Home
| Persons | Calendar
|
Posta is Holy Trinity's bi-monthly newsletter.
July 21, 2004
Dear Parish Family,
Although the Feast of St. Mary, the mother of our Lord is in August, we seldom
focus on Mary during August as intensely as we do during Advent/Christmas and
the month of May. This year that will be different as we will be celebrating
her feast on a Sunday.
A few weeks ago, while
reading The Secret Life of Bees, I was struck by the importance of coming home
to Mary as Sue Monk Kidd wove the image of Mary through her novel in a masterful
way. Lily, a teenager, accompanied by a black farm worker, Rosaleen, who has
been her surrogate mother since Lily’s mother’s death at the age of four, leave
their farm home in Sylvan and journey to Tiburon, South Carolina. Lily is searching
for her mother’s story and goes to Tiburon, because it was the name on the back
of a picture of the Black Madonna, (One of the two possessions Lily still had
that had belonged to her mother). When they arrived in Tiburon and the Frogmore
Stew General Store and Restaurant, the connection was made when Lily spotted
this same image as labels on jars of honey, Black Madonna Honey.
The statute of the Black Madonna at the farm is called Our Lady of Chains. Each
year, on the eve of August 15 a two-day celebration begins which re-enacts the
story of Our Lady and tells it again. She had been washed ashore and salvaged
by slaves. They gave her a place of honor and when they touched her heart she
filled them with fearlessness and plans of escape. The master couldn’t tolerate
this, so he put her under house arrest and chained her to the carriage house.
Each time the master bound and chained her, she would beak the chains and return
to her people.
In the novel Lily is set free during the celebration as she learns the truth
about her biological mother and as she participates in the celebration, she
recalls one late night visit she had made to Our Lady, during which she realized
that Mary was her mother as well as the mother of thousands. Now all that was
real. The bound had been set free, the lowly lifted up and the powerful cast
down.
On Sunday, August 15, our morning worship will be a celebration of Blessed Mary.
The Rev. Max Johnson will be preaching and there will be other festivities as
well. Please come and join us and invite your friends.
Faithfully yours,
Mother Tina+
A while ago
the vestry asked me if the energy efficient bulbs were saving any money. The
chart shows a decrease of nearly 50 dollars from January to May but several
significant and uncontrollable variables are in play.
Based only on the usage data at hand, it is impossible to accurately quantify
any savings effect of the new bulbs. Furthermore, any saving is swamped by the
remaining tungsten lamps, the electric hot water heater, the ceiling fans, heating
and air conditioning etc.
When we look at the data what change can we reasonably expect to see? Well,
here's the math and let's keep it simple. If electricity is $0.10 per kilowatt-hour
(actually a little more), 100 watt tungsten lamps in our 48 sockets together
use about $0.5 per hour. If they burn 5 hours a week, that's $2.50 per week
or about $10 a month. Obviously, substituting 30 watt lamps in the same calculation
results in $3.00 a month.
To positively detect a $7 savings in our seasonably variable monthly bills requires
a very cheery imagination. Yet, $7 per month is $84 a year. I submit that the
bulbs easily pay for themselves three or more times during their long lifetime.
THE
OBLATES OF BLUES
COMING TO HOLY TRINITY!
Got the need for some Blues?
Our own often time presider
the Reverend Dr. Max Johnson (aka Screamin’ Maxi J.), Anglican priest and biblical
scholar Hugh Page (aka the “Professor of the Blues”), liturgy student and Saint
Matthew’s Cathedral organist “Dave 88 Fingers Pitt,” theology student Tom “Steady”
Guinan, and liturgy student “Nick “Driving Wheel” Russo - the “Oblates of Blues”
Band - will be offering their own oblation to that curious and bitter-sweet
mix of soul-filled calling, longing, pleading and shout which is the Blues,
at the front entrance to Holy Trinity on Saturday, August 28, from 11:45 a.m.
to 2:00 p.m. in a FREE open-air concert.
The Oblates of Blues Band of Notre Dame’s Theology Department has its origins
in two blues bands: The Lennards and the Screamin' Maxi J. Electric Blues Tornadoes,
which were formed at the School of Theology at Saint John's Abbey and University,
Collegeville, Minnesota. Students at Saint John's who have gone on to do Ph.D
work in Liturgy and Theology at Notre Dame made up much of the original membership
of the band - hence the name "Oblates of Blues;" an Oblate is a lay
or clerical associate member of a Benedictine Monastic Community.
The Oblates of Blues do not consider themselves worthy of the title "Brothers"
of the Blues but simply make their "blues oblation" in union with
the Blues. They have performed all over the local area, recently at the Midway
Tavern, Mishawaka, and at Frankies, South Bend. You can hear them play on-line
at http://www.nd.edu/~dpitt/oblates_sounds.html
While there have been membership changes over the years, the Oblates of Blues,
still comprised of theology faculty, graduate students, and graduates, keep
up their apostolate of spreading the message of Chicago Blues to all who will
receive it.
Invite your friends, relatives, neighbors, and the kid next door, for a relaxing
afternoon. Delicious homemade ice cream will be available from La Rosita’s local
ice cream carts.
YOU AIN’T NEVER SEEN THEOLOGIANS LIKE THIS!
Please send questions or comments to our webmaster. Last updated December 15, 2004 .