Category: News

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 15, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

It is with sadness that we inform you that long-time parishioner, Marge Sieghardt, passed away, peacefully, on Sunday, June 14th, at home, surrounded by her closest family.  Over the years, Marge was an active parishioner at St. Edward’s, serving on vestry, as well as on the finance committee.

Marge will be buried at a private graveside service tomorrow.  Her family will be planning a Celebration of Life service for a later date, this year, at St. Edward’s and we will keep you informed of those details.  Please keep Marge, her two daughters, Kate and Liz, as well as her grandson, Wyatt, in your prayers.

May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Father Rick +

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Tomorrow we have our meeting with Bishop Scanlan to review our re-opening plan, so please stay tuned for updates as they pertain to this upcoming weekend services.
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We continue to make exciting improvements to our sanctuary space and are in the process of planning improvements to the Memorial Garden. If parishioners wish to be give, financially, to support these important projects, please contact Father Rick directly, or the parish office.  We have been very blessed with the continuous generosity of our St. Edward’s parishioners.
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In case you missed the service yesterday, you can find it on our web site by clicking here.

And remember, share our posts with your friends on Facebook as well as our YouTube page.

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We leave you with a mediation to start this week:
 

Mediation from Forward Day by Day for MONDAY, June 15          Evelyn Underhill

Psalm 80:1-2 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim. In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your strength and come to help us.

There is a lovely version of this psalm that has always stirred my heart, set to music adapted from the composer Palestrina that we sing every year to begin Lessons and Carols. The psalmist cries, “Stir up your strength and come to help us.” As soon as Christmas arrives each year, we change the substance of our prayers too.

Where are the insistent cries for the return of our Lord in June? The redemption of all things on the Last Day is our deepest hope as Christians—nothing else can or will accomplish God’s purposes in and for the world. While that day will bring judgment, it will also bring mercy and healing for the nations.

Come, Lord Jesus!

MOVING FORWARD: Look through the text of an Advent hymn and use its words as your prayer during the rest of June. Pray for the return of the Lord.

PRAY for the Dioceses of Lusaka (Zambia), Tamale (Ghana), and Guinea

Ps 80 * 77, [79] | Numbers 9:15-23; 10:29-36 | Romans 1:1-15 | Matthew 17:14-21

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 12, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

Today I write to you with a prayer on my heart: that God made known to us in Jesus Christ and poured out into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit might spring forth, in a deep and an authentic PEACE, at the core of each of our lives.  That PEACE, which passes all understanding, comes to us through a sense of gravity…a knowing that roots us in a hope and a love that transcends our circumstances, both personal and collective.  With coronavirus still on the rise in many places, we’re now also in the midst of emotionally charged public discourse on issues of race and policing, as our markets vacillate.  And with all of the external factors at play, disrupting our rhythms of life and threatening our PEACE, we still have our day to day realties that come with their own challenges.  We still have family dynamics to tend with, we still have existential questions, and we still have our unresolved hurts that prevent us from being fully alive to the abundant light and love available to us in this life.

Questions of COVID-19, systemic racism, and police reform aside: we need to care for ourselves in order to face the world…let alone, to embrace the gift of life.  We need to pay attention to our own breath.  And as Christians, I’d like to believe that we can initiate a response to the world’s problems through the simple act of our breathing.  To inhale the social Zeitgeist: in all its anxious, uncertain, and erratic flavor…and to exhale back into the atmosphere: a faith, a hope, and a LOVE…is itself, an act of social praxis.  Like a light upon a hill, we can allow the hope that is in us as people of faith to shine, when (and perhaps, only when) we tend to our inner worlds.  And so, we start with our breath.  When we calm down and quiet the pulsing dialogue from the fear-based and oppositional portion of our reptilian brains, we enable ourselves to rest in the faculties of our higher minds.  In this way: by loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves, we act like living ‘air filters’ in this season of distress, taking in the toxic atmosphere…refining it with the PEACE of our Lord…and putting something qualitatively better back out into the world.  Indeed, we are graced as Christians to reconstitute the narratives that we receive from the outside world, in light of what we know of God made incarnate in Jesus Christ.  And through the power of the Holy Spirit, we rest in the potential for this healing re-orientation each and every time we worship together.

To that end: it does indeed appear that we will be physically together again (though only in small groups of 25) beginning next Sunday, June 21st.  Thanks to the dedicated work of Michelle and our Vestry, we’ve prepared a detailed re-launch plan for our health and safety protocols that will be reviewed with Bishop Audrey in the coming week.  We believe that we are “right sized” to offer up socially distanced Sunday services to our 8:00 and 10:15 congregations, while continuing to provide virtual worship through the integration of livestreaming on YouTube Live.  To clarify what this means: beginning on the 21st, people will be able to attend our 10:15 service in real-time from the safety and comfort of home.  There is no pressure to return to church if you have any concerns over health and safety, and it is our hope that we will be able to use livestreaming as a permanent fixture to increase our reach and to more faithfully engage the work of evangelism as a parish.

While there will be very real limitations on how we gather for the foreseeable future, we are well-positioned to use the opportunities thrust upon us by COVID-19 to generate a model for engaging our wider community as a twenty-first century church in the years to come.  We will hug again…but even sooner…we will break bread together!  Please be on the lookout for communications from Michelle next Wednesday with our formal plan for return.

With great enthusiasm and with humble appreciation,

Father Rick+

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St. Edward’s Episcopal Church is inviting you to Evening Prayer TONIGHT!
DATE: Friday. June 12, 2020
TIME: 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082

Meeting ID: 863 2710 5082

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,86327105082# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,86327105082# US (Chicago)

We will be showing the text on screen to make it easy to follow along. If you have a Book of Common Prayer, you may start on page 115.

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Please connect with our Daily Message on Saturday, June 13th, which is posted by 4 PM.  It includes the link to our Online Sunday Service, service bulletin, link to online giving, and a NEW link for this Sunday’s Virtual Coffee Hour which will be hosted by Father Rick.  There will be the link and a join code. . . no pass code needed. . .so join us!

And remember, share our posts with your friends on Facebook as well as our YouTube page.

Weekly Message from Bishop Scanlan – June 12, 2020

administrator

Dear Members of the Episcopal Church in Central PA,

Bishop Scanlan invites us to join her in moving forward working to dismantle racist systems.

 

“White Privilege. Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Peggy McIntosh 1989

https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf

 

“Understanding White Privilege.” Francis Kendell

https://www.cpt.org/files/Undoing%20Racism%20-%20Understanding%20White%20Privilege%20-%20Kendall.pdf

 

“The Assumptions of White Privilege and What we can Do About it.” Brian Massingale

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/assumptions-white-privilege-and-what-we-can-do-about-it

 

LET ME NOT LOOK AWAY, OH GOD by the Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw

Let me not look away, O God, from any truth I should see. Even if it is difficult, let me face the reality in which I live. I do not want to live inside a cosseted dream, imagining I am the one who is always right, or believing only what I want to hear. Help me to see the world through other eyes, to listen to voices distant and different, to educate myself to the feelings of those with whom I think I have nothing in common. Break the shell of my indifference. Draw me out of my prejudices and show me your wide variety.

Let me not look away.

In the Way of Love,

The Rt. Rev. Audrey C. Scanlan

XI Bishop

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The Rev. Canon Christopher Streeter, Canon for Mission Development & Innovation, provides an update to the diocesan initiative, Shaped by Faith, during the time of COVID-19.

For more information about Shaped by Faith, visit https://diocesecpa.org/shapedbyfaith/.

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 11, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

Below are details for our Friday Evening Prayer.  A wonderful meditative discipline to journey from your week to the weekend.  Please join Patrick Ishler in this service on Fridays.

The next week(s) will be filled with many details about re-opening plans at St. Edward’s as they start to unfold, so please stay tuned and if you miss the Daily Message, know that we post the exact content on our website and on Facebook.

Be well. Be safe. Keep the faith.

Michelle
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St. Edward’s Episcopal Church is inviting you to Evening Prayer
DATE: Friday. June 12, 2020
TIME: 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082

Meeting ID: 863 2710 5082

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,86327105082# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,86327105082# US (Chicago)

We will be showing the text on screen to make it easy to follow along. If you have a Book of Common Prayer, you may start on page 115.

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A wonderful message for today.

Forward Day by Day Meditation for THURSDAY, June 11            Saint Barnabas

Psalm 42:10 The Lord grants his loving-kindness in the daytime; in the night season his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

From the Archives: September 1, 1939
Some of you who read this psalm today can echo the words from the depths of your hearts, for you too hunger and thirst for the living God. You have a spiritual kinship with the psalmist’s Godward desire and with his love of the temple.

But to some of you, the psalm perhaps seems unreal—a spiritual experience that you have never had. How can it be yours?

Spiritual growth is a slow process. We must be patient as though training a child. Our Lord was patient with the slow growth of his disciples. He judges us not by what we are now but by what we are on the way to becoming. As Jesus is patient with us, so we should be patient with ourselves, not excusing our failures but not despondent over them. Reality, earnestness, and faith in God are the essentials. These we all can have.

MOVING FORWARD: Consider your vocations in life. Where is God calling you?

Read the contemporary reflection here.

PRAY for the Dioceses of Luapula (Zambia) and Taita Taveta (Kenya)

Ps 112 | Isaiah 42:5-12 | Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3 | Matthew 10:7-16

 

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 10, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

It is the middle of the week. It is a hot just-before-summer day. And so, today, we offer to you some peace and quiet with a meditation and a wonderful short film of South America in all of its natural glory.  God is good.

Be well. Be safe. Keep the faith.

Michelle
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Forward Day by Day for WEDNESDAY, June 10                  Ephrem of Nisibis

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Years ago, I anxiously made my first confession. I didn’t want to—I was only doing it because it was part of a retreat I was attending. But the experience was so powerful that I have made confession a regular and important part of my spiritual discipline.

A priest once told me something I share with people who make confession. When we receive absolution, we participate a little bit in the judgment of the Last Day. The things we confess are erased: We are completely, eternally unburdened from them. And if God has gone so far as to purge our sins, who are we to remember them? Remind yourself of this when you start to beat yourself up over something in the past, something for which you’ve already been forgiven. Why pick up again the yoke of slavery that God has removed?

MOVING FORWARD: Talk to your priest about making a confession. Let God unburden you from the weight you have been carrying.

PRAY for the Dioceses of Louisiana, Sydney (Australia), and Tabora (Tanzania)
Ps 72 * 119:73-96 | Ecclesiastes 9:11-18 | Galatians 5:1-15 | Matthew 16:1-12

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Virtual Tour of South America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp95UwZGD8Y

 

 

 

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 9, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

Father Rick and I continue to make improvements and arrangements for our re-opening.  We are so lucky to have wonderful volunteers who are helping us with our final touches so that we are welcoming, and safe, to all who will be worshipping with us in-person.  And, today, we also made some great strides in connecting and setting up our live stream feeds.  Once we have all the details worked out, closer to the end of the week/beginning of next week, we will be informing the parish of all of the details of our worship offerings at St. Edward’s so that all can participate in the way that is most comfortable for them.

And. . . we are so looking forward to it!

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If you are looking for a copy of the June Scepter, in print, you can come by the church anytime as we have left them outside the front red doors.  It is a wonderful issue!

Be well. Be safe. Keep the faith.

Michelle
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A simple meditation today with a wonderful message

TUESDAY, June 9                           Columba of Iona

Matthew 15:32a Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd.”

Compassion shouldn’t surprise us. It should be more of a bare minimum rather than an extraordinary act that finally brings relief to our weary hearts. And yet a simple act of feeding hungry people is exactly the sort of thing that Jesus constantly uses to bring deep healing to hurting individuals and communities.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that compassion is the real miracle here—the loaves and the fish are pretty impressive—but the simple attitude of compassion makes an important impression. I wonder what the people in the crowd say to each other about Jesus. I bet the feeling is electric. It is certainly contagious. I wonder how many people in the towns and villages around the mountainside are nourished—not by heaps of bread and fish—but by their neighbors who have feasted upon Jesus’ compassion.

MOVING FORWARD: Ask God to show you a person in need of compassion. Do something simple and kind for them. And tell them that you love them and that Jesus loves them, too.

PRAY for the Dioceses of Los Angeles and Swaziland
Ps 61, 62 * 68:1-20(21-23)24-36 | Ecclesiastes 8:14—9:10 | Galatians 4:21-31 | Matthew 15:29-39

 

Just a little reminder. . . We can’t wait to see everyone back at St. Edward’s!

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 8, 2020

administrator

Dear friends,

We hope you enjoyed the service this past Sunday and that you took some time, in this weekend where stay-at-home orders were lifted in Lancaster County, to connect with God and nature.

If you missed the service, we have included the link button below for you to enjoy.

As we continue to plan and prepare for re-opening St. Edward’s to Sunday in-person worship, following the guidelines detailed to us by the Governor’s office and our Diocesan office, please know that we are very mindful of those who will continue to look forward to our online worship and ministry connections.  As you saw in our tour a couple weeks ago, we have made significant improvements to enable us to offer online and live streaming services so that we not only reach our parish family, but the wider community.

We will make certain that even though you cannot be here, physically, at St. Edward’s, you are important to us and you are participating in our community! You are in our hearts, minds, and prayers and we look forward to the day when we can all worship together, in-person, at St. Edward’s.  Also, if you are on social media and participate in Facebook, “like” and share our posts with your friends and family.  Ask them to share with their friends!  Spreading “the good news” keeps us as one family and fulfills our never-ending ministry as disciples.  “We believe that God loves you – no exceptions.”

We thank you for your words of support, your ministry, and your gifts.  Know that we are here for you!

Today, we leave you with a mediation (and readings) below, as well as a virtual tour to Experience the Magic of Redwood National Park (click the link below) for quiet contemplation and peaceful enjoyment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MglBOaOnzqM

Be well. Be safe. Keep the faith.

Michelle

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Mediation from Forward Day by Day for MONDAY, June 8     

Melania the Elder

Psalm 57:8 Wake up, my spirit; awake, lute and harp; I myself will waken the dawn.

Years ago, I was in Alaska during the summertime. There was about an hour or so of “mostly dark” each night, but in the peak of summer, the light shines almost twenty-four hours a day there. Blackout curtains allowed me to sleep, but on my third night there, something woke me at 3 a.m.

I climbed warily out of bed and peeked out the window. The whole expanse of sky was ablaze in red and orange and purple. I grabbed my prayer book and stepped onto the balcony. I opened to Psalm 57. “Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth.” Indeed, God had.

On the balcony that early morning, for a brief moment everything was in perfect perspective. My soul was refreshed. I knew the power and majesty and love of God. And I sat in silence and watched in wonder as the colors faded back to blue.

MOVING FORWARD: Find something truly beautiful in the world today and thank God for it.

PRAY for the Dioceses of Long Island (The Episcopal Church), and Guadalcanal (Melanesia)

Ps 56, 57, [58] * 64, 65 | Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 | Galatians 4:12-20 | Matthew 15:21-28

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Missed our Trinity Sunday Service?  Click here to watch.

Would you like to read a copy of our current June Scepter?  Come by St. Edward’s and pick up a full color copy.  They are on a table outside the front red doors.  It is a great issue!

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 5, 2020

administrator

A MESSAGE FROM OUR RECTOR

This afternoon, I invite you to take in a good, deep breath.  Hold it for a second or two and then, really, let it go.  Breathe in deeply…hold…exhale fully…Breathe in deeply, feeling your lungs expand…hold it in for a few seconds…then: feel the air leaving your body, lighter in weight and in spirit, as you let go of the breath.  Breathe in God…breathe out Love.  Let go of fear…make room for hope.  Breathe in God…breathe out Love.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, our Lord calls us to rest with patience and faith in uneasy times.  Jesus tells his first disciples: “Beware that no one leads you astray.  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. (Mat 24:3-8)

When we dig in our heels and our emotions take over, our perceptions of the world can telescope in on us and tempt us to forget who we are…whose we are.  Whether we cry out for change or long for a return to ‘the way that it used to be’, our discipleship calls us to remember that we are, first and foremost, followers of Jesus Christ.  And our teacher asks us to ever-lean into our senses of faith, to take a long view when we’re anxious about the world around us.  In truth, we live in a universe that is still expanding, a Creation that is still evolving, and we each play a role in Christ’s own becoming by what we do and by what we leave undone in our lives each and every day.

It seems as if, in all things, our Lord blesses us with increased difficulty throughout our life-long programs of study as His disciples.  Particularly when we face forces (or persons) that strike us in our heart spaces as antithetical to what we stand for, just at the point where our senses of righteous indignation start to feel good, Jesus interjects: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Mat 5:44-45)  Whether we feel called to march in protests, fervently seek to preserve the order of our status quo, or find ourselves in-between on the spectrum in our thoughts and feelings about the present state of social unrest in this country, we are called as Christ’s own to place our love for God and our neighbor at the center of our will.  This is not a political statement for the Right or for the Left…it is a reminder that we belong to Christ…and that the world shall know us by our LOVE.

So dear sisters and brothers, may be breathe this weekend, and may we find rest in the assurances of our Lord.  As we each seek, in our own ways, to do justice: may we each walk in love, humbly before our ever-merciful God.

Peace be with each of you,

Father Rick+

 

St. Edward’s Episcopal Church is inviting you to Evening Prayer – Friday. June 5, 2020
Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82328056258

Join Code:  823 2805 6258

We will be showing the text on screen to make it easy to follow along. If you have a Book of Common Prayer, you may start on page 115.

Make certain you check your DAILY MESSAGE ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON BY 4 PM for our link and information to our online Sunday Service of Trinity Sunday, as well as the link to join our Virtual Coffee Hour!

Also, we will be placing a basket with the June Scepter outside the front red doors tomorrow by noon.  If you would like to view it online, click here.

Daily Message from St. Edward’s – June 4, 2020

administrator

Dear parishioners and friends,

More wonderful grace notes of ministry happening at St. Edward’s this week.

Many parishioners, coming to tend to our garden spaces with weeding and pruning.  Thank you to Ginny Kloepping for organizing this ministry and to Mike Freshwater, Barb Jakiel, Kiki Daivs-Brugmann, Barbara Schultz, and Dottie Gschwend (my apologies if I missed anyone, but know that your work is so very much appreciated).

In our sanctuary, so many thanks to Patrick Ishler, Karen Waddill, and Father Rick for re-imagining the choir/organist area with a spruced-up space and our wonderful banners.

We continue to pray for peace for all humanity.

Be well.  Be safe.  Keep the faith.

Michelle

St. Edward’s Episcopal Church is inviting you to Evening Prayer – Friday. June 5, 2020

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82328056258

Join Code:  823 2805 6258

We will be showing the text on screen to make it easy to follow along. If you have a Book of Common Prayer, you may start on page 115.