November 17, 2013

 

Good morning and welcome to St. Mary’s Church!

The Vestry will meet next week the November 24, at 12 noon. All are invited to attend.

Also, Sunday, November 24 will be “Sock Sunday”. Please bring new socks for Saturday Outreach to distribute to the homeless who need warm, dry socks for the winter.

Saturday Outreach (every week) & Ecclesia (1^st & last Sundays) need vehicle support to bring food to East Harlem. Anyone with a driver’s license or a car, please help!

Help St. Mary’s get more financial support! Join the Grant Workgroup. Contact Dorothy Ross.

The choir calls all those who like music to join us. Rehearsals are Wednesdays 5-7 pm and Sundays before the service. The Worship Committee also welcomes input on hymn selection.

The annual Holiday Craft Fair is coming up December 14-15! Table fees are only $50 a day for this boutique affair. Register early and save: Just $75 for both days!  Interested vendors should contact harlem.crafts.fair@gmail.com or come to the office right away!

Know of any generous philanthropists? The Fundraising Committee is planning a “Poor Man’s Soup” un-gala. $100 donation for a bowl of deliciousness and a night of St. Mary’s talents. If you can suggest some invitees or want to help in other ways, please join us!”

St. Mary’s is starting a group to visit, call and send cards to members who are sick or homebound.  If you are interested in participating please speak to Bonnie Phelps or Glenda White.

Search Committee appreciates your input at Stmarysharlem.Search@gmail.com or (646) 580-6798.

Does everyone know we’re having a Rectory Capital Campaign?  Look & listen for more info coming soon!!!

              Commentary on the Readings by Arthur Cash                        First Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25

The Lord has just told the people that those who have been faithful to him shall be happy, those who have not shall suffer. Here he speaks of the new world he is preparing for the faithful. He is not creating a new physical world, but transforming the old. The disasters caused by an occupying army will be reversed. The disasters of infant illness and the weaknesses of old age will be reversed. Especially interesting to me is the line about God’s hearing and answering their prayers before they are spoken. God is no longer an external deity that one approaches with fear and trembling, but is a benevolent God within each of us.

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

 Paul seems to be having trouble with this community. He has a double problem. First off, his standards of moral behavior are those of the Jews. Jesus was a Jew. Paul was a Jew. But within that framework Paul, following what he takes to be the gospel, is trying to establish a pure communism where all labor and all rewards of labor are held in common. But the members of the Thessalonians congregation were mostly Greek converts who had grown up in a rough world where one looked after himself and the Ten Commandments were not deeply engrained. There are no puzzles for us in the passages. I just draw attention to the words some modern communists have used to justify their beliefs: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.”