Good Morning from the Church Mouse

Friday, July 31, 2020

9 Pentecost, Proper 13, Year A

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Join us at 10:30 a.m. this Sunday for our zoom Sunday Service. Log into the zoom session on our webpage.

The Service bulletin will be posted on the website.

Isaiah 55:1-5

Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22

Romans 9:1-5

Matthew 14:13-21

The Episcopal Church

Have you listened to Bishop Curry's most recent podcast episode with Ruby Sales? Listen online or on your favorite podcasting app to hear bits of wisdom like these as we cross boundaries, listen deeply, and live like Jesus.

Click here.

Maybe I am just irrepressible but I will not let the grim news of our current reality turn me into a complainer. Every time the virus or the financial disasters of our age start to weigh me down I begin looking for the flip side. And I always find it because it is always there. If the virus says I cannot go out as I once did, then that is when I decide to take an online course in something I have always wanted to know. If I can't take a trip to see the sights then I take up painting and create a few sights of my own. If I am short of cash I try to be long on imagination. There is always a way to discover simple joys in life. You just have to look for them and you can’t do that with your head bent down. So perk up, come over to the flip side, and have fun finding out just how surprisingly happy you can be in spite of it all.

The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston

Fruitfulness

If you are stuck today, hear the good news. We have hope. God comes to us recklessly – as to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and on through scripture – sowing the Word even when we have hard hearts. God keeps inviting fruitfulness in the long-view. With wild love, God is persistently generous in order to save us all.

-Br. Luke Ditewig

Society of Saint John the Evangelist

Forward Movement Today: Cleanse and defend your church

Dear friends in Christ,

This coming Sunday’s collect seems particularly appropriate for this moment in our common life.

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

In this time of pandemic, when we worry about our health, surely we want to pray that our churches might continue in safety. And praying that our church might be cleansed is especially fitting when disinfectants are selling like never before.

But of course, the collect isn’t really about the church in a time of pandemic.

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The Stillwater District received 758 Hotspots.

Click here to read more.

Hofmeister announces grant award of 50,000 Verizon mobile internet connections and devices to bridge digital divide

OKLAHOMA CITY (July 31, 2020) – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister today announced that 175 Oklahoma school districts have been awarded mobile internet access and devices through 50,000 Verizon Unlimited 4GE data plans and Jetpacks, following a competitive grant process. The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) grants leveraged a portion of the agency’s set-aside monies from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund created by the federal Coronavirus Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help ensure all students have connectivity to access online learning if community spread of COVID-19 requires districts to use distance or hybrid learning models.

Upcoming events around the Diocese

August 3: Facebook live interview with Canon Eric Cooter

August 8: Bishop Seating and Passing of the Crosier. Click here for more information. The service will be live streamed on the Diocesan YouTube Page.

Sept. 12: Virtual ECW Conference

Click here for more information.

Sept. 19: Virtual Diocesan Budget Meeting

October 7-8: Virtual Clergy Conference

October 31: Bishop's Cup

November 7: Virtual Diocesan Conference

Click here for more information.

Poulson Reed

A summary of what happened at the virtual House of Bishops’ meeting this week. Still processing this interesting experience... Click here.

The Forward Day by Day Meditation for July 31, 2020

Ignatius of Loyola

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Ignatius of Loyola's conversion was a traumatic experience. Because of recklessness born of a desire to be famous, he sustained a life-threatening injury in the 1521 Battle of Pamplona. During his recovery, he discovered a spiritual connection to Christ and a new direction for life.

His writings about these devotional experiences became what he called the Spiritual Exercises. While studying for the priesthood, he and six classmates decided to take vows of poverty and service to the poor based on the Spiritual Exercises. This was the beginning of the Jesuits (The Society of Jesus), an order centered on these vows and dedicated to evangelism and education.

We don't need trauma in our lives to hear Jesus’ call in our lives. Reflecting on our experiences and being part of a community offer clarity about our call and God's desire for all of us. Thanks be to God.

MOVING FORWARD: How are you hearing and responding to Jesus’ call in your life?

PRAY for the Dioceses of Masvingo (Zimbabwe), the Virgin Islands, and Huron (Canada)

Ps 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 * 73 | Judges 5:1-18 | Acts 2:1-21| Matthew 28:1-10

Integrity

Take a moment to bring to mind some people who have inspired you, and who have had a significant, positive impact on your life.

As you reflect on who came to mind just now, whether they were a parent, friend, sister, brother, family member, teacher, coach, boss, spiritual leader, or political leader, I imagine that there is something they all have in common—each of them was a person of integrity.

The word integrity shares the same root as the word integration . A person with integrity has a high degree of integration between what they say and how they live. Such a person “walks the talk” and embodies in their actions what they say with their words.

Integrity is based on the highest spiritual values of what it means to live a good life, transcending political, religious, and other differences. People from different perspectives will be open to listening to and learning from a person of high integrity. Without integrity, a person’s voice will rarely be taken seriously.

If you watched the funeral for Congressman John Lewis this week, you witnessed the honoring of a person by people of all political perspectives. The theme that ran through the remarks at the funeral, as well as the tributes that have poured in since his death, was of Lewis’ integrity. Lewis preached the path of love, mercy, and justice just as clearly as he walked that path in is life. And as evidence of how his life of integrity did transcend politics, I share with you words spoken by former President George W. Bush, one of the many speakers at Lewis’s service in Atlanta Thursday. I invite you to read these words thoughtfully and slowly as it describes so well the essence of a life lived with integrity and love.

“He always thought of others; he always thought of preaching the gospel, in word and in deed, insisting that hate and fear had to be answered with love and hope. John Lewis believed in the Lord, he believed in humanity and he believed in America. He’s been called an American saint, a believer willing to give up everything, even life itself, to bear witness to the truth that drove him all his life. That we could build a world of peace and justice, harmony and dignity and love. And the first crucial step on that journey was the recognition that all people are born in the image of God, and carry a spark of the divine in them.

John’s lesson for us is that we must all keep ourselves open to hearing the call of love. The call of service. And the call to sacrifice for others. Listen, John and I had our disagreements of course – but in the America John Lewis fought for, and the America I believe in, differences of opinion are inevitable elements and evidence of democracy in action. We the people, including congressmen and presidents, can have differing views on how to perfect our union while sharing the conviction that our nation, however flawed, is a good and noble one. We live in a better and nobler country today because of John Lewis and his abiding faith in the power of God, the power of democracy and in the power of love to lift us all to a higher ground.” Former President George W. Bush.

In anticipation of his death, John Lewis wrote an essay in the final days of his life and requested that it be published the day of his funeral. I close with an excerpt from this essay, hoping that in these difficult times, we may find strength and inspiration in his call to live a life of integrity, a life where, in Lewis’s words, we “let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.”

“Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring. When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.” From a final essay written by Congressman John Lewis.

May we each strive to walk with the integrity and example of Congressman John Lewis.

A Seed A Day

Seed of Encouragement

Whatever we have need of, there is a promise in the Bible for that need. Philippians 4:19 tells us that God will richly fill our EVERY need in a glorious way through Christ Jesus... And if God PROMISED it in His Word, He is well able to PERFORM it. We may not see how it will be done just yet, but we can trust and have faith that what we need SHALL manifest!!! Keep praying, keep trusting and keep believing... God has something GREAT in store for each of us that He is preparing us to RECEIVE it!!!

My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide seed for planting and food to eat. So also will be the word that I speak - it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do. Isaiah 55:10-11

Payne County Youth Services, Inc.

June's note from St. Andrew's Financial Committee and Rev. Mary:

"The Church achieved positive financial results for the month of June. Again the federal funds allocated to St Andrew's by the Diocese offset most of the Church's personnel cost. However, these funds have been depleted, so we will be relying on the income from our pledges and regular contributions for the rest of the year.

For the first 6 months, we have received 98% of the amount projected from pledges and regular contributions. Keep up the good work, we will need everyone's help to get the Church through these unusual times."

You can make your offerings or contributions through Tithely , make arrangements through your bank to have a check mailed to the church, or just drop a check in the mail (P.O. Box 938, Stillwater, OK 74076).

Stay safe and God be with you.”