January 2008
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		1 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. AA 8 p.m.	2 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist 6 p.m. Feast of the Holy Name	3 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. AA noon NA 8 p.m.	4 AA 8 p.m.	5 Convocation Caucus for delegates to Council 10 a.m. All Saints, Tupelo
6 The Epiphany Christian Ed 9:15 a.m. Coffee 10:00 Holy Eucharist 10:30	7 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m.	8 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. EFM 6:30 p.m. AA 8 p.m.	9 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist 6 p.m. St. Aelred of Rievaulx (tr.)	10 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. AA noon NA 7 p.m.	11 AA 8 p.m.	12
13 I Epiphany Christian Ed 9:15 a.m. Coffee 10:00 Holy Eucharist 10:30	14 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m.	15 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. Project Homestead 8:30 a.m. EFM 6:30 p.m. AA 8 p.m.	16 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist 6 p.m. Confesson of St. Peter (tr.)	17 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. AA noon NA 7 p.m.	18 AA 8 p.m.	19
20 II Epiphany Christian Ed 9:15 a.m. Coffee 10:00 Holy Eucharist 10:30 Bishop’s visit and Annual meeting	21 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. Vestry 5:30 p.m.	22 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. EFM 6:30 p.m. AA 8 p.m. Community “Council of Prayer” St. Paul’s UMC 5:30 p.m.	23 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist 6 p.m. Conversion of St. Paul (tr.)	24 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. AA noon NA 7 p.m.	25 AA 8 p.m.	26
27 III Epiphany Christian Ed 9:15 a.m. Coffee 10:00 Holy Eucharist 10:00	28 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m.	29 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. EFM 6:30 p.m. AA 8 p.m.	30 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist 6 p.m. Presentation of Our Lord (Candlemas) (tr.)	31 Morning Prayer 7:45 a.m. AA Noon NA 7 p.m.	February 1-3 Diocesan Council (Natchez)

A WORD FROM THE RECTOR

Greetings in the Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Happy New Year! In the month of January we sometimes look for respite after the busyness of the “Holiday Season,” but the New Year is also a time of new beginnings. The 1^st of January only became the start of the new year at the adoption of the Gregorian calendar on 1 January 1582. Prior to then most countries in the West reckoned the year to start on 25 March (The Feast of the Annunciation). To this day, the Eastern Orthodox reckon the year to begin on 1 September (corresponding to our 14 September, Holy Cross Day), and in the Church we begin the liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent.

This month includes our annual parish meeting, at which three new members of the Vestry will be elected. This day (20 January) will also be marked by the visitation of our bishop, at which he will both act as our chief pastor and to celebrate the sacrament of confirmation for one candidate. It is fitting, therefore, that we examine this month what it means to be a parish under the authority of a bishop, and how this relates to a mature faith in each of us. For purposes of this discussion I’ll refer to An Outline of the Faith (commonly called the Catechism) found on pp. 845–862 of the prayer book, and to the Historical Documents of the Church found on pp. 863–878.

The Church is described in the Creeds as “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic”. The Church is one as the Body of Christ. It is holy as an institution ordained by our Lord. It is catholic (the Greek word for “universal”) as encompassing all who confess the Name of Jesus, and it is apostolic as standing in succession to the original disciples of Jesus. Under “apostolic succession” each bishop in the Church can trace his or her episcopate back through an unbroken chain of laying-on of hands to one of the original apostles. As taught by St. Paul and as voiced by St. Ignatius of Antioch (martyred at the turn of the first century) the Church is in unity as gathered about her bishop. The word for “church” itself (ekklesia is Greek) means “assembly” or “gathering,” and this assembly gathers under the authority of a bishop as chief pastor. We are an “episcopal” church in that we recognize the office and ministry of bishop to be essential to the life of the Church. This episcopal character of the Church has, indeed, been included as one of four essentials in both the “Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral” (1886) and Lambeth Resolution 11 (1888) (BCP pp. 876–7), which state that the unity of all Christendom must be founded upon:

1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the revealed Word of God, the rule and ultimate standard of faith.

2. The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as the sufficient statements of the Christian Faith.

3. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself–Baptism and Holy Eucharist–ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.

4. The Historic Episcopate [to call all people into the Unity of God’s Church].

Confirmation is not one of the two “Dominical” sacraments (sacraments ordained by Jesus Himself), but is considered by many in the Church to be one of seven sacraments which include: Baptism; Holy Eucharist; Confirmation; Holy Orders (Ordination); Holy Matrimony; Reconciliation (Confession and Absolution); and Unction of the Sick (Anointing). Those in the Church who recognize two rather than seven sacraments consider Confirmation to be a “Sacramental Rite,” i.e., to be a “means of grace, [but] not necessary for all persons [as are Baptism and Holy Eucharist].”

So why be confirmed? Baptism bestows full and complete membership in the Body of Christ. In Confirmation, however, we are each given the opportunity to express a mature commitment to Jesus Christ (something we could not do in the case of an infant baptism), and to “receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by [the] bishop.” In other words, Confirmation allows each of us to say to our Lord, “This is what I believe; strengthen me in my faith.”

May each of us be ever strengthened in our faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, and by the fellowship of love and service we share in our Lord’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church!

Yours in Christ Jesus,

December Vestry Highlights

TREASURER’S REPORT: $16,876.52 in the Operating Account of which $959.00 goes to the Adopt-a-Family program and $3600.00 is payable Jan. 2008 for health insurance.

$41,268.81 is in the Capital Funds account. No payment for the parking lot and curbing has been required yet by the contractor.

Joe Trulove gave the update on the renovation of the Church Annex.

Painting will be done after Christmas, the windows are in, and heating and cooling are installed. The floors will be re-finished.

Father Karl reviewed the 2008 Budget with the Vestry. We discussed ways of cutting costs for 2008. The Vestry accepted the 2008 Budget.

Father Karl advised the Vestry on the progress of the Community Wide Church Initiative for Relief. An interactive web-site between the churches will be developed to share information on needs of the poor in West Point and Clay County. The web-site is being developed as a donation from 2 professional web designers.

The vestry was advised of the theft of keys and cash from the Church Office. Locks have been changed and Father Karl, Debbie Chandler, and the 2 Wardens are the designated people to have keys to the Church Office.

We discussed a new Parish Directory with photos. Melissa King will contact church members to see how many are interested in the Parish Directory. The last directory with photos was issued approximately 12 years ago.

The Annual Business meeting and pot-luck luncheon will be held Sunday, Jan. 20^th. All members of the church are asked to attend.

Bishop Gray will also be visiting us Sunday, Jan. 20^th.

Vestry Highlights submitted by the Church Clerk, Marion Kohut.

Grace Notes

Holy Days: In this month of January we’ll celebrate a number of extra feasts on our Church calendar. 2 January is celebrated as the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (also known as the Feast of the Holy Circumcision), transferred from 1 January. Falling eight days after Christmas, this would have been the day for Jesus to be circumcised under Jewish Law, but is a day used to commemorate that our Lord’s Name is holy. The name Jesus means “the Lord saves” in Hebrew, and in an ancient calculus a name connotes power; a name effects what it says, and for this we give thanks. Sunday the 6^th is the Feast of the Epiphany, when we celebrate the manifestation of Jesus to all the world. The lessons make it clear that God’s saving word is for all people, not just Israel, and so we as Gentiles may keep this feast with an especial thanksgiving.

On the 16^th and 23^rd, respectively (transferred from the 18^th and 25^th), we commemorate the Confession of St. Peter (the first recognition by a disciple that Jesus is the Christ) and the Conversion of St. Paul, his conversion from persecutor of Christians to the apostle to the Gentiles. These are the high or solemn feasts in this busy month, but there are several other notables, including Bl. Archbishop William Laud (10 January) and Bl. King Charles I (30 January), who gave their lives to preserve the catholic character and the historical episcopate within Anglicanism.

One February feast is transferred to 30 January, since it falls in the same week. This is the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, also known as the feast of the Purification of Mary and as Candlemas. This day recalls the presentation of the infant Jesus recounted at Luke 2.22-38. Our liturgy is much enriched by the Nunc dimittis (the “Song of Simeon”) found here, used especially at Evening Prayer, which recites that the light of Christ is for all people, thus providing an apt “bookend” to the season of Epiphany. The term Candlemas comes from the tradition of blessing church candles on this day, a practice probably originally adopted to claim the day for Christian worship, where this day had previously been kept on the Anglo-Saxon pagan calendar as one honoring the earth goddess, Ceres, with a procession with torches

Music: Our month begins with the classic Epiphany carol, We three kings of Orient are (no. 128), a hymn often sung mistakenly as a Christmas carol! This is the most famous hymn of John Henry Hopkins, Jr., a nineteenth century American priest and teacher of music at the General Theological Seminary, New York. Matthew does not, in fact, tell us there are three magi; this number is inferred from the naming of three gifts. The ancient tradition that these wise men are kings comes from a reading of this Gospel passage with Psalm 72 (that kings shall bring gifts), with the gifts described at Isaiah 60. Epiphany also includes no. 112, In the bleak midwinter, by the pre-Raphaelite poetess, Christina Rosetti (d. 1894), which is certainly charming but does make a Middle Eastern winter sound more like an English winter!

Hymn no. 124, What star is this, with beams so bright, is also from the nineteenth century, but its tune is much older, being the melody Puer nobis nascitur (“unto us a boy is born”) from the 15^th century, from the monastery at Trier, Germany. This is a good example of newer words being matched with much older music, where the music had itself originally been used in a like context.

We close the season with a final hymn referring to the Epiphany theme of light, no. 427, When morning gilds the skies, which is an English paraphrase by Robert Seymour Bridges of a late seventeenth century German hymn. Bridges was a physician who became poet laureate of England, who has happily rendered the phrase with which we can sing the joy of Christ’s manifestation:

No lovelier antiphon in all high heaven is known

than, Jesus Christ be praised!

There to the eternal Word the eternal psalm is heard:

may Jesus Christ be praised!