Tag Archives: Genesis

The Diocesan Covenant – St. Agnes’ House (sermon) March 1, 2015

Posted on by

Sermon – March 1, 2015

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Somerset, KY

Second Sunday in Lent Year B

“I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”  Genesis 17:7

Please be seated.

Good Morning, people of St. Patrick’s.  It is so good to see you in person.  Prior to this, I had only seen you through a green business check that arrived every month at St. Agnes’ House… a check dutifully given for $75.00, enough to support 1 large room and a small room for 1 night at St. Agnes’ House.  Feeling grateful for your consistent donation, I’d smile as I recorded your donation in my donor spreadsheet and print out our thank you note.  I wondered about you and who you are.  Now I get the chance to find out.

That consistency…that faithfulness is a hallmark of the ministry of St. Agnes’ House.  More than 40 years ago, a young couple became distressed when they saw people sleeping in the waiting room of UK hospital.  These people often came from Eastern Kentucky and they were getting cancer radiation treatments.  They’d need to be at the hospital every week day for about 6 weeks.  They had no place and no money to pay for a place to stay.  Can you imagine feeling so poorly and then needing to rest in the hospital waiting room?

This young couple told others at St. John’s Versailles, and groups started praying for a solution – some way for people to have a place to stay while receiving treatment.  By 1975, St. Agnes’ House was born.  The Diocese embraced the ministry, providing administrative and nonprofit tax number support.  Parishes offered prayers, money, and in-kind donations.  The Sisters from the Society of St. Margaret agreed to come and live at the house and manage it.

The first house was on Woodland Avenue, but by 1977, the University of Kentucky provided a rent-free ($1.00) longterm lease at 635 Maxwelton Court, closer to UK hospital.  Money was raised to put an addition onto this house, so rooms could be used for lodging.  An additional building with 7 rooms, kitchen, living room, and bathrooms was also built.  Currently, there are 9 rooms available for lodging – 5 single rooms and 4 double rooms.

In essence, in 1975, 40 years ago, we as a Diocese… a Diocese now in about 36 ministry sites or locations… made a covenant with people in medical crisis, needing to travel long distances to get the health care they needed, making the difference between life and death…between hope and despair…between a death with dignity and loved ones and a death all alone.

Now covenants are very special.  They can be different from contracts, especially if they are unconditional.  That’s the kind God makes with us – unconditional covenants.  The covenants detail obligations and promises between the parties.  And unconditional covenants like the ones God makes with us, say that God will fulfill God’s obligations and promises, regardless of what we do… regardless, God will fulfill the covenant.

What an amazing thing.  We can truly trust God’s covenants…God’s promises.

And that’s what over 4,000 families have been able to do because of your help and your support of St. Agnes’ House.  They’ve been able to trust in the covenant we made with them back in 1975… that they’d have a place to go during a medical crisis.  They’ve had a place to stay while their mother or father or young baby is getting the best health care possible.  And families have been able to be close to their loved one if there is nothing more to be done and death comes.

I’m talking about people like Marcy, mid 50s, tall with long dark hair.  Marcy’s brother had a heart operation.  There were complications and he was brought to UK hospital.  Marcy promised her brother, she’d be there with him.  We didn’t see Marcy much, because she’d get up so very early in the morning to go be with her brother at the hospital and she’d arrive back at the house late in the evening.  She was able to take the UK hospital shuttle back and forth any time she needed it.

Marcy wrote to us months after her stay and here’s what she said:

 Where do I begin??

 It’s been months now and I can hardly find the words to express how thankful I am that I got to go to St. Agnes’ House.

 My brother spent 55 days in ICU after open-heart surgery due to septic shock. I, having had open-heart myself two years before, was getting worn down fast staying in the chairs every night at U.K., but I promised I would be there for him and we would go home together. We thought it would be 2 weeks tops.

 I got my room here after that initial two weeks and met the nicest most helpful caring staff, who sincerely care for you and your loved one who is in the hospital. I was then able to shuttle back and forth and wash my clothes; eat real food; sleep when I could; and be there every day for him. Rebecca, Reynold and Mary are wonderful people.

 Anyone who can donate to St. Agnes house, please do. It’s really even more than you can imagine.

 I did get to bring Michael home and he’s across the field from Mom laid to rest. I have done all he asked me to do. I don’t know if I could have made it without your help.

 On a personal note, my 92 year old Mother has Michael’s prayer shawl that was a gift Rebecca offered when she saw my despair and it was on him the last days.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 So many years ago, God made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah that they would be “ancestors of a multitude of nations.”  That God would always be with them and with their descendants.  God has kept God’s covenant and we are the proof.  And as Marcy and so many others can testify, we have followed God’s example by providing and supporting the ministry of St. Agnes’ House.

Amen

The Sign of the Rainbow (bulletin and sermon) February 22, 2015

Posted on by

NOTE:  Due to weather conditions, the bulletin is included with this sermon if you’d like to worship at home tomorrow.  We will have service at 11 for all who can make it.  Please be safe and warm….  Love, Rebecca+

Sermon – February 22, 2015
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY
First Sunday in Lent Year B

Bulletin 2-22-2015

[God said]  When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:16

Please be seated

It’s been quite a week, hasn’t it?  More snow than has been in these regions for nearly 2 decades, followed by some of the coldest temperatures we’ve seen, followed by ice, sleet and rain.  Most schools were closed for the week, including colleges.  Stores and restaurants closed early or never opened.

Many activities were canceled or postponed.  We canceled our Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and still can’t quite figure out when to have it.  Very few could make it to Ash Wednesday services.   A good week to stay inside, but then there’s the cabin fever that sets in.

And while weather forecasts have gotten so much better, the one thing we know for certain is that the weather is unpredictable!  The forecast has been pretty accurate this week.  But remember just last month when a HUGE snowstorm was predicted for the East Coast?  New York City shut down the subway system and New York declared a State of Emergency before even one snowflake fell, based upon the best weather models.  Then something happened and the storm shifted east about 50 miles, totally missing New York City and pounding Long Island and New England instead.

My friends in that region blew up my Facebook page with their rants about the storm that never happened.  There were the usual jokes about how can meterologists keep their jobs when they’re wrong 50% of the time?  There were very real concerns that the next time a storm was predicted, people would not heed the warning and then get caught in some difficult situations.

But, you see, the nature of the weather is to be unpredictable.  There are just too many variables at work and the best science we have today cannot account for all of them and make a certain prediction.

We must learn to live with the weather we get and with the unpredictability of it.  Yet, most of us don’t like that unpredictability.  We feel anxious or we want to totally ignore the forecasts.  A good practice is to have an emergency kit with water, food you can eat without warming it up, candles, space blankets…things you might need if you didn’t have electricity for many days and were stranded.  Ready.gov (http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit) has suggestions and lists for what you need to be prepared.  I’ll copy the lists and have them available in the parlor.

Midst all of the unpredictability of the weather which affects our lives, today we hear God’s words to Noah after a weather event that wiped out nearly all life on the earth.  We know the story.  In Genesis 6:11-13, God says:

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth.’

And we know how God told Noah to build the ark and to take 2 of every creature plus Noah’s family and put them on the ark.  We know how it rained for 40 days and 40 nights and how eventually there was dry land.

In our passage today, we hear that after the flood, God decided to make a covenant with Noah and with all of Noah’s descendants.  Now, a covenant is a special kind of agreement.  It is a binding commitment between two or more parties.  It describes each party’s obligations and responsibilities.  It has the quality of constancy and durability.

And here’s the important piece…the covenant we hear about today is unconditional!  God says what God will do in regards to us with no consequences or action on our part – NONE!  Most of us cannot make a covenant like that, can we?

In verse 11, God tells Noah:  “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

And so we’ll know and remember this promise and obligation of God, God gives us a sign.  A sign is the “visible evidence of the presence and purpose of God.” (Understanding the Old Testament 5th Edition; Anderson, Bishop & Newman; pg 68)  God’s sign to us is the rainbow!

 

Every time we see the beautiful rainbow, and you see lots of them at Cumberland Falls, we remember God’s promise to not destroy the earth and every creature on earth by water.  God’s promise to us is to save us…save us from ourselves.

 

This is God’s activity throughout the ages.  God comes to earth as Jesus to save us.  “…repent, and believe in the good news,” (Mark 1:15) we hear in today’s Gospel.  Repent – turn around and believe in the good news that God saves us…that living God’s way saves us.

 

In today’s Epistle we hear in I Peter 3:18, “Christ suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.”  God made a covenant with Noah …a covenant with no conditions…a promise durable and lasting.  God will not destroy us by water and God always, always acts to save us.

 

During this season of Lent, remember, think on and meditate on God’s saving actions.  While we cannot predict the weather… we can predict God’s saving action!  We can trust in God’s saving actions.  Remember the covenant every time you see the beautiful rainbow.

 

Amen

This Sunday (January 11, 2015) at St. John’s

Posted on by

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. Genesis 1:5

Most of us have had many “first days.”  There is the first day we remember.  There is the first day we went to school.  There is the first day we met our best friend or our spouse.  There is the first day we lived after someone we loved had died.  So many first days….

This Sunday we’ll here this short passage from Genesis about the first day…truly the first day.  It’s hard to imagine that.  But what we do know about first days is that they represent something new and different…something that dramatically changes our lives and how we live them.  There can be incredibly hard first days, but there can also be incredibly important and hope-filled first days.

If we’re not living the life God has called us to, we can start trying again.  We can have a new day…a first day of living in a new way.  We’re only 11 days into the New Year.  What first days do you think God is calling you to?

Blessings as you finish your week!

Love, Rebecca

01-11-2015 Bulletin Renewal of Baptismal Covenant

Rebecca’s Schedule: Rev. Rebecca will at St. Agnes’ House Monday, January 12, through Thursday, January 15. Her Sabbath day will be Friday, January 16. You can get a message to her by calling the church office at 606-528-1659 or priest-in-charge@stjohnscorbin.org

Adult Forum: In January through mid-February (Christmas and Epiphany), we will discuss the blessing of same gender relationships.  Next week, Rebecca will be reviewing the History of the Episcopal Church’s Decision.

Godly Play offered for children.  All children are invited to participate in this special program of spiritual development.

Your prayers and presence are requested at the ordination to the Priesthood of Andrew Hege, on Saturday, January 17,10am, at Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington.

Youth Group Bowling.  The youth ages 13-18 will go bowling Sunday afternoon, January 18, 1-3pm at Forest Bowling Lanes, Corbin.  Please see Rev. Rebecca if you’d like to go.

The Diocesan Stewardship Commission is offering an update on their work prior to Diocesan Convention.  Join Rebecca on Tuesday, January 20, at 7pm at St. Mary’s in Middlesboro to hear this update.  We can ride together and leave about 5 so we can eat dinner together.  The Bishop is also offering scholarships for teams from parishes to attend The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (www.tens.org) conference in Texas in May.  Please let Rebecca know if you’re interested in either of these events, as well as assisting with stewardship at St. John’s.

Weekday Morning Eucharist will be available Wednesday, January 21, 9am, in the Sanctuary.

Reading Camp Meeting, January 21, 10am.  This meeting will be with people in Corbin interested in helping children read.  We will look into recruiting children from Corbin for the Pine Mountain Camp, as well as connecting them to the local programs supporting reading during the school year.  We will also discuss raising money to support the children and the camp.  If you’d like to be part of this, please let Rebecca know.

Grow Appalachia!  We’ve received a grant for $4,530 for our community garden through Grow Appalachia.  The Grow Appalachia website is http://www.berea.edu/grow-appalachia/  The Grow Appalachia Committee will meet Wednesday, January 21, 6:30pm. 

Worship Committee will meet Friday, January 23, 4:30pm to plan Lent, Holy Week, and Easter.  All are welcome!

Game Night, Friday, January 30, 6:30-9:00pm.  Everyone is invited to Game night on Friday, January 30, hosted by the Young Adults of the parish.  Pizza will be provided.  Bring snacks and your own drinks.

The annual Acolyte Festival will be held Saturday, January 31, 10am – 3:30pm at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington

Provide Flowers for the altar in honor or in memory of a loved one: Donations for flowers for the altar are accepted for any Sunday of the year. Please place your donation in the envelope, marking whether they are in honor of or in memory of someone.

Hymn Selection Group If you’d like to choose hymns for services, join this group.  You will choose hymns for an upcoming service and then meet with the entire group to confirm the final selections.  See Billy Hibbitts if you are interested.

Are you interested in assisting with the Sunday service?  Readers, Eucharistic Ministers, Crucifers, Altar Guild Members and choir members are all important for each Sunday service.  If you’re interested in serving, please let Rebecca know by phone 859-429-1659 or priest-in-charge@stjohnscorbin.org.

Serving Our Neighbors – See baskets in the parlor.

  • Everlasting Arms, Corbin’s shelter for people who are homeless, is in need of men’s and women’s razors, gloves, deodorant and socks.
  • The Food Pantry at Corbin Presbyterian Church is always in need of nonperishable food items. Vegetables are especially appreciated.

 Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Subscribe to our Website Feed!

Facebook:         https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsCorbin

Twitter:            https://twitter.com/StJohnsCorbin

Website:           http://stjohnscorbin.org/?subscribe=success#blog_subscription-2

Pinterest:          http://www.pinterest.com/stjohnscorbin/

This Sunday (July 6) at St. John’s

Posted on by

 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, become thousands of myriads; may your offspring gain possession of the gates of their foes.”  Genesis 24:60

Of course I have always listened to these stories about Rebecca since I was named after her.  In my 2012 pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I actually visited the site commemorated as Rebecca’s tomb.  This site is revered by Muslims and Christians.  Rebecca’s tomb is inside a mosque and women must totally cover themselves up.  I had to wear a brown sheet-like garment over my clothing.

Me covered up and with an odd look at Rebecca's tomb in the Mosque at Hebron.

Me covered up and with an odd look at Rebecca’s tomb in the Mosque at Hebron.

Just last week, we read about Abraham nearly sacrificing Isaac. This week Isaac is grown and needs a wife. He finds one in Rebecca. As Rebecca leaves her family, they bless her.

Isn’t that what we all want from our friends and family…their blessing? We hope the choices we make meet with our family’s blessing and love. It’s a wonderful and joyous gift…one that doesn’t always happen. But one thing is sure, God’s blessing is always available to us!

Blessings to you as you finish your week!

Love, Rebecca+

Bulletin 7-6-2014

Happy 4th of July!

On this 4th of July, take time to read some important documents.  Read the Declaration of Independence or the 4th of July speech of Frederick Douglass, challenging the empty rhetoric of the promises in the founding documents of the United States.  Read the Iroquois Confederacy document, written in the 15th century, which influenced the writers of the Declaration and the Constitution.  Think of our life in Christ and whether these founding documents further the Kingdom of God or not.

Rebecca’s Schedule: Next week, Rebecca will be in Corbin on Thursday, July 10, and her Sabbath day will be Friday, July 11.  You can get a message to me by calling the church office at 606-528-1659 or priest-in-charge@stjohnscorbin.org.

Happy 50th Anniversary to Jerry and Barbara Hollifield, July 3.   Jerry and Barbara were married at St. John’s Church.  Flowers have been sent from the church and a card will be available to sign at the Sunday service.

Eucharist at Christian Care Communities: Join Rebecca this Sunday afternoon as she celebrates Eucharist at Christian Care Communities.  Elmer Parlier will be playing guitar.  The service is 30-45 minutes and the residents would appreciate your attendance.

Adult Forum: This summer and early fall, we will discuss a portion of the Gospel of Matthew.   We will follow our Gospel lectionary, discussing the following week’s Gospel – Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.

KCEOC Lunch Program:  The KCEOC Summer Youth Lunch Program is distributing lunch Monday through Friday, 11:20-11:35am in our parking lot.  Youth 18 and under are eligible for this free lunch.  Youth are enjoying sitting in our park eating their lunch.  Monday through Thursday is a cold lunch of sandwich, fruit or vegetable, juice, and milk.  Friday is a hot lunch.  Please continue to get the word out.

Corbin Alumni Concert: The Corbin Alumni Band will be performing in the park on Saturday, July 12th.  Bring a lawn chair and join us for an evening of fellowship and music

DOK: Daughters of the King:meets the third Wednesday of each month at 4:30pm.  The next meeting is July 16.  Anne Day Davis will conclude her presentation on oils of the Bible

Grow Appalachia:  The Vestry voted to move ahead with this project.  As we continue to work on this project, let the members of Vestry know your questions.  Their website ishttp://www.berea.edu/grow-appalachia/

Flowers for the altar: Donations for flowers for the altar are accepted for any Sunday of the year. Please place your donation in the envelope, marking whether they are in honor of or in memory of someone.

Serving Our Neighbors – See baskets in the parlor.

  • Everlasting Arms, Corbin’s shelter for people who are homeless, is in need of men’s and women’s razors, gloves, deodorant and socks.
  • The Food Pantry at Corbin Presbyterian Church is always in need of nonperishable food items.  Vegetables are especially appreciated.