Volume 48 No. 8 The Epistle · 2020-04-28 · 1 The Epistle – April 2020 The Epistle T HE MON T...

1 The Epistle – April 2020

The

Epi

stle

The monThly newsleTTer of

sT. maTThew’s Parish, Pacific Palisades, ca

April 2020Volume 48 No. 8

(Continued on Page 2)

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” – Matthew 18:20

Since September of this year, we have been following the Way of Love, Presiding Bishop Curry’s vision of concrete ways we can follow Jesus. We have traveled through the practices of bless, go, rest, turn, learn, and pray. That leaves us at our final practice: worship, the intentional way we gather as a community to thank, praise, and dwell with God. There is a cruel irony to landing on the practice of worship in the midst of a pandemic, when the greatest act of love is staying apart.

When we were doling out Epistle articles in September, I imagined that writing about worship in the midst of Easter would be a beautiful opportunity to reflect on our incredible worship at St. Matthew’s: the way our incredible choir lifts our hearts and souls with rousing Easter hymns; the joy of greeting one another with the peace of God; the power of gather-ing to share the Eucharist; and the way my heart jumps every time someone says “Alleluia Christ is risen” and a throng of people respond “the Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!” I love the way our worship together involves our bodies, hearts, and souls. I would have written about the strength and courage I draw from worshipping with this community. It is the act of gathering with all of you before God that gives me the fortitude to attempt those other Way of Love practices.

On a typical Sunday morning, I arrive at church at 7:00 am. If my son is with me, he takes off down the hill and yells “Good mornings” to Carlos, who is setting up tables and chairs. We greet the wonderful altar guild team who is setting up our sacred space, test the mi-crophones (usually using an array of animal sounds), and admire the beautiful flowers that adorn the chancel.

Now, our Sunday morn-ings revolve around prepar-ing our home for worship. My husband assembles a small altar that will fit within a camera frame for online worship with his church community, while

WORSHIP IN THE TIME OF PANDEMICby the Rev. Stefanie Wilson

The Episcopal Church defines Worship as one of the seven key practices for an intentional commitment to Jesus.


Worship, continuedMatthew and I plug the laptop into our television and await St. Matthew’s Facebook Live feed. Greg leads his services in one room, and I pray and play with Matthew in the other.

Just last Sunday, Matthew looked at the screen and did a head count. He saw Bruce, Dwayne, and Christine. He turned to me and asked, “Where is Mommy?” He was asking the same question I ask every time I watch worship through the screen: where is the choir, the altar guild, the LEMs and aco-lytes, the ushers, the prayer min-isters? Where is our connected, worshipping community?

In the midst of this crisis, the question is: how do we show up and worship as a community that needs to be apart?

Just about the time I feel the weight of not being physically together, someone types in the Facebook chat box, “Good morning church!” or “Hello from our family.” Friends join in our worship from Maryland, Chicago, or even Bangladesh, and I remember that we are all exactly where we need to be (maybe with coffee still in hand) and that our praise of God is still together. Our prayers and love transcend our building.

It is hard not to think of the first Easter as we wade through this new way of worshipping together. Mary Magdalene showed up at Jesus’s tomb equipped with oils and spices, not sure what she would find. However, she knew she had to show up and try to take care of her dear friend and teacher, Jesus. Much like Mary Magdalene, we may not know what we will find or how we will do it, but we are called to show up anyway. Equipped with our traditions and love, we worship God in the assurance that we are still together, even when we are apart.

Above: The Rev. Stefanie Wilson preaching next to her home altar during Sunday Morning Prayer..

Thanks for EntEring into LEnt

This devotional booklet by and for the people of St. Matthew’s has been such a blessing and gift to all of us. Writers from every branch of this sprawl-ing community offered their deep reflections and prayers in response to the readings assigned to each day in Lent (a total of 46 meditations) to accompany us on our Lenten journeys. The timing of this new project could not have been more Grace-filled as this year we have all been drawn into the wilderness in ways that we could never have imagined.

To all who contributed, on behalf of the whole Parish, our heartfelt grati-tude, and to all of you, our promise that when Ash Wednesday rolls around next year there will be a new 2021 collection, by and for the people of St. Matthew’s. Writers, both those who contributed and those who might like to, stay tuned!

The Parish of Saint Matthew1031 Bienveneda Avenue | Pacific Palisades, California 90272Parish Office: 310/454-1358 | www.stmatthews.com

Enter into Lent

Daily Devotions by and forthe People of St. Matthew’s


Parish New

s

sT. MaTThew’s: Behind The scenes

As St. Matthew’s continues to bring worship, ministry and fel-lowship opportunities to the community during this time of physical distancing, the Church might be mistaken for a production studio! Parishioners tune in to our live stream services via Facebook, - comfy slippers and all - while the Parish Staff meets regularly via video conference meetings from their home - and backyard - offices!

Be sure to check your inbox regularly for our email updates and visit our Facebook page to see more ways to stay connected: Morn-ing Prayer services, Richard Rosser’s daily carillon tunes at 5pm, and our nightly Bedtime Story series at 7pm featuring a special Day Camp Singalong Edition every Monday! www.stmatthews.com/live

Photos clockwise from top left: 1) A look at a live stream Sunday Service, photo by Missy Morain; 2) Participating comfortably in Morning Prayer on Facebook, photo by Helen Cooksey, 3) Director of Development Andrea Bostick joining in a Zoom Coffee Hour on Sun-day morning, photo courtesy of Andrea Bostick; 4) An al fresco office space, photo by Shawn Silletti, 5) Not the Brady Bunch but members of the Parish Staff planning worship and more via Zoom, photo by Jennifer McCarthy.


Parish New

sBeauTiful easTer BuTTerflies

Butterflies of all kinds filled our community for an Easter celebration of new life and hope. Thanks to the campaign by Fellowship Commission, parishioners shared their colorful creations throughout their neighborhoods. If you would like to continue making butterflies through Easter season, please visit our website (www.stmatthews.com) where you will find printable templates and instructions for many different butterfly arts and crafts projects. Thank you to Fellowship and all those who particpated in filling our community with Easter Butterflies!

Butterfly photos courtesy of Kathy Bitting, Sarah Peterson, Eloise McCarthy, The Winter Family and The Soppe Family.


Parish NewswhaT is Morning Prayer? by the Rev. Christine F. Purcell

I am so glad you asked! You might also be wondering why it is we are doing Morning Prayer on Sundays, now that we can no longer gather to share the Holy Eucharist? And, where did it come from?

Morning Prayer is nothing new. Nothing new in terms of the traditions of prayer and worship in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and nothing new in terms of the practice of the Episcopal Church, though since the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, which calls for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist every Sunday, the use of Sunday Morning Prayer has become much more rare.

The Jewish practice of prayer at different times during the day is attested in the Psalms: “Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments” (Ps 119:164); “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice (Ps 55:17). By Jesus’ time, regular prayers were offered daily in the morning and evening in synagogues, particularly in larger towns. The early Christians followed suit; by the 2nd century CE, they were marking the day liturgically with morning and evening prayers1. Later, in both cathedral and monastic settings, morning and evening prayer, including scripture readings, psalms and prayers, were the pattern for both individual and corporate prayer. When Thomas Cranmer developed the first Anglican Prayer Book in 1549, he included liturgies for what was now known as the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer.

For those of us who remember the 1928 Prayer Book (the predecessor to the 1979), Morning Prayer was in fact the liturgy used in Episcopal churches two or three times a month (the other Sundays being Holy Communion Sundays). Though the pattern of Morning Prayer is different, most of the elements, excepting the Eucharist, are the same: scripture readings, psalms, a sermon, a creed and prayers. In fact, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer specifically allows for Morning Prayer to be used for the first half of the service (called the Liturgy of the Word) on any Sunday; at its conclusion the Peace is exchanged, and then the service continues with the offertory and the Eucharistic Prayer.2

So you see, Morning Prayer is giving us a way to gather, to listen to Scripture, hear a sermon, affirm our faith, and pray for our own needs and those of the world. Plus, we are recovering a beautiful and meaningful liturgical form that goes all the way back to the beginning for Christians, and then some. Yes, we miss Eucharist! And yes, one day we will again gather together, around the table as Jesus commands us to do, in remembrance of him. But in the meantime, the Spirit meets us, and we meet one another, as we offer Morning Prayer together.

1 Marion J. Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book. (Harper Collins, 1995), 89.2 Ibid., 97.

Jazz hisTory for The socially seParaTedAn online diversion for hunkered-down music lovers

St. Matthew’s Music Guild President Tom Neenan is offering a condensed version of the “History of Jazz” course he teaches annually at Caltech online! The one-hour classes meet via Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11am from now through May 28. Please sign on to the course at any time via the link at MusicGuildOnline.org/jazz, where you will also find suggested reading and listening as well as YouTube recordings of past sessions.


Outreach NewsParishioners reaching ouT

Of course, many opportunities are organized through the year to help our deserving Outreach Partners above and beyond the annual grant allocations gifted by the St. Matthew’s Outreach Com-mission. But recently, many young individuals in the St. Matthew’s community have been spotted creating their own, independent projects to support these worthy causes!

High school student Bronwen Roosa is currently conducting regular Zoom exercise classes for elementary school children with suggested donations supporting an array of outreach organizations, including the St. Matthew’s Thrift Shop. High school student Parker Ehlers has been working his way toward a $10,000 read-a-thon goal to support the Westside Food Bank. Also supporting the Westside Food Bank, college students Jack Cortese, James Kanoff and Aidan Reilly self-funded

a purchase of 10,800 eggs from a local egg farmer, including rental of a truck and delivery of the eggs from the farm direct to the WSFB warehouse. In addition, Scout Troop 223 is about to embark on its in-novative “Great Backyard Campout” to support Westside Food Bank’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, which will take place on May 2. Some members of our community got to work with their sewing machines in April to deliver 95 handmade face masks to Safe Place for Youth.

As several of St. Matthew’s Outreach Partners must now reimagine previously planned fundraising events, many are taking them online. Neighborhood Youth Association will conduct it’s annual Scholar-

ship Dinner to celebrate the successes of its scholarship recipients and community volunteers virtually. The renamed Stay-At-Home virtual fundraiser will go live with a kick-off on May 9 and be available online through May 16. (See the following page for more details.)

Several of our other Outreach Partners, including Safe Place for Youth and St. Jo-seph Center, will be counting on St. Matthew’s virtual support as they also take their an-nual fundraising events online in coming months. Please be on the lookout for these unique - and convenient - events and check out the many ways that you can help all of our parnter organizations through our list of Outreach Opportunities. (The full list is easily accessible on our Website and Facebook page.)

Thank you St. Matthew’s for your generosity to these - and all - of our amazing Outreach Partners!

Outreach Partner Hollygrove shares its

thanks along with this picture of two of its

heroes, Felicia and Alma, who were very

busy restocking the emergency pantry this

month thanks to the generous grant from

the Parish of St. Matthew.


Outreach Opportunity

Please join us for

Neighborhood Youth Association's 2020

STAY-AT-HOME

SCHOLARSHIP DINNER

Even from our separate homes we can come

together to honor our 2020 scholarship

recipients, their families and generous donors.

Grab some food and a glass of wine and meet

us online for a virtual benefit to help us

live out this year's dinner theme:

LAUNCHING SATURDAY, MAY 9th, 6pm

CLOSING SATURDAY MAY 16th, 6pm

"Moving Together Towards A Bright Future!"

VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER

Visit nyayouth.org from 5/9-5/16 to track our virtual fundraiser.

Zoom in LIVE at 6pm on May 9th for the launching of the event,

and at 6pm on May 16th for its closing!

Artwork from NYA's newly refurbished "Rainbow Room" classroom


STA

FF D

IREC

TO

RY

&

CA

LEN

DA

RThe office is currently closed, so email is the

best way to reach us right now.

The Rev. Bruce A. Freeman, Rector (Ext. 130) [email protected]

The Rev. Christine F. Purcell, Associate Rector (Ext. 129) [email protected]

The Rev. Stefanie G. Wilson, Assistant Priest (Ext. 183) [email protected]

Ms. Missy Morain, Director of Program Minis-try; (Ext. 139) [email protected]

•Ms. Lyris Amador, Director of Administration

(Ext. 180) [email protected]. Andrea Bostick, Director of Development

(Ext. 182) [email protected]. Josh Castellanos, Facilities Coordinator

(Ext. 175) [email protected]. Craig Ehlers, Chief Financial Officer (Ext.

126) [email protected]. Greg Heidt, Director of Facilities and Op-

erations (ext. 108) [email protected]. Jennifer McCarthy, Director of Communi-

cations (Ext. 128) [email protected]. Dwayne Milburn, Director of Music (Ext.

179) [email protected]. Jeremias Mendez, Special Projects Manager

(Ext. 133) [email protected]. Haesung Park, Parish Organist, hpark@

stmatthews.comMs. Shawn Silletti, Administrative Assistant

(Ext. 100) [email protected]

•The Rev. Kristin Barberia, School Chaplain

(Ext. 125) [email protected]. Edward Kim, SMPS Head of School (Ext.

146) [email protected]

MISSION STATEMENT

We are a Christian community, and

Welcome all, wherever they are in their journey,

Nourish all who seek unity with God and each

other in Christ, and

Serve all, striving to do Christ’s work in the world.

Tune in to our live stream services and activities via the

Parish of St. Matthew Facebook Page:

www.stmatthews.com/live

Sundays9:00 am Morning Prayer

Wednesdays10:00 am Morning Prayer

Daily5:00 pm Carillon Chimes7:00 pm Bedtime Stories

Staff Directory

Online Services and Prayer Requests

Keep in Your praYers

Please pray for Mar Jennings, Carol Lanning, Sam Hill, Sean Mitchell, Loretta, Lee, Ray, Manny, Wendy, Jennifer, Clayton, Isabel, Sherry, Alan, Kyran, Bruce, Mary, Jon, John, Randy Smith, Trip, and Chris.

We also remember those who have died in the hope of Christ’s resurrection: Ted Doehring, Bill Simmons, and Sam Williams. Please know that in addition to your praying for these persons, they are prayed for regu-larly throughout the week by clergy and by members of our Intercessory Prayer Group.

If you would like to add, keep, or remove someone from this list, please call The Rev. Christine Purcell at 310/573-7787, ext. 129. Prayer requests will automatically be kept on the list for one month only.

Volume 48 No. 8 The Epistle · 2020-04-28 · 1 The Epistle – April 2020 The Epistle T HE MON T...

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