 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Monday, March 7, 2022 Louise Ritter’s birthday   Today Today, Louise Ritter, our undisputed matriarch, turns 87! I owe her a great deal – Actually, we all do. Louise was here when I came back in 2002 as a new transitional deacon. She is the only person of that first generation of St Alban’s folk still living. She has been here steadily, faithfully, ever since. Most of you don’t know that, among her other talents, Louse is a dancer – and was hilarious as an entertainer for so many of our early talent shows, parties and even at the “beach party” we had for then-retiring Bishop Howe year ago! Louise has been the sole consistent member of the altar guild: washing, ironing, caring for all the linens, vestments and candles until this year. Until recently, she even made and embroidered many of the ones we have. She has worked with Share Your Christmas through all the years that we have participated in it. The picture is from this past December, 2021. We only have the quarterly booklets from the national church, Forward Day by Day, because of Louise. Louise has served on the Bishop’s Committee, been a delegate to Diocesan Convention numerous times, and keeps up with diocesan and national church news. Her sense of adventure took her to the Navajo reservation some years back when many of us went as a group to do a very cool VBS for the children during their Diocesan Convention – It was Louise who urged me to come shop with her for baby gifts for Anna and Ryan’s baby, Eleanor; and she knows – and cares for – every child in the congregation. Louise gives generously, financially as well as of her time and energy; it is safe to say that without her contributions during the pandemic, when we were not able to meet indoors, we might not have been able even to pay the electric bills. She can tell you stories. Lots of them. Ask her! And thank you, Louise – for all you do – and mostly for who you are.  Yesterday Thank you all for carrying on so gracefully and graciously yesterday when I really needed to stay home to try to recover from this not-covid-but-miserable virus. Thanks to RB for assisting Becca leading Morning Prayer, to the readers, and to Paula Shepard for preaching. (Her homily will be posted today)  A Lenten Idea If you are thinking of a useful contribution you might make to the Community Connections food pantry – or to one of the little pantry boxes in town – here is one. Use a11-13 foil pan with cover, add any kind of cake mix, frosting, candles if you want to, and a can of Sprite or any lemon flavored soda. Add a note explaining that you can make a cake even if you don’t have eggs or oil if you just dump in the can of soda! If you tape the top on, there’s a simple, portable, useful thing that the pantry doesn’t usually have to give to people-Thank you for your care for others.  You want to see what faith and hope and love look like in a war zone? This. This right here. Nobody would be getting married on the front unless they believed and hoped and loved a future that they cannot yet see or guarantee – for themselves or their children. |
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