PARISH NOTES
Sunday 17 June 2018
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| James Tissot, Jesus Teaches the People by the Sea, c. 1886-1894 Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray-wove paper Brooklyn Museum, New York |
FROM THE RECTOR
"With many such parables he explained the word to them, as they were able to hear it ... but privately to his own disciples he explained everything" (Mark 4:33-34). This comment by Saint Mark makes clear that the parables of Jesus are more than just fables told to make a moral or even a spiritual point. They have a mysterious quality. And they are subversive: they invite us to enter imaginatively into a new world - the Kingdom of God - and have our world-views turned upside down and inside out in the process. They are not so much descriptions of events as events-in-themselves, challenging and changing us as we engage with them. Moreover, depending on our depth of insight and understanding, we experience them at different levels. Not only do they speak to us where we are, but we can return to them again and again and usually find something new that we've never noticed before. "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground ... It is like a grain of mustard seed ..." Join us this Sunday as we contemplate these explosively mind-altering, life changing images.
- Fr. John D. Alexander
THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS
Fourth Sunday After Pentecost – Proper 6, Year B
Psalm 92:1-4,11-14
Ezekiel 17:22-24
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Mark 4:26-34
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 8 a.m. Mass in the Narthex and 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.
Guest Organist – We welcome Diana Norton-Jackson at the organ today while James Busby is on vacation.
Flowers – at the High Altar are given to the glory of God and in loving memory of Iolanda Pisaturo by Frank Pisaturo, Sr. and by Fr. John D. Alexander in thanksgiving for his twenty-fifth anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood (June 5, 1993).
Summer Online Book Discussion Group – is now full! Thanks to all who signed up to participate: you should have received an email this week confirming your participation; if you signed up to participate and did not receive this, please speak to the Rector.
Coffee Hour Rota – is being taken over by The Society of Mary Ward of this parish. Each Sunday, we will be giving you a chance to sign up for an available date to host this opportunity for hospitality to our fellow parishioners, friends, and visitors. We will also send you a reminder early in the week before you serve so that you don’t forget. If you are new to hosting Coffee Hour and would like to, but don’t want to do it on your own, we can help you find someone to pair up with. Many hands may light work, and hosting coffee hour is both an important ministry of the parish and a fun thing to do. NOTE: in summer months, along with our more modest Sunday liturgy, it is fine to have a more modest coffee hour, offering drinkables and light snacks. For further information speak to Patti Barnes or Phoebe Pettingell.
Solemn Evensong and Benediction – will be offered on Sunday 5 August (Eve of the Feast of the Transfiguration) at 5:30 pm. The guest preacher (and officiant at Evensong) will be the Rev. Canon Jeremy Haselock, recently retired Canon Precentor at Norwich Cathedral in England, and a Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen. The Schola Cantorum will interrupt their summer break to sing works of Heinrich Schütz, Harvey Burgett, Edward Elgar, and Marcel Dupré. Mark your calendars now and don’t miss what promises to be a splendid choral service.
Choir Season 2018-2019 – begins on Sunday 30 September. Sung Masses with Cantors singing the Plainchant Minor Propers (Introit, Gradual, etc.) begin on Sunday 2 September (Sunday in the Labor Day Weekend). Meanwhile, see the next announcement …
Sunday 10 a.m. Masses during the Summer – take on a simpler (and somewhat briefer) form, following closely the texts and rubrics of The Book of Common Prayer, 1979 and adding a fifth hymn to the usual four. It is vitally important to keep up our attendance during these months; our prayers and presence at Mass express our love for God and our neighbor, bringing real blessings both in our own lives and in those of our fellow parishioners. (If there are any favorite hymns you’d like us to sing during the summer months, please contact Fr. Alexander, who will try his best to accommodate all reasonable requests!)
Sunday School and Nursery – We need volunteers to assume responsibility for organizing Sunday School for the 2018-2019 Program Year (beginning in September). Please speak to Fr. Alexander or one of the Wardens (Tom Bledsoe and Bill Dilworth) if you would like to learn more and / or contribute your time to this crucial aspect of parish life.
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, Sally, Sandy, John, Phebe, Ed, Gregory, Richard, Colin, Sandy, Kiersten, Beverly, Jonathan, Deborah, Bryan, Angela, Bobby, Douglas, Beverly, Allora, Carlos, Betsy, Rhoda, William, James, and Louis.
Birthdays this week: Modu Johnson (Wednesday 6/20).
The faithful departed: Year’s Mind: J. Carter Brown (17 June 2002), Terry Wilkes (22 June 1999), and Dorothy Van Slyck Eagles (23 June 1997). Those in whose memory flowers are given: Iolanda Pisaturo.
Anglican and Diocesan Cycles of Prayer – In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we are asked to pray for The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma): The Most Rev’d Stephen Than Myint Oo, Archbishop of Myanmar and Bishop of Yangon; in the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, we are asked to pray for the campers, counselors and staff of the Episcopal Conference Center as they begin another summer of fun and faith.
THE SUNDAY ROTA
Acolytes – Acolyte/MC J Ihnen; Thurifer L Verdelotti
Lector – J Steiny
Ushers – George Ryan and Karl Benziger
Coffee Hour – Martin and Magdalena Pehalova
THIS WEEK AT S. STEPHEN’S
EXTRA-PAROCHIAL EVENTS HOSTED AT S. STEPHEN’S
Saturday 23 June
Epiphany Soup Kitchen 2:30 pm (Great Hall)
LITURGICAL CALENDAR & SERVICE SCHEDULE
17 June
THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (G)
Morning Prayer 8:00 am
Low Mass 8:10 am
Mass with Hymns 10:00 am
Daily Mass and Office Lectionaries: Proper 6, Year Two
Monday 18 June
Bernard Mizeki, Catechist and Martyr in Rhodesia, 1896 (R)
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6:00 pm
Tuesday 19 June
Gervase and Protase, Martyrs at Milan, 2nd cent. (R)
Noonday Prayer 12:00 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Wednesday 20 June
FERIA (G)
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6 pm
Thursday 21 June
Aloysius Gonzaga, Jesuit, 1591 (W)
Noonday Prayer 12:00 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Friday 22 June
Alban, First Martyr in Britain, c. 304 (R)
Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, 431 (W)
Thomas More, Scholar, and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Martyrs, 1535 (R)
Noonday Prayer 12:00 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm
Saturday 23 June
Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c. 678 (W)
Morning Prayer 9:30 am
Low Mass 10:00 am
24 June
THE NATIVITY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (W)
Morning Prayer 8:00 am
Low Mass 8:10 am
Mass with Hymns 10:00 am
NEXT SUNDAY'S READINGS (24 June)
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Psalm 85
Isaiah 40:1-11
Acts 13:14b-26
Luke 1:57-80
