Our Blog

in Special Annoucements

Staying Safe, Informed, and Caring for Each Other (Coronavirus)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
 
For good reason, there is a lot of concern, and for many a great deal of fear, in regards to COVID-19/Coronavirus.  As we said yesterday in church, we will not succumb to fear, but we WILL act smartly and use precautions.   
 
We live in NYC, and that means most of us are required to use public transportation, we have children in school, we are going to work - we are in constant contact with other people.  Just living our regular day to day lives right now can bring on a lot of fear - and it is hard in the midst of so much fear - it takes a toll on us. We want to urge you to be in touch with us if you find yourself overwhelmed by fear and anxiety, we are here for you for pastoral counseling, even if it is not in person.
 
We want to encourage everyone to remember that we have each other - and that this is one of the great moments for technology - that we can check in with each other and support each other in a variety of ways.  It is a moment for us as Christians to be good neighbors and check in on people who we know are already isolated and maybe feeling more so now.  Don't hesitate to be in touch with others via phone, FaceTime, Skype. 
 
The precautions we are taking at Holy Apostles:
 
  • As of March 8, 2020, communion will be distributed in one kind only - that is the bread, no longer distributed at the communion rail, but standing up.
  • The pews will be wiped down weekly using disinfectant wipes, immediately following the service.
  • We will no longer hold hands during the Lord's Prayer, shake hands or hug during the peace.
The precautions we are asking you to take:
  • If you are feeling ill, have a fever or a cough, please stay home.
  • If you have traveled to an infected area, or have come in contact with people who are under quarantine, please consult health officials.
  • Wash your hands regularly, do not touch your face (eyes, nose, mouth) & use hand sanitizer.
Communication during this time is incredibly important. We will continue to be in touch with you all, check in and keep you up to date with what we are doing. 
 
In peace,
The Mothers


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Posted by The Mothers Holy Apostles
in Lenten Daily Reflection

Lenten Daily Reflection 2020-03-07

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1 Corinthians 4: 1 - 7

 

4 Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.  2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy. 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore do not pronounce judgement before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

6 I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters,* so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, ‘Nothing beyond what is written’, so that none of you will be puffed up in favour of one against another. 7For who sees anything different in you?*What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?
 
History is full of charismatic leaders. Not even the best ideas truly sell themselves – movements need heroes, men and women that embody the virtues of the ideology and possess the power of persuasion necessary to sway hearts and minds.  The singular hero provides the group with an essential focus for their emotions surrounding the group’s ideals – they allow the followers to fall in love.

It seems to me that when God came to us in the form of Jesus Christ, He took a gamble. Believing in the power of His message, He created for himself an earthly medium through which to announce it. He must have thought 33 years would be long enough – after all, a message so powerful, so good and true, surely we would get it the first time. But as anyone who’s ever tried to get a five-year-old to get their shoes on can tell you, you wouldn’t believe how many times you need to repeat a message before it finally sinks in. And with Christ crucified, the burden of the precious message fell to His followers to spread. Lesser vessels, but as when a parent leaves the teenager in charge of the younger children, there must have been a hope that the authority created by the message itself would be enough to overcome the flaws of its new stewards. But again, as anyone who’s ever left a teenager in charge of a five-year-old can tell you, sometimes you come home to find the entire house covered in Cool Whip.

Poor Paul is trying his best here to remind the Corinthians to keep their eyes and hearts on the message as it was handed down by God’s most perfect messenger. But ideas, even holy ones, are tricky – we’ve all played telephone, we know how easily messages are distorted even when there isn’t some smart-aleck who changes the words to something involving butts.  And here we are, two thousand years and billions of transfers between us and the original. The Church itself has taken on so many different forms, and we have fallen under the sway of countless messengers. The crucial thing that Paul is laying out here, a message I’m sure he hoped would reverberate throughout history, is this: Put not your faith in anything or anyone but the Word. Not in me nor in any other human messenger, but in the Word and the loving ideals contained in the Word. If there’s anything history has shown us, it’s to be wary of leaders that claim that they alone can save us – strongmen who ask that we put our trust in them personally. Even Jesus was frank about his role – he was a carrier medium, a transmitter. Beware the leader, Paul is saying, who claims to have all the answers. We were all given the answers already – keep your hearts on the prize and let God sort it out in good time.


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Posted by Emily Flake
in Lenten Daily Reflection

Lenten Daily Reflection 2020-03-06

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Mark 2:13-22

 

13 Jesus* went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

15 And as he sat at dinner* in Levi’s* house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting* with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. 16When the scribes of* the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat* with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people*came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ 19Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

21 ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’*

We sometimes worry about who we associate with.  We don't want to be seen with the wrong people.  That could hurt our image in the eyes of others. The last thing that we would want would be to have one of the "undesirables" as our friend.  I think that maybe we all have felt like one of the outsiders at some time in our life.

Imagine how Levi felt when Jesus asked him to follow him.  Here he is doing the job that everyone hated him for and he was the one that was called to follow.  Then to top it off he goes to his house to eat with those that were like him.  Sinners and tax collectors were the undesirables of the time.  The scribes could not believe that he would want to be seen with them.  What he says puts them in their place.  "I have come to call not the righteous but sinners".  We are all sinners and we are all called to follow him.  How many of us would drop everything to follow a man that you just saw for the first time?  Maybe he had heard of Jesus but did he ever think something like this would happen?  Once he saw him coming I am sure that he had no idea that he would be asked to follow and that later they would all be eating at his house.  

We all need to be open to the fact that we are being called to follow and that it means we may need to leave things behind to do this.  It may be something small but it may be what is standing in our way.  As we go through the Lenten season think about what may be standing in your way to keep you from truly following Jesus.


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Posted by Jerry Hanen 

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