Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The One Who thus Serves Christ Is Acceptable to God

Today we hear from Paul’s Letter to the Romans where he tells us: “Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling-block or hindrance in the way of another.” Rm. 14:13.

Throughout Paul’s writings, he urges the various communities of faith to live in love as Christ taught us, who gave himself up for us as a sacrifice. Eph. 5: 1-2. As we know, the word “sacrifice” comes from two Latin words (sacra [holy] and facere [to make]) literally meaning “to make holy.” When we refrain from passing judgment on others, even though we are tempted to do so, we are on the way to becoming the holy person Jesus calls us to be. When we accept God’s grace and take positive actions to live life helping others, and to build up one another as Jesus would have us do, we become a holy people. In doing this, today Paul tells us: “The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification.” Rm. 14: 18-19. When each one of us strives to do as Christ would have us to, the entire community not only benefits, but it is made better.

Let us pray: Loving Father, Your Son Jesus Christ showed us that in order to experience the fullness of life, we must die to self and serve others. Send Your Holy Spirit to give us strength to follow Jesus’ example so that in living as He would have us live, we build up a community of believers dedicated to following Christ. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS:

Adult Christian Formation: Join us for the last gathering in the series on heaven and hell, Angels with Harps or Demons with Pitchforks, Or Something Else, on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. in the nave.

UBE Youth at St. Augustine from 31 July to 1 August: The Union of Black Episcopalians Youth will stay with us at St. Augustine to learn their history and the place of this Church in the Diocese of Texas, and to use our facilities as a base of operations as they do mission work at St. Vincent's House. Corlie Jackson has asked us to feed our visitors on Sunday morning. She does not have an exact number yet, but she also said that the UBE would pay for the food.

Kitchen Shower: First weekend in August.

The Feast Day of St. Augustine & Blessing of the New Facilities:
Dinner celebration on Saturday, 28 August 2010
Eucharist, Sunday, 29 August 2010

PLEASE REMEMBER ALL THOSE ON OUR PRAYER LIST and especially:

Russ Viska who had a double bypass
Sue and Sean Coleman as Sue
Roylene Lemons’ continued recovery from cancer surgery
Baby Hayden and for his mother, Clarrissa Blevins
Gladys Simon
Cindi Clack

Let us pray for all of those serving in the Armed Forces, especially:
Lewis Lemons
Brian Taylor
Lt. Col. Bryan Leslie Runion

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550

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