Worship Schedule St. John the Divine 315 Main Street, Southwest Harbor
244-3229
June 7, Trinity Sunday
St. Saviour's
The Reverend John Burton
10:00 a.m.
Link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-fGpm4_aFoi0mNvMiXhSwg.
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)
St. John the Divine is temporarily closed.
If you need help or need to talk with someone, please call
Gen MacKenzie, 244-7313
Ted Fletcher, 266-8415 | |
From the Wardens:
Bishop Brown stated at Tuesday's Town Hall Zoom meeting that services could be conducted outside observing use of masks, social distancing, limiting attendance to 50, and continuing with Morning Prayer. The Bishop spoke of the recent demonstrations in our major cities, including Washington, DC and the President's visit to St. John's Church, "Church of Presidents." Please see the Episcopal Diocese of Maine website for Bishop Brown's letter and the Province 1 Bishop's June 2nd statement.
Thank you for generously supporting St. Andrew and St. John with your pledges. Even though the church is closed, we continue to incur our normal operating expenses. Please mail your pledges to the church.
The MDI YouTube services have included all of the island Episcopal churches. They have been well received and our churches have worked closely together.
There a number of people responsible for making the MDI You Tube services possible. They are Jim Vallette (Senior Warden at St. Saviour's); Jayne Ashworth (St. Andrew and St. John); clergy Jenny Reece, Jane Cornman, John Burton, Bill Hague and Steve Muncie; readers from the four churches; and musicians Stephen Sampson (St. Andrew and St. John), Daniel Pyle (St. Saviour), and Clare Monfredo (St. Mary and St. Jude).
Please place the Annual Meeting on your schedule for Monday, June 29th. It will be conducted on Zoom at 4:00 p.m.
Observing the video recording of George Floyd's death leaves one "breathless with shock and sadness." It's as though our quiet little world has been suddenly shattered into pieces. It is with and through Christ's presence and example that together we can peacefully prevent such deaths and neighborhood destruction.
Gen MacKenzie, Senior Warden
Ted Fletcher, Junior Warden | |
Reflection from Linda Lewis
The World I Live In
by Mary Oliver
I have refused to live
locked in the orderly house of
reasons and proofs.
The world I live in and believe in
is wider than that. And anyway,
what's wrong with Maybe?
You wouldn't believe what once or
twice I have seen. I'll just
tell you this:
only if there are angels in your head will you
ever, possibly, see one.
Maybe, there is NOTHING wrong with Maybe.
Maybe the biggest questions we ask can never be answered in just one way.
Maybe the worst things and the best things point equally to mystery,
the substance and very truth of life.
Maybe the angels in our head are all that we need to keep us
upright, alive, loving and believing—
Angels, and each other.
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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. | |
At St. John's
Keep in your prayers this week:
Bill Krueger, Doris McCorison, Gail Leland, 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 and Susan McDonald, Richard Ramsdell, Cassandra Crabtree, Beth Pfeiffer, Dorothy & Jim Clunan, Bill and Barbara Loveland.
Remember thy servant (Michael Edward Fawley), O Lord, according to the favor which thou bearest unto thy people; and grant that, increasing in knowledge and love of thee, he may go from strength to strength in the life of perfect service in thy heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Remember to check out our website for MUSIC: www.saintsmdi.org
Thanks to Stephen Sampson, Jayne Ashworth and Michael Shook, you may enjoy some piano music on the St. Andrew & St. John website. 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 by 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/
New territory! Our first-ever June distribution. The Pantry is able to be responsive to the pandemic in a real and meaningful way. Thanks to everyone who helped put this June distribution together, especially Gen MacKenzie, Pamela Smith, Laura Sweeney, and Karen McFarland.
Just a word about future Pantry distribution dates. The Pantry Board has authorized a July distribution. The dates are July 5 and 19. The unsolicited response to the Corona virus has reached just short of $60,000. It's a truly gratifying response and endorsement of our work from regular and new donors.
I don't believe that the full impact of the shut-down and resulting loss of employment--full and seasonal--has been realized yet. That has to do with many factors I believe, most notably the government stimulus checks and additional unemployment funds available through July. This help is questionable for the future and we don't know how quickly the economy will recover. I believe that the longer we go, the tighter it will become for our neighbors and we are bound to see new requests for our help in late summer or the fall. Furthermore, what effect the economy is going to have on our annual appeal remains to be seen. I want to make sure that we have enough funds to get through the late fall and winter next year when things could really be tough. I believe that we will have enough money left over from the corona response, plus some other reserves, along with a possibly reduced annual appeal response to fund the 2020-21 season. So, unless conditions change dramatically, the Pantry will close after the July distribution. Any thoughts or comments on this planning would be encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know.
I am missing the interaction that we had with our neighbors in "the good old days" when we could sit across the table, write vouchers, and catch up. That personal contact with our neighbors is an important part of our work. I don't know when we will be able to get back to that way of being and operating. Any thoughts or ideas on new ways of conducting our distributions that might tend to capture some of what has been lost I'd like to hear. I'm sure others would as well. So, if you have something to share, "reply all."
Again, thanks for your part in this work that matters, now more than ever.
Upcoming distribution Sundays are as follows: June 7 and 21; July 5 and 19. 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. | |
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 worshiping 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.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Many of us went to bed last night with images from demonstrations in Washington, D.C. and other cities and towns. Some of us are joining local communities in Maine who are finding ways to say, "we are in pain, too."
The unrest because of racism and brutality, along with a three-month long global pandemic and lockdown, heighten the great need to be loving, open-hearted, and gentle. I loved what the Presiding Bishop said yesterday on the Today show, "the opposite of love is not hate, but selfishness, and we have to make the decision to love everyday."
Last night I joined the other bishops of the Episcopal dioceses in New England in writing about the events that occurred at St. John Church in Lafayette Square. I'm sharing our statement with you—the leaders of the Diocese of Maine—as a sign of my respect, and because I desire for us to listen attentively and to respond lovingly. Some among us will choose to share this with your congregation; feel free; however, I am in no way asking or suggesting that you must share this.
It will be good for us to be together in tonight's Town Hall, and to be in prayer.
Faithfully in Christ, | | | The Right Reverend Thomas J. Brown | | New England Episcopal bishops respond with one voice to President's "cynical" photo-op by calling out "the abomination of continued oppression of and violence against people of color in this nation"
What President Trump did in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square on the evening of June 1 was disgraceful and morally repugnant. Displaying a Bible from which he did not quote, using as a mere backdrop an Episcopal church where he did not pray, and – more callously – ordering law enforcement to clear, with force and tear gas, a path through demonstrators who had gathered in peace, President Trump distorted for his own purposes the cherished symbols of our faith to condone and stoke yet more violence.
His tactic was obvious. Simply by holding aloft an unopened Bible he presumed to claim Christian endorsement and imply that of The Episcopal Church. Far more disturbingly, he seemed to be affecting the authority of the God and Savior we worship and serve, in order to support his own authority and to wield enhanced use of military force in a perverted attempt to restore peace to our nation.
His actions did nothing to mend the torn social fabric of our nation. Instead, they were a blatant attempt to drive a wedge between the people of this nation, and even between people of faith. No matter where we may stand on the partisan spectrum, we, as Christian leaders called to proclaim a God of love, find his actions repugnant. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, to seek healing over division, and make peace in the midst of violence.
Our church may rightly feel outraged and insulted by having the symbols of our faith used as a set prop in a cynical political drama. The real abomination before us, however, is the continued oppression of and violence against people of color in this nation. Let us reserve and focus the energies of our indignation to serve our Lord Jesus Christ's higher purpose: to extend love and mercy and justice for all, and especially for those whose life, liberty, and very humanity is threatened by the persistent sin of systemic racism and the contagion of white supremacy.
The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan, Connecticut
The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Bishop Diocesan, Connecticut
The Rt. Rev. Thomas James Brown, Bishop Diocesan, Maine
The Rt. Rev. Alan M. Gates, Bishop Diocesan, Massachusetts
The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris, Bishop Suffragan, Massachusetts
The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, Bishop Diocesan, New Hampshire
The Rt. Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely, Bishop Diocesan, Rhode Island
The Rt. Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown, Bishop Diocesan, Vermont
The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, Bishop Diocesan, Western Massachusetts | | | |
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. St. Mary and St. Jude The Rev. Stephen Muncie is conducting a Zoom Bible Study of 1 Samuel, which tells of the rise of King David, on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. He will be using the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation of the Bible but you may use any translation you have on hand. For direct dial or URL information for this meeting, click here. Church of Our Father Music and Chatter: On each Wednesday at 5:30 pm there will be a 30 minute program entitled "Music & Chatter". The idea is to keep us all involved and up to date. It can be seen on the MDI Episcopal You Tube channel. Click on the link below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-fGpm4_aFoi0mNvMiXhSwg. St. Saviour's Thursday, June 4, with Fr. John Burton at 5:00 pm Zoom Evening Prayer. The invitation is below. You can call in or join by touch tone, smart phone, ipad or computer! Our Thursday Evening Worship will continue with the format from last week.
We will meet on Zoom to reflect upon a simple "Homework" Prayer Exercise from Father John Burton. We will conclude with the Daily Devotion for Early Evening from the BCP. LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81486667602?pwd=L29oTTBxNUozRlArZlNLUVZybkx3dz09 Meeting ID: 814 8666 7602 Password: 787839
Or dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) or +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) | |
Community:
6) Lincoln Millstein has put together a Quietside newsletter -- very interesting: theqsjournal.com
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