Notes for the Week Last Sunday after the Epiphany February 23 2020
Dear friends,
You never quite know when you’ll find a little hope. Like love, they say, it comes where you find it, if you take time to look. Here is a bit of hope found on a train somewhere underneath London. This small poem of large possibility is read (or noticed) by a daily ridership of five million people. Yes. Five million. According to the London Underground information page, the trains carried 1.357 billion passengers in their 2017/18 accounting. That’s a lot of people to whom one can bring the possibility of slowing down long enough to look, listen or to smell the roses. Yet still this powerful little poem promises more. It offers nothing less than the opportunity to be known, by all things.
We all like to be known for something, even if not much. It’s not hard to be known for one’s sculpture or painting, or violin playing, or singing voice, or dancing or sports genius, or even for one’s amazing bread pudding. Yet, even for the gifted, it’s harder to be known for who you really are…..how you move and have your being. Yet, as Sorescu’s poem imparts, sometimes, we are known for things and we don’t realise it because we haven’t taken time to let what matters in life actually get to know us. To know and be known takes intention, dedication and perseverance.
As Lent approaches, we hear many good intentions about what one will or will not do for forty days. We fill ourselves up with good intentions, dedication and steel ourselves to persevere. Perhaps, the part we often forget is the part about learning to know ourselves fully and completely, as God does. We begin to enter into a need to sacrifice, in order to show God that we’re doing our part in remembering the wilderness days, the temptations and the ultimate decision to keep on keeping on toward Jerusalem, knowing full well what will happen there. But I’m pretty sure God doesn’t take much notice about how well we know about history, or how well we succeed in giving up sugar for Lent, or reading Augustine’s The City of God in its entirety, or even the Book of Isaiah, in its entirety, and understanding either of them. While any of these, or efforts like them are probably very interesting and good for us, that well-intentioned effort, probably doesn’t really earn us too many points in heaven.
Perhaps God notices closely when someone who works for the London Underground decides to offer a little bit of hope to a few million people every week after week. Even if only ten percent of the riders really read the poem and, of that ten percent, ten percent internalized it to the extent that it transformed how they live their lives, then that would get God’s attention. That’s about 250,000 people who will now take time to know and become known by all that is waiting to be mindfully noticed in the world. So, perhaps 250,000 people will begin to understand the meaning of Lent, whether they are Christians or not.
Perhaps the greatest gift we can offer to God during Lent is to be mindful of all God has created in the world, including us. While giving up things we think we “should” in order to please ourselves, maybe we should start something new in order to please God. Like walking through Creation and just by really looking at it, and allowing the time for it to teach us what it means to persevere in pursuit of beauty, grace and peace, even in the midst of ignorance, anger and neglect.
We journey together,
Mother Esme+
I shall look at the grass
Till I obtain the degree
Of Doctor of Grass.
I shall look at the clouds
Till I become a Master
Of Clouds.
I shall walk beside the smoke
Till out of shame
The smoke returns to the flame
Of its beginning.
I shall walk beside all things
Till all things
Come to know me.
(Marin Sorescu)
“By your endurance, you will gain your souls” Luke 21:19
THIS WEEK WE PRAY FOR:
– Toby, Charlotte; Lyman; Bill & Donna; Julie; Ruth; Sandy; Joyce; Nathan; Heidi C.; Michelle; Julia; Pene; Stephanie; Terry; Curtis; Marlene; Bruce; Yvette; Deacon Diana; Carroll; Rich P.; Beverly; Martin, and Laura..
“O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servants the help of your power, that their sickness may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.” BCP 458
We pray for the Church throughout the world and for the faithful in every place.
For +Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, +Michael, our Presiding Bishop, +Michael, our Bishop and all who minister in Christ and for all the holy people of God. Lord graciously hear us.
In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer,
We pray for the Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America, The Right Revd Julio Murray Thompson - Primate of IARCA & Bishop of Panam
In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer,
We pray for Calvary in Seaside – David Sweeney, Rector; Diane Higgins, Deacon and for St. Martin’s in Shady Cove – Allan Miles, Deaco
We also pray for the Bishop Search in the Diocese of Oregon
Eternal God, our times are in your hands. We trust in your providence and care for each of us and for the Diocese of Oregon. Guide us by your Holy Spirit that in all our praying, planning, discerning and decisions for the election of our new bishop that your plans unfold with grace and power through the work you have given us to do. Unify the diocese in love and strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. Amen
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Workshops coming up!
In order to continue in any of these roles,
one must attend a training.
Saturday, February 22nd
10:00 a.m. Lector Workshop
11:00 a.m. Intercessor Workshop
12:00 Noon, LEM/LEV Workshop
12:30 p.m. Prayer Partner Meeting
Tuesday, February 25th, Noon, Altar Guild Meeting
Tuesday, March 3rd, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Acolyte Training (Non-Licensed)
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ST. AIDAN’S SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKE SUPPER
and
MARDI GRAS TALENT SHOW!
A Fundraiser for Anam Cara events.
(Commonly known as SAACSTPSF!)
PANCAKE DINNERS WILL BE SERVED FROM 6:00PM – 7:30 PM!
WHEN: NEXT TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25th
MINIMUM SUGGESTED DONATION $5.00/PLATE
We’ll be serving pncakes, eggs and sausages, applesauce, fruit, coffee and tea.
and we’re looking forward to serving you lots of carbs before Wednesday .
Then back to spinach you go!
6:00 – 7:30pm. Tuesday. Be there!
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ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICES
February 26, 2020
7:00 AM
12:00 Noon
7:00 P.M.
LENTEN PROGRAM
First Sunday in Lent: March 1, 2020
WEDNESDAYS IN LENT
How do the psalms speak to you?
Which psalms do you go to for guidance, solace,
an outlet for grief, anger or for joy?
Who wrote the psalms and why?
What is their meaning for us in our modern, fast-moving world?
A Light Upon My Path
A Study of the Psalms
You will always view the psalms a little differently after this study.
There will be four evenings for Lenten study of the Psalms.
MARCH 4, 11, 25 and April 1.
Lenten Evening Prayer 6:00 p.m.
Program 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Halfway through Lent, on Wednesday, March 18, Bishop Hanley here
Evensong with Holy Eucharist
6:30 p.m.
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THIS WEEK at St. Aidan’s
Monday – February 24th
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. “Saint Aidan’s Fire” – Open Mic [Sanctuary]
Tuesday – February 25th – SHROVE TUESDAY
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Pancake Supper and Talent Show [Murdock Hall]
Wednesday – February 26th – ASH WEDNESDAY
7:00 a.m. / noon / 7:00 p.m. Imposition of Ashes [Sanctuary]
Thursday – February 27th
9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite I [Sanctuary]
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. “Bible Study for Grown-Ups” – Study on the Apocrypha during Lent
Friday – February 28th
9:30 p.m. – noon. Rummage Sorting [Murdock Hall-Basement]
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Greeting Card Ministry [Likowski Hall]
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Tai Chi Class ($5/session) [Murdock Hall])
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Choir Practice [Sanctuary]
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Coming Up
Wednesdays during Lent (March 4th, 11th, 25th, and April 1st)
6:00 Evening Prayer
6:30 – 7:30 Lenten Program: Light upon My Path – a study of the Psalms
Wednesday - March 18th
6:30 pm Bishop Hanley Visitation with Evensong & Holy Eucharist