October | 2007

An Open Letter to the JERK
who stole my computer

Do you have any concept, any inkling of an idea of what damage your ninety seconds of cowardice has wrought in my life? You got a computer bag full of electronic gear, woohoo! A quick two or three hundred bucks at the local pawn shop. I have to re-configure my entire financial network because my private information is now public.

I lost immeasurably more than you gained. Everything I’ve done, all my work, all my sermons, my classes, my lessons – everything I’ve written and created for four years was on that laptop. Of course I backed up my data. But I backed it up against computer failure, not theft. So the backup devices were in that bag you took. All the work I’ve done for vision, mission, strategy, organization. Gone. Every spreadsheet for budget and vestry and ministry areas. Gone. Every Bible study. Every PowerPoint presentation. Every note from every meeting. Just flat gone.

My palm pilot was in there, too. I paid $400 for it a few months ago. But I’m sure you pocketed an easy 10% of that. Never mind my calendar was on there. Never mind all the work that went into coordinating events and activities. I’ll miss appointments for the next six months because of you. All my contact information was there. I don’t even know my babysitters’ phone numbers. All the cell numbers, email addresses, birthdays. The twenty-something memos I had to help me remember important information? The pieces I was developing for Core Values? Personal Spiritual Plans? Leadership? You’ve got that information now. Hope it serves you well.
Did I mention the pictures? Yeah, for some reason we could never get our digital camera to download on our home computer. Funny. So we downloaded all our pictures to the laptop. I had the laptop longer than I’ve had my youngest daughter. Every picture of her we had was on there. First step. First tooth. First smile. The precious pictures of our three kids, my favorite one with them hugging each other, my daughter dancing in the rain. You stole our memories.

It’s the pictures that are killing my wife. Her pillow sits soaked in the tears of her sorrow. It’s the work, the writing, that gets to me. Hours and hours and hours of work, now with nothing to show for it. All the creative sweat poured onto the keyboard now just salt stains in my memory. It’s not the money, I figure you got about three grand worth of stuff. But it’s not the money, it’s the cost. Some things really are priceless.

The crazy thing is, I would have given you money had you but asked. I would have paid twice, three times what you received to get those things back. It was worth so much more to me than it ever could be to you. But it’s lost now. Sitting in the back of some beat-up old van or on a grimy shelf in some back alley pawn shop.

Do you know yet you stole from a priest? From God’s Church? Does it matter? I wonder where God is in all this. I’m not mad at Him, God didn’t steal my stuff. But I wonder what He’s trying to teach me through this. Deny yourself? It’s just stuff? Be thankful for what you do have? Care more for the poor so they won’t steal? Evil is alive and well on planet earth? I don’t know. It all feels like trite theology, the kinds of things I would never say to another person who has just lost something dear to them, even if it is true. Where is God in this? I don’t know right now. But I’m going to find out.

-- to read the rest of Fr. Jay’s article, log onto our website, www.standrewseguin.org, click on the tab “Parish News”, then click the link “weBLOG”

~Father Jay

To the Blog With You! Call editor Tracy Donegan did write an article this month, but there’s just no room for it here! To read “The Agony of Parenthood”, log onto our website, www.standrewseguin.org, click on the tab “Parish News”, then click the link “weBLOG”. Thanks!

Be Transformed:

Annual Women’s Retreat for St. Andrew’s & friends

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

~Romans 12:2

Pack your bags, ladies, and clear October 26th through the 28th for our Annual Women’s Retreat! We’re heading to Port Aransas and the Episcopal Mustang Island Conference Center. This year’s retreat, based on Romans 12:2, will be a truly transformational experience led by the gifted Jamie George. Cost is $220 per person, and that price includes your meals and materials. Make checks payable to St. Andrew’s, and write “Women’s Retreat” in the memo. Send payment and Retreater Information Sheets (available at the church office) to Jamie George. Deadline to register is October 14th, so reserve your spot today—and be sure to invite your friends!

First Friday Fellowships

October 5th is the First Friday Fellowship Supper Gathering in McKeogh Hall beginning at 6:00p.m. It will be potluck style, so everyone bring your favorite dish to share. We will also have cards, dominoes, board games and the like. Bring the whole family for dinner and fun!

We will also be organizing groups for the Suppers For 8 gatherings that will be meeting in the hosts homes each month. If you are interested in being in a Supper For 8 group please let me know so that I can save a spot for your family. Or, just come to the pot luck on the 5th and we will place families that evening

We are very excited about getting these First Friday Fellowships started. This will be a great time for parishioners to meet new members and for everyone involved to just come together and enjoy each other’s company. For more information on this fellowship event contact Lesli at the church office, 372-4330.

Parish Picnic & Fall Fair Set:

October 14th at Nolte Island

If you want to have a ball, come to the St. Andrew’s Parish Picnic for 10:30 worship service, a delicious BBQ lunch and lots of family fun! We will be adding some things to the picnic this year like a cake walk, sack races, horseshoe tournament and more. Hence the addition of Fall Fair! Make this a family day- stay and enjoy the activities.

This is also a great opportunity to invite a friend. They will get just a glimpse of what the St. Andrew’s family is all about. And who wouldn’t want to come back for more? If you’re interested in helping with the picnic, please contact the church office at 372-4330.

Get Ready to Pack the Pickup!

Gear up, St. Andrew’s, because it’s time again for one of our Pack-the-Pickup food drives to benefit Seguin’s Christian Cupboard! Bring your canned goods to church on Sunday, October 21st, and let’s see how many pickups we can pack this year.

What’s Behind “On the Wall?”

Several years ago, Gil Merkle initiated “the user-friendly Book of Common Prayer” by beginning projection of the liturgy and hymns directly onto the walls to either side of the altar. It is, of course, no surprise that it was Gil who actually set up the first projection apparatus, but others in the church played a key role in causing it to happen. Here is Gil’s account of that beginning:

In the 2000 - 2001 timeframe, St. Andrew's, as we do now, conducted 'Youth Sunday’ services lead by the youth of the church. During a couple of these services, the youth wanted to project music lyrics; so, I set up two laptop computers with projectors - one each in the pulpit and lectern. Some people who witnessed these services stated that the projection made the service much easier to follow. This was especially true for people new to the Episcopal worship traditions. They commented that, without the projection, they felt ‘lost’ and had some difficulty navigating between the bulletin, the Prayer Book, and the Hymnal. The projection of the service eliminated the need to use the books. It was so well liked by a parishioner family that they offered to donate funds to purchase and install projection systems.

The architecture of our church made the installation very easy. By using the white front walls of the nave, the images could be projected without the need for screens. The vestry decided (in 2001 I think) to accept the gift and we proceeded with the purchase and installation. The first two projectors, along with the projection computer systems, were purchased and installed shortly thereafter. We began using the projection system during worship services in August 2002 as I recall. The first two projectors were installed onto the columns at the front of the nave because of the lens capabilities. The first two have been replaced and are now in service in McKeogh Hall and the Canterbury (Youth) buildings. Two new projectors, with ‘Long Throw’ lenses were installed at the rear of the nave in 2007.

This interesting account of how it all got started reveals nothing about the effort that is required to get the “cues” ready for each Sunday service. Fortunately, the hymns and readings and in fact, the entire prayer book, are all available on the internet and special software—already typed. But the particular items that we use each week have to be brought together into a special software program that makes it easy to project them page by page onto the wall. This “bringing together” process takes a couple of hours a week and has mostly been accomplished by Gil over the years.

The St. Isadore team is now in charge of performing this task, along with actually “changing slides” during services to stay that one important step ahead of the congregation. And that brings us to the true reason for writing this article in the first place—we need to have more people involved in this work to be able to spread it a bit thinner on those who now do it. Please contact Mark Williams for more information on how you might help.