Worship Schedule St. John the Divine 315 Main Street, Southwest Harbor
244-3229
June 14, Trinity Sunday
Church of Our Father
The Reverend William Hague
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:
At the Bishop's Town Hall meeting this week there were two guest speakers from Portland. They described their experiences demonstrating for Black Lives Matter Monday in Portland. It was an eight hour walk through the city, representing the eight minutes that George Floyd's head was held down against the pavement.
One of the speakers was the leader of Portland's Black Lives Matter. Both individuals found their experiences m
The Rev. Michael Ambler, Canon of the Ordinary gave a Report. He stated that the number of priests interested in positions in the Diocese of Maine has increased. The positions that have been filled have been primarily priests-in-charge and not rectors.
May we seek God's presence, guidance and support during this especially confusing and challenging period in our lives and our nation.
Gen MacKenzie, Senior Warden
Ted Fletcher, Junior Warden | |
Reflection from Michael DaCosta
With the National turmoil we're all seeing and feeling, I feel compelled to use my time of Reflections to amplify Black Lives Matter. We cannot sit by and be silently not-racist. "Right before apartheid ended in South Africa it was chaos in the streets. There were riots, car fires, etc, but the amount of people caring hit critical mass and there was nothing they could do to stop it. The people had momentum and apartheid ended. Critical mass. That's what we have to hit. Once enough of [us] care, there will be nothing they can do to stop the change." - Dave Chappelle I will close this week's reflection with the final speech from the 1940 Charlie Chaplin film, 'The Great Dictator'. We have the power to make this life free and beautiful. "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." (1 John 3:11) The Final Speech from The Great Dictator I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness - not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost….
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. …..
Soldiers! don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
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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 The ANNUAL MEETING will be held on Monday, June 29 at 4:00 p.m. via Zoom. Link will be sent closer to the date.
Reports will be emailed and hard copies will be available at the church on June 18th.
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 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/
Upcoming distribution Sundays are as follows: June 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. Thursday, June 11, The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Reece Zoom meeting by clicking on or pasting the following link in your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81486667602?pwd=L29oTTBxNUozRlArZlNLUVZybkx3dz09 Meeting ID: 814 8666 7602 password: 787839 Or dial from any touch tone phone: +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) This week we will reflect on the great passage from the book of the Law (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) which bids the people of God to listen up and pay attention "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is One." You are invited to prepare by taking five minutes in your day to set everything aside, find a quiet place, and listen. That's all, just listen. What do you hear? What is the quality of the sound? How does it make you feel? Does it make any connection for you? Are you able to connect with any part of God's holy creation through your ears? Are you able to connect with God through any sound you hear? What might God be saying to you in the sound? In the silence? During Thursday's evening prayer you will have a time to share this experience if you wish. We will also reflect for a moment on how St. Barnabas, whose feast day it is, listened and responded to the word of God (see Acts 4:32-37). All are welcome! | |
Community:
6) Lincoln Millstein has put together a Quietside newsletter -- very interesting: theqsjournal.com
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