Saints' Brew

Serving those in need
Coffee and MORE (See Below)

This Ministry Continues!
Can YOU HELP? You Sure CAN!
Monday-Friday
7:00 a.m. -9:30 a.m.

 

The guests of Saints' Brew continue to increase and we need more volunteers to help in both serving and cleanup. The peak serving time is 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. just before most people go to work. From 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. we need help both in serving and cleanup. Volunteers may come for either one or two hours. It's easy! Just show up – PLEASE!!

We appreciate all of our volunteers who are stepping up to help with this ministry. We are in need of the following items:

• Cereal,

• 5 lb. bags of sugar,

• Large coffee

• Stick or tub margarine,

• Large regular powdered creamer,

• Tampico Citrus Punch,

• 5-oz plastic cups,

• Gallon size regular milk,

• 409 Cleaner (1 gal. size 409 is available at Lowe’s

We have a local business that helps support this ministry with their donations of food: Atlanta Bread Company. Please thank them by patronizing their fine establishment! Thank you, people of All Saints’, for your continued support of this ministry. Please remember Saints’ Brew for your monetary gifts, memorials and honorariums.

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Please e-mail saintsbrew@allsaintstupelo.com

 or call Kaye Cannon if you have questions.

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“X” Marks the Spot

(From the Newsletter of April 3, 2011)

The email arrived late Monday night and began with these words:

“Paul, I found an "X" under my seat and I have no idea what to do with it.”

The parishioner was referring to my sermon on Lent II.  [If you missed it, I suggest you stop reading and go to http://allsaintstupelo.com/podcasts/2011-03-20-LentII-sermon.mp3 where you can listen to a recording of the sermon.  When you finish listening, please come back and read the “rest of the story”].

His email to me continued: 

[The slip of paper on which the “X” was written] makes a fine if disturbing bookmark in The Last Week. [That’s the book describing the last week of Jesus’ life which Les Alvis is using for his 8 week-long adult Sunday School class].  It's disturbing because I can't read about Jesus disrupting the Temple without holding it in my other hand and thinking that I am not doing enough to disturb mine.

In a story on MPR today, it was stated that an average of more than 9,000 people in Mississippi are homeless and that over 700 are in Jackson alone. I suspect that number to be short of the truth. I have no idea how many are here.

As I write this note sitting in the comfort of my church office, I need only look out my window to see a homeless person asleep on the handicap ramp leading to the Parish Hall.  Based on my observations, the size of the homeless population in Tupelo is increasing.  Multiple factors are at work: many months of unemployment in excess of 10%; substance abuse; mental health issues.  The “reasons list” is endless; the “whys” limitless. 

He recounted a story I had recently shared in another sermon:

of the smoke rising from beneath the Gloster Street bridge next to Wendy's. Fires built under that bridge helped some people survive (an over exaggeration of that word) for another frigid night. For the vast majority of us, me included, I would not survive a moment in that fearsome bleakness.

This past winter, Tupelo’s homeless huddled where they could seeking shelter from the below freezing temperatures, biting wind, frozen rain and record snowfall.  And if we have another summer like the one in 2010, Tupelo’s homeless will once again be fighting soaring temperatures and record heat index numbers along with West Nile infested mosquitoes and other pests.  The picture conjured in my mind is very troubling. 

I continued reading the email:

As you played the game show host among that squirming congregation Sunday, I found the 'X' under my chair that made me, along with the rest of the congregation a player in that TV game show. The name of the place hit me in that moment. I thought of “The Bridge.”  We could call [the homeless shelter we would begin] “The Bridge.”  It could be a bridge between what the Salvation Army can provide and the next step in support of it.  It might be a bridge between the last night of homelessness and the next morning of finding a way to 'move in' instead of 'move on'.  It could be a bridge between the churches and synagogue of Tupelo to share in mission at home.  It might be a link to the Tree of Life Clinic or Helping Hands or the Hispanic ministries or Saints’ Brew.

As I reflected on the parishioner’s emotive and eloquent email, I remembered something Teilhard de Chardin, a paleontologist and Jesuit priest, had written years ago:  “Christianity does not ask us to live in the shadow of the cross, but in the fire of its creative action.”  Indeed!  As we continue our Lenten Journey toward the cross and resurrection we must always remember that our faith is not static, inert or passive; rather, it is a call to action, to change, to transformation.  We gather strength from God’s saving act for all of humanity.  It is that strength which enables us to dare tackle the daunting, pressing and urgent need of assisting the homeless in new, creative and inspired ways.

The parishioner concluded:

You started this discussion. I am trying to find a way to keep the discussion going.

This discussion won’t die.  It is only beginning and in fact is already gathering momentum.  I invite you to join me on Wednesday evening, April 13^th, at 5:45 p.m. as we discuss homelessness in our city and begin brainstorming about how we and the broader Tupelo community might address this issue in our city.  See you then!  Oh, and remember: bring your “X” with you!                         --Paul +

Camp Caritas Of Mississippi

Duncan M. Gray Episcopal Camp
and Conference Center

Camp has concluded for this year
But Keep Us in Mind For Next Year!

Camp Caritas is a summer camp solely for children who have been impacted by the incarceration of a parent or significant caretaker.

Campers are offered the opportunity to swim, hike and fish, play games, face the challenges of a ropes course, create music and art, and sing and worship together.

There is no financial obligation from the parents or guardians of the children who attend Camp Caritas. Funding for camp comes entirely from donations and grants from individuals, church groups and civic and charitable organizations. If you know of a child that would benefit from this camp, please contact Phil Holt at 601-956-5431 or pdholt@earthlink.net .

If you would like to make a donation to this camp for next summer...

checks can be made payable to:

Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi
Camp Caritas
P.O. Box 23107
Jackson, MS 39225-3107

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