St. Matthews Episcopal Church

Episcopal Church in Snellville, GA

All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness *
to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Ps.25:9

Holy Week 101 – 2021 Style

Holy Week 101

With Holy Week upon us and as we begin to return to some of our sacred services, we still have certain constraints that we must follow.  While Covid has caused some limitations to these services, and you will only be joining “virtually,” there are also opportunities for you to participate as families or small groups.  Our hope is that these services will draw you into a deeper and more profound encounter with The Divine.

Thursday, April 1st – The Maundy Thursday service will be livestreamed beginning at 7 p.m.  This service will include many of the familiar traditions, such as Hand Washing and the stripping of the altar.  There will also be a “Watch” that will go from 9 pm on Thursday to 10 am on Good Friday.

Participate in the Maundy Thursday service at home. You will need the following:

  • Create a space that will accommodate the entire family.
  • Pitcher(s) of warm water
  • Bucket(s) or tub(s) to catch water
  • Towels
  • You are invited to wash each other’s hands or feet during that portion of the service.
  • Provided you have a Sacred Space, you are invited to “strip” your Sacred Space down to an unadorned surface.
  • Sign-up for “the Watch” during the night. This can be done here and either at home or in the sanctuary.

Friday, April 2nd – Good Friday Service will be livestreamed beginning at 12 noon.  This is a very solemn and simple service.

Ways to participate at home:

  • Create a quiet and solemn environment to watch the service.
  • If you have a favorite cross – this is the service for you to have it with you.  You are invited to hold the cross and to ponder the deeps of our faith symbol.
  • Watch and participate in the Stations of the Cross – Click here.
  • Or participate in the Stations of the Cross at the church

Sunday, April 4th – Easter Services.  There will be multiple Easter Day services to participate in.

  • Sunrise Service at 6:45 am.  This service will be outside and in-person at the pavilion. Please register for this service.
  • Livestreamed service at 10:45 am.  This service will have special music and handbells.
  • Garden Service at 4 pm.  This service will be outside and in-person at the Garden area.  Please register for this service.

Ways to participate at home and at Church:

  • Register and attend for either of the outside services (6:45 a.m. / 4 p.m.)
  • If your children “buried” the Alleluias at home at the beginning of Lent, “resurrect” them before the service.
  • Create a festive space to watch and interact with the livestream service (10:45 a.m.)
  • After the Livestreamed Service – Come to the church, from 12 -1, for Drive-Thru Communion and Flowering of the Cross.
    • Each family member can bring flowers for the Cross
    • Take-home Easter crafts will be available for Sunny’s Kids (5th grade and younger)
  • Share the Love that you received from God to your family and others generously.

Easter Message:
“Alleluia.  Christ is risen.  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia.”  In this short Opening Acclamation that we will say on Easter, rests the entire Easter message.  The tomb is empty, and Christ is risen.  That really says it all.  And while this short statement proclaims the message, it takes a lifetime to unpack its full meaning and depth.  So, as you observe the wonderous signs of spring bursting forth in nature, especially in our azaleas and trees, I also hope that within each of us there is an overflowing renewal of life and love that will settle into your bones, so that you will know God’s deep abiding love for you. Have a blessed Easter.  Grace & Peace, Fr. Tommy

Returning to the Sanctuary – Update:
As you know the diocese has given churches the option to have services inside and we have many groups working hard to make this happen, but we need your help with making this a reality.  Volunteers are needed to assist attendees with checking in and directing people as they come into the sanctuary and again as they exit, and we also need assistance with sanitizing the space after the service.

Our plan is to return to inside services beginning on Sunday, April 11th with the 8 a.m. service ONLY.  You will need to register for this service and it will only be in-person with no livestream.  Our plan and hope is to have the 8 a.m. service as an in-person service for a couple weeks as we work out the logistics and then open for the 10:45 service in-person later in April.

Please be aware that we also have the added issue of  non-functioning HVAC/air conditioning units for the sanctuary.  We are awaiting word on a diocesan loan to replace the HVAC units Scheduling a replacement of the system may also complicate our plans to return to inside worship.

If you are interested in helping with volunteering for any of the activities to help us return safely please contact Becky Olbon or myself.
Fr. Tommy

Gratitude:
I want to thank the staff at St. Matthew’s; Charmaine, Susan, and Kyle for their diligent, dedicated, and creative work over these past several months of planning and preparing for Holy Week and Easter services.  I also want to thank everyone who has taken part in the planning and preparing for these sacred and holy services, especially the members of the Worship Committee, the Altar Guild, and the Audio / Visual Team.  Their dedication and devotion are unparalleled. Lastly, I would like to thank Becky Olbon for her tenacious and steadfast spirit over these last many months that have help to guide and steer this vessel we call St. Matthew’s.  I am deeply grateful and honored to be serving as your priest.
Grace & Peace, Fr. Tommy

 



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Warden’s Corner — Vestry Retreat

March 20, 2021

The new Vestry went on retreat last Saturday at Jim and Susan Jung’s horse farm. We had an amazing time getting to know each other and setting goals for St. Matthew’s. In true St. Matthew’s fashion, we began the day breaking bread together and celebrating Holy Eucharist, followed by spiritual reflection.

Susan, along with her horse assistants, led us through team building exercises that helped us learn more about each other’s talents and goals. We spend the better part of our day setting goals for St. Matthew’s for the upcoming year.
The goals that we came up with for this year are as follows:
1. Reopening the Church building and making sure that everyone feels comfortable coming back to the building.
2. Structural Changes in Stewardship, youth programs, inreach and outreach ministries.
3. Communication. We all realize this is a major issue we must address.

We all love our parish, and it is going to take all of us working together for the changes to happen, not just though of us serving on the Vestry. Springtime is a time of new beginnings and new opportunities, so I challenge you to reach out to your vestry members and ask how you can get more involved.
Peace,
Becky Olbon
Senior Warden



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Musical Meditation For Holy Week

by Kyle Osborne, St. Matthew’s Director of Music

Music for Holy Week

As we approach Holy Week, I wanted to share some music for meditation that may not be familiar but that I feel should be more well known.

The first piece I would share is “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß” BWV 622 from the Orgelbuchlein (Little Organ Book) by J.S. Bach (1685-1750). This piece is an organ setting of the Lutheran Chorale by German theologian and hymn writer Sebald Heyden (1499-1561). O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß” is a Passiontide Hymn based on the Four Gospels and was originally 23 stanzas. Bach choose to set the first stanza as an ornamented chorale. Bach vividly depicts the chorale text with appoggiaturas, sighs, and striking chromaticism. The text and listening link are below.

O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß,
darum Christus sein’s Vaters Schoß
äußert und kam auf Erden.
Von einer Jungfrau zart und rein
für uns er hier geboren ward,
er wollt’ der Mittler werden.

O man, thy grievous sin bemoan,
For which Christ left His Father’s throne,
From highest heaven descending.
Of Virgin pure and undefiled
He here was born, our Saviour mild,
For sin to make atonement.

https://soundcloud.com/user80906043/bach-o-mensch-bewein

“Crucifixion” from Symphonie Passion by Marcel Dupre (1886–1971) is a programmatic organ work that was originally improvised during a recital on the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia. In this work you can hear Jesus walking to Calvary, falling along the way, the hammering, the anguish, and torment of being nailed to the cross, crying out to God before he breathes his last, his body being lowered and laid in his mother’s lap. Dupre ends quietly, in peaceful sorrow with the Stabat Mater chant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s_N9e32bcw&t=43s

Last year we recorded Stations of the Cross with organ interludes French organist and composer Cesar Franck (1822–1890). The results were very moving, and I would like to share them with you again this year. Here is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIq9KiYmTlc&t=16s

I hope these works will enhance your Holy Week meditations.

Kyle Osborne
Director of Music



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Holy Week and Easter At St. Matthew’s

Palm Sunday – March 28th:
8:00 a.m. Zoom (see your newsletter, The Messenger, for Zoom info.)
Drive-Thru Communion after the 8 am service for 30 minutes.

10:45 a.m. – Outside In-person and live streamed with communion.
Please register on Realm.

4:00 p.m. Garden Eucharist on the lawn to the left of the church. Casual, informal, no technology.
Please Register on Realm.

Maundy Thursday – April 1st: 7:00 p.m. Live-Stream Service from Sanctuary. Hand-washing (no foot-washing due to Covid restrictions), stripping of the altar, no Holy Communion.
Maundy Thursday Watch — In Person or At Home  from 9:00 p.m. Thurs – Friday 10:00 a.m.
Please register here  (via SignUp Genius) for either In-person or At-home prayer time slots so that someone is praying throughout the night.

Good Friday – April 2nd. 
12:00 p.m. Live-Streamed Service from the sanctuary. No Holy Communion.

Easter Sunday – April 4th: Two Services–
6:45 a.m. Sunrise Eucharist No technology or music at this service.
Please Register on Realm.**

10:45 a.m. – Holy Eucharist Livestreamed From the Sanctuary, Easter music, including hand bells and violin.
Flowering of the Cross at the church steps during Drive Thru Holy Eucharist from 12 noon – 1:00 p.m.

 

**Registration on Realm for all services will open approximately 2-3 weeks ahead of time. Attendance limited to 50 individuals for services, including all service participants, due to Covid restrictions. In case of inclement weather, outdoor attendance will be canceled. For questions regarding attending any service, please contact the church office.

REGISTER ON REALM



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Shrove Tuesday Pancakes Photos

St. Matt’s tradition for Shrove Tuesday each year has been for the Youth to serve a yummy pancake supper to the parish in the parish hall, complete with pancakes and all the trimmings, bacon and sausage, and a huge serving of fun and fellowship. This would be followed by the Burning of the Palms to prepare ashes for Ash Wednesday the following day. But of course since the 2020 Covid pandemic lingers into the beginning of 2021, this event could not occur this year. That didn’t mean that pancakes were off the menu, though.

Instead, families prepared pancake or waffles (or latkes!) at home, and posted the results on Facebook. Here are some of the great photos we received.  Many thanks to all who made this a “together-separately” Shrove Tuesday to remember!

 



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Getting Ready For Lent: Shrove Tuesday Is February 16

Written by Mara DiGiovanni 

It may be hard to believe it, but Lent is almost here again! The old liturgical season will start this week with Ash Wednesday, albeit in a new and more virtual way this year. Before we get to the familiar rites of Wednesday, we celebrate Shrove Tuesday, where, traditionally, we burn the palms of the previous year’s Holy Week, and also eat a LOT of pancakes. But why do we do these things, and how can that knowledge help us celebrate together during a time when we cannot gather as one body?

Let’s start by looking at the name itself; “shrove” is a form of the English word “shrive”, which means absolution of sin. The purpose of the Ash Wednesday service is to absolve the penitent of their sins, to wash them clean for the spiritual desert journey that is Lent. Likewise, the purpose of Shrove Tuesday is to prepare one’s pantry for the Lenten season. Traditionally, when Lent was celebrated, there were certain things that EVERYONE was expected to give up, EVERY YEAR. These things were generally rich foods, like sugar, milk and cream, and eggs, ingredients that pancakes use up a lot of, making them an efficient choice for one last pre-Lenten party!

One way we would like to encourage a little long-distance fellowship is by inviting you to share your favorite pancake recipes with each other. You can share your recipes on the St. Matthew’s Snellville Facebook page, try out someone else’s, maybe even post some photos a your syrupy stack, but most importantly, have a great Lent!



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Observing Lent At St. Matthew’s — See What’s New This Year

What if we prepared for everyday like we do for Lent? We get so busy with work, kids, home, committee meetings, exercise that we often forget the important things. COVID-19 has made this even easier by allowing us to become really lax about our spiritual life. When we first began this pandemic journey almost a year ago, we all showed up for the online services but as time has gone by and the pandemic deepened, it has been easy to step back into our isolation.

Lent is a time of preparation and personal reflection for Good Friday and Easter that marks the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have put together several ways that you can refocus yourself and your family this Lent:

Stations of the Cross: An outdoor Stations of the Cross has been set up on the left side of the church for you to come and walk at your leisure.

Sacred Space Pilgrimage: Have you missed being in the sanctuary? Here’s a time to pray and meditate there during Lent: Thursday’s – 10 – 11:30 am and Saturday’s – 2 – 3:30 pm
Individuals and/or families are invited to take a Spiritual Pilgrimage of prayer and meditation to St. Matthew’s Sanctuary. Please registister on Realm due to Covid restrictions.  Spaces limited to 10 individuals at a time, inclusive.

Sunday’s Outside Live In-Person Service @ 4 pm. w/ communion (weather permitting)
Beginning Sunday, February 28th
Bring your own chair and join us for a Casual Outside & In-Person Service in the Garden area, located beside the undercroft. **Weather Permitting. Registration on Realm is required due to Covid restrictions.**

Palm Sunday – March 28th:
8 am Zoom (see your newsletter, The Messenger, for Zoom info.)
Drive-Thru Communion after the 8 am service for 30 minutes.

& 10:45 am – Outside In-person – live streamed with communion.
Registration on Realm is required due to Covid restrictions.**

Maundy Thursday – April 1st: 7 pm Live-Stream Service from Sanctuary
Plans are being made for the Maundy Thursday Watch following the service. Stay tuned for information on registering for this Lenten tradition.

Good Friday – April 2nd:
12 pm Outside Live & In-Person Live-Streamed Service
Registration on Realm is required due to Covid restrictions.**

Easter Sunday – April 4th: Two Services– 6:45 a.m. Sunrise Eucharist
Registration on Realm is required due to Covid restrictions.**
No technology or music at this service

10:45 a.m. – Livestreamed From Inside the Church, Easter music
Drive Thru Holy Eucharist offered for 45 minutes after the 10:45 service.

**Registration on Realm for all services will open approximately 2-3 weeks ahead of time. Attendance limited to 50 individuals for services, including all service participants. In case of inclement weather, outdoor attendance will be canceled. For questions regarding attending any service, please contact the church office.

Register on Realm



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We Say Goodbye To Mother Liz+

Sunday, January 31, St. Matthews parishioners masked up and faced down a chilly, drizzly winter day to bid adieu to our beloved Mother Liz Hendrick. The online service included the Concluding of a Pastoral Relationship ceremony, led by the Rev. Canon John Bolton, representing the Diocese of Atlanta. Mother Liz returned her keys to the Senior and Junior Wardens, and the Parish Register to the Altar Guild Director.

Mother Liz was presented a framed photo of her standing beside the Little Free Library erected in her honor. On behalf of Mother Liz, her family presented a new altar book to the church, and Maureen Rutherford, her close friend, presented a bench to be placed in the courtyard.

After the online service, carloads of families and individuals began arriving to receive drive-through communion. Then, they lined up again–bearing books for the Little Free Library and gifts and cards for Mother Liz—to say goodbye and see her off into a happy retirement with our prayers and blessings.

The Snellville Police Department was front and center, driving through with lights flashing in honor of Mother Liz. Officer Rankin presented her with a Retired Snellville Police Chaplain’s badge.

The Little Free Library will be well-stocked. More than 100 books were donated, from children’s books to fiction to non-fiction. The Library will be open to the community as well as parishioners. We hope you will come and browse the offerings, and bring a book to share with others.

Mother Liz’s final sermon ended with this: “My time with you is over, but God still has work for you to do.” She promised to pray for us, and asked for our prayers in return.

We’ll miss you, Mother Liz. We promise to keep doing God’s work and to keep you in our prayers. We thank you for the wonderful legacy of books and reading you have left us.

 



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Knit Crochet and Pray Items Help Rosebud Episcopal Mission and Local Needs

2/12/2021 UPDATE!
Thanks to the generosity of St. Matthew’s parishioners and the work of Knit Crochet & Pray members, we are mailing four boxes to Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota with the following in the shipment:
23 sets of hats/scarves/gloves
31 sets of hats/scarves
13 extra hats
5 extra pairs of gloves/mittens
1 pair of socks.
Their temperatures were actually minus35 degrees last week and a wind chill of -35 this week!
36 sets of hats and scarves and a box of flat plastic flashlights twill go to the homeless at the Church of the Common Ground.
KCP continues to work on more mittens, scarves and hats for Rosebud, as well as chemo caps for chemo patients in the Atlanta area. Thank you for generosity, and thank you, KCP! If you are interested in helping with this active group’s efforts, please contact Beth DIGiovanni.

Original Post: Help St. Matt’s Knit, Crochet, Pray Ministry With January Giving

We would like to invite you to help the children on Rosebud and our local homeless at the Church of the Common Ground to stay warm this winter. During the month of January we are asking for contributions of clean used sweaters and/or fleece and/or warm yarn. These items may be dropped off at church in the plastic bin (with a KCP sign on it) in the back of the church by the bench. The KCP members will make mittens from the sweaters and fleece and hats/scarves from the yarn. The KCP has made the work for Rosebud one of its continuous projects.

Rosebud Episcopal Mission was established in 1889 for the Lakota Tribe in South Dakota.  According to the 2017 census the population was 11, 354 with over 4,000 children now between the ages of 4-18 years (Mother Lauren Stanley,2020), and it covers an area of 1,970.362 square miles. The 2017 census reported 39.7% of the residents had incomes below the poverty level. It is divided into the Mission East under Rev. Anne Henninger with four churches and the Mission West under Rev. Dr. Lauren Stanley, Superintending Presbyter, with eight churches.

Our church found out about Rosebud when our postulate at the time, Nancee Cekuta (now Reverend Nancee at Holy Trinity in Fayetteville, NC), was assigned by our diocese to work there one summer. She came back telling us of the great needs on the reservation, especially for children waiting for buses  in extreme cold. Since that time, our church, led by the St. Matthew’s Knit, Crochet, and Pray Ministry (KCP), has collected and made donations of hats, scarves, and gloves for the school-aged children (ages 4-18 years) on the Rosebud Reservation. South Dakota and Rosebud have been hard hit by COVID-19; Mother Lauren is recovering from her second COVID-19 case.

Thank you so much for helping those in need.

 

From Mother Lauren at Rosebud Episcopal Mission

To: Beth DiGiovanni, Knit, Crochet and Pray
Date: 12/30/2020 8:09 PM

Subject: All of the knitted items have gone out and we had a blast giving them out!!!

Oh, Beth, this has been SOOOO fun this year. We put the hats, scarves and gloves in the stockings that we gave out via the GLORY program, and then gave more to the White Buffalo Calf Woman’s Society (the domestic violence and sexual abuse shelter for women and their families).
And everyone was overjoyed!!!!

WIth COVID, we haven’t been able to gather our children … so we went to them instead and delivered to parents and grandparents, so the kids could open the gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas.

I’m attaching one photo … because it’s just so darned cute! Little one wore it all night, and all the next day!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! All y’all really helped make Christmas in a really weird year seem so much more normal for our children!

Blessings and peace,
Lauren

The Rev. Dr. Lauren R. Stanley
Superintending Presbyter, Rosebud Episcopal Mission (West)



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At St. Matthew’s, our MISSION is to continue the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, by serving the greater community through loving its children, caring for the unfortunate and witnessing to the healing power of God’s love.

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