Episcopal Church
of the Resurrection
1433 NW R.D. Mize Road
Blue Springs, Missouri  64015
 
(816) 228-4220

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Sunday services at 8:00 and 10:30 am
WATCH ON Facebook LIVE OR YouTube.
Christ Walking on Water

Sunday, August 9, 2020
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Holy Eucharist Rite I at 8:00 am on-line
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 am on-line
Virtual Coffee Hour at 12:30 pm on Zoom
Resurrection gives funds for outreach
CSL AND NECESSITY PANTRY RECEIVE FUNDS.
In July, the Vestry of the Church of the Resurrection agreed to donate $6,000 to the Blue Springs Community Services League in an unprecedented move to respond to the greater community that is in crisis due to the COVID pandemic.  The gift was made possible by the receipt of two large unexpected gifts to the Church.

In addition to the CSL contribution, Church of the Resurrection has so far sent $1,525 to St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Independence in 2020 in support of the Necessity Pantry.  This money comes entirely from the generosity of our parishioners.

TOGETHER we make a difference.  Thank you!
From Fr. David+
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS.
David Lynch _
Many thanks for all your prayers and best wishes as I traveled to Michigan to spend quality time with my brother suffering from end stages of COPD/Emphysema. I plan to take personal time in the months to come to continue this time with family. I am also grateful for the parish's support in my decisions to do this as I am also grateful for the ministry of Fr. Doug Johnson and his wife Sue on the Sundays in my absence. I ask your prayers for my brother Bill as he learns how to live into his foreseeable future.
 
Lay Liturgical Ministers Needed
I plan and want to continue the commitments of providing the Daily Office services throughout the week broadcast on Facebook. I would like to grow this ministry with liturgical leaders who would be willing to take on Morning, Noon Day and Evening Prayer, especially when I am unable to officiate them. If you are interested in serving in this ministry and learning the logistics, I am gladly willing to develop you into that ministry. Please contact me if you are interested in serving.

Plans for Re-Opening our Parish continue
In our recent Vestry meeting we agreed to set a tentative date of Sunday September 13th to reopen the church for services.  Because we plan to continue broadcasting, we plan to only broadcast the 10:30 R-II service. The 8:00 am service will be available for those who desire not to be part of the broadcast as a parishioner.  Safety remains our utmost priority in all of our planning. Please stay tuned.
 
Expressing your Concerns before You decide to come back to Church
The re-opening planning team is interested in your suggestions and concerns that you would like addressed before you decide to come back to the church building for services. Please e-mail Richard Conn at randgconn@sbcglobal.net with your comments and ideas. We will also be publishing an on-line survey to capture people's comments about returning to the church building in the coming week.
Monday Matters - RenewalWorks
FROM REV. JAY SIDEBOTHAM +.
Do no harm
Years ago, in the first years of my ministry, I attended an orientation session for Sunday school teachers, led by a wise mentor. He spoke with the teachers as they began a year of classes, and offered this simple instruction, borrowed from another healing profession. He told the teachers: "Do no harm."

I carried that wisdom with me throughout ministry. It's been important over the years as I have come to hear too many stories of folks wounded by organized religion (or disorganized religion in the case of the Episcopal Church). Maybe you are one of them. If so, I pray you will know healing and blessing.

As a representative of organized religion (i.e., clergy), I am haunted by this verse in the psalms: Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me. (Psalm 69:7) I confess that I've done that.

"Do no harm." In subsequent years, I would apply that wisdom with teenagers when we participated in work trips. Small groups of teenagers would be sent to do home repairs. Very few had construction experience. Many had short attention spans. Some were more interested in, how shall I say, social life. There was no way I was qualified to serve as foreman. So as we would begin our work, I prayed with fear and trembling for the safety of our young people. I prayed for the well-being of the residents. I implored the teenagers, as we were given opportunity to enter these residents' lives, to work on their homes: "Do no harm."
Renewal Works
Over the years, that didn't seem quite enough. I added a related bit of guidance. I offered a simple challenge for our efforts: "Let's leave the place better than we found it." It was reassuring to me when I heard that same instruction from a wise guide, Cookie Cantwell, who does amazing work with young people at our church. Again and again, as she gathers, leads and inspires our youth, she teaches them that they don't have to do anything super-human. They simply have to take a step toward something better. They are called to make a difference, even if it's a small one.

That challenge applies to our own journeys of faith, in our homes and churches, in our culture. As we have celebrated the life, ministry and witness of John Lewis, I came across words he addressed to a group of young people: "We must use our time and our space on this little planet that we call Earth to make a lasting contribution, to leave it a little better than we found it, and now that need is greater than ever before." Leave it a little better than we found it. John Lewis did that. In the face of daunting challenges, this wisdom provides accessible steps forward. You don't have to do everything. But you can do something. Progress not perfection.

It's wisdom expressed by St. Paul in the letter to the Philippians, an excerpt printed above. Paul reflected on his own spiritual journey. There were things about his past that he regretted, ways he had done damage. He had fallen short. But giving up the hope of a better past, he instead strained forward to what lies ahead, keeping his eyes on the prize. For us, it's the same, keeping our eyes on the prize, language from the New Testament that animated the movement for civil rights in this nation. It can help us take the next steps in our own journey.

I don't know if you're feeling this way, but as I think about our broken world, about the considerable coincidental crises we face, crises of health, economics and race relations, the enormity of these challenges seems daunting. That's precisely the moment to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us this week to maybe just that one thing, perhaps a very small thing, that we can do to make things better, more healthy, more holy, more whole.
Helpful links
RESOURCES TO USE.