Grace Church (Page 3)

 

This year the Feast of Saint Francis falls on Sunday, October 4th.  Saint Francis loved all animals and it is traditional on his feast day to celebrate the ways that animals are the face of God and bless us in our daily living.  So on that day, at the end of our Sunday morning Zoom worship, we invite everyone to bring their pets “on screen” to be introduced to our parish and blessed.

You are welcome to keep sending your photographs to the parish office or Marjorie of all your animal family members (here on earth or now in heaven) so they can be remembered and viewed visually during our Zoom worship.  Be sure to include your pet’s name and your name as well when you send in your photos.  The deadline for all submitted photography is October 1st.

We are grateful for the way God speaks to us through our animals.  May we be as kind to them as they are to us.

Most high, omnipotent good Lord, grant your people grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of blessed Francis, we may for love of you delight in your whole creation with perfectness of joy. O God, you have made us and all living things. You are even more wonderful than what you have made. We thank you for giving us these pets who bring us joy. As you take care of us, so also we ask your help that we might take care of those who trust us to look after them. By doing this, we share in your own love for all creation. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Collect of the Day

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Prayer in the Midst of a Pandemic

For layers of comfort and convenience that surrounded our lives and that we never considered a blessing but always just took for granted, forgive us.
For we who must grieve in isolation and not in community, comfort us.
For we who care for the sick, protect us.
For the times when we are all out of creative ideas for how to get through this with cooped up kids, inspire us.
For we who are now cutting our own bangs at home, guide us.
For the grace to allow ourselves and others to just be less productive, shower us.
For the generosity needed from those of us who have more resources, empower us.
From our own selfish inclinations, deliver us.
For just being your children, none of whom have done a global pandemic before, love us.
For the days ahead, accompany us.
God unbound by time, help us to know that you are already present in the future we are fearing.
– Nadia Bolz-Weber

Joy is the happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens. – Brother David Steindl-Rast

A Collect

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief.
Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated to complete the work,
But neither are you free to abandon it.
– The Talmud

A Prayer for Mindfulness

May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home
remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close, remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel trips, remember those that have no place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market, remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home
remember those who have no home.
During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other,
let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors.

Collect of the Day

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Wisdom from the Poets

Jesus, you kneel before me
You remove my shoes and I am exposed
My feet are grimy
full of calluses and cracks
pungent with sweat and toe jam
I’m embarrassed by them
I pull back but you reassure
You’re not offended
I feel welcome in your hands
vulnerable, yet safe

The cleansing begins
I see your reflection in the ripples
I see me, too
Your water brings truth and life
Who I am and who I can be

I am whole and home in the touch the towel
You look at my neighbor and hand it to me

– Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Collect of the Day

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Wisdom from the Poets

Still, what I want in my life
Is to be willing
To be dazzled-
To cast aside the weight of facts
And may even
To float a little
Above this difficult world.

I want to believe I am looking
Into the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing –
That the light is everything-
That it is more than the sum
Of each flawed blossom rising and falling.
And I do.

– Mary Oliver

A Collect for Guidance

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wisdom from the Poets

Let Go

“Let go,” He says. “Let go.”
But my heart is stubborn, so I do not let go.
“What if it hurts?” I say.
“I know it will hurt,” He says.
“What if I fall?” I say louder.
“I know you will fall,” He says.
“But what if I can’t get up?
What if I can’t go on?
What if my heart breaks into a thousand pieces?”
“It’s all right; just let go.”
“No. I can’t. I want to, but I can’t.”
“Let go.”
“How? My heart will break. It is breaking already.”
“So it will break. Let go.”
“I can’t. It hurts.”
“Don’t you know, my child?
If you fall, I will pick you up.
If you can’t go on, I will carry you.
Don’t you know, my child? Don’t you know?
It is when it breaks that I can make you whole again.
It is when it breaks that I can pick out these broken pieces that are hurting you.
It is when it breaks that you can truly learn to love.
You can rise again.
You will rise again.
Let go.”

By Charissa K. Cheuk

A Collect for Peace

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Musings from the Pews

The prayer book cautions us: “From envy, hatred and malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us.” I think we need to add a fifth entry: despair. As resurrection people, we are called upon to remain hopeful, to look for opportunities to provide others with reason for hope and to rely on the promises of the faith “Lo, I am with you always, til the close of the age.”

Wisdom from the Poets

To be of use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

By Marge Piercy

March 13, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today, after consulting with clergy, lay leaders, public health officials and fellow bishops, I ask that each of our congregations gather this coming Sunday as a Day of Preparation for a Fast from physically gathered, large group worship until April 5, the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. We pray that this time of abstaining from public worship will not extend beyond this, but the circumstances relating to the COVID-19 outbreak may dictate otherwise.

The power of Christianity is found in its astonishing capacity to turn the worse news into Good News. This is the message of the Cross after all: a means of humiliation, degradation and death becomes the means of Life. Now, even as we contemplate and prepare for a time of physical distance, I am now convinced that it is for such a time as this that all of our talk in the past years about how we can actually be the Body of Christ in the world can happen in even more liberating and healthful ways. Now is an urgent time when we, instead of looking out only for ourselves alone, can reach out in love, albeit by phone or digitally, or in small and hygienic groups with news of faith, hope and love and with spiritual companionship.

As an Episcopal bishop, I cannot supersede the canonical authority a local rector may have making available the sacraments and worship of the Church. However, our canons clearly did not foresee the public health emergency we now face. What seemed even a week ago as a safe distance between those who have been infected by the COVID-19 virus and our own population is now rapidly shrinking.  Therefore, I am calling upon us to act in solidarity with one another to suspend our in-person public worship, beginning the week of March 17 ^th .

I sincerely and faithfully urge us all to see this peculiar time not as a catastrophe that instills fear, suspicion or shame among us, but as a spiritual fast and a civic duty, the reclaiming of a venerable and powerful spiritual tradition through which, like Jesus in the wilderness, we are called to renew our trust and our awareness of how God is blessing us, yes, blessing us, in this season of abstinence from physical touch and even, for a time, from corporate public worship. I believe that the church’s ongoing work to be reinvented, strengthened and renewed will be accelerated and deepened during this time. Heartily, I pray that we can share an Easter Communion like none other we have experienced in our lifetimes, when we can come together after the wave of infection passes.

There is precedence for this. In November 1940, St. Michael’s Cathedral in Coventry, England was destroyed by bombing during the German bombing invasion. Suddenly finding itself without its historic gothic building, the congregation formed small ‘foyer’ groups in their homes to continue to pray and care for one another. The Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international movement of peace and forgiveness, remains a tribute to the power of God’s love to turn horrible adversity into Gospel life.

It is now incumbent upon us to show Christ’s love and compassion for our neighbor and ourselves by practicing physical distancing (a preferable phrase to “social distancing” we’ve heard so much about.) Such respect for our physical space to lessen infection is how we can display our love for one another, even as we are bound together in the Body of Christ.

This Sunday, I urge our congregations to offer special prayers as we prepare for a suspension of public worship until at least April 5. If you have not already done so, please use the coming Sunday and the days after to create phone trees and form prayer partners by which you can stay in closer touch during this time. As we are being strongly discouraged by health officials to assemble in larger groups, let us be creative about forming smaller groups that allow sufficient physical space between you (the doctors recommend 4-6 feet or two arm spans), share bible readings and prayers. We can make good use of technology such as Zoom. Some congregations have excellent live-streaming of their worship services and we will list the links on the diocesan webpage dedicated to the Church’s response to this health crisis:

www.nhepiscopal.org/covid19

I plan to stream worship services from here, our humble Chapel of All Angels in Diocesan House, beginning next week. We will need to make new provisions for those who have limited or no access to digital technology so that our siblings in Christ will not find themselves more isolated in this time. You can expect more updates and sharing as we journey together in this unusual Lenten period, a Lent that will lead us, God willing, to a glorious celebration of praise and thanksgiving for our Lord’s emergence from the tomb on Easter Morning! Of course, we cannot predict when this current crisis will abate, but this is my prayer today.

In the meantime, I close with my usual blessing, a blessing that seems even more apt now than at any time before.

Live without fear.
Your Creator has made you holy,
has always protected you
and loves you with a power and a presence
that is stronger than death.
And the blessing of Almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be among us now, this day,
and forever more.

Faithfully Yours in the Risen Christ,

+Rob

The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, Bishop