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
Lord, in union with your love, unite my work with your great work, and perfect it. As a drop of water, poured into a river, is taken up into the activity of river, so may my labor become part of your work. Thus may those among whom I live and work be drawn into your love.
Gertrude the Great, 1302
Gertrude the Great lived from 1256 through 1302, in what is now modern-day Germany. At age 4, she entered a monastery school and later became part of the monastic community. At age 25, she began having mystical experiences which are preserved in some of her surviving writings, such as The Herald of Divine Love. Themes in her writing include nuptial mysticism – mysticism that is focused on seeing one’s self as a bride of Christ – and commitment to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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: Dave Crates’ mom, Joe, Doug, Debbie, Cindi, Doug, Hugh, Debby and Joan.
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 Mary Anne and Jean – today is their birthday!
For Bethany & Dan – today is their wedding anniversary!
For all the blessings of this life.
For our dioceses in the Anglican Communion: Northern Philippines (Philippines), Bath & Wells (England.
For all who have died: especially Barbara and Betty.
For one another.
Something to share
“Working Together”
We shape our self
to fit this world
and by the world
are shaped again.The visible
and the invisible
working together
in common cause,
to produce
the miraculous.I am thinking of the way
the intangible air
passed at speed
round a shaped wing
easily
holds our weight.So may we, in this life
trust
to those elements
we have yet to see
or imagine,and find the true
David Whyte
shape of our own self,
by forming it well
to the great
intangibles about us.
News & Updates
How to be an Anti Racist – Dr Kendi will speak on July 27th through Proctors tech system, and then there will be a 21 day anti racist follow up challenge with emails and readings sent every day to all who sign up. Schenectady Clergy Against Hate, among many others is a community partner for this event. More information will be forthcoming.
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 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+