Reflections from Our Pastors

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

We talk about love, sing about love, wonder about love, try to find a way to show it or name it or define it, search for it, long for it. All things and all of us fall short even when we try our best. The exception maybe when we think that Jesus, the embodiment of God, suffered a great death because of God’s love for us and all creation. Jesus’ message of God’s love and compassion and desire for our growth and wholeness was more than those in power of the time could tolerate. The power structures of domination sought to diminish Jesus’ message, discourage followers, and destroy the legacy of The Way.

Well, over two thousand years later, the legacy of The Way has proven to be our deepest need, especially it seems, to those of us aspiring to love and those of us despairing of love. It may be the difference between an ‘abundance’ belief , there is enough for all of life, and a ‘scarcity’ belief, that we have to hoard what we need because there is never enough. We know from a diagnosis of failure to thrive in babies, that who we are in our soul is formed from interactions, relationship with our significant other(s). Experience shows us that relational love, Christian or not, gives meaning to life.

As we grow older, our soul continues its search for love. Believing that God is love, we can reason that love is limitless, endless, and consequently we have an insatiable appetite for it, that is until we enter into God in death. If we can quell our fear and take this in, we hear the mystics revealing this as soothing and comforting especially when we consider and attempt to live as St. John the Baptist directs, He [Christ] increases in us as we decrease (John 3:30).

As humans we have heard of finding our soulmate. Aren’t we always looking for that true love? Roxane Gray writes of it this way: “A soul mate is someone so deeply part of you that they feel like a vital organ, living outside of your skin. They are the hottest part of the sun, your true north, your home, the one from whom you will never walk away, no matter what the material conditions of your relationship might be. Your soul mate is the one you wait for knowing no matter what happens, that they are worth the wait. Your soul mate is the person you choose because you look at them always and think, “You…there you are.”*

Listen to David Whyte read his poem ‘The Truelove’:

What if our soulmate were Christ. What would we do to make this true?



Today, be the love you want,

Pastor Jane

*Roxane Gray as posted in the Marginalian newsletter written by Maria Popova, Oct. 15, 2023.

Image by E.H. Shepard.

This Week at Mary of Magdala

ISAAC Reads

• Reconvening TODAY, October 17th at 7pm

Discussing Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security (by Tod Miller)

• Here is the Zoom link

If you'd like to augment your reading, we have some very short videos you can watch

Climate Refugees fleeing drought were part of the migrant caravan from Central America - climate change to the Honduran caravan that occurred in 2019

Migrations: A Global Grand Challenge Episode 4 - climate change is part of the reason people are migrating and seeking asylum;

Experts Warn: Climate Change Triggers Poverty and Migration in Rural Central America - documentary in nature and connects climate change to migration north from Guatemala. 

This Wednesday - Join with us to explore interspirituality

The current disunity in Christianity, and between zealous believers of many kinds, reflects elements of hidden, super subtle prejudices inhabiting our old consciousness.



The Gospel, as a universal way of being human, invites us to move toward a further Christic horizon; to enter a deeper, more whole life in Christ.

This presentation will explore new directions highlighted by Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating, and others, and Rev. Len Schreiner’s own understanding of the “complete Christ” and the transcendent nature of

Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)

Create a great offer by adding words like "free" "personalized" "complimentary" or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take an action, so think about inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining"!

Shared Service & Oktoberfest this Sunday October 22

(no 12:30 Mary of Magdala Mass)

On Sunday, October 22 the 301 Faith Partners will celebrate together!

• Shared Adult Forum beginning at 9:00 am (In-person and Zoom)
• Shared Worship at 10:30 am (in-person and on zoom.

Here is the ZOOM Link (Different than our Sunday Zoom link)

Passcode: 419433 Meeting ID: 896 7616 4246 

• Noon Oktoberfest!!

The Oktoberfest will include beer, brats, potato salad, and all the best of Oktoberfest! Bring your stein or cup to the celebration. This will also be a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity to help them reach their goal of $100,000.

You guessed it, we need volunteers for food and time, please sign up HERE. Scroll down the list of volunteer opportunities and add your name. To submit the form go to the bottom and hit 'continue' to fill in your name. THANK YOU ALL!

Book Exchange on Sunday

Books on spirituality, theology, and faith.

Would you like to pass on some of your well-loved books and get several new ones in return? Then stop by Mary of Magdala’s book exchange table in the narthex after our joint worship service on October 22, 2023. If you have no books to offer—don’t fret—take some that interest you anyway.

Please send prayer requests to marymagdalafc@gmail.com. Prayers will be listed for one month unless requested for longer. Prayers for the repose of souls will be listed for six months unless requested for a longer time.

Celebrating the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrate with Fr. Michael Nicosia presiding on October 15th. The video of the homily and readings is available here.

Social Justice Reflection

Tom Moos, Social Justice Ministry



I learned of this story from NPR this week.  Curtis Bay is a residential and industrial neighborhood in south Baltimore, Maryland with a population of mostly working class poor and people of color.  Curtis Bay is home to a junkyard where cars are crushed, an old landfill, chemical manufacturing plants, and mountains of coal – exactly the kinds of polluting industries often located in neighborhoods of marginalized people without a voice.  The coal collected in south Baltimore is mined in various eastern and southern states before it is shipped to various countries around the globe.

In 2011, a company proposed building the country’s largest waste incinerator less than a mile from Benjamin Franklin High School.  The incinerator would produce electricity by burning trash and in the process, release hundreds of pounds of mercury and lead into the air each year, not to mention the pollution from tailpipes of the trucks hauling in waste and carting off burned ash.  Some of the high school students founded “Free Your Voice”, an environmental activist movement, and discovered that the high school itself had signed a contract, intending to become a consumer of electricity produced by the incinerator.  The students protested and effectively got the high school to drop its contract.  Through student activism, other industries followed suit and the incinerator plant never was built.

Today, “Free Your Voice” is continuing its environmental activism.  Through carefully planned studies coordinated with Johns Hopkins University and scientists in California, a new generation of students has quantified what almost everyone in south Baltimore already knew: the mountains of coal collected in their communities release a fine black dust that cakes onto cars, playgrounds, and porches. The dust likely contributes to abnormally high rates of respiratory problems.  Their opponent, CSX is a multi-billion dollar financial behemoth, transporting millions of tons of coal into south Baltimore communities every year.  CSX argues that their operations are safe and meet environmental standards.  However, the students’ educational campaigns, protests, and civil disobedience are raising awareness and beginning to challenge the status quo supported by local leadership and politicians, many of whom are Black.  The students have even gained the attention of Maryland’s state leaders.



Although climate scientists argue that all coal mining and burning should cease immediately, CSX may still renew its operating permit, but hopefully, thanks to the efforts of “Free Your Voice” students, at least with new protections and restrictions.

Mass Schedule

Weekly Mass Wednesday, Oct 18 at

11:00 am

• Weekly mass in the Fireside Room
• No Zoom available

Sunday Oct 22 at 10:30 am

• Faith Partners Service in person and Zoom followed by Oktoberfest
• No 12:30 Mass

Weekly Mass Wednesday, Oct 18 at

11:00 am

• Weekly mass in the Fireside Room
• No Zoom available

Sunday Oct 29 at 12:30 pm

• Rev. Jane Reina is presiding. In-person and with Zoom

Did you miss an article or announcement?

Past e-bulletins posted here



• Ongoing Giving Opportunities in Fellowship hall; see list here

• ECC House of Laity, NEWSLETTER, August 2023, read here

• Dedicating Altar Flowers? Contact Joan Stepleton at JoanStepleton@gmail.com or 864-650-2816. A $25 dollar donation is kindly requested.

• The purpose of the Mary Magdalene Society is to financially support aspiring and current priests and encourage the development of youth in their spiritual journeys. Read more here.

Mary of Magdala Parish Community

Members: Need to view, update information or download a copy of the member directory? Just click here.

If you would like to contribute to Mary of Magdala, here are ways to schedule a single or recurring Sunday offertory.

All are invited and ALL are welcome to join our parish community. Here is the webpage with more information on membership

The ECC Regional Website is now live - View here.

Newsletters of Trinity Lutheran Church and the St. Paul's Episcopal  

Click here for the Trinity Lutheran Church monthly newsletter, "Tidings". And here is St Paul's weekly bulletin.