Today we hear from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. There is a lot to unpack here, so fasten your seat belt! Paul writes:
Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. In the law it is written,
‘By people of strange tongues
and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people;
yet even then they will not listen to me,’
says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, ‘God is really among you.’ (1 Cor. 14: 13-25).
The purpose of liturgical prayer (like the Eucharist), is (1) to worship God, (2) to build up the community of faith, and (3) to instruct the faithful. So today Paul is telling us that praying in tongues is certainly a gift from God and can be a valuable aspect of one’s prayer life; it was a part of his prayer life. However, Paul discourages it in the liturgical setting because he questions whether it builds up the community. If there is no one to interpret, how do the other present, especially those who do not have the gift, understand what is being prayed?
Take this as an example, if the priest was to pray the Eucharist prayer of consecration in tongues, Paul would say that was not appropriate for the liturgy because there would be those, especially outsiders who would not understand the prayer and its significance. On the other hand, Paul would say that praying in tongues during an individual prayer for healing would be appropriate because that prayer is particular to the individual.
So, let us pray for our community at St. Augustine’s: Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this family of faith. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GLADYS ON HER 93RD BIRTHDAY: Watch over thy child Gladys, O Lord, as her days increase; bless and guide her wherever she may be. Strengthen her when she stands; comfort her when discouraged or sorrowful; raise her up if she falls; and in her heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of her life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS & UPCOMING EVENTS
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY: Sundays at 4:00 p.m. in Sutton Hall. Please join Jillian Bain for this prayerful study of Scripture.
THE FISH FRY: Saturday, 5 November 2011, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (proceeds for Church renovation/maintenance), and we are raffling a 32 inch flat screen TV (for the victims of the wildfires in Texas).
CLOTHING DRIVE FOR VICTIMS OF THE WILDFIRES: We will begin a clothing drive for the victims of the wildfires, especially the people of Bastrop and Calvary Episcopal. Please bring only CLEAN CLOTHES, SORT THEM BY SIZE, MALE/FEMALE, AND BOX THEM. Thank you in advance.
PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST especially all parishes with search committees as they seek new rectors, for all of those suffering from the wildfires, and in thanksgiving for all that God has done for us.
“We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would give his Holy Spirit unto us, that through his aid and assistance we may live unto God in that holy obedience which he requires at our hands.” —John Owen, Pneumatologia (reprinted as The Holy Spirit), 1664
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. In the law it is written,
‘By people of strange tongues
and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people;
yet even then they will not listen to me,’
says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, ‘God is really among you.’ (1 Cor. 14: 13-25).
The purpose of liturgical prayer (like the Eucharist), is (1) to worship God, (2) to build up the community of faith, and (3) to instruct the faithful. So today Paul is telling us that praying in tongues is certainly a gift from God and can be a valuable aspect of one’s prayer life; it was a part of his prayer life. However, Paul discourages it in the liturgical setting because he questions whether it builds up the community. If there is no one to interpret, how do the other present, especially those who do not have the gift, understand what is being prayed?
Take this as an example, if the priest was to pray the Eucharist prayer of consecration in tongues, Paul would say that was not appropriate for the liturgy because there would be those, especially outsiders who would not understand the prayer and its significance. On the other hand, Paul would say that praying in tongues during an individual prayer for healing would be appropriate because that prayer is particular to the individual.
So, let us pray for our community at St. Augustine’s: Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this family of faith. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GLADYS ON HER 93RD BIRTHDAY: Watch over thy child Gladys, O Lord, as her days increase; bless and guide her wherever she may be. Strengthen her when she stands; comfort her when discouraged or sorrowful; raise her up if she falls; and in her heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of her life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS & UPCOMING EVENTS
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY: Sundays at 4:00 p.m. in Sutton Hall. Please join Jillian Bain for this prayerful study of Scripture.
THE FISH FRY: Saturday, 5 November 2011, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (proceeds for Church renovation/maintenance), and we are raffling a 32 inch flat screen TV (for the victims of the wildfires in Texas).
CLOTHING DRIVE FOR VICTIMS OF THE WILDFIRES: We will begin a clothing drive for the victims of the wildfires, especially the people of Bastrop and Calvary Episcopal. Please bring only CLEAN CLOTHES, SORT THEM BY SIZE, MALE/FEMALE, AND BOX THEM. Thank you in advance.
PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST especially all parishes with search committees as they seek new rectors, for all of those suffering from the wildfires, and in thanksgiving for all that God has done for us.
“We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would give his Holy Spirit unto us, that through his aid and assistance we may live unto God in that holy obedience which he requires at our hands.” —John Owen, Pneumatologia (reprinted as The Holy Spirit), 1664
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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