The View from Bolton Street

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/23/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/23/20

E-Faith@8, 9/27

The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!

Memorial Faith@8

Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern

Join Zoom Meeting here: https://zoom.us/j/6394994372

Meeting ID: 639 499 4372

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Memorial Episcopal Church 9/23/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/23/20

E-Church 10:30am, 9/27

Open Live Zoom Worship

Or: Stream Worship Live on YouTube

To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance.

2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together.

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

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Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/15/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/15/20

E-Faith@8, 9/20

Memorial Faith@8

Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern

Join Zoom Meeting here: https://zoom.us/j/6394994372

Meeting ID: 639 499 4372

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,6394994372# US (Chicago)

+16465588656,,6394994372# US (New York)

Open Zoom link here

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/15/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/15/20

E-Church 10:30am, 9/20

Open Live Zoom Worship

Or: Stream Worship Live on YouTube

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09

Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)

+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/10/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/10/20

E-Faith@8, 9/13

Memorial Faith@8

Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern

Join Zoom Meeting here: https://zoom.us/j/6394994372

Meeting ID: 639 499 4372

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+13126266799,,6394994372# US (Chicago)

+16465588656,,6394994372# US (New York)

Open Zoom link here

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/10/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/10/20

The View From Robert St.

Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

There are times in our lives where our devotion to Christ is put to the test. And this passage from Matthew is certainly one for me. I am tired. I am tired of the lying. I am tired of the half truths. I am tired of putting profit over people. I am tired of the only measure of success being the % increase of the Dow Jones.

I am tired of the petty grievances and playing politics with people's health and well being. I'm tired of being told to stay above the fray. I am tired of forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and seeing things get worse and worse and worse.

I am tired of seeing everyone else do well and we continue to mess it up.

I feel like I'm long past forgiving 77 times. When does the clock run out on this?

And then I think about my own sins. The arrogance and hatred which infects my heart. The stress and worry I have let overtake me. My intolerance and frustration for people I love dearly. For the relationships I have let lie fallow. For the voices I haven't listened to. For my own stubbornness and pridefulness in the wake of a pandemic none of us really understand.

The Gospel this week is a tough one. Tough talk about forgiveness and about subservience. A lot of words we don't really want to hear. About slaves and masters. about debts and forgiveness. About anger and torture. About sin and us.

But at the root of this story is Grace, and not the prayer you say around the dinner table before you eat. Grace is a tough concept to explain but an image I like is the open loving arms of the Divine waiting for us to return the embrace. No matter what you have done or how far you've fallen or how angry and upset you are. Those arms are there. This is the Grace Christ offers to us no matter the debts we owe.

Over the next few days, weeks and months - there will be a lot of people looking for grace. some deserved, some undeserved. When they come to you -- how will you respond?

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/8/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/8/20

E-Church 10:30am, 9/13

Open Live Zoom Worship

Or: Stream Worship Live on YouTube

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09

Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)

+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/2/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/2/20

The View From Robert St.

“What I Did On My Summer Vacation”

While the idea is popular, I’m not sure I actually ever had to answer the ultimate ‘back-to-school’ question while a student. And certainly I’ve had more productive and more adventurous summer breaks than August 2020. There was no international travel, no visits to exotic or interesting churches, no big parties, or summer concerts, no mission trips to Honduras or Colombia or Uganda. Instead I spent most of August entertaining a 4 year old and an 8 year old, struggling with keeping them engaged and not too upset about not seeing their friends or doing the things they wanted to do this summer, fixing things around the house and praying about what Jesus might have in store for us at Memorial and for my family. In the end, I continued to be amazed at how blessed we continue to be. We are both employed, we were able to spend a lot of time outside hiking and playing in the Chesapeake Bay, we were fortunate enough to to take a quick trip to the Mountains of North Carolina so the kids could see their cousins and grandparents.

I can’t say I came back rested, or ready, or sure about what the future holds. I won’t pretend to have it all ‘together’, or even being particularly stable! I, like all of you, have my moments of doubt, anxiety, worry and stress. Throughout the month I have kept this scripture close to my heart: “We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day…” As Americans we often feel immense pressure to solve problems, make a difference in the world, to ‘be the change we want to see in the world.’

But as Christians that is not what we are called to. We are called to do God’s work while it is light. Nothing more, nothing less. In a time when problems seem insurmountable, when solutions seem impossible, impractical or just too far off, this can be very liberating! It is not on me, or you, or anyone else to ‘fix it’ — all we have to do is do a little bit of God’s work.

While I was gone, it was heartening to see that so many of you were continuing to do the work of Jesus while it was light. In conjunction with St. Katherine’s you all worked on a back to school supply drive; you took significant steps in removing the plaques from the rear of the church and charting a path forward to replacing them; we submitted two significant racial reconciliation grants including one to develop an entirely new community counseling program for young black women impacted by COVID; you’ve developed new ministries to provide video visits to some of our members quarantined; and worked on a plan to make communion safe and accessible for all of us this fall.

This of course does not take into account all of the regular things you all continue to do in your personal lives in these most extraordinary times. I want to thank you for your continued service in doing God’s work and I look forward to joining back with you in that work this fall!

Memorial Episcopal Church 9/2/20 Memorial Episcopal Church 9/2/20