Folk!

Recently ran across a Sufi parable featuring Iblis (one of the names for Satan in the Qur’an) and/with Adam & Eve, and it has me thinking (we are what we eat?). Here’s Rabih Alameddine’s version—his rendering of the original 10th-century tale recounted by Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī…

Listen:
One day while Adam was at work Iblis came to visit Eve and with him was his son al-Khannas. He told Eve to watch his son and went on his way. When Adam returned from his job at the office, he recognized the son of Iblis, flew into a rage and killed the boy, chopped him into little pieces and hung each from a branch in a tree like fruit. Iblis returned and asked about his son, Eve explained what had happened, and Iblis called his son, who put himself back together and followed his father home. The next week, Iblis asked Eve to care for his son again, while he went off on errands. At first Eve refused but Iblis insisted and like a buzzing fly in her ear he went on and on until she relented. Adam berated Eve and yelled and burned al-Khannas and threw his ashes into the wind and into the river and spilled them into the estuary and into the loden-green sea. Iblis resurrected his son from the scattered ashes. The week after that, Iblis returned and this time Eve said no, no, no, but like a serpent, Iblis whispered into her ear and beguiled her with words of a poet and left his son with her. Adam killed al-Khannas and fried him with beer batter, and he ate half of the child and Eve ate the other half, and Iblis laughed because a part of him now resided in Adam and Eve. Within humankind’s breast was his eternal abode.
Troubling, yes? A tale with aftertastes…

Maybe it’s easier to cast the adversary as mere adversary, force of disruption and temptation (out there →)?
So, yes, together (sacramentally!), we breathe:
<Question> Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
<Answer> I renounce them.

What if there’s more, something more, intimate (← in here)?

The Sufis say: Satan flows in our blood, the way air fills an empty bowl. Not lurking at the edges, not an occasional whisper, but continuous—murmuring made flesh, within humankind’s breast was his eternal abode. What if Satan has always been within—appetite, instinct, desire, vulnerability—mingled into the fabric of every human(’s) being? What then does it mean to say—I renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God—when such may rise from within as naturally as breath? Perhaps it’s not as easy as renunciation, a casting out, then? Perhaps the task is to understand, to transform, to hunger differently?

Something more than this bumpersticker: “Sometimes I Wrestle With My Demons, Sometimes We Just Snuggle.” Getting closer are Rumi’s other (Coleman Barks translated) words:

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

And some later retellings of Genesis 32 say Jacob wrestled with himself at Peniel: “I will not let you go.”

On the Feast of St. Joseph 2025
Justin Glessner

Rev. Jen has set her office drop-in day as Wednesday of each week from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. for anyone who would like to stop in and visit. You are always invited to make an appointment for a time convenient for you. Mondays are her Sabbath day.

My name is Meghan McConnell. I am seeking ordination to the priesthood and am in my second year of study. I was privileged to serve at St. Francis in-the-Fields Episcopal Church for six years as the church administrator, but am now pursuing my MDiv as a full-time student at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. This year, I am privileged to be the Chapel Assistant for CTS and serve as the Student Council President. I am a resident of Indianapolis with my husband, Andy, and two teenage daughters, Vera and Marian. This fall will mark my lucky 13th year as a Girl Scout leader, and I enjoy walking with my rescue dogs and reading.

Please be sure to welcome Meghan. Looking forward to a great year together.

SAVE THE DATE – PUTNAM COUNTY PANTRY COALITION PACK THE PANTRIES FOOD DRIVE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

Save the date for this event to be held at the Greencastle Kroger from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 13. Most needed items: canned chicken and tuna, canned vegetables (low or no sodium), canned fruit (low or no sugar), canned soup, oatmeal, cereal, peanut butter, flour, sugar, baking mixes, cooking oil, and spices.

TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY

The Book and Bible Group has begun again, meeting at 4:30 p.m. most Tuesday afternoons with Evening Prayer celebrated at 4:00 p.m. The next one will be Tuesday, September 2.

ALTAR FLOWER CALENDAR

An altar flower calendar is posted in Hamilton Hall. Sign up to sponsor the altar flowers to commemorate a birthday or anniversary, remember a loved one, or in thanksgiving for an important event. We ask a donation to help offset the cost of the altar flowers and other worship expenses. Be sure to tell the office your dedication so that it can be printed in the bulletin. Please make checks payable to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and in the memo field please put this information: Altar Flowers, person’s name, occasion, Sunday date you’d like for the flowers to be on the altar.

VESTRY MEETING MINUTES

If any of you are interested in what your Vestry is doing, there are two copies of each month’s minutes on the music stand in Hamilton Hall. Feel free to read and return!

SHOPPING LIST FOR NON-FOOD PANTRY

Please add Adult Pull-Ups (all sizes) and bed pads to your shopping list for the NFP for the month of August. If you are donating adult pull-ups/briefs, they should be the ones without tabs. We are currently overstocked in adult diapers and period products. Meals and conversation in Hamilton Hall are going well. Patrons are now able to pick out items they most need. Your contributions help our budget go farther in helping meet the needs of those in Putnam County. The next Non-Food Pantry will be Saturday, August 30 from noon – 2:00 p.m. If you can help with this ministry in any way, please contact Harriet Moore or Carl Huffman.

KROGER COUPONS

If you have any unwanted Kroger coupons, please bring them to Hamilton Hall and place in the window ledge near the “Little Library”. We would like to make them available to our Non-Food Pantry recipients so that they might be able to take advantage of them to help extend their food budget. Thanks in advance!

FREE DAILY DEVOTIONAL

We have some large print Day by Day daily devotionals in the sanctuary that you are free to take home for your personal devotions–and if we know that people would like copies, we can order the right amount. Many of you may also appreciate the on-line version of Day to Day. Click here.

ON-GOING COVID PROTOCOL

We continue to respond to both our county’s current CDC designation and to the current variant. Masking is optional. Decisions on COVID policy have moved from the Reconvening Committee to Rev. Jen and the Wardens.

We have heard that the daily reflections and scripture readings provided during Lent were appreciated. The meditations are written by persons from Gobin UMC and Beech Grove UMC. They will be in the newsletter each week. Whether you enjoy these every day or as the Spirit moves you, may this resource continue to bring you spiritual food for the journey. Blessings!

Click here to view the readings and accompanying links.

Your prayers are asked for: