We're celebrating Episcopal Ministries Sunday this year on May 5, 2024. This is a chance for the diocese to come together and celebrate the incredible work being done by parish ministries with the support of Episcopal Ministries of Long Island (EMLI) to transform lives and communities.
Support from members of the clergy makes all the difference. Last year, EMLI saw a 52% increase in grant requests. That's a clear sign of the growing need in our communities, and it's why our involvement is so crucial.
These liturgical resources include:
- Proper Preface
- Prayers of the People
- A collect
- Sermon support
to help clergy in the diocese of Long Island integrate the themes of Episcopal Ministries Sunday into services on May 5, 2024. Thank you for all you do!
Liturgical Resources for Episcopal Ministries Sunday
Proper Preface
It is right and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
For through your Son Jesus Christ, who taught us to keep your commandments and abide in your love, you have made our joy complete. Through him, you have chosen us as beloved children, empowered us to bear good fruit, and strengthened us for love and service in your name. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, as we sing…
From Proper Prefaces and Offertory Sentences for Sundays, Years A, B, and C; Steve Lipscomb; St. Mark’s Press
Prayers of the People
The Right Reverend Geralyn Wolf
The Paschal Flame burns in the heart of the Church, and bids us to offer our prayers and thanksgivings in the joy of Christ’s resurrection, as we respond to each petition by saying, Hear us O Risen Christ.
+ In thanksgiving for the continued joy of this Easter Season, may it inspire us to carry the light of hope in the face of uncertainty and discord that covers our present age; let us pray.
+ That through Jesus’ sacrificial love for us, we may be signs of his embrace to all people everywhere, and call into his fold all who seek to share in his life and witness; let us pray.
+ For the leaders of the nations of the world, that they may realize the folly of power, prestige, and financial gain and work for the fruits of peace that will bring freedom, education, opportunity, and security to all inhabitants of the earth, our island home; let us pray.
+ In thanksgiving for Episcopal Ministries of Long Island, whom we remember today, and all who give of their time, treasure and talent, to bring the basic necessities of life and spiritual friendship to thousands of people throughout our counties and boroughs; let us pray.
+ For the forgiveness of our sins, when out of fear and anxiety, anger and despair, we have failed to love others as God loves us, may we ever-strive to live into the greatest commandment as the focus of our lives; let us pray.
+ For those who have died, (especially-------------), may they dwell in paradise with all the saints, in whose company we may one day reside; let us pray.
+ In thanksgiving for the gift of baptism, by which we have been knit together as a community of faith, and given the waters of hope to refresh the world; let us pray.
God’s generosity surpasses our understanding, and in gratitude, we continue our prayers either silently or aloud.
(The Celebrant adds a concluding collect)
Collect for Episcopal Ministries Long Island Sunday
The Reverend Canon John Denaro
God of abundance, the source of all that is good: You reveal your great love for the world in Jesus and call us into community. You nourish us with the Bread of Life and teach us to share our daily bread. Enlighten us with vision to see that we possess all we need to meet the needs of your people. Empower us by your Spirit to engage in acts of loving service to feed the hungry and heal the brokenhearted. With thankful hearts for all you entrust to us, we pray that our work may bring hope to many and usher in your Reign of justice; in your most Holy name. Amen.
Sermon Support
The Reverend Jesse Lebus
The Reverend Jennifer VanCooten-Webster
Things to consider as you prepare your homily:
- The work of EMLI is a living prayer.
- EMLI has a growing number of ministries for which it provides grants, this work requires the support of congregations from around the diocese.
- Through grants, EMLI supports: food pantries, community meals, thrift stores, summer camps and vacation bible schools, community gardens, senior programs, tutoring and after school programs, English as a second language programs.
- Episcopal Ministries Long Island is also proud to support Rural Migrant Ministries and the diocese’s Creation Care Community.
- The programs supported by EMLI involve not just people from our congregations, but from their surrounding communities, as well.
Connecting the Collect of the Day:
What does it mean for us to love God “in all things?” If “such good things as surpass our understanding” have been prepared for us, maybe loving God in all things - friend and stranger, kin and neighbor, our planet and local ecologies - is a way to pay it forward. Good things have been prepared for us; our covenant response is to prepare good things for others. To participate with EMLI is to participate in this grace filled cycle of preparation and hospitality.
Connecting the First Reading (Acts 10:44-48):
The first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, continues the theme of covenant response to God’s abundance. Those who already considered themselves the (only) children of God, and wore the outward signs to prove it, were amazed that the “Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” The Holy Spirit wasn’t dabbed or drizzled; it was poured. The Spirit is boundless in its abundance, and it was abundantly shared, even with the outsider, the heathen, the unclean.
In his witness of such abundant grace, Peter acknowledged and repented of his own, and his own people’s, capacity in gate keeping: "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"
EMLI seeks to mirror God’s abundance and Peter’s response by pouring out support for ministries who in turn pour it throughout our diocese.
Connecting the Gospel (John 15:9-17)
Every time we set aside our own needs, our sense of scarcity, we are making a sacrifice. St. Francis called these “little deaths” the source of our life in God. Do we think of those in need as our friends? Are we willing to lay down our life for them; to die little deaths that they, and we, might live?
We sacrifice our time, our resources and ourselves to bring into being - through the power of the Spirit - the real presence of Christ at the altar. EMLI provides each of our parishes with the opportunity to broaden our altars through the sacrifice of our own generosity. Supporting the work of EMLI stretches our 5 foot slabs of timber and stone into communities throughout Long Island. The ministries supported by EMLI make known the presence of Christ, in those who serve and in those who are served.
When we are reminded that Jesus said the words “I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” do we imagine he is speaking to us? Do we know what it means to cultivate? It requires good soil. It requires seed from sound stock, a fresh graft or a healthy sapling. Fertilizer, companion planting, well timed and knowledgeable pruning. Of course, trial and era.
Often, the notion of developing and maintaining a ministry is a daunting one. EMLI brings many seasons worth of experience and more than just financial support to parishes that request and receive grants. With the aid of Episcopal Ministries of Long Island, parishes and their efforts in meeting the needs of their communities are bearing good fruit. When congregations make gifts to EMLI, they also participate in the cultivation of abundance, the bearing of fruit that will last.