Memorial Storm - This weekend a major hurricane is poised to hit the east coast. While it does not look like it will directly impact Baltimore, Memorial staff is on alert, and if there is inclement weather on Sunday we will send a notice out regarding Sunday services. In the meantime please take this opportunity to prepare yourself for ‘hurricane season’. For a complete list of hurricane supplies click here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/15318905451/permalink/10156769807850452/
Parish Conversation -
Join us as you are able following Sunday’s Service for an important conversation about the vision for Memorial going forward for the next three years. General Convention is coming to Baltimore in 2021, and this presents some interesting opportunities and helpful goal setting for our community and for the city at large. If you would like to be involved in considering where Memorial is going, join us following the 10:30 am service.
If you cannot attend - a written summary will be provided and (if possible) a recording as well.
The office has heard your calls for additional bible study times! We will keep our 12:30 pm on Tuesday Bible Study time, but if you would like to see Bible Study at 10:00 am on Wednesdays or 4 pm on Thursdays, please email office@memorialepiscopal.org with your preference. This will be a Lectionary based bible study - looking at the readings for the week and focusing on parts that will not be covered in Sunday sermons.
Reflection — Moving Forward
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8
The Christian Story is one of constant movement. Jesus is constantly on the move. So is Paul; and Peter. The Church continues to grow and spread, from the 12 disciples, to the first few thousand believers, to a church that quickly spread all over the known (and the unknown) world within a few hundred years. When Jesus says ‘follow’ he meant literally!
One of the challenges for the Christian Church in the last 100 years is ‘what now?’ Though we may pretend otherwise, you would be hard pressed to find somewhere in the world today that the Gospel has not been preached. Not always effectively, completely, or accurately, but the story of Jesus is known in all corners of the world.
But that doesn’t mean the work is done. By no means! Rather it is a time to reconsider how we do things and whether ‘the way we’ve always done things’ is still, in fact, a good way to do things. Are we still willing to take up our crosses and follow Jesus?
It is instructive to recognize that Jesus says take up ‘their’ cross, not take up My cross. We need to be aware that our particular context and circumstances may require of us a different kind of sacrifice, a different kind of denial than those who have come before us, or those who worship across town from us. What is your ‘cross’? What seemingly insurmountable obstacle has God put in front of you? What relationship, opportunity, worry, fear, illness do you need help with? Jesus instructs us to pick it up and carry it to him. Offer it up to God and see what God does with it.
If we don’t move - If we don’t move ourselves, the church, our communities ever closer to God, we are going to get stuck - calcified in place. And our crosses only get bigger and heavier. Friends, I invite you this week to contemplate your own cross (or crosses) this week and to ask how you might lift them up and carry them to Jesus. For even as we do we will ‘the love of Christ proclaim, for all the world adore his sacred name.’
Family Night Dinners-
Family night dinners are designed to entertain both the kids and the parents. We will have dinner all together then break off into groups. Hannah has planned a fun-filled night with a theme of the “Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”. The kids will be playing games and have a bible study related to the movie. Grey will be working with the adults and reflecting on what the year will look like for the children. It will be a discussion to see what is going on in this calendar year. Please come out and join the conversation! Every second Wednesday, Upper Farnham Hall @6:00pm-7:30pm
Children’s Chapel-
Children’s Chapel is set this year to be a more interactive, kid-friendly, and self-paced version of the Liturgy of the Word. We are using a program called Whirl and it uses the same readings and gospel that we hear on Sundays and turns them into lessons that children can understand. This will be an energetic, fun, and knowledge filled time!
Children’s Chapel will be held during the service every Sunday in Lower Farnham Hall. If you have any questions feel free to email Hannah Hutchens- youth@memorialepiscopal.org
To learn more about Whirl - click here.
October Book Club will be at the home of John and Jane Payne, 4100 N. Charles St., Apt. 301, on October 10 at 6:00 pm. Dinner will be served and we will be talking about:
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence Durrell's series of four novels set in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1940s. The lush and sensuous series consists of Justine (1957) Balthazar (1958) Mountolive (1958) Clea (1960). Justine, Balthazar and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II. In Clea, the story continues into the years during the war. One L.G. Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves and those he knows. In Justine, Darley attempts to recover from and put into perspective his recently ended affair with a woman. Balthazar reinterprets the romantic perspective he placed on the affair and its aftermath in Justine, in more philosophical and intellectual terms. Mountolive tells a story minus interpretation, and Clea reveals Darley's healing, and coming to love another woman.
Amazon review
We will also be discussing dates for our next meetings and books to read, so please come prepared to share your thoughts!
Homecoming Sunday
They were astounded beyond measure saying “He has done everything well”
Mark 7:37
I am really excited for Sunday.
Really excited.
You might ask, of course, why? It’s just ‘Homecoming’ Sunday. It’s not even a real feast day in the Church. It’s not Easter, or Christmas, or Epiphany, or All Saints Day. If any thing ‘Homecoming Sunday’ is an anathema to the Christian tradition - a giving in to the realities of our current world that says we can take Summers ‘off’ and that the year begins not on Advent 1 but on the Sunday after Labor Day.
Okay, you make a good point.
But I take a special joy in Homecoming Sunday because... I like Homecoming. Now in High School I was never the Homecoming King, I didn’t get to come to school in my football uniform, or star in a class production. But I did have a particular role in my High School’s homecoming activities and that was as ‘Coordinator’. Yes, I was the one who made sure everything worked out.
Someone had to make sure the float got finished and the class skit was prepared and everyone knew about the spirit days and someone was in charge of the hallway decorating and the class cheer and all the other little things that go into making Homecoming Week a great week... and that person was me. There was, and is, something very satisfying about putting together a program and seeing the pieces come together. To hear those words of Jesus’ followers (paraphrased) ‘They have done everything well.’
And as we come to the end of the summer it is truly exciting to see everyone’s hard work come together. The Church is back in order, the acolytes are ready, the Children’s programming is coming together, the Choir is rehearsing for the first time today, the altar guild is getting the linens and the silver ready... it really is exciting. And not just the preparation for the day but for the year. As you read last week we have new staff coming on board, new people on the altar and behind the scenes that will assist our community in worship, ministry, and fellowship together. We have a whole calendar of events ready to share with you.
It really has been inspiring and a bit terrifying to watch it all come together. And I can’t wait to share it with you.
If you need a message of Good News this week, if you need a fresh start, a reconnection with the divine I hope you will join us this Sunday at 10:30 am. And if you know someone else like that I hope you will invite them as well.
Sunday, September 9th. 10:30 am. Bolton and Lafayette. Welcome Home.
Next Wednesday night, at 6 pm, in UFH, we will have the first of our monthly Family Dinners in Upper Farnham Hall. This event is designed to give families with children a chance to come together and share some fellowship while also getting information and giving feedback on youth and children's programming. While it is aimed at families with smaller children, anyone with an interest in children's and youth programming is welcome to come.
Please RSVP to the office by Tuesday, September 11, at 12 noon so we can plan food appropriately.
Connect is a reflection, prayer, and meditation group that grew out of an Inquirers class many years ago. This dedicated group of folks is always happy to see new seekers, and welcomes any to join them on the first Wednesday of each month. Food and fellowship are part of the package.
If you have any questions, please contact Paul Seaton
