Category: News
Sunday Worship – March 7, 2021
Zoom Coffee Hour Sundays at 11:30
You can be part of the fun again by joining us for our online Coffee Café using Zoom video conferencing.
- Miss visiting with your friends after church?
- Want to catch up on the news from your fellow parishioners?
Join us for our online Coffee Hour Sunday mornings at 11:30 using Zoom video conferencing.
Never used Zoom? No problem. Deacon Maureen can get you set up to join us. All you need is a computer, tablet, smart phone, or even an old fashioned telephone.
Click below to request an invitation to join us.
Outdoor Worship Begins July 5
“Lawn Chair Liturgies” in the Memorial Garden at St. Mary’s beginning at 9:30 on Sunday morning, July 5th, weather permitting.
At a recent meeting with clergy in charge of parishes, Bishop Loya gave us discretion to begin limited outdoor worship as of July 1. It is my intention to hold “Lawn Chair Liturgies” in the Memorial Garden at St. Mary’s beginning at 9:30 on Sunday morning, July 5th, weather permitting.
Our order of worship will be quite abbreviated, and there will be no celebration of the Holy Eucharist at this time. Worshipers will be expected to comply with all current disease transmission prevention guidelines including:
- Stay home if you feel sick
- Wear an appropriate face covering/face mask
- Observe a minimum of six feet of physical distancing between household groups
We recommend you bring lawn chairs or a blanket to sit on — no chairs will be provided. Remember that the Memorial Garden lawn is a bit uneven and the grass may be quite wet from dew or overnight rain. Worship materials will be provided for one-time use each week.
For now, we will encourage everyone to depart immediately following the worship service. We may be able to stay for some form of a BYO coffee and fellowship time later in the summer if disease transmission levels continue to decrease.
The church building and Guild Hall remain closed pending authorization to reopen from Bishop Loya.
I have mixed feelings about gathering again, even outdoors. While I long to be together with all of you, I have an even greater longing to keep everyone safe and healthy. Most of us fall into the “at increased risk” category for Covid-19 infection. We are relying on you to follow our safety and health guidelines to protect yourself and others.
The danger of infection has not passed, and we must all be diligent in adhering to the disease transmission prevention guidelines. We may need to suspend outdoor worship if there is an increase in the Covid-19 infection rate in the future.
We know that some of you may choose to stay safe at home for a while longer, and we will continue to provide worship resources and pastoral support by email and telephone for the foreseeable future.
Stay safe, stay well, and I look forward to seeing you again soon!
Blessings,
Wednesday Soup Supper and Study During Lent
Join us on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for our Lenten Soup Supper Series focusing on The Way of Love: Practices for a Jesus-Centered Life developed by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.
Harvest Festival Dinner Dance Nov. 2
Our Annual Harvest Festival Potluck Dinner and Dance is Saturday, November 2. Music by the Back Porch Band begins at 5:00 pm with dinner at 6:00. Bring your friends, neighbors, family and a favorite dish to share. Suggested donation is $10 per adult.
All proceeds benefit area food programs through Second Harvest Heartland Food Bank.
Second Saturday Study Group Oct. 12, Nov. 9 & Dec. 14 at 9:30 am
How are we, as people of faith, called to care for the “least of these” in our community?
Join us for our Second Saturday Study Group to learn how we are called to serve the “least of these” who suffer from hunger, homelessness and addiction. This series of discussions will be held on the second Saturdays of October, November and December. We will learn how hunger, homelessness and addiction impact our community and society at large, and we will begin to discern how we are called to respond. “Just as you did it to one of the least of these…you did it to me.”
Building Preservation Appeal
We are blessed to have a beautiful worship space at St. Mary’s, and preserving and maintaining our historic church building is an ongoing priority for your parish leaders. Recently we have had two unexpected expenses. Our furnace fan motor failed (during Holy Week) and we have two broken or failing windows to replace in the Narthex (entry area). These two projects resulted in $2,500 of unbudgeted costs to the parish. We hope you will join our parish leaders in contributing financially to offset these unexpected expenditures. Every gift—large or small—will help us preserve our beautiful church building for another 150 years. Please mark your gift as “Building Fund” so we can properly credit your donation. Thank you for your continuing support of St. Mary’s!
Pentecost Is Sunday, June 9th
Imagine: A Christmas Message from Fr. Scott
So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about the child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:16-19
Can you imagine? Can you imagine what Mary must have been thinking as she pondered all that had happened and had been foretold? Can you imagine?
Imagination is at the heart of our experience of Christmas. We, with Mary, Joseph, the angels and shepherds, are part of something magnificently wonderful—something that words cannot begin to express. We are part of the magnificence of God’s greatest gift, the gift of the Incarnation, something so spectacular that we are only able to imagine its implications.
God loved the world so much that God glorified the whole created order by becoming a part of the creation itself through the birth of Jesus—God’s only Son—to Mary. This act of love transformed the world and continues to transform the world as we know it.
Pondering the transformation of the whole world is daunting, to say the least. Perhaps we would do better to follow Mary’s example and ponder the implications of God’s gift of love in our own hearts—how does the Incarnation impact my life and my relationship with God?
To put it very simply (perhaps too simply), the Incarnate Christ is a constant reminder of God’s continuing, intimate presence with us; and we are a constant reminder of our continuing presence to God. The ongoing power of the Incarnation keeps us in a relationship with God that is deeply personal; it is what gives us the audacity to claim our inheritance through Jesus Christ as daughters and sons of God. As Paul writes, “And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” (Gal. 4:6, 7)
What greater gift can we receive than the gift of God’s unconditional love? But we feel unworthy to accept that gift because we are broken, sinful human beings. Yet it precisely because we are broken, sinful human beings that God has given us this gift, a gift that transforms us and enables us to love God and one another as God loves us. Moreover it is a gift that is ours forever for, as Paul writes in Romans, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:38,39)
Through this perfect gift of God we are transformed and we are empowered to continue the transformation of the world in the ways in which we share this gift with others. The love of God through Jesus Christ is inexhaustible. The more we share it, the more we receive, grace upon grace.
This Christmas, and always, share the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. As a child of God, accept your portion of the work we have been given to do to help embrace a sin-sick and weary world that all may come to know and accept God’s perfect gift of love to us through Christ Jesus. Imagine the difference this gift will make in the world. Imagine the power you can begin to unleash. Imagine.
