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
O Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tent?
Who shall dwell on thy holy hill?He who walks blamelessly, and does what is right,
and speaks truth from his heart;
who does not slander with her tongue,
and does no evil to her friend,
nor takes up a reproach against their neighbor;
in whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out her money at interest,
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.They who do these things shall never be shaken.
Psalm 15 (Adapted)
This psalm may be considered a psalm of instruction, teaching the listener to become one who shall never be shaken. In Jewish ritual, the psalm is often used as a type of eulogy, expressing the ideal human qualities that assure the deceased a place in the afterlife.
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: Luca, Brittney, Mary Alice, Mia, Wim, Corrie, Doris, Judy, Anne, Louise, Gertrude, Laurel and Greg.
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: Priscilla, Marti, Sid, Vicki, Jean, Cindi, Mary Frances, Debbie and Joe.
For David – today is his baptismal anniversary!
For Linnea – today is her birthday!
For all the blessings of this life.
For our dioceses in the Anglican Communion: Omu-Aran (Nigeria), Butare (Rwanda), Butere (Kenya).
For all who have died: especially Martha Nicholson.
For one another.
Something to share
Dear Old Jews,
Jesus, Jeremiah, Isaiah and the rest,
you are the ones that in my young life
I loved the best.More than father, whom I hardly knew,
more than mother
I loved you.I still do.
How you thundered, Jeremiah,
from the bottom of the pit!How you raged at God,
and that was not the half of it.
Isaiah, how you sangComfort ye! comfort ye!
How odd
of Godto comfort us with stories:
how a man
bends down and writesin the dust to set a woman free.
Pat Schneider (1934 –2020)
Whatever it was that he wrote,
he wrote to me.
News & Updates
On Tuesday evening, the Reverend Nicolle Harris of the Duryee Memorial AME Zion Church shared on Facebook that their church Bible study was attacked (“Zoom-bombed”) by anti-Black racists. They repeatedly tried to enter the Zoom Bible study, repeatedly typing in anti-Black and other inflammatory statements, including repeated usage of the n-word.
Schenectady Clergy Against Hate sent a letter of solidarity to Pastor Harris and her congregation. “In the world we exist in, we know that in such a time as this, it is important to particularly and specifically affirm the sanctity of Black lives…..” The full letter can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RVeqc-1l2db9Mstov3MCOoQvXhJadM_o97ao2aIuvQc/edit?usp=sharing
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.
If you need a prayerbook, and are not in a position to purchase one, please contact me: james.ross.mcd@gmail.com. I will make sure you have your own Book of Common Prayer.
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)
Our church campus is closed, except for our Eucharistic Ingathering on Sundays 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+