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In This Issue
Parish Notes
The Propers
Last Sunday's Sermon

Upcoming Events

 

Saturday, July 12:

 

Memorial Service for Anita Nicholson at Saint Patrick's, 10:30 AM 

 

Funeral of James Edward Ellis, Jr. in Mt. Gretna, PA, 1 PM 

 

Sunday, July 13:

 

Celebrant and Preacher:

The Rev. Frederick Huntington

 

Sunday, July 20:

 

Celebrant and Preacher:

The Rev. Frederick Huntington  

 

July 20 ~ 24:

 

Vacation Bible School at St. Barnabas' Church, 6 PM - 8:30 PM 

 

Saturday, August 2:

 

Feeding the Homeless at Bailey's Crossroads Shelter, 9:30 AM  

Altar at Easter 2013

 

       

Birthdays

July

 5    Hannah Burris

 9    Lillian Berg

11    Timothy Dang

13   Tom Wetrich

13   Louis Spinelli

13   Tina VanPhung

14   Mickie Frizell

17   Tuyet Diep

19   Jonathan Huynh

20   Frankie Haan

22   Diem Nguyen

24   Matthew Mills

26   Christian Benjamin

27   My Linh Tran

31   Stephen Gawarecki

 

August

 2   Mark Mills

2   Jim Ellis

2   Grace Payne

2   Olamide Thomas

8   Bich-Thuy Diep

9   Victoria Kennedy

11   Jonathan Burgess

15   Heather Stefl

15   Christofer Johnson-Harbers

16   Dang Pham

18   Mary Isibel

23   Carrie McCall

24   Benjamin Nindel  

24   Frank Harbers

 

Our Prayer List

We remember in our prayer:

 

Cathy Anderson, Dee Bailey, Kari Boeskov, Brandon, Rachel Burgess, Jane Chapman, Marie Cosimano, Tim Clary, Dorothy Connelly, John Davis, Michael Dickinson, Loretta Dougherty, Nance Finegan, Luis Garay, Carolyn Gawarecki, Louise Gibney, Jean Graham, Katherine Hafele, Margaret Ellis Harris, Alek Hensley, Leslie Hogan, Cindy Hogman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Michael Horn, Mary Isibel, Lindsay Johns, Gray Johnson, Jamie Kaplon, Quinn Kimball, Alice King, Michael Knowles, Ashley Kolitz, Peter Kosutic, Susan Lawrence, Thai Lee, Bruce Lineker, Lois Magrogan, Evelyn Morgan, Danielle Morgan, Que Nguyen, Chick Nixon, Mary Esther Obremskey, Olive Oliver, Jim Owens, Gary Owens, William Ross, Fern Shuck, Irene Skowron, Josh Smithers, Inez Stanton, Candi Stewart, Patrick Stefl, Barbara Stefl, Kara Stryker, Walter Sushko, George Thomas, Elizabeth Trigg, Tammy Vanphung, Michael Weekes, Warren Weinstein, The Crowley Family, The Westfall Family, Meredith Wiech, Bernard Williams, Rev. Letha Wilson-Barnard, Rudy Zimpel.


 

               ____ 

 

Note: If you have a loved one or friend who needs prayer please call the church and leave a message at 703-532-5656, or write to Winnie Lebo at

thelebos@verizon.net  or call her at 703-536-2075.  Also, should a name need be removed from the list, please let Winnie know promptly, and give the reason.  

 

 

Saint Patrick's Ministers 

The Ministers of Saint Patrick's Church are the People of this Parish

 

We serve our Lord as part of the Diocese of Virginia

 

led by

our chief pastors

 

The Rt. Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston, Bishop

 

The Rt. Rev. Susan Goff

Bishop Suffragan 

 

and  

The Rt. Rev. Ted Gulick,

Assistant Bishop 

The Vision of St. Patrick's

Saint Patrick's Episcopal Church is a community of care, called to be Christ-centered and multicultural in worship, Christian education and action to proclaim  Christ's love to the world.

   

Previous Issues of the Epistle
Please click here if you wish to see the previous issues of The Epistle

St. Patrick's Organized for Missions and Ministry 

 

SAINT PATRICK'S ORGANIZED

FOR MISSIONS AND MINISTRY

 
Vestry Committee:
Senior Warden: Kathy Oliver; Junior Warden:  Bill Houston;
Registrar: Winnie Lebo;
Treasurer:  Kathy Oliver; 

Other members of the Vestry:   Elisabeth Nguyen, Milton Thomas, Victoria Kennedy, Ann Nelson. 

 

GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES

 

Altar Guild:  Lois Cascella;  
Bell Choir:  Mariko Hiller; 
Sunday Service Bulletin:  Diem Nguyen, Steve Lebo;
Offering Counters:  Bob Cascella; Diocesan Council Delegate: Bill Houston (Kathy Oliver, alternate delegate);
St. Margaret's Circle:  Ann Nelson; Telephone Chain:
Alice King; Feed the Homeless:  Elisabeth Nguyen;
Odeon Chamber Music Series:  Mariko Hiller;
Westlawn Elementary School:  Winnie Lebo;
Falls Church Community Services: Catherine Dubas;
Hypothermia Shelter Program:  Hao Nguyen; 
The Epistle Newsletter Editors: Winnie Lebo; Flea Market:
Prison Ministry: Nancy Burch;
Meals-on-Wheels: Sunrise/Bluemont:
Michael Knowles   

 

 

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July 10. 2014


Parish Notes
- Thank you for help with pot luck reception Thank you to the members of Saint Patrick's and friends of Tinh and Kim-Anh for making the potluck a wonderful celebration of the 20 years they were with us. With the help of many people shopping, cooking, moving chairs and tables, doing kitchen duty both during and after the reception it was a delightful day. I would like to thank the committee, Liz Nguyen, Nhung Dang, and Kathy Oliver, for their help. Ann Nelson

-  The memorial service for beloved Anita Nicholson will be held at Saint Patrick's on Saturday, July 12th, at 10:30 AM. Your presence and prayer are requested.  

The Nicholson family would like to invite you to their home for the celebration of Anita's life, at about 12:30 PM after the memorial service on July 12th, at 814 Chalfonte Drive, Alexandria VA 22305.   Please RSVP so they have an idea of number.  Their telephone number is 703.519.1811.  Amelia's email address is canicholso@aol.com.  If you know anyone who Anita liked invite them please!

 

-  The funeral of Mr. James Edward Ellis, Jr., father of our James Edward Ellis III, will be held at Mt. Gretna United Methodist Church, in Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 12th, at 1:00 PM.  Your prayers for the Ellis family are requested.  

 

Trek Back In Time!   The children of Saint Patrick's are invited to attend Vacation Bible School at St. Barnabas', 6 PM ~ 8:30 PM -- July 20th-24th 2014. You will be exploring what life was like for the ancient Israelites, crafting cool projects, racing through the wilderness as you play game, visiting with Moses, and eating some interesting new food.  Plus, you'll meet lots of new friends!  For more information, please call 703-941-2922.

 

The Propers 

Sunday, July 13, 2014
This Sunday is the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Texts: 

         

Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
 

Collect: 
  

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Last Sunday's Sermon 

Sunday, July 6, 2014
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Texts:   Matthew 11: 28- 30

MY YOKE IS EASY

 

Last Sunday I was moved to tears by the music, the words, and the gestures of your last celebration of the Lord's Supper with your pastor and my friend Tinh Huynh. I felt the mutual love. I saw the fruits of much labor. I sensed the joy of a great coming together and summing up.

 

I also sensed some uneasiness about the coming absence, about the coming sense of loss, about the coming burden of leading this community of care into its still-to-be-determined future.

 

Jesus's words come today at a good time: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy. My burden is light."

 

Have you seen a yoke?

 

A yoke is a tool that allows your shoulders to do more work.

 

In Viet-Nam, I used to see street vendors and construction workers around DaNang, or farmers around Hue and Hoi An, using a sort of yoke in the form of a flexible bamboo pole to carry a basket at each end.

 

A yoke can also be a strong and stiff tool worn by a water buffalo or an ox across the back of the neck. It is fastened to a U-shaped piece coming up around the neck from below. When the yoke is on, the strong animal can plow a furrow or pull a loaded cart by leaning into the yoke.

 

So a yoke is a tool for work.

 

A yoke can also be symbol of work.

 

A yoke can be an obligation or a worry. You may hear someone say, "Caring for my disabled sister feels like a yoke around my neck." They mean that they feel the pull. They mean they are feeling tired of working.

 

You may hear someone else say, "Dig in with your feat. Lean into the yoke. We can get this campaign going." They mean that the yoke helps connect their strength to the task, like a strong ox connected to a loaded cart.

 

In Jesus' day, the rabbis of Israel taught people that the law of God is a yoke.

The teachers meant that the law of God allows you to do work that is pleasing to God. They said that the law connected your strength to the purposes God has in mind for his world.

 

When you give honor to God and to your parents, when you respect your neighbor's life and marriage and property, you are leaning into God's yoke to make the world what he means the world to be.

 

You the people of St. Patrick's have described yourself as a community of care. I think that is a wonderful description of this parish: a community of care.

 

But now that Tinh has retired and moved to New Jersey, will this be a community of care in a different sense? Instead of caring, will you be filled with cares, with worries, with distress about obligations unmet or tasks too heavy for shoulders already sore?

 

It may be tricky to continue to be a community of care if you sense that you alone are wearing the yoke, or that too many cares have been hitched to your yoke.

 

When in your life you get the sense that you are overloaded, that too many cares have been piled on you, or that the burden of caring is too heavy, then it is good to remember one other possible shape of a yoke.

 

A yoke can also be a double yoke.

 

Farmers for eons have known how to double the pulling power by yoking a pair of oxen together. You make a yoke that has two curves in it. The yoke rests on the back of one animal, and then you put another animal beside it and fasten the yoke around the second neck. Sometimes a young water buffalo or young ox is trained for work by being yoked to an older animal who already knows how to pull. The young animal learns. The old animal pulls but also teaches. Yoked together, the yoke becomes less bothersome to the young and less burdensome to the old.

 

When people were worried about whether to follow his cousin John the Baptist or to follow Jesus, Jesus said, "Take my yoke and put it on."

 

People were attracted to John, because he warned everyone, high or low, that God was going to make the world right by destroying every wrongdoing and oppression. John's talk also worried people. What would it take to bear what God was demanding? John made it all too clear: Tax collectors, don't collect more than you are authorized to collect. Soldiers, be content with your wages. King, you may not have your brother's wife as your wife. The demands of God, in the words of John the Baptist, sounded too heavy.

 

Along came Jesus, and he also taught that God was coming to make the world right.

You shall love God with all your might. You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. Not committing murder is not enough: I say give up anger. Not committing adultery is not enough: I say give up thinking about people as sex objects. Jesus's demands sounded impossible.

 

Jesus's demands are not impossible, because he is prepared to be our yokefellow. Jesus says, "Choose me. No spokesman for God was ever greater than my cousin John, but I say, Choose me. Come to me if you feel the load you have been hitched to is too heavy.

Come to me if you are an untrained calf or a tired ox. My yoke is easy, because my yoke is a double yoke.

 

"Remember, I told you I must go away, to prepare a place for you. But when I return to my Father, I will ask him to send you another Strengthener. He will send you the Spirit, the Strengthener."

 

The Spirit of God was given to the Church in Jerusalem at Pentecost. The Spirit of God had spoken before that , in the Law, through the Prophets like Moses and John the Baptist, and in the proverbs of old wise men. Now in our day the Spirit of Jesus, which is the one, eternal, holy Spirit, is still given to us again and again. When we are baptized, the Holy Spirit adopts us and teaches us to address God. We are to dare to call him, "Our Father". The Holy Spirit takes the bread of our labor and the joys of our life, when we offer them at this altar, and he turns them into the Body and Blood of Christ, given back to us as food.

 

Because we are baptized into Christ, we share his life. Because we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we share his strength. Because he invites us to take up his yoke, he is ready to pull the load with us. He is ready to be our yokemate. He is not going away. He promised to be with us to the end, not in the flesh but in the Holy Spirit.

 

Kathy Oliver said it all last week, the lesson she said she had learned from Tinh, and Tinh learned from the story of God's way with Moses, and God's way with him from Viet-Nam to Alexandria. That lesson was: "God provides."

 

God provides for our needs. More than that, in Christ God has put in motion a load that had us at a standstill. Now by the power of the Holy Spirit sent to us, poured on us, digested into us, Christ invites us to share his easy double yoke. There is still good work for us to do. But he is working beside us. The cart is already in motion.

 

THANKS BE TO GOD.

 

Richard J. Jones
 

May God bless and keep you, and may God grant us peace.  

Please pray for Saint Patrick's throughout the process of transition 

 

Saint Patrick's Episcopal Church

Falls Church, Virginia