25 July, 2019
“If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader. Sell ice cream” Steve Jobs
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
There are few matters I like to bring to your attention.
First, we want to remind you to ensure that you send in your monthly parish contributions to the Diocese. If you have not been sending it monthly we want you to catch up on your contributions. This is not a tax on the parish rather it is our tithe to support the administration, mission, and ministry of our Diocese. Though we now live in Houston the Diocesan Office is still in El Paso, Texas. When you write your check be sure you write it to the Diocese of the West(CANA) and mail to our Diocesan Office in El Paso:
Diocese of the West Office
St. Francis Cathedral Church
470 Eagle Drive
El Paso, Texas, 79912.
Please do not make your diocesan checks to St. Francis Cathedral. Make it to the Diocese of the West. The Secretary is having trouble cashing such checks.
We appreciate your consistent financial support. Thank you!
Second, let me use this opportunity to remind the Knights of the Diocese to pray for and support your diocese with your annual contributions. Several of you have been faithful in the past and I encourage you to continue to do so. Those who haven’t need to repent of your sinful neglect of your commitment and begin to do what you promised to do. Be promise keepers!
Third, I invite you to dedicate the FIRST WEDNESDAY of EACH MONTH or ANY OTHER DAY OF YOUR CHOICE to fasting and prayer for our diocese, your parish, and your family. My goal is to help us cultivate a culture of concerted common prayer and fasting in the Diocese. In so doing we learn to lean on God and thereby form a habit of dependence on Him. The Bible teaches us not to depend on ourselves to accomplish the work of Christ but rather to depend on the Lord himself for wisdom, power, provision, direction and all we need fulfill his purpose in the world. His purpose for us is to glorify and enjoy him through worship, teaching his word, fellowship, service, and proclaiming Christ to the World. We also need revival, a true revival. I love the way Jonathan Edward describes revival, “Revival is not churches filled with people, but people filled with God”. Pray for that kind of revival in your life and in our diocese.
Finally, as you follow Christ, do not let the difficulties and challenges of life rob you of your joy or derail you in your faithful walk with Christ. Persist in your obedience to Christ. Persist in your love for him. Persist in your trust in him. The Lord will not fail you in the present and definitely not in the future. In times of difficulty call upon the Lord in prayer. Go boldly to his throne of grace and plead persistently with faith to grant you your needs and the needs of your family and church. The Lord our God has many blessings for us in this life and greater blessings for us in our eternal future in Heaven. To aid your anticipation of our glorious future I invite you to meditate on these words of the 19th century “Prince of Preachers”, Charles Spurgeon : “O Christian, anticipate heaven for a few years. Within a very little time you will be rid of all your trials and your troubles. Your eyes now suffused with tears shall weep no longer. You will gaze in ineffable rapture upon the splendor of Him who sits upon the throne. Better still, you shall sit upon His throne. The triumph of His glory shall be shared by you; His crown, His joy, His paradise-these will be yours, and you will be co-heir with Him who is the heir of all things.
As one says, “He that has been in heaven but five minutes knows more than the general assembly of divines on earth.” We have many unfulfilled desires at present, but soon every wish shall be satisfied, and all our powers shall find the sweetest employment in that eternal world of joy.”
Stand firm in your faith confident in the fact that your hope of full salvation is sure and certain because our Lord Jesus Christ through his atoning sacrifice has secured you and by the power of the Holy Spirit is able and will hold you firm to the end.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, who knowest our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion, we beseech thee, upon our infirmities, and those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, mercifully give us for the worthiness of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Warm regards,
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Felix Orji, OSB.
Diocesan Bishop | Anglican Diocese of the West
Missionary Bishop | CANA
Church of Nigeria(Anglican Communion)
Holy Trinity Cathedral Church
“We are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. True faith always yields the fruit of obedience to one degree or another.” –
Dr. R. C. Sproul
