Maundy Thursday 2008
June 22, 2008
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- Clergy at Stripped Altar
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- At the Altar
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- Stripping the Altar
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- Clergy Servants
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- Foot Washing
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- Processing from the Stripped Altar
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- Stripping the Altar
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- Father Chip Washes Feet
Annual Meeting 2008
June 22, 2008
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- Osei and Father Ed
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- Father Ed
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- Koinonia Band
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- Parish Business
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- Reading the Minutes
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- Opening Prayer
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- Patti Babb
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- Good Food and Good Fellowship
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- Robyn and Christie
Liturgy Lesson for St. John Baptist: He must increase, but I must decrease
June 21, 2008
Today, we commemorate St. John Baptist, and, in contrast to many of the saints’ days, we observe his nativity (birth) rather than his death. Called in some places the “Christmas of Summer” this event celebrates a miracle birth involving a supernatural and miraculous intervention by God in the pregnancy and birth. St. John Baptist was the last and greatest of the prophets and was both our Lord’s cousin and His herald, as documented in the early chapters of SS. Luke and Matthew. He was the first to proclaim the Lamb of God and actually ministered Baptism to our Lord, an act of humility on Jesus’ part, and certainly an awesome and highly emotional act of obedience on St. John’s. St. John said, speaking of the coming ministry of the Messiah words we can live our devotional lives by: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” St. Augustine renders a strikingly mystical interpretation of these words when he notes that beginning with the celebration of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, the days actually decrease in length, whereas, beginning with the Nativity of Our Lord, they lengthen. This is the lesson on this day, then—He must increase, and we diminish—for the Christian, this means invoking and assimilating Christ’s nature, more and more, in favor of our own fallen selves—lives changed by His Presence!
True Christianity Means True Communion
June 20, 2008
“You cannot truly call yourself a Christian if you do not have communion with the One who made you — My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27).” ~ Matthew Keegan, Word Journey
Rejoice for Answered Prayer: Karyn Pleake
June 18, 2008
Larry left this morning for McAllen, Tx. to his new job. Not just a job but THE job that we have been praying about for some time and God would not let us stop. His title is Environmental Scientist. He will still need some study hours but he is contracted in that capacity by an environmental clean up firm. Right now he is putting in the hours in the field (and heat) at the well sites to engineer the clean up and will be working in Texas and New Mexico. For now, we will not be moving.
I just received a call from a tired but satisfied husband. Contract negotiations went well. His words-”I am overwhelmed with God”. Someday, over coffee maybe, we can share our testimony about these past 6 years for I believe that we have crossed the Jordan, and I am looking for some mighty big grapes!
Please, all of you who have prayed and stood with us through this trial, raise your hands and give a shout, share with us in our REJOICING! We are truly overwhelmed!
Love to all,
Karyn Miracle Pleake
VBS: Call for Volunteers and Registrations
June 17, 2008
Vacation Bible School (VBS) with the theme of Cosmic City for all children ages 3 years to 10 years will take place at All Saints July 7-11, 2008, 6:00 – 8:00 PM.
Emily Pratt is seeking help with VBS: set-up, clean-up, leadership assistants, and meals for the VBS staff 3 of the 5 nights. Contact Emily at vbs@allsaintsanglican.net to let her know how you can help.
The registration form is available online – register your children and their friends now. Early registration will help the VBS team plan and prepare to make VBS a fun learning experience.
The Bible tells us:
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” ~Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)
Help train up children in the way they should go by being a part of All Saints’ Vacation Bible School this summer.
If you live in or near San Antonio, your children are invited to Vacation Bible School at All Saints even if you aren’t a parishioner.
Abide in Christ
June 15, 2008
“Think of the things that take you out of abiding in Christ – Yes, Lord, just a minute, I have got this to do; Yes, I will abide when once this is finished; when this week is over, it will be all right, I will abide then. Get a move on; begin to abide now. In the initial stages it is a continual effort until it becomes so much the law of life that you abide in Him unconsciously. Determine to abide in Jesus wherever you are placed. ” ~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, June 14
“Dissing” God’s Grace?
June 14, 2008
Bible Reading: We then, as workers together with Him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain… 2 Corinthians 6 (New King James Version)
Bonus Readings: St Matthew 13:3-23; Hebrews 2:1-3; 3:7-19 5:12-14; 6:4-8; 1 Corinthians 9:23-25
Ever wanted to quit your post as a Christian? Get away from God’s commands for a while? This was one of the first lessons I learned in the military—if the commander gave you a post to walk—you did it until you were properly relieved. God’s army, the Church, is no different. Our Commander expects us to walk faithfully. Certainly we have some good examples of what happens to those who don’t do what He assigns—Jonah and Jeremiah spring to mind.
God gives us sufficient grace for our needs daily. In 2 Corinthians 6:1, St. Paul, in effect, says, don’t disrespect—“dis”—the grace God has given you. He says don’t receive God’s grace “in vain”—rejecting it in order to nurture frustrations, disappointments, or just plain selfish desires. If we do, we willingly sin—and that places us in a hazardous position “dissing” that Grace and our Lord’s sacrifice.
In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases the Corinthian passage by saying we’re to walk our posts, alert and unswerving, because “our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details” of our lives.
In other words, God’s power—the strength we need to walk successfully for Him, the testimony we were meant to model – emerges in troubles, hardships, and distresses (2 Cor. 6:4). And here’s the thing—our Enemy, Satan, loves to distract us from our need for God’s grace and convince us we can do it all on our own. That distraction can lead us to drift away from the salvation that comes to us at a great price—and can set us up to willingly choose sin.
No way this is what God has in mind for us. He intends, instead of continuously laying the groundwork of
repenting from sin, for us to grow up in Him. If we have been Christians more than just a short time, we
should be carrying our Faith to others—telling them about how God has changed us—and helping other
Christians to develop Godly life skills by our own example and teaching. This is the mark of a mature
Christian…someone who takes God’s grace seriously. So, what do we do? Of course, we need pray
together that we walk our posts in these uncertain times and not “dis” the grace God gives us.
Contemplative Prayer: “Holy Spirit, help me quiet myself so You can show me how to:
- Receive God’s grace now—It’s written… “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” —2 Corinthians 6:2
- Deal With the Tough Times—“There will be some difficult times in your Christian walk. God won’t necessarily take you out of them, but he’ll always walk you through them.” —2 Corinthians 6:4-10
- See what I’ve Squandered—“Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.” 2 Corinthians 6:1
- Internalize God’s Validation—Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details.
People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly … in hard times, tough times, bad times ….” — 2 Corinthians 6:4
Think about it: “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. — 1 Corinthians 9:23-25 (New King James Version)
All love in the Beloved,
Chip+
Liturgy Lesson for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity: The Liturgical Calendar in Communion
June 12, 2008
When we worship in our Holy Communion service, we actually model the cycle of a healthy spiritual life—and the liturgical Calendar as well. In each mass, we will find a little bit of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and even Trinity! If Advent is all about the Lord’s coming (and His Second Coming), just consider the first prayer, the Collect for Purity—we are asking the Holy Ghost to look into and prepare our hearts—much like St. John Baptist saying, “Prepare ye the Way of the Lord,”—and praying for the Second Coming in the Our Father: “…thy Kingdom come (Maranatha!). Aside from the proper preface for Christmas that celebrates the Lord’s birth, we proclaim it in the ancient words of the Nicene Creed and declare it with the words of God’s angels on that night in Bethlehem, when we sing the High Gloria—Gloria in Excelsis. Epiphany is in the inclusivity for all mankind in the prayers for Christ’s Church, the confession and absolution and when we commemorate the Body and Blood shed for all in the Consecration. There is ample Lent—the Collect for Purity (first one in the service), the Kyrie Eleison (Lord Have Mercy), and the Prayer of Humble Access—making us a people of open and contrite hearts when approaching the awesome and powerful Sacrament of Holy Communion. Of course, there is Easter—in the prayers for the faithful departed (Prayers for Christ’s Church), the confession and absolution, and the Consecration (All Glory be to Thee…), all of which come to us by the Resurrection. We invoke the Holy Ghost in the Epiclesis (Greek: “Calling near”) following the Consecration (And we most humbly beseech…) and in the preface for Whitsunday. Finally, we have Trinity—growth time—when we ask the Lord to fill us with His Nature in the Sacraments and continue to grow us in His Grace and blessing in the Consecration and Blessing. Lord, use this service to show us your cycle of grace and growth in our lives—more of you, less of us, as we look forward to your Return in Glory!
Thanks from Bishop Bena
June 11, 2008
Dear Father Chip,
Thank you for a very excellent visitation with your people at All Saints. As you know, I visit CANA parishes two or three Sundays a month, so I see the breadth of our fellowship. What I saw at All Saints was a wonderful group of mature Anglicans loving God with all their hearts, souls and minds. They are filled with joy and they have a lot of fun together. It is a healthy congregation.
Special thanks to you, Christie, Ed and Julie for providing outstanding clergy leadership.
Please read this letter to your congregation.
Your Brother in Christ,
Bishop Dave Bena
