E-pistle May 18, 2022

A Message from Libby    

Thank you to our St. Paul’s Verger, Darryl Lafferty, for officiating Morning Prayer on May 22 at both services. Morning Prayer, one of the gifts of Thomas Cranmer in the first English Book of Common Prayer, is also known as the Daily Office. You can find it at the very beginning of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer in both Rite I and Rite II versions. During COVID lockdown, St. Paul’s began offering Morning Prayer on Zoom every Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. You can find the link on our website. Though sometimes clergy lead Morning Prayer, it is at heart a lay-led service. Darryl Lafferty has been leading the Wednesday Morning Prayer much of this year and has graciously agreed to do the same for this Sunday’s worship, while both Jane Tillman and I are away. 

Also this week, our wardens, Jorja Marsden and Martha Bodine, will speak about the Search Process that will take place over the next year. It’s a different process than St. Paul’s has followed in the past. Please make every effort to be present to hear their explanation and learn how you can be part of the process. As Berkshire County has now re-entered the red zone with COVID infections, we ask everyone to wear a mask when in the church building. That’s one of the many ways we care for each other.  

Once again our nation has been shaken by mass shootings, one in our neighboring state. Once again we mourn the presence of hatred, violence, and death among us. Author Marianne Williamson once wrote, “In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” (Teaching Tolerance magazine, Fall 2009). In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says, “My peace I give to you.” May we hold the victims of violence in our prayers and may we do our part to heal wounds while holding the peace of Christ in our hearts.     

Trinity, Lenox hosts prayer services for victims of gun violence

every first Saturday of the month at 8:00 am online (click on button below).   

Join your neighbors as we pray for the victims of the

mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

Appalachian Trail Magic opportunities

2022 AT Mini-Mission Day Trip    

June - August, 2022 in Sheffield

Begun in 2018 as a shared ministry of two Sheffield churches, Mini-Mission Trip Trail Magic is back. You can share in this fun mission of hospitality, spending a day outdoors chatting with hikers and friends while sharing refreshments! One St. Paul’s team has been formed and will serve on Saturday, August 6. We just need a couple more people to form a second team and secure a date. Training sessions for volunteers will be held on Zoom either June 1 or June 7 at 7 pm. Volunteers will be sent the link. If you would like to join a team, please contact Libby Wade or Martha Bodine.  

Join our sister congregation and our bishop

Come Plant at Gideon's Garden

 Saturday, June 4^th 10:00

Our sister congregation, Grace Church in the Southern Berkshires, invites you to help plant Gideon’s Garden. This annual event is full of camaraderie as volunteers plant and water tender young vegetables and fruits to be harvested throughout the growing season and donated to various feeding programs and food pantries, including Lee Food Pantry. If you like to dig in the dirt and want to spend an hour or two furthering the mission of feeding the hungry, bring your trowel and gloves to Gideon’s Garden on Division Street near Taft Farm in Great Barrington.

Community in Faith Adult Forum

Tuesdays, May 24, 31  

7:00 pm via Zoom

Our three-parish Community in Faith Adult Forum continues on Tuesday, May 24^th with a lectionary- based Bible Study facilitated by the Rev. Tina Rathbone, Rector of Grace Church. The group meets on Zoom to focus on the ways stories from the Gospel come to life through our own journeys of love, struggle and (sometimes stumbling) faith. The link is below and on our website. Come join us!  

Regular Worship Services

Sundays at 8:00 AM

In-Person & Indoors



Sundays at 10:00 AM

In-person, Indoors and Live-streamed

Wednesday Morning Prayer via Zoom at 8:30 a.m.

Sunday Worship Teams (If you exchange shifts with someone, please notify the Church Office by Wednesday morning at office@stpaulsstockbridge.org.)

Parish Prayer List

• People we pray for on Sundays: Sarah, Bruce, Robert, Jim
• Long-term prayer list: Piers, Katrina, Rich, Karen, Michael, Tom, Khali, George, Doug,
• George, David, Barbara, Christy, John, Peter & Darryl, Jim, Florence
• Those who have died:
• Our partners at Grace Church, Great Barrington, and their priest Tina Rathbone; Christ Trinity Episcopal-Lutheran Church, Sheffield, and their priest Erik Karas; the Austen Riggs community and the Riverbrook Residence; victims of war, violence, abuse, persecution and disaster at home and abroad; and those impacted by the pandemic
• Outreach Ministry of the Week: Gideon’s Garden and Construct
• Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: St. John’s, Millville
• Anglican Cycle of Prayer: The Church of the Province of Southeast Asia
• Birthdays: Bill Higgins (May 25), Patty Melville (May 28), Tracy Johnson (May 28)

Additional music for Sunday:

Prelude: Three Preludes on Easter Hymns

   That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright – Alec Wyton

   On Earth Has Dawned That Day of Days – J. G. Walther

   Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Dark Bands – F. W. Zachau



Postlude: Canzon Arioso – Andrea Gabrieli

Prayers of Adoration

In EfM, we continued our exploration of the different prayer forms, focusing this week on prayers of adoration. We did this by constructing a mind map – a visual ‘doodle’ of the various associations we made with adoration. This led us to liken a prayer of adoration to bowing and after our discussion we wrote the following collect.

God, we bow to You in adoration

humbling ourselves before You.

We long to be in communion with You and live a life of obeisance

So that we may respect one another as siblings in Christ.

AMEN

A Sheffield concert you don't want to miss - June 11, 4:00

Christ Trinity Church presents the second concert of its 2022 Lich Gate Concerts series, featuring music for string quartet. Artistic Director and Concert Violinist Jorge Ávila, also a Sheffield resident, has programmed Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18, a work so grounded in 18th-century musical tradition that it earned the nickname "Komplimentierungsquartett" or "quartet of bows and curtseys." Jorge has paired this with William Grant Still's Lyric String Quartette. Often called the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," Still composed almost 200 works, including symphonies, ballets, operas, choral and vocal works, and chamber music. The Sheffield Town Park Pavilion at 4:00 on June 11th.

Come for the intimate experience inside the acoustically resonant pavilion or bring a blanket and enjoy the concert while reclining on the lawn.  Snack boxes and drinks will be available.

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