“You Only Need a Heart Full of Grace” MLK Jr.

What do you need to serve your community?  In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., the only thing you need is “a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”

On January 16, 2012, Martin Luther Kind Junior Day, St Stephen’s hosted a service day at the William Blackstone Elementary School–it was a great success!

There were 130 volunteers from partner churches and organizations.  Meet the Worms!,  City Year, Tech Mission, Boston Collegiate Charter School, Parish of the Epiphany Winchester, Northeastern’s Peace Through Play, Simmons, All Saint’s Brookline, Cornerstone Church, St. Stephen’s Teen Programs, St. Stephen’s Congregation and the Blackstone school made it all possible!

We painted the 5th floor hallway, painted a beautiful mural representing the theme of UBUNTU and the schools three core values: Respect, Excellence and Unity.  We inventoried library books into a database that will allow everyone in the school to see books that are in the library, we organized classroom libraries and re-painted a kindergarten bathroom!

While the projects we accomplished were inspirational, the highlight of the day was the MLK reflection hosted by the Teen Staff from St. Stephen’s afterschool programs.  The teens facilitated a 20 minute discussion about the importance of community service during lunch.  The discussion was based around an excerpt about service from Martin Luther King Jr’s Drum Major Speech given in 1968.  Two teens sat at each lunch table, read the quote, and asked participants to reflect not only on the immediate impact of service, but also on the social impacts of service.  The  discussion at each table ranged the gamut from the importance of young children getting involved in their communities to service as a way to bridge the gap between faith, race and socio-economic status.

It was a wonderful day filled with lots of service and community pride.  We hope you can join us next year!

posted by Meg McDermott

Martin Luther King Jr. Service Day Monday January 16, 2012! 9AM-3PM

St. Stephen’s is hosting a service day at the Blackstone School on MLK Jr., Monday January 16, 2012.  St. Stephen’s along with partner organizations and churches will host a service day to beautify the Blackstone!  We will be painting hallways and murals, organizing classrooms and much, much more.

The day begins with breakfast provided by Meet the Worms! at 9 AM, followed by a morning of work.  Lunch, provided by Parish of the Epiphany Winchester and a reflection on MLK hosted by St. Stephen’s youth, will take place at noon and work will resume from 1-3PM.

Please join us!  MLK service day

Posted by Meg McDermott

Confirmation Preparation Kicks Off!

Our Confirmation class includes 18 potential confirmands and is kicking off in January with our Martin Luther King, Jr Service Day on  Monday January 16th with painting and other important projects at our partner school, the Blackstone Elementary School.  Confirmands also will be acting in leadership roles as ushers, lectors, and lay Eucharistic Ministers during the Childrens’ Chapel on Sunday January 22. 

Confirmands will be participating in a retreat at the Barbara C. Harris Camp in New Hampshire in March (brrr!) and are expecting to participate in the Confirmation at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday May 12.  Please plan to join us to support our confirmands and to celebrate their commitment to their faith!!

Classes to prepare for Confirmation begin on Sunday February 5. 

For more information, contact our Christian Education Coordinator Meghan Sweeney (meghantsweeney@gmail.com)

posted by Liz Steinhauser

Christmas Eve!!!

 

The Angels Give Glory!

Christmas Eve at St. Stephen’s was exciting!

The evening began with a parish-wide pot-luck supper.  And then it was time for the pageant!  Over 40 young people from both the Sunday worship congregation and the Afterschool program participated in this most-awesome Christmas Pageant!  There were angels, sheep, shepherds, manger animals, the star in the East,  Joseph, a baby Jesus doll, four kings, two Marys, narrators, and MCs.  The pageant was pantomime-style with congregational Christmas hymns throughout.

Following the Pageant, the adults remained in the nave for worship while the youth went downstairs and rotated through four activity stations: Christmas pictionary, Christmas bingo, Make-a-Nativity scence, and Christmas drawing and poetry.  Lots of laughter and high energy!

At the end of the evening, each youth received a donated Target gift card! And each adult received a donated poinsettia!

Submitted by Meghan Sweeney, Christian Education Coordinator

Las Posadas!!!

On the Journey!

43 children and adults joined in the St. Stephen’s Sunday School’s enactment of Las Posadas on December 4, 2011.  Las Posadas (literally, “the inns”)  is a Mexican tradition in which participants join Mary and Joseph in the journey of Jesus’ birth.  The hope of Las Posadas is for participants to experience what it might have been like to have been Mary and Joseph as they wandered, looking for a place to stay, and to experience their feelings as they came to understand how unique and amazing Jesus’ birth was.

 After equipping ourselves with our individual travelling bags, donning nativity costumes, and learning our travelling song “Soon and Very Soon,” we made our pilgrimage through the 9 stations (1 station for each month of Mary’s pregnancy) set-up throughout the building, each one telling a part of the story of Jesus’ birth.  There were  different activities at each station, including making angels, learning the Magnificat (Mary’s song of praise), getting a donkey for the journey, knocking on the doors of inns, making take-home nativity scenes, singing songs, finding stars, and smelling incense.  Our journey culminated with a gift – just as the Magi brought gifts to  Jesus – for each child.  By journey’s end, we had many souvenirs for our travelling bags. 

Posted by Meghan T. Sweeney, Christian Education Coordinator

On a Roll…!

Hang on!

November 13, 2011 brought another Family Adventure Sunday!  St. Stephen’s boarded the yellow school bus and headed to Rollerworld in Saugus on November 13, 2011.  The brave among us donned skates and circled the cosmic-themed rink!

The Best for Last!

On October 30, a mere five days before his retirement, Bishop Bud Cederholm made his first ever visit to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.  As noted by one of the St. Stephen’s staff, Bishop Bud had “saved the best for last!”  By the end of the day, Bishop Bud heartily agreed!

The day began with Bishop Bud chatting with some of our young people over breakfast of waffles and turkey sausages. At St. Stephen’s, we serve our young people (and parents) breakfast every Sunday before our Christian Education classes begin.

Then came a service filled with prayer, song, and joy! More than 100 people participated in our regular worship service.  Bishop Bud preached about humility and the importance of our Christian commitment to the environment.  He also offered young people a  message about Jesus’ love for everyone and our need to return that love.  How? By acting on the message to “feed my sheep.”  (When asked who were the sheep we needed to feed, one young person said “my sister!”)

After an amazing potluck spread of delicious food and some discussion with the congregation, Bishop Bud joined leaders from the Executive Committee of the church and the staff of the St. Stephen’s Youth Programs. Together, we talked about the importance of the work we do (and how much more there is to do). One teen spoke about the job experience she and all teens are getting as CITs.  Another teen spoke about the support St. Stephen’s offered her family as she grew up in the program and how she sees other families getting that same support.  One adult leader spoke about how all generations in her family feel welcome because our services are in English AND Spanish.  Many people in the room spoke about St. Stephen’s being like a family or being a second home.

And then, Bishop Bud asked where we see ourselves in five to ten years.  One teen from St. Stephen’s and another from St. Augustine & Martin, both of whom have grown up in our programs, spoke about going off to college for four years, studying a relevant field, and then coming back to be a site director at one of our B-READY or B-SAFE sites.  An adult spoke about St. Stephen’s being a model to other urban hubs wanting to start similar youth programming. And I spoke about the impact I hope and pray we will have on the neighborhoods around our sites — helping the Blackstone School successfully complete its turnaround process, changing the quality of life issues evident in the Lenox neighborhood, and transforming vacant lots into community gardens.

The energy and the vision in the room was palpable. One of our  interns in the Youth Programs said it best.  She wants to come five days a week (and has arranged her academic schedule accordingly) because she sees the kingdom of God being built — little by little, brick by brick — by what we are doing together.  May it be so!

Posted by the Reverend Liz Steinhauser, Priest Associate and Director of Youth Programs

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh Yes!

On October 16, about 40 congregants and Youth Programs participants from St. Stephen’s all traveled to the Franklin Park Zoo for the monthly family outing!  The weather was beautiful, we packed lunches, saw lots of animals (the gorillas and lions were some favorites) and made some new friends on the playground.

However, after this day the Franklin Park Zoo will always be so much more than lions and tigers and bears for me.

As a newcomer here at St. Stephen’s, I’ve been thinking at length about where my place is in this wonderful community.  When I first got here I felt like an observer more than a participant.  It sounds foolish, but to be honest I was really nervous about the family outing to the zoo.  The night before I was lying in bed working myself into a frenzy.  All of these questions were running through my mind as I lay awake in bed:  What if I try to speak Spanish and offended someone? Should I stay with the kids I know from B-READY or talk to adults?  My family isn’t here, am I even allowed to go?  By midnight I had convinced myself that I should call in sick because by the time I arrived at church I would obviously forget every social and relational skill I possessed.  Ridiculous, I know.

Sunday morning my fears subsided as my excitement to see all of the kids and families grew.  As I turned the corner onto Shawmut Ave and saw the Blackstone in front of me, and I saw families I knew out walking, I knew everything was going to be OK.  As I walked into Children’s Chapel later that morning and was greeted by everyone in the room, I realized that I didn’t need to find a place in the community—they were making one for me.

I am happy to say (and I’m sure to no one’s surprise) that I was welcomed on the family outing with open arms, literally.  Right after church school Genesis O. ran up, hugged me and said, “You’re coming to the zoo right? I told my mom you were, so you have to.  I’ll save you a seat on the bus.”

Posted by Meg McDermott, Blackstone Community Partnership Organizer

Let the Little Children Come

On October 16, forty young people (and about seven adults) gathered in the art/teen room of St. Stephen’s to have our first Children’s Chapel of the school year.   Starting two years ago, Christian Education Coordinators at St. Stephen’s have helped design and carry out such service; these are times to come together for prayer, song, and Eucharist in ways that are completely youth-focused.  Middle schoolers serve as lectors and acolytes, younger children help lead songs, and the youngest ones have an opportunity to draw their prayers.

This Children’s Chapel was no different; there was full participation from young people of all ages. This even included the young daughter and son of At-Large City Councilor John Connolly, who happened to be visiting St. Stephen’s on this Sunday.  Youth came to understand the Gospel story from Matthew to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” by passing around coins from around the world.  Coincidentally, Silvia got a coin from Cape Verde and shouted out “Hey, this coin is from MY country!”  Youth examined both sides of the coin in their hand, identifying Abraham Lincoln or Queen Elizabeth II as the equivalent of Caesar. Then, we talked about money and objects (such as X-Box) being what belongs to the world.  What belongs to God is each young person in the room who is a Child of God and is loved by God. We can return that love helping neighbors and forgiving annoying siblings.

Songs enthusiastically but perhaps not always harmoniously sung included “I Have Peace Like a River” and “Halle, Halle.” “Let the Little Children Come” was led by Sr. Julian and a crew of kids holding up lyric cue cards.

Prayers of the People were written or represented in crayon.  Some of the prayers raised up included:

• Thanks for life, my family, and my food
• Thanks for life and a home
• Thank God for my mom
• Thank you for Nature with a picture of a tree, bird, river, and a fox (or is a panther? Or a panda?)
• Thanks for flowers and parks
• Thank you for God for the fish
• A drawing of a playground with no words

Then we all celebrated the Eucharist together, sharing prayers, and bread, and wine.  We concluded with the words of our closing prayer, “God, thank you for feeding us with holy food.  May we be nourished to live holy lives and to shine your light in the world.”  Amen!

Posted by the Reverend Liz Steinhauser, Priest Associate and Director of Youth Programs

The Crellins on a Mission!

Early this summer, Jenny, Adam, and I had the privilege of joining a team from St. Andrew’s Church in Wellesley and some teens from Youth Programs on a mission trip to Jamaica.  It was a wonderful experience, that you can share by viewing  the mission trip album at: 

http://hagleygapmission2011.shutterfly.com/