St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

Memo from Diocese about H1N1 Flu

kccalore — Sat, 02 May 2009 14:30:25 +0000

This is memo that I received from Bishop Howe, which copies a memo that he recieved from the Rev. Marshall Scott, one of our St. Luke’s chaplains. It talks about a few resources available for more information about Swine Flu. The most important thing to remember is that Swine Flu is prevented just like any other flu (Fr. Scott has a reminder at the bottom of his memo), and that there is no reason to panic about this. Here are the memos:

Clergy of the Diocese,

Please find below a memo from Marshall Scott which I believe should be shared among our clergy as soon as possible.

Please be aware that as of today there is a link on our website (www.episcopalwestmo.org) to an article from ENS regarding the H1N1 (Swine) Flu as well.

BRH+

From: Scott, Marshall
To: bphowe@earthlink.net
Sent: 5/1/2009 3:25:46 PM
Subject: Swine Flu
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Barry:

I prepared this, and now have approval from PR and from appropriate folks in the System, including John Pumphrey, to release this to community clergy. I thought you might also want it to release to our diocese, and perhaps to share with Kansas.
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Marshall
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Text:
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There is a lot of concern about the new H1N1 (Swine) flu, and how that might affect congregations. A number of our denominations have circulated information, but I thought I would share some resources with you.
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First, from the Saint Luke’s Health System web site you can link to good general information about the flu and about numbers from the CDC and other sources. Note that this is not information from the health system, but good resources that we’re using and can commend to others. The specific page on our web site is http://www.saintlukeshealthsystem.org/slhs/system/health_resource_center/swine_influenza_information.htm.
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Episcopal Café, a web site of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (D.C.) has a page with useful links, some of which address specifically how churches are addressing communion. You can find that at http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/health_and_wellness/what_to_do_about_the_flu.html.
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Remember that the most important steps to take are things we already know:

Wash hands early and often, and use appropriate sanitizers.
If you feel sick, stay home as an act of grace to others.
If you have a family member sick, keep that person home for the same reason.
Use discretion especially if you’ve recently been in Mexico, or have been with someone known to have this flu.
Follow guidelines from the CDC and the State Department about travel to Mexico.
Get your information from trustworthy sources: the CDC, local public health, or your health care provider.

�
Marshall Scott
Chaplain
Saint Luke’s South Hospital
Overland Park, Kansas

St. Anselm of Canterbury

kccalore — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:05:28 +0000

Today is the feast day of one of our most important Anglican saints, St. Anselm of Canterbury.

You can learn more about him in Lesser Feasts and Fasts or at the above link, and his readings are here.

Here’s a short summary of his life:

Anselm was born in Italy about 1033, and took monastic vows in 1060. He became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093. His episcopate was stormy, in continual conflict with the crown over the rights and freedom of the Church. His greatest talent lay in theology and spritual direction.

Undergirding Anselm’s theology is a profound piety. His spirituality is best summarized in the phrase “faith seeking understanding.” He writes, “I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand. For this, too, I believe, that unless I firstbelieve, I shall not understand.”

Here is the collect for St. Anselm:

Almighty God, you raised up your servant Anselm to teach the Church of his day to understand its faith in your eternal Being, perfect justice, and saving mercy: Provide your Church in every age with devout and learned scholars and teachers, that we may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Happy Easter!

kccalore — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:48:15 +0000

Hi, everybody! It’s Easter Friday…has everybody recovered from Holy Week?

As with most things, we’re a lot better at doing the “bad stuff” rather than the good stuff. Not that the mysteries of our salvation carried out in Holy Week are bad…but the events were hard, and hard work. Easter Week is supposed to be the mirror image of Holy Week, a week full of celebration, rest, enjoyment, gratitude, joy, feasting and fun. In the same way, the whole Easter season is supposed to be the mirror image of Lent, a continuation of all the things we celebrated on Easter.

Don’t forget to celebrate and enjoy as intenionally and with as much commitment as you fasted and repented during Lent. It wouldn’t hurt to make some Easter disciplines for the season, because Christian joy is a choice that we must make day by day. Off the top of my head, here are a few ideas for observing the Easter season:

eat more ice cream
enjoy the things you gave up for Lent
have a party
go on picnics
sing…out loud
offer praise to someone every day
buy something you don’t need, but you really want
put flowers on the kitchen table
dress up for school or work
go on a date with a special person (this can be but doesn’t have to be romantic– in our family we have Daddy/Daughter dates pretty frequently)
write letters…by hand–real mail makes people happy
say “I love you” to someone who already knows; it’s still nice to hear

If you have some suggestions for how to observe our 50-day celebration, post them in the comments, or post them in the Yahoo group.

Here’s the collect for Easter Friday:

Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.