Friday, August 26, 2011

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

In the midst of the summer heat, we hear the account of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane from the Gospel according to Mark:

They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’ He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.’ (Mk. 14: 32-42).

The disciples cannot stay awake. Jesus says that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” It reminds me of what St. Paul wrote: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Rm. 7:15. Aren’t we all like the disciples and St. Paul? When Jesus asks us to do something, we do the very thing that we do not want to do. We fall asleep. We do something contrary to what God is asking us to do. Why? Our own St. Augustine writes about this passage when he speaks of his conversion in Book VIII of The Confessions. He said that we make choices through our own wounded will which is fragmented and disoriented. Our will thinks it is seeking the good, but our will is broken and our choices are sometimes very flawed. The sins are our choices. It is the drama of our human condition, and Augustine called it “original sin.” Salvation in Christ frees us from our sin.

Let us pray: Almighty God, we thank you that by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you have overcome sin and brought us to yourself, and that by the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound us to your service. Renew in us your servants the covenant you made with us at our Baptism. Send us forth in the power of the Spirit to perform the service you set before us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Congratulations to the Rev. Tom Bain who is graduating today from his Clinical Pastoral Education courses at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

St. Augustine’s Feast Day & Our 127th Anniversary: Potluck Dinner and Dancing on Saturday, 27 August at 7 p.m. and Eucharist Rite II on Sunday at 9 a.m. followed by a reception in Sutton Hall. We will also bless backpacks at the end of the service as our students start another school year. There is a sign-up sheet in Sutton Hall for the pot luck dinner. Please sign up to bring a dish to share.


TREES FOR GALVESTON

The Galveston Island Tree Conservancy’s 2011/12 NeighborWoods Project has been chosen as one of 20 finalists for Tom’s of Maine 50 States for Good Community Sponsorship. We have the opportunity to win a share of $150,000 to fund next year’s NeighborWoods in Galveston, Texas, but we need your on-line vote to help us win one of five $20,000 sponsorships or one $50,000 sponsorship. To find out more about NeighborWoods please visit www.galvestonislandtreeconservancy.org.

To vote, please go to www.50statesforgood.com, click on Vote Now and vote for The Galveston Island Tree Conservancy. Help us plant 700 trees in Galveston Island Neighborhoods in 2011/12!

Top twenty (20) applications will be posted on www.50statesforgood.com, and the public will be encouraged to vote from Tuesday, 2 August 2011 to Tuesday, 13 September 2011. Visitors can vote once (1) per day. Project voting standings will be displayed on www.50statesforgood.com and will be public until the last week of voting, on or about 6 September 2011. At the completion of the final voting phase, the 6 projects with the highest vote totals will be declared as the selected projects to receive funding, as determined by the consumer vote.

PRAYER MINISTRY

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, and we especially pray for everyone starting a new school year this week; those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol; shut-ins; anyone suffering from depression of anxiety of any kind; those suffering from the extreme heat, all of those who are traveling; those suffering any kind of adversity; for families; and for all those looking for work. "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” Martin Luther

Your servant in Christ,

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

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