Dear St. Timothy’s Family,
 
“Come and Pray”.  That is a more descriptive name than “Prayer Pilgrimage” for the wonderful new opportunity we have at St. Timothy’s.  I write this to you on Wednesday, having just experienced our first Come and Pray.
 
What a moving time in church.  The peace that I felt when leaving church today lingers this evening.  I have never before experienced such an intense quiet and stillness as I did in the sanctuary this afternoon.  Our church really is beautiful, and to be there with just a few other people for individual silent prayer was the perfect way to feel God’s loving presence.
 
Mother Camie has compiled a beautiful set of prayers that are given out by an usher for us to use and keep.  You can also bring your own Prayer Book, or only pray what’s in your heart.  Part of the time I just sat there feeling and listening.  Today made me think of the blessing we receive at the end of the Holy Eucharist service: “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord…”
 
I encourage you to call and sign up for next Wednesday’s Come and Pray at either 4:00, 4:30, or 5:00.  Details are available here. You’ll be so glad you did.
 
With peace and love,
Joy Rouse

Dear St. Timothy’s Family,

June 28 is planned to be the last of our prerecorded Sunday services.  On July 5 we will begin live streamed services from the sanctuary, with Rev. Jim Purdy and Rev. Camie Dewey officiating.  This is Phase 2 of our reopening, and includes communion with only service participants in the church.  Those of us who are ready to be in the congregation will still have to wait!  Everyone will be patiently watching from home. (Yes, patience is a virtue.)  In Phase 3 we will move to broader participation.  When that can happen depends on the state of the coronavirus in St. Louis County at the end of July, with everyone’s personal safety the key consideration.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.
 
Joy Rouse

Dear Friends,

It is with a mixture of joy and sadness that I must announce that the Vestry has accepted my request to set in motion a timeline for my retirement as your Rector this summer. The Bishop will receive formal notice from the Wardens and the Church Pension Fund will get to work on setting up my transition. They require that notice be given three months in advance for benefits to begin.

I will be actively engaged in the ministry of the parish until the end of June and then I will go on vacation and sabbatical until the three months is completed on August 15.

One great factor in this decision is my health. I am a diabetic and at great risk for the COVID-19 virus. I am unwilling to put my health and the health of my family at risk of this disease. I need to give greater attention to my health in general and to my diet, medication, and exercise to delay the progress of my illness.

May 25th will be the 27th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood in Christ’s One, Holy and Apostolic Church. My work has been very fulfilling and life giving. The work is also very demanding. I cannot help but be touched by your lives. I feel your sorrows and your joys. We have worked together to shine Christ’s light in the world. I will continue to serve Christ and this parish with all my heart until the last day of my active duty. I will hold you in my love for the rest of my life.

I am also ready to spend more time in rest and renewal. How and when I will be able to be in the physical presence of my mother and the rest of my family, especially my grandchildren, Penny, Randy, and William, is uncertain. You can be certain that I long for that day. It feels strange to spend so much time with our dearest ones virtually. I am praying for hugs.

I would be remiss if I failed to appreciate and honor my longsuffering wife and partner Cindy. She will be relieved of the invisible and challenging burden of being a Rector’s wife. She has borne with me when my attention was on my work, when I was absent from family gatherings and holidays, and when I was in the way of the full expression of her passion for justice. She is my love and my strongest ally. I want to be free to renew and deepen our love.

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church is the bearer of a rich tradition. You have loved one another long and well. You are a blessing to this community. You have strong leaders in the Vestry and Wardens. You have faithful and skilled staff leaders. You have a vibrant ministries. And you have Jesus our Lord.

Be faithful. Keep loving and learning. Look to God. Do not be afraid.
 
In Christ Jesus,
 
The Reverend Marvin Lee Foltz
Rector

Thank you to all who joined in our celebration of Christmas this year and all who participated in the services including the children in the pageant, worship service participants, and musicians. 

Dear Friends of Saint Timothy:
I invite you all to the celebration of a holy Christmas. We are still in Advent, but we are already greeting one another with “Merry Christmas” and carols fill the air reminding us to be jolly. I take great delight in this and my heart swells with sweet memories of Christmases past. As sweet as these are there is something more. Christmas is far greater than merriment, joviality, or an easy joy. There is a deeper and more sober joy to be found here. In this holy feast we open ourselves to what is happening within us: in virtue of our baptism, Jesus continues to be born and grow us. In our flesh we participate in God’s life when we embrace the gift that was given in the Incarnation. Christ within us gives us power to patiently and courageously live God’s life in the world. Each one of us, in the varying, and sometimes difficult circumstances of our lives, embody the gospel we share.
Are you surprised at this? After all, the birth of Jesus did not take place under easy circumstances, but in difficulty and uncertainty. This was not what Mary might have hoped for. She was far from home, without the support and nurture of her extended family. She had heard the strange promise and welcomed it, but until she heard the angels' song pierce the night, she might have felt very much afraid. There in the darkness of the night, her child came to transform the moment. With Jesus' birth the love and all-embracing compassion of God became real, intimate and concrete as a human life.
This is what made the angels sing! This is God’s glory! This is what it is all about!
The schedule of the season is enclosed and as it is one of the holiest of seasons, I encourage all to be present to share this profound joy with us. The heart of our religion is present in these liturgies.
The seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany complete the great cycle of the Incarnation. Through God's great love the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The whole plan beginning with the creation of all things came to unfold in a human life. That life was and is pure love. It was love that brought that saving life to us. It is love that gives us the ability to hope all things and to endure all things. It was Love was that stretched his arms on the Cross. And the love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as the Incarnation continues to unfold in and through our lives. In us the Word who is Jesus becomes flesh and blood. This is the root and ground of our joy. This is the deeper joy and truth of Christmas.
As we celebrate our Savior's birth may we be bearers, as Mary was, of this Christmas Word. We are to live as signs of God's love to our anxious and divided world. Let us give thanks that Christ, the morning star that knows no setting, continues to pierce the darkness and bring healing in his wings.
 
Love,
Marvin +

Dearest Beloved,
            Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless. Go. Rest. These seven pillars of the Episcopal Church’s Way of Love are so appropriate to apply to this beautiful and hopeful season of Advent.  
            The church calendar naturally invites us to stop and turn to face the nativity in the season of Advent. We turn slowly as we follow Mary on her journey—from the archangel’s announcement to the journey to Bethlehem, to the birth of the incarnate Christ in the stable. And we are called to direct the attention of others to this scene as well, to announce this most wondrous arrival to others; to be angels swooping down on a field of shepherds. It is in the manger that we see the face of hope, the face of love, the face of God. It is a face that looks like ours, wholly human, and still wholly holy. Unparalleled to behold, and yet, still so familiar.
            This is the time where our opportunities for learning and prayer can focus themselves on the world and issues at hand. Advent invites us to hold what we know about this world and what we have yet to discover in the same space. To anticipate the birth of a baby whose death and resurrection have already set us free from death and the grave, and whose return keeps us ever gazing on the horizon. We pray for an end to violence, an end to hunger, an end to suffering, for God to usher in God’s final and finest hour—for the Advent of the Kingdom Come.        
            Worship is a steady and reliable pillar of the Way of Love, because the main reason we show up to church every Sunday is to participate in worship. The way the church is used by the people under the leadership of the clergy should always point to the cross. It is, of course, impossible for the church to point to the cross without first pointing to the manger, to the moment of incarnation; the moment the world would cease to be what it was.
            We bless one another any time we have the opportunity to serve or be served. Some of the best advice I’ve ever received was the insistence that I allow another person to serve me or offer a gift or blessing to me, because in giving that permission, I was returning the blessing immediately. The holidays are made up of moments for these such opportunities. When you put your dollars in red buckets or give your time to serve the underfed, doesn’t that blessing return back to you in your sense of peace and good work? Advent is a season built for the abundance of blessing, and I encourage you to recognize those moments as they happen.
            It is in the blessing that we also find our calling as Christians to “go and do likewise.” Jesus calls us again and again to follow him. We are commissioned every Sunday to exit the church and enter the mission field, and in Advent, we find ourselves called to work and service for those whose lives are lived outside, for those who go without food or other life-sustaining necessities. There are many ways in which you can get involved this season, from the Angel Tree that supports Episcopal City Mission, to Circle of Concern, or Trinity Food Pantry. A season of gift-giving must also be a season of selfless giving.  
            Rest seems almost futile in all of our going and doing, but this also is a season in which we must find time in our lives to just be still and rest in the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding. The best tool we have in our self-care bag is a ready-to-use plan for rest. It is in our rest that we make room for God to come in and do God’s best work: restoration, revitalization, reunification. This is why God came down in the first place.
            It is my deepest hope that this season of Advent marks the beginning of a fruitful and Spirit filled church year at St. Timothy’s. I am honored that this important calendar year in my life will come to a close with you all, and that we will begin together the next year of love and ministry that is so unique to this parish and to these people. I invite you to attend all of the wonderful things that St. Tim’s is doing this season, and to find opportunities to remember the seven pillars of the Way of Love, and to also actively seek opportunities for invitation, to welcome those you haven’t met with charity and interest, and to make connections between people and their gifts and the fields of ministry for which laborers are few. May the peace of God enter your homes and your hearts as we welcome the new church year and say goodbye to the decade.
 
With gratitude and joy,

The Reverend Camie Dewey