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
“…You know that God is everywhere; and this is a great truth, for, of course, wherever the king is, or so they say, the court is too; that is to say, wherever God is, there is Heaven. No doubt you can believe that, in any place where His Majesty is, there is fullness of glory. Remember how St. Augustine tells us about his seeking God in many places and eventually finding Him within himself. Do you suppose it is of little importance that a soul which is often distracted should come to understand this truth and to find that, in order to speak to its Eternal Father and to take its delight in Him…, it has no need to go to Heaven or to speak in a loud voice? However quietly we speak, He is so near that He will hear us: we need no wings to go in search of Him but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon Him present within us. Nor need we feel strange in the presence of so kind a Guest….”
Teresa of Avila’s The Way of Perfection
Teresa of Avila is recognized with a feast day in the Episcopal Church on October 15th and has been granted the title “Doctor of the Church” in the Catholic tradition, a designation for saints who have made major contributions to theology. Teresa, born in 1515 in Spain, initially joined a Carmelite convent before establishing a reformed Carmelite order. Teresa founded 17 convents. Her writings, including The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, are considered influential texts in Christian spirituality and mysticism.
From Our Prayers of the People
Today, let us 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: Mary Frances, Jim, Eunice, Jane and Bruce.
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, Mary Frances, Debbie, Joe, Matt and Lisa.
For Timothy – today is his birthday!
For all the blessings of this life.
For our dioceses in the Anglican Communion: Nakuru (Kenya), Abakaliki (Nigeria), Ilaje (Nigeria).
For all who have died: especially Myrtle, Belle, Mildred, Della and Ellen.
For one another.
Something to share
The Mark of the Lamb
Meanwhile, the 144,000 received the mark of the lamb,
Tania Runyan, in her collection What Will Soon Take Place, poems inspired by the book of Revelation
a paw print of glitter on their foreheads.
His voice washed over them like a river lit with silt.
harps rolled out the thickest, goldest arpeggios.
We’ve been instructed to want a Baz Luhrmann afterlife,
not the subtle, oaky undertones of Christ in the wilderness,
women spilling hair on his feet. But when I died,
I turned away from the light. Walk toward my face,
he said. Quiet, thorn-pocked, creased with the desert.
Reflections of unthrown stones in his eyes.
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.
Prayerbook Parish Morning Prayer in Zoom – each morning. Join Dennie and me for an inter-active service of Morning Prayer at 9 am. Time to bring your prayer concerns will be provided. (contact me for the link: james.ross.mcd@gmail.com)
If you did not receive a phone call in the last few days from a member of the Vestry and you would like to be added to the communication list, please let me know (james.ross.mcd@gmail.com) and share with me the best telephone number(s) where we can reach you. We will add you to the list right away.
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!
Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be at your back,
May the sun shine upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Be of good courage. We are in this together, and we will be together again soon. God bless you and may God be with us in the days ahead.
Peace,
James+