This gallery contains 6 photos.
We “beat the bounds” of the parish, or at least of our parish property, on Sunday morning after the 10 am service. Children with branches and water blessed our garden areas, our sidewalks, even the foundations of our buildings, and … Continue reading
Our 8 am service has returned to the Cutler Memorial Garden for the summer. We gather there for our early service throughout the summer, weather permitting.
Start your Sunday early in the quiet of the service, as we worship in the traditional and majestic language of the Rite I Eucharist. Use the yellow brick walkway to the right of the entrance to the Parish House to enter the garden.
If you would like to be a reader, intercessor, or come a bit early on some Sundays to help with setup at that service, please see the signup sheets at Coffee Hour.
Dear Friends,
I’m trying not to use the back door of our house. Two weeks ago, while out on the back patio, I heard a rustling in the overgrown plants of our tiny herb garden. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a duck suddenly appear and waddle out from the middle of it. She looked at me, did not seem too alarmed, but then quietly headed around the corner. Looking closely at the garden, I discovered a nest with three eggs. Someone had made a home while we were on vacation.
Alas, my presence must have scared her off. She did not return. But then, about a week ago, there she was back in the nest, probably having laid some new eggs. She is determined, and has not let anything disturb her now. I occasionally forget she is there and go crashing out the back door. it looks though, as if she knows the human movement around her will cause her and her future ducklings no harm.
It is an unlikely place for new life, this little garden that is separated by a busy road from the nearest river and lake. But then why, in the season of Easter, should I be surprised by life bursting forth in unlikely places?
We are now midway through Easter, and the jubilant proclamation of Easter morning invites us to pay attention throughout the fifty days of this season. Pay attention to where you hear some rustling, or notice unexpected movements in the gardens around you. Pay attention to places where there has been death or despair or no sign of life. Pay attention to where Christ is bringing new life. Often, it will appear in the places and persons we least expect.
Last Sunday, we concluded our worship at 10 am by singing Brian Wren’s Easter hymn, “Christ is Alive.” The last stanza aptly sums up for me the joy and promise of these days between Easter and Pentecost, as we discern Christ’s work in our midst:
Christ is alive!
His Spirit burns
through this and every future age,
till all creation lives and learns
his joy, his justice, love and praise.
May you be surprised by some rustling in the garden.
Faithfully,
Tom
The Project Bread Annual Walk for Hunger will take place on Sunday, May 1st.
More than 40,000 people will come together on the Boston Common to make a powerful statement about hunger in Massachusetts. Money raised from the Walk will be used to develop and fund hundreds of programs that provide hunger relief to families and individuals across the state.
The MANNA group of St. Paul’s Cathedral is walking as a team and I will support them with a check. If this is a cause you would also like to support, I’d be happy to deliver your check, made out to Project Bread, when I meet with them on Monday. Thank You.
Maureen Lavely
Winged Productions in collaboration with The Choir School presents
The Man Who Defied God
Music and Libretto by Paul Dedell
Musical Direction by Susan Dedell
with Moby Pearson, violin
4 pm Sunday, May 1
St. John’s Episcopal Church
27 Devens Street
Charlestown, Massachusetts
Admission by Donation
For more information, contact St. John’s at:
W: stjohns02129.org E: stjohns02129@gmail.com T: 617-242-1272
The Man Who Defied God is the third in a series of original mystery plays written by Paul Dedell, and tells the complex story of the prophet Jonah.
Dedell wrote this production for The Choir School, which is a choral program for young people directed by his wife, Susan at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro, Vermont. “Susan and I have embarked upon creating a series of modern mystery plays, which are contemporary musical productions based on the model of the medieval miracle plays. This is our third original production, and we are excited to be locally reviving this wonderful theatrical tradition. The possibility with these plays for creativity and collaboration with different organizations is endless!”
Although the story of Jonah is set in the ancient Middle East during a time of conflict between the Jews and the Assyrians, the political and social conflict that is at the heart of the story is startlingly contemporary. Jonah, an ordinary Jew, was commanded by God to bring a message of mercy and forgiveness to the enemy Assyrians in order to prevent them from ultimate destruction. Jonah runs away because he cannot bring himself to extend compassion to a people he hates and who hate him. The Man Who Defied God follows Jonah on his journey through stormy seas, the belly of the whale, the fiery heat of the desert; witnesses his encounter with giant plants and devouring worms; and witnesses his struggle as he wrestles with God’s mandate to show love for those unlike him.
Paul dove into the story of Jonah with relish. Intrigued by the story of a man of faith who attempted to hide from God, he began writing the piece last fall, and discovered a lot about the story — and maybe himself –in the process.
He discovered that initially he didn’t like Jonah. “I thought of him as self centered, with little compassion for others. It was difficult to find a way in to his character as a result. After wrestling with the story for a while, I realized that I was regarding Jonah through the same narrow lens that he saw through — a perspective where people are either good or bad, virtuous or evil.”
As Paul worked forward, he began to understand – even identify—with Jonah. “Jonah had plenty of physical courage, and plenty of commitment, but his world view was almost unavoidably limited by what he knew. Jonah saw himself as a “right-thinking”, right-acting man. Challenged to expand his vision, he gave in to fear.”
This internal conflict provided the motivation for his composition. “Fear limits our ability to live a full life, to be fully ourselves, whether it is fear of failure, fear of rejection, or fear of actual physical destruction. All of us are influenced by how we’re brought up, by what we perceive as “right” — and it sometimes takes a strange and hard journey to start releasing those fears.”
The message of the story is as timely today as it was thousands of years ago. We have a lot to learn from Jonah!
