Our
Response to the Current Situation of Coronavirus/COVID-19
Illness:
From the COVID-19
Reentering, Reopening, Reimagining (RRR) Task
Force
In response to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control’s recommendations
of July 27, 2021, due to the
rising levels of infections of COVID-19, the
RRR Task Force is recommending
congregations return to requiring face masks
that fully cover the nose and mouth for indoor
activities for all worship attendees and outside
group participants immediately, regardless of
vaccination status, in counties where the infection
rate is more than 5 per 100K (check https://covidactnow.org/)
or where the community transmission is moderate
or above
(check https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view)
Currently, this includes all the counties in
the Diocese of New Jersey.
Congregational singing is allowed with the use
of face masks.
Congregational leadership can decide about local
practices for offering communion, pastoral support,
formation classes/programs (including Vacation
Bible School), and fellowship activities. Fellowship
activities that involve removing one’s
face mask are not encouraged.
Please continue to encourage all community
members to get vaccinated.
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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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Book Study
Sundays at 9:00 am.
“Learning to Pray”
A Guide for Everyone
by James Martin, SJ
Join us every time and/or any time. Sundays
at 9:00 am in the Jones
Room.
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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! Click
here for the GAME Rules
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 MAY.
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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THE ST. MARY'S CHALLENGE IS
BACK!!
Once again, an anonymous donor will
match every dollar that is donated above
the regular pledged amount and identified
as St. Mary’s Challenge up to
$5,000. Each of the past 2 years we
have had the Challenge, all of you stepped
up and met the challenge. In fact, in
both years you exceed the challenge!
To donate just indicate on your check
- St. Mary’s Challenge - or if
a cash donation, use any envelope and
write St. Mary’s Challenge on
the envelope.
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PET BLESSING will be held on
Sunday, October 3, 2021, at
8 am and 10 am services.
All well-behaved pets are welcome to join their
people at both services.
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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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BISHOP STOKES
HAS ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT IN MID
2023
There will be a call
for delegates to begin the process of
choosing and calling our next Bishop.
Each parish is asked to have 6 lay volunteers
attend a Special Convocation via Zoom
on
Sunday October 24th.
We will ask for names on Sunday
September 26th.
If you are interested,
please let
Mother Victoria know. Thank you!
Check out our
Calendar of Events
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SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12th is
"WELCOME BACK SUNDAY PART 2 !"
Join us for our traditional
Welcome Back
in the Fall Sunday.
The vestry has
decided to err on the side
caution and we will be having our two
regular worship
services at 8
AM and 10
AM rather
than just one service at 9AM.
Join us between services for
a special coffee
hour and the blessing of our newest
stained
glass window.
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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,
On July 8, Robean and
Ellen served Mac & Cheese with ham,
salad and green beans. We delivered
240 meals at a cost
of $127.
On July 15, Angie's
team served Ham steak with potato salad
and applesauce. We delivered 236
meals at a cost of $526.
On July 22, Laurie's
team served turkey sloppy "Mary"
sandwiches with potato salad and pickles.
We delivered 249 meals
at a cost of $249.
On July 29, Crest Pointe
Rehabilitation center in Point Pleasant
catered our meal! We delivered
240 meals a no cost to us.
On August 5, Laurie's
team served chicken teriyaki over rice
with a salad. We delivered 245
meals.
In light
of the fact that the Delta variant is
spreading so rapidly, we do not see
Mary's Table open for seating at least
until next year.
Thank you for all you do to support
this wonderful ministry! Stay safe!
Peace and love, Kathy
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Seventeenth
Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 20
September 19, 2021
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious
about earthly things, but to love things heavenly;
and even now, while we are placed among things that
are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall
endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen.
Jeremiah
11:18-20
It was the LORD who made it known
to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their evil deeds.
But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
"Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!"
But you, O LORD of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
James
3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Who is wise and understanding among
you? Show by your good life that your works are done
with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter
envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be
boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does
not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual,
devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition,
there will also be disorder and wickedness of every
kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy
and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or
hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown
in peace for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among
you, where do they come from? Do they not come from
your cravings that are at war within you? You want
something and do not have it; so you commit murder.
And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you
engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have,
because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive,
because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you
get on your pleasures.
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw
near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Mark
9:30-37
Jesus and his disciples passed through
Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he
was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The
Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and
they will kill him, and three days after being killed,
he will rise again.” But they did not understand
what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to Capernaum; and
when he was in the house he asked them, “What
were you arguing about on the way?” But they
were silent, for on the way they had argued with one
another who was the greatest. He sat down, called
the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants
to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
Then he took a little child and put it among them;
and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever
welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and
whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who
sent me.”
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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.
8:00
am Rite I Service of Holy
Eucharist, Indoors in the Church. 
