Mothering Sunday, Fifth Sunday of Easter May 10

‘Here is your mother.’

Mothering Sunday, Fifth Sunday of Easter May 10, 2020 Welcome We are a community who gathers in faith to walk together into the mystery and experience of love, grace, hope, and healing. Our Mission is to go into the community and partner with our neighbors, to work for justice for all, for everyone is welcome at Jesus' table. Welcome to St. John’s-Grace Episcopal Church This program includes today’s entire service.

Please join us: Online Worship and Social Hour at SJG

While maintaining physical distance from one another to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we can remain prayerfully and socially connected through online worship followed by an online social hour.

We will host an Online Worship Service at St. John's-Grace Sundays at 10:30am, followed by social hour via video/phone conference at 11:15.

Join Any Time!

How to Join: Fr. Jon will host the Liturgy of the Word online using a live video service called ZOOM Webinar.

Anyone can join the service by clicking on this link: https://zoom.us/j/129327034 This link will be used for all St. John’s-Grace Online Activities.

For the Password please contact [email protected] or [email protected]

If you want to join by phone instead of computer video, call: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) Enter 129 327 034 # when prompted.(Long distance charges may apply depending on your phone plan. 2

Acclamation

Alleluia. Christ is risen. All The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.

Praise God who loves us. All Praise God who cares.

Praising and Thanking God and Remembering all Mothers

We praise you, our God, for all mothers who have loved and laughed and labored as they cared for their children; All Blessed be God for ever. We praise you, our God, for all mothers who have wept in sorrow and joy for their children: All Blessed be God for ever. We praise you, our God, for Jesus, born of a woman and nurtured in her love, and for Mary, a reminder of your patient, waiting love. All Blessed be God for ever.

Confession

Let us call to mind our sin, our failure to value the love of others and our failure to love as Christ has loved us. 3

Silence for reflection

Your love gives us life. We fail to live as your children. Lord, have mercy. All Lord, have mercy.

You call us to do good. We seek only our own good. Christ, have mercy. All Christ have mercy.

You hear us when we cry for help. We ignore the cries of others. Lord, have mercy. All Lord, have mercy.

The Paschal candle is lit.

We light this Easter candle to remind us that the love of God is like a light in our darkness. All Blessed be God for ever.

May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. All Amen. 4

Canticle: A Song of St Anselm (in unison)

Antiphon Gather your little ones to you, O God, as a hen gathers her brood to protect them.

1 Jesus, like a mother you gather your people to you; you are gentle with us as a mother with her children. 2 Often you weep over our sins and our pride, tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement. 3 You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds, in sickness you nurse us and with pure milk you feed us. 4 Jesus, by your dying, we are born to new life; by your anguish and labor we come forth in joy. 5 Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness; through your gentleness we find comfort in fear. 6 Your warmth gives life to the dead, your touch makes sinners righteous. 7 Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us; in your love and tenderness remake us. 8 In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness, for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.

Antiphon Gather your little ones to you, O God, as a hen gathers her brood to protect them.

The Collect from the Fifth Sunday of Easter

Praise God who loves us. All Praise God who cares.

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Collect for Mothering Sunday

Praise God who loves us. All Praise God who cares.

God of compassion, whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth, and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily living that in joy and in sorrow we may know the power of your presence to bind together and to heal; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

First Reading: Exodus 1:13-22, 2:1-10

The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them. The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?’ The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’ So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’ Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months.

When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’ Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

All Thanks be to God.

Psalm 34:11-20 11 Come, children, and listen to me; * I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who among you loves life * and desires long life to enjoy prosperity? 13 Keep your tongue from evil-speaking * and your lips from lying words. 14 Turn from evil and do good; * seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, * and his ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, * to root out the remembrance of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears them * and delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted * and will save those whose spirits are crushed. 19 Many are the troubles of the righteous, * but the Lord will deliver him out of them all. 20 He will keep safe all his bones; *not one of them shall be broken. 10

The Epistle: Colossians 3.12-17 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

All Thanks be to God.

The Gospel: John 19.26-27 The Rev’d Charles Deacon

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John. All Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

The Gospel of the Lord. All Praise to you, Lord Christ.

The Sermon The Reverend Canon Meredith Hunt

Affirmation of Faith

Praise God who loves us. All Praise God who cares.

Let us declare our faith in God. All We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Prayers

As children of a loving God who always listens to our cries, let us pray to our Father in heaven. God of love, All hear our prayer.

Loving God, you have given us the right to be called children of God. Help us to show your love in our homes that they may be places of love, security and truth. God of love, All hear our prayer.

Loving God, Jesus, your Son, was born into the family of Mary and Joseph; bless all parents and all who care for children; strengthen those families living under stress and may your love be known where no human love is found. God of love, All hear our prayer.

Loving God, we thank you for the family of the Church. We pray that all may find in her their true home; that the lonely, the marginalized, the rejected may be welcomed and loved in the name of Jesus. God of love, All hear our prayer.

Loving God, as we see the brokenness of our world we pray for healing among the nations; for food where there is hunger; for freedom where there is oppression; for joy where there is pain; that your love may bring peace to all your children. God of love, All hear our prayer.

Loving God, we pray that you will bless, encourage, and heal our loved ones, especially:

Marian; Father Charles; Ann; Deb; Jonah; Donna; Carm; Mary; Frederick & Ellen; Christa; Don; Colleen & Paul; Eugenia; Bob; Paul & Nanette; Mary; Chet; Joe; John and Mary Ellen; Nasia and Liaquat; Ebony; Jen & Guy; Gail; Ruth, Michael; Tony; James; Tristan; and Cheryl, let us pray.

All hear our prayer. 15

The Lord’s Prayer

As God’s children, and heirs with Christ we cry in the Spirit, ‘Abba’, Father. All Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen. Loving God, accept the cries of our heart as we offer you prayers; through them transform us and all creation until you are in all and through all.

We ask these and all our prayers in the name of Jesus. All Amen. 16

The Peace

Praise God who loves us. All Praise God who cares.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God says, ‘As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.’

The peace of the Lord be always with you. All And also with you.

The congregation share the Peace.

Prayer for Mothers and Distribution of Flowers (virtual)

Praise God who loves us. All Praise God who cares. For the care of mothers; All Thanks be to God. For their patience when tested; All Thanks be to God. For their love when tired; All Thanks be to God. For their hope when despairing; All Thanks be to God. For their service without limit; All Thanks be to God.

Other words of thanksgiving may be added as appropriate.

All Thank you God for the love of our mothers: thank you God for their care and concern; thank you God for the joys they have shared with us; thank you God for the pains they have borne for us; thank you God for all that they give us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 18

The Blessing

Praise God who loves us. All Praise God who cares.

May God, who gave birth to all creation, bless us: may God, who became incarnate by an earthly mother, bless us: may God, who broods as a mother over her children, bless us. May almighty God bless us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. All Amen.

The Dismissal

Alleluia. Alleluia. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. All In the name of Christ. Alleluia. Alleluia. Please Remain Online or on the Phone for Social Hour

Assisting schedule: May 10th Lesson I Kym Mathis Mother’s Day Psalm Sandy Gallimore Lesson II Jaika Stone Magnificate Deb Vranich Intercessor Peggy Moffitt Gospel The Rev’d Charles Deacon

Announcements

FROM BISHOP SEAN: IN-PERSON WORSHIP SUSPENDED UNTIL JULY 1

Dear People of God in the Dioceses of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania:

As the governors of our states begin outlining plans to reopen economies after Covid-19 shutdowns, it is clear that the risks of gathering in groups is

still significant, particularly for people who are vulnerable to the most serious effects of the virus. As a result, I must ask that we continue our suspension of in-person worship, meetings, and gatherings until at least July 1.

I know that many of us long to be together again, to share communion, and to worship in our sacred spaces. As we continue abstaining from the rituals and sacraments we love, I urge you to find comfort in the knowledge that we are making sacrifices for the common good. As precious as in-person worship is to us, the lives of people in our congregations and communities are infinitely more so.

Between now and July 1, we have many decisions to make together about how we can safely gather in person.

I met online earlier today with the clergy of our dioceses to begin these discussions, and I have asked the mission strategy group to continue this work as part of its larger exploration of how we will respond to the needs of our communities in the wake of the pandemic. I will be in touch again in the coming weeks to update you on how we will take the first steps toward regathering in person.

In the meantime, I encourage you to continue gathering online for worship, bible study, check-ins and all the other virtual gatherings that people across our partnership have devised to stay connected and to share God’s love. We will continue offering Sunday worship online at 10 a.m. each week with rotating leadership from across our dioceses, and I invite everyone to join. Find login information on the website.

I also urge you to continue finding safe ways of serving our vulnerable neighbors through takeout meals, food pantry pickups and deliveries. Even as state restrictions are eased, we must continue to safeguard the health and safety of our faithful volunteers and of those who depend on the meals we serve and the supplies we provide. Our Easter offering continues to support feeding programs across our region, and you can donate online until May 31 to continue caring for those most in need.

In the last few weeks, a group of leaders on the mission strategy team has gathered to begin defining the values that will guide us as we reopen our buildings. The team is also considering the new ways in which these buildings might be used once they are again places of safety and sustenance. In a draft of their work, they write, “We hold fast to the assurance that when two or three or more gather, even digitally, God has promised to be in our midst. Even in the wilderness of exile or pandemic, we are certain that God is with us and is calling us to new ways of living out our mission.” These words will sustain me for the days ahead, and I hope their assurance of God’s steadfast care will also give you hope.

As we continue this journey in the wilderness of the pandemic, please pray for those who are sick from this terrible virus, those who have died, and all those who are laboring in essential, yet often thankless jobs on the front lines of the response. Thank you for your perseverance and your continued willingness to sacrifice for those most in need.

Faithfully,

Dear Friends,

In the midst of the difficult times all of us going through during this pandemic, Buffalo United for Peace (Buffalo UP) will be hosting an online interfaith prayer service on May 14th at 6:00pm to pray for humanity and for our community.

We will pray all together to God Almighty to for those who are affected around the world, for the first responders who work so hard to care fur humanity, and for all of us to go through these difficult days in health, safety and serenity. People of all faith traditions are welcome to join the event. The event will feature prayers from local and national faith leaders, including:

Prof. Zeki Saritoprak, John Carroll University Father Phil Dougharty, All Saints Episcopal Church in El Paso Rabbi Lazarus-Klein, Congregation Shir Shalom Imam Syed Khalilullah Qadri, Islamic Society of Niagara Frontiers Rev. Tracy S. Doub, University Presbyterian Church Cantor Irwin Gelman, Congregation Beth Abraham Father Marijan Procyzk, St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church

It would be great if you can also join us during that evening. Event: Invitation to Interfaith Prayer for Solidarity on May 14th - COVID-19 Pandemic When: Thursday, May 14th at 6:00pm Where: Virtual meeting over Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87089191508?pwd=cWtKTnowSUtnaHZEW U5BaG8zQzR1dz09 Meeting ID: 870 8919 1508 Password: 796440

Please feel free to extend this invitation to others who you think would be interested.Best Regards, Buffalo UP

Those whom we hold in prayer

Marian Stelter; Father Charles Deacon; Ann; Deb Deacon; Jonah; Donna Cassaro; Carm Buscemi; Mary Murphy; Frederick & Ellen Lavelle;Christa Vangelov; Don Smyton; Colleen & Paul Mercier; Eugenia Masferrer; Bob Larson; Paul & Nanette; Mary Lerner; Chet; Joe Macchia; June Hartnett; Ruth Bader Ginsburg; John and Mary Ellen Tompkins, Nasia and Liaquat Alito; Ebony Vasquez; Guy and Jen Buyea; Gail Payne; the Kilgallon family; Anthony Libertore; and James Stelter, Tristan Stelter, Cheryl Van Meer.

Parish updates Please continue to send your pledges by check to: St. John’s-Grace 51 Colonial Circle, Buffalo, NY 14222

Johanna Moffitt has given concerts at SJG to raise funds to maintain the building in which we worship. So many of you have attended, and enjoyed her offerings. Now she has taken her talents to a new level in producing online op era. Please follow the link to enjoy Act 1 and come back May 15 for Act 2. Johanna's gift to raise the spirits and help support artists/friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC0yimr8D_U

Pastoral Letter from Fr. Jon Lavelle https://www.stjohnsgrace.org/pastors- blog/2020/5/8/good-news-during-the-epidemic

HELLO TO ALL OUR NOISY COLLECTION FRIENDS AT ST. JOHN’S-GRACE ! Rob has taken the time to give us a year- to- date update of our collections and donations to our Friends of Night People ministry. Thank you for your generosity. January $ 82.50 February $187.50 March $186.00 April $ 51.05 Total $507.06 So while we are not able to make noise in our Bucket right now, we can still continue to support and donate “silently” through cash or check by mailing it to St. John’s-Grace 51 Colonial Circle Buffalo, NY 14222. I would also like to thank those of you who donated to Emmy Lou Hock for the 102 face masks that she generously made for the staff and patrons at FONP.

1 John 3:17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help ?

Thank you again for all that you do for this ministry. God Bless !

Online Evening Prayer followed by Social Time St. John’s-Grace Episcopal Church

Wednesdays at 7:00pm

Link to an Order of Service for Evening Prayer from Mission St. Clare https://www.missionstclare.com/english/May/evening/06e.html

To connect to the service using Zoom: Anyone can join the service by clicking on this link: https://zoom.us/j/129327034 Request password from [email protected] or [email protected]

This link will be used for all St. John’s-Grace Online Activities.

If you want to join by phone instead of computer video, call: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) Enter 129 327 034 # when prompted. (Long distance charges may apply depending on your phone plan)

Now as we come to the setting of the sun, and our eyes behold the vesper light, we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

From the Desk of Chris Barbera at Jesus the Liberator

We must have a love of others in our patience, even if from a distance. While serving a 27 year prison sentence, Nelson Mandela wrote: “I am influenced more than ever before by the conviction that social equity is the only basis of human happiness (1). It is profound that while in the most unequal of circumstances, Mandela tied his happiness into equality.

During our time of quarantine, we cannot lose sight of our ideals for an egalitarian society. The poorest and most vulnerable always have hardship. During a crisis, this is compounded. A person of faith is called to provide for “the least of these.” Even if we are not directly serving this population, we need to be vigilant and to work towards a more equitable system and way of being once we pass through the worst of this crisis.

People that have experienced hardship can help us navigate this process. Nelson Mandela’s 27 years of incarceration, his time in quarantine, helped to form a spiritual framework for addressing a post apartheid world. Prison inmates, who experience isolation and quarantine, can help us navigate feelings of existential loneliness, if we suspend our judgment and ask them.

(1) – Sahm Venter, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela Liveright Publishing Corporation 2018 pg. 18

Great Cloud of Witnesses

May 8; Julian of Norwich https://www.stbedes.org/ministries/the-julian-of-norwich-center

Of Dame Julian’s early life we know little, only the probable date of her birth (1342). Her own writings in the Revelations of Divine Love are concerned only with her visions, or “showings,” that she experienced when she was thirty years old.

She had been gravely ill and was given the last rites; suddenly, on the seventh day, all pain left her, and she had fifteen visions of the Passion. These brought her great peace and joy.

“From that time I desired oftentimes to learn what was our Lord’s meaning,” she wrote, “and fifteen years after I was answered in ghostly understanding: ‘Wouldst thou learn the Lord’s meaning in this thing? Learn it well. Love was his meaning. Who showed it thee? Love. What showed he thee? Love. Wherefore showed it he? For Love. Hold thee therein and thou shalt learn and know more in the same.’ Thus it was I learned that Love was our Lord’s meaning.”

Julian had long desired three gifts from God: “the mind of his passion, bodily sickness in youth, and three wounds—of contrition, of compassion, of will-full longing toward God.” Her illness brought her the first two wounds, which then passed from her mind. The third, “will-full longing” (divinely inspired longing), never left her.

She became a recluse, an anchoress, at Norwich soon after her recovery from illness, living in a small dwelling attached to the Church of St. Julian.

Even in her lifetime, she was famed as a mystic and spiritual counselor and was frequently visited by clergymen and lay persons, including the famous mystic Margery Kempe. Kempe says of Julian: “This anchoress was expert in knowledge of our Lord and could give good counsel. I spent much time with her talking of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Lady Julian’s book is a tender and beautiful exposition of God’s eternal and all-embracing love, showing how his charity toward the human race is exhibited in the Passion. Again and again she referred to Christ as “our courteous Lord.” Many have found strength in the words the Lord had given her: “I can make all things well; I will make all things well; I shall make all things well; and thou canst see for thyself that all manner of things shall be well.”

Lord God, in your compassion you granted to the Lady Julian many revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek you above all things, for in giving us yourself you give us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ST. JOHN’S - GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 51 Colonial Circle, Buffalo, NY 14222 / (716) 885-1112 Presiding Bishop Michael Curry Sean Rowe, Provisional Bishop Rector: The Reverend Jon F. Lavelle Priest Associate: The Reverend Charles A. Deacon Music Director: Brian L. Hilton [email protected] Wardens: John Moffitt [email protected] Robert Petersen [email protected] Clerk of the Vestry: Peggy Moffitt Vestry Members: Herb Hogue Mark Babcock Merle Foraker Tom Lochner Jaika Stone Maribel Ortiz

Treasurer: Robert Petersen Wedding Coordinator: Janice Lochner Sextons: André Gilbert, Patrice Pinkney; Elijah Jones Parish Office: [email protected] Website: http://www.stjohnsgrace.org

Pastoral Care: Please call Father Jon Lavelle at 867-1340. [email protected] 33