-the little white church on the corner-
May 2026
THE CLERGY CORNER
Dear People of Epiphany,
It seems we have a lot of transitions going on.
We will be selling Father Richard’s home. Our sanctuary entrance-street is torn up. We’re needing to make some adjustments with the building to facilitate a healthier building. I’ll be temporarily moving my office to the nursery until the mold remediation work in that room has been completed.
In addition, we’ll be shifting to a new newsletter format that will be emailed on Tuesday of each week. (Print copies will be made available for those who do not use email.)
Hopefully this fresh face helps us stay more connected amid so much transition.
At this time of year, we hear in our Sunday Gospel stories of Jesus walking with and ahead of the disciples …on the road of life. That includes us! Things may change, but one thing will not change: our Lord will accompany us and will keep pointing the way to a wider and deeper kin-dom waters.
What will not change? We’ll continue to be the church on our little corner of Lafayette-Winona. We will gather to break bread and say prayers, we will have fellowship and awesome food, we will support one another through the ups and downs of life and give thanks for God’s faithfulness.
Peace and blessings,
Anne+
A Reflection
The night before Jesus was crucified, he went to a garden called Gethsemane to pray and while many Christians know this-here is what many Christians have never been taught nor told, Gethsemane does not mean garden-it means “oil press.”
It was not a peaceful grove where Jesus went to collect his thoughts-it was a place where workers loaded olives under enormous crushing stones and press them until every- single- drop- of- oil was squeezed out. Jesus did not go to a peaceful garden that night before he died-he went to a place literally named The Crushing Place.
Now here is what makes that even harder to move past, every king, priest and prophet in the Old Testament was anointed with oil pressed from olives. The word Messiah, literally means, the anointed one and on the night before Jesus fulfilled every single one of those offices simultaneously, Jesus went to an olive press.
The symbolism is not accidental-it runs throughout the entire Bible like a thread to follow.
He sweated drops of blood that night not as a figure of speech but as a real medical response to anguish so extreme that blood vessels near the skin ruptured and bled through his sweat glands. Luke was a physician and recorded it specifically, because he understood what he was describing.
Jesus was not nervous. He was in a level of physical and spiritual agony that was tearing his body apart before anyone had laid a single hand on him. The cup he begged His father to take from him-was not the nails.
Many Christians would assume Jesus was afraid of the physical suffering of the cross but, what he was facing was something far more terrifying. It was the full weight of God’s wrath against every sin ever committed, by every human being throughout all of history poured onto one person- a separation from his father that the eternal Son of God had never experienced in all of existence.
He was not afraid of dying-He was facing something no human being can fully comprehend, and He did it in a place named for crushing.
Jesus then asked His three closest friends to stay awake and pray with him on the worst night of his life. They fell asleep three times, the same number of times that Peter would deny him before sunrise. These are not background details. They are the context that makes every single word that Jesus prayed in that garden “land” with the full weight of Gods’ intended.
Not my will but yours be done.
Many might consider that a peaceful surrender, a quiet acceptance. But, when you know what the cup actually was, when you know He was sweating blood from pure anguish, when you know his closest friends abandoned him to sleep-when you know He was in a place literally named for crushing and that He went there on purpose- that the prayer is not peaceful-it is the most costly decision any being has ever made in the history of existence .
Many have read right past it their entire lives-not because they do not care-not because their faith is weak but because many were never told what Gethsemane meant.
Thanking Faith Sprout for the inspiration.
Regards,
Jim Fisher, Sr. Warden
May
May whispers in colors bright,
With flowers blooming in the light,
Trees dress in leaves, a delightful sight,
Nature’s heart beats with might.
Bird’s sing in the morning hue,
Sky’s canvas painted anew,
In May’s embrace, life feels true,
A world refreshed, in vibrant view.
Sunshine kisses the earth’s face,
In every corner, beauty’s trace,
May’s dance, a gentle grace,
In its warmth, we all embrace.
By Maya Anthony
May Schedule
May 3
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist: Joe Ritchie
- Flowers: Marcia Cronin
- Altar: Ariel Fernandez
- Lector: Jerry Cronin
- Usher: Tommy Gilleland
- Dedication: Ruth Kenworthy-Ecker
May 10
- The Rev. Win Lewis
- Organist: Pat Spoettle
- Flowers: Jim Fisher
- Altar: Kevin LaPointe
- Lector: Marcie Kidd
- Usher: Kathy Moore
- Dedication: Lynne Pipis
- (This is Rogation Sunday-Cookout-Please bring favorite sides and Mother’s Day)
May 17
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist: Pat Spoettle
- Flowers: Joyce Williams
- Altar: Ariel Fernandez
- Lector: Jim Fisher
- Usher: Charles Harrell
- Dedication: Brian & Junie Pritchard
May 24
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist: Scott Foxwell
- Flowers: Jim Fisher
- Altar: Kevin LaPointe
- Lector: Gayle Greene
- Usher: Jackie Rochelle
- Dedication: To John Roberts-Flower Guild
May 31
- The Rev. Anne Zobel
- Organist: Scott Foxwell
- Flowers: Jim Fisher
- Altar: Kevin LaPointe
- Lector: John Greene Jr.
- Usher: Kevin LaPointe
- Dedication: Jim Fisher