Sunday Service
8:00 am and 10:00 am
via ZOOM
or
CALL: 1-646-558-8656 then enter meeting id: 259 359 235 #
Rector's Corner

Dear Family in Christ,

I have to admit, as the island fills with families, I can feel the energy and excitement raise within me with a desire to match the vibration of life surrounding. It's exciting and refreshing to see stores reopen and restaurants bustling. Lisa and I enjoyed a nice dinner out on the dock at Two Mile Landing, a favorite of mine since my childhood. It gave Lisa and me an opportunity to see how the virus is being managed. As with anything, there were things we were comfortable with and other things we observed that would have otherwise negated all their hard work.
I am mindful that everyone is doing their very best. I give them and all our businesses working to ensure the health and safety of their customers and guests kudos for their efforts and their willingness to continue to learn and adjust in these most uncertain times. As you venture out to support our local businesses, I encourage your patience and communication. It is a new way of life for all so some things may go unnoticed unless pointed out, with love and care. We soon will be in the same position, I kindly ask for your patience and if you notice something that may have gone overlooked, please point it out to me so that it can be addressed immediately.

Just as excited as I am for life rekindling, I am also left with great concern as our nation continues to struggle with COVID-19. While we have instituted great restrictions and made some outstanding sacrifices, it is hard to re-enter social community without assuming there will be some risk associated with our venture. Yesterday as I was walking Pepper, I noticed the children in the playground, while it stirred in me great joy I also recognize as they jumped on and off equipment that there is really no way to keep our youth safe on a playground in terms of a virus such as this.

So, what does all this mean for us?

We are working hard to meet the requirements set by the Diocese and to meet the individual needs of all of you. While we are collecting the surveys, we have also made enhancements to our WiFi capabilities in the church and will soon begin to broadcast from inside. We are also preparing the church building, which means cleaning, removing books, papers, pamphlets and even cushions. Everyone in ministry and leadership positions will complete training and watch the video contained in this email. I encourage you to watch as well for a deeper understanding of how things may look when you re-enter for service.

After receiving your surveys, the vestry and I will sit, write and submit a plan, but we cannot submit a plan without your survey. We have received only 17 surveys thus far. If you haven’t submitted your survey, please do so by June 30 th . Your voice is important to me.

I encourage you to continue to be safe and mindful of your neighbor.

In Christ,
The Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, Rector
Expectations and Requirements
This is How we Love One Another:
In the video, the Rev. Canon Valerie Balling and Dr. Phil Lewis, co-chairs of the RRR Task Force, walk you through the  Summary of Recommendations  for re-opening.
Re-Entering Survey
As we start the process of assessing how and when we might begin to return to some church activities, St. Mary’s is interested and in need of your feedback about returning to church activities in accordance with Diocesan and State requirements. In considering your answers, please be assured that we will continue on-line worship even when we start to worship on-site again. If there is more than one person in your household and you don't have the same answers, please submit accordingly.
Please complete survey by June 30, 2020.

Click the link to begin:

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Adult Formation Book Study
Over the last three weeks we have had a lively discussion with our friends at St. Barnabas about the Race in America, specifically in the Church. Please consider joining us.

You are invited to join together with myself and Mother Lisa Hoffman to an important Adult Formation Book Study via Zoom meeting.

Wednesday at 5 PM. We are reading and discussing  The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby

It is available for  Amazon Kindle download .

Please join us for this important book conversation.

Register in advance for this meeting:

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Music with David
Dear Friends,

Last week I wrote to you about the very beginnings of Western music, and how the Ancient Greeks gave us three fundamental musical concepts: the ideas of consonance, dissonance and modality.

The first consonance inferred by the Ancient Greeks was the octave, a concept still in use today. They “discovered” the octave by stretching a string until its fundamental tone (tonic) repeated in the next higher register. The Greeks assigned both mathematical and philosophical values to this interval, and from it all the remaining musical intervals were eventually derived.

The Ancient Greeks considered the octave consonant because of its mathematical relationship to the keynote (tonic). This relationship is commonly referred to as pitch class, meaning that “C” is always recognizable as a “C”, regardless of its register (how high or low a note is).

The remaining consonances were inferred based on rational divisions of the octave. Intervals such as the fourth and fifth, for example, were considered consonant using this method. Irrational divisions of the octave allowed them to infer dissonances, such as the second and seventh degrees. 

But why does any of this matter?

The relationship between consonance and dissonance is critical to the development of music itself.  Like the ebb and flow of an evening tide, there is a certain energy exchanged between the two, and one cannot exist without the other. Consonance and dissonance define the essential syntax of harmony. Without these two concepts, music wouldn’t be music at all.

Consonance and dissonance are, in a sense, the “building blocks” of harmony. Next week, we’ll discuss what happens when we begin stacking some of those blocks.

Until then, take care and stay well!
David
Lectionary Text this Week

  • Jeremiah 28:5-9
  • Psalm 89:1-4,15-18
  • Romans 6:12-23
  • Matthew 10:40-42

Zoom Gatherings and Worship
Sunday
Tuesday - Friday
Wednesday
Saturday
A Prayer for our Country
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.