Friday, August 13, 2010

When We Encounter God We Are Transformed

Stephen’s speech continues in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. He tells the authorities about Moses:

“But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die. At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house; and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.

When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites. When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. The next day he came to some of them as they were quarrelling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’ But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons. (Acts 7: 1-29).

The story was a familiar one to the authorities; it is familiar to us. But Stephen is reminding the authorities about the people God calls. We already heard about Abraham and today we hear about Moses, who was sent away by his mother so that his life might be spared from the sword of Pharaoh. Moses grows up in the house of the man who is enslaving his people. Moses is also a murderer. He killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a slave. Moses is a fugitive from Egyptian law. This is the man God calls to lead His people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. God encounters us where we are, but God does not expect us to stay there. An encounter with God transforms us.

Let us pray: Forgiving Father, Your Son Jesus greeted the sinner and embraced the fallen, but He called us to turn away from our failings and to turn to You. May the Holy Spirit enliven us to walk with Jesus who embraces us where we are, but leads us forward. Amen.


CALENDAR REMINDERS:

This Sunday, 15 August 2010, the Baptism of Hayden Blevins, at 9:00 a.m.

The Feast Day of St. Augustine & Blessing of the New Facilities:
Dinner celebration on Saturday, 28 August 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
Eucharist, Sunday, 29 August 2010 at 9:00 a.m.

Please let Pat Tate, Alicia Gaskin or myself know if you or others are coming so that we can get an accurate head count.

The Second Annual St. Augustine Art Show: It will be at the end of September and lasting into October. This year’s theme is “Spirit”.

PLEASE REMEMBER ALL THOSE ON OUR PRAYER LIST and especially:

In thanksgiving for the grants from the Anglican Compass Rose Society and First Presbyterian Church in Galveston

Sue and Sean Coleman as Sue recovers from brain surgery
For all those who are traveling
For the intentions of everyone in the congregation


Your servant in Christ,

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

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