We are a loving and inclusive community of believers
and seekers who know that God is love (1 John 4:16), mercy
triumphs over judgement (James 2:13), and being a Christian
means living and loving like Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke &
John). Come and see!
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St. Mary's By-The-Sea 2021 Lenten Event
Announcements |
Services on Zoom
& FaceBook Live
Lenten Sunday Home Church Services
10 am Sunday Feb 21, 28, March 7, 14,
21
& Palm Sunday March 28
Home services will be mailed out for
you
and your families to enjoy together
on
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday,
Holy Saturday & Easter Sunday
(In keeping with COVID-19 safety
guidelines there will be no distribution
of ashes or palms this year)
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Adult Education and Faith Formation:
Tuesday Bible Study with Andrea Rittenhouse
“Women of the Bible”
Feb 23, March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
10 am
Join Zoom
Meeting here:
Meeting ID: 879 3345 0338
Passcode: 804804
Sunday Book Study
with Mother Victoria Pretti
“The Book of Joy”
by HH the Dalai Lama & Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
10:45 on Zoom & FaceBook Live, Feb
21, 28, March 7, 14, 21, 28
Click here
for the PDF
flyer
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Lenten Mini-Retreat:
“Rolling Back the Stone:
Living Into the Paschal Mystery”
Guided by Mother Victoria Pretti
Saturday March 20, 2021 ~ 9 am to 12
noon,
Join Zoom
Meeting here:
Meeting ID: 818 6380 7461
Passcode: 062577
Click here
for the PDF
flyer
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“The Universal Christ”
Book Study
Sundays at 10:45 am.
Join Zoom Meeting by clicking here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87491463867
As Fr. Richard Rohr says, “Christ
is NOT Jesus’ last name!”
Well, what is it then? Come and see! You
may just be amazed at how big and beautiful
Christianity really is!
Join us every time and/or any time. Sundays
at 10:45 am.
Use the Zoom link above. See you there!
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It’s
Back!
St. Mary’s by-the-Sea CASH Calendar Raffle!
 Our
latest raffle was a terrific success!
Several players won more than once and one lucky
player won FIVE TIMES! Your purchase helps us
support so many within the community through our
outreach ministries. It’s a WIN WIN!
If you are not familiar with
a CASH Calendar raffle, here is how it works:
The raffle will run for a three-month period (March,
April and May of 2021). For $25
you will receive one numbered calendar which will
be mailed to you. Each weekday has a dollar amount
associated with it. On the day of the drawing
numbered balls corresponding to each calendar
sold will be drawn one at a time at random. The
first ball drawn will be for the first Monday
on the March calendar. If that number is your
calendar number, YOU WIN! That winning ball is
immediately put back in the drum and the next
winner for Tuesday is drawn, and so on. This gives
you MULTIPLE CHANCES TO WIN!
It’s that simple! Winners do not need to
be present to win. There is nothing for you to
do but watch for the mail!
If you would like to purchase a calendar(s), please
respond to Cherisse at stmssecretary@verizon.net
with your name, complete
address and indicate how many
calendars you would like to purchase or contact
the parish office or @609-713-8813.
A separate order form for each calendar you request
will be mailed to you. Fill out the coupon on
the bottom, detach and mail in with your payment.
(The coupon is numbered to coincide with your
numbered calendar, so you MUST fill out a separate
coupon for each calendar you request). Retain
the top half which indicates your individual calendar(s)
numbers. If you are purchasing multiple calendars
you can pay for them with just one check. Checks
should be made payable to: St. Mary’s by-the-Sea,
804 Bay Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742.
Congratulations to the winners
of the CASH
Calendar Raffle for March.
Checks will be mailed by the end of the
month.
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Eucharistic Ministers are available to
bring Communion to those who are not able to get
to church for extended periods of time due to
illness or mobility issues. We are grateful to
Robin Henry for stepping forward
to co-ordinate this vital parish ministry. If
you know of someone who needs home, hospital,
rehab, or nursing home visits, please let us know.
If you would like to be trained to participate
in this beautiful ministry, please contact
Robin or Mother Victoria. |
Welcome to the WeShare family!
Want a more convenient way to support
St. Mary’s?
Want to support St. Mary’s consistently
throughout the year?
Want to make sure your pledge is there
when you can’t be?
Switch to electronic giving –
simply click on
the heart below or go to
https://saintmarysbythesea.churchgiving.com
Please feel free to contact
the WeShare customer
service team for assistance at WeShare@4lpi.com
or
call 1 (800) 950-9952 and select Option
1.
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FROM THE TREASURER
If you have not turned in your 2021
pledge card,
please do so as soon as possible or
send a private email to
our treasurer Gary
(gary.smerillo@smerilloassociates.com)
informing him of your planned support
of St. Mary's for the coming
year. We are short of our goal for 2021
and your Pledge may be the
one to help us reach that goal!!! God
bless you!
Gary Smerillo
Treasurer
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OFFERING ENVELOPES
Offering envelopes for 2021 are now
available for pick up. The building
is open during Mary's Table on Thursday
evenings between noon and 6. Envelopes
will be on the table in the Jones Room.
If you are unable to stop by please
to my email at stmssecretary@verizon.net
and I will put yours in the mail to
you.
Thanks, Cherisse
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CHURCH SCHOOL ONLINE LEARNING
Church School will be utilizing remote online
learning only for the foreseeable future.
Families who are interested in online Church
School should please contact the office to let
us know of their interest.
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SEAMEN’S CHURCH INSTITUTE
Traveling for business or pleasure?
Please consider bringing home the hotel’s
or ship’s toiletries to share
with the seafarer’s at SCI. SCI
is eager to receive travel-sized toothpaste,
shampoo, conditioner, lotion (hand or
body), and soap. Unscented items are
preferred. Please leave your donations
in the kitchen marked for Elaine
Long.
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INTERFAITH HOSPITALITY
NETWORK
St Mary's will again
host three IHN families
during the week of March 7th. Please
contact
me, Patti, (Tbell148@aol.com
or pattisplants@gmail.com)
if you can help
or would like to know more about this
amazing Ministry. I think the following
"thank
you" letter explains
the impact of our
efforts to share some love. Read
here.
Check out our
Calendar of Events
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LENTEN BIBLE STUDY VIA ZOOM
Six Tuesdays from February
23rd
through March 30th @10:00 AM
Repeats on Face Book and Google
Drive Recording here
We're studying 6 Mary's, Jesus' female
relatives + many more Biblical women.
Please let Andrea know
if you're joining us, if you haven't
already.
Thanks,
andrea.rittenhouse@verizon.net
or
732 295-8233 (you can leave a message)
Click here for Zoom
Meeting Recording
Password: abc804!@#
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MARY'S TABLE
Message
from St. Mary’s Emergency Food
Project 
For over 9 years Mary's
Table has provided hot meals and warm
companionship to the community. Continuing
to serve our guests has been particularly
challenging this past year but the need
has never been greater. The volunteers
of Mary's Table recognize none of this
would have been possible without the
vision, compassion and determination
of Lois Lyon.
Lois, along with her
parish friends Chuck Reagan and Joan
Bryant, saw a role for St Mary's to
feed the bodies and spirits of those
who hunger, and since that time Lois
has lead the Mary's Table family of
volunteers, greeting guests, celebrating
birthdays, and making every guest feel
at home. We wish to honor Lois's unending
commitment to Mary's Table by dedicating
the meals served during the month of
February to her, as a symbol of our
love and gratitude. Read
more...
Hello everyone!
This past week Robean
and team served homemade lasagna with
meatballs and bread. We delivered 266
meals (I believe this is a record)!
The meal was donated in honor of Lois
Lyon and those who started Mary's Table
about 8 years ago. In addition Elaine
is donating all desserts in February
in honor of Lois as well. What an incredible
group of volunteers.... Many donations
come in from people we don't know. I
thought you might enjoy what one person
wrote. "We wanted to donate some
of our stimulus check toward hunger,
and the Rev. Maria Sanzo suggested Mary's
Table is a wonderful resource for hunger.
So please find our donation enclosed.."
Our name is becoming well known which
may be why are numbers are continuing
to grow. Thank you for all you do to
support this very important food ministry.
Love & peace,
Kathy Lyon
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First
Sunday in Lent
February 21, 2021
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was
led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly
to help us who are assaulted by many temptations;
and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let
each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ
your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Genesis
9:8-17
God said to Noah and to his sons with
him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant
with you and your descendants after you, and with every
living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic
animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as
many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant
with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off
by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there
be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This
is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and
you and every living creature that is with you, for
all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and
the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the
bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant
that is between me and you and every living creature
of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become
a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the
clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant
between God and every living creature of all flesh that
is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This
is the sign of the covenant that I have established
between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
1
Peter 3:18-22
Christ also suffered for sins once
for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order
to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went
and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,
who in former times did not obey, when God waited
patiently in the days of Noah, during the building
of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons,
were saved through water. And baptism, which this
prefigured, now saves you-- not as a removal of dirt
from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good
conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand
of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made
subject to him.
Mark
1:9-15
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth
of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
And just as he was coming up out of the water, he
saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending
like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am
well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove
him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness
forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the
wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after
John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming
the good news of God, and saying, “The time
is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;
repent, and believe in the good news.”
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St.
Mary's by the Sea is a Christian community
that
strives to create a sanctuary for ALL
seekers
and believers alike
to
come and experience the Love of God through Jesus Christ,
to
share that love with those around us
and
in the wider world,
and
to grow in faith
as
part of a caring Christian family.
