Worship Schedule St. John the Divine 315 Main Street, Southwest Harbor
244-3229
St. John's Worship Service
is suspended for now,
and
the building is
temporarily closed.
If you need access or need to talk with someone, please call
Gen MacKenzie, 244-7313
Ted Fletcher, 266-8415
CHURCH CLOSURE UPDATE
Dear All,
The MDI Episcopal Partnership met yesterday on Zoom. Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter services were discussed and scheduled. St. Saviour's Church will be transmitting both Palm Sunday and Easter Services on their MDI Youtube site. Ginny Reese will be serving on Palm Sunday and John Burton on Easter. The site will be sent to you once we have it.
The schedule for Holy Week includes a final discussion of the Lenten reading by Rev. Steve Muncie. Maundy Thursday focuses on Servanthood led by Rev. Muncie. Examples are reaching out to someone by phone, providing food, shopping and other ways. It's a focus on others not the self. On Good Friday Rev. John Burton will focus on creating a sacred space within our homes. The Diocese of ME will be publishing Holy Week services on their website.
All MDI Holy Week services will be available on Zoom at 5 PM. The website is Zoom.us. An invitation will be emailed next week.
Thank you for your patience and understanding during this challenging time. May God's presence give us strength,patience and understanding as we serve the needs of others.
Faithfully,
Gen MacKenzie
Ted Fletcher
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WORSHIP ON MDI during Holy Week:
St. Saviour's is doing Palm Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-fGpm4_aFoi0mNvMiXhSwg.
St. Mary's is doing a book study on Wednesday by Zoom and we will send the link next week
St. Mary's is doing Maundy Thursday about shared servanthood
St. John's is doing Good Friday about creating a sacred worship space in our homes for now
No Easter Vigil
St. Saviour's is doing Easter Sunday with John Burton on Zoom
LINKS TO OTHER CHURCHES:
Cathedral of St. Luke is https://zoom.us/j/6894391895 website is stlukesportland.org for info
National Cathedral in Washington DC is https://cathedral.org/worship/service-archive/ website is cathedral.org
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St. John's Calendar
The full St. John's Calendar can be viewed <HERE>.
All meetings have been cancelled until further notice.
Keep in your prayers this week:
Jeremy Harkins, Michael Shook, Joyce and Jim Risser, Loretta Schmidt, Susannah Jones, Theresa Mitchell, David Douglass, George Harorack, Fred & Dollis Sprague, Sara Winchenbach, Dorothea Mead, Ray McDonald, Richard Ramsdell, Cassandra Crabtree, Beth Pfeiffer, Dorothy & Jim Clunan, Bill and Barbara Loveland.
Give thanks for the life of Mimi Barnes who died this week. Keep her family and friends in your prayers. Below is the address of her daughter:
Shirley and Joe Beuth, 161 New London Tpke, Wyoming, RI 02898
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At St. John's Check out our website: www.saintsmdi.org
Thanks to Jayne Ashworth, there is now some piano music on the St. Andrew & St. John website. Jayne set up a site where she can post recordings that I make of myself playing the piano at home. On the menu on the left-hand side of the home page there is now a link titled 'Music,' and clicking on that link brings you to recordings of piano pieces. These are pieces I have played during Communion at church, and that I recorded at home recently. I plan to keep doing this on a fairly regular basis, so I anticipate that there will be a growing 'library' of music up there. The sound quality is not like being in a concert hall, but it is pretty good, particularly given that I recorded it on my cellphone using a function that came with the phone.
The goal in recording and posting these is to offer the church community an opportunity to hear music that they usually hear at St. John's, and to make the tunes available to anyone else who drops by the website. And as I noted above, I will continue to add pieces to it. I am enjoying doing it. There will be some non-Communion pieces coming up too.
Stephen Sampson
Westside Food Pantry We invite you to visit the new page for the Westside Food Pantry! On this facebook page you will find periodic announcements and information about the Westside Food Pantry. Please visit the page and like it. You can find it at:
https://www.facebook.com/WestsideFoodPantry/
Upcoming distribution Sundays are as follows: April 5 and 19, May 3 and 17. The first Sunday distribution hours are 12 noon to 2 PM, the second Sunday hour is 12 noon to 1 PM. Distribution will be held at St. John's.
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From the Diocese of Maine As a Parish of the Diocese of Maine, we are part of a church family that extends from Kittery to Fort Kent, and connects us to the rest of the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. We share ministry with our Bishop and with every worshipping community. If you are not subscribed to the Diocesan twice monthly email newsletter, the DioLog, please click [here] to subscribe. If you are subscribed, don't forget to open it and read it every time! There is a lot going on in every corner of the Diocese, and you wouldn't want to miss anything. | | | 27 March 2020
Friday in the 4th Week of Lent
Dear Friends,
We are all called to support, respond, and minister to the needs of our congregations and communities. The coming days and weeks will also demand vigilant care for nourishing ourselves so we can welcome each day with hope and faith. Now is a moment to trust God to give us large measures of gentleness and kindness, for surely they will lead us to a promised land.
As we are called on to support, respond and minister to the growing spiritual, practical and emotional needs of our congregations over the coming days and weeks ahead, so too are we called on to take the precious time and steps necessary to nurture and minister to ourselves, nourishing and replenishing our own spiritual souls and beings, in order to feed and sustain us so to greet and welcome each new day with hope and faith. Above all, let us keep trusting God to give us large measures of gentleness and kindness…those will lead us to a promised land.
Care and Nurture - It's a Marathon
Please take care of yourselves and be mindful of your own capacity for energy – carefully monitor your own physical and emotional well-being: Lura Steele of Episcopal Relief and Development likens the virus response to a marathon, with the initial boost of energy and adrenaline diminishing over time.
I'd like to share a few of my own daily routines and thoughts:
· Limit daily intake of news
· Listen to relaxing music such as offered on Maine Public Radio/NPR
· Limit time spent on Facebook and social media
· Seek out those channels of communication which provide humor and inspiration
· Call friends, and host gatherings and check-ins via Zoom
· Discuss anything other than the virus
· Exercise each day: take a walk around the block or in the park
· Be sure to get plenty of rest: a good excuse for an afternoon nap!
· Enjoy meal planning and eating better
In short, if we don't take care of ourselves, how can we expect to take good care of each other? Please make stewardship of your mind, body, and soul your top priority right now: we are not called be perfect – no need to work every hour God sends! I am standing by if you find you need a loving reminder.
What follows is the most up-to-date compilation of resources we have:
Share Resources – A New Opportunity for Virtual Collaborations
With circumstances shifting so very unpredictably and day to day, the diocese is
committed to sharing information and giving your resources. In addition to our website, a special Facebook group, Episcopal Maine Clergy Creativity Collaborative (EMC3), has been created to share what is working for you and to create additional networks to support and maintain a connection with each other. Please follow this link to join the EMC3 group on Facebook.
Worship - is still happening!
At some basic level, everything we are doing right now is worship. We cry out in lament, we intercede with others for healing, we give thanks for the new ways we're learning and responding, and we join our hearts with the prayers of the world. There is also a need to worship liturgically, with others and with our families.
Those of us who are ordained and are called to preach, to assist with and administer the sacraments are feeling in this moment a tremendous sense of loss. Ministry is what we are called to do, and it's what our parishioners expect us to do. Despite the fact we cannot offer our gifts and vocations in quite the same way, I suggest perhaps the best use of our time right now might be in organizing much needed pastoral care networks via phone trees and informing members how to use online resources and technology (such as Zoom) to keep informed and connected.
As difficult a decision as this might be, I suggest we release ourselves from the pressure of feeling individually responsible for producing online worship, particularly if you are hesitant about your own expertise in using the necessary equipment and technology. Now is an opportunity to join other communities to worship--being updated regularly--here. I also strongly encourage you to send emails, with regular messages (and videos if able) offering spiritual support. Lay leaders are telling me that your communication and assurance edifies as much, or more, than online worship services. For those who are considering or able to telecast worship services, I recommend doing this from home.
Holy Week
More information will be shared soon about a diocesan-wide reading of the Passion
Narrative. Video and manuscripts of meditations/sermons for Maundy Thursday, Good
Friday, and Easter Day will be created by me and members of the diocesan staff.
Rectors and priests-in-charge may use these in whatever way you think is best.
Funerals
I commend these guidelines and I will invite clergy to join me in a conversation about end of life pastoral care very soon.
Faith Formation - Bringing it Home
A suggested form for an Agape Meal is available. I commend this both as a pastoral response to be connected with one another, and as a resource for growing Christian discipleship.
Episcopal Church Foundation has outstanding resources for a variety of ministries and concerns. I highly recommend it
Several liturgical resources for praying the Daily Office, praying with children, formation podcasts, grace at meals, suggestions for "Triduum Under Quarantine" are available here.
Mission & Outreach - Pivoting Our Energy
With use and access to our buildings and facilities now greatly curtailed, I encourage you to seek creative and new ways to pivot energy and resources (keeping within CDC guidelines) in partnering with organizations in mission and outreach – such as those agencies addressing the ongoing needs of hunger, the American Red Cross, and any community who is especially hard-hit by the pandemic. Share ideas and new ways that are working with the EMC3 Facebook group.
Resources for Mental Health and Domestic Violence
During this time, ordinary channels for mental health support may be disrupted and support groups, like 12-step meetings, may not operate at the usual places and times. Those under quarantine, sheltering at home or feeling isolated or fearful may need additional support. The risk of domestic violence may increase. Keep in touch with people in your congregation through phone calls, video chats, and notes. Find resources for additional support listed on our diocesan webpage.
Resources for Finance and Administration
With use and access to our buildings and facilities curtailed, we are called on to seek practical and alternative ways to manage medical, personnel, financial and general operational matters. A document addressing practical concerns surrounding maintenance, operations, administration and finance will be forthcoming. Please remember Canon Terrance Reimer is available to assist with any questions related to finance and stewardship.
For additional operational and financial resources and guidance for congregations, please visit the clergy resources page or the Loring House staff contact page.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Right Reverend Thomas J. Brown
Bishop of Maine
tbrown@episcopalmaine.org
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A Reflection from Steve Muncie
(priest-in-Charge at St. Mary & St. Jude in Northeast Harbor)
"To stay in one place and watch the seasons come and go is tantamount to constant travel: One is traveling with the earth."
-Marguerite Yourcenar
I have always loved travel. It was a love for travel that first brought me to Mount Desert Island over thirty years ago and it was during a visit to Northeast Harbor that I first encountered the works of Marguerite Yourcenar.
I am blessed to be living and serving here alongside you, and I now find myself walking by Petit Plaisance almost daily. Luca, our exuberant Irish Wheaten Terrier, knows nothing of pandemics and eagerly awaits his daily walk. Yesterday, as Luca and I strolled by the Yourcenar house my eye was drawn toward a burst of purple just below the front porch. The first crocuses were in bloom. They were the first flowers I have seen this spring. This sign of new life - and beauty - was a bright gift on a day overcast with fear and worry.
Madame Yourcenar's quotation reminds us "to stay in one place." There is a time for travel and a time to stay home. A dangerous global pandemic is a time for people of faith and goodwill to practice maximum compassion by choosing compassionate distancing. What appears as isolation is, in truth, a loving connection to the well-being of others.
For now, we must all stay in one place and watch this season come, and possibly go. But as we rest and reflect in this unprecedented moment, we have an opportunity to travel through this time with one another - reaching out to one another and caring for one another.
In the last few days, homemade chocolate chip cookies appeared on my porch. A neighbor picked up some bananas for us when she went to the store. Everyone who drives by offers a friendly wave. We know we are all in this together, traveling this road into an unknown future.
As people of faith we know we do not travel through life alone. Jesus, who walked the dusty roads toward Jerusalem with his friends, still walks with us. Even when we sit at home, Jesus comes alongside us in our fear and worry, in our fervent prayers, in our love for family and friends.
As Christians we believe that the God who is the fullness of Love is made known in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In every moment of our day and night, whenever we draw closer to Love, we find ourselves alongside Jesus, the Lord of Love.
When we are told "to stay in one place" perhaps we are being invited to stay in the place of Love, to stay in the place where God is ever present and hope never withers. God's Love is always bursting forth in unexpected places and in unexpected times, not unlike the first hope-filled signs of spring.
"And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts...." (Romans 5.5).
Be gentle with yourselves in this time. Be kind and tender toward one another. Trust in God's good care. And, together, let us stay in this place of Love.
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MDI+ Episcopal Churches:
Confidential Prayer Chain: Unlike our published prayer lists, prayer requests that come into the Prayer Chain remain private to the prayer chain itself, which will pray devotedly for one week unless an updated request is made. If you'd like to know more about this or our Pastoral Care Team, please contact our office administrators.
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