Christmas Smash a Smashing Success (and No One Was Smashed)

Greetings friends,

Thanks to all who were able to make it out to the St. Paul's YAMs Christmas Party (there were twenty-two of us, all told). Lisa and I certainly had a blast! I hope that everyone else did too. If you were out-of-town or otherwise unable to come, we hope that next year you will be able to make it. Thanks to St. Paul’s for providing just about everything. This was truly a great way to celebrate the season!

Yours in Christ,
Bob

The Rev. Robert K. Leopold
Assistant Rector for College and Young Adult Ministries
St. Paul's Church, Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
leopold@stpaulschatt.org
http://stpaulsyams.blogspot.com/

Ordination Invitation

Greetings friends,

As most of you know, there are three ordained orders in the Episcopal (Anglican) Church: deacon, priest, and bishop. While these ministriest are not hierarchical, nor are they any more important than the ministries of the laity, they are sequential. That is to say, to be ordained a priest, one must have been already ordained a deacon. Similarly, bishops must first be deacons, then priests, then bishops.

At the time of this writing, I am a deacon, though a special kind of deacon called a transitional deacon. This means that the call identified by the community of faith in my life is to the ministry of priesthood. However, in order to be a priest, one must first have been a deacon. The time of my ministry that is limited to deaconal duties is nearly at an end . . .

The Lord willing and the people consenting, the Rt. Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg (our bishop in the Diocese of East Tennessee) will ordain me to the sacred order of priests on January 10th, at 4:00 PM, at St. Paul's Church in Chattanooga, TN. By means of this note, I am inviting you all. I do hope that you all can come.

Yours sincerely in Christ,
Bob

P.S. There is no real need for an evite for this event. Just come and see and celebrate afterward.

P.P.S. I put some pictures up here.

Christmas Greeting

Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers and support in the past year. Together we have really begun to shape this ministry into something great. I appreciate each and every one of you. It is in this spirit of thanksgiving for a wonderful year past and in anticipation of a glorious year to come that I wish you a sincere, heart-felt happiest of Christmastide!

Yours jubilantly in Christ,
Bob

Winter, Spring, Summer 2009 Calendar of Events

Greetings friends,

I have tried to causally audit most of you about the shape of the Young Adults Ministry here at St. Paul's. Based upon that input, I agree that doing something about twice a month is a good working model. Similarly, I have tried to vary the dates and times in order to give everyone a chance to participate. Along those lines, I have stuck with the practice of varying the types of events as well - service, community building, fun, etc. So, without further delay . . .

Here is the calendar for the Spring, Summer, and Winter of 2009:

Ordination
Sat. 10th January
St. Paul's Sanctuary
4-7 PM
Free

Prepare & Serve Food
Sat. 31st January
The Community Kitchen
8 AM - 12 PM
Free

Winter Games Party
Fri. 6th February
The Leopolds' House
5-9 PM
Free

Dinner with Speaker
Thurs. 19th February
St. Paul's Parish Hall
6-9 PM
$6

Mission Trip
Fri. 13th - Sat. 14th March
Appalachian Mountains
5-5 PM
$TBD

Anniversary of MLK's Death
Sat. 4th April
Chattanooga African-American Museum
12-4 PM
$4

St. Paul's Helping Weekend
17th - 19th April
Teams at Various Places
8-6 AM-PM (various times within)
Free

After Church Fun - Hunt
Sun. 3rd May
St. Paul's Campus
12-3 PM
Free

Dinner with Speaker
Fri. 22rd May
St. Paul's Parish Hall
6-9 PM
$6

Prepare & Serve Food
Sat. 31st May
The Community Kitchen
8-12 AM-PM
Free

Summer Movie
Sat. 6th June
Regal Hamilton Place
3-6 PM
$3

Summer Games Party
Sat. 4th July
The Leopolds' House
3-6 PM
Free

Summer Dinner
Sat. 1st August
St. Paul's - Parish Hall
6-9 PM
$6

Prepare & Serve Food
29th August
The Community Kitchen
8-6 AM-PM
Free

I have also attached the calendar as a .pdf here.

I hope that you will be able to participate in a great many of our events in the coming year!

Yours in Christ,
Bob

Carol Singing and Cookie Baking a Huge Success

Greetings friends,

The most recent YAMs event, the late, great, cookie-baking, carol-singing, homebound-visiting YAMathon was a huge success. I cannot fully relate to you the thanks that I have received on behalf of those whom we visited. They loved it and they now love us. By virtue of this event, we have endeared ourselves into the oldest generation at St. Paul's. Way to go!

I must admit, on Saturday, I was worried. I know how to lead a music rehearsal (from my bass-playin' days) and I know how to behaive in a pastoral way. I don't know how to do both at the same time. I certainly erred on the side of pastoring, which I think is okay. the music sounded fine, but things were a wee bit out-of-control. That's okay, though, because Sunday afternoon, by about the second stop, everyone realized why we were there. There were no pep-talks needed. We knew why we were there.

That being said, we really spread some joy that day! Thank you all for your work - if you baked, if you sang, or if you just thought about us - thank you.

As thanks, here are some pictures.

Yours in Christ,
Bob

P.S. check out that joy on Christyna’s face!!!

The Rev. Robert K. Leopold
Assistant Rector for College and Young Adult Ministries
St. Paul's Church, Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
leopold@stpaulschatt.org
http://stpaulsyams.blogspot.com/

YAMs Christmas Party

Greetings friends,

As may of you know by the evite, Lisa and I are hosting a Christmas party. If you did not get the evite, please email me at leopold@stpaulschatt.org to RSVP and for directions. The party will be at our house on the evening of December 28th at six o'clock. Please come out for this fun time. The only thing that you need bring is yourself.

Yours in Christ,
Bob

P.S. I have posted pictures of the event here.

Updated Calendar - Those Events that Made the Cut

Greetings friends,

As mentioned in the last post, in the interest of getting more YAMs involved at the same events and not overwhelming those who have not yet participated, here is the new calendar with only two events or so per month.

Calendar of Events:

10th Jan. Sat. 4:00 PM – The Ordination of Robert K. Leopold to the Sacred Order of Priests (Lord & the Bishop willing and the People Consenting) Followed by an Educational Event and Party at St. Paul's

I do hope that you all will have some opportunity to participate in many of these events. Further details will be forthcoming. This will perhaps relieve some of the pressure on all of us to try to make it to all of the events.

Yours in Christ,
Bob

Past Events:

4th Sept. Tues. – Young Adults’ Dinner Welcoming the Leopolds with Speaker The Rev. Matilda Dunn

27th Sept. Sat. – Culture Fest in Coolidge Park

4th Oct. Sat. 9:30 AM thru 12:00 PM - Breakfast Preparation at St. Paul's

5th Oct. Sun. 8:00 AM thru 10:00 AM - Breakfast Service at St. Paul's

10th Oct. Fri. 7:00 PM thru 9:00 PM – Dessert at the Eichenbergers’ House

18th Oct. Sat. 8:00 AM - Habitat for Humanity Work Day

26th Oct. Sun. 12:00 PM – Luncheon Speaker after Church, at the Church

31st Oct. Fri. 6:00 PM thru 1st Nov. Sat. 4:00 PM – All Hallows’ Eve/All Saints' Day Retreat to Sewanee

8th Nov. Sat. 3:00 PM - Let's Go Bowling!!!

15th Nov. Sat. 8:00 AM thru 12:00 PM - Deliver Collected Goods to Community Kitchen and Work at Community Kitchen

27th Nov. Thur. 8:00 AM thru 12:00 PM - Thanksgiving Day Grateful Gobbler Walk Followed by Service at St. Paul's

13th Dec. Sat. 3:00 PM - Baking Goodies for the Hearers of Carols on Sunday the 14th at St. Paul's Kitchen

14th Dec. Sun. 12:00 PM - “Advent” Caroling to Residets of St. Barnabas and Others

28th Dec. Sun. 6:00 PM thru 9:00 PM - Christmas Party at the Leopolds' House (after 5:00 PM Church)

YAMs Bake-N-Sing

Greetings friends,

Many of you who have had your eye on the bulletin or website are now ready for this evite and email combo. The YAMs (and anyone else who considers themselves such) is invited to come bake, sing, and sing. By this I mean: this Saturday, the 13th, at St. Paul's, at 3:00 PM, the YAMs (and friends) will gather to bake goodies to give out on the following day to folks at St. Barnabas after the 10:30 service. While we give out these baked goodies, we will also sing advent carols (maybe some Christmas ones will sneak in too). So, while we bake the day before, we will also practice singing. All you need bring is yourself and something to make/bake to give away. You don't have to bring a lot, because we will only see a few folks at a time and you don't have to worry that you are bringing something that someone else has bought for the very same reason.

Here is a link to the evite, if you did not get it.

Yours in Christ,
Bob

P.S. The reports I have from folks about what they are bringing range from break-n-bake-tube-cookies to made-from-scratch . . . All are welcome.

P.P.S. I have added a report and some pictures here.

Thanks to All Who Attended the Grateful Gobbler

Greetings friends,
Thank you all so much for your support in walking in and sponsoring walkers for the Grateful Gobbler Walk to benefit the Chattanooga Homeless Coalition. I saw many folks from St. Paul's - lots of them young adults and tweeners!! Unfortunately, most of us were separated from one another. Whoever had the flag was way out front and was a very fast walker. There was no way that I was even going to keep up, much less catch up. Oh well. Maybe next year we can get better coordinated about where to meet and how sponsorships might work better. Regardless, thank you all for your help and hard work. This was, I believe a great statement to the wider community and it did some good work in its own right.
Yours in Christ, Bob

Advent I Sermon

Friends,

Well, it happened again . . . I preached at St. Paul's. I am happy to say that four souls were brought to Jesus because of this . . . Oh wait . . . That is not us. Anyway, for those of you who weren't able to hear it, here it is in all its glory.

The lectionary texts are:

Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37

Here is the Gospel as read.
Here is the Sermon.

Enjoy.

Yours humbly in Christ,
Bob