Our
Response to the Current Situation of Coronavirus/COVID-19
Illness:
St. Mary’s By The Sea
Note From the Rector, Fall 2020
SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP:
Please remember to call, text or email
Cherisse (609-713-8813) by midday
each Friday to register for in-person
church at St. Mary’s By The Sea on Sunday
at 9 am. After midday Friday
please call, text or email Mother Victoria
at 609-827-8231. Facemasks that cover
mouth and nose are strictly required at all
times. Social distancing and all other public
health guidelines will be very carefully followed.
The service can also be seen on FaceBook Live
at 9 am Sunday and/or watched later on the church’s
FB page.
Read more...
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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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“The Universal Christ”
Book Study
Sundays at 12 noon.
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 12 noon.
Use the Zoom link above. See you there!
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 As
you may all know by now COVID 19 has caused
the cancellation of both our spring and fall
rummage sales, as well as our Gift Auction in
February of 2021. Although everyone has been
extremely generous in fulfilling their pledges
this year, the loss of the gift auction revenue
for next year presents a very challenging situation
for the church.
Without this major fundraising event we had
to find alternate means to fill this budget
gap. Attached here, you will find information
about a calendar raffle we are launching in
October to help fill this gap. The concept is
fairly simple. For every 3 month period there
is a dollar amount associated with Monday-Friday,
For $25 people can purchase
a chance to win that dollar amount. Numbers
are chosen at random at the beginning of the
month. If your number is chosen you will get
a check for that amount in the mail. We have
sent this to all gift auction attendees and
we will continue to promote through various
means. We welcome your participation as well.
Details on how to enter are attached. And as
always, you can call Cherisse with your questions.
Download your CASH
Calendar Ticket Request Form and
Cash
Calendar Nov, Dec 202 and January 2021
here.
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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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AN UPDATE FROM THE TREASURER
I would like to thank everyone who
is sending in the Pledge support during
this most uncertain and difficult time.
We continue to hold our own as parishioners
pledge payments continue to be made
via USPS mail and online giving, as
well as, attendance at the 9 AM live
service. We remain 19% below budget
as I reported a few months back. So,
again, a very big and heartfelt THANK
YOU to all of you.
Additionally, donations to Mary’s
Table are remaining strong even as the
number of delivered meals continues
to rise.
Finally, the St. Mary’s challenge
is at $4,569 ($9,138 with the match);
we are $431 away from having met the
match.
I can’t say thank you enough
to all of you, our Parishioners, for
you continued and strong support! Be
safe and stay the course,
Gary Smerillo
Treasurer
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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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Check out our 
Calendar of Events
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SINGERS NEEDED The
choir is in need of a few singers, especially
females (altos and sopranos). If interested,
please speak to
JoAnn Roy, our choir
director/organist.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
For the Soup Kitchen in Asbury
Park. We need a few more volunteers
for 1 or 2 Saturday mornings a year.
Please contact Laura Grodewald (ldunn06@gmail.com
/ 732-948-3186) for more information.
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MARY'S TABLE
Mary’s Table
provides food and fellowship to all
who hunger or seek companionship in
a loving environment of acceptance.
Started by parishioners of Saint Mary's
by the Sea Episcopal Church in Point
Pleasant Beach, and located there, Mary's
Table opened her doors on November 1
of 2012. Volunteers from other churches,
communities and businesses quickly became
involved in this worthy mission. Thank
you so much for all you do for this
wonderful ministry.
Read more...
News from St.
Mary’s Emergency Food Project
Hello all!
Last week Bean served
Lasagna, meatballs and crusty bread.
We delivered 235 meals (notice the numbers
are up). We are receiving donations
of all the fruit. We get 2 cases of
bananas from Stop & Shop, one from
an individual and one from the company
(management approved). Nature's Rewards
has been donating 3 cases of fruit as
well! There is a man, who I refer to
as "cookie man" who brings
six cases of Oreo cookies to us every
week! He started doing this during the
Emergency Food Project and is continuing
for Mary's Table! We are so blessed
by this incredible giving community!
We still get volunteers willing to deliver
meals! Laurie schedules them every week
and we are so grateful for all they
do!
Stay positive in this
crazy time-good things happen everywhere!
Peace and love,
Kathy
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Seventeenth
Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 21
September 27, 2020
O God, you declare your almighty
power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us
the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain
your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly
treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Exodus
17:1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the
whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by
stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim,
but there was no water for the people to drink.
The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give
us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why
do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
But the people thirsted there for water; and the
people complained against Moses and said, “Why
did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our
children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses
cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with
this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the
people, and take some of the elders of Israel with
you; take in your hand the staff with which you
struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there
in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the
rock, and water will come out of it, so that the
people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight
of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah
and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and
tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among
us or not?”
Philippians
2:1-13
If then there is any encouragement
in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing
in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my
joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same
love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing
from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility
regard others as better than yourselves. Let each
of you look not to your own interests, but to the
interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that
was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form
of God, did not regard equality with God as something
to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form
of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being
found in human form, he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him
the name that is above every name, so that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and
on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, just as you
have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but
much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work
in you, enabling you both to will and to work for
his good pleasure.
Matthew
21:23-32
When Jesus entered the temple, the
chief priests and the elders of the people came to
him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority
are you doing these things, and who gave you this
authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will
also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer,
then I will also tell you by what authority I do these
things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven,
or was it of human origin?” And they argued
with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’
he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe
him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’
we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as
a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We
do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither
will I tell you by what authority I am doing these
things.
“What do you think? A man
had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son,
go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered,
‘I will not’; but later he changed his
mind and went. The father went to the second and said
the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’;
but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of
his father?” They said, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax
collectors and the prostitutes are going into the
kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you
in the way of righteousness and you did not believe
him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed
him; and even after you saw it, you did not change
your minds and believe him.
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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.
