Dear parishioners,
It is a beautiful spring day today and what better way to spend it than to perhaps get a “jump” on cleaning up our outdoor spaces, if we have yards, or just taking a step outside onto your deck or patio and breath in some sunshine and fresh air! We hope you are able to take advantage of these weekend sunny spring days. I saw on social media a great Isolation Wellbeing Daily “To-Do” list, which had some very useful and mindful suggestions. Focusing on the positive is where we need to travel in these new times.
- Shower and take your medication
- Clean one thing/space
- Tend something growing
- Be mindfully present to: A sound or song; a sensory feeling; something you see; a spiritual practice
- Reach out to a human being beyond your home
Until tomorrow. . . .
Michelle
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Today’s message is the Lenten Meditation for Saturday, March 21st as well as our weekly cycle of prayer so you can keep in your prayers those we would recognize at our Sunday worship, in addition to all those we pray for in these current times.
LENTEN MEDITATION, MARCH 21, 2020
Holy Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body the Church.
- The Book of Common Prayer
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During seminary, I spent quite a bit of time in the Chapel of the Apostles at The School of Theology in Sewanee. The chapel’s stone, wood, metal and glass formed a cathedral of light, transparent to the changes in seasons and time, which in turn formed me through the rhythm of the community that gathered to pray.
But one of the most formative features of the chapel wasn’t made of stone, wood, metal or glass; instead, it was a little boy named John Michael. He was born with an infection that left him with major health and developmental issues. He was small for his age. He couldn’t stand or talk or feed himself. Sometimes he would moan or cough, but it was more than apparent that John Michael loved being in the chapel. He was often there with his seminarian father who held him in one hand and The Book of Common Prayer in the other. He showed me what the Body of Christ looks like—every baptized person no matter their age or development, who, when gathered together, form Christ’s Body. Full members. Every one of us.
- Jamie Osborne serves as a priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he lives with his wife, Lauren, and their two elementary-age children.
Anglican Cycle of Prayer
Pray for the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
Diocesan Cycle of Prayer
St. Paul’s, Wellsboro
We pray for Christians, Muslims, and Jews and all people of faith throughout the world who are suffering persecution for their beliefs.
Parish Cycle of Prayer: Sam Fleming; Curt and Mary Ann Franck; Mike Freshwater; Bob Gepert and Anne Labat-Gepert
Pray for the recently departed: Joyce Shank, mother of Michael Shank
Praying for those we love and who are important in our lives is an essential component of our worship, but many of the names listed and read out in the Prayers of the People are known only to those who have requested them, and the list grows each week. So, when we come to the Prayers of the people in the service, the names for those “You are asked to pray for” and those “for our military personnel” will not be read aloud; rather we invite you to lift those names up to God in Christ silently in your heart as we pray the Prayers of the People, adding any others you wish to pray for.
You are asked to pray for: The St. Edward’s Vestry, The Rev. David Bateman, The residents of The Episcopal Home, Lucetta Kiefer, Joe Holwager, Rose Dixon, Arch Cross, Mary Walker, Liz Yeager, Patricia Stout, Marge Sieghardt, Harry West, Sandy Patrone, Mimi Stauffer, Robert Hubbard, Kate Peterson, Donna J. Mott, Charlotte Jakiel, Stephanie Patrone, Nicholas Patrone, Dakota Patrone, DJ Dixon, Robert, The Rev. Jay Croft, Robert Carter, Dorothy Diehl, Barbara Bradfield, Fran Davis, Pat Kiefer, Cody Campbell, Heather, Cheryl Shearer, Myra Taylor, Sally Mears, Barry Leed, Father Sud, Dr. Randy Cohen and Family, Aaron Rowe, Sr., Dorothy Rowe, Dr. Karl and Carolyn Moyer, James Pentland Moore, Joseph Holena, Rick Welk, Max Lown, Aiden Guillory, Joyce Shank
You are asked to pray for our military personnel who are being deployed or serving in the military: Rev. David J. Sparks, Evan Westgate, Adam and Christina Grim, David Peck, David Sternberg, John Lewis, Gordon Frankenfield, Allison Tomich, Mike Spurr, Seamas Whitesel, Capt. Andrew Pfeiffer, 1st Lt. Thomas Whitesel, Brandon Fox, Alex Kube, Richard Mutari, Dustin Burleson, Anthony Koser, Jack Hawk, Christina Dragon, Justin Carnahan, Clayton Tennies, Benjamin Jenkins, Andy Lopez