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
There is nothing more astounding than life, just as it is, nothing more miraculous than growth and change and development, just as revealed to us. And as happens so often when we stop to regard God’s work, there is nothing to do but wonder and thank Him, realizing how little we planned, how little we achieved, and yet how much has been done.
Mollie Rogers, 1955
In 1905, a Smith College graduate named Mollie Rogers wrote to her high school newspaper: “We leave college with a sense of self-reliance and responsibility to take up our work in the world.” Little did Rogers know how far-reaching her work would be as she went on to become Mother Mary Joseph and the founder of the Maryknoll Sisters — the first order of Catholic nuns in the United States dedicated to foreign mission.
Mollie Rogers dated the beginning of her vocation to a summer evening at Smith College when a crowd of her fellow students rushed outdoors singing “Onward Christian Soldiers.” They had just signed the Student Volunteer pledge to go to China as Protestant missionaries. Mollie shared their exhilaration, mixed with a certain regret that there was no similar Catholic mission group that she could support. She made her way to the parish church and there, “before Jesus in the tabernacle, I measured my faith and the expression of it by the sight I had just witnessed. From that moment I had work to do, little or great, God alone knew.”
In years to come the Maryknoll Sisters would achieve a heroic image for their work in Africa and South America, and for their sufferings during World War II and under Communist persecution in China. Later still, beginning in the 1960s, their commitment to social justice and their “option for the poor” would entail a different type of heroism.
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 those affected by the wild fires in the west and and Hurricane Delta in the south: for those who are grieving the loss of homes, possessions and loved ones, that their safety and security may be restored.
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 all historical acts of injustice and oppression: especially those perpetuated against native, Black, Hispanic and various Asian Americans in this abundant land, that we may recognize racism in ourselves, in our church, in our society, and the times we have failed to take action.
For those on the Parish Prayer Chain: Sylvia, Irene, Jeanne, Chris, Theresa, Emily, Bridget, Josh, Amy, Sid, Edwina and her husband, Donald, Mark.
For those who are homebound: Stephen, Pauline, Joan, Janet and Marilyn.
Our Government Leaders: Donald Trump, President of the United States as he recovers from Covid 19; 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.
Members who request our prayers for strength and healing: Budd, Sid, Jean, Cindi, Mary Frances, Debbie, Joe.
For all the blessings of this life.
For our dioceses in the Anglican Communion: Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), Colombia (The Episcopal Church), Kollam – Kottarakkara (South India).
For all who have died: especially Leland, Blanche, Marian, Sadie.
For one another.
Something to share
Love, work, prayer, and suffering will sustain us in the future as they have in the past. All who are here now, all who will come after us, will have no other tools than these with which to build.
Mollie Rogers
News & Updates
Tomorrow morning, October 11th at 9:00am, join us for the celebration of Holy Eucharist at St. Stephen’s Church. To help you understand what to expect please click on this link:
Or, Live stream the St. Stephen’s Eucharist on Facebook:
We are planning on Live streaming the church service on Facebook. Please visit the St. Stephen’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SaintStephensSchenectady just before 9am on Sunday to join us! Any questions contact Daniel.Schuldt@gmail.com.
Tomorrow morning, October 11th at 11:15am, join us for the celebration of Holy Eucharist live-streamed from the National Cathedral. This is another way in which we can worship together albeit remotely. All you have to do is click on the link below, and it should take you to the service.
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,
he 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.