Episcopal Church
of the Resurrection
1433 NW R.D. Mize Road
Blue Springs, Missouri 64015
(816) 228-4220
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WEEKLY SERVICES ON FACEBOOK LIVE.
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Tuesday:
Morning Prayer at 10:00 am
Wednesday:
Noonday Prayer at 12:00 noon
Thursday:
Evening Prayer at 7:00 pm
Friday:
Morning Prayer at 10:00 am
Saturday:
Compline at 9:00 pm
Sunday: Holy Eucharist at 10:30 am with Virtual Coffee Hour on Zoom at Noon
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THE MEANING OF RECEIVING.
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In a series of theological discussions I will be sharing the views of our Presiding Bishop, our Bishop and the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, and seminary theologians from our faith tradition, on the understanding of what it means to receive a sacrament during this unprecedented and uncharted time.
It is my interpretation and belief, that Christ is present in all parts of our worship whether it is the Liturgy of the Word, or the Table. And our understanding of "Real Presence" in that Christ is present not only at the consecration of bread wine, but in all parts of our worship, that for us as a parish to meet communally, even virtually, means that Christ is with us and in all the acts of worship.
So, asking those at home to prepare bread and wine IS appropriate for our communal worship together, realizing that Christ is already in these elements. The concept of "Spiritual Communion" is also very real and appropriate, in that by observing and personally, with faith and contrition, accept Christ's presence during the observation of Mass, that the Holy Spirit, via the "Real Presence" of Christ, IS with the person who is convicted to their faith and who is desiring the sacramental presence. So below is the first in several theological treatises regarding our sacraments of bread and wine.
Fr. David +
An Offering of Reflection by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
On Our Theology of Worship: Questions in the Time of COVID-19
Across The Episcopal Church, the current Pandemic has given rise to many questions
about challenges to our liturgical life. Bishops are being asked, "May we do
this or that? Will you permit this or that way of celebrating the Eucharist or delivering
Holy Communion to the members of our congregations?" Some years ago, in an essay
titled "Is There a Christian Sexual Ethic?" Rowan Williams observed that in the then
current debates about marriage rites for same sex couples, this "permissible/not
permissible" way of conducting the conversation was a dead end. The real (and much
more productive) question for a sacramental people, he said, was not simply whether a
given practice was "right or wrong," but rather "How much are we prepared for this or
that liturgical action to mean?" How much are we prepared for it to signify? Sacraments
effect by signifying.
Sacraments are actions that give new meaning to things. The current questions
about the way we worship in a time of radical physical distancing invites the question of
what we are prepared for a given sacramental encounter to mean. Sacraments are
communal actions that depend on "stuff": bread and wine, water and oil. They depend
on gathering and giving thanks, on proclaiming and receiving the stories of salvation, on
bathing in water, on eating and drinking together. These are physical and social realities
that are not duplicatable in the virtual world. Gazing at a celebration of the Eucharist is
one thing; participating in a physical gathering and sharing the Bread and Wine of the
Eucharist is another. And, God, of course, can be present in both experiences.
And that is surely the most important thing to remember.
From the time of Thomas Cranmer, mainstream Anglicanism has insisted that the Holy Eucharist is to be celebrated in community, with no fewer than two people. In contrast to some medieval practices, the Prayer Book tradition was deeply concerned with reestablishing the
essential connection between the celebration of the Eucharist and the reception of Holy
Communion. Over time, of course, many factors contributed to a general decline in the
celebration of the Eucharist well into the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Morning
Prayer became the common service of worship on the Lord's Day. And while it is good
and right that the situation has changed dramatically, that the Holy Eucharist has again
become the principal act of worship on Sunday across our church, few would suggest
that the experience of Morning Prayer somehow limited God's presence and love to
generations of Anglican Christians. There are members of our church today who do not
enjoy a regular sustained celebration of the Eucharist for a variety of reasons other than
this Pandemic - they are no less members of Christ's Body because of it.
Practices such as "drive-by communion" present public health concerns and
further distort the essential link between a communal celebration and the culmination of
that celebration in the reception of the Eucharistic Bread and Wine. This is not to say
that the presence of the Dying and Rising Christ cannot be received by any of these
means. It is to say that from a human perspective, the full meaning of the Eucharist is
not obviously signified by them. Our theology is generous in its assurance of Christ's
presence in all our times of need. In a rubric in the service for Ministration to the Sick (p.
457), The Book of Common Prayer clearly expresses the conviction that even if a
person is prevented from physically receiving the Sacrament for reasons of extreme
illness or disability, the desire for Christ's presence alone is enough for all the benefits
of the Sacrament to be received.
Richard Hooker described the corporate prayer of Christians as having a spiritual
significance far greater than the sum of the individual prayers of the individual members
of the body. Through corporate prayer, he said, Christians participate in communion
with Christ himself, "joined ... to that visible, mystical body which is his Church." Hooker
did not have in mind just the Eucharist, which might have taken place only quarterly or,
at best, monthly in his day. He had very much in mind the assembly of faithful Christians
gathered for the Daily Office.
While not exclusively the case, online worship may be better suited to ways of
praying represented by the forms of the Daily Office than by the physical and material
dimensions required by the Eucharist. And under our present circumstances, in making
greater use of the Office there may be an opportunity to recover aspects of our tradition
that point to the sacramentality of the scriptures, the efficacy of prayer itself, the
holiness of the household as the "domestic church," and the reassurance that the
baptized are already and forever marked as Christ's own. We are living limbs and
members of the Body of Christ, wherever and however we gather. The questions being
posed to Bishops around these matters are invitations to a deeper engagement with
what we mean by the word "sacrament" and how much we are prepared for the Church
itself - with or without our accustomed celebrations of the Eucharist - to signify about
the presence of God with us.
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Adult Ed w/Bill Stancil this Sunday at 9:30
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A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY WITH ST. IGNATIUS.
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St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), lived in the 16th century. He developed a type of spirituality based on his meditations known as the Spiritual Exercises. Still widely used today, the exercises teach us how to hear the voice of God in our daily lives. Though written centuries ago, the Spiritual Exercises offer timeless truth for the Christian journey.
Join us on Zoom for a spiritual journey with St. Ignatius on the following Sundays. Each session is from 9:30-10:15 AM on Zoom and will be led by Bill Stancil.
April 19: Discovering God in All Things
April 26: Hearing the Call to Ongoing Conversion
May 3: Praying with Imagination
March 10: Finding a Balance in Life
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FREE, REUSABLE PROTECTION FROM COVID.
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Many thanks to Joyce Biggs for her time and talents in making cloth, reusable, face masks for protection against droplet contagions. Thank you also to Elaine Marshall, Maura Zumwalt and Diane Gerlach for joining the cause as our team of "Angels of Protection" in this Covid-19 era
If you want a mask, please e-mail Fr. David or call the office. Fr. David will either deliver them to you or make arrangements for you to get them from the church.
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FOR THE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE.
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Please pray daily for our nurses, physicians, First Responders, and all care givers who by the nature of their vocation are on the "front lines" of this disaster. Reach out to those you know who serve in these capacities, thank them and let them know how much you care for their commitments and safety.
We also raise up in prayer all who continue to work to keep our lives normal, especially grocery store personnel, truck drivers, sanitary-trash collection personnel, postal workers and all the service people who keep the stores filled with the necessities we need every day.
We are finding new and unconventional ways to reach out to those in need and those who are doing the work are our modern day saints and heroes. May God bless them with safety, courage and fortitude that they may know they are appreciated, loved and needed.
In Christ we lift up our prayers...
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Please support us financially
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CREDIT/DEBIT CARD OPTION NOW AVAILABLE.
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Church expenses still go on during the time we have suspended in-person church services due to the coronavirus pandemic. Your continued financial support of the parish is vital to support our ministries and serve our members and community.
Please review different ways to
send your contribution to the Church under the "give" tab on our church website. You can mail a check to the church, use Zelle, use your bank's Bill Pay service or now pay us by credit/debit card.
We also have a dropbox for payments affixed to the
wall just outside the ground level parking lot door for folks to leave payments.
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The Rt. Rev. John C. Buchanon 1933-2020
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PASSED PEACEFULLY ON APRIL 15
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The Rt. Rev. John Clark Buchanan, 6
th Bishop of West Missouri, passed into Larger Life the
evening of Wednesday, April 15, at his home in South Carolina.
+John served The Diocese of West Missouri as Bishop Coadjutor in 1989, and as Bishop Diocesan from 1990 until 1999. After his resignation, Bishop Buchanan returned to his home state of South Carolina, but in retirement served as Bishop Provisional of Quincy until its juncture with the Diocese of Chicago as well as Bishop Provisional of Southern Virginia. He also held several offices in the House of Bishops, serving at the pleasure of several Presiding Bishops.
He will be buried in a small, private, family-only ceremony. A service to celebrate his life will be held later. Bishop Buchanan is survived by his wife, Peggy, two daughters, and several grandchildren. Please be in prayer for Bishop John's family and friends in their time of loss.
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