Outdoor service
Thanks to everyone who came to the outdoor
Eucharist Sunday afternoon! And thank you for following all the guidelines so
carefully. I think we all felt very safe throughout. I especially want to thank
our Planning Team for all the work toward making this happen safely: Gretchen
Behr-Svendsen, Lin Frank, Cathie Lewis, Bernice Thompson, Lisa Thompson and
Sammie Wakefield. Gretchen brought some gorgeous sunflowers from the Booty
Farm, Lisa took the pictures for today’s Thursday Memo, Gretchen and Lisa led
us in sign language, and Lin created the Gratitude Tree for us. Thank you to
everyone who contributed to that as well – we’re still working on how to share
the notes you wrote.
We will wait at least two weeks before having
another outdoor service, to make sure no one who was there becomes sick or tests
positive for the virus. I learned today in our clergy call that the Bishops and
Canons to the Ordinary across the church had the opportunity to meet briefly
with Dr. Anthony Fauci last week, and received some new information about
gathering. Among those are that face shields (such as the one I wore on Sunday)
are not as effective in mitigating the spread of the virus as face masks; and
that we should space ourselves at 10 feet apart instead of 6 feet. 6-10 feet
has always been the guideline, so going forward we will use 10 feet (we
measured 8 feet between chairs on Sunday). I don’t see us returning to indoor
worship for the foreseeable future.
Caroline
via Zoom (see email for Zoom information)
or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/standrewsinthevalleytamworth/
The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 9th, Proper 14, Year A
Collect of the Day We center
ourselves for worship in prayer.
Almighty God, you have given your only
Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give
us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow
daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son
our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.
First Lesson
Genesis 45:1-15
Our Hebrew scripture lesson relates a
decisive moment in the story of Joseph as he reveals himself to his brothers,
who then journey home to tell their father Jacob that his son is still
alive. The brothers are at first
overwhelmed by the discovery that the brother they had sold into slavery is now
Pharaoh’s right-hand man. Joseph tells
them not to be upset: this had all been part of God’s plan to preserve Israel
during the coming time of famine.
Psalm 133
The psalm celebrates the blessing of a
harmonious people.
The
Second Lesson Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
In this reading Paul
sets forth his belief that God plans to bring Jews as well as Gentiles to
salvation. This apostle to the Gentiles
continues to wrestle with a difficult question: why is it that so many of
Jesus’s own people have not accepted him as the Christ? God has not rejected the Jewish people who
were foreknown, yet now Jews and Gentiles are equal in that all have been
disobedient to God. In the next step the
Jewish people will see the mercy shown to the Gentiles and want themselves to
share in it in their own way.
The Gospel Matthew 15:10-28
In our gospel Jesus teaches that the
thoughts and intentions of the human heart are paramount. Jesus warns against such blind guides
preoccupied with externals. He then
travels beyond the boundaries of Israel to the territory of Tyre and Sidon and
encounters a Canaanite woman who beseeches him to heal her daughter. The first Christians were unsure whether they
were to offer the faith to non-Jews, and the give-and-take in this story may
reflect uncertainty. Jesus sees his own
mission as confined to Israel, but the woman’s faith causes him to give her the
bread she asks for. Symbolically it is
the saving food of the gospel which heals her daughter.
For those who are homebound: Joyce Gendron, Marge Hagerup, Elizabeth Pease, Susannah Keith, Alida, Dylan, Brian & Sara Kelley, Bob Wallace, Carl Mamigonian, Elizabeth Wiesner, Judy Grace, Audrey Berry.
For our First Nation people and those in this country who are living in impoverished areas of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and the inner city areas populated by some of our poorest citizens.
For all those who are on the front lines serving communities during these difficult times.
Updating the Prayer List
There are a number of people who have been on the
prayer list for many months, and Deb and I never know if people who aren’t
parishioners still need to be listed. This Sunday all the names remain, but
next week we will remove all those who are not parishioners. Please let Deb
know if you want to put someone back on the prayer list for Sunday, August 23
and going forward. Thank you for helping us keep our prayer list up to date.
TAKE A PHOTO WITH YOURSELF, PET, WHOEVER IS WITH YOU, LET ME KNOW THE DATE AND TIME OF THE PHOTO. Have FUN and enjoy the ride!
"This doesn’t quite fit in the historical marker
category, but close!"
Click the link to view the photos from Sunday August 9th.
. Thanks to Val for music and Gretchen for sunflowers:
both glorious additions to the service.
Photos provided by Lisa Thompson
Oh when the SAINTS begin to PAINT
The OUTSIDE of our PARISH HALL,
Oh we WANT to be IN THAT NUMBER
When the CHIPS begin to FALL!
Do you want a project with a
beginning, middle, and end?
Do you like the “tssst-tst” sound of
sandpaper clearing chips of paint off a wall and the swoosh of a brush as new
protective paint is applied?
Do you like to see immediate results
and rejoice when your job’s well done?
If you answered YES to any or all of
the above, then YOU are WELCOME to JOIN THE TEAM to repair and repaint the
outside wall of the Parish Hall.
Please phone 323-8245 if you are
interested in
helping out. (We will begin after
the heat waves have passed.)
Lisa Thompson for Buildings and Grounds Committee
Next Food Pantry: August 19th
(Thanks
to Lisa Thompson for sending this)
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief.
Do
Justly, now.
Love
mercy, now.
Walk
humbly, now.
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
~ Pirkei Avot (Chapters of the Fathers) 2:20
Ethical teachings and maxims passed down from Rabbis, beginning with Moses
