St. Paul's Episcopal Church   Poughkeepsie, NY 12601


MESSENGER
"Making friends while serving God"

 
The Week of June 3 - 9, 2019
  
WE THRILL TO THE SPIRIT'S COMING
  
     
 
Every year, 50 days after Easter, we thrill to the arrival of Pentecost. There are so many reasons to be excited. It's a celebration. We wear RED. It reminds us that we can depend on what Jesus told his disciples, that he would send the Holy Spirit to assist us, to guide us, as Jesus did in his earthly ministry. It reminds us that amazing things happen when we reach out to others, listening and understanding.
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THIS WEEK'S READINGS
 
As it did with the disciples, the Holy Spirit infuses our everyday lives when we are moved in spiritual ways by what is going on with us and around us. The sudden energy we experience in community and congregation, family and friends, is no accident. It is the special delight the Spirit generates when are hearts are in the right place, when we're working to help others, or simply enjoying companionship.
 
The Spirit moved our Spiritual Life Committee to get St. Paul's involved in the First Friday Event planned for Mansion Square Park this Friday. From 5-8:30 pm there will be festivities and food in the park and our church will be open and welcoming to those who'd like a rest, to look at our beautiful spaces, or just to get a bottle of water or use the restrooms.
 
When we were given this opportunity to be part of the First Friday Event we felt nudged by the Spirit. We are part of the life of our community, of Poughkeepsie. 

All St. Paul's parishioners are invited and encouraged to join in this community connection.


To be redirected to the Lectionary Page and get a digital copy of the readings 

 
Acts 2:2-21; Psalm 104:25-35,37
    Romans 8:14-17; John 14:8-17
 
 
P A R I S H  N E WS
 
 
 
THIS SATURDAY!
GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY
 
Help earn some money for St. Paul's by joining us for this lunch. Its a great way to support St. Paul's without doing any work - just come, enjoy conversation with friends along with a yummy lunch - all for just $17.00.

The menu will include a Chicken Wing appetizer to be shared with your table, a choice of Caesar or House salad, Entree choice of Salmon, Chicken or Chicken & Steak, soda, coffee or tea and dessert.  

Get your tickets from Cynthia Benjamin, Rose Marie Proctor, Hyacinth Curtis, Claudette Tucker, Adrian Goldson, Colleen Misner, Norma Williams, Janet Quade or Bobbie Gordon.  If you'd like to sell tickets, please see Bobbie Gordon.

Tickets need to be purchased by June 1.
Checks may be made payable to St. Paul's Church.
Don't miss this event - everyone had a really good time last year.
  
 
 JUNE IS OATMEAL MONTH
For the month of June we are asking for donations of instant oatmeal. It can be plain or a variety pack.
 
Many thanks to our regular contributors from our Food Pantry volunteers and clients..

 
25 WEEK CLUB

A REMINDER FOR THOSE WHO DON'T REMEMBER HOW IT WORKS
.
You buy a ticket for $25.   You are then eligible to win any of the drawings and you can win multiple times!! Weekly drawings of $20 & $10 will be held every Sunday at Coffee Hour beginning April 7 and continuing through September 22.

A final drawing and party will be held Saturday, September 29. Prizes of $500, $250, $150, $100 and $50 will be awarded at that time.

Tickets will be available beginning Saturday, February 16. Plan to get at least 1 ticket and try to sell some also. It's a fun way to support the church.

This time at least half of the profits will help pay for our new pew cushions.
 
The Sunday Sermon...

         I am not the Walrus


SERMON: 7 Easter C 6 2 19
Acts16:16-34; Ps97; Rev22:12-14,16-17,20-21; Jn17:20-26
 
I am not the walrus. I came to this brilliant insight because I was exploring what has been written about the Beatles song "I am the Walrus," and the opening lines of today's Gospel. I know, I know. It's a stretch. But I hope you find it worth the exercise.
 
The Gospel language I mentioned is in two parts. The first is, "As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." The second is "The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one..."
 
Who finds this a little confusing?
 
By comparison, the song, "I am the walrus," opened with this line: I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together..."
 
The purpose of the popular song, judging from what I found online, was to confuse people. The rest of the song was gibberish which John Lennon wrote to compare his song lyrics with those of others whose work he did not admire. Yet the song became a huge hit. Not least, I have always thought, because it sounds a lot like the opening lines of the Gospel today. Back in the day people familiar with the Bible recognized the similarities between the song and the Gospel language.
 
This is but one example of John Lennon making biblical references or analogies. But I think it is the most compelling. Because both the Gospel and the goofy pop song are trying to intertwine the lives and histories and images of everyone. Each seeks to be globally inclusive, the pop song in ridiculing humanity and Jesus in drawing all of humanity to God and to himself.
 
I guess it's obvious, given how I opened this sermon, that I am intrigued by the linkage. By far I am more interested in Jesus' plan to bring people together (also referred to multiple times in Beatles songs). His intention is that we would so thoroughly absorb his teaching and way of life that we would manifest it in our daily lives and we would transmit it to those we encounter so that it would spread around the world. We use the phrase in one of our prayers "that all might come within the reach of his saving embrace." This is what Jesus wanted and he wanted it for us.
 
There is a bit of desperation in Jesus' tone in today's Gospel. That is because he is about to be taken prisoner and interrogated, tortured, tried and executed. He knows it. He has told his disciples all about it. They don't quite grasp the seriousness of his perception of his earthly fate. So Jesus is trying to tie together the God-Father-Followers intention of his earthly life so the disciples will remember it when Jesus is no longer with them.
 
This particular Gospel selection was chosen by the lectionary editors explicitly for today. It is the Seventh Sunday of Easter, the Sunday before Pentecost and the Sunday after the Ascension (which we celebrated at St. John's Church on Thursday). In terms of what was going on then and, by extension, what is going on for us now, this is a rather sensitive and critical moment. Once again, at the Ascension, Jesus has departed from his followers. As noted, his plea to God in his prayer was that we would be connected forever to him and God. One reason--obviously--is he will not be around to counsel and lead them.
 
Jesus knows how distracted his disciples get in his absence. Therefore he has again told them he is sending the Holy Spirit. So they have some hope of continuity in leadership and inspiration. But for a few days there will be a vacuum. Or at least that is the way it will seem to those who just got the word from Jesus that he was not going to be with them much longer.
 
For those who have been paying attention, this is a cycle we re-live in our lives, not just in church. Sometimes we're completely together, hitting our stride, riding the wave, if you will. Sometimes, to continue the surfing analogy, we're mired in seaweed. The free-and-easy option is ours when we are connected spiritually, when we are communicating in prayer and meditation with God and with Jesus and when we know, if we can't figure out how to deal with something or can't get a clear spiritual answer right now, one will be ours shortly. It is comforting to know that and to believe that. And that's how we have come to handle these moments when Jesus is no longer on the scene but we remember he will (actually, he did) send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.
 
The seaweed option is to struggle, to flail, to wonder how we ever got in such a predicament. This is what it is like when we've lost touch with Jesus, the guide and friend who repeatedly says, "Peace. My peace I leave with you."
 
It's an easy choice to make. The spiritual answers come if we are patient. Not so much if we are anxious or stuck in seaweed.
 
In our reading this morning from the Acts of the Apostles we see this approach practiced perfectly. The backstory is a really interesting one because Paul and Silas have gotten in trouble for helping someone. Invoking the name of Jesus they freed a slave girl from a spirit that enabled her to tell fortunes. This was likely a relief for her, but it decreased her value to her owners who expected her to earn money fortune telling. So the owners had the disciples arrested for depriving them of their income.
 
In jail Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs of faith when an earthquake hit. They were remembering their faith and invoking the name of Jesus. They were in jail but they were not afraid. They knew what was important to them and they stuck with it.
 
When the earthquake knocked down the walls and blew out the bars of their jail they stayed put. Their jailer, believing they would escape and he would be blamed for their escape, set out to take his own life. But the disciples assured him they weren't going anywhere. Amazed by their steadfastness the jailer asked Paul and Silas what he should do to be saved and they said, ""Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
 
The jailer cared for Paul and Silas and he and his household were baptized. We can infer from this that the steady calm with which the disciples responded to their situation was made possible because of their faith, a faith that survived even the doubts between the Ascension and Pentecost.
It's not that often that you and I find ourselves in jail for helping someone. Or in jail when an earthquake hits. Or in the company of a suicidal jailer. But this story and the understanding we have of the times demonstrate the applicability of these faithful actions in all kinds of situations, not just biblical ones.
 
When Jesus asked God to bless his followers it was with this kind of confident faith Jesus prayed we would be endowed. Jesus wanted us to rely on him in all situations. The examples we have of those who have done so are both historical and personal, immediate and long ago. This faith is depicted on the cover of the 10 am bulletin, showing the Holy Spirit--our faith--rising from the bloody crown of thorns at Jesus' crucifixion. It is through our faith and our willingness to describe it and its healing effects on us that we share the Good News. Especially as we await the arrival--again--of the Holy Spirit next Sunday.      Amen
 
A sermon preached on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, June 2, 2019, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Poughkeepsie NY, by The Rev. Tyler Jones, Rector.

                           
                     
                                   JUNE BIRTHDAYS
 
2        Kevin Kelly                                             15        Bobbie Gordon
          Donna Taylor                                         16        Obafemi Oni
7        Molly Jones                                            17        Jordan Rosborough
          Mary Ann Bagatta                                              Benjamin Rosborough
8        Serena Mazzuto                                     21        Shirley Richardson
10      Hyacinth Curtis                                       22        Michael Babb II
12      Garrett Martin Bell                                  25        Donna Hosier
          Ira Wethington                                       30        Amanda Bell
13      Kimberli Williams                                               Luke Goodwin
                                                                             

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St. Paul's Episcopal Church-Poughkeepsie
 
 

'In Service to God & You'
 
SUNDAY 8AM
Server:            Maria Bell

Lectors:           Rose Marie Proctor
                        Mark Goodwin

Litanist:           Pete Bedrossian
  
SUNDAY 10AM
Organist:         Maris Kristapsons
  
Acolytes:         Shawn Prater-Lee                 
  
Lectors:           Jim Schneider
                        Shawn Prater-Lee
  
Litanist:            Mark Debald
  
Usher:              Dewy Clarke
                         Mark Debald
  
Altar Guild:       Norma Williams & Mertlyn Tomlinson
     
 
 
 
 

THIS WEEK'S HYMNS

1982                 224        Hail this joyful day's return
 
1982                 225        Hail thee, festival day
 
CPWI                206        When God of old came down from heaven
 
1982                 531        O spirit of the living God




HYMN INFORMATION: O spirit of the living God is a classic Pentecost hymn that calls for the Holy Spirit to again descend to the church, and for us to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all persons. James Montgomery (1771-1854) wrote this hymn in 1823 to be sung at the Public Meeting of the Auxiliary Missionary Society for the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Raised in the Moravian Church, Montgomery was a Scottish-born hymn writer, poet, and editor, whose writings reflected concern for humanitarian causes. The words to this hymn are coupled with various tunes in different denominations and hymnals. In our hymnal they are sung to the 1782 tune "Melcombe" by British composer and organist Samuel Webbe, Sr. (1740-1816).
  

 
 
 
 
 

THIS WEEK'S CALENDAR
June 3-9, 2019
                               
MON 3
7:30am "Good Morning" AA Meeting;  

5pm Stewardship;
6pm Evening Prayer, Vestry;
6:30pm "Journey to Recovery" NA Meeting;


TUE 4
10am-2pm Office, Pantry, Thrift Store;
6pm Evening Prayer, Seekers group; First Friday Planning Meeting;


WED 5
7:30am "Good Morning" AA Meeting;
10am-2pm Office, Food Pantry, Small Blessings Thrift Shop; 
12:15pm Healing Service & Eucharist;


THUR 6
10am-2pm Office, Food Pantry, Small Blessings Thrift Shop; 


FRI 7
7:30am "Good Morning" AA meeting; 
6:30pm "Journey to Recovery" NA Meeting;


SAT  8
9:30am Morning Prayer;
10am Buildings & Grounds Mtg;
10am "Journey to Recovery" NA Meeting;
11am Block Clean-up;
11am Outback Lunch;
1pm SH Private Party;
3pm  "Men do recover" NA Meeting

SUN 9
8am Rite I;
8:45am Lessons' Discussion;

9:30am Choir Practice; 

10am Sunday School;

10am Rite II;

11:15am Coffee Hour;
11:30am Youth;
                          

YOUR NEWS BELONGS IN ST. PAUL'S  MESSENGER

Help us get the word out by submitting news of parish activities. Send submittals to stpaulpk@verizon.net or call 845 452 8440

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