In so many ways. . .making good use of our time of “Lenten-like wilderness” to prepare for the day when our physical church will open to all.
Today, we placed a new banner on our front lawn to let our community know that Christ is Alive! and so is worship at sainteds.org. Spread the word and join us in worship on Sundays as well as in our Daily Messages we post on our website (under “recent posts and news”).
We are all in this together!
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
As I finish up my first week at work here in our parish office, I must say that I have been deeply moved and sincerely inspired by the ministry I’ve already seen at work in our midst. From the commitment of our staff and our lay leaders to maintain a rhythm of worship and connectivity, to the generosity of our congregation in welcoming Katrina, Ricky, Christian and I into the St. Edward’s family, I can truly see and feel the holy at work in this community. I would particularly like to thank Beth Lynch, and all of those lending energy and funding to our social outreach group, who have helped to facilitate a $1000 donation to the Hempfield Area Food Pantry this week and a $600 gift for Tabor to help homeless citizens of Lancaster in need of immediate housing.
In addition to the $575 donated by Saint Edward’s parishioners in the month of March, I have learned that we will be able to give an additional $600+ in monetary donations to the HAFP here in the month of April. Looking out for the most vulnerable among us, it warms my heart to recognize the deep Christian character motivating the other-oriented love at work here at St. Edward’s. I feel profoundly blessed to have been called to work alongside such a dedicated and generous group of Christian disciples. As we continue to socially distance ourselves for the greater good, I pray that each and every one of you are able to find the Lord at work in new and unexpected ways in your lives. These are strange days, but the Spirit is with us and all shall be well. With humble appreciation,
Father Rick+
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ST. EDWARD’S MATERIAL FOR PICK UP:
We will put a table in the front doors outside entry tomorrow, Saturday, April 25th, AFTER 2 PM for those who would like to stop by and pick up our new St. Edward’s directory, a new Forward Day by Day, and/or a copy of the Annual Report. If we run out, we will put a table out on Monday afternoon as well with replenished supplies!
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SATURDAY LATE AFTERNOON EMAIL/WEB POST FOR SUNDAY WORSHIP:
Look for our Sunday Service email that will have a direct link to the YouTube video and the service bulletin, as well as a link to our website post, which will also feature this worship offering.
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SUNDAY VIRTUAL COFFEE HOUR:
Consider joining the virtual coffee hour, hosted by Joe and Christina McLaughlin. Here are the details:
Don’t forget to join Christina and Joe McLaughlin, hosting a weekly “Virtual Coffee Hour.” This is all new to us, so take a chance, set up zoom and see how it all goes! It will be fun to connect and whether you want to stay on for 5 minutes or the full session, grab your cup of coffee or tea, pull up a chair, and say hello to your fellow parishioners.
Here is a link of step-by-step instructions to set up zoom, that Christina put together.
https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/St-Eds-Coffee-Hour-Invite-and-How-To.pdf
And, if you have any questions, Christina has offered to please give her a call and she can help! Her number is 717-415-7043. DATE: SUNDAY, APRIL 26th
TIME: 10 – 10:45 am
PLACE: Wherever you are comfortable with your computer in your home environment!
WHAT TO BRING: Your coffee and something interesting to share with others!
** The join code and passcode is in your Friday Daily message and will not be posted on the public website of Facebook.
Dear parishioners,
Today, we send to you a meditation from Presiding Bishop Curry; a personal note from one of our parishioners; and a virtual tour to provide a little “escape.” Enjoy your evening. Be safe. Be well. Keep the faith.
Michelle
Habits of Grace, April 20, 2020: An invitation for you, from Presiding Bishop Curry
As we learn how to adjust our lives given the reality of the coronavirus and the request to do our part to slow its spread by practicing social distancing, I invite you to join me each week to take a moment to cultivate a ‘habit of grace.’ A new meditation will be posted on Mondays through May. These meditations can be watched at any time by clicking here.
God Hears Our Prayers
The late professor Walter Wink, in one of his books, says that “History belongs to the intercessors who believe and pray a new future into being.” None of us know the mystery of prayer and how it works. I don’t know the intricacies of prayer’s mysteries. What I do know and believe, is that prayer makes a difference. It’s not a magic foot. It’s not a way to… It’s not a form of wish fulfillment, but it is a way of bringing our deepest needs and concerns and our very life into our consciousness and into the very presence of God.
There’s an interesting story in the eighth chapter of the Book of Revelation, just a few of the verses, where you have this swirling of events happening in history and a world in chaos and the text says, “There was silence in heaven for half an hour.” Walter Wink and others looking at that say that in its highly symbolic language, the Book of Revelation may be trying to tell us that even in the midst of all the chaos of the world, the prayers of God’s people actually make a difference. Because if you look at that small section of the first few chapters of chapter eight in Revelation, during that silence of heaven, it says that the prayers of the saints are mingled with the incense before the throne of God and that those prayers are taken right to God. God hears our prayers. God responds in God’s way and we respond.
Prayer matters. It’s not magic, but it makes a difference. There’s a prayer in the prayer book that I thought you might like. It’s a prayer for in times of sickness, for use by the sick person, but maybe it’s a prayer that can apply to us all.
This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever shall be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. If I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words and give me the spirit of Jesus.
What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer. God love you. God bless you and may God hold you and this whole world, the entire human family and the whole of creation in those almighty hands of love.
—
A personal note from Mike Freshwater:
I found this quarantine period to be quite interesting. When I’m not in Lititz helping Deann with her home projects, I have found plenty to do here around my house. I’ve done some light yardwork, some painting in the house and, for the last couple of days, I’ve been assembling a photo album for 2019. I know I’m a little late getting that finished. FaceTime with my daughters and grandchildren has been the highlight of every day.
Mike Freshwater
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Go to the Swiss Alps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCPdIvXo2rU
Dear parishioners,
Well, it is Monday, April 20th! Just in case anybody is starting to lose track of the days. As my husband said yesterday, “Today, is whatever day it is today.” We hope you enjoyed the service yesterday with Father David’s final sermon. In case you missed it, here is the link to the service:
https://sainteds.org/second-sunday-of-easter-april-19-2020/
Communicating how and where to find the service is a work-in-progress and going forward, we will be posting the link to a corresponding post on the website in the Daily Message on Friday that will include the service that you can just click on, the bulletin you can download and any stewardship messaging for the week.
We will start to make changes this week with the web site now that Father Rick is on board! And there is a lot of planning to do throughout these ensuing months so that we are prepared and ready to open St. Edward’s back up again, when the Bishop advises us accordingly.
In the meantime, we will stay connected in new and innovative ways so that our community of faith stays engaged.
Thank you to all who have engaged in the many ministries that keep us connected and to being faithful with your pledging and giving.
Michelle
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READERS: If you are a reader, or a server who has been a reader and is willing and able to read via technology and send the video file to the parish office, please let us know. We have our reader roster compiled by Carol Cotnoir and we would be so pleased to have as many people who feel confident, to participate as readers over the next many Sunday’s. I will also send emails to ask people. I typically send the readings by Tuesday and request the files by Thursday to give Father Rick time to put together. This is a great ministry, in person, but even more important virtually as it enables us to connect with each other. We hope many of our readers will say “yes” to reading in this new format.
DONATIONS: The Food Pantry is in great need of continued monetary donations. We have sent them a check for $1,575 and through continued parishioner donations, we should be sending them another check in the upcoming week for an additional $300 – $400.
RECTOR’S STUDY: We are installing a much-needed wall-to-wall carpet in the rector’s study, a space that was updated and restored over the past year with the last remaining item to be replaced – the carpet. This is not a budgeted item but is a necessary facility improvement. To that end, we are accepting monetary donations to help deflect the cost of the carpet. Please prayerfully consider donating to this building renovation project. Make your checks payable to St. Edward’s and write in the memo line “rector’s study carpet.”
I leave you with 3 things to enjoy: A meditation, a virtual tour, and a learning resource to the Getty Virtual Library which is a fascinating resource of books to download and read for free; resources for K-12 students – Online games, videos, and activities; a beautiful virtual gallery of exhibitions, books, videos.
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Forward Day by Day Meditation for April 20, 2020
John 14:12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
If I could—and what a leap of faith—I would see sherbet in the sky and children running along the edge of their lives carrying bowls and spoons to taste heaven’s sweet love, sand kicking up behind their heels like exclamation marks.
Love would have no borders. I would look at all people and see a light that darkness cannot extinguish. I would feel Africa’s waves on America’s shore.
I hear a whippoorwill now, singing its own name into the twilight. A dream kicks the wall of a womb. The sky bends, and I feel pregnant with my God-given possibilities. A herd of zebra lopes past me, through the foothills of Virginia. Jesus…it’s true. We are one in God’s love.
MOVING FORWARD: What would reconciliation look like in your own community? How are you participating in this holy work?
PRAY for the Diocese of Kirinyaga (Kenya)
Ps 1,2,3, * 4,7 | Exodus 14:21-31 | 1 Peter 1:1-12 | John 14:(1-7)8-17
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A Virtual Tour: Today, we take you to BEAUTIFUL SCOTLAND (Highlands / Isle of Skye)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb6WlQiaJeM
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Getty Virtual Library:
http://www.getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary/index.html
Join us for our Sunday Service
Click here to download/view the Sunday bulletin
Besides prayers, calls, cards and emails, there is one more thing you can do to support St. Edward’s during this time. Please keep up-to-date with your pledge or regular contribution. Even though we must keep our doors closed for a period of time, we also must continue to pay our fixed expenses such as electricity, insurance, and salaries. We will continue to pick up our mail, so you can easily mail your contributions to the office and we will see that they are properly credited. We have also been blessed to discover that the diocese has set up online giving for each parish. If you feel comfortable making your weekly giving or pledge donation in this manner (it is a secure giving tool), simply go to the diocesan web site, click on the tab up top and it will take you to a page where you can scroll down, find St. Edward’s, and continue with making your contribution! Thank you for maintaining your faithfulness through your financial stewardship!
David +
Dear parishioners,
This will be my last email message to you. I’ve begun saying good-bye through the Scepter and to the Vestry. Saturday morning I’ll have some parting words at the online Annual Parish Meeting, and my final words to you are in my sermon for Sunday. I’ll be officially retired as of Monday.
But before I go, I have a gentle pastoral reminder. Many of you can probably remember that once Father Stephen retired, he was no longer allowed to respond to requests for pastoral care. He could not make visits nor could he conduct weddings or funerals for parishioners of St.
Edward’s. Now that I am leaving it will be the same for me. This is not an easy rule, I know. The church has this rule, though, because only one priest can be in charge of a congregation at a time, and a new priest needs to become established as its pastor. After fifteen months as your priest, I have made a personal connection to many of you and would be honored to provide you pastoral care, but it’s really a matter of what it best for St. Edward’s as a whole. So if you need pastoral care from Monday onwards, please call Father Rick. He is a great priest and pastor and is ready and happy to form a relationship with you. Thank you for understanding.
By the way, it is looking increasingly likely that once we are able to attend services again in the summer, I will be able to return to St. Edward’s for one last Sunday to have a proper farewell while Father Rick does the same with St. James. We’ll let you know as soon as it can be scheduled.
David +
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SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER – APRIL 19, 2020
As with our posting, last week, of our Easter service, please check the website Sunday morning, after 6 AM for the bulletin and service for the Second Sunday of Easter – April 19, 2020. You will want to tune in, as it is Father David’s final service. To preview/download the bulletin in advance, here is the link:
https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/SecondSundayofEaster_041920.pdf
Then, consider joining the virtual coffee hour, hosted by Joe and Christina McLaughlin. Here are the details:
VIRTUAL COFFEE HOUR AT ST. EDWARD’S
Don’t forget to join Christina and Joe McLaughlin, hosting a weekly “Virtual Coffee Hour.” This is all new to us, so take a chance, set up zoom and see how it all goes! It will be fun to connect and whether you want to stay on for 5 minutes or the full session, grab your cup of coffee or tea, pull up a chair, and say hello to your fellow parishioners.
Here is a link of step-by-step instructions to set up zoom, that Christina put together.
https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/St-Eds-Coffee-Hour-Invite-and-How-To.pdf
And, if you have any questions, Christina has offered to please give her a call and she can help! Her number is 717-415-7043.
DATE: SUNDAY, APRIL 19th
TIME: 10 – 10:45 am
PLACE: Wherever you are comfortable with your computer in your home environment!
WHAT TO BRING: Your coffee and something interesting to share with others!
** The join code and passcode will not be posted on the public website of Facebook, it is in your Daily Message.
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ANNUAL MEETING DETAILS:
Time to get ready for tomorrow’s St. Edward’s Virtual Annual Meeting. It would be wonderful if as many of our parishioners who have Internet access and are savvy with using the computer can get on ZOOM and attend the meeting as we will be hearing our final message and report from our Interim Rector, Father Bateman; our Senior Warden’s report, along with vestry elections and delegates to Diocesan Convention, and our financial report. The Annual Report is posted on the St. Edward’s web site for all to review. Here is the link:
https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/St.-Edwards-Annual-Report_2019.pdf
We strongly encourage you to read this year’s report. Every year the reports are such a wealth of information about the “state” of our parish, but we are particularly proud of this year’s report as it shows what a wonderful community of faith, and a STRONG community of faith, we were throughout our transition (and are, today!). We did some really great ministry, in all ways!!
Once you review the report online, if you have questions you would like answered, we have set up a protocol as follows: Please contact a member of vestry, PRIOR TO 10 AM SATURDAY, and detail your question and it will be addressed. The vestry list is as follows, and you may call any vestry member:
MICHAEL FRESHWATER ‘21 Secretary 717-898-6100
JULIE HOFF ’22 Junior Warden 2019 717-898-6037
DINA ISHLER ‘20 717-481-0708
MARK JAKIEL ‘21 540-560-2895
HERB JOHNSTON ‘21 717-392-8513
GINNY KLOEPPING ‘20 717-735-7103
ELLEN MILLIGAN ‘22 717-569-0081
BILL SWIERNIK ‘20 717-682-4428
MEREDITH WESTGATE ‘20 Senior Warden 717-575-2119
To get set up for Zoom, you will have had to sign up “for free” to zoom to create your account. Then, place the meeting link in your browser, and you should see a pop-up box that details the date and time of the meeting, but it will not prompt you for your 2 codes until the day of the meeting.
Here are the details:
If you have not already signed up for ZOOM, go here and click the button in upper right “Sign up, it’s free”
Once you have signed up and have the icon on your desktop, you just need to copy and paste the link below into your browser and fill in the join code and passcode.
Date & Time: Annual Meeting – April 18, 2020 10:00 AM
Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81417491709?pwd=SlAvOHFoeWMrb1lJa2dNNGVabTVUZz09
** To ensure privacy, the JOIN CODE and PASSCODE are in your Daily Message emails from this week.
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SCEPTER SUBMISSIONS FOR MAY: Articles, announcements and pictures for the May Scepter are due Monday April 20th. Please send items to [email protected]
Dear parishioners,
Today, I give to you a meditation and a virtual tour. Today’s Virtual Tour: Abbey Mont Saint-Michel, France
I included 2 as they show from different perspectives and are quite beautiful. Enjoy!
Michelle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vH3_wrXyPk
https://www.airpano.com/360photo/Mont-Saint-Michel-Abbay-France/
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Forward Day by Day Meditation
THURSDAY, April 16 Thursday in Easter Week
Mark 14:3 While [Jesus] was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.
From the Archives: November 4, 1941
When our Lord came bringing redemption, he did not stop to count the cost. When this woman wanted to show her gratitude, nothing but the best would do. Onlookers called it extravagance, complained at the waste. Jesus said she was right.
Many people are afraid of doing too much for God. They measure their gifts by what others are giving. “I have done my share. Let somebody else carry on.” What is my share? My service to God is between God and me. It is not a matter of comparison with my neighbors. Comparisons are odious. Suppose Christ had waited in Gethsemane for others to do their share? There would have been no Good Friday and no Easter. He was not afraid of doing too much for us.
MOVING FORWARD: What does it mean to you to pray for fellow Anglicans around the world?
Read the contemporary reflection here.
PRAY for the Diocese of Kimberley & Kuruman (Southern Africa)
Ps 116:1,10-17 | Exodus 12:1-4,(5-10), 11-14 | 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 | John 13:1-17, 31b-35
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ANNUAL MEETING DETAILS:
We want to get you in sync and prepared for this Saturday’s St. Edward’s Virtual Annual Meeting. It would be wonderful if as many of our parishioners who have Internet access and are savvy with using the computer can get on ZOOM and attend the meeting as we will be hearing our final message and report from our Interim Rector, Father Bateman, along with vestry elections and delegates to Diocesan Convention and our financial report. The Annual Report will be posted on the St. Edward’s web site by Friday evening for all to review. If you place the link in your browser now, you will download the program and you will see a pop-up box that details the date and time of the meeting, but it will not prompt you for your 2 codes until the day of the meeting.
Once you review the report online, if you have questions you would like answered, we have set up a protocol as follows: Please contact a member of vestry and detail your question and it will be addressed. The vestry list is as follows:
MICHAEL FRESHWATER ’21 Secretary 717-898-6100
JULIE HOFF ’22 Junior Warden 717-898-6037
DINA ISHLER ‘20 717-481-0708
MARK JAKIEL ‘21 540-560-2895
HERB JOHNSTON ‘21 717-392-8513
GINNY KLOEPPING ‘20 717-735-7103
ELLEN MILLIGAN ‘22 717-569-0081
BILL SWIERNIK ‘20 717-682-4428
MEREDITH WESTGATE ’20 Senior Warden 717-575-2119
Here are the details (please make note as we will not make public the join code and passcode on the web site):
If you have not already signed up for ZOOM, go here and click the button in upper right “Sign up, it’s free”
Once you have signed up and have the icon on your desktop, you just need to copy and past the link below into your browser and fill in the join code and passcode.
Date & Time: Annual Meeting – April 18, 2020 10:00 AM
Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81417491709?pwd=SlAvOHFoeWMrb1lJa2dNNGVabTVUZz09
Join Code: Please see your email – we have posted it in the Daily Message emails
Required Meeting Passcode: Please see your email – we have posted this in the Daily Message emails
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SCEPTER SUBMISSIONS FOR MAY: Articles, announcements and pictures for the May Scepter are due Monday April 20th. Please send items to [email protected]
Dear St. Edward’s parishioners,
Alleluia! Christ is risen. Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
This may be strangest Easter any of us will ever live through. Not only have we not been able to gather and celebrate in person, but we are experiencing Easter at a time of great fear and human suffering. It’s important that we acknowledge our fears for ourselves and those we love as well as our concern for the many others who are exhaustedly trying to hold together our health care system, public order and our supply of basic needs.
But still, it’s Easter. The Resurrection never changes and never goes away. The Resurrection isn’t a gift for a comfortable, ideal world. It is a gift for a broken world, a world of suffering and even dying. So maybe this year the proclamation of the Resurrection is more important than ever.
In any case, we will celebrate it, and we will celebrate it for 50 days.
We’ll just do so differently.
Speaking of which, all our attention has been focused on how we were going to mark Holy Week and Easter in worship. Now that they are behind us, what lies ahead?
First of all, there is one more Sunday in which I will still be here as your Interim Rector. So on April 19th St. Edward’s will have an online service in which I will preach a farewell sermon. We had planned some sort of coffee hour reception farewell for that day, but of course that can’t happen now.
After that, Father Rick will be on board and he is already planning for regular weekly online services beginning April 26th for as long as they may be necessary. We have beefed up our internet capabilities at the church and Fr. Rick has experience in video production and editing. So we’ll be having regular internet services while we continue to shelter in place.
As of now, the Bishop’s suspension of services in our church buildings lasts until the end of May. There’s some optimism that we may not have to extend beyond that. We’ll certainly be announcing as soon as we know when we can begin gathering at church again.
Also, Fr. Rick has proposed an interesting idea. It turns out that he was not able to have a farewell event from St. James. So we are thinking about picking a Sunday later this summer in which I might return for one final good-bye while that same day Fr. Rick has his official farewell at St. James. We’ll see if we can work it out.
May Resurrection blessings be upon us all,
David +
—
A personal note from Dina Ishler:
One of my first (long overdue) projects while self-isolating was packing up and putting away my nativity set. I lingered over my sheep figurine as I gently wrapped it in tissue paper. Two tiny lambs huddle close to its side, looking up with trust and love.
I was reminded anew that we are the sheep and our Good Shepherd walks with us always, lovingly caring for us, keeping us from danger and promising to bring us safely home.
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.”
~John 10: 14-15.
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So, maybe you are just itching to “get away” but, oops, we can’t! Here are some virtual tours of UNESCO World Heritage sites that you might enjoy.
Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oovURIu4040
Machu Picchu in Peru
https://www.youvisit.com/tour/machupicchu/80561?tourid=tour4&pl=f
Tour the Sydney Opera House in 360° | Featuring soprano Nicole Car and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hunddVoMjo
Dear parishioners,
We want to get you in sync and prepared for this Saturday’s St. Edward’s Virtual Annual Meeting. It would be wonderful if as many of our parishioners who have Internet access and are savvy with using the computer can get on ZOOM and attend the meeting as we will be hearing our final message and report from our Interim Rector, Father Bateman, along with vestry elections and delegates to Diocesan Convention and our financial report. The Annual Report will be posted on the St. Edward’s web site by Friday evening for all to review. If you place the link in your browser now, you will download the program and you will see a pop-up box that details the date and time of the meeting, but it will not prompt you for your 2 codes until the day of the meeting.
We will continue to send details towards the end of the week.
Here are the details (please make note as we will not make public the join code and passcode on the web site):
Date & Time: Annual Meeting – April 18, 2020 10:00 AM
Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81417491709?pwd=SlAvOHFoeWMrb1lJa2dNNGVabTVUZz09
—
For this Easter Monday, here are 2 musical offerings that are quite amazing!
This first one is submitted by Catherine Donohue and is a Virtual Choir from The Episcopal Church facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/93121952924/posts/10160018116352925/?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e
You can also view it on this link:
https://episcopalchurch.org/virtual-choir
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This second offering is submitted by Meredith Westgate and is Andrea Bocelli’s “Amazing Grace” as part of his incredible Music for Hope concert for Easter at Duomo di Milano.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3475704559109409&id=161955833817648?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e
You can view the entire concert here (it is stunning):
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Habits of Grace, April 13, 2020: An invitation for you, from Presiding Bishop Curry
As we learn how to adjust our lives given the reality of the coronavirus and the request to do our part to slow its spread by practicing social distancing, I invite you to join me each week to take a moment to cultivate a ‘habit of grace.’ A new meditation will be posted on Mondays through May. These meditations can be watched at any time by clicking here.
April 13, 2020: All Belong in this Family of God
It looks like the storm has passed over and the sun has come out, at least for a little bit. It is the day after, if you will. Monday in Easter week, Jesus has been raised from the dead. The miracle has happened. Hallelujah, Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. When I served as a priest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina back in the 1970s, I learned about a custom that was old and venerable, that was part of the tradition of the Moravian community, of which there was a large settlement there in Winston-Salem. In old Salem, near the Salem church, near God’s Acre, the Moravian cemetery there, early on the morning, before the sun rises, the Moravian community and other friends and well-wishers gather on Easter Sunday morning before the sun comes up. And there is the Easter sunrise service.
It begins with these words, “The Lord is risen. All hail, all hail, victorious Lord and Savior, thou hast burst the bonds of death,” and the music begins and the congregation processes from the church to the cemetery, to God’s Acre. And when you see the Moravian cemetery, there are no mausoleums. There’s no differentiation. They’re dignified headstones, like in a military cemetery. Everyone has the same headstone with their name and information on it, but there is no differentiation, for the cemetery itself is a reminder of our equality before all mighty God who created us all.
Not many hours before Jesus sacrificed his life, and just a few days before he was raised from the dead, he said this to his gathered disciples, “Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself”. God came among us in the person of Jesus to reconcile us with God and to reconcile us with each other. To help us and to show us the way to become the human family of God and to show us that, that is God’s mission. That is God’s dream and that is God’s intention, and Easter is a reminder that together with our help and support, God’s will, will be done.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu some years ago said this about that quote:
“God sent us here to help God realize God’s dream of a new world and society, gentle, caring, compassionate, sharing.” ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’, God says. “Please help me to draw all.”
For there are no outsiders or aliens. All are insiders, all belong, black and white. Rich and poor. Young and old, male and female, educated, uneducated, gay, lesbian, straight, all belong in this family of God. This human family, the rainbow people of God, and God has no-one but you, and you, and you and me to help God realize God’s dream.”*
Hallelujah. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Amen.
Dear all,
We have put together our own St. Edward’s online Easter service. Much of it, including the music, prayers and preaching, has been recorded in the St. Edward’s sanctuary one piece at a time in order to be safe and practice social distancing. Other parts, such as the scripture readings, have been recorded by the lectors from home. Watch Here (click “box” icon in lower right to make full screen):
Or, just right click our Easter service link below and it will start to play via YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WoTZcUnxuA
Click link below to access our Easter bulletin:
https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/041220_EasterSunday.pdf
A special surprise bonus is that Fr. Rick Bauer, our soon-to-be-Rector, will be joining us for prayer and to introduce himself briefly.
And if you want to double (or triple) your Easter celebrations, there is of course a diocesan online Easter Day service at https://diocesecpa.org/holy-week-2020-easter-sunday/.
It will be Morning Prayer from St. Stephen’s Cathedral and will feature well-known hymns, an Easter message from our Bishop Audrey, and a special prayer of Spiritual Communion.
David +
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VIRTUAL COFFEE HOUR AT ST. EDWARD’S
Don’t forget to join Christina and Joe McLaughlin, hosting a weekly “Virtual Coffee Hour.” This is all new to us, so take a chance, set up zoom and see how it all goes! It will be fun to connect and whether you want to stay on for 5 minutes or the full session, grab your cup of coffee or tea, pull up a chair, and say hello to your fellow parishioners.
Here is a link of step-by-step instructions to set up zoom, that Christina put together.
https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/St-Eds-Coffee-Hour-Invite-and-How-To.pdf
And, if you have any questions, Christina has offered to please give her a call and she can help! Her number is 717-415-7043. *Zoom join code and passcode were in the Daily Message
DATE: EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 12TH
TIME: 10 – 10:40 am
PLACE: Wherever you are comfortable with your computer in your home environment!
WHAT TO BRING: Your coffee, and a favorite recipe to share!