https://www.facebook.com/199481673419946/

Saint Matthews Episcopal Church

Home
United States
Enosburg Falls, VT
Saint Matthews Episcopal Church

Come – Grow in God. Grow in Community. Grow in Service. Worship on Sundays is at 9am. We celebrated 150 years of our church building
on St. Canon Dr. Titus Presler

Matthew's Day, 21 Sept. 2024: Exhibits, Fun & Games, Time Capsule,
Organ Recital, Evensong & Community Dinner! We are a small, friendly congregation that enjoys exploring the presence of God in our lives. Sunday Worship is at 10 a.m. every Sunday:

- Holy Eucharist on 1st & 3rd Sundays and Festivals & as announced
- Morning Prayer on 2nd & 4th Sundays
- Adult Education & Children’s Sunday School

as announced

Church Leadership:
Senior Warden: Edith Hawksworth. Junior Warden: Richard Boudreau
Musician: Ferdinand Lauffer
Priest-in-Partnership: the Rev.

08/01/2026

Dear Friends,

Worship at St. Matthew’s this Sunday, August 2, will be Holy Eucharist at 9am – both in person and online. Worship will be followed by coffee hour in the Parish Hall.

Jacob wrestling with the angel, this week’s story from the Old Testament, is one of the more mysterious narratives in the Bible – Jacob visited at night by a man with whom he wrestles until dawn.

The story calls Jacob’s opponent ‘a man,’ not an angel, so why has Christian tradition called him an ‘angel’? After the incident, Jacob says, ‘I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved!’ So Jacob believes he has been visited by God, or at least by a divine representative so close to God that he has seen God face to face, as Moses longed to do on Mount Sinai.

God is spirit, not flesh, at least until God’s incarnation in Jesus. So religious tradition has settled on the category of angel for the visitor. But that is an awkward compromise, for the text does not call the visitor an angel. Might we consider this visitation a harbinger, a precursor to God’s coming to us in ’the Word made flesh’?

It’s striking that the wrestling has no clear winner. Not prevailing against Jacob, the visitor puts his hip out of joint, leaving him with a limp. Nevertheless, muscular Jacob is able to insist on holding the visitor in his grasp until the visitor blesses him, giving him the new name of Israel, which becomes the national name of God’s chosen people. Says the visitor, ‘You have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed!’

So the story attests to an existential and mystical encounter with God.

Context is important. Jacob is coming home to the brother, Esau, whom he had cheated out of their father’s blessing 14 years earlier. Terrified at how his brother might receive him, Jacob has sent his family and possessions on ahead of him as a token of vulnerability and chooses to be alone with his feelings of guilt, shame and fear.

In Léon Bonnat’s 1876 depiction of the wrestling, Jacob is consumed with struggle, while the angel is calm. That calmness may signal acceptance – God accepting Jacob in all his turmoil and struggle, God accepting Jacob as he is, with his faults as well as with his strengths. Being thus accepted by God, Jacob is able to accept himself and travel on to his brother, an encounter that turns out to be one of the most moving biblical stories of reconciliation as Esau accepts him back with open arms.

Indeed, Jacob exclaims to Esau, ’Truly, to see your face is like seeing the face of God – since you have received me with such favor!’ So Jacob has two encounters with the face of God – first with the divine visitor, then with his flesh-and-blood brother, another variation on the theme of incarnation.

So what to do with this story?

• What dilemmas of guilt and shame do you wrestle with?
• Are you able to bring your wrestling into your relationship with God?
• Can you believe that God accepts you as you are in your wrestling and repentance?
• Has someone been so gracious to you that you glimpsed in them the face of God ?

Zoom connection information:
• Click on this link.
• Or: Go to your Zoom application and enter:
Meeting ID: 838 6572 0588
and enter Passcode: ChurchNow

Blessings,
Titus Presler, Vicar

06/20/2026

Dear Friends,

Worship at St. Matthew’s this Sunday, June 21, will be Holy Eucharist at 9am – both in person and online.

There will be a guest preacher: the Very Rev. Walter Brownridge, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Nicosia, the capital of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Some of you may recall Walter from a previous visit, when he was canon to Bishop Shannon. After that stint, he was interim pastor at Christ Church, Montpelier, until he went to Cyprus earlier this year.

Cyprus is part of the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, which includes the Persian Gulf nations of Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman that have recently been attacked by Iran in the war initiated by the USA and Israel. That diocese is, in turn, part of the Anglican Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, which, in addition to Jordan and Syria, includes Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Iran, nations that are afflicted in the ongoing conflicts.

Brownridge's visit is an opportunity to hear from a religious leader who lives in the region and must navigate its complex dynamics. Cyprus itself is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious island that is divided between the Republic of Cyprus, which has strong ties to Greece and where Brownridge ministers, and Northern Cyprus, which is held by Turkey. St. Paul's Cathedral in Nicosia is located near the border between the two sectors.

In his backgound, Walter has been a Marine, a federal prosecutor in Washington, a missionary in Cape Town, South Africa, dean of the cathedral in Honolulu, and dean of students at the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee.

Come to hear personal perspectives on a wider world!

Sunday is also an opportunity to support Walter and his wife Tina in mission service in Cyprus. Walter is a specially appointed missionary of the Episcopal Church. As always, missionary finances are tenuous, so our support will be helpful. Please come with a check made out to St. Matthew’s but with ‘Brownridge’ noted on the memo line.

Zoom connection information:
Go to your Zoom application and enter:
Meeting ID: 838 6572 0588
and enter Passcode: ChurchNow

Blessings,
Titus

03/21/2026

MORNING PRAYER ON SUNDAY, MARCH 22, AS WE HEAR THE STORY OF THE RAISING OF LAZARUS

Dear Friends,

Worship at St. Matthew’s this Sunday, March 22, will be Morning Prayer at 9am – both in person and online. Leading worship will be Junior Warden Ferdinand Lauffer, who is also our parish musician. Ferdinand grew up as a Roman Catholic in Germany and has had a long association with St. Matthew’s, first as musician, then as member and parish leader. Last Sunday, when we heard the story about Jesus restoring sight to a man born blind, Ferdinand shared during coffee hour how the previous weekend he had once again spent a day helping guide blind skiers at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, yet another way in which St. Matthew’s parishioners serve the wider community.

On this Fifth Sunday in Lent, we hear the story of Jesus raising from the dead his friend Lazarus, brother to Mary and Martha of Bethany. This is the climax of a number of familiar stories we’ve heard from the gospel of John – Jesus’ reflection on Living Water with the woman at the well in Samaria, Jesus’ conversation about being born again with Nicodemus, the healing of the man born blind. The raising of Lazarus is a prelude to the resurrection of Jesus himself on Easter morning. And it’s paired with the story Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones, when in a vision the bones come together a form up a company of people

– Where in your life do you feel a deadness?
– What kind of renewal to new life do you long for?
– Spend some time meditating on that with God.
– Where in society do you feel a need for new life?
– How can you work with God on that?

Lent culminates in Holy Week. Please include these observances in your planning:

Palm Sunday, with Palms & Passion Story – March 29 at 9am
Maundy Thursday, with Last Supper Observance – April 2 at 6pm
Good Friday on March 3 –
Liturgy & Stations of the Cross at 12 noon
Ecumenical Service with Seven Last Words at 7pm
at First Baptist Church in Richford
Easter Sunday – Festival Eucharist at 9am on March 5
followed by Easter Egg Hunt for children

Zoom connection information:
• Go to your Zoom application and enter:
Meeting ID: 847 5546 3578
Passcode: ChurchNow

Blessings,
Titus

01/24/2026

MORNING PRAYER THIS SUNDAY, JAN. 25, AT 9AM – ONLINE ONLY BECAUSE OF SEVERE WINTER WEATHER!

Dear Friends,

Change of plans: The winter weather predicted for this weekend has prompted us to shift in several ways for Sunday:

– Worship will be Morning Prayer offered by me, not Eucharist
– We’ll gather only online via Zoom, instead of in person (remember the pandemic?)
– Annual Parish Meeting has been postponed to Sunday, Feb. 1
–Worship time will be the usual 9am

Please join from the warm coziness of your homes! Bring your prayerbook to your computer. Here's the meeting ID: 3901534577. No password – you'll be admitted from the Waiting Room.

Monday was the Martin Luther King holiday, when we recalled the birth of the Civil Rights leader on 15 January 1929. At Tuesday’s meeting of the diocese’s Executive Council, of which I’m a member, Bishop Shannon recalled the rule of life that King set forth for people involved in the movement. Here it is:

1. Meditate daily on Jesus' teachings.
2. Remember the movement seeks justice and reconciliation, not victory.
3. Walk and talk in love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes for others' freedom.
6. Observe courtesy with everyone.
7. Perform regular service for others.
8. Refrain from violence (fist, tongue, heart).
9. Strive for good health.
10, Follow movement leadership.

I’m struck by several features: The emphasis on Jesus and God (1 & 4) – remember, King was first a Christian and pastor, then a movement leader. The centrality of love and non-violence (3 & 8), which accords so well with Jesus’ teaching and lifestyle. The point that justice and reconciliation are the aims, not victory – oh, how tempting it is to turn our righteous causes into drives for victory! Hence the highlighting of service and self-sacrifice (5 & 7). The two bits that surprise me are the ones that emphasize courtesy and good health – very wholistic!

That rule of life, which appeared on King’s ‘Pledge Card’ in 1963, is a good one for us in these days of chaos brought on by disregard for the rule of law, oppression of racial and ethnic minorities, and a desperate drive for domination in world affairs. We are Jesus’ people. We must live out Jesus’ ethic with both courage and humility.

Blessings,
Titus

01/03/2026

COME TO MORNING PRAYER ON SUNDAY, JAN. 4: 1st SUNDAY OF 2026 & 2nd SUNDAY IN CHRISTMASTIDE

Dear Friends,

On this first Sunday of the New Year, Jan. 4, worship at St. Matthew’s will be Morning Prayer at 9am – both in person and online. Treasurer Dinny Hawksworth will lead the worship. On this Second Sunday in Christmastide we hear the stories of the Magi, the Flight into Egypt and Luke’s story about the 12-year-old Jesus astonishing the rabbis in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Christmas Eve Festival Eucharist was lovely and heartening with many attending. You can see the Christmas Tableau above. Thanks to Dinny for the photos!

‘Christmas: Jesus Gets Us’ was the theme of the Christmas sermon (attached), in which I riffed off the global He Gets Us ad campaign to emphasize that through becoming human at Christmas Jesus experienced all the highs and lows of the human condition and so is able to ‘get us’ – understand us, resonate with us, walk with us, be our companion on life’s journey.

Later, our daughter Charlotte responded, ‘Yes, but do people get him?’ that is, understand who Jesus is and take in the magnitude of what God has done with us and for us in Jesus? So on the First Sunday of Christmastide I preached on ‘Getting Jesus,’ a meditation on that day’s prologue to the Gospel of John: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Words was with God, and the Word was God. All things were created through him. . . . And the Word was made flesh and lived among us.’ Here we encounter the Cosmic Christ – eternal, creative, integral to the very being of God.

‘Jesus Gets Us’ emphasizes God’s movement toward us in Jesus. ‘Getting Jesus’ emphasizes our response to that movement as we receive God’s gift, grow in that gift and move toward God in Jesus. A dance of communion!

Zoom connection information:
• Go to your Zoom application and enter:
Meeting ID: 847 5546 3578
Passcode: ChurchNow

Blessings,
Titus

12/21/2025

'GOD OF THE WOMB.' MORNING PRAYER THIS SUNDAY, DEC. 21 – ADVENT IV

Dear Friends,

Worship at St. Matthew’s this Sunday, Dec. 21, will be Morning Prayer at 9am – both in person and online. This is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, which brings us to the threshold of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on Wednesday and Thursday.

We will celebrate Christ’s birth on Christmas Eve: Carols at 4:30pm, followed by Festival Eucharist at 5pm. Invite family and friends! Neighbors over the back fence! Strangers! And it’ll be on Zoom as usual.

We’re used to hearing the story of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary about Jesus being conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. But on this fourth Sunday in this lectionary year we hear the story about an angel appearing to Joseph to advise him to take Mary as his wife, ‘for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’

The story is a helpful complement to Mary’s story, for it brings in the perspective of the husband and his faithful response to God’s bidding. The angel goes on to explain that one name for the child will be Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ That is indeed the overall significance of Jesus’ birth, the deeply assuring gift of knowing that God is with us – with us in both anguish and exultation, grief and celebration, joy and grief, vitality and death.

For your meditation in these days, I share with you the prayer Bishop Shannon shared at the close of this past week’s Executive Council meeting:

God of the womb,
It is not lost on us that you submitted to the body of a woman,
trusting in it to protect and grow you.
As we remember the nine months you dwelt in the womb,
the body of God being nurtured and carried,
remind us that our own bodies are worthy
of such care and tenderness.
May this be a season of sacred pause,
as we allow time to be near to our bodies,
to protect and strengthen them.
In a world that demands so much of us,
remind us that Christ did not come in physical
independence,
allowing the world to take and use him without limitation.
Show us the face of the Christ who was gravely dependent,
who needed to be held, fed, washed.
Who needed to be soothed and rocked to sleep.
If we are to honor the divine in us,
may it be this divinity –
fully embodied, fully dignified in the body. Amen.

by Cole Arthur Riley, in Black Liturgies

Zoom connection information:
• Go to your Zoom application and enter:
Meeting ID: 861 0530 2200
Passcode: 666941

Blessings,
Titus

12/06/2025

LEARN FROM JOHN THE BAPTIZER THIS SUNDAY, DEC. 7, AT MORNING PRAYER AT 9AM

Dear Friends,

Worship at St. Matthew’s this Sunday, Dec. 7, will be Morning Prayer – both in person and online.

On this Second Sunday of Advent we hear about John the Baptizer preparing the way for Jesus by calling people to repent of their sins and be baptized in the river Jordan. We can hear his words as directed to ourselves as we prepare in this season to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child – a birth 2,000 year ago, but also a rebirth in our spiritual life right now.

Thank you to all who have contributed to the offering for Christmas gifts to the children at the Brookhaven Home in Chelsea. The gifts will be healing balm in the lives of those young people who come from terribly traumatized backgrounds.

Upcoming times of worship:
Dec. 14, Advent 3: Eucharist at 9am
Dec. 21, Advent 4: Morning Prayer a 9am
Dec. 24, Christmas Eve: Carol Sing at 4:30pm and Festival Eucharist at 5pm
Dec. 28, Christmas 1: Morning Prayer at 9am

Here’s an invitation from Darcey Mercier, pastor of neighboring Grace Church in Sheldon and St. Luke’s Church in St. Albans: ‘I am starting a book group with both Grace Church and St Luke's and wondered if your people would like to join. We will meet on Dec 15, 6:30-7:45 on Zoom and every other week for 6 sessions. We are reading Walk in Love, by Scott Gunn and Melody Wilson Shobe. People are just getting their books now, so it is not too late for folks to join.’ If you’d like to join, please be in touch with Darcey: [email protected].

Information for this Sunday:
Zoom connection information:
• Go to your Zoom application and enter:
Meeting ID: 861 0530 2200
Passcode: 666941

Blessings,
Titus

The picture of John the Baptizer is a rendering by the Mafa people of Cameroon.

Address

302 Church Street
Enosburg Falls, VT
05450

Opening Hours

9am - 11am

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Saint Matthews Episcopal Church posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your place of worship to be the top-listed Place Of Worship in Enosburg Falls?