Prayer List -- December 4, 2020
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Members and friends are encouraged to remember the intentions on the prayer list in their own prayers throughout the week.
You are welcome to add your intercessions and thanksgiving., by contacting one of the clergy, or email Wendy Shepherd at wshepherd@holyapostlesnyc.org, or call the parish office (212) 807-6799 with your prayer requests. They will remain on the list for two weeks. Names may be added to the long-term list and will then remain there until the end of the current calendar quarter.
The prayer list is read at Morning Prayer on Wednesday and is also prayed daily by all the members of the parish Prayer Chain. If you would like to join the prayer chain, committing to praying the prayer list every day for a month at a time, please let Mother Susan know at shill@holyapostlesnyc.org.
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Meditation from Mother Anna |
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Confession: all my Christmas decorations are up. Double confession: I didn’t even wait until the first Sunday in Advent. Maybe it was because my sons were home over Thanksgiving to help. Maybe it was my need to brighten up my digs post-surgery, or maybe it was just 2020. Period. I know it’s not supposed to be done, and I get why we’re supposed to wait. But no delayed gratification for me. Not this year.
Like some kind of crazed Auntie Mame, I pulled out everything I could. Up went the tree and the creche(s). The lights went wherever I could fling them with my one working arm. The only addition in synch with the season was the fabric Advent calendar my mother bought for my sons when they were young—although even there I noticed that Charlie had jumped ahead and velcroed the star in the pocket marked December 1st to the top of the manger before the date assigned.
I’ve never pushed the season so assertively before, but this year I’m glad I did. Seeing the lights and contemplating the angel ornaments on the tree has made me very happy. And it may be breaking some clergy-seasonal-alignment code, but in these weeks of Advent as we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation, I highly recommend embracing the simple aspects of life that inspire joy.
Maybe that means navigating through Advent unadorned and saving the celebrations for December 25th, or maybe it means adding symbols of Christmas as the final month of this calendar year evolves. Or maybe it means going all out all at once (and early!). Perhaps your Advent joy has nothing to do with outward and visible signs of the season, but instead involves a renewed commitment to prayer, or poetry, or connecting with a person you have missed. In any and all of it, remember that Advent is a season of preparation. We use this time to encourage our hearts toward a place where we can receive cosmic joy announced by real angels: God’s choice to be present with us and for us, always.
-- Anna
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Dear Holy Apostles Family,
If you would like to have individual healing prayer with Deacon Bob or one of the Lay Eucharistic Visitors, please leave a message on Deacon Bob’s church phone: 646-998-6107 or 212-807-6799 ext. 107. State who you are and the number where you may be reached, and a Healing Team member will contact you.
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We pray for all God’s people throughout the world; and in the Anglican Cycle of prayer this week we pray for The Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain (Extra-Provincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury); the Right Reverend Carlos López-Lozano, Bishop of Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church.
We pray for Michael, our Presiding Bishop; Andrew, Allen, and Mary, our own Bishops.
We pray for our parish clergy, Anna, Bob, Susan, and Peter; for our director of music, Tim; for our director of children’s ministries, Ellen; for our seminarian from GTS, Anne; for our Episcopal Service Corps intern, Troy; and for our parish administrator, Wendy.
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For Our Nation and the World |
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We pray for Donald, our President; for Joseph, our President-Elect; for Andrew, our Governor; and for Bill, our Mayor; for Congress and local leaders; that they may lead with compassion and do justice.
We pray for healing, reconciliation, economic justice, and peace in our nation and all the nations of the world.
We pray that we may reflect the wonderful diversity of your creation among us; your loving compassion through the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, Ecclesia, and our outreach efforts, and your justice through being a community that strives for peace and social and economic justice.
We pray for all those affected by COVID-19, throughout the world, and their caregivers; healthcare workers; first-responders; essential workers; educators and school staff; and social service agencies, especially our own Holy Apostles staff.
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For Health and Well Being |
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For the week of 12/6/2020:
Father Peter Carey & David Natoli
Susan Alexander
Jan Oppel
For the week of 11/29/2020:
Long Term (10/1/20 through 12/31/20):
Sam Metcalfe
A. J. Mitchell
Peter Majewski
Sean Campbell
Lynn Agapi Gilligan
Patricia Owen Schaffer
Tallu Schuyler Quinn
Franz Klein
Tracy Carden
Larry Gifford
Paul LoBello
Carl Johnson
Glenn Pennoyer
Kristine and Brent Sundberg
Mary Cole
Barbara Engler
Ethan Gibson and Linda Gibson
Roseanne Kelleher Heinricks
Norma Moy-Chin
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The departed:
Maynard Johnson (friend of Shirley Swardenski)
Janet English Gracey (former Director of Administration CHA)
Patrick Finnegan
and for all who have died of COVID-19 virus
We pray for all those killed serving in the armed forces, especially: Kelliann Leli; and for all others killed in conflicts around the world, both civilians and combatants, unknown to us but precious to God.
We pray for the bereaved, especially: Sara and the family & friends of Maynard Johnson; the family & friends of Janet Gracey; and the family and friends of Patrick Finnegan.
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We pray for the ministry of the Wardens & Vestry members at Holy Apostles. |
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