Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – July 11, 2010
The Collect
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Reading
Amos 7:7-17
This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
- “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by;
- the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
- and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
- and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said,
- `Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
- and Israel must go into exile
- away from his land.’”
And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
- “Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.
- You say, `Do not prophesy against Israel,
- and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
- Therefore thus says the LORD:
- `Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
- and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
- and your land shall be parceled out by line;
- you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
- and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”
BBQ Picnic a success
By all accounts, the first-ever BBQ picnic was a huge success! Our Sr. Warden Richard Fletcher said the congregation hopes to continue the fellowship through monthly get-togethers.
Check out the photos from this event on our new Facebook page.
Stop Hunger Now meal packaging
The Episcopal diocese of West Tennessee has a partnership with Haiti called Stop Hunger Now, which provides meals to the Episcopal diocese in Haiti.
SHN’s vision and mission is to end hunger in our lifetime by providing food and lifesaving aid to the world’s most destitute and hungry in the most efficient, effective and sustainable manner. The organization began its meal packaging program in December 2005 and since then, more than 100,000 volunteers have packaged nearly 30 million meals to feed the world’s impoverished.
SHN’s highly nutritious dehydrated meals contain rice, soy, vegetables, flavoring and 21 essential vitamins and minerals. The meals are easily transported to crisis-burdened areas or supplied to school feeding programs around the world. The meals cost only $0.25 per meal to create and each package contains six meals.
The next food packing event in our area will be Saturday, July 31 at Church of the Holy Communion in Memphis.
A group from St. Matthews will be taking a shift which begins with registration and orientation at 8 a.m. The shift ends at 11 a.m. We will meet at the church and carpool to Memphis, then have lunch at Billings Bald Butcher when we return to Covington.
If you’re interested, please email Fletch for more information and to sign up for the St. Matthews shift. We’d love to have you join us!
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – July 4, 2010
Happy Independence Day!
Collect of the Day
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Reading
2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”
But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
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Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – June 27, 2010
Collect
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Reading
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
Upcoming events at St. Matthews
Holy Week Schedule
Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday liturgy at 10:30
Holy Week Community Services 12:05 - 12:30
Monday – First United Methodist Church
Tuesday – First Presbyterian Church
Wednesday – St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
Thursday – Covington Assembly of God
Friday - First Baptist Church
Maundy Thursday Eucharist and Foot washing and Stripping of the Altar - 6:00 p.m.
Good Friday Liturgy and Meditation- 2:00
Great Vigil of Easter – 7:00 at Ravenscroft Chapel
Easter Sunday Liturgy and Easter Egg Hunt- 10:30
The Reverend James Newsom
