Funeral for Bill Phelps, Long Time Choir Member, December 12, 2026

Funeral for Bill Phelps, Friday, December 12, 2026, 1 p.m.

Lynn tells us that the two most important things in Bill's life were his family and his church. Lynn's daughter, Lisa, told her mom when she was 12 that she had won the prize when Lynn married Bill 44 years ago. Bill also adored his two children, Jo Kelly, a well-known artist, and Don Phelps, who followed in Bill's footsteps into the family business, Phelps Fan Company, which sold industrial fans worldwide. Don was the fifth generation in the family business, and now his son, Garrett, will be the sixth. What a legacy of continuity to be part of a family tradition so rare in our world today. Of course, Bill cherished his other two grandchildren, Jay and Keisey, and his five great-grandchildren./

The part of the church that Bill most loved was church music. Bill and Lynn met in the choir at Trinity Cathedral. He was a tenor, and she was an alto. It was a choir romance. They married and later moved to St. Mark's, where they sang in this choir for over 40 years. Bill and Lynn's love for this church and their choral experience are attested to by their wish that any memorials go to the Craig Chotard Music Fund, in honor of the former choir director at St. Mark's. Lynn also asked me to thank Kathy Roberts, who is still an alto in St. Mark's choir, for her great friendship since they moved back to Little Rock. Another story about how a church choir becomes family throughout a lifetime.

Maybe another reason Bill loved the Episcopal church, besides its music, was that we are one of the few churches having three Rogation Days, just before we celebrate Christ's ascension and Rogation Sunday, the sixth Sunday of Easter. These are four days when we say special prayers for farmers and ask for blessings on their crops. I will never forget hearing Ted Glusman, a former rector at St. Mark's, say Bill Phelps was the only farmer who was a Saint Mark's parishioner. This was Bill's other love, his pecan grove. Bill would slip away to the pecan trees south of the airport whenever he could. He was very active in the pecan industry and helped develop machinery and equipment to improve crop yields. Lynn was also involved in the business and was the head cracker. Many of the Phelps' friends were in the pecan business. Bill helped invent a special shaker to shake the pecans out of the trees at just the right time. Lynn and I laughed about that,/ as we decided to say Bill Phelps was a mover and shaker. But if you knew Bill, he was a quiet man with a total dry wit that would always amuse you.

Bill died in his ninety-third year, a non/a/genarian. If you sing in an Episcopal church choir, at least several times a year, you will sing Evensong, a traditional evening sung service of psalms, prayers, and canticles. At Saint Mark's, for Bill and Lynn, it was the Fourth Sunday at Four. Canticles are songs or chants of praise that are from holy scripture or other sacred texts, but not from the Psalms. The two canticles that Bill and Lynn most often sang were from Luke's Gospel: the Magnificat (Song of Mary) and the Nunc Di/mit/tis (Song of Simeon).//

The music we make on earth,/ which passes away in a moment,/is an anticipation, a rehearsal for music that is unending,/ that flows forth forever;/ the music of worship,/ the sound of praise,/ the eternal alleluia.1

Simeon2 was also a faithful, nonagenarian, like Bill. Simeon was a righteous and devout Jewish man waiting for the coming of the Messiah in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit had revealed that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Simeon went to the temple when Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus there/ eight days after his birth/ to be named. Simeon recognized Jesus as the promised Savior. Simeon took the child in his arms, blessed God, and proclaimed this beautiful prayer that Bill had sung so many times in his crystal clear tenor voice.

"Lord,/ you now have set your servant free////

to go in peace as you have promised;///

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,///

whom you have prepared for all the world to see;///

A  Light to enlighten the nations,//

 and the glory of your people, Israel.

Glory to the Father,/ and to the Son,/ and to the Holy Spirit,/

As it was in the beginning,/ is now,/ and will be for ever.3 Amen/////

We do believe that these words,// Bill so often sung,// became a reality on Monday of this week. Amen

1Charles Hoffacker, "Life as Music," A Matter of Life and Death, Preaching at Funerals (Cowley 2002) pp. 54-55.

2Luke 2:29-32,

3BCP 120.

28 C Luke 21:5-19 Oil Spill

28C  Luke 21: 5-19 A Stewardship Story from the Gulf of Mexico, November 16,  2025.

The Gulf Coast 2010

“And there will be great earthquakes..dreadful portents, and great signs from heaven.”

It is mid-August, high tourist season on the Alabama Gulf Coast. We arrive at the condominium our family has visited for twenty-five years. No cars in the parking lot—no sunbathers on the white sandy beaches. No bathers swimming. At dusk, a covey of trailers arrives with beach cleanup workers wearing colored shirts. The color of their shirt is like a liturgical vestment (dalmatic or chasuble), signifying the worker’s duty.

A half hour later, a John Deere tractor pulls a trailer with more workers who set up a blue tent and folding chairs. They sift the sand for 20 minutes and then rest under the tent. Next, a lone person strolls like a verger or crucifer in a religious procession, ahead of a green tractor pulling a large machine raking the sand. At night, this tractor has large lights on either side like processional torches. The procession leader searches for flipper turtle tracks leading to a loggerhead turtle nest that the beach rake must not disturb. We see no pelican, Great Blue Herons, or dolphins. Only the squawking laughing gulls are unchanged in numbers.

No fishing boats leave the pass, venturing into the Gulf. At a restaurant, we easily find a favorite table. Most locals report their businesses have fallen off 30 to 60%. The commercial and charter fishermen and the shrimpers have entirely lost their businesses. No Gulf shrimp for St. Mark’s Shrimp Boil this year. At a marina, we watch charter fishermen hosing down their boats like boys on a Saturday afternoon washing their cars in expectation of that Saturday night date. For these fishermen, the date never materializes. We grieve for one charter boat captain who took our family fishing. He committed suicide. Henry’s, the local furniture store, is going out of business. Only Henry is there answering the phone, praying for last-minute orders.// Nearly 185 million gallons of oil has violated the Gulf since the explosion on the oil rig on April 20th, 4 months ago, which also killed eleven workers.//We have weathered major hurricanes —Ivan and Katrina —with this Gulf Coast community. This disaster, however, has more unknowns and far-reaching effects.

“By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

 One month later. The oil well is finally permanently capped. We return to Paradise Island, as the locals call it. The parking lot is three-quarters full. At daybreak, three men and three children cast their lines on the surf for an early morning breakfast. They are joined by five Great Blue Heron free-meal stalkers, craning their long necks, observing every movement of the fishing lines. I cannot hold back tears as fishing boats leave the pass, heading farther out into the Gulf. Bathers frolic in the surf. My husband only finds two small tar balls on his morning beach walk.

Flocks of pelicans fly silently by. Dolphins swim in parade and occasionally jump for joy. Restaurants are crowded. It looks like resurrection. We attend a midweek Eucharist and healing service at a local church to give thanks. As members of the congregation and their priest, lay hands on each other at the altar rail for healing,/ they pray through their tears for the strength to meet

their present financial and personal losses. During the Eucharist, we hear a dog barking. At the peace, someone goes out to find a gray dog with matted hair in its kennel abandoned at the church door. The priest interrupts the service as Chan offers the dog water. Another parishioner will take the dog to a friend who “needs a dog.” Someone can no longer care for a special pet and leaves him with a trusted church family. At the vet’s, the parishioner learns the dog is a year-old purebred Lhaso Apso. This breed originated in Tibet and was bred as interior guard dogs for Buddhist monasteries. The thought is that the souls of the lamas enter the Lhasa Apso while awaiting reincarnation. //

  We see scars in this community. But we experience a pastoral Episcopal church becoming a place of sanctuary and healing in the wake of disaster, where people share their pain and are surrounded and touched by the many hands of God.

A federal survey, however, reports tar balls still washing ashore with every wave/and bands of oil, buried under 4 or 5 inches of clean Gulf sand. The Old Bay Steamer in Fairhope closes Sunday. Sales bottomed out as people fear eating oil-contaminated local seafood, especially their specialty, the royal reds.

Our hearts ache. We stare into the Gulf for hope.

 At the five o’clock bewitching hour, nine cars pull off onto the highway shoulder. Twenty people dressed in black emerge and walk to the beach. The apparent leader is a photographer. For two hours, the family gathers for candid shots. Farther down the beach, a trellis is covered with flowers. Four bridesmaids in red dresses arrive with the barefooted bride and groom. Another ancient liturgy

returns to the beach. At dusk, three people with lime green shirts approach a roped-off beach area. They carry a shovel, bucket, stethoscope, and surgical gloves. My husband and a half dozen children gather to observe this “medical” team. The green team leader demands perfect silence. Perfectly still. She lies on the beach with the stethoscope on the sand. She hears movement. They remove the wire mesh over the Loggerhead sea turtle nest, protecting it from coyotes and raccoons. They gently dig into the sand with surgical gloves, careful not to disturb unhatched eggs, and find six hatched baby loggerhead turtles that have just absorbed their yolk sac. Demeter herself could not have been more motherly, lifting the two-and-a-half-inch turtles to the bucket and transporting them to the shoreline. The green team digs a trench in the sand to the surf and places the sea turtles in it./ The crowd cheers as they ceremoniously parade awkwardly to the sea. Loggerhead turtles have nested on beaches worldwide for over 150 million years. It takes 25 to 30 years for loggerheads to reach sexual maturity. Only one in 1000 to one in 10,000 eggs reach adulthood. Will these six, by chance, be in this number?

“By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Today. Fifteen years later, oil sediment remains in the seafloor, marshes, and wildlife. One study estimates that up to 10 million gallons of crude oil, or 4-31% of the spill, settled on the seafloor. Dolphin, sea turtle, and coral populations are decreasing.1

Our story is one of long-standing consequences when our environment is injured,/ but also about hope and endurance, and how we might respond to and prevent disasters in our natural world. Endurance is making a difference in incremental measurements every day.

When multiplied by a million or a billion, our small actions to protect our environment make a significant difference. To save what is still beautiful in this world, to save the planet for the future generations,/ our grandchildren,/ their grandchildren,/ we must routinely take actions daily. 2

Made in the image of God, we stand in as God’s representatives, God’s agents.

Here at St. Mark’s, stewardship is not seasonal. There is presently a large group of people dedicated to stewardship of this land where we comfortably sit,/ as well as the land, the river, and the sea around us. Our prayer is that if “great earthquakes, dreadful portents and great signs come from heaven” to our city, that St. Mark’s will become a pastoral center like the Episcopal Church on the Gulf.

Our story today comes from our own Gulf, where many here vacation each summer. But it is not our Gulf. It will soon be in the care of our grandchildren. Our hope also lies in the children, photographed with their families, the newly married couple on the beach, their groomsmen and bridesmaids, the three young early-morning fishermen on the surf, and in the half dozen children who cheered the baby sea turtles into the surf that magical night,/// and especially this morning/ to the children who will soon return from Children’s Chapel with Ashley who/ at this church/ are taught about being good stewards of the land/ and sea/ our God gifted to us/ to protect and share/ throughout all eternity./ This world is on loan to us. The question is—when we are gone, will we leave it in better/ or worse condition than we received it?

Joanna joannaseibert.com

      1. Liz Kimbrough, “15 years after the BP oil spill disaster, how is the Gulf of Mexico faring?” in Conservation News.

      2. Jane Goodall in Famous Last Words, Netflix.

//news.mongabay.com

12-Step Eucharist St. Mark's All Saints, Hell, November 5, 2025

12-step Eucharist St. Mark’s All Saints, Hell, November 5, 2025

“Blessed are you who weep now,/ for you will laugh.”

Generally, on this first Wednesday of November, we talk about those who have died using the lectionary readings for All Saints or All Souls. We talk about what we have learned from those who died, who have come before us. Recently, Jake Owensby, the bishop of Western Louisiana, wrote about a friend who died from addiction to alcohol and drugs. His friend lost his family, his home, his job, his health, and finally committed suicide. Many of us will have family and friends who have been like Bishop Owensby’s friend. They were people who lived a living hell. I also had an uncle who lived a living hell. I always dreaded calling him on his birthday. He would start to use abusive language and tell me what was wrong with me. He was a very unpleasant person to be around. You never knew what he might say next. I know he drank, but I was never sure whether it was alcohol that was interfering with his life. I do know he was mad at the world and went to his grave believing his father had loved my mother more than him. So, disturbed family dynamics can lead people to a living hell, just like alcohol and drugs.

 Where is God in all this mess? Indeed, living the 12 steps, which are based on Christian teachings, offers help to those with addiction or to anyone having difficulty living life on life’s terms. But sometimes, for unknown reasons, help does not materialize, or is not accepted.

 In the burial office and at Baptisms, we read the Apostles’ Creed instead of the Nicene Creed. The contemporary version reads that Jesus “descended to the dead.” By contrast, the traditional words are “descended into hell.”

Bishop Owensby believes the risen Jesus does more than follow us wherever we go. He is there before we arrive, before we are born. Jesus died on a cross and was buried in someone else’s tomb, which stands for our own graves. Jesus preceded each of us into dark places and continues to do that today. Into our darkest place. Into our hell. And that’s what we believe he did for the bishop’s friend and my uncle.

In the depths of his darkness, even after Owensby’s friend had taken his own life, his friend discovered he was not alone or unloved after all. I think this was true for my uncle as well. I imagine that as they both passed from this life to the next, they found that Jesus had preceded them into the tomb. Eventually, they heard Jesus say, “What’s two nice guys like you doing in a place like this? Let’s get the hell out of here.”1

1.Jake Owensby,“Faith and Salvation,” The Woodlands: A Place for Exploring the Spiritual Life. October 24, 2025.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

12-Step Eucharist, Saint Michael and All Angels, October 1, 2025 Saint Mark's Episcopal Church

October 1, 2025, St. Michael and All Angels, 12-step Eucharist, Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church

 “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:11

St. Michael and All Angels September 29

Two days ago, the next-to-last day of September, is always the Feast Day of St. Michael and All Angels. I keep a carved stone with a painted picture of St. Michael, holding his sword, hanging above my desk in my home office by my window. St. Michael is almost the first thing I see when I lift my eyes from my computer. St. Michael lives in stained glass, overcoming evil just outside this chapel door. I give thanks for the St. Michaels in my life, who have been by my side in difficult times, lending me courage to go on. Those in 12-step Recovery call them sponsors.

 I think of some other favorite modern angels of today. There, of course, is Angel 2nd class Clarence Odbody, played by Henry Travers, who saves George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart, from bankruptcy and suicide in the timeless Frank Capra 1946 Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. Whenever I hear a bell ring, I do wonder if an angel, or a sponsor, has earned their wings!

Then there is my all-time favorite movie angel, the suave  Dudley, played to the essence by Cary Grant, who comes to save the life and marriage of Bishop Henry Brougham, David Niven, whose wife, Julia, is played by Loretta Young in the 1947 Samuel Goldwyn Christmas classic, The Bishop’s Wife.

Whenever I visit my Bishop’s office, I always look around to see where Dudley is.

As I talk to people in recovery, I listen to hear if they speak about angels in their lives —people whom they encounter for some time/ or briefly/ that stand by them or lead them through situations or obstacles that used to baffle them. (Of course, this is one of the promises.) Angels are life-changing and life-giving. They are messengers and truth tellers who see God in us, much like the angel Gabriel to Mary, proclaiming that God is in us even when we have no clue.

Give thanks for the angels in your life. Repay them by being a Dudley, Clarence, Michael, or another angel to someone else you will meet daily,/ one day at a time. It is called paying it forward. A daily dose will keep you clean and sober.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com

Recovery Sunday Lost Sheep 19C St. Mark's Episcopal Church, September 14, 2025

19C Welcoming Sinners and Lost Sheep, Luke 15:1-10 Recovery Sunday Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Little Rock, September 14, 2025

“This fellow welcomes sinners and looks for lost sheep.”

Today is Recovery Sunday at St. Mark’s. Why does our church dedicate a Sunday to Recovery from the disease of addiction, which affects 10-17% of the people in this room?

The first reason is that the CDC reports that the excessive use of alcohol is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,/ and the toll keeps rising each year. One in five households experiences alcoholism.1 /Also, the United States has the highest rate of drug overdose in the world. A significant decline has occurred with widespread availability of naloxone, which Saint Mark’s has been distributing,/ but drug overdose is still the leading cause of death in Americans 18 to 44.2/

The Episcopal Church was involved in 12-Step Recovery from its inception./ Listen to these stories.

1934 Calvary Episcopal  Church, New York City

The Rev. Dr. Sam Shoemaker, rector of Calvary for the last 10 years, develops Calvary House, a hostel and center for ministry and small groups. He also runs Calvary Rescue Mission, where Bill Wilson,/ an alcoholic,/ New York stockbroker, visits during his last days of drinking. Bill is influenced by Ebby Thacher, a friend who is sober through a spiritual program called the Oxford Group led by Sam Shoemaker at Calvary House.

1935 Bill Wilson becomes sober and spends more time talking with Sam Shoemaker in his book-lined office and attending Oxford Group meetings,/ as well as visiting Calvary Mission and Calvary House.

 What does Bill Wilson say about  the Rev. Sam Shoemaker: “Every river has a wellspring at its source. AA is like that. In the beginning, there was a spring which poured out of a clergyman, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker. He channeled to the few of us/ the loving concern, the Grace, to walk in the Consciousness of God—to live and to love again, as never before. 3 Dr. Sam Shoemaker was one of AA’s indispensables. Had it not been for his ministry to us in our early days, our Fellowship would not exist today. Sam Shoemaker passed on the spiritual keys by which we were liberated. He was a co-founder of AA.”  “The first three Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous were inspired in part by Shoemaker. (We are powerless over alcohol, there is a power greater than ourselves that can restore us,/ by turning our life and our will over to the care of God)  “The early AA got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgement of character defects, restitution for harm done, and working with others straight from the Oxford Groups and directly from Sam Shoemaker, the former leader of the Oxford Group in America,/ and from no one else.”3,4,5,

These are direct quotes from Bill Wilson.

Now, let’s hear from Dr. Shoemaker.

“I believe the church has a great deal to learn, not from any individual member of AA, but from the incredible collective experience of AA. I pray to God that what is happening pretty steadily and consistently throughout the fellowship could happen in every church. The AA fellowship is made up of people who are beginning to be changed, not saints, and not perfect. We in the church can all learn by this example, and if we think we’re above it, we are in real danger.”6,7///////

So, Next, let’s hear the story of one of my medical friends in recovery. She gave me permission to share her story. /She had her first drink as a junior in college on weekends at her aunt’s home at the cocktail hour. She finishes medical school and residency and perhaps has one drink a day, for relaxation. Then, with her first job, working 10 to 12-hour days, she develops a pattern where alcohol becomes a central part of her life. She returns home from the hospital after long hours, has two glasses of wine before dinner, two during dinner, and two after dinner. Then she goes to sleep to awaken the next day to the same routine. She achieves notable success in her profession, but the people she is not there for are her husband and children. When they ask questions about homework at night, she simply smiles. She is a quiet alcoholic. She knows if she speaks, people will know she has had too much to drink, so she becomes quieter and quieter. People begin to see her as a very spiritual person./ The lesson here is, if you want people to think you are spiritual, just don’t say much. She is filled with the spirit, but a very different spirit. She serves on vestries, keeping her mask of quietness, the perfect vestry member. She is cautious not to let her drinking interfere with her work. She never drinks when she is on call.

She starts seeing  a therapist for “difficulties accepting life on life’s terms.” The therapist wonders if she might benefit from a 12-step group. No, AA is not for her. That is for people who live under the bridge and older men who smoke a lot. One work night, she breaks her work rule and drinks excessively. The next morning at the hospital is one of those days when she must be on her toes every second. She prays that if God keeps her from hurting anyone that day, she will never drink again. The next night, she is at her favorite restaurant, drinking champagne at a party honoring one of her partners. She is to give a speech, but instead, she just sits there, smiling at everyone. She knows if she speaks, everyone will know she has been drinking too much./

This night becomes a moment of clarity. She knows she is crossing the line from being a functional alcoholic. She knows she is powerless over alcohol and that her life is becoming unmanageable. Soon, her drinking will interfere with her work. Many alcoholic stories are similar. Work seems to be one of the last aspects of life to be compromised. Her therapist connects her to a member of AA. This woman graduated from high school. Our friend has many degrees, but this woman knows more about living. This sponsor keeps her sober, taking her to meetings every day./ Our friend soon learns that the answer to sobriety is a spiritual life, taking the second and third steps of AA, knowing that a power greater than herself can restore her to sanity and turning her life and her will over to God. When she hears this, she thinks it is hopeless. She is a spiritual person; everyone is aware of that. She is very involved in her church./ But what she learns in AA is something she heard in church, but forgot. 

You have seen these bumper stickers: “God is my copilot.” That is true for her, but she is the pilot. Her relationship with God is that God is there to help her own flight plan take off the ground. She has not turned her life over to God for God’s purposes. She learns to live by the Serenity Prayer, speaking her truth, praying for the knowledge to discern which situations she can change, and accepting what she cannot change. She goes to AA meetings almost every day for 10 years, learning that staying sober is staying in community with a group of people/ trying to live their lives as honestly as possible with God at the center. Living the 12 steps involves taking an inventory daily, making amends to those she has harmed, and removing the mask of being the perfect person. She makes amends with her family, whom she harms the most. Two of her children are in college; one is in high school. She has not been there for them at crucial times. Is it hopeless? She talks about making amends to one of her sons at a local (Trios) Restaurant. She tells him she wants to change. His response is branded on her heart: “Mom, it is never too late to change.” Soon, all of her children leave home. Then,/ all return. Friends tell her how terrible this is. But she loves it. God gives her another chance to relate to her children and be a mom. She has now been sober for 34 years, 9 months, and 26 days. She still attends a 12-step meeting once a week. She has six grandchildren who are the light of her life. We often talk about what her life would be like without a 12-step group. She most probably would be dead. She would have missed the unbelievable joy of being a grandmother,/ an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church,/ and being here with you today/ to share MY story of how a power greater than myself/ that welcomes sinners and looks for lost sheep/ works in community,/ to save my life. Amen

 Joanna Seibert

1Facts About U.S. Deaths from Excessive Alcohol Use, CDC, HHS.GOV, August 6, 2024.

2CDC Reports Nearly 24% Decline in Drug Overdose Deaths, CDC, HHS.GOV, February 25, 2025.

3Dick B, “Calvary House and the Oxford Group,” The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous, A Design for Living that Works, p. 114.

4“A Biography of Sam Shoemaker,” AlcoholicAnonymous.org.

5“AA Tributes, Samuel Shoemaker, ‘Co-founder’ of AA,” Dickb.com

6 Karen Plavan, “A Talk on Samuel Moor Shoemaker,” Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, January 31, 2010

7 Michael Fitzpatrick, “Rev Sam Shoemaker, His Role in Early AA Part 11,” Recoveryspeakers.com