St. Paul's Episcopal Church Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
MESSENGER
"Making friends while serving God"
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The Week of September 7-13, 2021 |
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Who do you say that I am?
This is the question Jesus asks his disciples as he walked with his disciples on the road towards the villages of Cesearea Philippi. It is probably a question that each and every one of us has asked ourselves before. Who am I? What is at the root of my identity?
We live in a world where our identities are so often rooted in what others think and say of us. We are bombarded by messages of conditional love all the time from society and the media. ‘We will love you if you are rich, successful, famous….’ and the list continues.
Father Henri Nouwen, who left the privileged academic position he occupied in the ivy league universities of Yale and Harvard, and went to amongst the profoundly disabled in the Daybreak community of the L’Arche; came to understand the true meaning of identity. He says that to live our lives in the opinion of others, is to live as those who are ‘victimized’ and ‘imprisoned’. He writes that ‘that dark world’ is a world of ‘successes and failures, of trophies and expulsions, or praise and blame, stars and underdogs. In this world we are easily hurt and we easily act out of this hurt […] As long as we live in the clutches of that world, we live in darkness, since we do not know our true self. We cling to our false self in the hope that maybe more success, more praise, more satisfaction will give us the experience of being loved, which we crave’.
Jesus asks his disciples ‘who do you say that I am?’ and Peter answers: ‘You are the Christ’, which means ‘you are the anointed one, the messiah, the one who had come to bring healing and freedom’.
Most Biblical scholars argue that the passage we have just read in Mark 8:27 is a watershed moment in the gospel. Up until now, Jesus has gone about performing great miracles: healing the blind and the lame, feeding the five thousand, walking on water. His fame had spread throughout the land; but from now on there is a change in tone. In verse 31 we read that ‘he began to teach that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again’. From this point, Jesus talks about the suffering he is to face. The title ‘Son of man’ reminds us that his life and mission is to associate with humanity, in the midst of all the suffering, confusion, injustice and violence, to face rejection, shame and death.
Jesus knows that his identity is not dependent on being revered and accepted by the powerful elite of the day, by the scribes and chief priests, by the military occupiers and the powerful. He knows that his identity is rooted in the God of love, who willingly enters our world of suffering and pain, to show us that we are loved not because of any merit of our own because we have none, for we are all sinners who have failed; but we are loved because of the everlasting love of God as his beloved sons and daughters.
It is significant that Jesus asks this question to his disciples as they travel on the road to Cesarea Phillipi, for it is there where the cave of the God Pan stood, and where the ‘cult of the emperor was practiced’. The ‘cult of the Emperor’ was a central part of why the Roman empire survived for so long, for it equated the emperor with God. The emperor was to be revered and obeyed. He had military power, the power to crucify and crush anyone who stood in his way. And the god Pan was half human half goat, and would instill fear and panic wherever he went. In fact, it is from ‘Pan’ that we have the word panic.
Jesus journeys on the road to Cesarea embodying a very different message. He goes there embodying the message of the cross. The message that says ‘that whoever wants to save his life, will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it.’ Christ embodies a counter-cultural message to that of the ‘cut of the emperor’, for it is not the strong and those who preserve their live at the cost of others who are part of God’s kingdom, but those who endure suffering, rejection and shame. It is those who the world despises, those who take up their cross.
In our OT reading from Isaiah 50 we read of how the weary are ‘sustained by a word’.
Are you weary this morning? Weary because of the struggles life has placed in your way? Weary of a world where the powerful inflict suffering on those who are weak? Weary as you face another week, unsure about what others think of you?
Well God comes to us with a word to sustain us. And not just a word from the scriptures that we have read, but as the true Word incarnate. The word made flesh and who dwells amongst us. The one who came, and who keeps coming to us again and again, to raise our eyes and to follow in his footsteps, taking up our cross and not keeping our lives for ourselves, but pouring out our lives in the service of others. ‘For what can it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his soul’?
Henri Nouwen says that
in a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.
Christ comes to us afresh this morning, wherever we find ourselves on life’s journey. He comes to us and calls us to follow him. To take up our cross. To live for others, for it is only as we die to our own selfish desires and needs, that true resurrection life can come.
May it be in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, in now, and ever shall be. Amen.
Rev. Dr. John McCulloch
St Andrews Jerusalem & Tiberias
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To be redirected to the Lectionary Page and get a digital copy of the readings
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Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm19;
James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
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The Sunday Sermon
Mark 7:31-37
Healing of the deaf and mute
In this morning’s gospel the people have brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. Our Lord was a caring person; he was a healer. He put his fingers in the man’s ears. He spat and touched the man’s tongue with spittle. He then said, “Be opened” and immediately the man could speak and hear.
I love the stories of our Lord’s many miracles. I remember learning about them, as many of you did, all the way back to my days in Sunday School. They are not only wonderful stories in themselves, but I marvel at the fact that as I have grown and hopefully matured in my Christianity, I find I am blessed with newer understandings of these miracle gospels. Regarding this morning’s gospel, I find myself, humbly suggesting that all of us may experience a form of deafness and speech impediment that is not necessarily diagnosable by a physician.
I know at one point during my earlier years of ministry there was an occasion when I visited the home of a family and sensed that in the way she behaved the oldest girl was being abused. And despite my observations, I started second guessing myself. “It can’t be what I am sensing,” I said to myself. I was reacting like a mother whose child, with much difficulty, tries to express the fact that her uncle has been touching her in ways that make her feel uncomfortable. But mother doesn’t believe that this could possibly be true. Again, it couldn’t be what I was sensing, so I chose not to open my mouth to Child Protective Services. I chose to remain silent. It wasn’t, I like to think, it wasn’t until Jesus came to me in the person of a wise social worker who visiting the same family and knowing that I had been there before her, came to my office, and gently chastised me for not reporting what I was seeing. That talk both opened my eyes and more importantly unhinged my tongue. I no longer denied what I was seeing or sensing when I saw children being abused by family members, or family friends. And believe me regrettably there have been more than a few cases.
You have heard me mention before about my time in California when I was chaplain at a diocesan sponsored place for the homeless. I need to share with you another lesson I learned from the residents in that homeless shelter. When, in the Eucharist on a Sunday morning, we arrived at the point for the Prayers of the People, for some time I was so concerned that the congregation kept to the form for intercessory prayer that I created for them, that I really wasn’t hearing what the members of the congregation were spontaneously praying for during that period in the liturgy.
I had a seminarian who was doing his field work with me, and during one of our supervisory meetings he asked if there was a way that we could arrange to have an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting for our clients when we were done with the liturgy. “Why?” I asked. At which point he asked me if I hadn’t been listening. Sunday after Sunday during the Prayers of the People, our people had been praying that they, or their family members might be relieved from their addiction to alcohol and drugs. I looked at him; I felt like I was getting brand new information. “I hadn’t noticed,” I said. In truth, through the words of a seminarian, Christ was healing the deafness of this priest. Within a month we had an AA group going immediately after our 7 AM liturgy.
The point that I am trying to make is that there are all kinds of ways to experience deafness, blindness and speech impediments. I invite you to join me in asking ourselves if we have been hearing people who have been crying out to us for support and help in one way or another. Have we been speaking out on behalf of people whose voices are so inarticulate or impaired that they cannot be understood? Christ is present in all of us and wants to heal others through us. But that won’t happen if we ourselves are deaf, blind or have closed mouths.
I leave you with one celebrated example. Her name was Helen Keller. She lost her ability to see and hear from an illness she contracted when she was two years old. Yet this child of God had something to convey to the world. In 1887 a woman named Anne Sullivan began to work with her. It was hard work, but in time Keller learned to communicate through her impairments. In fact in the spring of 1904, she graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Through the years she lectured, she authored books. She was the cofounder of the ACLU and was recognized as a political activist. Through Anne Sullivan, Christ worked with, and in a manner of speaking, opened the eyes, ears and mouth of Helen Keller.
My brothers and sisters, there may be ways in which Christ wants to work through us to bring healing to someone who needs to feel the healing hands of Christ. It doesn’t have to be anything dramatic as we learned through the witness of Anne Sullivan. It may be as simple as opening a person to the reality of God’s love in his or her life.
--Fr. C. Allan Ford
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SAVE THE DATE:
Sunday, September 26th from 3 - 7pm.
CELEBRATION POT LUCK for TYLER & MOLLY.
More specifics about the celebration on Sept. 26 from 3:00 - 6:00: It will be at the Germania shelter where we have our annual picnic. It’s pot luck so please plan to bring a dish to share. There is a sign up in the Narthex, but even if you aren’t able to sign up, just bring something - appetizer, hot dish, hot vegetable or side, salad, fruit, dessert or beverage. This will be a chance for the congregation to thank Tyler and Molly for all they did during their 14 years with us. Speak to Bobbie (845-797-8102 or bobbiegordon@hvc.rr.com) if you have questions.
--Bobbie Gordon
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Our mask policy has changed due to new safety concerns that have developed. We ask that all people please wear masks while in church except when seated. If you are singing, please put on your mask. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe.
--Shawn Prater-Lee
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PLEASE HELP OUR NEIGHBORS IN NEED
Loving your neighbor as yourself. We are all aware of the needs around us: fires, floods and displacement. With this in mind I am asking that you to consider small donation to the Episcopal Relief and Development fund to help the neighbors in the US, Haiti and the Afghan families. Please consider creating a Love jar in your home and dropping in 50 cents or $1 each day. At the end of September we will receive your donations with a blessing and send it off from the St. Paul’s family.
--The Rev. Dcn. Julett Butler
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The Vestry is THRILLED to announce that St. Paul’s has called The Rev. Dr. Mary E. Barber to be our halftime Priest-in-Charge. We will share her with St. George’s in Newburgh. She is currently a transitional deacon and will be ordained priest on Saturday, September 18. She will celebrate her first Holy Eucharist at St. George’s (her sponsoring parish) Sunday, September 19 at 4:00. We all are invited to attend. At this time we don’t have a definite day for her to begin her work at St. Paul’s, but expect to soon. You’ll be hearing and reading more about Mary in the weeks to come but we wanted you to know that our search is finally over and we are excited to begin St. Paul’s next adventure with God’s help.
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HELP NEEDED!!
We’re having a Chicken BBQ Take-out on September 18th as a fund raiser. WE NEED A GRILL, A PICKUP TRUCK TO GET IT HERE, AND WORKERS in order for this to take place. If you are willing to help us out and can commit to one of those days, PLEASE SPEAK TO JANET, DEBBIE P., ROSE MARIE OR BOBBIE BY SEPT. 5.
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ST. PAUL'S SMALL BLESSINGS THRIFT SHOP & FOOD PANTRY: PLEASE HELP US TO SERVE OUR COMMUNITY SAFELY
DONATIONS TO THE THRIFT SHOP MUST BE IN CLEAR PLASTIC BAGS OR CONTAINERS OR ON HANGERS WHEN YOU BRING THEM IN. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE THE DONATIONS ON THE PORCH, BUT BRING THEM IN DURING THRIFT SHOP HOURS (TUESDAYS, WEDNESDAYS, THURSDAYS 10AM – 2PM).
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We thank everyone who has helped our missions stay open during these trying times. We kindly ask you all to help us to continue to serve our community with the safety it needs and deserves: Any food you donate should be unopened and within the sell by date. Shop items need to be clean and seasonal. We can only accept donations during shop hours. Leaving them at any other times or in the hallway can violate fire safety codes. Please DO NOT use black/opaque garbage bags to bring in your donations as the staff is unable to process the contents of it. Thank you again for your support.
--Jeanne Henderson
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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 all services (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.
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
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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UPCOMING LIFELONG LEARNING COURSES
Want to deepen your faith or expand your ministry toolkit but don’t have a lot of spare time and thousands of dollars to enroll in seminary?
Considering becoming a lay preacher, a faith formation leader, or evangelist or are you doing these ministries and want to develop your skills with peers?
Designed to be accessible and affordable, Pathways courses create communities of learning by blending asynchronous work (choosing when you want to read, watch videos, and interact with peers and your instructor in online discussions) with synchronous (live, same time) conversations via Zoom.
Click on the course title to learn more and to register.
Theology and Ethics —a four-week course starting August 29 with Marcus Halley that explores and wrestles with key tenants of Christian Doctrine.
Mentoring Deacons —an three-week, four live session course starting August 29 with Geri Swanson that provides tools and skills to guide, encourage and support the newly ordained deacon.
Faith Formation Leaders Training (Satisfies canonical requirements for Catechist license with approval of your Bishop) —a seven-week course September 5 with Sharon Pearson that explores faith development, the rudiments of formation, choosing curriculum, program planning and more.
Understanding Addiction and Becoming Recovery Allies (Satisfies canonical requirements for Catechist license with approval of your Bishop) —an eight-week course September 5 with Jan Brown to develop core competencies to meet the needs of persons with alcohol or substance related problems.
Engaging Storytelling —an six-week course starting September 19 with Simon Brooks and Lani Peterson to explore some of the transformative moments of your life and learn how to turn those experiences into a well-crafted, and compelling story that will resonate with your audience.
Gracious Leaders: Facilitators Training for Becoming Beloved Community —a three-week, four session course starting September 19 with Kaleidoscope Institute Associates Bill Cruse and Julie Boleyn equip participants to become Gracious Leaders with the skills and tools that are foundational for gracious and brave facilitation. (Participants must have completed the Becoming Beloved Community course first.)
Growing Relational Ministries for Deacons —a four-week course starting September 19 with Elizabeth Mae Magill that discusses how to move from ministry that is primarily to others into one that is ministry with people who are in need, and then look at the ways sharing the ministry creates a community that is church.
Episcopal Tradition: Prayer and Worship —a four-week course starting September 26 with Victor Conrado that explores how Christians can connect to and with God personally and communally as well as gain a deeper understanding of Episcopal prayer and worship including the significance of ritual practices, the liturgical year, the basics of liturgy, expressive and formative potential of worship, and reflect on the nature of worship in light of rapidly changing congregational contexts.
Pastoral Leader Training (Satisfies canonical licensure requirements with approval of your Bishop) —an eight-week course starting October 3 with Steve Matthews that explores the essentials of Pastoral Leadership while encouraging participants to shape approaches to fit the context where they will be serving as well as what it means to be an innovative leader who invites shared leadership within the community that is both adaptive and compelling.
Preaching Training: Finding Your Voice —a nine-week course starting October 3 with Susan Ironside to develop your sermons and gain confidence effectively delivering them. Typically taken after taking Foundations of Faith, Engaging Gods Word, and Theology and Ethics.
A Life of Grace Grace for the Whole World —a six-week course starting October 3 with Jerry Cappel and Stephanie Johnson explores a spiritual framework for deepening our relationship with God’s creation. This program’s presentations, exercises and discussions will be guided by teachings from the Episcopal House of Bishops, Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, and other statements and teachings from faith communities on climate change, environmental racism and care for creation.
Becoming Beloved Community - a five-week course starting October 10 with Bill Cruse and another facilitator from Kaleidoscope Institute - deeply explore the roots of systemic racism and explore transformative responses personally, interpersonally, culturally, and institutionally in order to enact the vision of Beloved Community. It includes taking and reflecting on results from the Intercultural Development Inventory and satisfies the Canonical requirements for all lay and ordained leaders to participate in anti-racism training.
Advocacy 101 —a seven-week course starting October 17 with John Hennessey designed for teams and individuals who want to address issues from an institutional or systemic perspective. It will help you move from an understanding of your theological grounding to developing and implementing a plan for change.
Episcopal Tradition: History and Polity —a four-week course starting October 24 with Brad Peterson to discuss the history of our Anglican Communion from the English Reformation to today, the centrality of Baptism and Eucharist for Episcopalians in pursuing our mission, our commitment to the ancient orders of bishop, deacon and priest in supporting and leading us in our mission, and how we Anglicans organize ourselves as the church locally, regionally, globally and ecumenically.
Becoming Community & Representing Christ —a four-week course starting November 21 with Sarah-Beth Wright invites us all to engage and reflect on the culminating question of the Baptismal Covenant: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being? and discover ways to bridge the gaps between who we strive to be and who we actually are in our becoming more authentically church and representing Christ in the world.
Learn more about Pathways for Baptismal Living at Bexley Seabury Seminary here.
Contact me if you want to collaborate in offering these courses in your diocese or province or if you have ideas about courses that you would like us to develop with you.
Hope to see you online!
Julie Lytle, MDiv, PhD
Director of Distributive and Lifelong Learning Initiatives and
Associate Professor Educational Leadership
--The Rev. Dcn. Julett Butler
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_1 Noto Hodge
_ Brandon Clarke
_9 Judith Mizell
12 Marjorie Marks
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12 Colleen Misner
21 Aleen Josephs-Clarke
22 Douglas Robinson
__ Shamara Ame Wethington Mizell
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28 Adrian Joseph Goldson
29 Daphne Barett
30 Thomas A. Walker
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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
SEPTEMBER 2021
Our prayers are asked for:
Owen; Charlie; Mary Ann, Steven, Jim Janett, Charlie; Alison, Paulie, Grandpa Prater; Lillian, Sasha, Melius family, Plain family, Joe, Pat, Matthew, Those known only to God; Gary, Dawn, Eckwall-Lahey families; Paul, Andrew & family, Ron, Dave & Liz, Burton family; Tish; Tommy; Carol; Chris; Sandra; George, Norm; Janett; Kay, Katherine, Renate; Frank Burnett, Food Pantry Volunteers, victims of Human/Sex Trafficking;
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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
September 7-13, 2021
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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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