16 Aug

Newsletter, August 16, 2017

 

The COLLECT for 11 Pentecost

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life:  Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen. Continue reading →
10 Aug

Newsletter, August 9

Rev. Sheelagh’s Favorite Things

 

A farewell song by Julia Dorn and Kim Williams

Eucharist and preaching and all things liturgical.
Pink robes in Advent made her wardrobe more clergical!
Sermons with children, the surprises they bring,
These are a few of her favorite things!
 
Shrove Tuesday pancakes, and Ashes to Go,
Holy Week services, she loves them so,
Vigil at Easter, the joy that it brings,
These are a few of her favorite things!
 
Silent retreats, drumming camp, senior lunches,
Blessing the animals that showed up in bunches,
Missional projects and IHN hosts,
These are the things Rev. Sheelagh loves most!
 
We will we miss her, but when she’s gone, when our hearts are sad,
We’ll simply remember the joy that she brought, and then we won’t feel so bad!
 
Events

Continue reading →

03 Aug

Newsletter, August 2

Rev. Sheelagh’s Thought For The Week

“Where love begets love”

This coming Sunday will be my last celebration of the Holy Eucharist with you here at St. Stephen’s. It will be a poignant end to six years of shared ministry. We have travelled together through a major hurricane, and with God’s help, we rebuilt the parish buildings and the rectory. With God’s help we weathered a superstorm a year later. With God’s help throughout all these trials, we not only sustained our outreach ministries, but we began some new ones in our community. God called us to be present to one another in births, baptism, illness and yes, even loss. We have shared both laughter and tears. I will never forget any of it. It is a part of who I have become. It is also part of you too.

Let’s join each other this weekend to share the most important part of our corporate life together. As we break bread, bless wine and share in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ one last time, let’s hear God’s words again – “This is my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” It has, and always will be about the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, that’s what underpins our mission, that’s what underpins our community life – “where love begets love.” + Continue reading →

26 Jul

Newsletter, July 26

Rev. Sheelagh’s Thought For The Week
Temporary Shepherds
It’s quickly coming time to say goodbye and I hope that you will join me on August 6 to celebrate the work we have shared together in the name of Jesus Christ.  Leave-taking is hard on both sides.  What makes it especially hard are the strict boundaries that clergy are required to observe post leaving.  We are to have no contact with any parishioner for pastoral care of any kind for three years, and then only at the invitation of the new rector or priest in charge.
So, after August 31, I can’t be with you to celebrate communion, baptisms, weddings or funerals. “Why not?” we may ask.  Best I understand, is that our faith relationship is primarily with God, not the pastor.  Priests are always temporary shepherds, and when they are called to minister to a different flock, the other flock does not go with them.  That would be a cult of personality, not a right relationship of faith in God.  So we won’t see each other again in that relationship but because I’m here in the Diocese, we will most likely see one another in different contexts, and I believe we can do that with grace and love.
My part is to let you go, treasuring and cherishing the good things we have done together; holding out the olive branch of reconciliation for the places and moments where we have hurt or misunderstood one another; and looking forward in hope and faith to seeing where God will lead you next.
Right now, your next shepherd is preparing to hear the call – please be a part of that call and make it loud and clear.  This is the “little church that does.” So – do it again, in the faith, trust and hope that is and always has been St. Stephen’s.
God is with you, always. +
20 Jul

Newsletter, July 19

Rev. Sheelagh’s Thought For The Week

“Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:24
Hope, faith, trust – they are all states of the Spirit that we are called to rest in as believers.  So often in our lives we want assurances and contracts.  So often we want to have it all buttoned up and sorted out.  Yet much of our faith story is about living in the moment, and holding the future lightly in hope and trust. The greatest adventures in life are those that we embark upon not knowing, but trusting.  Like entering a loving commitment, or becoming parents.
I’m reminded of that kitchen wisdom story of a small bird, cradled in the hands of a small child. “Don’t hold it too tight” we say, “be careful.”  If we squeeze it too hard, we squeeze the very life out of it.   So it is with our spiritual life and our journey towards trust and hope.  Take a walk, empty your head of the cares and snares that limit and entangle us.  Open your eyes to trust in a God that so loved the world he sent his Son to show us the way.  Open your hearts to the prayer and song that is right there in your soul.  From that place comes the surge of hope and trust. Rest in it.
“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”
(Dame Julian of Norwich) Continue reading →
13 Jul

Newsletter, July 12

Rev. Sheelagh’s Thought For The Week
But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6
“You’re leaving?” – Such a shock? Yes I know.  And I feel it in my heart and soul with you even though I have known it for a while, and I ache inside with holding that knowledge, but the process is,  unfortunately, the process.  However, Paul reminds us that as people of faith in whom the Spirit abides, this is the time to dig deep into that bedrock of trust.  God is faithful and the Spirit knows what the Spirit knows.  Somewhere, right now, your next pastor is busy writing a note to their current parish, just as I am, and before long, the stirrings of the Spirit will be felt in that person, and they will begin the journey here to St. Stephen’s.  In the Gospel message of the scattered seeds this Sunday, Jesus reminds us it’s time to root down deeply into our prayer lives (you and me both) and trust the Lord to take care of his church and his people.

Continue reading →