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Christmas Eve 2005
Some of the Congregation took time, went and sang to residents of St. Joseph's Home in Utica NY.
Thanksgiving 2005
Wednesday, November 23rd started off with a snowstorm to welcome Father Francis Apple and Father Raymond Takes-War-Bonnet, two Anglican priests from South Dakota, to central New York. Fathers Francis and Raymond serve the Sun Star Traditional Anglican Mission on the Lakota Sioux Reservation near Kyle, South Dakota. Originally scheduled for November 1, their trip had to be postponed until the day before Thanksgiving. Even the bad weather did not dampen their spirits though.
The priests came to pick up a car which had been anonymously donated through the local Traditional Anglican group, St. Lucy’s, for use in their ministry. Sun Star serves a very impoverished and isolated populace on a very small budget, so the car will be quite a blessing. An announcement was made in the Winfield Star that winter clothing, food, and money would be collected to send back with the car, all items sorely needed by the people at Sun Star.
The response from the community was tremendous. Almost $1000.00 was raised and so much food and clothing was collected that it would not all fit in the car! A car top carrier was assembled out of old boxes and plywood and wrapped in plastic to hold what wouldn’t fit in the car. The carrier was four feet wide by nine feet long by fourteen inches tall, and it took four adults and several children to set it up on the car. The amount of donated items actually became a comical spectacle. Since the weather was pretty nice up until the 23rd, Deacon Rich Dibble of St. Lucy’s had decided not to put the studded snow tires on the car. But with all the snow and more ahead of the travelers, it was decided the tires should be changed before the car left. All the weight in the back and on top of the car, though, made it almost impossible to jack up the car enough to change the tires. People actually had to sit on the hood to balance the car, what a sight! The tires were changed successfully, though.
Special thanks go out to Ar-De’s Great American, The VFW, Lincoln Davies, Mohawk Valley LEAH, and the Delnero family for serving as collection points. Thanks also to the Mount Markham youth who collected items for hurricane relief but were not able to send them through FEMA, and thanks to Chris Merritt for seeing that many of those items were not collected in vain. Special appreciation also goes to the Winfield Star. Terry Conklin, Larry Slosek, and the Thomson family also, for helping get the car ready. But mostly thanks to everyone who gave; your donations will help some folks who really need it.
The people of St. Lucy’s heard about the needs of the Lakotas because both missions are part of the Anglican Church in America and the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion, and part of the organization called the International Anglican Fellowship makes needs within the Communion known so others can help.
Father Francis spoke about the situation they face at Sun Star today and about God’s faithfulness, and about the many parallels between their historic Indian religion and Christianity, about which he has just written a book. He and Father Raymond presented a genuine Sun Star handmade quilt to St. Lucy’s. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer is the standard of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a book almost completely of scripture or paraphrased scripture, setting the form for services of the church and even family prayer. Father Raymond exhibited one of these books written in both English and Sioux, side by side, which was quite interesting.
The priests prayed in English and Sioux and pronounced a blessing on all attending before leaving that Wednesday afternoon, about four o’clock, some sixteen hundred miles home. "We want to make it home for Thanksgiving dinner," Father Francis Joked.
Father Raymond offered much encouragement to the little local group. "Christ prayed for our unity, but also that we be sanctified through the truth," he said. "If you stand for the truth He will always bless you in His time."
"We are just thankful we could all help our brethren, and we are thankful that they made the long trip home safely and uneventfully, Caroline Dibble said. Amen!
We are happy to report they made it home safely...
For more information and really beautiful star quilts click here.
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