Epigram

This article originally appeared in the January 2010 issue of The Epigram.

Beautiful Banners

By Mary Kaye Jacobs

From week to week and season to season beautiful banners bless the rear walls of Epiphany’s Worship Center. They interpret the Gospel readings, remind us of the liturgical season, and sometimes illustrate a special event.
These banners are made by hand by Epiphany members, as well as other local fabric artists. Some were gifts to Epiphany, some commissioned for a special occasion then donated to the church.

The oldest were several designed by our founding pastor, Fr. Dick Fowler; one depicting the expectant Mary for Advent, and one of the Wedding at Cana.

Two parishioners who now work as co-chairs of Epiphany’s Arts and Environment Committee have long created and produced and repaired the banners that evoke Biblical themes and events. Margarete Klose and Pat Trimble have worked as a team to enhance our worship experience with this art in the form of fabric banners.

This article originally appeared in the January 2010 issue of The Epigram.

God’s Timing . . . . Not Ours

by Mary Bratton

How many times have I wished for something to happen on my time schedule, and then disappointedly felt MY wishes had been ignored by my heavenly Father!!

The labyrinths that we have at Epiphany both were affected by that way of thinking, bringing them to creation in our church. As the story goes, back in 1997, Lisa Scherer and her husband Bob celebrated their anniversary by visiting San Francisco. Prior to their visit, they were introduced to the labyrinth by Sr. Josette. Lisa and Bob walked one at Grace Cathedral. The Cathedral had one inside and one outside. Lisa can remember passing her husband on the labyrinth, as she was praying, wondering what her husband was thinking as he passed her praying his own individual prayer. She knew he had cancer. She wondered where God would take the two of them, as they travelled their life paths. The next two years had lots of trials, lots of prayers, and then God took Bob to his eternal home.

This article originally appeared in the November 2009 issue of The Epigram.

The Baptismal Font – Out of the Waters By Mary Kaye Jacobs

When we enter the Gathering Area of Epiphany, we begin to hear the waters of the Baptismal Font. The font is meant to remind us of a tomb, with its rough stone exterior and shape. Christ died then rose from the tomb, and we go down into the water and rise from the waters in Baptism. The font also calls to mind Moses and the rock that brought forth water and the dividing of the Red Sea to allow the escape of the Israelites from Egypt.

This article originally appeared in the November 2009 issue of The Epigram.

Stewardship “You Think You Know but You Have No Idea” By Brandie Grisham

This tag line from the MTV biography series came to mind when I started to think about stewardship. It resonated with me because for the longest time I always looked at stewardship as something my church wanted from me but I realized after working as an intern at St. Bernadette’s this past year that could not be farther from the truth. As an intern I was required to attend as many committee meetings as I could and to participate in as many activities as possible. And although that was my “job” I learned that my active involvement in the church actually enhanced my worship experience. Always afraid of the burden such commitments would be on my already hectic schedule, I shied away from participating in service opportunities. But in actuality my contributions connected me to that community which is something I hope to replicate here at Epiphany.

This article originally appeared in the November 2009 issue of The Epigram.

Book Review: The Jesuit and the Skull By Amir D. Aczel By Mary Ellen Horton

The Jesuit and the Skull: Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and the Search for Peking Man by Amir D. Aczel tells how one man sought to reconcile his religious faith with the study of evolution. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Frenchman who was born into a very religious and aristocratic French family and became a Jesuit priest. Possessed of brilliance, charm and wit and with credentials in philosophy, theology, geology, and paleontology, his Jesuit superiors worried because he questioned the doctrine of original sin and supported Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. They feared the Vatican would censure, even excommunicate him. Supported by scholarly papers and personal work in his fields of study, he was prominent and popular.

They sent him to Peking, now Beijing, China, so remote in 1923, that they hoped he wouldn’t attract attention. By chance or design, soon after, a sensational discovery was made very near Peking. A cave containing bones and tools of apes or men—possibly a missing link.