Dear parishioners,
This week we are adding a new twist to our daily messages. One of our fellow parishioners, Hank Spire, had a wonderful suggestion to incorporate a personal note from our laity to our fellow parishioners just letting them know what is happening in their lives during our “separation” and sending love and prayers to our fellow St. Edwardians, in 100 words or less. What a wonderful way to stay connected with people’s daily lives. If you would like to participate in this exchange, please forward your “note” to the parish office and we will incorporate it in our daily messages. Perhaps we will even turn it into a little St. Edward’s “press” booklet we can share and post that shows our grace to others for the community of faith that we are. We hope you will participate! We start with a message from Julie Hoff, Vestry Junior Warden:
Hi, everybody! I am thinking of and praying for you during our time apart. I do miss being at church and seeing all of you!
I am dusting off my retired teacher skills as I work with my third grade( the grade I taught) granddaughter on a full complement of daily work sent by her teacher via internet. Hooray for technology!
For long time St. Edwardians, we were reading the book Sarah, Plain and Tall this morning when I noticed the dedication -For old friends, dear friends- Dick and Wendy Puff, Allison and Derek. Sounds like the Puff family from the union hall days, don’t you think?! Be well!
- Julie Hoff
—
A little levity: I read a story on CNNNews where the security guard at a museum in Oklahoma City was given the additional task of being the museum’s social media manager, due to its closure to the public. His posts take people on “tours” of the museum’s offerings. This was his first post introducing himself on “the Instagram”:
nationalcowboymuseum
“Hello Friends, my name is Tim and I am the head of security for The Cowboy. I have been asked to take on the additional duty of social media management while the museum is closed. I’m new to social media but excited to share what I am told is called “content” on all of The Cowboy’s what I am told are “platforms” including the Twitter, the Facebook, and the Instagram. My team and I will also continue to protect and monitor the museum and grounds. Thanks, Tim We are required to smile in our official photos. Send.”
—
From Nancy Davidge
Public Affairs Officer, The Episcopal Church
Episcopalians are invited to join with Christians around the world as together we join in praying the Lord’s Prayer on Wednesday, March 25 at noon in our own time zones in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pope Francis Invites Christians to Pray on March 25th
Pope Francis on Sunday invited all Christians to respond to the coronavirus pandemic “with the universality of prayer, of compassion, of tenderness”, adding, “Let us remain united. Let us make our closeness felt toward those persons who are the most lonely and tried”. Speaking after the traditional recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father called on all Christians to join together in prayer. “In these trying days, while humanity trembles due to the thread of the pandemic, I would like to propose to all Christians that together we lift our voices towards Heaven,” he said.
On Wednesday, 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation, Pope Francis has invited “the Heads of the Churches and the leaders of every Christian community, together with all Christians of the various confessions, to invoke the Almighty, the omnipotent God, to recite at the same time the prayer that Jesus, our Lord, taught us” – the Our Father. Pope Francis prayed, “may the Lord listen to the united prayer of all of His disciples who are preparing themselves to celebrate the victory of the Risen Christ”.
We are inviting you to issue a call through your networks and social media for Christians to join in praying the Lord’s Prayer, and in any other ways we are led to pray, at:
Wednesday, March 25 at 12:00 noon in our own time zones.
On the web: All Christians Invited to Pray on Wednesday, March 25th
—
LENTEN MEDITATION – MARCH 24, 2020
Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you.
- Isaiah 42:5-6
________________________________________
When my four-year-old gets out of the car, she immediately bolts. Her dash is usually anticipated by the common parental refrain, “Hold my hand, please!” She rarely wants to hold my hand. In this way, parking lots are spiritual exercises for our family. I’m aware of the dangerous realities they bring. She doesn’t care. My depth of knowledge, my fear for her well-being is manifested in a hand hold.
Typically, when I hear the language of God holding our hands, I’m reassured by the image. It’s an image I receive as one where God’s outstretched hand is always available for me when I know I need it. But my parental parking lot fear makes me notice that Isaiah wants to convey a different thing. I’m not the best judge of my need for God’s protection; I cannot be relied upon to know what’s best for me. In the parking lot of my life, sometimes God has to grab me, to save me from my independence.
- Patrick Funston is a husband, father of two young children and rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan, Kansas.