In the midst of the distress and deprivation that invades much of daily life near and far, All Saints Mission Outreach Team met via Zoom and recommended outreach grants to relief agencies that meet MOT goals and have a splendid track record of putting money to work immediately and for maximum impact.

All Saints Vestry approved the five grants we recommended, increasing our assistance in the light of the current pandemic.

Recipients include Cristosal, now at work in all three Northern Triangle Countries - El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Cristosal's legal and humanitarian work for families threatened by gang violence has resulted in a significant drop in those seeking to leave their country and emigrate to the U.S. COVID has increased the challenges for Cristosal, causing rising hunger in the three countries: deportations from the U.S. are further spreading the virus.

Doctors Without Borders, another recipient, is on the ground in the most dangerous, needy places all over the world, including Yemen, Syria, and Lesbos. For the first time ever, the organization has dispatched teams within the United States to minister to desperate American Indian tribes in the Southwest.

P. O. Box 21 , a Sandwich-based nonprofit that provides scholarship aid and tutoring to local asylum seekers, also received an MOT grant. (Asylum seekers are not allowed to work while awaiting their hearing date.)

Episcopal Relief & Development , our church's arm for disaster and other emergency relief, will use our grant to partner with agencies on the ground in the most afflicted countries.

Our fifth grant will continue support for the ministry of Rachel and Vitaly Dyachenko who work with vulnerable children at a school in Moldova through Word Made Flesh. (Rachel is the daughter of Holly and Ralph Simons. She and Vitaly and their children worship with us at All Saints when they are home on a visit.)

In other MOT actions, we continue to support Mercy, our EFAC (Education For All Children) student who graduated at the top of her class and now has begun four years of college. And we continue to honor our three-year pledge to Hope House, the family shelter on Lehner Street.

Going forward, we will have exhausted our substantial (tithe) contribution from the church construction and improvement project and our expected resources are likely to be somewhat less. But our work will continue at whatever pace is possible. We salute our fellow parishioners whose generosity empowers the mission outreach we do in your name.

Let us rejoice in this Good News on the eve of Pentecost!

Cate McMahon for the Mission Outreach Team

As we approach the twentieth anniversary of our full communion agreement, " Called to Common Mission , " we give thanks to God for the partnership shared between The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . In the coming months, we will pray for and with one another, seeking spiritual renewal in these challenging times, and revival for the common mission we share.

 

From Pentecost Sunday through the first Sunday in September, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and his Lutheran counterpart Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton welcome congregations and individuals to regularly pray "A Prayer for the Power of the Spirit Among the People of God." This prayer - crafted by a team of Episcopal and Lutheran prayer leaders in light of the COVID-19 pandemic - will connect us in common prayer and revive us for common mission, wherever and however we may be gathered. At All Saints' we will pray it at the end of worship.

 

A Prayer for the Power of the Spirit among the People of God
God of all power and love, we give thanks for your unfailing presence and the hope you provide in times of uncertainty and loss. Send your Holy Spirit to enkindle in us your holy fire. Revive us to live as Christ's body in the world: a people who pray, worship, learn, break bread, share life, heal neighbors, bear good news, seek justice, rest and grow in the Spirit. Wherever and however we gather, unite us in common prayer and send us in common mission, that we and the whole creation might be restored and renewed, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

After 100,000 COVID-19 Deaths in U.S., Interfaith Leaders, Mayors Call for Day of Mourning and Lament

 

[May 27, 2020] As we mark the death of 100,000 people in the U.S. from COVID-19, an unprecedented group of 100+ national faith leaders-from Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions representing major denominations, national faith-based organizations, local congregations, and millions of people of faith across the country-call for a National Day of Mourning and Lament. Together, they look to federal, state, and local elected officials to observe Monday, June 1 as National Day of Mourning and Lament, a day marked by moments of silence, lowering of flags, interfaith vigils, ringing of bells, and civic memorials.

This call is being supported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors who represent over 1,400 mayors across the country. Mayors lead on the frontline of the COVID-19 response effort and continue to model critical local leadership amid this difficult time. 

Together, interfaith leaders and mayors across the nation will call us to mourn, lament, and honor the dead, acknowledge the unequal nature of our suffering, pray together for the healing of the nation, and recommit to the difficult work ahead.

"I encourage Episcopalians to join with other people of faith this weekend to grieve and honor those who have died from COVID-19," said Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church. "Let this tragic moment not pass without us honoring the many among us who have lost their lives or lost their loved ones and commending them and ourselves to God's love and peace."

The National Day of Mourning and Lament will follow a weekend of diverse services--Friday Muslim, Saturday Jewish, and Sunday Christian (including Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical, African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American) all united in times of lament and mourning for the dead. The vocation of remembering will unite across lines of religion and traditions and transcend our politics.  

 

Bishop Rob will hold a simple service for Monday with details posted here over the weekend:  Monday Service