as you enter the main doors of our breezeway? Isn’t it attractive? The Invite Welcome Connect team has been empowered to look at ways St. Christopher can improve the way we welcome guests to our church. Historically, we have had greeters at our main entrances for most of our services. But it has always been a challenge to notice and sincerely welcome them amidst the hub bub of activity that occurs both prior to and after our services. It has also been a hit or miss effort in gaining information about them so we can follow up with a thank you for visiting. The team, along with Fr. Brian, envisioned the possibility of building a center that was staffed with greeters and would become an obvious place for guests to gravitate toward once they arrived.The vestry agreed and provided the funds to build it. We are thrilled with the outcome! This center has also motivated an anonymous gift of a small refrigerator which will be utilized for coolingrefreshments which we can share with our guests. The center will be used to welcome and be a place todistribute information for our Sunday guests and participants of Mother’s Day Out, programs, events,services and classes that happen in our buildings. It will officially open on Sunday, September 8th with aribbon cutting before the 10:30 services. Join us to celebrate this next step in making St. Christopher aneven friendlier place for all who enter our doors.10 | THE BEACON FALL 2024 You Are InvitedInvite Welcome ConnectWondering what you are invited to? Well, the Invite Welcome Connect team want to invite you to inviteothers to visit St. Christopher! We have recently created colorful cards with lots of pictures andinformation for you to share with your family, friends and acquaintances to help make inviting others easyfor you. The pictures are conversation starters and help show some of the many ways our churchcommunity is alive with serving, fellowship, worship and especially joy! Even note the picture of ourworship service from outer space placed by astronaut Michael Barrett, a member of St. Christopher,currently serving on the space station. Now that’s something to talk about! Pick up a few cards available atour new welcome center and start spreading the Good News through St. Christopher.Welcome to St. Chris!Why would you choose to come to St. Christopher? For instance you may want to know: Where do I fit in?Can I make friends?Am I safe here?Can I find ways to belong and serve?Am I seen, valued, and known?There are answers to your questions!

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11 | THE BEACON FALL 2024Invite Welcome ConnectDo you feel you have a special gift of hospitality? Or perhaps a sincere interest in getting to know others?We have a great cadre of greeters but with the addition of our new welcome center we need additionalpersons to join our teams for all Sunday morning service times. This ministry requires a commitment ofserving once a month at your preferred service time. We will be moving to two person teams for eachservice so we can cover our new welcome center. If you would like to know more about this ministry andbe trained if interested, please contact the church office or Mary MacGregor, our IWC Ministry Lead. Join our Greeter TeamWhat are Spiritual Gifts?God created each and every one of us uniquely, giving us innatetalents, spiritual gifts and numerous other attributes. The ApostlePaul’s letters to the early churches go into some significant detailabout the importance of our spiritual gifts and the role they play inequipping each one of us for ministry. There are also otherreferences throughout scripture about spiritual gifts. Exactly whatare they and how do they apply to us as believers? Are you curiousabout the spiritual gifts God has given you? Maybe you would likean opportunity to reaffirm or uncover spiritual gifts that youbelieve are emerging as new?We’d love to have you join us! Members Fr. Jim Nelson, Kathy Solomon, Julie Howell, Susan Hill,Kat McPherson, Mark Sales and lead Mary MacGregor meet for about an hour every month tofocus on ways we can enhance St. Christopher’s newcomer ministries. Let anyone on the teamknow you are interested and we will be happy to tell you all about it. It’s a fun and importantministry! Because you are standing at the threshold and are the first person people speak to when they enter,you hold a huge amount of spiritual power. Because you are the first person they meet, people will project onto you all the assumptions andexpectations they have about God before they walked in that door, positive and negative.How you respond will either challenge or reinforce those assumptions. Your actions of welcoming them may make all the difference in their experience of your church, andeven of divinity.”Fr. Jim Nelson and members of the Invite Welcome Connect team will be offering a Spiritual GiftsWorkshop on Saturday, Nov. 16, from 9-11:30 am in Buckner Hall and you are invited to attend! It will be ahighly engaging and even entertaining way to dive into personal discovery about spiritual gifts. Interested persons will be asked to register in advance due to the assessment and resources utilized in theworkshop. Watch for a link to register in an upcoming Spotlight of the Week.The Rev. Daniel Simon, while serving at Trinity Episcopal Church in NYC, wrote the following about theministry of greeters: Greeting is MinistryCurious About the Work of the Invite Welcome Connect Team?

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Future, Favor and Freedom – Outreach, Volunteering, and Getting to Know Your FellowParishionersA story about the ways St Christopher’s reaches the greater community around us and gives usopportunities to meet and interact with our fellow parishioners and members of the communityin unique ways.St Christopher Outreach Future, Favor and Freedom are three doodle dog sisters who were on our campus on June 8,2024 to be tested and evaluated by the organization Pet Partners to be certified to work withInspire Women, an organization that serves the greater Houston area. Father Brian graciouslygave Maureen Kidd permission to use our facilities for the evaluation. Maureen is a volunteerwith Pet Partners who conducts the tests and evaluates the dogs and their trainers and handlers.Some of you may not know Maureen as she has only recently started attending services at StChris through an association with Ann Bryant. Ask them how they became friends – it’s a fun 6degrees of separation story. Maureen worked for a vet in Shreveport, LA (this is where the 6degrees of separation part of the story begins!) and has a bloodhound, Darcy. Darcy is certifiedto be a Search and Rescue dog. Ann says, “she the most well-behaved dog she has ever met”.A gentleman, who is also involved in Pet Partners, drove from the Cypress area of Houston toassist Maureen.VolunteeringI volunteered for the event through a conversation with Maureen who was offering me trainingtips and advice regarding my dog, Lilly. You may have seen the requests for volunteers for this event in the weekly Spotlight. 12 | THE BEACON FALL 2024Pet PartnersPet Partners Therapy Dog Program is the most prestigious nonprofitorganization registering handlers as volunteer teams providinganimal-assisted interventions. Therapy dog teams can uplift thespirits of so many people in our local area. Maureen Kidd a registeredPet Partner Instructor, Evaluator, and a member of St. Chris startedoffering regular team evaluations every other month in Buckner Hall.A team evaluation consists of two parts: skills and aptitude for bothhandler and dog. A few of our parishioners have attended theevaluations first hand and Carla Homer had this to say about herexperience:

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Pet Partners13 | THE BEACON FALL 2024I volunteered because I have had dogs my whole life (I sometimes prefer dogs over people) andbelieve in the concept that dogs (and cats!) offer great comfort to people who are ill, havesuffered trauma in their lives or are in need of comfort and companionship. Many from our Parish volunteered to help and served as players in real life tests for the dogsand their trainers/handlers. We were also invited to observe and offer our insight if weobserved anything that may be of interest to the evaluators. Dorothy Sales brought her dogReggie to act as a distraction to test Future, Favor and Freedom’s response to other dogs. KatMcPherson, Carl Schutz, Ann Bryant, Diane Homer, Amber Lee, DeSha Norwood, MelodieKeener and I play acted as people who were arguing, grumpy, nice, bunched in a crowd, andmaking distracting noises among other tests. I am happy to report that Future, Favor andFreedom and their 2 handlers passed the tests and are now available to Inspire Women in thecapacity they are needed.Getting to Know Your Fellow ParishionersAt the end of the testing I was preparing to leave and had a conversation with Amber Lee. Ifound out that Amber is trained in dog dancing with her chocolate lab and is part of anorganization that takes their act to area assisted living, nursing homes, memory care andrecovery centers.I encourage you to offer up your outreach and volunteering experiences to be published in TheBeacon.

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Back to SchoolIn support of St. Christopher’s partnership with Communities in Schools, we were able to generously donate an abundant collection of all the requested back-to-school items needed that are listed below:100 earbuds & headphones, 84 3-ring binder/notebooks,112 packs of colored pencil, 424 folders asst. colors,439 composition books & 280 sheet protectors. Thank you for your generosity! With yourhelp the teachers and students will have a successful back to school. 14 | THE BEACON FALL 2024ScoutsThe new school year has stated and sohas the Scouting year! St. Christopher haschartered Cub Scout Pack 609 and ScoutsBSA Troop 609 for over 60 years! Wehave a very active year planned for bothgroups that includes age appropriateindoor and outdoor activities such ascamping, canoeing, fishing, etc. for theTroop and Raingutter Regatta, PinewoodDerby, camping, hiking, etc. for the Pack. The Troop (boys ages 11-18) meets on Monday evenings (7:00 – 8:30PM) and the Pack(boys and girls grades K-5) meets on Tuesday evenings (6:30 -7:30PM). Both meet righthere at St. Christopher! Come join us and ADVENTURE ON! For more information on Troop 609 or Cub Scouts 609 visit their websites, https://sites.google.com/site/texastroop609 or http://www.cubscoutpack609.com/Blessed Students andTeachers! We had a great turn out forBlessing of the Backpacksand Teachers this pastSunday. We asked God'sblessing on over 40 students,teachers, and administrators on Sunday, August 18th! It was the largest crowd for service at St. Christopher's we'vehad in months!

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Hey! What are you doing with your Wednesday mornings? There is a group of spirit-filled women that meet at St. Chriswho, in confidence, share ourselves, our prayer needs andconcerns...even coffee & snacks!Central to our meeting is the study of Holy Scripture and learning how it brings meaning to our everyday existence through our readings. Beginning in September we are entering our Fall series with a study of The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, containing some of Jesus’s most profound and most memorable teachings. What might these teachings have meantto his disciples, and to the others who first heard them? How do they enhance our reading ofthe rest of the Gospel of Matthew, and how do they speak across the centuries to listenerstoday? How, if we pay careful attention to his words, does Jesus provide us a road map toliving as God would have us live? In Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven, Dr. Amy-Jill Levineintroduces the major topics in the Sermon on the Mount, explains historical and theologicalcontexts, and shows how the words of Jesus echo his Jewish tradition and speak forward toreach hearts and minds today. 15 | THE BEACON FALL 2024Women’s Bible StudyDoes this sound like a good way to get your feet on the path with Christ? Then join with uson Wednesday morning in the Formation Center from 9:30-11:30 and get your day off to aspirit-filled, joyous start!“AJ Levine is a phenomenal writer and scholar, who brings afresh and challenging look at Scripture. She is an authority on1st C Jewish culture and flavors all of her work with amazingknowledge, insight and occasional humor. I am a pastor,using this book to lead an educational series take a new lookat the Sermon on the Mount.” H. Hoppe (Amazon Review)

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As the contemporary worship team heads into the FALL and WINTER months, we will selectsongs that are reflective of both the readings and the upcoming Christmas season.Our goal is to continue to work with special guests as the opportunities present themselves. It is a constant blessing to work with the members of the contemporary band. Their dedicationand commitment are beyond measure. The contemporary worship team is pleased to accept song requests, it brings more unity into the service. We have received numerous requests to perform some really great material. Thank YOU! We are forever grateful to all the people who work behind the scenes. Such dedication to making the contemporary service is truly unparalleled. We hope to see you on Sunday mornings. Contemporary Worship16 | THE BEACON FALL 2024Altar GuildAs a ministry of the church, Altar Guild is an in-reach ministry that prepares the Nave and theContemporary service for worship services. TheAltar Guild takes care to ensure that each Sundayand feast day is celebrated visually andsacramentally in a way that is appropriate to thechurch season. The Altar Guild has four traditionalteams and a contemporary team who serve on arotating schedule.The teams are devoted and strive to make their service an acceptable offering to our Lord. Guild members have a special privilege of caring forGod's House and preparing our worship space. If you have an interest in learning the "behindthe scenes" of our worship, the Altar Guild may be for you. Come join us. Contact the churchoffice or McKim Rowe for more information on joining the team. “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise. All the earthworships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.”portions of Psalm 66

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17 | THE BEACON FALL 2024Kairos Ministry The Kairos Prison Ministry shares the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to incarcerated men, women, youth and theirfamilies. Kairos emerged from the Cursillo movement and is supported by volunteers from the4th-Day movements such as National Episcopal Cursillo. As a ministry, Kairos embraces adiverse group of volunteers working together to fulfill Christ's call to action in Matthew 25:36: ‘I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison andyou visited me.’The Christian servants/volunteers of Kairos Prison Ministry have been called by God to sharethe love and forgiveness of Christ to incarcerated men and women. During a 3½-day weekendprogram of talks, meditation, music, listening and loving, a Christian community is formed. Theservants/volunteers are blessed to be able to share the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christwith the Participants.Since 2017, volunteers from St. Chris have served on weekends each year at the Luther Men’sUnit near Navasota. During the weekend, the Outside Team volunteers prepare a total of ninemeals for about 100 persons, and the Inside Team volunteers help guide the participants asthey learn about Jesus. The ministry is always seeking new volunteers to work on the insideand outside teams. Please contact Bob or Lee Fabling for more info.

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18 | THE BEACON FALL 2024discover the goodness from your kitchen!We like to include your favorites here in the Beacon to enrich our taste buds. When we have enough recipes in our files, we will consider publishing the newest edition of a St. Christopher Cookbook so we can share the collection with each other. Recipes maybe forwarded to the church office at office@stchrischurch.org . Please include your name and any stories about your recipe(s). ofCalling all cooks! We love to share with each other what we feedout “little flocks” and friends. Please consider contributing yourpersonal favorite recipes so your fellow church members can

Beacon Issue 4

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