St. Anthony on the Desert Episcopal Church
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FlashMob in italy during covid

7/15/2020

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A huge thank you to Claudia Smith for sharing this. As she said, it will give you goose(God)bumps.
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If this time has taught me anything

6/19/2020

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it could happen

5/8/2020

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Picture
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before I lay me down to sleep

4/28/2020

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Here is a video shared by Claudia Smith. Her comment was "This truly rises above great...our Lord is clearly very much at play here. Awesome is an understatement.

Please listen and enjoy.
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virus season poem

4/23/2020

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Picture
Mark your forehead with ashes,
your door post with blood.
This plague, blind to faith, deaf to prayer,
passes over or pauses, coming
for him, for her,
for me, for you.

Poetry, like prayer,
wrestles with angels
trying to make sense,
cleaving our lives into before and after
winter / spring
life / death.
​
Far more than forty days, this desert time
yields neither to sacred seasons
nor to spring’s green arrows.
We pray not for resurrection
but for the return
of ordinary time.
​                                         - Mary Turck

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How the Virus Stole Easter

4/14/2020

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By Kristi Bothur
with a nod to Dr. Seuss

Twas late in "19 when the virus began
bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land.
People were sick, hospitals full,
doctors overwhelmed, no one in school.
As winter gave way to the promise of spring,
the virus raged on, touching peasant and king.
People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.
April approached and churces were closed.
:"There won't be an Easter," the world supposed.
"There won't be church services, and egg hunts are out.
No reason for new dresses when we can't go about."
Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest.
The world was focused on masks and on tests.
"Easter can't happen this year," it proclaimed.
"Online and at home, it just won't be the same."
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went.
The virus pressed on; it just would not relent.
The world woke Sunday, and nothing had changed.
The virus still menaced, the people estranged.
"Pooh pooh to the saints," the world was grumbling.
"They're finding out now that no Easter is coming.
"They're just waking up! We know just what they'll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two.
and then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo.
"That noise," said the world, "will be something to hear."
So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear.
And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies.
It started down low, then it started to rise.
But the sound wasn't depressed.
Why, this sound was triumphant!
It couldn't be so!
But it grew with abundance!
The world stared around, popping its eyes.
Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise!
Every saint in every nation, the tall and the small,
was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!
It hadn't stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine
stood puzzling an puzzling.
"Just how can it be?"
"It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies,
it came without egg hunts, cantatas or money."
Then the world thought of something it hadn't before.
"Maybe Easter," it thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more."
And what happened then?
Well....the story's not done.
What will YOU do?
Will you share with that one
or two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will you share the source of your life in this fight?
The churches are empty - but so is the tomb,
and Jesus is victor over death, doom and gloom.
So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer,
as the virus still rages all around, everywhere.
May the world see hope when it looks at God's people.
May the world see the church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find faith in Jesus' death and resurrection,
may the world find joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be known as the year of survival,
but not only that --
let it start a revival.

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palm sunday and easter

4/14/2020

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We are all finding different ways of celebrating Palm Sunday,, Holy Week and Easter. Thanks to Barbara, Francisco and Nancy for sharing their inspirations.
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And People stayed home

4/9/2020

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And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves.

- 
 Catherine O’Meara
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Invitation by pastor dorian

3/23/2020

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Dear Friends in Christ,
 
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 
To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Ephesians 1:1-2)
 
Perhaps we will never look at the Apostle Paul’s letters in quite the same way.  Paul wrote to churches in the far flung reaches of the Roman Empire with words of encouragement, words that shared his deep faith, and words that affirmed his commitment to Jesus.  He wrote letters because sometimes travel to be there in person was not possible or because he was “inconveniently” confined (in prison).  Could we take a page or two from Paul’s letter writing practice to share our own words of encouragement, faith and commitment to Jesus with one another?
 
The God that we worship chose to create this world, chose to be a part of this world in Jesus, and chose to be continually present through the power of God’s Spirit.  This means that God is present in every challenge and difficulty that we face.  And God seeks to bring good even in the most trying of times.  We are called to be attentive and alert to the ways of God which reflect this goodness.  So, I encourage us to see God’s presence among us and share this with one another. 
 
Where is God present?
 
  • God is visible in the countless medical personnel around the globe who are working long hours and risking personal well-being to care for the sick. 
  • God is present in small acts of kindness – check-in phone calls, the delivery of meals, volunteering to grocery shop for others, even in sharing toilet paper that is in short supply! 
  • God is present with volunteers roaming the church property to pull up weeds and keep things tidy.
  • God is present with the church staff scrambling to learn the ins and outs of on-line media to keep everyone connected. 
  • God is present to offer us courage and strength, a love that binds and a peace that surpasses all understanding.
 
While experiencing our own form of confinement we will begin a modern-day epistle – a blog – so everyone at St. Anthony can participate.  You can reach our blog, and if you wish, contribute reflections, poems or prayers by following this link: 
 
Your turn now – Where is God present to you?
 
In Christ’s Love,
Dorian+
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March 13th, 2020

3/13/2020

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A Poem by Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM

Lock down.
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.

But,

They say that in Wuhan (China) after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi (Italy)
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighborhood.
So that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary.

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting.
All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way.
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.

So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.

 - Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM March 13th 2020
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Saint Anthony on the Desert ~ 12990 E. Shea Boulevard ~ Scottsdale, AZ 85259
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