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A WORD FROM THE RECTOR
Greetings in the
Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
The
ancient hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus (“Come, Holy Ghost”) is sung at all
ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood.
The use of this hymn is actually specified in the prayer book (e.g.,
at BCP 533), the only time the prayer book refers to the use of a
specific hymn, rather than allowing that a “suitable” hymn may be
sung. The hymn invokes the presence and
aid of the Holy Spirit, and we can do no better in prayer than invoke this
presence and aid over all the Church, remembering the gift of the Spirit in
Pentecost. The entire hymn bears review
(e.g., at no. 504 in The Hymnal 1982), but a focus on vv. 2 & 7 can remind us of and allow us to
focus on the gifts we receive from God, and how He allows Himself to be known
to us.
The gifts of the Spirit are
first enumerated at Isaiah 11.2-3, in which the prophet describes the gifts as
manifested in the Messiah. The gifts
include: wisdom, understanding, counsel,
fortitude (courage), knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. The gifts
described here benefit the person who receives them. At 1 Cor. 12.6-11
In invoking the presence and aid of the Spirit
in our own lives, we need to consider how to recognize the Spirit’s
presence. The Catechism teaches
at pp. 852-53 of the prayer book that we “... recognize the presence of the
Holy Spirit when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and are brought into love and
harmony with God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all
creation.” We recognize the truths
taught by the Holy Spirit “... when they are in accord with the Scriptures.” In other words, if we pay attention in life,
we can notice when we are drifting away from harmony to focus on ourselves
only, and we can test any assumption that may increase this drift against the
truth revealed to us in the Bible.
In our post-modern world a focus on self is
considered to be about the only focus we can have, and the Bible is viewed with
suspicion when it doesn’t agree with what we wanted to do anyway. And yet our Lord teaches that if we are to be
His disciples, if we are to be saved, we must deny ourselves to follow Him (e.g.,
Mark 8.34). The gifts of the Spirit
enable us to do just this, both for ourselves and to lead others to follow
Jesus.
The Spirit also guides us into
truth. In v. 7 of Veni,
Creator Spiritus we pray, “Teach us to know the
Father, Son, and thee, of both, to be but one.”
We pray that we may know the one God in three Persons, recalling that
when we are in harmony with God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with
all creation,” we can see all of God’s “fingerprints”. We can look at life and learn a little about
what God is like, experiencing the gift of love, the unshaken truth of God, His
complete goodness, and how He reveals Himself in beauty. We can observe and learn, but God also chooses
to reveal Himself to us in a detailed fashion.
In Scripture we learn about God:
that He is one God in three Persons; that He is love; that He made us
for Himself. And so, whenever we invoke
the presence and aid of the Spirit, let’s look and listen for God; let’s pay
attention to all of Creation, but let’s especially pay attention to how He has
chosen to reveal Himself to us, recalling Jesus’ words at John 14.11, “... I am
in the Father and the Father in me ...” God reveals Himself to us as the One
who loves us enough to give His Son for us.
God reveals Himself to us in Scripture as the God who calls us to
righteousness, but who pays the price of our sin when we fail. God reveals Himself to us as the One who has
come to us that we may have life “abundantly” (John 10.10), by Him, and through
Him, and in Him, singing in the final verses of the hymn:
Teach us to know the Father, Son, and thee, of both, to be but
One,
that
through the ages all along, this may be our endless song:
praise
to thy eternal merit, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Men’s Fellowship:
The Men’s Fellowship has re-started, and will meet the second Monday of
each month, at 6:30 p.m. The next
meeting will be on Monday, 12 May, at the rectory. Beverages and side dishes are provided for
cost. Bring your own steak, or something
else to grill. Please confirm
attendance by Friday, 9 May, or Fr. Karl at 494-1378 or 494-5321.
May
Vestry Highlights
Treasurer’s Report:
There is a balance of $13,840.67 in the Operating
Account and $18,436.47 in the Capital Account, with an additional $15,350.00
pledged to the Capital Campaign.
A motion was passed to place memorial gifts not
otherwise designated into the Capital Account.
Rector’s Report:
Elizabeth, William and Lila will be eligible for
health insurance at Community Counseling and will be taken off the Church’s
plan May 1. This will result in a budget
savings of $7,901.00 this year.
Sarah Pogue has agreed to play the organ every
other Sunday.
Harry Cole has expressed an interest in becoming a
Lay Eucharistic Minister and his application will be sent to the Diocese.
Patricia Cantrell has met with Bishop Gray and he
has endorsed her as a candidate for Postulancy to the
Diaconate.
Grace Notes
Holy
Days: The month begins with the
Feast of the Ascension (1 May), the Thursday which falls forty days after
Easter. This is one of the “principal”
feasts on the Church calendar; i.e., it cannot be moved to another day
(hence no Wednesday celebration of Holy Eucharist in the first week), must be
observed by the congregation, and is considered a feast which is of equal
obligation to Easter and Christmas.
The story of Jesus’ ascension
into heaven is found at Act 1.6-11, ending with angels telling the disciples
that Jesus “... will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Traditionally, churches are “oriented”
(worship faces east), because we expect Jesus to return from the east. This is also why graves face east, that at
the Second Coming the dead may rise to meet their judge.
The Feast of Sts. Philip and
James is transferred this year from 1 May to 2 May,
because of Ascension. This James is
“James the less,” to distinguish him from James, son of Zebedee, and James of
Jerusalem, the brother of our Lord (“James the greater”).
Pentecost falls this year on
11 May. This feast commemorates the
coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church (Acts 2.1-13), which is considered to
be the “birthday of the Church”. The
first Sunday after Pentecost (18 May) is Trinity Sunday. It used to be traditional on this day to use
the Athanasian Creed (Quincunque
vult), which is found on pp. 864-65 in the Book
of Common Prayer. This Creed is
much, much more detailed than the Nicene Creed, and makes a point in
distinguishing one God in three Persons (to the extent that human language can
do so!)
Uniquely, from the time of the observation of
Mothers’ Day, this is the first time Pentecost and Mother’s Day coincide. This gives us an opportunity to explore those
aspects of God which we in human terms consider to be “mothering,” recalling
that Jesus compared Himself to a mother at Matt. 23.37 and Luke 13.34, and that
in the first story of creation, the “Spirit of God” which broods above the
waters takes a (grammatical) feminine pronoun.
Lesser feasts in May include Monnica (d. 387). mother of
Augustine of Hippo, whose constant prayer finally converted her son from
paganism; the great mystic Dame Julian of
Music:
Please introduce yourself to our organist, Sarah Pogue. Sarah is a native of Baldwin, now living in
Since
we will not be limited to the digital hymnal, we’re going to try to add more
hymns. We’ll start by having the choir
sing new hymns as offertory anthems. To
begin, these will be selected from With One Voice, a hymnal supplement
issued by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in 1995. WOV includes music from different
cultures, as well as music of more recent composition than that found in The
Hymnal 1982. In
May the two anthems will be “I, the Lord of sea and sky” (1981, American) and
“Mothering God” (1995, American).
Choir rehearsals are set for 4 and 11 May at 9:30 a.m. Please join!
May 4 is the first Sunday
after Ascension, and the readings thus emphasize the kingship of Jesus. Ascension Day is considered to be the day
Jesus assumed His throne. The hymns
follow this theme, including the old favorites, “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus!”
(460) and “All hail the power of Jesus’ Name!” (450), the latter to the early
nineteenth century tune “Coronation”.
Pentecost hymns speak, of course, of the Spirit, and on 18 May (Trinity
Sunday), the hymns remain programmatical, reverting
on 25 May to hymns focused more on individual readings than an overall festal
theme.