St. Paul's Episcopal Church Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
MESSENGER
"Making friends while serving God"
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The Week of June 29-July 4, 2021 |
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Not being welcome is your greatest fear. It connects with your birth fear, your fear of not being welcome in this life, and your death fear, your fear of not being welcome in the life after this. It is the deep-seated fear that it would have been better if you had not lived.
Here you are facing the core of the spiritual battle. Are you going to give in to the forces of darkness that say you are not welcome in this life, or can you trust the voice of the One who came not to condemn you but to set you free from fear? You have to choose life. At every moment you have to decide to trust the voice that says, “I love you. I knit you together in your mother’s womb” (Psalms 139:13).
Everything Jesus is saying to you can be summarized in the words “Know that you are welcome.” Jesus offers you his own most intimate life with the Father.
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To be redirected to the Lectionary Page and get a digital copy of the readings
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2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10; Psalm 48;
2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13
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The Sunday Sermon
Mark 5:21-43
Today’s gospel conveys one of the most body-centered themes in all the gospels. It’s earthy, it’s gritty, and it’s graphic. For some people it may seem to be downright offensive. But we are a sophisticated congregation so I think we can handle what is presented in this morning’s gospel.
Let’s begin by using our imaginations to try to place ourselves into the story. Let’s use our bodies to try to see, smell, taste and touch what’s happening in this story. Let’s begin with the crowd. Can we join that huge mob of people, maybe hundreds? They are gathered near the seaside where a small boat is coming in. Someone in the prow of the boat tosses out a rope, and one of the onlookers on the shore catches it and ties it to the dock-post. Feel the crunch of the beach sand under your sandals. Feel the people pressing against you, trying to get a closer look. Take note, if you will, of the odors, the smell of the hard-working fishermen in the crowd; also the smell of the not-too-clean fishnets lying in the bottom of the boat, and the odor of the bits of fish innards that litter both the dock and the beach.
Now listen, almost everyone is talking about the strange man who is in the boat. They are saying that only last week he calmed a wild storm at sea by simply speaking to the wind and the waves. Some are mentioning that a couple of months earlier he healed some sick people in their hometown. They were waiting to see what he was going to do next.
Now in your mind’s eye, see the person everybody is talking about as he climbs out of the boat. His clothes are dirty, stained from the lake-water, fish scales and blood that were on the bench of the boat where he was sitting. Can you see the strain in his face? He has been working hard, teaching and healing. Every day he has been surrounded by crowds just like this one, pushing him, shoving him, always with one more need. “Please, can you just heal this sore on my leg? Can’t you do something about the oppression we put up with from the Roman government?” So many needs.
And as he makes his way through the crowd, pushed and shoved from side to side, Jesus suddenly stops. Looking surprised and puzzled, he turns and asks, “Who touched me?” His disciples are baffled, because as he is being pushed from side to side by the crowd, many have touched him. But this was more than a mere jostle or a push. He has felt in his body a particular touch that drew power out of him. So, he asks the question. “Who touched me?” After, perhaps a minute, a woman creeps forward, and throws herself at his feet. She’s small, her skin is deathly pale. She looks terribly ill, like someone who has been ill for a long, long time. She gives off a body odor; the harsh metallic smell of blood. “You touched me,” he says. “Yes, you were my last hope,” she responds.
Seeing the blood on her garment, the crowd pulls back from both the woman and Jesus. Judging by what the crowd is able to see regarding her condition, according to the laws recorded in the book of Leviticus, she is unclean. And to get too close to her, they would become unclean also, and unable to worship in the temple or associate with their fellow Jews.
Surely the crowd felt that as she knelt at the feet of Jesus in her blood-stained garment that the rabbi would push her away. Surely, they thought, he would punish her for trying to make him unclean also. But imagine their shock, when instead Jesus listens carefully to her barely audible words. He then looks intensely but lovingly into her eyes and no longer does he see sadness. No, now he sees joy and gratitude because for the first time in twelve long years there is no flow of blood coming from her body.
Feel the crowd’s outrage when instead of cursing her, Jesus deliberately reaches out to her and tenderly calls her daughter, welcoming her back into the human family, back into the community that had shunned her all those years. But the crowd did not care about the healing. They were focused on the fact that Jesus had disregarded the holiness rules and regulations recorded in Scripture. What was he thinking?
A good question for us to reflect upon as we consider our own holiness codes and regulations; there is the challenge for us to take a good look at our rules, our codes. There are the rules and codes that led to signs being nailed on the doors of banks, stores and museums in central Europe during the 1940s and also here in the United States; signs that said “Dogs and Jews not allowed.” There are the rules and codes that led to signs on doors of restrooms and restaurants primarily in the southern part of our country that said “No Colored Allowed,” and such codes continue to exist in the minds of white supremacy groups throughout our nation, and said groups are responsible for poisoning the minds of people like Dylann Roof, the young man that killed nine people when he shot up a Bible Study in an African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina. There are the rules and codes that in the 1980s led to our distancing ourselves from people with AIDS. Funeral directors, for fear of being made unclean refused to bury them. Bus drivers in San Francisco when AIDS was most prominent, who were routed through neighborhoods heavily populated by gay men, wore gloves to avoid handling money given to them by gay men.
Jesus healed that woman which enabled her to be again a part of the community. His message, for all of us to recognize, is that we are all children of God, members of the same family. To live by codes and rules that separate us, to push people away from us is to be turning our backs on the teachings of Jesus. The dream of Christ is the dream of a community of people encompassing the entire world, gathered together, in all our uniqueness, in all differences, and in all our commonalities; a community of people fueled by a love that has us without ceasing continually seeking those who are lost. Less we forget, may I remind you that by Baptism, you and I agreed to be members of that community.
--Fr. C. Allan Ford
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IN-PERSON SUNDAY SERVICES
As more and more people are getting vaccinated against COVID 19 the Bishop has eased some of the restrictions that have affected our worship. Given this the Vestry has decided that starting with the month of June all services (at 10:00am), except for the second Sunday of the month, will be in person and will include singing. We also hope to be able to broadcast the in person service live on our YouTube channel.
At our last Vestry meeting we changed our church mask policy to be that vaccinated individuals are not required to wear masks.
For unvaccinated individuals, the mask rule remains that anytime you are moving from your pew that you have your mask on. When you are seated you may take off your mask if you choose to do so. If you are singing please put on your mask. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe.
The second Sunday of the month will be on Zoom (see below for Zoom link). This allows us to have the coffee hour discussions and to retain those parishioners who are able to only be with us remotely.
We hope to see you on Zoom on Sunday and in person whenever you can make it in.
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ZOOM CHURCH LINK FOR ALL SERVICES
All services except for the second Sunday (on Zoom) of the month, will be in person at 10:00am and will include singing.
Our Zoom connections remain the same and are
Meeting ID: 823 3911 5280
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,82339115280# US (New York)
+13017158592,,82339115280# US (Germantown)
Dial by your location
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
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ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YOUTUBE CHANNEL
We now have a YouTube channel.
To get there PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW:
or search on YouTube for St. Paul's Poughkeepsie.
We hope to put copies of all of our online services there.
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A NOTE FROM THE TREASURY TEAM
Total deposits for the past week - $1540 (no money for the Food Pantry). Many thanks to all who have been generously supporting the Food Pantry.
A reminder - Please remember to either mail in your pledge or drop it off through the mail slot any day during the week. The correct address is: 161 Mansion St., Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
ST. PAUL’S THANKS YOU!!!
--Bobbie Gordon
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For more support groups, trainings and educational sessions please visit our website
Mental Health America of Dutchess County
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2021 STRENGTHENING FAMILIES FORUM |
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--The Rev. Dcn. Julett Butler |
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_2 Donna Taylor
_ _Kevin James Kelly
_7 Molly Jones
__ Serena Mazzuto
10 Hyacinth Curtis
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11 Ira wethington
12 Garrett Martin Bell
13 Kimberli Williams
15 Bobbie Gordon
17 Benjamin Charles Rosborough
__ Jordan William Rosborough
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22 Michael Babb
25 Donna Hosier
30 Luke Goodwin
__ Amanda Rose Bell
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Please keep those on our parish prayer list in your minds and in your prayers, especially at this time of separation and isolation.
Intercessions
JUNE 2021
Our prayers are asked for:
Tish; Mary Ann; Tommy; Carol; Chris; Sandra; George, Norm; Janett; Kay, Katherine, Renate; Frank Burnett, Food Pantry Volunteers, victims of Human/Sex Trafficking; Burton family; Lillian, Matthew, Sasha; Joe, G.J., Aleta, Plain family, Melius family; Ibadan Diocese, All Saints' Church, Oni family; Gary, Legend; Rhonda, Joe, Ann, all Teachers, Parents, Students, Theodore, John, Paul, Kathy; Sharon Greene, Owen, Agnes, Norma; McLauren family; Graham family; Wood family; Braxton family; Lori, Steven, Jim, Seth; Phil; All essential workers; Beryl & Glen, Vincent family; George; Daniel Mizell and family; Liz, Martha; Eileen; the Butler, Richards and Barrett families; Fr. Allan and family; St. Paul's Vestry; Darien family; Sherow family; Edna Clarke, Michelle, Kathy B.; Carola and Violet; Whitman, Medical Reserve Corp. of Dutchess County, The Laken family; All Parishioners; Kairos International, Catherine, Michelle, Yamily; Matthew, Lillian; Lynita, Perry, Melius family, Sasha; Stacey; Tucker family, Branch family, Atkinson family; Alison, McGhan, Sterling, Unah, Avonel, Kim, Santos family, Madeline, Bramble, Charlie, Cynthia, Gencia, Val, Joanne, Janet, Corkey, Pelaez, Josephs-Clarke family, Dixon family, Paulette, Jarah, Mertlyn; Adam, Paul, Andrew & family, Douglas family, Ron, Dave, Liz; Jill, Lana, Andrew, Susan; Schneider family, all in need; Susie; Sherry, Claudia
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Please "Like" our page to stay up to date with all services and events.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church - Poughkeepsie
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'In Service to God & You' |
Our food pantry volunteers are in active service at St. Paul's these days. We give thanks to them and thanks to God for their willingness to help us by helping others. |
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THIS WEEK'S CALENDAR
JUNE 29-JULY 4, 2021
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TUE__ 29
WED__ 30
THU__ 1
SUN___ 4
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10:00am
10:00am
10:00am
10:00am
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Food Pantry & Thrift Shop
Food Pantry & Thrift Shop;
Food Pantry & Thrift Shop;
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Rite II
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YOUR NEWS BELONGS IN ST. PAUL'S MESSENGER
Help us get the word out by submitting news of parish activities. Send submittals to stpaulpk@verizon.net or call 845 452 8440
Give us a call today!
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St. Paul's Episcopal Church 161 Mansion Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
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