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S. Stephen's Church
in Providence
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"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." (Acts 7:56) |
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The Third Sunday of Easter
18 April 20210
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Apparizione a porte chiuse by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319), Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana del Duomo, Siena.
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Readings for this Sunday
Psalm 98
Click the readings above for links to the RSV
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Organ: Messe pour les Couvents, François Couperin (1668 - 1733)
3. Kyrie "Dialogues sur la trompette et sur la montre"
5. Gloria "Petite fugue sur le Chromhorne"
18. Elevation "Tierce en taille"
Mass: Messe pour le Port Royal H5, Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643 - 1704)
Psalm 98 "Cantate Domino," Tone VI
Offertory Motet: Christo resurgenti, François Couperin
Organ: Messe pour les Couvents
12. Offertorie sur les grande jeux
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Dear beloved in Christ,
One of the things I’ve been struck by in these first weeks of Easter is the fact that the news of Jesus’ Resurrection that the disciples begin to share and preach to their fellow Israelites begins with a note of condemnation. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles we’ll hear on Sunday includes this striking sentence: “But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.”
Yes, they go about preaching good news and healing the sick in Jesus’ name, but they also make it clear that all is not right with the world. They do not hold back from telling their Jewish and Gentile brethren that God appeared among them, and they managed to miss it so spectacularly and awfully that they killed him. But this was all according to God’s purposes and his plan for salvation, as Jesus reveals to them.
Sin and death have been rendered powerless by Jesus’s death and resurrection, but they have not been eradicated from the world nor the human condition. If the disciples were alive today, they could just as easily preach condemnation on us and on our society as they did to their contemporaries. There is still much injustice, cruelty, and indifference. Simply put, there is still much that is wrong in the world.
We’ve seen it sadly play out once again in Minnesota with yet another senseless death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer, miles down the road from where the murder trial of George Floyd is currently taking place. While we believe that sin and death do not have the final word, and that Jesus opens to us life immortal, the sting of death and loss is still painfully felt.
I don’t have answers or words that can adequately address the brokenness and sadness that still persists in the world, but I do have faith in Jesus, and I try my best to trust in God’s promises that new life will always spring from death. Above all, I believe that the power of God in Christ is still active and at work in the world, and I trust in that power more than our feeble attempts to bring about the kingdom of God by our own actions. However, try we must. We are called to be a people of hope, and not despair. Hopelessness is not a Christian virtue.
Yes, there is brokenness in the world. But there is also hope, healing, and renewal happening around us all the time that we are invited to be a part of, if we have the eyes to see it. As our collect for this Sunday will have us pray: “O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
Yours in the hope of our Risen Lord,
Fr. Benjamin+
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A Reminder about Masks
and COVID Protocols
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Even as we rejoice that so many of us are receiving or have received the COVID vaccine, we must still wear masks in worship and maintain six feet between family/household groups.
Masks must be worn and must be kept in their proper position above the nose. For the benefit of those in attendance and viewing online, the small calculated risk is made allowing someone leading worship to remove their mask when speaking or reading (i.e. the Celebrant, Preacher, or Lector). The Choir are also permitted to remove their masks while singing as long as they are inside the Rood Screen, where they are still to maintain appropriate distancing.
Additionally, while at Easter we knew it would be hard to stifle singing, we ask that you use any hymns sung at Mass as devotional texts and allow the choir to carry the singing.
We've come a long way since the beginning of this pandemic a little over a year ago, and ask for your continued patience and perseverance. We will continue to evaluate and respond to any changes or new information as they come our way, and will communicate that to you accordingly.
Faithfully,
The Rector & Wardens
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Join us for Virtual "Coffee Hour" via Zoom after Mass this Sunday at 11:30 by clicking here. A reminder that these Zoom gatherings are now on First and Third Sundays of the month only (and the occasional rare Fifth Sunday.)
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You can mail your pledge card or weekly/monthly offering to the church office, or pledge online here. Thank you for all the many ways in which you are already supporting S. Stephen’s.
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Prayers have been requested for: Richard Budlong, Lola Campagna, Ruby Campagna, Fr. Norman Catir, Diana Clarke, Sarah Clarke, Fr. Harrington Gordon, Joan Gordon, Barbara Hartford, Richard Hogarth, Fr. Jay C. James, Conrad Johnson, Ann Brooke Mason, Beverly Myers, Rhoda Steinhart, Crystal Sylver, PaLuca Turrisi, and Christopher Whittingham.
Birthdays this week: Barbara Osborne (4/20), Len Gaucher (4/23), Andrew Welch (4/24).
The faithful departed:
Recently departed: HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Year's mind: William Brazil (4/24), Kenneth Raymond (4/24), Jeannine Lennihan Firestone (4/25).
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we are asked to pray for the Church of Ireland. In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, we are asked to pray for San Jorge's, Central Falls, and St. George's, Middletown.
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This Week at St. Stephen's |
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EVENTS THIS WEEK
Tuesday 20 April
Budget Committee Meeting (on Zoom) 7 pm
Saturday 24 April
Epiphany Soup Kitchen (Meal Pickup Only) 2:30-4 pm
LITURGICAL CALENDAR & SERVICE SCHEDULE
Sunday 18 April
THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
Morning Prayer & Low Mass 8:00 am
Sung Mass 10:00 am
Zoom Coffee Hour 11:30 am
Daily Office and Mass Lectionary
Monday 19 April
Feria
Alpege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6:00 pm
Tuesday 20 April
Feria
Noonday Prayer 12 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Wednesday 21 April
Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109
Sung Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6 pm
Thursday 22 April
Feria
Noonday Prayer 12 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Friday 23 April
George, Martyr, Patron of England, c. 304
Noonday Prayer 12 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Saturday 24 April
Feria
Mellitus, Bishop of London, first Bishop at Saint Paul's, 624
Morning Prayer 9:30 am
Low Mass 10:00 am
Next Sunday
THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Morning Prayer & Low Mass 8:00 am
Sung Mass 10:00 am
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