Online Worship for Sunday, May 3, 2020
The Fourth Sunday of Easter
10 am - Morning Prayer on Zoom
Join us for Morning Prayer on Zoom and we will (once again) attempt to live stream to the St. Bede's YouTube page.
If the live stream does not work,
we will post the recording to our YouTube page later.
8 pm - Compline on Zoom
End your Sunday by joining others from St.Bede's
in the quiet evening prayer form known as Compline.
We usually take a few moments at the end to catch up as well.
Information about how to join
Morning Prayer & Compline on Zoom
will be sent out in a separate email
and will be posted to the St. Bede's website
by Saturday afternoon.
There is always a call-in (from a regular telephone) option for
all worship, fellowship, and meeting opportunities
that are offered on Zoom.
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Announcing our New Junior Warden
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Vacation Bible School
Once a week on zoom in June & July
School is almost over (isn't it?). Although we don't know what summer might bring, we know we want to be together with our church family!
How about a virtual, bi-lingual, all-ages, once-a-week evening Vacation Bible School on Zoom and YouTube to bring us all together?
Plans are underway! We will be learning about "The Way of Love: Practices for a Jesus-Centered Life" over seven weeks in June and July. Each week will include a pre-recorded Bible story, pre-recorded music, a live wondering/hang out time, and a craft you can do at home (with show and tell the next week!).
Who will be our engaging story tellers, you ask? Why, you, dear families! We want to hear as many dear voices as possible, so we are looking for creative households to represent the featured stories in their own way: puppets, drawings, acting (costumes?), LEGO, pets as characters (any cats want to be Zacchaeus?)--whatever you would like to do to bring the story to life.
And don't worry--The VBS team will supply you with a story and help you with resources, brainstorming, and technology. If your family is not bi-lingual, we will also help with translation!
We can't wait to see what St. Bede's/San Beda will create as we walk the Way of Love together! So hurry and grab a story (or song) before they are all gone! Please contact Alyssa (404-579-6768, asali@stbedes.org) or Carmen (678-927-7200) by email, message or WhatsApp to get started!
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Community Engagement Committee Meeting
Sunday, May 3 at 1:00 pm on Zoom
The Community Engagement Committee will meet on Sunday at 1:00 on Zoom. If you are a point of contact for particular ministries, please plan to update us. We will also talk about avenues of action and communication during the pandemic. (Would we want to host a guest speaker on Zoom, for example?) This is an open committee and all interested members of the parish are welcome.
Contact Melissa Biegler if you would like to join this meeting.
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Vestry Establishes
Community Emergency Assistance Fund
In addition to all of the wonderful ways that the Community Engagement Team is leading us in supporting community ministry partners (locally, churchwide, and globally) during this critical time, the Vestry has established a Community Emergency Assistance Fund to help people within the greater St. Bede's community with food assistance during the current public health crisis. This fund will be administered confidentially by the clergy in a similar way as their normal discretionary funds, but will be used exclusively to help with food assistance during this crisis.
If you would like to contribute to this fund you may do so through
Realm Giving and selecting "Community Emergency Assistance Fund" from the "Fund" drop-down menu. You may also mail a gift to St. Bede's designated for "Community Emergency Assistance Fund".
If you have questions about this offering to the greater St. Bede's community or if you are in need of food assistance or know someone who is, please contact either the Rev'd Caroline Magee or the Rev'd Fabio Sotelo.
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Let's Stay Connected
In the season ahead, we would love for any of our members to share any personal reflections, poetry, or stories of hope that will keep us connected and lift our spirits. You can send them to: connect@stbedes.org and we will offer these in the weekly e-newsletter or on Facebook.
This week we received the following offerings:
Suzanne Shapiro offers us a reflection from home:
Observing Life Through a Different Lens:
The clanging of the "back up" sound from the garbage trucks has receded onto another street and my garbage cans are secure in their spots on the carport, empty and ready to be refilled with the refuse of another week. There is some rhythmic comfort in the progression of external occurrences, the garbage trucks, the newspaper, the mail and the comings and goings of the people on the street. Standing before the French doors in the home office I can see a lone chipmunk scurrying across the back yard. There is a crow in my neighbor's tree watching it carefully. The white-tail deer have not yet come out for a snack. Perhaps I will see them today, perhaps not.
Louie [the cat] left me a gift this morning when she came home, having been out since shortly after midnight. I have "repurposed" it for the aforementioned crows. Life. Nature recycles itself.
Now Louie has settled down for her after-breakfast nap - as opposed to her before-lunch nap - having staged a short but vigorous "cat fit." Life in one of its more active forms. I laugh, I am puzzled, I am bewitched but always rejoice in the energetic burst that powers a cat fit. Having worn herself out hunting and "catfitting," she succumbs to the demand of her small body for rest, oozes into a position that advertises the suppleness of her spine and the creative genius of God, emits strange sounds, wiggles slightly, closes her eyes and sinks into somnolence. She has not a care in the world and sleeps peacefully.
And so another day begins for us. The computer will hum, the phone will chirp, perhaps the doorbell will ring to alert us of a delivery, air traffic will pass over our homes, automobile traffic will traverse our streets and we will think, grumble at the computer and maybe chat with each other. We will persevere in our lives now shaped by something we cannot see without the assistance of a microscope. A microscope that allows us to view that which will force us to change, grow, imagine new ways of living, restructure relationships and, most importantly, force us to determine and ascertain that which is most precious and of most import to us now and for the rest of our lives.
The mortality rate for the planet is 100%. See to it, therefore, that while we're here, we love deeply, laugh often, dance freely, cry loudly and unashamedly from the depths of our pained being and hold on most tightly to our God and to each other. Peace be with your this day.
Dixie Snider offers musical selections that he is finding inspirational:
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College Church Hallelujah Chorus
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Mostly Mysteries Book Group on Zoom
The Mostly Mysteries Book Group is continuing to meet on Zoom. If you would like to take part, please contact Connie Coralli and she will send you the link.
The May meeting will be on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day) at 7:00 pm and the group will discuss
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena.
The June meeting will meet on Monday, June 22, and the group will discuss The Lost Man by Jane Harper.
For more information, please contact Connie at conniecoralli@gmail.com
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The Forward Day by Day booklets of daily devotions for May - July 2020 are here!
If you would like Muriel to send one to you, please call her at the parish office or email her at
mdiguette@stbedes.org
If you would like to pick one up at the church, Muriel can leave one taped to the front glass doors in a plastic bag with your name on it. Again, call or email her at the church office.
Please note that you can also find the daily devotions on line at
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In Our Prayers
Peggy Allen
, mother of Lisa Main
Dixie Snider
Ray Lampros
Suzanne Shapiro
Gwen Cordner
Arlene Means,
sister of Larry Bing
Maggie Williams
Jim Sease
Mary Rodriguez
Hollis Pickett
Dixie Snider
Beth Cannon
Margie Klein,
mother of Jody Klein
Ed Bennett
,
brother-in-law of Laura Martin
Anita Maloof
Lynn Edgar,
mother of Beth Cannon
Nancy Waring
John Branan
Kerry Penney
Patrick Newberry,
son of David Newberry,
stepson of Gretchen Berggren
Connie Aylor
Mark Ahlfinger,
son of Jean Ahlfinger
Carolyn Branan,
mother of John Branan
Andy Matia and Darryl Schwartz,
friends of Ann Foote
Brooke & Taylor Harty,
granddaughters of Nancy Waring
Jim Ohl
Bill Stegall
,
friend of Jan & Jeff Swoope
Frances Bowen
Max Carpenter
,
grandson of Sarra David
Judy Penney
,
sister-in-law of Kerry Penney
Sydney Lund
Ann Foote
Helen Abraham
Cameron Maddox
For those who have died
Bill Stegall, friend of Jan & Jeff Swope
David and Abbey Darnell, friends of Sarah Jane Ohl
DiAnne Lillie, sister-in-law of Loretta Vail
Maria Taboada, friend of Beth Cannon
Beverly Boldon,
friend of Jerry Simmons
Glenn Peacock, friend of the Mizell Family
Marshall Shaheen,
founding member of St. Bedes
We give thanks for those celebrating birthdays this week
5/3
: Drew Spires
5/3: Mae Marshall
5/5: Reeve Walden
5/6: Cade Walden
5/7: Shelby Avila
5/7: Reynaldo Ramos
5/7: Lilly Robb
5/8: Katie Doolittle
5/8: Jovanna Martinez
5/8: Julisa Rodriquez
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Blessed To Be A Blessing Pledge Campaign
Thank you to all who have so generously responded by returning your Blessed To Be A Blessing pledge card. If you haven't yet returned your completed pledge card, additional pledge cards are available in the Connect Center.
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Join with others from St. Bede's to visit detainees at the
Stewart Immigration Detention Center
St. Bede's congregation has the opportunity to visit detainees at the
Stewart Immigration Detention Center in Lumpkin Georgia on the following Saturday dates; we hope to visit three times this year. If you are interested in joining in this ministry for one or more visits, please sign up on the sheet in the commons or email Junior Abraham
July 11, 2020
November 7, 2020
We will leave St. Bede's at about 7:00 am and return in the afternoon. Orientation is required for first time visitors and will be provided at St. Bede's. English, Spanish, and French languages are spoken, as well as others. Visits are a maximum of one hour. This has been a blessing for those who have visited and we hope you will consider joining us.
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Welcome to St. Bede's Episcopal Church
Welcome! We're delighted to have you here. You are invited to visit our Commons Area for coffee and conversation after the 10:00 service. There you will find parish life materials to the right as you exit from the church.
Here are some other ways to get better acquainted with St. Bede's.
- Visit stbedes.org and sign up for the church's weekly email and learn more about the active life of St. Bede's. Also visit St. Bede's Facebook page, another way to check out the activities.
- Fill out a visitor information form located on the Visitor's table located in the commons area. Let us know more about you so we can be in touch.
- Contact the church office, 770-939-9797, to be placed on the mailing list or learn more about the life of St. Bede's.
The Invite Welcome Connect Committee has dinners for our newcomers with some of our "seasoned" parishioners. These dinners help you connect with the activities and life of St. Bede's. If you are a newcomer watch for an invitation to an "Invite Welcome Connect" dinner.
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Several St. Bede's regulars subscribe to-
and like! - these e-publications. To stay up to date on activities throughout the
Diocese of Atlanta, sign up for the e-newsletter, Connecting.
You can also
sign up to receive For Faith, which is a weekly devotional message from Bishop Rob Wright sent by email on Fridays. To sign up for either or both,
click here
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For People with Bishop Rob Wright
Welcome to For People, a conversation with Bishop Rob Wright, spiritual leader to the more than 50,000 people in the 117 worshipping communities of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. In this podcast, Bishop Wright meets listeners at the crossroads of faith and life to explore the challenges of an ever-changing world. Listen in to find out how he expands on his For Faith devotional, draws inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Click on the link below to hear Bishop Wright's podcast
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EMMAUSE HOUSE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
Responding to the Needs
of our Neighbors |
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Part 1 * Housing
New Challenges
Amber Middlebrooks found herself in need of help in the wake of a job loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. She was furloughed from her position with an insurance company and couldn't pay the rent on her apartment.
Emmaus House has been there for decades for people like Amber who need help. The Episcopal mission has worked on the southside of Atlanta since the 1960s, serving residents of Peoplestown and surrounding areas. One of its missions is to help people stay in their homes through assistance with rent, mortgage payments, property taxes, and utilities. For now, during the virus threat, utility cut-offs and evictions are suspended, but if people don't keep up with their bills, they will be far behind and at immediate risk when the ban is lifted, said Emmaus House executive director Greg Cole. "We're helping people not to get so far behind that they can't dig themselves out."
Nia Miller, a single mother with two children, was unemployed last year, not knowing where to turn. A friend took her to Emmaus House, where she was connected with a job-training program and job-search network. Soon she was working for a cosmetic store.
But with the threat of the coronavirus keeping people home-bound, women were no longer shopping for lipstick and eyeshadow. In March, Miller was laid off. She had been living paycheck-to-paycheck, and "I was really struggling," she said.
This time she knew where to go. Emmaus House helped her pay the power bill, and, she got food from the mission's food pantry.
"I'd been doing for myself for so long, it took me a while not to feel guilty," Miller said. "But things were kind of falling down around my head. I thought about my two children. Sometimes you do need help to get where you're trying to go."
Many people seeking help these days work in the service industry, such as restaurants and stores, said Emmaus House case manager Tanisha Corporal.
A demographic study of the residents around Emmaus House shows that 16 percent work in retail and another 15 percent in "accommodation," such as hotels. Those businesses have been hard-hit by the orders to shelter-in-place. The same study shows that even before the virus hit, unemployment in the Peoplestown-Mechanicsville area around Emmaus House was almost ten percent, three times the national average, and that median household income was only $23,711, compared to $60,293 nationally. The community - with many people already stretched financially - was being disproportionately affected by the economic implications of COVID-19.
Things Looking Up
There is some good news, however.
Emmaus House's funding for housing and utilities will get a big boost soon when a $157,000 grant from the Stadium Neighborhoods Community Trust Fund hits the bank account. The fund was established to help the neighborhoods around the old Turner Field baseball stadium, sold to Georgia State University for $30 million in 2017. Some $5 million was designated to support projects to benefit the neighborhoods around the stadium, including those served by Emmaus House.
The sale brought with it the promise of new mixed-use developments, but many long-time residents of the Emmaus House service area regard the plans with skepticism. Upscale coffee shops and micro-breweries will do little, they say, to benefit people struggling to hold onto their homes and pay utilities. Squeezed between burgeoning businesses around the stadium and the popular BeltLine, a $4.8 billion, 22-mile project to convert old railway rights of way into a pedestrian- and bike-friendly trail, residents are finding their once-dormant community a popular place for higher-income families and singles who relish the new amenities and the brief commute to downtown. With each fancy apartment complex and cul-de-sac of new houses to appeal to the influx of new residents comes the danger of rising property taxes for people who have spent their lives in their homes.
Emmaus House staff and volunteers are working out a process to maximize use of the stadium trust funds, said Corporal. At the same time, for the foreseeable future, they have to give people the housing and utilities assistance they need without putting applicants and staff at risk through in-person contact.
"We've come up with an online form that clients can access," she said.
Using the information on the online application, the Emmaus House staff verifies the applicants' residences, the amount they owe, and to whom, then follows up with a telephone interview and an appointment to drop off documentation.
Everything seems more complicated under the COVID-19 threat. But the help is more crucial than ever.
Help from Emmaus House "means everything to me," said Amber Middlebrooks. "If it weren't for them, I would probably get an eviction notice."
PART 2 * FOOD
COMING SOON
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Help us be there for communities impacted by COVID-19
Last week the deadly spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus 2019) was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Please know that all of us at Episcopal Relief & Development are praying for you and your loved ones in these difficult and frightening times.
While the full extent of the virus's impact is still not clear, and knowing what actions to take may feel uncertain, one thing we can always do is prepare. Now is a time to hold fast to our faith and continue on with hope. Or, as Luke 12:35-38 says, "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit."
That is why Episcopal Relief & Development will continue to be that light for our neighbors in need right now. I hope you will join us
by making a donation to our COVID-19 Pandemic Response efforts today.
COVID-19 is having wide-ranging effects - in our own church communities here at home and in communities around the world.
Your support
today, will help us:
- Provide our partners with critical resources to help local communities both immediately and in the long run
- Ensure the most up-to-date and accurate knowledge about the disease is continuously shared, including training on personal and community preparedness
- Help partners support high-risk communities who are most vulnerable to COVID-19
- Adapt and act to meet the changing needs of those we serve as the emergency evolves
As you know, our preparedness and response work are devoted to helping communities recover and emerge stronger from COVID-19 and its devastating impact. Your support is critical in this, so please make a donation to our COVID-19 Pandemic Response efforts today.
Stay healthy and safe, and thank you again for keeping your lamp lit for your neighbors both here at home and around the world.
Yours faithfully,
Robert W. Radtke
President & CEO
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More St. Bede's Information
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Wi-Fi is available throughout St. Bede's building!
Password is: 0011223344
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Quick Links
To schedule events,
please contact our
Muriel Diguette
For the weekly
lectionary readings
visit:
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