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
Bless to me, O God,
from Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations, a collection of prayers gathered orally in Scotland by Alexander Carmichael
Each thing mine eye sees;
Bless to me, O God,
Each sound mine ear hears;
Bless to me, O God,
Each odour that goes to my nostrils;
Bless to me, O God,
Each taste that goes to my lips,
Each note that goes to my song,
Each ray that guides my way,
Each thing that I pursue,
Each lure that tempts my will,
The zeal that seeks my living soul,
The Three that seeks my heart,
The zeal that seeks my living soul,
The Three that seeks my heart.
Scottish writer Alexander Carmichael was born in 1832 and died in 1912. He is most known for Carmina Gadelica, six volumes of prayers, hymns, and folklore collected from the Celtic oral tradition in Scotland. The first two volumes were published while he was alive, and the final four were edited by others and published after his death using his work. The volumes have proven to be controversial, with scholars questioning Carmichael’s accuracy and the extent to which he meddled with texts. Nevertheless, Carmichael’s work has been extremely influential in inspiring interest in Celtic spirituality.
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: Mary, Jim, Eunice, Jane, Bruce and Jean.
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: Sid, Vicki, Jean, Cindi, Mary Frances, Debbie, Joe, Matt and Lisa.
For all the blessings of this life.
For our dioceses in the Anglican Communion: North Queensland (Australia), Awgu / Aninri (Nigeria), Kaduna (Nigeria).
For all who have died: especially Peg, Roger, Elsie, Louise, Ada, Dorothy, Agnes and George.
For one another.
Something to share
Subliminal Messages
The telephone is silent; God doesn’t return
Luci Shaw
my calls to the office.
We’re supposed to be married, but I think
he’s left me, gone
on a long trip to the Antarctic–somewhere
cold.
The pleading letters I write him pile up,
unsent, on the hall table;
I have no forwarding address for declarations
of desire, invitations
to come back to me, flowers, a new book,
a birthday present in December.
Living in the dumbness of a dead phone, an
empty mailbox,
always, when I get home from work, the house
is dark, the dog bored,
the plants browning, the sink piled with
my own dirty dishes.
But yesterday the sun came out for half
an hour, whitening the curtains
from outside. Maybe it was a message,
subliminal,
like the Two Part Inventions on the car
radio
with Bach’s questions and answers–two voices
in conversation,
or the way the wind strokes the roof
at night
or the rain tracks down the window glass,
Intimate as tears.
News & Updates
Graduations and Commencements! – Have you or someone you know graduated this season? We would like to recognize all who have graduated in the last academic year, from Pre-school to Post-Doctorate. Please send us the names of graduates. If you or someone you know is going off to pursue further studies, please let us know that too. Please let me know: james.ross.mcd@gmail.com.
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. Our first Eucharistic Ingathering will be on July 12th at 9:00 am. Please see our website for further information: https://st-stephens.church/. All other 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+