Missive from St. John’s
DECEMBER 2009
“For unto you is born this day. . .”
From the Rector’s Desk
A few words from Sharon. . .
The new house is not finished yet and this weather makes it all look so depressing. Digging for this or that and workers coming and going has created a big bed
of mud. I slug through the mud and fog to see the dark shape of what will someday have light and where I will live. Certainly Advent imagery. Hope in my heart
shining through the cold darkness.
I think about that primal need that people across the ages have had to light the winter darkness. Build a fire, call the sun back, recognize a promising glow in a
manger. Suddenly I realized that this darkness and gloom was a gift of living out in the country. In the towns and cities one does not feel this great need. The
merchants got the Christmas lights up soon after Halloween. Got everyone else in the mood and by Thanksgiving everything is lit.
I'm sorry they miss the powerful need to summon the light.
God Bless You, and Merry Christmas.
Other items. . .
Folks from our parish who cannot join us on Sundays, but who might appreciate a note or visit include:
Jewell McNabb, The Oaks, 203
Charter St. in Columbus, Room 30.
Cecelia Etheridge, 206 N. Smith St.,
Parkview Manor, Weimar.
Barbara Lowrey, The
Regency in Schulenburg.
Please let us know if there are others that need visits and to have communion brought to them.
Be sure to check the sign-up charts in the parish hall for altar flowers and hospitality.
Until next time, God Bless. . .
In our prayers. . .
Please keep the family of Priscilla Nolte in your prayers. Ms. Nolte, the mother of Judy Gangle, passed away last week.
On an upbeat note for the Gangle family, daughter-in-law Lisa is doing well.
Standing in the need of prayer. . .
Kathy and Mike Vaughn, courtesy of Christine A. Swearingen,
Minister, Lighthouse on the Rock
A letter of introduction:
I am writing to introduce Mary Kathleen Vaughn and her son, Jeff Michael Vaughn, of Conroe, TX. “Kathy” is a widow in
her mid-fifties, disabled with hepatitis C, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. Her 38-year-old son, “Mike,” has
an inoperable brain tumor, epilepsy, Addison’s disease, and is legally blind. Kathy is Mike’s full-time
caregiver, both are on disability, Medicare and Mike is on Medicaid. They receive, together, $1000 a
month to live on.
The reason I am writing is because the trailer they live in, on a small plot of land in Conroe, is 33 years old and falling
apart. The roof leaks, the floors have holes patched with pieces of plywood, the kitchen sink leaks,
the front door will no longer close, only one bathroom works but the sewer line is broken and spilling
sewage into the yard and under the trailer. The appliances are so old they are barely functioning, as it
is, the stove does not work at all.
Mike is only able to walk a few steps: he is unable to use the existing bathroom, so for the past two years, he has been using a portable toilet and taking a sponge
bath in a bucket. He is unable to sleep lying down due to brain shunts, coupled with his need for a C-Pap machine to keep sleeping seizures from occurring. Mike
sleeps in a recliner in the living area of the trailer. Kathy sleeps in the living room as well, on a broken box spring, to be near Mike so she can help him when he
has a seizure.
Mike’s whole world is the few feet he can walk from his recliner. If he can make it to the small porch, that is a blessed day. And he considers it a blessing – both
Mike and his mother are strong believers in Christ. There is a small ramp from the porch, but Mike cannot get past the ramp, there is only a rough gravel and
mud driveway that his wheelchair cannot o through, especially if it rains. He has no way to leave the property, to transfer to a car to go to the doctor or the
store or to church, there is no sidewalk or cement driveway for his chair. Soon the ramp will be too worn and unstable to
support the wheelchair at all.
Kathy spends every moment of every day taking care of her son, from bathing to feeding to watching his medication protocol carefully, around the clock. She is
in daily chronic pain from her own disabilities, yet she nurses Mike with no one to help her. Though they have a small church family, there is no money to do
much more than minor repairs, and they need major help. Kathy’s pastor is Al Tincler, pastor of Lighthouse on the Rock in
Humble. Pastor Tincler is retired and he and his wife, Pam, go weekly to get groceries for Kathy and Mike, or to fetch
prescriptions from the pharmacy, or do minor repairs, but the small home church does not have the resources to be of
major help, especially since Pastor Tincler has himself fallen quite ill.
The need intervention, that trailer is not going to hold up much longer. The land it is on is Mike’s, inherited from his grandparents. We have located a talented
contractor who is willing to take on the project of repairing enough of the trailer to make it livable for the moment. He is also willing to build a small, one-
room, handicap accessible cabin on the property when we have raised the funds to do so. We are also more than willing to take any donation of a gently used
mobile home: we just need to provide a safe environment. These two humble and kind people give out of their hearts daily, and I ask for kind hearts to meet
their need. If you can donate time, money, and especially prayer to the “Mike and Kathy Project,” we bless you for doing so.
Sincerely,
Christine Swearingen,
Minister, Lighthouse on the Rock
281-355-6253
Al Tincler
Pastor, Lighthouse on the Rock
20410 Viola Dale Ct.
Humble, TX 77338
281-548-1356
Editor’s Note: Kathy and Mike Vaughn are the sister and nephew of St. John’s member Sally Rogers.
Parishioners’ corner. . .
Editor’s Note: “Parishioners’ corner” will be set aside in each Missive edition for submissions from members of
the St. John’s congregation, or visitors who would like to be included. Essays of 200 words or less are welcome, as is poetry of reasonable length.
Recipe
Peppermint Ale Fizz (from the 1943 edition of The Lilly Wallace New American Cook Book)
½ pound peppermint stick candy
2 cups whipping cream
1 quart ginger ale
Put the candy through a food chopper or roll with rolling pin. Whip cream to custard-like consistency and fold in candy crumbs, then place in freezing tray of
refrigerator to freeze. To serve: Place serving of frozen peppermint cream in tall frosted glass and fill with cold ginger ale. Stir slightly with spoon to make it
fizz and serve with spoon and straw. Serves 6.
Editor’s note: Don’t know about you, but this 67-year-old recipe fills me with gratitude for today’s supermarkets
and instant whatevers.
Editor’s blog. . .
With Thanksgiving safely tucked away into our mental memory boxes, and Christmas sparkling on the horizon, we’re currently slap-dab in the middle of God-
season.
I call it that because, beginning with Thanksgiving, it’s the month or so of the year when we’re most God-focused, or should be. It’s the time we should be
intensely grateful for all God’s gifts, culminating in the celebration of his most precious offering to us – His son, our savior, Jesus Christ.
It’s the season when we should feel closest to God since it’s now a proven fact that we need Him. I have been so thrilled and fascinated by what scientists say is
that part of my brain (and yours) set aside exclusively for a supreme being – a God-nest where faith is conceived, birthed, nurtured, then
sent out to do its work in the world.
I felt a certain sense of vindication when I learned of the discovery of this true “inner room” where the Lord abides in each of us. At long last, God has been
taken out of the realm of the abstract and into reality; no longer a mere possibility, but now a definite “is.” Through this knowledge, God has been made
inarguable, and we’ve been made whole and holy.
And that makes for a very merry Christmas, indeed.
Also, don’t forget to have a safe and blessed New Year.