E-pistle May 25 2022

A Message from Libby

Last Saturday, my husband Jim and I represented St. Paul’s at the blessing of Gideon’s Garden, an outreach ministry of Grace Church in the Southern Berkshires. As part of this blessing, the names of young people who have been killed in gun violence in Massachusetts this year were read aloud while small markers with their names were placed in front of sunflowers sprouting at the edge of the garden. It was a moving experience to hear the names read and remember their lives in the midst of blessing the earth and the plants that will stand in testimony to the generative nature of our world. 

Yesterday afternoon, a few of our Berkshire Deanery clergy met via zoom to discuss what issues we might want to address collaboratively this fall. Several suggestions were offered, but the one that gained the most traction had to do with children and their parents. I related a conversation from earlier that day with youth ministers from St. John’s in Williamstown. They noted how the pandemic experience of the last two years, coupled with violent events in the news, had weighed heavily on the young people they know, engendering deep anxiety and fear. As a clergy group, we wondered how we might do a better job creating safe communities, holding space for those who are hurting and for those parents and children who most need to be listened to, affirmed, and supported. Though some of our congregations don’t have many children, there are children in all our towns and communities. Certainly St. Paul’s offers safe space for the littlest ones through the Children’s Center, but is there more we might do?

In the midst of this discussion, someone looked down at her phone and saw a breaking news update about the mass shooting at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18- year-old boy killed over 20 people, mostly fourth graders. Our group fell silent, then we prayed the intercessions from the monthly prayer service Trinity Lenox holds for victims of gun violence. Remembrances of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Heath and Columbine and Stoneham High Schools came to mind, as did the recent mass shooting in Buffalo and all the other ways in which the plague of gun violence continues to grip our nation. Words fail, yet we try to make sense of it all. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. 

In the words of hymn writer Henry Lebedensky in 2018: “Think and pray, then raise your voice against the tools of slaughter. Think and pray, then open wide your eyes to see your neighbor. Think and pray, but then arise! Be persistent! Call out the hate, embrace the love; the Gospel is resistance.”  In this time of sorrow, hug your children and grandchildren, pray for those whose lives have been cut short and for their families, and consider how we might become catalysts for an end to gun violence, and more fully be a beacon of hope and a place of safety for those who struggle.  

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 and families of the

mass shootings in Buffalo, Texas and California.

Ministry on the Appalachian Trail

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. A second team is forming to serve on Tuesday, July 26. We have room for 2 more volunteers. 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 the July 26 team, please contact Libby Wade or Martha Bodine.  

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.  Ask fellow parishioner and ardent volunteer, Jim Wade about how rewarding helping out at the garden can be. There is also a new website that you can check out by clicking the link below.

Community in Faith Adult Forum

Tuesday May 31  

7:00 pm via Zoom

Our three-parish Community in Faith Adult Forum concludes on Tuesday, May 31st  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 give it a try!  

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, 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: Deborah Pege's father, Robert Pege
• 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: Berkshire Community Diaper Project
• Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: All Saints' Berkshires, North Adams
• Anglican Cycle of Prayer: The Church of South India (United)
• Birthdays: Bill Higgins (May 25), Patty Melville (May 28), Tracy Johnson (May 28)

Guidance

This week EfM reflected on prayers of petition by focusing on the Lord’s Prayer, both versions: Matthew 6: 9-13 and Luke 11: 2-4. Our collect, written as always by the whole group, included a list of petitions one from each person present this day. 

Dear God of love and mercy

We adore you and want to follow you

You love us into relationship

We ask

· To live an abundant life

· For courage to do justice even in the face of hatred

· You to show us how to stop deadly violence

· For guidance to share this relationship with others

· For help in caring well for those who need us

· For joyful anticipation of your daily surprises

· For your continued presence and blessing

· For a forgiving heart toward those who have hurt us. 

May our petitions rise as incense and reach fulfillment.

In Jesus’ name,

AMEN

Concert in the Sheffield Park - 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 picnicking or just reclining on the lawn. Snack boxes and drinks will be available. Purchasing tickets support the church's missions and outreach programs.

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