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S. Stephen's Church
in Providence
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"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." (Acts 7:56) |
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THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
15 November 2020
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Parable of the Talents or Minas (c. 1649). Painter: Willem de Poorter (1608 - 1688) National Gallery Prague.
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THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (Year A)
Click the readings above for links to the RSV
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Organ: Suite du Deuxième Ton, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676 - 1749)
1. Plein jeu
6. Récit de Nazard
Mass: Office of Holy Communion in D, Paul Callaway (1909 - 1995)
Offertory: Pange Lingua, Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643 – 1704)
Organ: Suite du Deuxième Ton, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
7. Caprice sur les Grands Jeux
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Return to Virtual Worship: Monday, November 16 |
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Dear Parishioners,
When I arrived in August, you had already resumed in-person worship in July, and had taken all the precautions and instituted all the policies required by both the Diocese and the State of Rhode Island. You had done the hard work of re-opening and it has been a joy to be with all of you in-person in our worship, and to even see attendance steadily increase over the last three months.
As promised, together with your Wardens and Vestry, I have kept an eye on the situation currently unfolding in Rhode Island and our nation, with regard to the rising numbers of COVID cases in recent weeks. Since the trend is not showing any signs of reversing, and out of an abundance of caution, we have made the decision to return to virtual worship only beginning on Monday, November 16. This will be in effect for the next few weeks, and we will update you when we either deem it necessary to continue this pattern, or when we anticipate re-opening.
The doors will still be open this Sunday, because there are some who will not see this message in time or who might not be on our email distribution; but as with the past few weeks, we simply encourage you to stay at home.
I realize that for some of us, this in fact does not represent a change, since some have chosen to participate via the livestream even when the doors re-opened. But for those who have been able to resume in-person worship, this moment does naturally bring great sadness.
One helpful thing this time around is that we’ve been here before, and it is not quite as scary or full of the unknown. We’ve experienced the sense of exile from our church building and from the sacraments, and we were able to return. We know that this will go one for a month or so, but that it won’t last forever.
It is clear from our gatherings on Sunday that there is a keen sense to foster community and to check in with one another. We can continue to enable that virtually via Zoom calls, which we can easily set up at an alternate time if Sunday after Mass is not as convenient. But I strongly encourage you to join us for Zoom Coffee Hour this Sunday (link is further down in the body of this email), and to check in with each other in the coming weeks.
Faithfully, and with great affection,
Fr. Benjamin +
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Thank you to all of you who have pledged already for the coming year! Fr. Benjamin will have more to say about stewardship on Sunday during Mass, but we have decided to extend the stewardship “season” for one more week, and we will ask God’s blessing upon our pledge offerings on Sunday, November 22, the final Sunday of the Church Year, and as we look ahead to Thanksgiving, with its themes of gathering in and abundance. |
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Save the date: Lessons and Carols |
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On Sunday, December 13, 5:00 pm, S. Stephen’s will celebrate a simpler form of Lessons & Carols with parishioners reading the lessons from their homes and music coming from S. Stephen’s. It will be a wonderful and cheery way for us to stay connected and celebrate the season, even while physically distanced as we approach the Christmas Holiday. Please stay tuned for more details. |
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Zoom Coffee Hour this Sunday |
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Virtual Coffee Hours will be held at 11:30 on the first and third Sundays of the month going forward, and on the fifth Sunday when one occurs. Please click here to join.
On second Sundays of the month, there will be a 9:00 Zoom “Children’s Sermon” and check-in with Fr. Benjamin open to school-age children and their parents, available here.
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We have begun using a new streaming app for our Sunday 10:00 Mass. One thing we are unable to do is link to the Facebook “event” that we were previously creating, but if you go to our Facebook page you can easily see that we are going live and it should come up in your feed. We are working on making a way to connect the live stream to the specific “event” – please be patient as we work out those kinks!
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What is Anglo-Catholicism? |
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Have you always wondered why we do that one thing? Or why we do ___________ ? How can Episcopalians call themselves Catholics? There are probably lots of questions you might have had at some point. Before developing a forum in which we explore some of these questions, Fr. Benjamin would like to hear from YOU the things that you are curious about. Please email any questions you have to rector@sstephens.necoxmail.com, and in the coming months, we will find a time to explore them together via Zoom gatherings.
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You can mail your pledge card or weekly/monthly offering to the church office, leave it in the offering plate at the back of the church on Sunday, or pledge online here. Thank you for all the many ways in which you are already supporting S. Stephen’s.
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Prayers have been requested for: Patti Barnes, Charles Calverley, Sandra Calverley, Lola Campagna, Ruby Campagna, the Rev. Norman Catir, Vinnie Ciummo, Diana Clarke, Sarah Clarke, Harrington Gordon, Joan Gordon, Phebe Hodson, James Howley, Hunter Jacobs, the Rev. Jay C. James, Conrad Johnson, Ann Brooke Mason, Beverly Myers, Tom Oakes, Angela Rose, Beverly Ryan, Rhoda Steinhart, Crystal Sylver, Jeanette White, and Christopher Whittingham.
Birthdays this week: Karl Benzinger (11/17), Arnold Friedman (11/20)
The faithful departed: Recently Departed: Hope Morse, Kevin Sullivan.
Year’s Mind: Edmond Krawiec (11/15), Eric Ernest Bernard Hall (11/16), Alice Esposito (11/18), Florence Ingram (11/20), Stanley Cozzens Bodell (11/20), Edith Croft (11/20).
Anglican and Diocesan Cycles of Prayer: In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we are asked to pray for the Church of Ceylon, the Rt. Revd Dushantha Rodrigo, Bishop of Colombo & the Rt. Rev. Keerthisiri Fernando, Bishop of Kurunagala
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This Week at St. Stephen's |
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PARISH PROGRAMS, EVENTS & MEETINGS
Tuesday 17 November
Budget Committee Meeting, 7:00 pm (via Zoom)
EXTRA-PAROCHIAL EVENTS HOSTED AT S. STEPHEN’S
Saturday 21 November
Epiphany Soup Kitchen (Meal Pickup Only) 2:30-4 pm
LITURGICAL CALENDAR & SERVICE SCHEDULE
* IN LIGHT OF RECENT GUIDELINES FROM THE GOVERNOR AND THE BISHOP, PLEASE ATTEND THE LIVESTREAM OF OUR WORSHIP ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE
Sunday 15 November
TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Morning Prayer 8 am
Low Mass 8:10 am
Sung Mass 10 am
Zoom Coffee Hour 11:30 am
Daily Office and Mass Lectionary: Proper 27, Year Two
Monday 16 November
Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1093
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6:00 pm
Tuesday 17 November
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200
Noonday Prayer 12 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Wednesday 18 November
Elizabeth of Hungary, Princess of Thuringia, 1231
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6 pm
Thursday 19 November
Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680
Noonday Prayer 12 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Friday 20 November
Edmund, King of East Anglia, Martyr, 870
Priscilla Lydia Sellon, Restorer of the Religious Life in the Church of England, 1876
Noonday Prayer 12 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Saturday 21 November
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Low Requiem Mass, Guild of All Souls 10 am
Next Sunday
THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST:
FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING
Sung Mass & Te Deum
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