St Edmund's Episcopal Church San Marino

STEDY, July 11, 2018

“The very meanest thing would be locking my brother to a flagpole. He was chained to the flagpole for six hours.”
“I used to play records that I knew she couldn’t stand. I’d play them over and over again. And she’d get so frustrated that she’d throw butter knives at me.”
“He made me drink out of the toilet.”
“She took my doll. Her name was Beanie. And she threw it down the incinerator.”
“He would tie a sheet on me and tell me I could fly like Superman. And he was going to let me test it first by jumping off the barn. I jumped and broke my collarbone.”

The stories above are some I recently on NPR from listeners asked about sibling rivalry. It’s summer, kids are home, they’re hot and bored which naturally leads to fighting between brothers and sisters. Even so, what is it about brothers and sisters that makes it ok to treat them worse than we would treat anyone else in the world? Is it because we are forced to live with them when they and we are at our most awkward stages? Is it competition for parent’s attention? Is it simply not knowing what to do with the power of knowing someone so well? Siblings do know very intimate things like each other’s prized possessions as well as their deepest fears. Whatever it is, we can hope that those early battles teach us how yucky it is not only to be tortured but to torture and therefore we grow out of it.
This week we will begin learning about fraternal twins Jacob and Esau who began their fighting in the womb. Their mother Rebekah was so overwhelmed by the intense activity in her growing belly that God told her that boys she carried would go on to create two nations. It is said that they were even fighting when they were born. As we read their story in Genesis its easy to see how they could make fun of each other, Esau was red and hairy and Jacob was a mama’s boy who liked to cook. Sadly God was right about them being two nations, the fights they had as kids were just seeds that, with the meddling of their parents, sprouted, grew and created a divide between the two men that lasted for decades. Its optimistic but hopefully by looking at the lives of these two men and their families, we can face the tormenting, the teasing, even the yells of “mom, make him stop” with new appreciation and approach.

~ Upcoming Events ~

Sunday, July 15
Team 3 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

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Sunday, July 22
Team 4 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

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Sunday, July 29

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

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Sunday, August 5
Team 1 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

Youth Group
5 pm -7 pm
Enjoy the last week of summer at Bowlmor in Pasadena where we will play arcade games, bowl and grab dinner.
The full menu as well as pricing can be found on their website.

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Sunday, August 12
Team 2 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

Blessing of the Backpacks

Please bring your backpack or any other school supplies
to be blessed before the school year begins.

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Sunday, August 19
Team 3 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

Please feel free to contact Heather if you have questions.