The SAINT MATTHEW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH of St. Matthew’s January / February 2007 Parish Mission Statement Our mission is to be a caring, inclusive community, centered in the Eucharist and grounded in the Gospel, so that we can reach out as Christ’s hands to the world. FROM THE RECTOR Dear People of matters – but we do it remembering St. Matthew’s, the light shining in the darkness, and the miracle that God-with-us is just We ended our What’s that, here and now. New Year’s Eve service with Our Annual Meeting this year is on Happening? this prayer Sunday, January 21, following the 10:00 service. We will hear reports Miscellaneous News........ 2-3 from the past year, receive the Most gracious and merciful God, budget for 2007, and elect new Thank You .............................. 4 you have reconciled us to yourself vestry members. Pictures and through Jesus Christ your Son, information about the nominees are Children’s Program and called us to new life in him: elsewhere in this issue, and I urge Calendar ........................... 4 Grant that we, who begin this you to vote prayerfully and year in his Name, thoughtfully. If you are going to be Vestry Nominees .............. 5-8 may complete it to his honor out of town that day, please contact and glory; the office for an absentee ballot. Youth Group .......................... 9 who lives and reigns now Vestry nominees will be introduced and forever. Amen. Prayer List ........................... 10 to the congregation on Sunday, January 14, since this year our and I commend it to you as I wish Parish Families.................... 11 Annual Dinner will be after the you a very happy New Year! Annual Meeting, rather than before Christmas here at St. Matthew’s it. On Friday, January 26, we will INSERT: was absolutely glorious. If you have our Annual Dinner in SAINTS Adult Education for were away, we missed you, but I HALL! This will be a very special January-February 2007 must say you missed wonderful occasion indeed. Bishop Gulick will Christmas services. My thanks to be with us to bless the hall, there all who participated in the pageant, will be a surprise guest, and dinner those who sang, and all those who will be festive. Invitations have set up, cleaned up, read, ushered, been mailed out (but if you didn’t greeted, decorated, and did all the get one, call us!!!) and I hope ALL things that make our common of you will be there to celebrate. worship holy. Yours in Christ, Now that we are, as the poet W. H. Auden says, back “in the time Lucinda + being”, we turn to more prosaic Lucinda 1 MISCELLANEOUS NEWS Endowment Tax-Free IRA Contribution Supporting our There are many ways to support St. Matthew’s, including an unexpected and time-sensitive Capital Needs opportunity through a tax-free IRA contribution. St. Matthew’s is truly blessed with wonderful parishioners The recent Pension Protection Act contains a new both present and past. Many of our former parishioners left provision allowing qualifying individuals to access bequests to St. Matthew’s that formed our Endowment Fund. IRA funds for charitable contributions with no In 2001, the Vestry passed a resolution stating that the adverse tax consequences. Endowment Fund is for use in furthering our ministry, any capital needs of the parish as well as one-time projects. Who can participate? Individuals 70 1/2 or older. Through wise investment and further donations, the Endowment Fund has grown to over $1,300,000 and continues What is the maximum amount I can contribute? to support our ministry. You can make an IRA contribution of up to $100,000. We have had an exciting year watching our new building rise How long do I have to make an IRA contribution? from dreams to reality. Again, our parishioners have been IRA contributions can be made for tax years 2006 supporting this dream by making pledges to the building and 2007. campaign. A portion of reality requires St. Matthew’s to pay Will this affect my gross income? The distribution is for the building costs before the fulfillment of the pledges. made directly to the charity, so it is not included in Loans needed to be obtained in order to bridge this gap. The your gross income. Vestry is considering a motion to have the Endowment Fund support this capital need by paying the interest on the loans Do I have to pay any extra fees? During these next for the next 3 year. two years, you can increase your contribution to yuor favorite charity – at no expense. The motion that was read at the December Vestry meeting states that no more than $100,000 in total per year will be taken For more detailed information, from the principal of the Endowment Fund. This money would please contact your financial advisor come specifically from the General Use sub-fund, the Assets, and IRA custodian. Memorials & Aesthetics sub-fund, and the Parish Program sub-fund. The Vestry feels the use of the Endowment Fund to pay the interest follows the purpose stated in the 2001 resolution. The Vestry is excited about the Ministry that is already happening in the new space that is being provided with our building. Rick Birthday Rick Lotz, Senior Warden Celebrations of our Kenya News Homebound Our next trip to Oyugis is June 9-24, 2007. The cost of the trip is $3435, which includes everything on the trip except 2 meals. for February A $200 deposite is due by Febuary 4. We will have 3 meetings concerning the trip to help you with February 15 Ann Fuller any questions you may have, and to give you information February 27 Joyce Aprile about Kenya and its culture. These dates will be anounced later. If you are interested please call John at 459-4582, home; or 558-8603, cell. I hope you can join us! It will change your life. – John Willingham 2 MISCELLANEOUS NEWS Senior Warden Reflection by Rick Lotz What a wonderful Advent season and Christmas celebration we were all treated to this past month! By the time you read this, hopefully we will have put away our Christmas decorations, celebrated the start of another New Year, and be well on our way to settling into our winter routines. As with the start of anything new, it also usually means something else is over or ending. That is certainly the case with me this month. These will be my final thoughts to you as Senior Warden since my term on Vestry will end later this month. I can honestly tell you I do not know where the past three years have gone. They have been filled with excitement, disruption, dust and dirt, confusion, changes galore, and probably the greatest sense of accomplishment I have experienced since coming to St. Matthew’s in 1980. Certainly the construction has created challenge after challenge in every aspect of our spiritual life together. While the actual hammering and nailing is almost complete, the real test of what we have accomplished is still ahead of us. The whole basis for our leap of faith with the construction efforts was our belief that we are ready to take the next step in our collective journey together. When the hammering stops and the smells of paint and new carpet and furniture are a distant memory, the tell-tale sign of success will be what we choose to do with our new spaces. Will we continue to open our doors ever wider to accept any and everyone who is looking for something we have to offer? Friendship, education, a home, socialization, comfort, solace, a safe haven – whatever the reason, I pray we continue to do what we have always done so very well, and throw open our arms to one and all. Will we use our new spaces to define new opportunities for diverse, small group programs that will allow us to further explore, discuss and debate the world around us? Will we continue to tackle ongoing issues of importance in the church and nation, and look into our local community, finding better ways to reach out as Christ’s hands to the world, to provide support to those who need our help, care and love? Will we bite the bullet and find a way to quickly pay off the $1.5 million debt we will have when construction is complete? Will we find new ways to attract more people to the good news of Jesus Christ, to offer them a church home, to learn and share and be part of something bigger than any one of us? I believe in my heart the answer to all of those questions is YES! Together we have laid a wonderful foundation, the space and commitment is in place, and now it is time to move forward to make our dreams of the past several years a reality tomorrow. I would be remiss if I did not thank each and every one of you for your support, kind thoughts, and love. Being Senior Warden over the past two years has been challenging at times, but nothing can compare to the emotional rewards, sheer joy and pure excitement I have felt at every turn. St. Matthew’s is a very special parish, a very special group of caring Christian believers and a community I dearly love. Your clergy, staff and lay leadership is absolutely extraordinary; you really have no idea how hard they all work every day of the year. I am so proud to be a part of a parish like ours, and I know that the coming years will bring the fulfillment of so many hopes, wishes, and dreams for all of us! Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be such an integral part of what we have going on here.