The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Field Notes

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Sunday Worship

September 8th, 2024

8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (spoken)

In Person

9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist for Children and Families

In Person

10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Music and Baptism

In Person and via Livestream

A Note From Rev. Laura

Sparked by an exquisite cobweb on my porch this week, I found myself “meditating” on (as in pausing to consider) the fragility of life; a truth we all know in our bones yet rush to ignore which is that in one moment, for all of us, life will come to an abrupt end. 

Except it’s never supposed to be in a school classroom as it was this Wednesday in Winder, Ga., when a 14 yr. old student with a semi-automatic weapon murdered two teachers, two classmates, and wounded 9 others. 

We all reel at the atrocity of gun violence. We feel the crushing grief and profound courage of Rachel Golberg, who never quit trying to save her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a Hamas hostage for almost 11 months who was executed last weekend by his captors. And then there’s this: the thousands of children in Gaza whose ID tags carry this read “WCNSFM” which means “Wounded Child No Surviving Family Members.”   

In one way or another it has been ever thus.  I am not naïve, nor am I without hope. But what the anguish of our world does make me appreciate over and over again is the power of this community, this parish, to continually renew and ignite my hope. 

Continue reading here.

Features

Program Year Kick-Off Celebration

This Upcoming Wednesday, Sept. 11th in the Parish House

4:30 p.m. Choristers Rehearsal

6:00 p.m. Food and Fellowship

7:00 p.m. Community Hymn Sing

All are invited to come celebrate the start of the 2024-25 program year this upcoming Wednesday! This lively evening will see the return of Choristers rehearsals at 4:30 p.m., our first Food and Fellowship community dinner at 6:00 p.m., and a Community Hymn Sing at 7:00 p.m. We hope to see you there!

If you are interested in volunteering to help set up and clean up Food and Fellowship this year, please contact Lorie Hershey, Director of Administration, at lhershey@stmartinec.org. Volunteers are not expected to bring food for the meal. You can sign up to volunteer for a specific date(s), or come every week!

If you know a child interested in joining Choristers, please email Tyrone Whiting, Director of Music & Arts, at twhiting@stmartinec.org

Register Now for Holy Cross Fall Retreat

Tuesday, October 29th - Friday, November 1st

Click here to register.

"In earth sea and sky and in the landscape of my soul I listen for utterances of your love, O God"

-Celtic Benediction by J Philip Newell

Registration is now open for our 2024 fall retreat at Holy Cross Monastery. On the retreat, Celtic Spirituality will guide us on the journey to discover God’s presence in “the landscape of our souls”. Our facilitator will be the Rev. Gwyneth MacKenzie Murphy, an Episcopal priest, retreat leader and spiritual director with a background in Celtic Spirituality and Feminist and Creation Theory. To learn more about our retreat theme and Rev. Gwyneth, please click here.

If you have any other questions about the retreat, please email Noor Diskan, Director of Communications & Events, at ndiskan@stmartinec.org

Pictured: Rev. Gwyneth at Iona

Hospitality after Sunday Services

Do you have a favorite coffee cake recipe or maybe some special cookies you want an excuse to bake? You can make hospitality following our services on Sunday morning even more inviting by contributing a little something for the Hospitality Table. No need to bring a serving plate since we have plenty of them in the kitchen. If you have time to stick around to help with clean up, that would be great but don’t feel obligated to stay, although many great conversations happen over washing and drying a few dishes! You can sign up to bring a dish using the clipboards on the Hospitality Table. Please contact Kate Maus with any questions.

Tanya’s Purse

The Rev. Tanya Regli, now a transitional deacon, will be ordained to the priesthood on September 14th at Grace Epiphany Church, 224 East Gowan Avenue in Mt. Airy at 10:30 am. All are invited and welcome.

This note is an invitation to any of you who have been touched, inspired, motivated or guided by Tanya’s ministry at St. Martin’s to contribute to “a purse” for the vestments she will need as a priest which are expensive. 

To contribute towards Tanya's purse:

• Go to the Giving page of St. Martin's website: https://www.stmartinec.org/give. Click the "Give Now" button. Under the "Select Fund" drop down menu, select "Purse Gifts". Please write “Tanya’s Purse Gift” in the memo line. 
• Write a check to St. Martin's with "Tanya's Purse Gift" in the memo line. Please put it in the offering plate or leave it in Lorie Hershey’s mailbox in the Parish House. 

Thank you!

Sermon Transcript

The Rev. Carol Duncan

September 1, 2024

The Implanted Word

Sometimes the lessons of the lectionary come together on a Sunday to trigger an aha discovery. As I was trying to hold all three readings together simultaneously, I got sort of a tap on my mind. “What?” I asked. “Something here is still true today - something about God’s law and something about politics.” “OK thanks,” I thought back. “I’ll try to find it.” 

In today’s Gospel Jesus is confronted by scribes and Pharisees. They are reacting defensively to reports of Jesus’ ubiquitous miracles of feeding and healing. They’ve come from Jerusalem to stop him usurping their authority. They accuse his followers of eating without washing their hands first. 

Jesus thinks there are worse things than dirty hands. He accuses the Pharisees of being hypocrites. He quotes Isaiah’s words to prove it. Their hearts are far from God. They have replaced the commandments of God with their own invented rules. 



Have they? Let’s look at the first reading today. Moses commands God’s people to add nothing to what Moses commands and to take nothing away. They must watch themselves closely, so they teach down the generations nothing beyond the commandments. Full stop. The scribes and Pharisees are the ones in charge of carrying out Moses’ instructions. Washing hands certainly wasn’t in the first ten commandments. Continue reading here.

“What are you thankful for this week?”

“I’m thankful that rehearsals start again soon!”

These are the words of one of our wonderful young choristers during the prayers at a 9 a.m. service recently. It has been a busy summer at St. Martin’s as we wrap up admin from last year, plan ahead, and gather steam and momentum for what will be an exciting year ahead celebrating our 135th anniversary. I am just as excited as our young musician to get back to music-making and arts!

It is hard to condense the last year into a single short note and so I am not going to try beyond some highlights. In the last program year, our choir has progressed, both musically and as an ensemble, from strength to strength as an ever-growing and ever-caring community. Please join me in thanking all of our musicians for their commitment, achievement, support, encouragement, troubleshooting, and no-nonsense approach to the joys and responsibilities that is a music and arts ministry. Our Music & Arts Ministry is large and growing: the choir, the choristers, our section leaders, our CFY music staff, the Fairmount String Quartet, and collaborative partners, and I am grateful to every single one of our volunteers and staff. Click here to continue reading and find a list of upcoming events, beginning with our Community Hymn Sing next Wednesday, September 11th.

Take Action

St. Martin’s Successful Guatemala Scholarship Drive

68 pledges totaling $15,545 were received for the Guatemala Student Scholarship Drive from Pentecost Sunday through August 14th. Thank you all for your pledged support and donations for the scholarships that support the children of San Juan Apostol and their families. Without your help, these students would not be able to go to school. Your support opens the door to a better future for them and provides hope to their families and communities.

So far $6,040 in pledged funds has been received. Pledges may be paid via the St Martin’s website or via the plate. If pledges are paid via the online payment option, please use the “Guatemala Scholarship” choice in the drop down box, when paying the pledge. If a check is provided via the collection plate, please write “Guatemala Scholarship” in the memo section of your check.

Pledges are kindly due by September 30th. Donations are accepted even if you did not have the opportunity to pledge, during the scholarship drive. Thank you to everyone who supports this wonderful mission!

Coming Up

Adult Forum Returns Wed., Sept. 18th at 7:00 p.m.

Please join us for weekly Forums every Wednesday at

7:00 p.m. in person and via zoom. Everyone is also invited to come at 6:00 pm. for Food and Fellowship prior to Forum.

Upcoming Forums:

"How to Survive This Election - Like a Christian"

A series of three Adult Forums with Chris Satullo, an award-winning former journalist who was also an editorial page editor and a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sept. 18, Oct. 9, and Oct. 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the Parish House

Are you dreading the next weeks until the election? Are you perhaps dreading even more Thanksgiving dinner with Uncle George or Cousin Jennifer after the election? If so, these sessions with Chris, a vestry member who is co-founder of the PA Project for Civic Engagement and the Can We Talk? dialogue forums, might be just the thing for you.

Each session stands alone, so don't worry if you can't make one. We'll have handouts to help you catch up on what you missed. Also, you can Zoom into any session that you can't make in person. Click here to learn more.

Spirituality of Aging

This Upcoming Wednesday, September 11th

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Houston Room and via Zoom

Spirituality of Aging is a conversation group bringing older adults together to share our stories, questions and insights about aging, in a supportive, congenial spirit. The group meets monthly, and is open to all who want to explore with others the experience of growing older (and, we hope, wiser). To RSVP, or for more information, please contact Elizabeth Morrison at elizabeth.donnell.morrison@gmail.com.

The Poetry Path

Saturday, Oct. 5th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Hilary House (Smith Room)

Facilitated by Sharon Thomson

Sponsored by Wellspring

What is the spiritual dimension of the poetic process? Come explore at a workshop for beginning and experienced writers who will practice using image-making, sensual description and the music of language to express the soul. The workshop will be led by St. Martin's parishioner Sharon Thomson, M.F.A., a published poet who has taught poetry writing for 50 years in a wide variety of settings.

To reserve a seat, sign up before Sept. 28th by contacting Sharon at 845-282-5500 or email: sharonthomson2001@yahoo.com. If you have questions before signing up, feel free to contact her. The workshop is limited to 12 participants.

Sharon has led many poetry-writing workshops in her longtime work with The Grail, an international women's organization founded in 1921 as a Catholic lay movement committed to spiritual search and social transformation. You can find out more about Sharon here.

Wednesday Noon Eucharist

Mary Chapel

Wellspring Worship Reflections

After the 10:30 a.m. service

Houston Room