From The Rector

About six weeks ago, I flew to Phoenix for a five day silent retreat. I was determined to slow down, to reflect, and to listen for God. At first, I was tentative. I walked the grounds of the retreat center, I watched birds and little ground creatures, and ate my meals in silence. In the evenings, I felt a sense of anxiety, wondering if God would speak. Silence answered my silence.

On the third day of my retreat, I relaxed. I sighed heavily. I exhaled deeply. I put away the Anglican prayer beads that I had been fingering, went into my room, and admitted to God that I was missing any connections that might be coming my way. Facing the silence, I suddenly had an impulse: I think I’ll go get a hair cut.

What a silly thing to do on retreat! It certainly isn’t very "holy," but the impulse was so strong. I went through the Yellow Pages and randomly selected a salon. An hour later, I met Sue, who cut my hair. We talked, and she asked about my children and what I was doing in Phoenix. I told her Alex was stationed in Iraq and how much I missed him. She stopped cutting my hair and very tenderly stroked my shoulders. Then, I admitted I was also failing at a silent retreat—and she laughed. She spun me around in the chair so I was looking directly at her. "Don’t you think it’s easier to find God in your interactions with people than it is to stare at dusty old statues?" I had to laugh too but admitted that I had gotten so busy in my life that I felt that I’d been short changing God.

After I paid her and was leaving, she hugged me and said, "What’s your son’s name?"

"Alex," I replied.

"I’ll be praying for him—and for you too, Liz."

And as I returned to the retreat center, I realized that God was indeed present, sitting right there with me in the beauty parlor, right there with me as I ate in silence, and right there with me as I walked the desert gardens and tried to pray. The hug did it. A connection with a stranger who offered a free gift—offered to pray—and God was made manifest.

Losing touch with God is so easy to do. As you enter the dog days of August, as the pace somewhat slows down in the mugginess that is summer in Illinois, remember that God is with you, even when you sense an absence. Remember that your kind word to someone may be someone’s greatest gift and that God is also in the words others address to you. It is in those seemingly mundane exchanges that I pray each of us find God in a deeper way. See you in church.

Deacon Liz+

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 13:2

Many Hands Help Make St. Charles’ The "Church With A Big Heart"

When you consider that we average about 180 worshipers on a typical Sunday, we can be proud of all that our church accomplishes. The number of people who volunteer should be a source of pride. There are very few who aren’t involved in some way. Volunteering is fun and a great way to make friends.

Unfortunately, at the church, just as it may be in our personal lives, sometimes we forget to say thank you.

So at the risk of leaving someone out, here are some folks who deserve our thanks for their recent volunteering. (This is in no way meant to be a complete list. If we should inadvertently leave someone out, please know we sincerely appreciate ALL of our volunteers.)

Let’s start with Father Bill and Deacon Liz. While they are our faith20leaders, they also go well above the call. We are truly blessed to have such a team. They are leaders in the diocese as well. Plus, what a hard-working staff in Liz, Beth, and Dan we have. Thank you all.

As Karen Flood has written elsewhere in this issue, the Challenge Grant Fundraiser is a success, and for that we thank our anonymous benefactors and more than 50 contributors. If you haven’t had the chance to contribute to the repair of our gutters and exterior painting, there’s still time. Please contact the office or Karen.

Did you know that thanks to the initiative of vestry member Katie Thomson, we are launching a new church service to support those suffering in Sudan? Mark your calendar for Thursday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the church. Deacon Liz has written a beautiful, new service.

Our thanks also go out to our 14 missioners and five mission trip leaders for all their hard work on their recent mission trip to Kentucky. The group accomplished a lot in four days (See last month’s newsletter.). They made a significant sacrifice to help others, and the lessons they gained in faith can’t be measured. We look forward to hearing some of their stories from the pulpit. The missioners included Luke Dettlo, Christina Foster, Hannah Koch, Emma Larson, Aidan Manning, Dillon Mugge, Taushia Mugge, Nate Nesbit, Andrew Schuetz, Austin Schuetz, Dan Steamer, Robin Travis, David Trizzino, Mike Trizzino, Peter Van Nortwick, and Mary Wolff. Chaperones were Cory Blane, Bob and Holly Parks, and Joe and Liz Ryan.

Not only did our youth work hard in Kentucky, but they also earned more than $1,000 recently from a car wash fundraiser for their pilgrimage to Scotland next year. Thank you to leaders Rich Foster, Ed and Kathryn Manning, and Joe and Liz Ryan as well as all the young people involved.

One of the hardest working leaders at St. Charles’ has been our treasurer, Tom Miller. After about five years of dedicated service, including a stint leading our building project to add additional, handicapped accessible bathrooms, Tom is retiring. Words cannot express our sincere appreciation.

Thankfully, Mark Mugge has offered himself to fill the treasurer’s position, and he’ll have Phyllis Andrew to assist him.

We appreciate all the work that Henry Mora did as our vestry representative for the buildings. After several years of service, he recently resigned, and Bill Churchwell stepped in to this big job. He is ably assisted by Mike Ditch, and we sincerely thank them all.

Did you notice how much easier it is to read this newsletter, and how much "cleaner" it looks? That is thanks to Chris Lester, our new newsletter editor. We also send our thanks to Deacon Liz and Liz Ryan for holding down the fort at the newsletter up to now.

Thanks to Ali Blane’s initiative, we now have our most successful new fundraiser in some time: gift cards. Thanks to an anonymous family, we have the funds to have a number of different cards available immediately. It’s not too early to be thinking of Christmas gifts. Our thanks go out to Wendy Bangs, Christy Becker, and Ali and Cory Blane for giving their time to make the gift card program successful. Buyers pay only the face value amount, and the church earns a commission on every sale.

Thanks to Wendy and Wink Bangs and Mike Ditch for their time landscaping the memorial garden. And, we appreciate all the time Katie Ditch put in organizing the church office. See, we told you there are a lot of people who volunteer in our church!

Even though many people are already involved, we still need your help! There’s more than enough fun to go around. If you have an interest in helping with the buildings, landscaping, funeral receptions, press releases, fundraising, pig roast, communications, Hesed House homeless shelter, Trinity Aurora soup kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, kitchen cleanup, or coffee hour to name more than a few—or you want to initiate a new ministry— don’t hesitate to contact us or the office.

Thank you again to all who volunteer.

God’s peace,

Bo Smith
Senior Warden
Colin C. Campbell
Jr. Warden

VESTRY

Bo Smith, Senior Warden

Colin Campbell, Junior Warden