The New Year 2006

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Schedule for week of January 1st

SAINT BARNABAS DAY is Wednesday, June 11. In celebration of our patronal feast there will be a High Mass at 6:30 PM with our good friend, Fr. Jack Kilby, as the homilist. The Mass will be followed by a grilled cookout supper. The Vestry will provide items to be grilled. Others are asked to bring a side dish, salad, or dessert. Everyone is welcome to attend – bring a friend with you. There’s always more than enough food and fellowship to go around. We hope all members will attend!

THE SECOND PARISH APPRECIATION POT-LUCK will be held after Mass on June 29th. Everyone is invited to bring the food dish of his or her choice. These gatherings are organized to recognize and thank the many people, too often unrecognized, who do so many good things around the parish.

If you would like to nominate someone – a person that you know has done something helpful for the building, for the good of the parish, for the good of their neighbor - please complete a nomination form. These forms can be found on the table in the Narthex.

Those recognized at the first luncheon on Rose Sunday, March 30 were: Donald Ehrlich for his work on seeing the new roof project brought to such successful completion; Matthew Burbach for his work on the church garden and grounds; Wanda Marsh for her care of Doris Pester, a recently deceased member of the church; Margaret St. John for polishing and maintaining the church silver; Frieda Wagner for faithfully attending nearly every church service and helping at all church functions; and Nick Behrens, who besides his regular duties as organist and choirmaster, also puts together visitor packets, changes light bulbs, scrubs toilets, and has been a catalyst in bringing new people and visitors into the church.

WE BID FAREWELL to members Frieda Wagner and Karen Wagner who have recently moved to Pensacola, Florida. Both Karen and Frieda have served the Parish in many ways through the years. These have included Frieda’s work in the Altar Guild, setting up for and cleaning up after services, repairing vestments and altar cloths and picking up supplies. Frieda also faithfully assisted in the kitchen at nearly every event held at the Church. Alas, no more Rum cake for a while! Karen has been a long-time faithful member of the choir. She also served as Junior Warden, taught Church School, and has been our resident photographer, among other things. While we will miss Frieda and Karen very much, we wish them well in their new home. 

MEET OUR NEW MEMBERS! In the last year we have been blessed and excited to welcome several new members into the church. We share a bit of information about some of our new members here, with stories on others to follow in subsequent newsletters.

Leo Racine – Leo is a native of Rutland, Vermont. He grew up in a French Canadian ethnic Roman Catholic Parish, where he was very active as a child and teenager. He attended seminary at the University of Montreal and was ordained to the Roman priesthood in 1964. After ordination, Leo did hospital and parish work in the Dioceses of Burlington, Vermont and Seattle, Washington. After leaving the active ministry, he worked various jobs in Alaska, Seattle, and Oregon, eventually returning to Seattle to begin a career in geriatrics. For this career he did further graduate studies in social work, specializing in the field of Alzheimer’s disease at Eastern Washington University in Cheny WA. He completed his MSW in 1994. He worked in nursing homes in Oregon and Nevada arriving in Omaha in 1996, where his first job was as a medical social worker at Methodist Hospital. He then worked at Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging (ENOA), before going on to the Paxton Manor. After the Paxton Manor closed, he went back to ENOA retiring in January of this year for health reasons.

One of Leo’s co-workers at ENOA was parishioner Frances Nich, who invited him to Saint Barnabas for one of the High Teas and Evensong. Leo says that finding Saint Barnabas Church is the best thing that has happened to him in 60 years, and that the church is one of the hidden treasures of Omaha. Speaking as one who has “been around” and has tended to have “a very critical and cynical eye,” the spiritual life at the church has helped to cure him of these traits. “I am blessed.”

William and Ella Templin – Bill and Ella recently transferred to St. Barnabas from the Church of the Resurrection (formerly St. John’s), where Bill served as the treasurer for 41 years, and Ella served on the Altar Guild for 30 years, the last 10 years as Directress.

Bill is a native of Peoria IL, and a graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign. Ella is a native Omahan. They will have been married for 55 years this June 20. They are the parents of adopted twins, Richard Templin, now deceased, and Robert Templin. Bill was for many years the comptroller at Channel 6 TV, retiring from that position in 1983. Ella worked in Federal government service for total of 26 years, having taken a 15 year “vacation” to raise the twins. Her last 10 years in government employ were with the Army Corps of Engineers. Both Bill and Ella sing with the German American Society Saengerchor (along with the Rector). Ella has sung with the group for over 60 years and Bill since 1950. Bill is fluent in German, and Ella semi-fluent. Some of the professional organizations that Bill has belonged to are the Institute of Management Accountants, the National Credit Management Association, and the Administrative Management Association.

Ella also sang in the choir at old St. John’s when Nick Behrens was a young organist there, just starting out. We are glad to welcome them to Saint Barnabas Church as dear long time friends!

REPORT FROM THE TREASURER

Through April 2003, our normal "operating income" (that is, pledges, plate, other envelopes, etc.) was $16,347.23 YTD. Our normal "operating expenses" were $19,149.88 YTD. While the expenses are higher than the income, the following should be considered.

Pledges are only down 1% vs. the budget, and are higher than at the same point in time in 2002. The income shortfall is primarily a cyclical problem with the budget: income required to be withdrawn from trusts is only withdrawn from April through September. The income categories are quite positive when this is taken into consideration.

On the expense side, likewise a victim of cyclical bills, expenses are primarily higher due to numerous insurance bills (annual and quarterly) hitting simultaneously during April. Altar expenses are also above budget, primarily because of Easter. The budget will eventually "catch up" to those numbers since we don't spend as much during the summer.

Overall things are positive from the standpoint that we continue to run a very tight budget with no deficit. Through April, our expenses were 7% over budget and our income 8% under budget - but again, primarily due to cyclical issues. If pledges maintain their current level, the budget throughout the remainder of the year should not result in a deficit. On the expense side, two of our most volatile expenses may balance each other out this year: our insurance costs are rising significantly, however, our utility costs (gas and electric) are going down.

On a side note of interest, the Lenten Pasta Bars generated $1,388 in income this year - which to my knowledge is a record.

In numerous ways, I think the budget continues to reflect faithful stewardship at St. Barnabas.

~Matt Burbach, Treasurer

SUMMER SUNDAY LOW MASSES – As in previous years, on the last Sundays of June, July, and August, instead of our usual High Masses, Low Masses with Hymns and Organ will be offered. This gives the choir a bit of a break, and also allows parishioners to become more familiar with some of the differences between Low Mass and High Mass in our Anglo-Catholic tradition.

From the Rector’s pen ...

On a recent radio broadcast I heard touted yet another new book on the “hidden and banned” Gospel of Thomas. I can never quite decide whether to laugh or cry when I hear the media make statements of this type. If the Gospel of Thomas is “hidden and banned,” it is probably the worst kept secret of all times. I have several copies of this and other apocryphal works—one copy of which I picked up at a major bookseller on their bargain table.

The Gospel of Thomas is neither hidden nor banned. It is non-canonical which means that it did not make it into the canon or list of the Church’s Scripture. The reason for this was not, as the media implies, that there was something in it which belies the Christian faith. The reason the Gospel of Thomas was not accepted by the early Church is that those early Christians—who were in close proximity both physically and temporally to the Savior and the disciples—knew that it was not accurate and true. There was no concerted effort made on the part of the Church to keep this document from the faithful. Books (or better said, manuscripts) were costly and labor intensive. There was neither time or money to waste producing books which would appeal only to scholars. Scholars already had access to these volumes. Later, when advances in printing made books of all sorts available to the masses, these apocryphal books were made readily available.

So, when you hear implied that the Church is trying to hide things from you, first of all consider the source of the statement. Second of all, use the good sense that God gave you and check out the accuracy of the information. No one—especially the Church–has anything to fear from the truth. Remember, her Head is the way, the truth and the life.