Staying Safe and Staying Connected
Good Morning Saint Stephen’s Church,
We continue our life of daily prayer. The Lord be with you!
Today’s Prayer
Today’s Prayer
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, “After St. Augustine”
SUNSHINE let it be or frost,
Storm or calm, as Thou shalt choose;
Though Thine every gift were lost,
Thee Thyself we could not lose.
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge was a British writer who lived from 1861 to 1907. Coleridge published five novels during her lifetime, as well as a number of essays and short stories. While alive, her poetry was only ever published anonymously. A poetry collection under her own name was published after her death, in 1908. Her family was well-connected in the artistic world. Family friends included writers Robert Browning and Lord Alfred Tennyson, and Mary’s father helped to establish the London Bach Choir. Mary taught grammar and literature at the Working Women’s College in London, an institution founded to provide education to working women, such as laundresses, shop assistants, and domestic servants, on a variety of subjects. Mary saw this work as an extension of her Christian faith.
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: 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: Bridget, Gail, Debby, Sylvia, Irene, Jeanne and Joe.
For those who are homebound: Stephen, Pauline, Joan, Janet and Marilyn.
Our Government Leaders: Donald Trump, President of the United States; Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State; Gary McCarthy, Mayor of Schenectady
Our Church Leaders: Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop, William Love, and Daniel Herzog our bishops; James and Dennie our priests; Pat our deacon and Allison our Lay Reader
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 Josephine – today is her birthday!
For all the blessings of this life.
For our dioceses in the Anglican Nicaragua (Central America), Argentina (South America), Argyll & The Isles (Scotland).
For all who have died: especially Charles, Ruth, Paul and Lila.
For one another.
Something to share
Self-Question
Is this wide world not large enough to fill thee,
Nor Nature, nor that deep man’s Nature,
Art?
Are they too thin, too weak and poor to still thee,
Thou little heart?Dust art thou, and to dust again returnest,
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
A spark of fire within a beating clod.
Should that be infinite for which thou burnest?
Must it be God?
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 weeks 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+