Frank L. Abbott Jr.

Frank L. Abbott Jr., 76, of Greenwood died suddenly Thursday at his residence. Visitation will be at 2 p.m. today at The Episcopal Church of The Nativity in Greenwood with memorial services following at 3 p.m. The Rev. Peter Gray will officiate. Greenwood Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Frank Lynch Abbott Jr. was born on May 8, 1941, in Greenwood. He graduated from Greenwood High School in 1959. He attended Mississippi State University, where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and earned an electrical engineering degree.

He worked for Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama, during the 1960s and early ’70s on the Saturn rocket program, including the lower stage of the Saturn V rocket of NASA’s Apollo moon missions.

Frank next lived in Nashville, where he and a team designed and set up a large centralized computer complex and system for the State of Tennessee government, a project that spanned several years.

He then worked for AT&T in Birmingham and Jackson before moving back to Greenwood, where he did IT work for Scientific Telecom and the John Richard Collection. In the past several years he enjoyed using his professional computer skills doing volunteer consultations and work on his friends’ home computers.

Frank had served as treasurer at the Episcopal Church of The Nativity.

Preceding him in death were his parents, Frank Lynch Abbott and Leila DeLoach Abbott.

He is survived by his brother, James (Jim) DeLoach Abbott, and his wife, Cynthia, of Oxford; nephew Jim D. Abbott Jr. (Tiffany) of Hinsdale, Illinois; niece Catherine (Katie) Abbott Kluttz (Brad) of Greenville, South Carolina; and five great-nephews and nieces, Whit, James and Leila Kluttz and Blake and Harlow Abbott.

Memorials may be made to The Episcopal Church Of The Nativity, P.O. Box 1006, Greenwood, MS 38935 or to a charity of your choice.

An online guestbook may be signed at www.greenwoodmsfuneralhome.com.

The Choir Corner: Epiphany, Lent and Easter

David Williamson, Choirmaster and Organist

Looking at Hymn 135, “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” one notices that this is a seasonal hymn addressing the themes of this Epiphany season. The repetition of "manifest" reminds us of the manifestation of Christ to all, not just the descendants of Israel. It covers the Baptism of Christ and the Transfiguration, which are the focus of the first and last Sundays after Epiphany. The wedding at Cana is also alluded to for those years with a longer Epiphany in which we hear in the lectionary Jesus’ first miracle. The tune name is "Salzburg," harmonized by Bach, representing some of the best hymnody in the German/Dutch/Swiss Protestant tradition.

Contrasting to this is Hymn 448, "O Love how deep, how broad, how high," which is used extensively in both the Lenten and Easter seasons, and usually several times in the Season after Pentecost. The allusion to the Love of God is obvious in the title, and regardless of the season, it sometimes is the most cohesive choice for coordinating with the Collect, Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle and Gospel of a given Sunday. The Tune is "Deus tuorum militum," alluding to the original Latin text, "O God of your soldiers." It is French in origin, written just after the death of Bach, and represents the "new school" of Roman Catholic hymnody that emerged as a result of the Counter Reformation.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

Loosen your belts, put on your dancing shoes, and join us for one more celebration before we begin Lent! Nativity’s annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper begins at 5:30pm, Tuesday, February 13. Join us for pancakes, sausage, Mardi Gras beads, and the last Alleluias of Epiphany before we begin the fast on Ash Wednesday.

A Note from Peter (February 2018)

The Rev. Peter Gray

“A season of penitence and fasting...self-examination and repentance...of reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” These are the words the Book of Common Prayer uses to describe the season of Lent, the six and a half weeks Christians spend in preparation before Easter. Very often as we look toward Lent, we begin having conversations about our fast, that is, what it is we are going to give up during this period. This year, I invite you to prepare for Lent by focusing on what it is you’d like to gain.

On February 4, I’m going to try something new. Rather than announcing what I think we should study on Sundays as we move toward Easter, I’m going to let you all set the agenda. How do you want to grow as a Christian? What parts of scripture are most intriguing or interesting to you? Is there some part of the Church’s history that you’d like to hear more about? Or maybe you’ve been looking for new ways to nourish your personal life of prayer? I want to know what you want to learn about, and on February 4 Nativity will make a decision on how we spend our Lent.

Whether you attend 8am or 10:30 worship, come ready to rip a corner off your bulletin and scribble down your idea. Drop that scrap of paper in the offering plate as it comes by. I’ll sort the ideas by topic, and the top vote-getter will be our topic for adult forum during Lent. The Nativity Facebook account will announce what we’ll be studying that Sunday afternoon, and on Monday morning, I’ll get to work learning, studying, and exploring what it is Nativity wants to learn about.

One of the gifts of having a church family is that we are constantly reminded that the spiritual life is not an individual sport, but a team one. As we enter Lent, the prayer book invites us to a season of self-reflection and learning. Some of that will happen in the silence of our own prayers, but some of it will take place here at Nativity surrounded by sisters and brothers who, like each of us, are looking to grow in the knowledge and love of God. So, what do y’all want to learn?

Peter+

Time and Talent Surveys

Every member on Nativity’s mailing list should have received a four-page time and talent survey at the beginning of December. As we continue our work together as a church family, we are always in the business of recruiting new leaders to guide those ministries that make up our life together.

This survey is our way of asking you how your gifts and interests might align with the needs of the church and of the world. Moreover, finding ways to participate more deeply in this life of the church encourages us to build relationships with the people we worship with, but may not know particularly well. If you haven’t already, please take time to review the survey along with your whole household, and write each person’s name by the ministry s/he is interested in participating in, and then return the completed survey to the church office.

New Service Opportunity for 5th-8th Grade Youth

For the Spring of 2018, we are creating a new service opportunity for our 5th-8th grade youth on Sunday mornings at 9:30am. Instead of Sunday School, these members of our church will be invited to assist with our youngest Godly Play classroom. As our 3k-5k Godly Play teachers can attest, we have lots of energy to manage in that room! Before assisting, youth will be invited to attend a brief training with our Godly Play teachers so that they can understand the particular format of the program and how they can be helpful. After attending the training, these youth will be scheduled as helpers just as adult teachers are. Our hope is that their participation will continue to nurture a spirit of service in our youth while also exposing them to the rich biblical teaching of Godly Play.

Annual Council of the Episcopal Church in Mississippi

January 26-28 the legislative meeting of the Diocese of Mississippi will convene in Southaven for two days to elect new Diocesan leadership, approve a budget, and hear reports on the ministries of the Episcopal Church in Mississippi.

Nativity’s delegation includes Peter, Kathy Whicker, Harris Powers, and Tish Goodman. Going as alternates are Philip Lawes and Katie Jones. Additionally, Ellie Knight is attending Council as the lone Youth Delegate for the entire Delta Convocation. The January edition of The Mississippi Episcopalian will include information on nominees and potential resolutions, so let your representatives know how you think they should vote! On Sunday, January 28, all the clergy of the Diocese will be in Southaven, and Episcopalians from far and wide are invited to attend one huge, statewide Eucharist at 10am at the Landers Center. Jim Barrett will lead Morning Prayer at Nativity that morning.

Annual Parish Meeting

Please plan on being present for the 2018 annual parish meeting Sunday, January 14 after the 10:30 service. We’ll have a potluck meal together, hear from leadership on the state of the parish, elect new vestry members, and take a look at the first annual report of the Nativity Permanent Endowment. Additionally, the parish will be asked to approve one minor revision to the existing policies and guidelines of the endowment. Contact Peter if you would like more information on that revision.

A Note from Peter (January 2018)

The Rev. Peter Gray

This January, I’m looking forward to a series of conversations on church security we’ll be having during Adult Forum on Sunday mornings. You may think I’m crazy, but I actually can’t wait to talk as a church family about what we need to feel safe in this church. I’m even looking forward to those moments when our differences of opinion and differences in experience lead all of us to feel uncomfortable.

Two years ago Bob Provine and I invited the vestry and the membership of Nativity into a conversation about same-sex marriage and its place within the liturgical life of this parish. My experience of that time confirmed an intuition I already held: that when a church family explores difference, rather than avoiding it, it has the opportunity to come out the other side with relationships that are stronger and deeper.

As we explore the issue of church security, my goal as a facilitator will be, first of all, to help us acknowledge our differences as a parish. What makes one person feel safe makes another feel insecure. One person’s need for security may come into conflict with another person’s need for hospitality. Hearing those differences loud and clear offers the opportunity to know one another more deeply and to find creative solutions we never would have imagined on our own.

After we’ve heard the different needs of our church family, our second task will be to brainstorm ways that we might meet these different needs with one course of action. A good plan won’t just address the concerns of one group of people, but will try to creatively thread the needle. After we’ve brainstormed together, a committee of church leaders, including myself, the Wardens, Charlie Swayze, and Danny Faught will huddle and fine tune a workable way forward that we can present to the congregation for feedback at a later date.

This process is based on a mediation model I studied for my annual continuing education back in October. That model is built on a couple of important insights. The first insight is that diversity is a fundamental part of creation; there’s no getting around it, even if it sometimes makes life more difficult. The second insight is that when everyone is in agreement, folks typically aren’t communicating, and relationships aren’t growing.

With that in mind, I hope you’ll take time to be with us Sundays at 9:30am in January. Our task is to answer some pragmatic questions about a contemporary topic. But our goal is really to grow in love with one another.

Peter+

Chorale to perform holiday concert

The Greenwood Chorale has resurrected itself for a holiday concert, this time under the direction of Nativity Episcopal Church’s music director, David Williamson.

The Chorale, which debuted in Greenwood in May 2011, was founded by Ray Smithee of First Presbyterian Church to provide an outlet for singers interested in learning a challenging musical repertoire.

The initial choir was made up of 27 members and has both increased and decreased in size over the years.

Smithee decided to take a break from directing following the chorale’s patriotic concert during the summer of 2016, and last year there was no holiday concert.

But this year, stalwarts have returned and are tackling a challenging range of music with everything from a comical take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas” to a complex composition by composer Benjamin Britten, “Hymn to the Virgin,” first performed in 1931 and written when Britten was just a teenager, according to Williamson.

Traditional favorites will include “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, and a medley of Irving Berlin Christmas melodies.

“Paul Brown and I just picked some of our favorites, a sacred and secular mix,” Williamson said.

Brown, the organist at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, will sing in the program along with some 20 others.

Four singers have been driving from Indianola to practice, Williamson said, and one lives as far away as Lake Village, Arkansas. Another is a church musician in Cleveland.

“We’ve been working on the music since late August,” he said.

At last Tuesday’s rehearsal, the chorale mixed seriousness with silliness as the members ran through the program.

They sang:
On the second day after Christmas,
I pulled on the rubber gloves
And gently wrung the necks of
Two turtle doves.

“Pretty darn good,” said Williamson. “Let’s get all our nonsense out.”

Frederick Silver’s parody, “The Twelve Days After Christmas,” provides plenty of opportunity for that.

On a more formal note, the choir tackled Gustav Holst’s “Christmas Day,” a fantasy on old carols, including “Good Christian Men Rejoice,” with precise harmonies and a piercing soprano solo by chorale member Emily Shafer.

Williamson, who has conducted and played church music for more than 30 years across the Delta and in Memphis, brings both humor and vast musical knowledge to the mix of voices.

Before the singers departed on Tuesday, he warned them.

“Y’all remember between now and next week, stay away from strangers and children. They have germs!”

Facebook notices throughout the week have identified at least two members who’ve come down with viruses but should be recovered by concert time.

Doors to the parish hall at Episcopal Church of the Nativity, 400 Howard St., will open before the first number, scheduled for 7 p.m. The concert is free, and the public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.