The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Field Notes

For Pastoral Care 

Call 215-247-7466 and leave a message. If you are experiencing a pastoral emergency

text or call the Rev. Dr. Mary Barber at 845-527-9545.

Have you had an address, email, or phone number update?

Send us your update here.

Field Notes submission requests must be emailed by Tuesday at noon to ndiskan@stmartinec.org.

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Sunday, July 26th, 2026

8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Spoken)

9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist for Children, Youth, & Families

Under the Tent

10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Music

Also via livestream here

Followed by Worship Reflections (in person only)

This Sunday's Readings

Genesis 29:15-28 | Psalm 128 | Romans 8:26-39 | Matthew 13:31-33,44-52

Rector's Note

At any given time, members of this St Martin’s community need help from each other. Someone has an injury. One of us needs surgery or other medical treatment. Someone gets hospitalized. We or our parents can no longer leave our home or residence. Someone is a new parent. A loved one dies. We are struggling with a life transition or loss.

I spend a good part of my week meeting with folks in my office, at a coffee shop, or in their home or the hospital. The reason can be anything from just getting to know each other to pastoral and sacramental issues such as confession or anointing the sick. This is one of the most joyful and most meaningful parts of being your rector. And also, I don’t do this work alone. Continue reading here.

Features

Memorial Service For John Potter Stockton "Stocky" Stallings

This Upcoming Monday, July 27th

4:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary

Click here to read Stocky's obituary.

Morning Prayer: Let Us Know Your Prayer Requests

Our Morning Prayer fellowship invites anyone who would like us to pray for your concerns to contact Bill Jacobsen (609-468-5548), Jane Good (215-833-3497), or Al Pearson (215-803-5904.) Morning Prayer meets on Zoom Monday-Friday from 7:30-8:00 a.m. If you would like to join, please email morningprayer@stmartinec.org to receive the Zoom link.

Iced Tea & Chess Under the Tent

Weekly on Thursdays through August 27th

4:00-6:00 p.m.

Rain Space: Houston Room

This summer’s Iced Tea & Chess Under the Tent series continues each Thursday through the end of August! Our Iced Tea & Chess series is a great way to get to know each other, enjoy some snacks, and beat the summer heat with cool drinks and/or chess. No RSVP needed, but if you are able, please consider bringing a snack to share. We look forward to seeing you there!

A Faithful Journey: Preparing for Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation

This fall, St. Martin's will offer confirmation classes for youth and adults. All seekers, age 12 and over, are welcome to join us between the 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. service for five Sundays: Sept. 20th and 27th; Oct. 11th and 18th; and Nov. 8th. If you are interested in making a public confirmation or reaffirmation of your baptismal vows or being received into the Episcopal Church at the end of this course, please fill out this form by August 14th. All are welcome to join for one or all of the five parish-wide sessions and the additional opportunities even if you are unsure about being confirmed/received. Click here for more details.

Snapshots

Intergenerational Sandwich-Making for Face to Face, Germantown

Children, Youth, & Families

Summer Bible Series: The Parables of Jesus

Sundays, Now - Aug 16th

Between the 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services

All ages are invited to encounter the parables of Jesus -- those elusive, challenging, and deceptively simple stories with imagery from everyday life, which teach something about spiritual realities -- with a story told using Godly Play followed by a collective activity led by members of St. Martin's community that corresponds to the story (i.e. singing, planting, baking). If you have a skill you'd like to teach related to one of the following stories, email Rev. Luke at lselles@stmartinec.org.

• August 2: “The Mustard Seed” (Mark 4:30-2)
• August 9: “The Sower” (Matt 13:1-23)
• August 16: “The Leaven” (Luke 13:20-1)

Summer Movie Series: Frozen Sing-along

Saturday, August 8th

5:30 - 8:00 p.m. in the Parish House

All ages are invited to join for pizza and a movie Saturday, August 8th! Please RSVP by the Friday before the movie night with your dietary restrictions and number of folks by emailing lselles@stmartinec.org. Please note: the July 25th showing of Encanto has been cancelled.

Diocesan Youth Wild Adventure at Valley Forge

Sunday, August 30th

4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Washington Memorial Chapel 

2000 Valley Forge Park Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406

Get ready for a fun evening of adventure, music, food, and fellowship to kick off your fall! Youth and their family members from across the diocese are invited to join us for our Diocesan Youth Wild Adventure at Valley Forge National Historical Park on 8/30 from 4 pm - 6:30 p.m. Enjoy live music, wilderness walks, hands-on craft projects like nature mandalas, dinner, and outdoor worship under the open sky that will inspire you for the coming school year. The Rev. Dr. Charles Lattimore Howard will be our homilist. To register, go to this link.

Title: A Coming Storm, Date: 1863, Artist: Sanford Gifford (American, 1823-1880), Medium: Oil on canvas, Credit Line: 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of the McNeil Americana Collection, 2004

Nature and Spirit: Prayerful Looking at American Landscapes

Sunday, August 16th

1:30 - 4:30 p.m. at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Co-sponsored by Wellspring, Interfaith Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Office for Community Engagement

This Mini-Retreat will take place in the PMA’s America250 exhibit, A Nation of Artists. We will focus on landscape paintings that express a variety of religious and spiritual commitments, helped create our national identity, and fueled our nation’s westward expansion. Guided meditation on two paintings will be followed by an opportunity for participants to explore the exhibit and select a work of art to contemplate on their own or with a partner. The retreat will conclude with a tour of the works selected, each person sharing their unique experience of prayerful looking. Register here.

Facilitator: Rev. John B. Hougen, PhD, Co-chair of Wellspring, Art of Interfaith Understanding Coordinator for Interfaith Philadelphia, and Volunteer Docent at the PMA.

Cost: The sliding scale fee for this program is $30-$150, with a suggested price of $50.

Parking and admission to the museum are free thanks to the generosity of the PMA’s Office of Community Engagement. 

Summer Sunday Musicians

Our Choir, Choristers, and Staff Musicians are now on vacation for the summer. I want to invite and encourage those of you with musical talents who play an instrument or sing to help support our 9:00 a.m. and/or 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship from June 28 through August. If you are interested or curious, please contact me at twhiting@stmartinec.org. It is always so great to share in music-making with you all! -Tyrone Whiting, Director of Music & Arts

Sermon

The Rev. Dr. Mary Barber

July 19, 2026

Last week we heard about Jesus preaching to a large crowd from a boat about a sower and seeds. If even some of these seeds fall on good soil, Jesus tells the crowd, they will produce abundantly. The kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells the crowd, is here among us, and no one can stop us!

Today’s Gospel finds Jesus in that same boat, continuing to preach to that same crowd yearning for a message of hope. Jesus tells a new parable, in which a new sower sows good seed in his field, presumably on good soil. But then an enemy comes in the night and sows weeds among the wheat. Continue reading here.

Wednesday Noon Eucharist

Mary Chapel

Wellspring Worship Reflections

After the 10:30 a.m. service

Houston Room

Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA)

Thursdays 7-8:30 p.m. (Library)

Al Anon

Sundays 6-7 p.m. (Houston Room)

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

1 - Tuesdays 8-9 p.m. (Houston Room)

2 - Thursdays 7-8 p.m. (Houston Room)

3 - Fridays 7-8 p.m. (Houston Room)

4 - Sundays 8-9 p.m. (Houston Room)