Dear Friends,
I am praying for you all and I hope that you are well. In addition, I am praying for our nation in this difficult time.
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises,
may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Please join us for online worship tomorrow at 10 am for Morning Prayer, at 10:15 for Music, and at 7:30 for Compline.
Morning Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/
Music: https://youtu.be/PYXYBuIebQg
Updates from the Rector's Office
Daily Prayers at noon
I am posting a prayer each day at noon via our church's youtube channel. These are prayers mostly from our prayer book, but also some others. "Join me" for prayer. I will post the words of each of the prayers along with the video.
An idea: Zoom worship and gatherings
I wanted to reach out to you all to see if there is interest in doing some "gathering" together via Zoom at some point in the week. I was thinking of perhaps doing a Zoom prayer service in the midweek, perhaps on Wednesdays at noon (I am not wedded to this as the time!). Would you be interested in joining us for prayer on Zoom?
Relatedly, would any of you be interested in a Zoom Bible Study? Or, perhaps a Zoom "coffee hour"? Some churches have done this sort of thing and it seems like it has been great.
Would any of you like to lead a book study, a Bible study, or a class online/zoom?
Burial Service for John Manola - October 14th at 11am
John Manola was a beloved friend of so many at Cathedral Village, and in the larger community. He lived nearly 103 years, and I was blessed to have some wonderful conversations with him in the last year or so. We will be having a graveside service for John on October 14th at 11am. This will be held outdoors at our Columbarium, and all are invited. Please wear your masks and practice social distancing. May John Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory!
Baptism for Leah Schnell - October 17th at 1pm
On October 17th at 1pm, we will baptize Leah Schnell, who is the daughter of Olivia and Jim Van Osten's niece, Joanie Schnell. We will do this service outdoors, under the guidelines of Bishop Gutierrez. Since a key part of the Baptism liturgy is to have the "community of saints" (that is, the Parish) lift up and support the baptized, I would LOVE to have some folks to join us. We will use masks, and be socially distanced. Join us if you can.
Vestry Meets on Tuesday / Outdoor Worship
Our Vestry is meeting on Tuesday Evening online using Zoom, and our main agenda item is to finalize a proposal to re-entry for outdoor worship on Sundays at St. Mary's. We will need to submit this to the Bishop's office, but I am confident that very soon we can do some outdoor worship together! Alleluia! I realize that October temperatures are a bit cool, but perhaps we can weather the cold in order to gather. Would you be interested in joining us?
Hoping to meet for Indoor Worship as soon as we can do it safely
Relatedly, we are also working to figure out solutions to some of the challenges in order to have indoor worship on Sundays. With the help of our Vestry and worship leaders, I am hopeful that before long, we can also gather, in some form, on Sundays. Whether this is in the Parish Hall or the Nave, I am not sure. In addition, I am not sure whether this will take the form of Morning Prayer or some form of the Eucharist. We shall see. What are your thoughts, concerns, hopes in this area?
Accessibility
While our Architects were not doing work "in person" on any of their projects during the early months of the pandemic, they were doing planning and strategizing about our accessibility project. We had a site plan done by a surveyor earlier this spring. This week, we will have an engineering firm come in to assess some of the structural requirements and challenges. I had a great conversation with our point person with the architecture firm the other day, and he is hopeful that before too long we will have some proposals to choose from in terms of the work. This is VERY exciting for me, as I am really hoping to get us fully accessible to ALL, and as soon as we can. I am so thankful to our Vestry in their leadership to fully support this work!
Thank you
Thank you all for your prayers, your support for one another, and for your ongoing faithfulness. Thank you also for so many of you who have continued to give to St. Mary's and I am amazed at the great number of you who have kept up your pledge in this uncertain time. Please continue to do this generous work, and for those who have not been keeping up with your pledge, if you can, please do.
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In Christ's Love,
~Peter+
The Rev. Peter M. Carey, Rector
St. Mary's Episcopal Church - Cathedral Road