Pray-ers and Prayers at St. Martin's

In addition to the Prayers of the People in the Sunday liturgy there are three additional parish prayer lists, each with a dedicated group of parishioners who have committed themselves to pray for those whose names are presented to them.

You may notice in today’s bulletin that the names list is significantly shorter. Those who had been on the Prayers of the People list for longer than 30 days have been referred to the appropriate prayer chain as described below. Those on the Chronic Illness, Long Term Cancer & Urgent Prayer Chain lists will be included in the Prayers of the People from now on.

To join the Pray-ers, simply call or email the Prayer Leader(s) listed below to receive the regularly revised lists and notification of those in need of prayer. One reason you don’t hear a lot of conversation about these prayer lists is that the Pray-ers keep these names confidential.

To request prayer for someone, you may directly contact the individual prayer chain leader and/or email the name to the parish office to be included on the Sunday Prayers of the People. These names will remain on the POP list for 30 days then drop off unless renewed. You may renew the prayer request and/or add your loved one to one or more of the other ongoing prayer lists of the parish.

Here are more details about the parish prayer lists as described in the parish directory:

Prayer Chains

Linda Huheey

The Prayer Chain is a ministry of prayer for all who request prayers.  The Prayer Chain consists of men and women of St. Martin’s who pray for the members of St Martin’s, their families and friends.  These faithful praying members of the Prayer Chain become open channels for God’s healing grace to flow through them to those in need.   We are grateful for all our faithful prayer chain members.

There are three groups for this confidential prayer ministry: 1) the Urgent Prayer Chain, 2) the Long Term Cancer Prayer Chain, and 3) the Chronic Illness Prayer Chain.

Urgent Prayer

Linda Huheey

Long Term Cancer

Daryl Norman

Chronic Illness

Gail Schneider

Although the Prayer Chains never meet as a group, there is a sense of community as we pray for the members of St Martin’s and their relatives and friends.   

If you would like to become a member of any of these Prayer Chains contact Linda Huheey.

To make a prayer request, contact the stated leader listed above.

Prayers of the People - Sunday Eucharist

Phone: 636-227-1484

E-Mail: stmartin@stmartinschurch.org

Use contact information above to submit your prayer intention for the Prayers of the People in the next Sunday Eucharist. Names remain on the list for 30 days unless renewed by the requestor.

NOTE: Contact information has been omitted for publishing on the Beacon and the website. Please refer to the parish director or the bulletin for contact information.

Save the Date: Episcopal City Mission Gala

The Episcopal City Mission invites you to the Moment in Time Gala on Thursday, October 16, 2025, at the LiUNA Event Center in Sunset Hills, Missouri.

With the theme “It Takes One Moment to Have an Impact,” this special evening will support programs that provide hope and healing for children in the juvenile justice system.

More details and a formal invitation will follow, but please mark your calendars now.

If you would like to become a sponsor, you can make a difference one step at a time. For questions, please contact Leslie Nickerson at office.manager@ecitymission.org or call 314-436-3545.

Learn more at ecitymission.org.

Rector's Reflection: A Season of Restoration, September 6, 2025

Beloved Members of St. Martin's,

Once, when I was about 12, a cluster of the autumn great monarch butterfly migration actually stopped in the woods across from my granddad's house. I remember being awed by the hundreds of pairs of orange wings that rested on the line of fir trees that bordered the baseball fields, resting before heading out the next morning. I was surprised, but I wasn't necessarily shocked, because back then monarchs were thought to be as common as a flock of sparrows. Back then, monarchs were ho-hum. You could see dozens of them every day from March through October.

Twenty years later, how things had changed. By the time my own children were little, and of an age to notice, seeing a monarch at any time of year had become a rare sight. We got incredibly excited one year when we actually had one of the late-summer caterpillars destined to make the migration form a crysalis in the frame of our patio door. The day it emerged, strengthened its wings in the sun, and flew away was a day of wonder in our household. And the next year my kids and I planted milkweed, their favorite food, in hopes of a repeat performance. A photo of one of "our" caterpillars will grace the cover of the 10:30 bulletin, and a photo of the butterfly it became will be on the cover of the 505 bulletin for this weekend.

In the last twenty years especially, factors such as pesticide use and habitat loss have caused a crash in the monarch population, and that is worrisome because, alongside a simultaneous honeybee colony collapse, it indicates a decline in pollinators, which can dramatically affect the food supply. The good news is that, as people have become aware of the issue, they have started acting to restore crucial habitat, including restoring prairie ecosystems, reducing the use of pesticides, and even planting backyard patches of wildflowers can help. The food chain web reminds us that helping these tiny creatures also helps humans, as one out of every three bites of food we eat is dependent upon pollination by butterflies, bees, and birds.

Creation care matters. There are millions of practical reasons why we need to be mindful of our impact upon the Earth and the environment: no other species has as much potential to either protect or pollute our land and water. But there is also a spiritual aspect to this crisis, as care for creation is an act of reverence for God and for each other, a practical way to engage in the Great Commandment. That's why I was so excited to be able to assist with the work of the Creation Care Caucus of deputies and bishops at the last General Convention in July of 2024, as we sought to encourage engagement with environmental issues at the triannual gathering of deputies and bishops from all across the Episcopal Church.

The first step of solving any problem is awareness. That is why this Sunday you will notice that we are using new liturgical prayers, emphasizing a theme of creation, and we will be using them from now until October 5. What once was a single day among the Orthodox tradition eventually grew to a focus from September 1 through October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.

This program of focus on creation originally was promoted by the World Council of Churches in 2008, which is when some Episcopal churches first started their observance of this time to pray about and work for the restoration of our loving care of our relationship with God and this planet and all its living things, all of whom are the handiwork of the Creator.

I invite you to learn more about Creation Care in the Episcopal Church here on the main website for our denomination.

There are many beautiful prayers from across the Anglican communion that we will be able to meditate upon and pray during this brief season. You can also see the collection of prayers and spiritual writings gathered for worship in Episcopal parishes here, and perhaps even use some of these resources in your own praying of the daily office.

You can learn about ways the Episcopal Church and her members are working to urge action on environmental concerns in Washington DC by learning about Creation Care activity from the Episcopal Public Policy Network.

You can even sign up to get a daily devotion delivered to your email inbox by following this link.

I hope that these next few weeks inspire you to get out into the beauty of creation and let God's handiwork feed your soul. As harvest time approaches, I hope that you can give thanks for the many hands that work to bring the food you enjoy from field, farm, forest and sea to your own tables.

As you approach the altar rail for communion, I hope you can be filled with wonder that communion itself depends upon wheat, rice, or potato flour and grapes and clean water, transformed through the work of human hands, to remind us of our call to remember Christ's saving work in the world as well as our God-given responsibility to tend the Earth lovingly.

In Christ,

Mother Leslie+