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The Third Sunday After Pentecost
GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
WEEKLY UPDATE: July 1, 2011
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PLEASE REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS |
PLEASE REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS
Janet, Doug Doller, Jack Seeman, Charles Drumm, Thomas Humeston, Bob and Donna Weber, Yasso Herath, Peter Lubeck , Catherine Lubeck, Al Lalli, Fred Hudson, Roberta Mathsen, Linda, Dave, Eloise, Raymond, Bill Owen, Missy Pinckert, Jane Colgan, Julia Lochner, Julia Marason, George Miller, Maurice Buckley, Ann Ehrhart, Tasha, Jill F, Jim McClure, Pat Decker, Dolores Lentz, Loring Manley, Peggy Lehrecke REST IN PEACE: Estelle Hoyte
REST IN PEACE: The prayer list is refreshed monthly please call the office to add a name, or to request that a name be carried forward. There is a book in the narthex where -- before the service begins -- you may add names to be read during the Prayers of the People for the day.
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COLLECT OF THE DAY
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Want to start your Independence Day on a thoughtful note? Click here for a service of readings and hymns that incorporates excerpts from a variety of historical works, familiar and lesser-known.
O God, mightily we pray for wisdom, courage, and strength to serve thee and this nation faithfully in the days that lie ahead. Remind us of our duty to promote the general welfare, to secure the blessings of liberty for all, to see to it that justice and compassion reign from sea to shining sea, and that the bountiful resources of a favored land are not only thankfully received but also gladly shared with the whole human family.
From a prayer by William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1983), quoted in An American Prayer Book, compiled and edited by Christopher L. Webber. Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com
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CLICK HERE to visit the Episcopal Church's weekly Bible study website. You'll find all the readings along with background and commentary, and there's an opportunity to add your own comments as well.
To listen to a wide variety of Episcopal "faith stories," CLICK HERE to open I AM EPISCOPALIAN. Be patient, it takes forever to load!
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This morning's reading contains one of the great consolation passages of all time. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden," Jesus says, "and I will give you rest." It is a passage you can find etched on tombstones or worked into stained glass windows or maybe even stitched in needlepoint and hung in the church parlor. . . .
Human beings have a perverse way of turning Jesus' easy yoke into a hard one again, by driving ourselves to do, do, do more and whipping ourselves to be, be, be, be more when all God has ever asked is that we belong to him. That comes first; everything else follows that, but we so often get the order reversed. We think there are all kinds of requirements to be met first, all kinds of rules to follow, all kinds of burdens to bear, so that we are not yet free to belong to God. We are still loaded down, not only by our jobs and our families and all our other responsibilities but by something deeper down in us, something that keeps telling us we must do more, be better, try harder, prove ourselves more worthy that other human beings or we will never earn God's love. It is the most tiring work in the world, and it is never done.
One September a couple of years ago, I had more to do than any one person could do, and it was my own fault. I was not very good at saying, "No." I liked being needed and I liked being liked and carrying a heavy load seemed like the best way to get to be both of those. Carrying it alone worked even better, because I did not have to share the rewards of my labor with anyone else. While I would not have admitted it at the time and I do not like admitting it now, I somehow had the idea that God expected more of me than of other people and that I could not let God down.
So I worked a couple of sixty hour weeks in a row and told myself that I could rest as soon as I got it all done. I did not sleep well and my back began to hurt but I pressed on, until one morning an unexpected thing happened: I could not get out of bed. The muscles in my back had gone on strike, and I could not move. . . . I lay for the next week, my list of things to do gathering dust on the bureau, my appointment book lying neglected on the bed. At first it drove me crazy to look at them but slowly, as the week wore on, they lost their power over me. . . .
It was an easy time that I remember now quite fondly. It was an easy yoke, but not one I would voluntarily have chosen. I thought that the way to find rest for my soul was to finish my list of things to do and present it to God like a full book of savings stamps, but as it turned out that was not the ticket at all. The way to find rest for our souls is simply to stop, to lay down our list of things to do and be, the heavy yokes we have designed for ourselves, and to accept the lighter ones God has made for us instead.
From "The Open Yoke" in The Seeds of Heaven: Sermons from the Episcopal Series of the Protestant Radio Hour by Barbara Brown Taylor (Forward Movement Publications, 1990).
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Sunday, July 3 Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 10:00am Monday July 4 - GRACE CHURCH OFFICE IS CLOSED Amazing Grace Circus Camp continues Weekdays through August 12 For information: 348-8740 Wednesday, July 6 10:am Staff Meeting 12:15pm - Clericus (Patterson Hall) Saturday, July 9 10:00am Midnight Run (Memorial Hall) Sunday, July 10 Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 10:00am 6:30pm French Creole Mass |
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PLEASE NOTE
We are now on our summer schedule
Services are at 8:00am (Rite I) and 10:00am (Rite II, music).
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Coffee Hour will take place following the 10:00am service. This week -- weather permitting -- we'll start serving punch outdoors. Your refreshment offerings -- cookies, brownies, tasty treats -- are always welcome -- and will be appreciated by all. Bring when the spirit so moves!
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CYSM TRIP UPDATE
Our Church Youth Service Mission Trip reached Beards Fork West Virginia safely and is now working with the Southern Appalachian Labor School doing community clean-up, light home rehab and work in a summer literacy and nutrition program. Participants are: Sadie Burns, Cynthia Dolinsky, Pascale Jean-Gilles, Fiona Lane, Allison Lovejoy, Dakota McCormick, Morgan Pullen, Kate O'Shea Cara Wanamaker, and adults Kickie Fulmor, Fr. Richard, Jerry Kieley, and Moriah Olsen. CLICK HERE to go to our Facebook group for some new pictures.
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TWO ITEMS FROM THE FELLOWSHIP COMMISSION
SUNDAY SHORTS
Join the Fellowship Commission for a hike in Clausland MountainPark. (We call it the Nike Trail in our family.) With any luck we will be there JUST in time for a bounty of wild wineberrries!
Take South Boulevard up the hill, past Nyack College, to the 4 way intersection with Tweed Blvd. Make a left on Tweed, follow the windy road and look on your right hand side for a sign that says "Town of Orangetown"Make a right onto what looks kind of like a driveway but is called "NIke Lane" stay right on the road and head up the hill. When you hit the end of the road, park your car and we'll meet there.
Hope to see you there- and be sure to bring some berry containers.
TRAVELING TABLE
Bring a picnic dinner and join the Fellowship Commission for an evening of live jazz by a line up of internationally renowned musicians in the Hopper House Garden.
THURSDAY, JULY 28 at 7:00pm (the music starts at 7:30pm but if you want to get a spot, better to get there beforehand) Schedule to be announced.
yearofedwardhopper.com
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AMAZING GRACE CIRCUS - SUMMER CAMP STILL HAS OPENINGS!
Circus Camp runs now through August 12. Special Discount for Grace Church Kids -- 25% off the regular rate.
Big Top Circus Camp
Ages: 7 - 14 Hours: 9:00am til 4:00pm, Mon - Fri
Little Top Circus Camp
Ages: 5 - 7 9:00am til 12:00pm, Mon Fri
Call Carlo (aka Mr. Amazing) to register today!! 845-348-8740
Go to our website: www.amazinggracecircus.org
email: carlo@amazinggracecircus.org
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PEOPLE TO PEOPLE PLEA
People to People, our local food bank, is desperate for food donations. They have specifically requested the following items: cereal and oatmeal, canned vegetables & juices, chili, beef stew, individual servings fruit snacks, dry and canned soups & beans, mac & cheese boxes, flour, rice, sugar, tomato sauce and puree, tuna, mayo, oil, peanut butter, jelly and powdered milk. Please try to bring something with you whenever you come to church - there's a basket in the narthex for your donations. |
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ON FAITH conversations about faith and current events from all angles CLICK HERE
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"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Howard Thurman
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GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.130 First Avenue.Nyack.New York.10960.845-358-1297
The Reverend Richard L. Gressle, Rector
The Reverend Emily Sieracki, Assistant to the Rector
Robert Barrows, Organist & Choirmaster
www.gracechurchnyack.org |
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