| a weekly e-newsletter from Saint Martin's Church |
March 8, 2018
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This Week
at
St. Martin's
Rite I Quiet Worship
8:00 a.m.
Choir Rehearsal
9:00 a.m.
Self-Directed Stations of the Cross
Sunday School
9:30 a.m.
Rite II Worship with Music
10:00 a.m.
Holy Eucharist
12:15 p.m.
Lenten Evening Worship at
Christ Church
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Greeting
"My own religion has been to do all the good I could for my fellow men, and as little harm as possible."
~ William Worrall Mayo, M.D. 1819-1911
In its book "Holy Men, Holy Women", the Episcopal Church this week celebrates Dr. William W. Mayo, who built St. Mary's, the first general hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. After a devastating tornado in 1883, the Episcopalian Dr. Mayo joined with the Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Francis to respond. This raised eyebrows, but together they pioneered a new type of patient care that emphasized the whole person, spiritually as well as physically.
St. Mary's Hospital became The Mayo Clinic, today a world renown model for integrating person-centered medical care with the best in scientific and medical research. Dr. Mayo was a faithful medical missionary during a time when the Episcopal Church played a vital role in bringing health and well-being to the working people of the industrial revolution in the U.S. His statement above is a wonderful melding of the second great commandment and the Hippocratic oath - serve others from a heart of faith, and above all do no harm. We honor his commitment to human health and the lasting imprint his integrity and compassion has left on the lives of all those who receive medical treatment and unconditional respect at the Mayo Clinic up to this day.
Peace & blessings,
Chris+
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This is a reminder to change your clocks one hour ahead this weekend. Daylight Savings Time starts at 3:00am this Sunday, March 11th.
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Each week children and youth of all ages gather in the large Sunday School room at 9:30 a.m. to pray, read the bible, and be creative! Look for the timeline in the hall, across from the small Sunday School room keeping track of our progress from Christmas to Easter.
Each week all ages learn more about the lessons of Jesus and we are now talking about his miracles. It is exciting! Three weeks ago the focus was on Jesus' healing. Two weeks ago were parables and the Greatest Commandment, and last week we started to explore Jesus' miracles. Lego creations reflect the New Testament stories as interpreted by St. Martin's children and youth. Stop by the large Sunday School room, and see the scenes the children gladly share.
The nursery will be open this Sunday starting at 9:30 a.m.
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Lenten Outreach Soup Cook
 We delivered more soup to The Great Valley Food Cupboard on Tuesday, just before the big storm! Thanks to this week's soup cooks, Carlie Hutton and Sherrill Rowland. We still are in need of volunteer cooks over the last remaining weeks of Lent. Pick a week that you'd like to make soup, sign up in The Gurley Room and bring it to church with you the following Sunday. Containers and instructions are in the foyer outside of the church office. One pot of soup makes about 5 quarts which is all we need to make several people at the Cupboard very happy and feeling loved. If you have any questions, please contact Pam Faber.
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All services will be held at St. Martin's Church.
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Easter Egg Time is Approaching!
Even as we journey through Lent, Easter Sunday is just down the road. We are asking anyone with empty, clean eggs to bring them into church and deposit them in the bin in the hall next to the small Sunday School room. Better yet, please fill the eggs with candy (no nuts please) and leave the filled eggs to be used for the Easter Egg hunt after the worship service on April 1. Bags of candy are also welcome donations to make Easter Sunday special for our children.
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Self-Directed Stations of the Cross
On Sunday, and again on Good Friday, you will have an opportunity to walk with Christ by visiting the Stations of the Cross. This is a multi-sensory experience, with items being available at each station for you to collect in burlap bags then take home. Episcopal churches around the country are providing all generations with an opportunity to reflect more deeply on Christ's journey from the Garden of Gethsemane to the empty tomb. St. Martin's is joining this movement by offering the stations between the services on March 11, and also at 11:15 a.m. after the worship service. The six stations will be set up in the Chapel Area. So join our Savior on this path. Take time to visit the stations then use the items as part of your Lenten prayer practices.
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Corks & Cards
Please collect your corks and the fronts of greeting cards, then deposit them in the baskets at St. Martin's. We are supporting the efforts of one of the youth at Christ Church, Ithan, as he raises money for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Their mission is to seek justice for the most vulnerable people in society.
Beginning later this year, Jay Harper and other volunteers will be meeting monthly between their Sunday worship services to create gift tags from the used greeting cards. They will package these tags to sell next fall. They will also be packaging and selling the corks on the Internet next fall to crafters who like to use them for Christmas craft projects.
These used corks really add up!
All proceeds from the project will go to the Southern Poverty
Law Center and other Social Justice initiatives. Jay and members of his team will visit St. Martin's later this spring to give a brief presentation on the project. Then in the fall, the youth of St. Martin's will be invited to join volunteers at Christ Church to work on the project, so thank you for helping with this new collaboration and stay tuned!
https://www.splcenter.org/seeking-justice
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Demand the Ban
This Nonviolent Civil Disobedient Event will take place on Wednesday, March 21st 10:00AM in Philadelphia
The Diocesan Anti-Gun Violence Committee invites you to an action to demand the ban of semi-automatic assault weapons that is taking place here in Philadelphia on March 21st. Join others from across the region at Arch Street Friends Meeting House, where an assault weapon will be melted down and redesigned as a gardening tool (Isaiah 2:4), and then march to Senator Pat Toomey's office. This event is sponsored by CHARLES Foundation, Delaware County United for Sensible Gun Policy, Heeding God's Call to End Gun Violence, Raw Tools, and The Simple Way.
You can learn more and register at demandtheban.org.
Please keep those participating in your prayers.
If you are interested in joining the Diocesan Anti-Gun Violence Committee, please contact The Reverend Canon Sarah Hedgis - [email protected].
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A theologian once said that, "God reaches us where we are at..." but if we are in autopilot mode are we even looking at where we are going? Do we see God in our journey? Are we even paying attention to the here and now?
Cara Callbeck explores these questions and more this Lent. "I don't always think about what I'm doing or saying. Sometimes, I admit, I am running on autopilot.
My autopilot mode was jostled lately by Pope Francis's words during
one of his weekly audiences: "How do we experience the Eucharist? When we go to Sunday Mass, how do we live it? Is it only a moment of celebration, an established tradition, an opportunity to find oneself or to feel justified, or is it something more?" This startled me, perhaps because I consider church to be my "go to" place when I need to escape the world outside of its doors. Sometimes this leads to Mass becoming routine and all about me. Did I let the Eucharist, this great gift from God, become rote and ordinary? Have I let autopilot get in the way of something more?"
So this Lent, take a few moments to disengage autopilot and take a good look around to see where God's grace is impacting your journey.
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Upcoming Events
Wednesday, March 14th, 6 p.m. at Christ Church, Ithan
(see full schedule above)
Faith Fair: The New Testament in Legos
Sunday, 3/18, in between services and after the 10am worship
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Read and Ponder
this Week's Scriptures
The scripture readings for this Sunday are:
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21
The Collect
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Numbers 21:4-9
From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
The Response
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.
3 He gathered them out of the lands; from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
17 Some were fools and took to rebellious ways; they were afflicted because of their sins.
18 They abhorred all manner of food and drew near to death's door.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent forth his word and healed them and saved them from the grave.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy and the wonders he does for his children.
22 Let them offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and tell of his acts with shouts of joy.
Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
The Gospel
John 3:14-21
Jesus said, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."
Optional parts of the readings are set off in square brackets.
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.
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| Saint Martin's Episcopal Church of Radnor
400 King of Prussia Road
Radnor, PA 19087 (610) 688-4830 |
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