Staying Safe and Staying Connected
Good Morning Saint Stephen’s Church,
We continue our life of daily prayer. The Lord be with you!
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Today’s Prayer
Sit down alone and in silence. Lower your head, shut your eyes, breathe out gently and imagine yourself looking into your own heart. Carry your mind, i.e. your thoughts, from your head to your heart. As you breathe out, say, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.’ Say it moving your lips gently, or simply say it in your mind. Try to pull all other thoughts aside. Be calm, be patient, and repeat the process very frequently.
Symeon the New Theologian, 1022 from The Philokalia
Symeon was groomed to become a civil servant of the Byzantine Emperors, but instead became a monk, and eventually abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas at Constantinople. He taught that through meditation we can be ‘deified’, or share in the Divine Essence through grace. He was given his title because he was thought of as second only to Gregory Nazianzus (329-89) among Byzantine teachers on prayer.
From Our Prayers of the People
Today, let’s pray:
For the just and proper use of your creation; for the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, and oppression.
For comfort and healing for all who are affected by the Coronavirus, and for physicians, nurses, and all others who minister to the sick and the suffering, may God grant them wisdom and skill, sympathy and patience, and may God keep them healthy and safe.
For all essential workers; for police, firefighters, EMTs, postal workers, sanitation workers, grocery personnel, delivery and transport workers, and all who must report to work because what they do is essential for our well-being, health, and safety.
For those on the Parish Prayer Chain: John, Sabrina, Joan, Charlie, Jim, Nichol and Kelly.
For those who are homebound: Stephen, Pauline, Joan, Janet and Marilyn.
Those who are imprisoned: those particularly vulnerable at this time, especially the women in the Schenectady County Jail.
For those in need of healing: Cindi, Peter, Mary Frances, Debbie and Joe.
For all the blessings of this life.
For Abigail C – today is her birthday!
For Sara and Joe P – today is their wedding anniversary!
For our dioceses in the Anglican Communion: Montreal (Canada), Willochra (Australia), Ijebu (Nigeria
For all who have died: especially Jennifer, James, Lorraine, George, Ronald Jr., John and Sarah.
For one another.
Something to share
Apprehend God in all things.
Meister Eckhart, quoted in Iona Abbey Worship Book
Every single creature if full of God
and is a book about God.
Every creature is a word of God.
If I spent enough time with the tiniest creatures –
even a caterpillar-
I would never have to prepare a sermon,
so full of God
is every creature.
All creatures of our God and King – verses 1,2
All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voices, let us sing
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Bright burning sun with golden beams, pale silver moon that gently gleams,
O praise him, O praise him, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Great rushing winds and breezes, you clouds that ride the heavens aloft.
O praise him, Alleluia!
Fair rising morn, with praise rejoice, stars nightly shining, find a voice,
O praise him, O praise him, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
“How beautiful will be the day when all the baptized understand that their work, their job, is a priestly work, that just as I celebrate Mass at the altar, so each carpenter celebrates Mass at the workbench, and each metalworker, each professional, each doctor at the scalpel, the market woman at her stand, are performing a priestly office! How many cabdrivers, I know, listen to this message there in their cabs; you are a priest at the wheel, my friend, if you work with honesty, consecrating that taxi of yours to God, bearing a message of peace and love to the passengers who ride in your cab.”
Oscar Arnulfo Romero, Archbishop and Martyr of San Salvador, 1980
Reminders
If you have an update/news, a prayer or poem or something inspirational you would like us to share with the congregation, please send it to us. Please also send us any prayer requests. We will incorporate these into the Morning Prayers as best we can.
Our church campus is closed. All parish meetings and gatherings are canceled and postponed until further notice.
Our goal is for all of us to stay in touch and connected in this time of isolation.
Share this news, and spread some love, not the virus!
Peace,
James+