Wednesday, September 5, 2018

PARISH NOTES
Sunday 9 September 2018
Jesus Healing a Deaf-Mute. Ottheinrich Bible (c. 1430). Bavarian State Library. Munich, Germany.


FROM THE RECTOR

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus fulfills prophecy: “Then … [shall] the ears of the deaf [be] unstopped; … and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy” (Isaiah 35:5-6). Inhabitants of the Gentile region known as the Decapolis bring to Jesus a deaf and mute man, beseeching him to lay his hand upon him. But Jesus goes several steps further. Taking the man aside, he puts his fingers in his ears, spits and touches his tongue, looks up to heaven, heaves a deep sigh, and commands: “Ephatha: Be opened!” Notable is the sheer physicality of the healing. Speaking and acting with the authority of God, Jesus nonetheless engages the man in the fullness of their shared corporeality in a way that the more sensitive souls among us might find gross and disgusting. What then does this episode have to teach us about how Jesus engages with the members of his Body, the Church, to unstop our ears and release our tongues? Join us this Sunday as we explore this question in depth. – Fr. John D. Alexander

THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost – Proper 18, Year B 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
Welcome to S. Stephen’s – especially to our visitors and guests! We’re glad to have you join us. Please join us for Coffee Hour following the 10 a.m. Mass in the Great Hall upstairs. If you have any questions or special needs, please speak to one of the ushers, who will be glad to assist you. 

Volunteer for Acolyte Rota – Fr. Alexander is seeking parishioners who would be willing to be trained to serve as acolytes for the 10:00 am service on Sundays and for special services throughout the year. Please get in touch with him if you are willing or might know someone else who would be. Thank you! 

Calling All Lovers of Cooking – Each Sunday this academic year, a meal will follow Evening Prayer with the Episcopal Ministry at Brown and RISD. Would you please consider volunteering and signing up to provide a meal to minister to the undergraduate and graduate students at Brown and RISD? The need for meals will begin next Sunday, September 16, at 6:00 pm. We’d be more than happy to have you sit down and eat with us and also join us in conversation. Thank you! 

Vestry Meeting – The first Vestry meeting of the new program year will take place this Tuesday, September 11, at 7:00 in the Library. 

Holy Cross Day (September 14th) – a major feast of the church year, will be kept on Friday with Noonday Prayer at 12:00 noon, with Low Mass following at 12:10 pm. 

Monthly Requiem – for the departed of this parish whose year’s mind falls during September will be offered this Saturday, 15 September, at 10:00 am (preceded by Morning Prayer at 9:30 am). If you have any names to add to those to be remembered, please let Fr. Alexander know. See GAS announcement below. 

Guild of All Souls: St. Stephen, Proto-Martyr Branch – Starting this coming Saturday, S. Stephen’s will celebrate a parish Requiem Mass on the Third Saturday of most months at the 10:00 am Mass. Departed members of the parish whose anniversaries fall during the month are remembered in prayer, and anyone may submit additional names of the departed. 

College Ministry – The Episcopal Ministry at Brown and RISD (EMBR) continues next Sunday with Evening Prayer at 5:30, with dinner and conversation to follow. All undergraduate and graduate students are welcome and invited to attend! 

Weekday Services in Rector’s Office – Please note that during the hot summer weather, weekday Offices and Masses may be held in the air-conditioned comfort of the Rector’s Office instead of in the Lady Chapel. If the Church doors are closed at the appointed time, please enter through the Guild House doors; once you are inside, the parish office is the first door on your left. 

FOR YOUR PRAYERS

Prayers have been requested for: Elizabeth, Richard, Norman, John, Shannah, Sister Carolyn, Lynne, William, Hannah, Kaitlyn, Mary, Gus, Leonard, Harrington, Joan, Elizabeth, Sandy, John, Phebe, Ed, Gregory, Richard, Colin, Sandy, Kiersten, Beverly, Deborah, Bryan, Angela, Bobby, Beverly, Allora, Carlos, Rhoda, William, and James. 

The faithful departed: Year’s Mind: Mary J. Seamans (10 September 1987), Michele Leighton (11 September 2009), James F. Littlefield (13 September 1986), Margaret Chase (13 September 1998), and George R. Finch (13 September 2009). Recently Departed: Nina Hinson. 

Anglican and Diocesan Cycles of Prayer – In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we are asked to pray for Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan; in the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, for the people and clergy of Holy Cross, Middletown and of Church of the Redeemer, Providence. 


THE SUNDAY ROTA 
Acolytes – MC R Noble, Thurifer L Verdelotti, Crucifer J Ihnen, Torches W Dilworth and L Rejto
Lector – P Pettingell 
Ushers – Bruce Lennihan and Julia Steiny 
Coffee Hour – Jacob Ihnen 

THIS WEEK AT S. STEPHEN’S 
PARISH PROGRAMS, EVENTS & MEETINGS 

Tuesday 11 September 
Vestry Meeting 7:00 pm (Library) 

Saturday 15 September 
Guild of All Souls 10:00 am (Lady Chapel) 

EXTRA-PAROCHIAL EVENTS HOSTED AT S. STEPHEN’S 

Friday 14 September 
RUF 4:00-11:00 pm (Great Hall) 

Saturday 15 September 
Epiphany Soup Kitchen 2:30 pm (Great Hall) 

LITURGICAL CALENDAR & SERVICE SCHEDULE 

9 September 
SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (G) 
Morning Prayer  8:00 am 
Low Mass  8:10 am 
Sung Mass  10:00 am 
Evening Prayer w/ EMBR  5:30 pm 

Daily Mass and Office Lectionaries: Proper 18, Year Two 

Monday 10 September 
Finnian, Abbot of Moville, 589 (W) 
Alexander Crummell, Priest, 1898 (W) 
Evening Prayer  5:30 pm 
Low Mass  6:00 pm 

Tuesday 11 September 
FERIA (G) 
Noonday Prayer  12:00 noon 
Low Mass  12:10 pm 

Wednesday 12 September 
John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York, 1830 (W) 
Evening Prayer  5:30 pm 
Low Mass  6:00 pm 

Thursday 13 September 
John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, Teacher, 407 (W) 
Noonday Prayer  12:00 noon 
Low Mass  12:10 pm 

Friday 14 September 
HOLY CROSS DAY (R) 
Noonday Prayer  12:00 noon 
Low Mass  12:10 pm 

Saturday 15 September 
Our Lady of Sorrows (Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary) 
Morning Prayer  9:30 am 
Requiem Mass  10:00 am (Black) 

16 September 
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (G) 
Morning Prayer  8:00 am 
Low Mass  8:10 am 
Sung Mass  10:00 am 
Evening Prayer w/ EMBR  5:30 pm 

NEXT SUNDAY'S READINGS (16 September) 

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost – Proper 19, Year B 
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