Dear parishioners,
What a wonderful service yesterday with Father Rick celebrating and preaching his first sermon for St. Edward’s! By all appearances, we attracted quite a Sunday “attendance” with over 217 views! And, we’re busy at St. Edward’s adding sound system improvements, courtesy of Father Rick; recording music for future services; and setting up Zoom sessions for readers so we can contact the reader, streamline the process, and add a level of comfort for readers to be able to focus on reading without having to record and upload their file to us. We are continuing to improve the rector’s study with some ceiling repairs and wall-to-wall carpet installation and in speaking with the renovation project manager today, there will start to be some “opening up” orders granted by Governor Wolf that will allow construction projects to get back on track so, hopefully we will be able to complete the kitchen during the month of May.
Again, if there are parishioners who feel safe, in the upcoming weeks, to do some scheduled and singular ministry at church there is a short list of projects that we could use your help with! Please contact the parish office if this is something you would be interested in so that we maintain all of the appropriate safety protocols.
Today, we offer you three items: A meditation; a personal note from a parishioner; and a little bit of a different “journey” in the form of a livestream from yesterday in celebration of the great American composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday. It is a bit long (about 2.5 hours), but a wonderful journey of musical theater, and it is fun to watch the inventive ways that our creative talents from music, theater, and all of the arts have embraced this new way to communicate and entertain us and lift our spirits, and all in the spirit of charity and raising money for so many of the causes to help support those in need as a result of the pandemic. For this event, the cause was: ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty): http://www.broadway.com/sondheim90
We hope you enjoy as for many of us, you will remember many of these classic tunes.
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration
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Forward Day by Day Meditation for MONDAY, April 27, 2020 Zita of Tuscany
Matthew 3:1-3 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.’”
Close your eyes for a minute and look at John the Baptist. A single dark fin cutting through the ocean of sand and scrub brush, sleepless eyes fixed on the horizon like a desert shark. Between bursts of angry shouting, he speaks about a messianic tide that will lift and carry us all to a loving shore together.
Truthfully, the Baptist is kind of frightening. There is something unearthly about him, as if there is a thin place in the world that only he can see through.
Look at Jesus standing beside John, listening. Can you see Jesus turn and look at each one of us, as if there is something inside of us that only he sees? In his eyes, we see hope and a straight path between his heart and ours, between our journey and his.
MOVING FORWARD: Jesus and John were cousins. Do you have a cousin who reminds you of John or Jesus? Reach out to this person today.
PRAY for the Diocese of Kobe (Japan)
PRAY for the Diocese of Kobe (Japan)
Ps 25 * 9, 15 | Exodus 18:13-27 | 1 Peter 5:1-14 | Matthew (1:1-17); 3:1-6
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A personal note form Mike and Sandy Patrone:
Hi everyone,
Sandy & I are doing fine. No activities here at St. Anne’s. Our Bistro is
for takeout only. We only go out for groceries. Wegmans has been our
go to place for toilet paper and wine ?. We walk everyday with a few
friends but it’s hard to talk when six feet apart. Keep the faith everyone.
This too shall pass, but when, only God knows. We have been following
services via internet.
Mike & Sandy Patrone