Crossings CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS � EPISCOPAL

875 COTTON STREET, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA MAY 4, 2016

Holy Eucharist Sunday: 9:20 and 11:00 AM

Saturday: 5:00 PM Wednesday: 12:15 and 6:00 PM

Nursery Sunday

10:50 AM – 12:30 PM

Choir Practice Sunday: 9:45 AM

Sunday School Sunday: 11:00 AM

The Vestry Reece Middleton, Senior Warden

Gerry Brooks, Jr. Warden

Christine Hennigan, Secretary Melissa Fowle Jo Ann Horton John Hughes

Meredith Lucius Kendall Raymond

Monty Walford, Treasurer (non-vestry)

Contact Information Telephone: (318) 222-3325

Fax: (318) 681-9506 Email: holycrossshrv1@bellsouth.net

Please visit our website www.holycrossshreveport.org

Deadline Material for Crossings must be received by 12:00 Wednesday.

Please send to lynn.walford@lsus.edu

Jesus Departs; the Spirit Comes

Gustave Doré,The Ascension (1868)

Thursday, May 5, is Ascension Day this year, the day Jesus, “as[the disciples]were watching, was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Luke writes: “. . . he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:52). Jesus’ final departure from earth comes, in Church tradition, forty days, a “sufficient” passage of time, after the Resurrection. So the Feast of the Ascension is always on Thursday between the Sixth and Seventh (final) Sundays of Easter.

Who can fill the place Jesus has held? Who can possibly do what he has done to teach and prepare his disciples for ministry? Who can inspire and encourage them as he has? The disciples, understandably, would have been anxious, fearing the coming of that last day. Who is this Spirit that Jesus promises will comfort and advise and empower them (John 14:26-27)? It’s hard to imagine that the disciples could envision any future time as good as their time with Jesus had been. It’s hard to imagine that they could believe they could carry on the ministry and power of God’s love. I would be daunted, wouldn’t you?

And so Jesus’ ascension into heaven brings an abrupt end to their time when they can lean on him as their strength. It’s now their time to wait, as Jesus instructs them to do. The account of his glorious ascension and their prayers of hope and trust must sustain them for a while.

The healing stories of the Gospels are dramatic. The stories of Jesus’ love for people who have been cast out and for his disciples are striking. The stories of his birth, baptism, temptation in the wilderness; of his passion, death, and resurrection are unmatchable in their imagery and meaning. The coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is right up there with the Creation Story and these other stories of our faith.

Just think of it: Frightened, insecure, unsure, ambivalent, the followers of Jesus

huddle in an “upper room”—perhaps the same room where they had shared Jesus’ last supper with them. The memory of that night is palpable to them. In the middle of the most sacred remembering of the Jewish people, doubt had come among them. And sadness. And anxiety. They could still feel it in their bones as they waited some fifty days later for something unknown to happen at an unknown time.

El Greco, Pentecost (1596)

And then, “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability (Acts 2:2). Empowerment beyond their imagining. A force they could not deny—greater than themselves and any fear they had experienced. The force of life itself. And this, the Church declares, is the birth of the Church. From that moment on, thousands and thousands were baptized almost daily and brought into the circle of Believers. The Acts of the Apostles tells us the stories.

There’s another account of the coming of the Spirit, this one in the twentieth chapter of John’s Gospel. We read it a few weeks ago, on the Second Sunday of Easter. The Spirit’s quiet entrance here is exactly the opposite of her “invasion” on the Day of Pentecost. Gathered, frightened, in another room, on the evening of the Resurrection, the Apostles receive the Spirit when Jesus breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Quietly, almost silently, she comes to each of them, but we infer with no less power. Jesus’ own breath imparts the Spirit to his apostles. The story puts us in mind of the story of Creation, when God breathed life into the first creature God made. We remember also Elijah’s encounter with God on the mountain (1 Kings 19:11-21): not in the wind or the thunder or the fire but in a “still, small voice of calm,” as our hymn (652) says. A still, small voice. The breath of life.

So which is it? Which is the real story of the coming of the Holy Spirit? If we know anything about Scripture, we know it is full of contradictions. The memories and the writings are inspired by God, and inspiration is given to different people to receive in the ways they are ready to receive it and interpret it in the ways they hear God speaking to them. Today, one of us would say we experience the Holy Spirit in a dramatic vision or experience that changes our life. Another of us would say the Spirit comes undeniably in solitude and quiet. Can you imagine having only one story that says, This is the way it must be? We need both stories. Both of them inspire us to listen, to expect, to be ready for the Spirit to make herself known to us and to trust the Spirit’s working in us.

The Rev. Mary B. Richard

The Paraclete [Holy Spirit] is connected with the power of the witness of believers for Jesus. the Paraclete functions beyond the community of faith by judging the world and demonstrating its wrongs. And the Paraclete leads believers into all truth. With that in mind, perhaps we should “rejoice” as Jesus suggests. We are in good hands.

James C. Somerville

DON’T FORGET: Holy Cross will be on LPB’s Art Rocks!

Last fall a group of people filming for Art Rocks! came to Holy Cross and asked if they could

include us in the series. They see our building as the Louisiana Treasure it surely is. The

program will air on LPB Channel 24 at the following times:

Saturday, May 7, 5:30 PM

Sunday, May 8, 4:00 PM

Visit the Art Rocks! website to see previous programs, including some made in and about Shreveport:

http://www.lpb.org/index.php/programs/artrocks/art_rocks

Daily Feast: Meditations on the Word, Year B

Louisville: Westminster, John Knox Press, 2012

The Seventh Sunday of Easter The Day of Pentecost, Whitsunday* May 8, 2016 May 15, 2016 Acts 16:16-34 � Psalm 97 Acts 2:1-21 � Psalm 104:25-35, 37

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 � John 13:31-35 Romans 8:14-17 � John 14:8-17 (25-27)

(Acts) The irony is that those who seem to be in prison are (John) There have, of course, been negative outcomes too; but by actually free in Christ, and the jailer, who supposedly and large the church of Jesus Christ has brought the presence has the keys to freedom, is actually the one shackled and power of God to bear on the plight of humanity. As long by his duty. as we can do it in the name of Jesus and for the glory of God, David G. Forney our works of love will be a positive influence in the world. Bruce E. Shields

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*Whitsunday, from late Old English Hwita Sunnandæg, “white Sunday,” possibly so called from the white baptismal robes worn by newly baptized Christians on this day. From Online Etymology Dictionary, www.etymonline.com.

Calendar for the Easter Season

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Sundays Informal Eucharist 9:20 AM Rose Garden or Chapel (depending on weather)

Choir Practice 9:45 AM Nave

Nursery 9:45 AM-12:15 PM Education Building

Sunday School 11:00 AM Education Building

Holy Eucharist II 11:00 AM Nave

Saturdays Holy Eucharist I 5:00 PM Chapel

Tuesdays Supper, Eucharist, video and discussion 6:00 PM Undercroft

Sunday, May 15 Pentecost Picnic after the 11:00 service Undercroft and patio

The Day of Pentecost Whitsuntide Organ Concert 2:00 PM Nave

Bruce Power, Organist and Choirmaster

Prayer List

Dean Adkins Bill Alexander Wanda Allen Warren Bankston Jim Boyd Michael Breedlove Tyrone Braden Jay Colvin Evelyn Corley Amy Crone Ron Dean

Jean Dooley Elizabeth Eglin Shirley Enani Floyd “Buzzy” Farrar Lady Martha Garner Austin Gleason JM Hardwick Stephen Hazel Thomas Hennigan Kenneth Jordan Flo Little

George Love Kenneth Lowe Chris Lowery Lisa Martin Mim McCoy Paige McCrainie Melody Mhyre Ila Riggs Bob Robinson Linda Robinson Sandra Robinson

Brady Sessions Heather Sipulvido Tommy Simrall Robert Todd Cliff Townsend Mattie Washington Charlotte Webb Bill Wright Larry Wright Mary Wright

If you would like to request an addition to the Prayer List, please call the church office, 222-3325. Our practice is to keep names on the list for six weeks. If we have an update at that time requesting that we continue to pray for the person, we will leave the name on the list. If not, we will remove it. You can always call if you would like us to add it again.

We pray for those who serve and are served by the Philadelphia Center;

for all who are homeless or hungry; for the people of Mexico, South and Central America, the Middle East, and all places where there is war and fear; for migrants in Africa and Europe; and for all who seek peace;

for all immigrants seeking acceptance and safety, for the people of our country, that we may find together the way of compassion and peace from our prejudices and racial

tensions; for law enforcement officers and the people they serve; for candidates seeking office this year, and for our President and Congress, that they may work together to pass legislation to lessen the danger of violence and

injustice in our country and provide for the needs of the most vulnerable.

In our Diocesan cycle of prayer we pray for St. Andrews, Mer Rouge, Redeemer, Oak Ridge, and the Rev. Dale Farley; and for Trinity, Tallulah, Grace, Lake Providence, and the Rev. William Echols (Linda).

Grow us slowly, persistently, and deeply, Lord, to be people who watch without distinction, listen without interruption, and stay put without inclination to flee. Amen.

Adapted from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Lay Ministries

The Seventh Sunday of Easter The Day of Pentecost, Whitsunday May 8: Morning Prayer May 15 Sat. 5:00 PM: Lector: Trish Peyton Sat. 5:00 PM: Lector: Stephanie Hamblin Sun. 11:00 AM: Sun: 11:00 AM: Lectors: Nathaniel Means, Reid Raymond Lectors: Reece Middleton, David Richard Acolytes: Steve Snodgrass, Herschel Richard, Aaron Horton Prayers of the People: Lynn Walford Ushers: Tommie Sue Brooks, Gerry Brooks Eucharistic Ministers: Monty Walford, Kendall Raymond Altar Guild Sat. 5:00: Margaret Heacock, June Kirkland Acolytes: Audrey Roberts, Hannah Wallace, Patrick Raymond Altar Guild Sun. 11:00: Tommie Sue Brooks, Christine Hennigan Ushers: Steve Snodgrass and Becky Snodgrass Altar Guild Sun. 11:00: Jo Ann Horton, Ginger Paul

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The Flowers on the High Altar on Pentecost are given by the Paul Family to the Glory of God and in Thanksgiving for the Fiftieth Ordination Anniversary to the Sacred Priesthood of the Reverend Kenneth W. Paul in St. Mark’s Church, Shreveport, on May 18, 1966. Fr. Paul will be the Celebrant at the Holy Eucharist on Sunday, May 15, at the 11:00 AM service.

Service Music

The Seventh Sunday of Easter: May 8 Morning Prayer

Choir Canticle Christ our Passover Robert N. Roth Canticle Dignus es [A Song to the Lamb] metrical setting: St. Magnus

Canticle Ecce Deus [The First Song of Isaiah] Hymn 679 Anthem O Lord, most high arr. Richard Shephard

Hymns 460 Hyfrydol 450 Coronation Organ Voluntary in D John Bennett Cantique Edward Elgar

The Day of Pentecost, Whitsunday: May 15

Introit Veni Creator Plainsong, Mode 8 Mass William Mathias and David Hurd

Psalm 104:25-35, 37, Responsorial Anthem Come down, O love divine Norman Gilbert

Hymns 225 Salve festa dies 511 Abbot’s Leigh 516 Down Ampney 512 Mendon Organ Offertory Fantasy for Feast of Pentecost Guilmant Veni Creator Sowerby

Variations on “Veni Creator” Maurice Duruflé

Whitsuntide Organ Concert after our Pentecost Day Picnic Sunday, May 15, 2:00 PM

performed by Bruce Power on the Skinner Organ

This year there will be an addition to our festive Pentecost. At 2:00 p.m., after our picnic, an organ concert will be played by Bruce on our historical, magnificent Skinner organ. Come to church, have lunch, and plan to stay for the concert. Our organ will be one hundred years old in 2020; the contract for our Skinner organ was signed in 1920, and the instrument was first heard in 1921. Since then, considering the age of our organ, there has been relatively little work done on the instrument. As innovations in electrical, digital, and mechanical workings developed, the organ was updated. We have just finished major work on the organ in the past year, and the instrument is breathing anew, producing sounds that were silent a year ago. It is an ongoing process; the work is not finished. Bruce will present an organ concert on our wonderful instrument. The concert will feature music by J.S. Bach, Lizst, and a variety of other composers. Please invite your friends to come and enjoy the concert, and perhaps have a hot dog or two before the concert. Bruce Power Ernest Skinner

Pentecost Picnic: Sunday, May 15 Instead of the usual Continuing Feast on First Sunday, we’ll celebrate Pentecost with a picnic of burgers and hot dogs, cooked by the Holy Cross Grill team, and we’ll also have plenty of chips and ice cream.

Soft drinks and water will be for sale for $1.00, and the proceeds will be given to our fast-growing Sunday School and nursery to cover the cost of supplies and materials.

Bring your friends and your appetite, and please provide a donation of $4.00 per person to cover the cost of the meal. So we’ll know how many to cook for, please call the church office to make reservations. And don’t forget to wear red—the color of Pentecost!

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An apology from your editor . . .

In the last issue of Crossings there was a story about the Makers’ Fair, along with some photos. I’m

sorry to say that I left out one important photo, of our own Becky Snodgrass, who had a booth at the

fair where she displayed her beautiful, original paper flower arrangements. Here’s the photo, along with

my apologies.

A Poet in our Midst—Hannah Wallace You all probably know Hannah as the girl with the charming smile who is one of our most faithful acolytes—and who, by the way, is the granddaughter of Marshall and Reece Middleton. But did you know that at her young age she’s already a prize-winning poet?

ArtBreak, created and sponsored by SRAC (Shreveport Regional Arts Council), is a program designed to encourage young artists and writers from public and private schools in Caddo and Bossier to show their talent to the public, and to compete for awards in a number of categories.

This year, Hanna won the “Best of Sixth Grade” award for free-form poetry—an honor that includes not only a trophy, but a cash award. Hannah, who will be

twelve years old in July, is in the sixth grade at Caddo Middle Magnet School, and has just finished playing in the school’s production of Annie. (Where, do you think, she got her talent for acting?) Here is Hannah’s prize-winning poem:

GONE

He was a protective man

Says the gun Sitting in the corner of the closet

And the hidden room Behind the smoky fireplace

A patient man Says the gigantic novel Now covered in dust

An ill man Says the broken medicine bottles

Sitting in the cabinet

He loved a woman Says the worn wedding ring

In an old wooden box A working woman Says the round tub

Filled with dirty water Next to the clothesline

A woman that liked to spend time In the flowery meadows

Says the numerous bouquets Sitting in rusty cans

There was a young girl Says the denim dress

With white and purple daisies A curious girl

Says the mystery books Sitting on the ivory shelf

A singer Says the yellow stained paper

With dull music notes

A family that is gone Says everything

Church of the Holy Cross � Episcopal Non-Profit Organization

P. O. Box 1627 U. S. Postage

Shreveport, LA 71165-1627 P A I D SHREVEPORT, LA Website: www.holycrossshreveport.org Permit No. 1197 E-mail: holycrossshrv1@bellsouth.net Return Service Requested

Mission Statement: The Church of the Holy Cross, Shreveport, Louisiana, strives to be the presence of Jesus Christ in our community and beyond, through worship of Almighty God, open inquiry, sharing fellowship, valued diversity, genuine inclusiveness, and servant leadership—encouraging all to exercise God’s gifts and calling as we share the Gospel of Hope in programs, to serve without regard for religious affiliation, race, or economic status.

Hope House: There is an ongoing need for coffee, sugar, creamer, laundry detergent, disposable razors, and personal size hygiene products (soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc.). Donations can be taken to 762 Austin Place or to the church office. Thank you for your continued support.

Forward Day by Day for May and June, in both standard and large-print editions, is available in the Narthex and the Undercroft.

� The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Ph.D. XXVII Presiding Bishop The Rt. Rev. Dr. Jacob Owensby, Ph.D., D. D. IV Bishop of Western Louisiana The Rev. Mary B. Richard Rector The Rev. Sally M. Fox Assisting Priest The Rev. Kenneth W. Paul Rector Emeritus The Rev. Donald D. Heacock Director, Holy Cross Child Placement Mr. Bruce Power Organist-Choirmaster Mr. Ron Dean Organist-Choirmaster Emeritus Mrs. Laurie Connell Office Administrator Mr. Charles Alford Sexton