Epiphany Chatter

June 2024

Hello, fellow Epiphanites!😉 Hope this finds each of you well & happy. Epiphany is also going well, and much happiness can be found within our walls.

We enter June – the halfway point of the year – with continued hope that Epiphany will be blessed with a priest-in-charge soon. We have certainly been blessed with our many supply priests and many of you have expressed a liking to each of our guest priests.

The diocese is in conversation with candidates and or possibilities for the many open slots throughout the diocese. In the meantime, Epiphany will continue on our journey as we have been and your vestry thanks each one of you for your continued support.

The transition team will be having a meeting with Advent and The Rev. Canon Win Lewis on June 9th. Any important information will be shared with you, as always.

Tidbits

Flag Day June 14th – A Day Honoring our National Flag

The United States approved the design for its first national flag on June 14, 1777. President Woodrow Wilson borrowed the idea of Flag Day from a schoolteacher – Bernard Cigrand, who, in 1885 in Wisconsin, led his school in the first formal observance of the day. Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a National Flag Day on June 14, 1916. Pennsylvania is the only state to recognize Flag Day as a legal holiday.

FATHERS DAY (June 16th this year) was founded in Washington state in 1910, as a holiday honoring one’s father, as well as fatherhood, paternal bonds and the influence of fathers in society.

For centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church has appointed the Second Sunday before Nativity as the Sunday of the Forefathers to commemorate the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, starting with Adam and emphasizing Abraham, to whom God said:

In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. – Genesis 12:3, 22:18

A customary day for the celebration of fatherhood in Catholic Europe is known to date back to at least 1508. It is celebrated on March 19, as the Feast Day of Saint Joseph, who is referred to as the fatherly Nutritor Domini (“Nourisher of the Lord”) in Catholicism and “the putative father of Jesus” in southern European tradition. The Catholic church supported the custom of celebrating on St. Josephs Day from either the last days of the 14th century or the early 15th century on the initiative of the Franciscans. In Coptic Orthodox Church it is also celebrated on St. Josephs Day on July 20th. The Coptic celebration dates back to the Fifth century.

In the United States, to celebrate the day remained a debatable topic. In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd, convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association to celebrate Father’s Day nationwide. The holiday is observed by 111+ countries.

JUNETEENTH (June19th) is a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. It is also called Emancipation Day or Juneteenth Independence Day. The name “Juneteenth” references the date of the holiday, combining the words “June’ and “nineteenth” that commemorates the day when 250,000 slaves in the state of Texas, which became the last Confederate bastion for slavery during the final days of the Civil War, were declared free by the United States Army in 1865. The last state to abolish slavery was Mississippi on February 7, 2013 – seems they never had their paperwork in order 😊. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed a bill passed by Congress.

Pride Month is celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the U.S. Memorials are held during the month for those of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender have had on history locally, nationally & internationally. It commemorates the years of struggle for civil rights and the ongoing pursuit of equal justice under the law. It is a month to show mutual respect & understanding, amid the polarization effects of religion and politics that often lead to conflict.

Colorful uplifting parades with floats and celebrities, joyous festivals, workshops, picnics and parties are among the principal components of Pride Month. The organized pursuit of LGBTQ rights reaches back to 1924 and the founding of the Society of Human Rights in Chicago by Henry Gerber. The event that catalyzed the movement came in June 1969 @ the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village New York. In the early morning hours on 6/28 police raided the popular gathering place for young members of the LGBTQ community-arresting the employees for selling liquor, roughing up many of the patrons, and clearing the bar. Outside, the crowd that watched the bar’s patrons being herded into police vans became enraged. Previously, witnesses to police harassment of members of the LGBTQ community stood by passively, but this time the crowd jeered the police and threw coins and then bottles and debris at them, forcing the police to barricade themselves in the bar to await backup. Before long some 400 people were rioting. Although the police reinforcements dispersed the crowd, riots waxed and waned outside the bar for the next five days, and these Stonewall riots a/k/a the Stonewall uprising provided the spark that ignited the LGBTQ rights movement in the United States. The first march in response to the Stonewall riots was one year later on June 28, 1970. The last Sunday of June came to be celebrated in the U.S. cities everywhere, as somber marches evolved into joyous celebrations and in time, the day expanded to become a monthlong event. It was officially recognized by the U.S. government when President Bill Clinton declared June 1999 “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month”. President Barack Obama proclaimed June to be “LGBTQ Pride Month” and President Joe Biden further expanded the observance to “(LGBTQ+) Pride Month.” Elsewhere in the world, Pride is celebrated at different times of the year, although many are observed in June.

Resilience isn’t something we’re born with or without. It’s a skill we can acquire and sharpen at any time, and one of our main ways to do that is by practicing acceptance. – Unknown

Happenings

June 1st Clean the Bay Day – 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Past the dog park-over the Lafayette bridge-right onto Villa Circle – down to Rialto Place. Rain boots, gloves, hat, sunscreen, and water bottle recommended.
June 8th Epiphany Clean Up Day – 8 a.m. – 12 noon(ish!)
Tidying up the gardens, power washing the Epiphany wall, cleaning the signpost, hedge trimming, mulching of the gardens, etc. Breakfast casseroles, Danish & coffee will be supplied.

Service Information for June

June 2nd – Birthday and Anniversary Sunday
The Rev. Hayes Perdue
Scott Foxwell – Organist
Len & Tina Wright – Altar
Marcia Cronin – Flowers
John Childers – Lector
Susie Pedigo – Usher
June 9th
The Rev. Berkley Ford
Pat Spoettle – Organist
Kevin LaPointe – Altar
Jim Fisher – Flowers
Mary Shaffer – Lector
Tom Gilleland – Usher
June 16th – Father’s Day
The Rev. Peg Buelow
Scott Foxwell – Organist
Ariel Fernandez – Altar
Joyce Williams – Flowers
Jerry Cronin – Lector
Jackie Rochelle – Usher
June 23rd
The Rev. Berkley Ford – Presider
Pat Spoettle – Organist
Kevin LaPointe – Altar
Jim Fisher – Flowers
Gayle Greene – Lector
Kevin LaPointe – Usher
June 30th
The Rev. John Baldwin
Joe Ritchie – Organist
Kevin LaPointe – Altar
Jim Fisher – Flowers
John Greene, Jr. – Lector
Kathy Moore – Usher