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Rector's Corner



The following letter will be delivered to all members via email and USPS this week. Please take a moment to click on the SURVEY link to submit as the first necessary step in opening our doors once again.

Thank you for your time, consideration, prayer and patience as we move forward.

Dear Family in Christ,

I hope that this letter finds you and your family well.  
While we have been unable to meet physically in Church, we are still a community of Faith and Grace. The spirit and the support of each other continue to get us through this trying time. We are excited that the life of our community has remained active and vibrant. The big question for us all, of course, when will we be able to worship again in person at St. Mary’s? 
It is clear that due to the specified directives and volunteers it takes to fulfill those directives, we will not be gathering in person immediately. The process of reopening will take some time. This letter and survey are one part of a multi-layered process that can be found at the www.DioceseofNJ.org website. While the task is daunting it is also very promising.

This letter is to inform you of some of the steps that have been taking place at the Diocesan level and here at St. Mary’s. We ask you to provide your feedback with urgency as the first step in getting back into communal worship in the Sanctuary.

Bishop Stokes has created a group that has been working to set forth a plan for the churches in the Diocese to follow for a phased re-opening of our houses of worship. It has the formidable name of the “Task Force for Re-entering, Re-opening, and Re-imagining for the Diocese of New Jersey” and they published their report on June 4, 2020. The re-opening will occur in stages that track but do not exceed the stages that Governor Murphy has set out for the opening of the State in general. In fact, the Diocesan guidelines are more conservative considering the age of our congregations placing us in a vulnerable class. The overriding focus of the Bishop’s report is the protection of the health of all our congregants. As the report says, “…it is an act of Christ’s care and love for the whole human race, and for our neighbors in the Diocese and in the world, to conform to” these limitations. 

As a parish, we must follow the requirements set forth by the Bishop and we need to submit a written plan for St. Mary’s that must be approved by the committee and the Bishop before we can begin to open our buildings. Please be patient as this takes time and volunteers.

To do the work we need to do we, Mo. Allison, our Wardens and Vestry, are working together to carefully take charge of the Diocesan directives and implement them for our parish. 

On June 9th, Governor Murphy increased the number of people who could be in a Church building to 25% of a buildings' capacity or 50 people, whichever is the smaller number. However, our Bishop is maintaining the prior limitation that only 10 individuals may be inside our building at any one time. We must follow the Diocesan guidance which, as a practical matter, makes an in-person service impractical at this time. 

Our efforts right now are being directed to putting in place the procedures that will be acceptable to the Diocese and gain the necessary approval so that we can open the church when attendance limits are lifted, and volunteers can be attained. This includes marking off our spaces for social distancing, having sanitizer and other protective gear available, creating contact tracing procedures, clearly communicating the new rules and most importantly setting up a rigorous and ongoing cleaning protocol. Once again, it will take the work of many hands.

Before any of this can become effective, we need the input of all of our parishioners and that is why we are sending you this survey today.  We need to hear from you about how you feel about returning to regular church activities once the limitations on public gatherings are eased. In considering your answers, please be assured that we will continue on-line worship even when we start to worship on-site again. If there is more than one person in your household and you do not have the same answers, please submit again accordingly.
 
Since this is the first and a very necessary step to begin our path back to being together in person at St. Mary’s, please provide your input as soon as possible. Your timely and complete responses will enable us to move forward in defining our plan and gaining approval.

Thank you for doing your part to help our community fully re-open.

In Christ,
The Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, Rector
Jack Olthuis, Senior Warden
Louis Schweickhardt, Junior Warden
And the Vestry of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
Re-Entering Survey
As we start the process of assessing how and when we might begin to return to some church activities, St. Mary’s is interested and in need of your feedback about returning to church activities in accordance with Diocesan and State requirements. In considering your answers, please be assured that we will continue on-line worship even when we start to worship on-site again. If there is more than one person in your household and you don't have the same answers, please submit accordingly.
Please complete survey by June 30, 2020.

Click the link to begin:

Join and Subscribe
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Adult Formation Book Study
You are invited to join together with myself and Mother Lisa Hoffman to an important Adult Formation Book Study via Zoom meeting.

Wednesday at 5 PM. We are reading and discussing  The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby

It is available for  Amazon Kindle download .

Please join us for this important book conversation.

Register in advance for this meeting:

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Music with David
Aristotle’s Analysis

Dear Friends,

Last week I wrote to you about some of the ways we’ve had to adapt to our
current environment. As difficult as these adaptations might be, change is a
necessary part of our human experience. Without change, there is no growth; and in the absence of growth, we wither away.

Like humanity itself, music has undergone tremendous changes throughout the centuries. The origins of modern tonality actually lie in the depths of antiquity, especially in Ancient Greek civilization, where the first building blocks of music were codified. The Ancient Greeks devised a system of ratios from which the first modes (or scales) were derived. From these relationships the musical concepts of consonance (agreement) and dissonance (disagreement) were inferred. These concepts would fundamentally determine the way in which all future music in Western Civilization would evolve.

The music and culture of Ancient Greece influenced societies across the
globe. As their influence spread, basic concepts such as modality, consonance and dissonance were accepted in many other ancient cultures. This emerging commonality became, in a sense, the root language of all ancient Western music, and of all the multifarious dialects that would follow in the centuries to come.

For nearly three and a half thousand years, Western music has evolved by way of these few, but fundamental, concepts. Next week we will examine in greater detail what these terms actually mean, and how they have influenced the course of musical development.

Until then, take care and stay well!
David
‌
For our fathers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them respect and love,
we pray to the Lord.
For fathers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them,
we pray to the Lord.
For men, though without children of their own, who like fathers have nurtured and cared for us, we pray to the Lord.
For fathers, who have been unable to be a source of strength, who have not responded to their children and have not sustained their families,
we pray to the Lord.
God, in your wisdom and love you made all things. Bless these men, that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Lectionary Text this Week

  • Jeremiah 20:7-13
  • Psalm 69: 8-11, (12-17), 18-20
  • Romans 6:1b-11
  • Matthew 10:24-39
Zoom Gatherings and Worship
Sunday
Tuesday - Friday
Wednesday
Saturday
A Prayer for our Country
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.