Presiding Bishop Michael Curry highlights ways to help Afghan refugees through Episcopal Migration Ministries

 

Note: the following information is presented in English and Spanish Aviso: La siguiente información se presenta en inglés y en español Presiding Bishop Michael Curry highlights ways to help Afghan refugees through Episcopal Migration Ministries [August 31, 2021]     As Episcopalians, as followers of Jesus, as people of faith, we mourn the recent loss of life in Afghanistan, the ongoing chaos and instability, and the risk that many Afghans face, in particular women and girls. The situation in Afghanistan is changing quickly with many lives lost and thousands more at risk. The current crisis leaves over 5 million displaced Afghans in the country, in bordering nations and many more around the world who have been evacuated, who are trying to find long-term safe solutions. As Afghans arrive to the U.S. with the hope of safety, The Episcopal Church, through the work of Episcopal Migration Ministries, is assisting our new neighbors through the Afghan Parolee Support Program. This new U.S. program, dependent on private resources and community-led welcome and support, will provide security and foundation necessary for arriving Afghans to begin life in the U.S. The ministry of offering welcome to those fleeing violence is nothing less than God's work—one that calls us to walk the way of love as Jesus of Nazareth taught us, through compassion, through practical care, showing to our newest neighbors that we are neighbors. Episcopal Migration Ministries has launched a special appeal—Neighbors Welcome: Afghan Allies Fund—to meet the financial and in-kind needs necessary to provide adequate housing, basic services, and long-term support. The needs are great and will require our communities and congregations to come together to contribute financially, offering housing, volunteer, and pray. You can also stay involved in the work of advocacy in ensuring that the government of the United States honors its commitments to our Afghan allies. Included with this video, there are links and information sources that can assist you in participating in any way that you can. As Episcopalians in the late 1930s rose up to respond to allies, primarily Jewish allies fleeing tyranny in Europe, at the advent of the Second World War, as Episcopalians have continued to rise up wherever and whenever there has been human need, joining hands with other peoples of faith and people of goodwill, so now I invite you to rise up again for our Afghan friends, to stand with them in their time of need. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for this work. Thank you for anything that you can do. God love you. God bless you. And may God bless the people of Afghanistan wherever they may be. Amen.     Find out how to stay involved in the work of advocacy in ensuring the U.S. government honors its commitments to our Afghan allies at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/office-government-relations/     To contribute financially to provide for housing, medical and financial support, and expanded community sponsorship to serve our Afghan allies, visit bit.ly/supportafghanallies to make a secure donation online, or text “EMMALLIES” to 41444.   For opportunities to volunteer, provide housing, or sponsor, visit https://episcopalmigrationministries.org/volunteer-community-interest-form/

Readings for 14th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17) 29 August 2021

 St. Mary’s Episcopal Church

Cathedral Road  

14th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17)

29 August 2021

The Collect

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

The voice of my beloved!

Look, he comes,

leaping upon the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Look, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing in at the windows,

looking through the lattice.

My beloved speaks and says to me:

"Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away;

for now the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away."

Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10

1 My heart is stirring with a noble song;

let me recite what I have fashioned for the king; *

my tongue shall be the pen of a skilled writer.

2 You are the fairest of men; *

grace flows from your lips,

because God has blessed you for ever.

7 Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever, *

a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom;

you love righteousness and hate iniquity.

8 Therefore God, your God, has anointed you *

with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

9 All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia, *

and the music of strings from ivory palaces makes you glad.

10 Kings' daughters stand among the ladies of the court; *

on your right hand is the queen,

adorned with the gold of Ophir.

James 1:20-27

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-22

When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

22 August 2021 ~ Holy Eucharist at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Cathedral Road, Philadelphia

 

Feast day of St. Mary the Virgin ~ Holy Eucharist at St. Mary's Episcopal Church

 

Historical Photos of St. Mary's, Cathedral Road