St. Stephen's Weekly Touchstone
The Week of the 17th Sunday after Pentecost  
 
September 16, 2012 

Thought of the Week

 

 

Last night I had my first big storm event experience as a member of the fire department. A major front moved through complete with torrential downpours and high winds, a combination that is quite unfriendly to power lines. Starting in the afternoon, we had call after call of lines down and resulting fires. After a few different stops, I landed on a call where the entire telephone pole had snapped off and all the wires were in the road making it impassible. Though much work in the fire department has involved rushing people to the hospital, checking out alarms, helping with car accidents and occasionally putting out an actual fire, keeping people from driving into downed power lines was not an active endeavor.

 

We had to keep people from barreling around the curve into what was a very dangerous situation. This meant waiting as a cautionary presence. There was the occasional trip up the hill to light and place some new flares. There was also the occasional walk to make sure there wasn't a new and/or expanding brush fire. But mostly we waited for the electric company to come and fix the problem.

 

I remember joking to my partner last night, "Has anyone ever gone stir crazy and run off into the woods?" To which he replied with a smile, "Why? Do you want to be the first?" The other part of the equation was that I had left my phone in the car. Without going too deeply into the reason, my phone had started to act funny and I since I have not uploaded some of my son's pictures I didn't want to risk breaking the phone and losing everything. So I sat and waited in the dark silence. In that quiet, I was given reprieve from all the ways we try to distract ourselves in our daily lives. It was unnervingly still and it was deeply and forcefully contemplative.

 

Sometimes we are called to wait. It must have been what the disciples experienced after Jesus' death. Even if they had been told that Jesus would come back, the tragedy left them alone waiting in the upper room. It is hard to believe that there is a certainty in waiting for ConEd, but standing between the reality of the cross and the hope of the resurrection surpasses all other moments of delayed fulfillment. In the midst of such waiting Jesus came and stood among the disciples and said "peace be with you." He comes to us too in all the in-between moments in our lives. In whatever way that you are waiting in your spiritual life right now, know that God is coming to bring you peace.

 

See you in church,

Fr. Josh

 

 

 

Images of the Week 
Click above for more details!


THIS SUNDAY: Youth Group Bowl
Click above for more details!


Interested in hosting the first Saturday Night Fall Parish Supper on October 27th? Contact Laura Johnson: [email protected]

Summer at St. Stephen's Church

                                                          

ARE YOU A YOUTH GROUP PARENT? On Sunday, September 23rd all Youth Group parents will meet with Father Josh to hear about plans for this upcoming year. It promises to be a fun one!

 


BOWLING: A YOUTH GROUP EVENT Join us for our first meeting of the school year. Following the Youth Group Parent Meeting, we will grab some lunch and head out to AMF White Plains Lanes for some fun and fellowship! Let the church office know if you are interested or have any questions: [email protected].

 

THE BIBLE THROUGH ART  Starting September 23 at 9:00 am, we will gather in Fr. Josh's office to experience the whole Bible story through artistic images.  Our hope is to talk about artistic images that have been inspired by EVERY book of the Bible! This visual journey will culminate in a trip to the Cloisters Museum in upper Manhattan.  Join us for this fun and interesting gathering.  

 

NEW PARISH SUPPER FORMAT Starting this Fall we have Parish Suppers on Saturday nights. We will continue to eat wonderful food and share in great fellowship, but we will also do a short worship service to begin the meal. Let Laura Johnson know if you are interested in hosting our first one on October 27th: [email protected].  

 

CHECK OUT OUR CALENDAR Want to see dates for Adult Education, the Blessing of the Animals, and all of the other programming St. Stephen's will offer this fall? Check out our website calendar: http://www.ststephensarmonk.org/calendar

 


Weekly Readings
First Reading: Proverbs 31: 10-31
Second Reading: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Gospel: Mark 9:30-37

Sunday Servers
Ushers:   Marshall and Peggy Corey
Acolyte: Kyle Ramsey
Chalicist: Howard Davies 
Reader First Lesson: Sheila Varughese
Reader Second Lesson: Carol Mortell
Altar Guild: Sheila Varughese 
Flower Guild: Gail Safarti
Coffee Hour: The Baumann Family   

Services are on Sunday at 10 am and Saturday at 5:30 pm.
Nursery care available at the 10 am service.
More information can be found at our website:

 For any questions or needs, you can contact the church office

at 914-273-3812 or [email protected].

Office hours: Mon. 9-11, Wed. 9-11, and Thur. 9:30-3:30   


For pastoral emergencies contact Fr. Josh Condon
rectory - 914-273-4570

cell phone - 917-753-1997