E-pistle - 3-27-2015stjameshydepark.org/index_files/E-pistle3-27-2015.pdf · 27/03/2015 · St....

St. James’ E-pistle March 27, 2015

Pulpit Notes

Brothers and Sisters:

You and I know that the coming week will be long and hard. Starting Sunday - Palm Sunday - we enter into the long slog through Holy Week.

What exactly is Holy Week, and why do we do it?

Well, to answer that, we have to go back to the beginng of Lent and ask why we have this 40-day penitential season. And that in turn begs the question, why do we do any seasons in the church?

We do them to tell stories.

Human beings are at their very heart story tellers. We tell stories in our movies, our video games, our songs, our locker room bragging. Everyone. All the time. We tell stories because it helps us understand who we are and where we belong in the world. The earliest hunters probably told stories about their catches - or the ones that got away ("It was this big! Really!").

We tell stories in order to relate with each other and - in the context of our faith - to relate with God.

One of the things I love about the bible - especially the Old Testament and the Gospels - is that they tell stories about how we humans and God keep trying to figure out how to get along. At least on the human side, we keep messing up. But we keep trying, and God sticks with us.

This leads me back to the seasons of the church. Each season tells a particular story about how we relate with God. Advent: we relate in a sort of "already-not yet" relationship of anticipation. We know God has come, but we keep preparing. Christmas: we relate to God as one of us - a real for sure human being! Epiphany: We relate to God as one who loves ALL of us and calls us to love each other everywhere. Pentecost: we relate to God as co-workers, partners in action to serve those around us.

And then there is Lent. We relate to God as weak, imperfect children who need to take a long hard look at how we keep turning our back on the one who always loves us. The stories of Lent prepare us for Holy Week.

And Holy Week is the story of how God will go to any length, do whatever it takes, to turn our heads back to God. It tells the story of God giving everything to make us understand that we

4526 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park NY 12538 T 845-229-2820 F 845-229-5293

W www.stjameshydepark.org E [email protected]


don't have to be God in order to be loved by God. It's the story of a parent going through hell to bring a runaway child home.

I find this story emotionally draining. It's like a really good movie you've seen a hundred times, and every time you choke up because you know the hero's going to die (I mean, seriously, who doesn't cry watching Old Yeller?).

But we watch it, we take part in it, we are part of this story, and we know that it doesn't end with death. It ends with new life - never ending life. We do Holy Week - the conflict, the betrayal, the arrest and torture, the death - all of it, so that we can know God's love. And because then we get to do Easter - where we know just how powerful that love is.

Our seasons are our stories, and we are about to experience the toughest, best story ever. Whether you are part of that story or not is up to you.

In Christ,

Chuck+


The News of the Diocese

Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Please pray for these diocesan ministries this week. If you want to check out the entire year’s calendar for intercession, it’s simple to find - go to http://www.dioceseny.org and click under “Beliefs and Practices.” March 29 The Cathedral School, Manhattan 30 The Order of Saint Helena 31 The Church Club of New York April 1 St. Paul's Church, Chester 2 The Church of the Ascension, Manhattan 3 The Church of the Holy Trinity, Manhattan 4 St. Bartholomew's Church, Manhattan

Praying For Peace Everywhere: Let us continue to light a candle for peace in the Holy Land - and everywhere. Prayer is our most potent antidote to hatred. 1. Candle for Peace Please also light a candle on Fridays - holy to both faiths - for Peace Let us Light Candles for Peace Two mothers, one plea: Now, more than ever, during these days of so much crying, on the day that is sacred to both our religions, Friday, Sabbath Eve Let us light a candle in every home - for peace: A candle to illuminate our future, face to face, A candle across borders, beyond fear. From our family homes and houses of worship Let us light each other up, Let these candles be a lighthouse to our spirit Until we all arrive at the sanctuary of peace. 2. The Mothers Prayer: God of Life: You who heals the broken hearted, binding up our wounds. Please hear this prayer of mothers.


You did not create us to kill each other Nor to live in fear or rage or hatred in your world. You created us so that we allow each other to sustain Your Name in this world: Your name is Life, your name is Peace. For these I weep, my eye sheds water: For our children crying in the night, For parents holding infants, despair and darkness in their hearts. For a gate that is closing – who will rise to open it before the day is gone? With my tears and with my constant prayers, With the tears of all women deeply pained at these harsh times I raise my hands to you in supplication: Please God have mercy on us. Hear our voice that we not despair That we will witness life with each other, That we have mercy one for another, That we share sorrow one with the other, That we hope, together, one for another. Inscribe our lives in the book of Life For Your sake, our God of Life Let us choose Life. For You are Peace, Your world is Peace and all that is Yours is Peace, May this be your will And let us say Amen. Sheikha Ibtisam Mahameed and Rabba Tamar Elad-Appelbaum English Translation Amichai Lau-Lavie

The News of the Church

Parish Directory Photographs: Brian Rance will be available after each of the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. services on April 5th (Easter Sunday) and April 12th to take photographs for the parish directory. Weather permitting, photographs will be taken outside the Church. Final Fireside Chat: Our final Fireside Chat of the season is April 9. Join us! We could also use some help getting ready - please contact Sue DeLorenzo. Lenten Calendar Collection: Please plan on bringing your Lenten Calendar offering for our Faith Build Habitat House at 125 Garden Street in Poughkeepsie with you on Sunday, April 12th. There will be a "special house" in the narthex to place your offering. The Outreach Committee is grateful to each of you for participating in this important mission project. Please keep Stephanie and her three children in your prayers. They will be moving into their new house this spring. Easter Program: Fr. Masud will also lead a one-day event in celebration of Easter on April 18. Tell your friends, invite neighbors! Cost for this day-long event is $15 but includes lunch.


Pilgrimage Planning Now: We are starting plans for our Spring Rail Trail Pilgrimage. After carefully checking the calendar, we've set the dates of May 30-31 - the week after Pentecost. I am looking for a couple of volunteers who will take on organizational responsibilities such as registration. If you would like to be a part of making our third pilgrimage the best yet, please contact me as soon as possible! Thanks, Fr. Chuck

Schedules A Note about Schedules: The names you see below are those listed on their respective schedules. There are often times when, due to sickness or travel, substitutes are asked to fill in or trade positions. This will probably NOT be reflected in the lists below—so, if there is an inconsistency between what you see here and what you see on Sunday, that is alright. Birthdays (this past week):

Chuck Kramer, Don Ogden, Braeden Hall and Jack Kinne

Birthdays (next week):

Doug Belding, Suzanne Whitman, Kathleen Craft, Sue McGlynn and Jaylen Thatcher

Acolytes: March 29: Jasime Thatcher, Jaylen Thatcher and Charlie Urban-Mead April 5: TBA

Altar Guild: March 29: TBA April 5: TBA

8 a.m. Readers: March 29: Angela Henry and Lynne Koch

Please keep the following people in your prayers:

Ruth Blanding, John Bohlmann, Susie Buhalis, Jim And Sharyn Burke, Joann Clark, Michael Day, Dottie Drake, Linkin Ewalt, Steven Foote, Heather Francese, Jane Gagliardoto, Gloria Golden, Jack Gordy, Robert Guariglia, Harold Hall, Dalton K., Edie Kline, Barbara Knakal, Ashley Konyn, Lucy Lamonica, Rosemary Leuken, Joanne Lynn, Doris Mack, Gordon Mackenzie, Virginia Mackenzie, Andrew Mendelson, Rev. Tim Millard, Charles Pardee (husband of Sally), Clifford Plass, Gerald Plass, Grace Plass, Linda Plass, Deborah Porach, John Robinson John Schoreder, Richard Secor, James Sheeky, Naomi Sleight, Debbie Stone, Tracy, Candace Vincent, Cassidy Way, Cliff Wells and Shawn Wheeler.


April 5: Debbie Belding and Grant Ferris

10 a.m. Readers: March 29: Patty Caswell and Sophie Ciferri April 5: Wilma Tully/Paul O’Halloran

Ushers: March 29: Donna and John Beyer April 5: Dean Caswell and Austin Horne

Pledge Clerks: March 29: Paul Littlefield April 5: Janet Bright and Joanne Lown

Parish Cycle of Prayer: March 29: Brian O'Leary, Tara O'Lear and Joan and Bud Oetjen April 5: Don, Lucille, Rachel and Daniel Ogden, Sally Pardee and Jeannette Phelps

Coffee Hour Hosts: March 29: Barbara Slegel and the Choir April 5: Audrey Horne, Brian Rance and Paul O'Halloran

This Week’s Lectionary Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16

Philippians 2:5-11 Mark 14:1-15:47

NOTE: Audio recordings of some sermons are now available on St. James' website, www.stjameshydepark.org Look under "Worship"

Sermon Preached on Fifth Sunday in Lent

(March 22, 2015)

"Birth is a Pain...and Death is Birth"

Don't know if you heard the news this week, but that old rabble rouser was at it again. I am speaking, of course, about Pope Francis. He recently came out with a statement basically saying Catholics must oppose the death penalty. He listed many reasons among which were that the death penalty is often unevenly imposed, it does nothing to reduce crime, and it makes the society imposing it little different from the criminal being executed.


I would like to approach it from a slightly different angle which, I believe, will bring us around to today's gospel and the ultimate conclusion of this penitential season. We begin with the reasons for executing. There are usually three given: to keep someone from never harming others again, to serve as a warning to others not to commit the same crime, and to act as a form of vengeance, which we euphemistically call "closure." The fact that none of these works is perhaps beside the point. Studies have consistently shown that it's just as effective, in terms of preventing future harm, to keep someone locked up for life. More cost effective, too. Moreover, studies consistently show that executions have the opposite effect on violent crime than expected - they actually increase it. But it's the vengeance aspect that is interesting. Because, at least if you're a Christian, it doesn't make sense. I mean think about it. We believe in a God of redemption, forgiveness, and mercy. If we kill someone, especially those who have had time to think about their crime and repent - and even do good in the intervening years - are we hurting them? We all die. We all face Christ. When they die, they, too, go to heaven, which is our own hope, isn't it? At least they have as good a chance as we do. And if we hope to kill them so they will suffer eternal torment, what does that say about us? That we are more vicious than the murderers because we want to kill eternally, not just in this life? That we think we can control what God will do? There's just no logical reason for a Christian to support it. The fact that we still have a death penalty in this world, I suspect, speaks to another reality of the world. We fear death. We find it to be a terrifying and insurmountable hurdle in our lives. Once we go there, there's no coming back. This entire season of Lent, from the very first service on Ash Wednesday, we have been reminding ourselves that we will, in fact, die. We do this largely to face our fear of it. Not just the process - nobody wants to die painfully - but the unknown quality of it. Who knows what's on the other side? Is it eternal joy? Or is it nothingness? Our faith teaches that if we let Christ being us home, it is eternal joy. But even if it's nothing - what's so scary about that? One of the biggest fears, I suspect, that we face in life is the fear of leaving behind those we love. We can't let go of them. Granted, this is a good problem to have because to love people that much is what makes life good. If anyone loved people, it was Jesus. He loved his friends deeply. Which made it so hard for him to leave them. And yet he said to them, "Unless a grain of wheat dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." He said something similar later on in this gospel. He said that if he did not go on to heaven ahead of his disciples, he could not prepare a place for them. We use this passage in funerals quite often. Dying leads to new and better fruit.


Let me rephrase that: dying leads to new birth. To a new life. We can't have what's better without letting go of that which is good but not as good. Sure, I know it's hard to imagine anything as good as the life we have here, but our faith is that it gets much, much better. Think of it in these terms. Every time you say YES to something, you have to say NO to a whole lot of other things that might seem equally as good. You want to play two sports at the same time? Even if you play two in the same season, if they both have games at the same time, you have to choose one. You want to get married? You have to say NO to seeing other people. You want breakfast? You have to say goodbye to that beautiful egg in the fridge. You get the idea. To say YES to something means saying NO to others. For Jesus, saying YES to God meant dying in this life. It meant letting to of his disciples, of his status as a great teacher, it meant letting go of the power he possessed even to control the wind, so that he could restore a loving relationship between God and God's children. He was that grain of fruit, and his death would mean new birth for countless people. This doesn't mean that dying right now is what we all ought to want. God has us here for a purpose - something as simple and profound as learning how to love each other. As long as we're here, we are both learning and teaching, and we don't leave until our work is done. What we can do right now, however, is to let go of the fear of death. Because it is this fear which gets in the way of our trust in God. This fear keeps us from loving each other as Christ loves us. And this fear makes us do dumb stuff like think we can hurt people by killing them. As we said last week, birth is a real pain. This week we acknowledge that death is birth, the grain that dies to produce new life. If we embrace it, we will multiply the life God gives us. If we hide from it, we may never truly live. Amen.

Holy Week And Easter At St. James'

Thursday, April 2 - Maundy Thursday7:00 PM

Maundy Thursday Liturgy with Stripping of Altar

Friday, April 3 - Good Friday10:30 AM

Community Walk of the Cross, beginning at Regina Coeli Church

7:00 PMGood Friday Liturgy with Veneration of the Cross

Saturday, April 4 - Holy Saturday8:00 PM

Easter Vigil with New Fire and First Communion of Easter

EASTER SUNDAY! April 5 8:00 AM

Easter Communion with Music10:00 AM

Easter Communion with Music

Easter Egg Hunt for kids follows

St. James' Episcopal Church4526 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY 12538

845-229-2820 www.stjameshydepark.org

Lift Up Your Hearts!

A Liturgy and Music Workshop in Celebration of Easter

Presented by the Rev. Masud ibn Syedullah, TSSFDirector of Roots & Branches: Programs for Spiritual Growth

A workshop, for ALL music lovers (not just choir members). Practical and inspiring, it shows how liturgy can be more than just well-orchestrated services. Liturgy can bring us to authentic experiences of worship through the creative and prayerful use of music, scripture, space, and silence.

Come lift up your hearts in joyful praise!

Saturday, April 18, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 pm (includes lunch)St. James’ Chapel

10 East Market Street (across from the Post Office)Hyde Park, New York

Donation: $15

For more information, call 229-2820 or e-mail [email protected]

Join the

Rail Trail Pilgrimage

The Rail Trail Pilgrimage is a two-day spiritual walk from the Hopewell Junction Trailhead of the Dutchess Rail Trail to Tony Williams Park in the Town of Lloyd. We spend the night at a local church. The pilgrimage follows nearly 20 miles of rail trail including the Walkway Over the Hudson. We make periodic stops for scripture and prayer.

May 30-31This is St. James' Church's

THIRD Pilgrimage!

Everyone Welcome!

Registration Deadline is May 15NOTE: There is a $50 registration fee with a $20 nonrefundable deposit

For more information/brochure, call St. James' Episcopal Church in Hyde Park at 229-2820 or go to www.stjameshydepark.org

E-pistle - 3-27-2015stjameshydepark.org/index_files/E-pistle3-27-2015.pdf · 27/03/2015 · St....

Documents

Transcript of E-pistle - 3-27-2015stjameshydepark.org/index_files/E-pistle3-27-2015.pdf · 27/03/2015 · St....