Copyright © 20067 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee

By Sharon Rasmussen
Diocesan Communications Director

As the fall diocesan meeting of the Episcopal Church Women began Sept. 14 at St. James, Knoxville, more than 100 participants embarked together on a “Journey to an Open Heart.”

The Rev. Maggie Zeller preached during the opening service, stressing the zeal and patience found in those spiritual leaders whose journeys we celebrate, including the early women’s auxiliaries that built the church and the recently departed Verna Dozier. In closing she said, “the Lord leads us, the Son is our way and the Spirit bestows the gifts we will need for the journey …”

Bishop Charles vonRosenberg celebrated the Holy Eucharist, and the journeys of more than 50 women of the diocese were remembered as the year’s necrology was read.

Diocesan President Arline Caliger of St. Francis of Assisi, Ooltewah, called the business meeting to order and offered comments about the churchwide ECW Triennial Meeting this past June, which met concurrently with the General Convention.

She remarked on a paper chain draped across the podium: On each of the nearly 40 links was inscribed a single name of an ordained woman in this diocese. The chain had linked with those from other dioceses to loop the Triennial Meeting room in a physical reminder of all those women whose journeys in ordained ministries have enriched the church during the past 30 years.

Because the slate of candidates for diocesan ECW posts was incomplete, Caliger proposed and approval was given for a vote to be conducted at a later time by mail or e-mail. The officers would be installed at a coming board meeting as the bishop’s schedule permitted. She recognized the six past presidents who were present at the meeting: Nancy Bosson, Betty Morris, Alice Payne, Katie Piper, Nancy Tanner and Cathy Varner.

Committee chairs reported on the year’s journey.

Marilyn Canady of St. James, Knoxville, introduced fellow parishioner and Mollie Tucker Scholarship winner Sedia Chaney, who is attending Pellissippi State Technical Community College with a goal to obtain her degree in nursing.

United Thank Offering Chairwoman Ellen Hartsfield reported that the spring Ingathering totaled nearly $2,700 – from eight parishes – and she encouraged others to participate. “The money is a byproduct of daily thankful prayer,” she said. Hartsfield said the alms basin shared with the other Tennessee dioceses could be reserved for fall Ingatherings.

The business meeting was adjourned, and the group moved into the parish hall, where lunch was served family-style at a number of tables. At each place setting, attendees found small gifts, which included a poem on a heart-shaped favor made by Cathy Varner, past-president and a member of All Saints, Morristown.

During the meal, Renee Haralson of St. James, Knoxville, showed a video about Camp Billy Johnson. The camp pairs each of up to 20 inner-city youth with a counselor – a young person from the diocese – throughout a weeklong experience at DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle, Tenn. The camp is named for the Rev. Billy Eugene Johnson, who had been ordained only a short time before he died in a plane crash nearly 30 years ago.

The $250 per-camper cost is raised through donations, and campers are sent home at week’s end with clothing and other goods that have been donated. Counselors pay their own way.

“They get this fantastic week, and our youth get the experience as well,” Haralson said. She called for contributions from the churches represented at the ECW meeting, and a half-dozen or more pledged to sponsor campers next year. She urged others to become sponsors by contacting her husband, diocesan Youth Coordinator Alex Haralson, at the Diocesan House with their pledges.

Ellen Hartsfield introduced Jim Wright and Beth Hunley of FISH Hospitality Pantries in Knoxville and presented them with a framed certificate, making their UTO grant official.

The food-distribution organization was the only East Tennessee group to be awarded a UTO grant this year; the award letter said in part that the funds were granted “to provide professional community organization assistance and training of volunteers … with an emphasis on disenfranchised and marginalized women.”

“Our work is all about relationships,” Hunley said. “We teach, and we learn. The UTO grant pushes us to make sure we are doing this authentic ministry.”

The organization aims “to build true community away from the walls of the church,” said Wright, FISH executive director.

After lunch was cleared away, Caliger introduced a group of seminarians from the University of the South’s School of Theology.

Led by Rob Goodridge, a senior doing field work at St. Francis of Assisi, Ooltewah, the group gave instruction on the creation of Anglican rosaries.

The women chatted as they threaded an intricately designed cross and beautiful beads of metal and glass onto thin wires. Seminarians walked among the tables, offering assistance, and the process was complete when a metal tube was crimped and the excess wire trimmed. Then Goodridge directed all eyes to the last page of the instructions: a prayer to be said using the rosary.

“In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen,” came the quiet voices as the Fall Meeting participants settled into a thoughtful rhythm.

Fingers traveling around the rosary, the voices blessed God, “for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love ...”

The day’s journey was nearing completion.

“Give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service … Amen.”

ECW on the web: etdiocese.net/ecw/ or contact Arline Caliger, president, kali8824z@aol.com.