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The Chalice Friday, April 28 2023
>>>CLICK HERE FOR FULL EMAIL VERSION Community Prayer for All To Recite: Lush mountains, vast Oceans By Rabbi Susie Heneson Moskowitz, Sr. Rabbi, Temple Beth Torah, Melville, NY Please remember that this week we celebrated Earth Day. Plant some flowers or a tree in the coming weeks. Pick up some garbage or plastic if you see it. Commit yourself to recycling, reducing your carbon footprint and caring for this planet each and every day. St. John’s is committed to environmental stewardship! Our solar panels have given us a zero sum electric bill in the new section of the church. We have invested wisely and the dividends are both financial and environmental. Please recycle all paper at the church and help us to reduce our consumption. On Sunday April 30th there is a program at the Cinema Arts Center at 3pm. Please join us for "Kiss the Ground" with a community discussion to follow. There is a Trash Problem in Huntington according to Supervisor Ed Smyth: The only garbage landfill on Long Island is expected to close in less than 2 years. The cost of shipping existing municipal solid waste (garbage) off Long Island is projected to increase dramatically over the next 5 years. Cut back your garbage usage any way you can!
Today we are back in John’s Gospel. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Jesus is the Word of God made flesh that we might know that Jesus is our redeemer, God’s son. John uses the metaphor of the good shepherd that we might understand the relationship between us and our Lord. God came to us that we might have abundant life in him. We are called into relationship with Jesus Christ through the breaking of Bread and the scriptures. Jesus, the good shepherd, will walk with us through these troubled times and into the higher plane of the Beloved Community if we will stop to hear his voice. I urge every member to develop a deep relationship through worship, prayer, and service to the Living God. Join us daily as we walk together with our Lord at 9:00 am through Morning Prayer. If you are going through a difficult time, we will stand beside you and pray with you. Follow the path of righteousness that Jesus has laid before us and have your soul restored. We will make it through this difficult time. Join us next week on Monday at 6:30 pm for a bible study of Jonah on Zoom. Our Thrift Shop is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 12-3. We need volunteers to sort and sell our cloths and collectibles. Mary Beth and our Thrift Shop team really need your assistance! You can offer one day or come every week. Please join us. In Christ’s love, Friday, April 21 2023
>>>CLICK HERE FOR FULL EMAIL VERSION Our Road To Emmaus We join a journey that began before us, that stretches back, and also onward. The Unknown One joins us, and hears. We tender our brokenness. The Storyteller tells the old story in a new way and we see in a new way. It is our story. Steve Garnaas-Holmes
As I was preparing the sermon for this week, I felt a little lost. There were so many directions to go. Lost - probably not unlike the disciples who were on the road to Emmaus right after the tomb was found to be empty by devoted and strong women. Women, who were not afraid to speak truth out loud. The tomb is empty! And yet, for the multitudes that had been singing hosannahs only a week before, there may have been a sense of betrayal, anger, sadness, and loss. Let’s get out of here! We had hoped… “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” We may feel so similar to the two disciples of Emmaus, full of disappointed hopes, which make us angry or even resentful. Put yourselves there – on that road – maybe, just maybe the pain will go away by the time we reach Emmaus. We are disoriented, unable to make sense of the events around us. Let’s get away from the feelings deep in the pit of our stomachs – We’ve been betrayed… yet We had hoped… So, in all of my pondering and preparation, I simply wondered – where are our Emmauses? Where are those places we go to escape from the intensity of the pain that we imagine might be more than we can bear. Escape from something too large to grasp – and yet how can we fully grasp the Resurrection? This Resurrection! Can we allow ourselves to hope? Who is this intruder in our pain. The one who chastises us for not remembering the scriptures. Yet, he listens – deeply listens. There is something about this stranger that makes us want to know him. So, we invite him to rest and have dinner with us. And as the bread is broken, we are reminded that while on that road, our hearts burned – a profound knowing. Our hearts burn within us. Drawn together, we invite the Stranger to our table, offering our gifts and hospitality. We break bread, and in the sharing we behold the Holy. Our eyes are opened. Wonder, reverence, awe, and gratitude swell in us, and raise us up and send us out to tell others. We go with haste, rejoicing. Steve Garnaas-Holmes
This IS the one who through suffering redeemed Israel. He is ALIVE! We are never alone. Pray that we recognize his presence as we all journey through this life together. Hope is indeed alive! Your sister traveler, Deacon Claire Monday, April 17 2023
Friday, April 07 2023
>>>>CLICK HERE TO READ FULL EMAIL VERSION THE RESURRECTION by M.S.Lowndes The stone's been rolled away; The tomb lay open and bare — They looked for Him, and then the angel said That He is no longer here Oh what joy they must have felt To see Him just once more, To eat with Him, to drink with Him, To receive Him back as Lord In the resurrection story from Matthew, the first witnesses to the action of God were the women. On Good Friday they wrapped the body of Jesus, put spices on to preserve the body, and laid him in a tomb given to them by Joseph of Arimathea. They left the tomb while it was light because their Jewish law prohibited work on the Sabbath, which began at sunset and lasted for 24 hours. Early in the morning, after the Sabbath had ended, several women walked back to the tomb where Jesus had been laid. Their hearts were broken and they were filled with compassion and sympathy. When they arrived, the ground began to shake and the heavy stone in front of the cave-like tomb rolled away from the opening and a dazzling white figure appeared on top of it. They heard a voice in their hearts that settled their nerves. Then a voice came from the angel and said, “Jesus has risen. Do not be afraid. Enter the tomb and see the linens folded neatly where Jesus was placed.” Then the angel said, “Go tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead and that he will meet them in Galilee.” Jesus appeared to Mary and the other women on the path and gave them a warm greeting. They fell at his feet and worshiped him. Jesus asked them to tell the other disciples to meet him in Galilee. The disciples went to the hill in Galilee and Jesus told them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:16-20). Good Friday – April 7th 7:00 pm – Stations of the Cross 7:30 pm – Good Friday Holy Eucharist Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86443860086 Easter Sunday – April 9th 7: 30 am – Rite I Sunrise Holy Eucharist 9:00 am – Rite II Family Eucharist 10:15 am – Easter Egg Hunt in the Garden of Blessings 11:00 am – Rite II Choral Eucharist In Christ’s Love, Saturday, April 01 2023
>>>CLICK HERE FOR FULL EMAIL VERSION Our Road To Emmaus We join a journey that began before us, that stretches back, and also onward. The Unknown One joins us, and hears. We tender our brokenness. The Storyteller tells the old story in a new way and we see in a new way. It is our story. ~Steve Garnaas-Holmes As I was preparing the sermon for this week, I felt a little lost. There were so many directions to go. Lost - probably not unlike the disciples who were on the road to Emmaus right after the tomb was found to be empty by devoted and strong women. Women, who were not afraid to speak truth out loud. The tomb is empty! And yet, for the multitudes that had been singing hosannahs only a week before, there may have been a sense of betrayal, anger, sadness, and loss. Let’s get out of here! We had hoped… “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” We may feel so similar to the two disciples of Emmaus, full of disappointed hopes, which make us angry or even resentful. Put yourselves there – on that road – maybe, just maybe the pain will go away by the time we reach Emmaus. We are disoriented, unable to make sense of the events around us. Let’s get away from the feelings deep in the pit of our stomachs – We’ve been betrayed… yet We had hoped… So, in all of my pondering and preparation, I simply wondered – where are our Emmauses? Where are those places we go to escape from the intensity of the pain that we imagine might be more than we can bear. Escape from something too large to grasp – and yet how can we fully grasp the Resurrection? This Resurrection! Can we allow ourselves to hope? Who is this intruder in our pain. The one who chastises us for not remembering the scriptures. Yet, he listens – deeply listens. There is something about this stranger that makes us want to know him. So, we invite him to rest and have dinner with us. And as the bread is broken, we are reminded that while on that road, our hearts burned – a profound knowing. Our hearts burn within us. Drawn together, we invite the Stranger to our table, offering our gifts and hospitality. We break bread, and in the sharing we behold the Holy. Our eyes are opened. Wonder, reverence, awe, and gratitude swell in us, and raise us up and send us out to tell others. We go with haste, rejoicing. ~Steve Garnaas-Holmes This IS the one who through suffering redeemed Israel. He is ALIVE! We are never alone. Pray that we recognize his presence as we all journey through this life together. Hope is indeed alive! Your sister traveler, Latest Posts
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