Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Prepare the Way of the Lord

On this Wednesday in the third week of Advent, we hear from the very beginning of the Gospel according to Mark.  Notice how there is no birth narrative; rather, Mark starts with John the Baptizer:

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
           ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way;
            the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of                the Lord,make his paths straight” ’,

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ (Mk. 1: 1-8).


To be sure, the world that we live in today can feel very much like a wilderness.  In the aftermath of the events in Sandy Hook, we are learning of a young man who was mentally ill, fond of violent video games, and was part of a broken family and a parent who had many guns because she was afraid of being attacked in a society that is rampant with relativism which has lost a collective moral compass. Many of these mass shootings have been done by young people with mental issues who have addictions to violent video games who have become desensitized to the reality of death. 


During this season of Advent as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s coming in the Feast of the Incarnation, and as we look forward for him to come again, let us look for the hope of Jesus in the present.  You and I, the Church, the Body of Christ, are called to proclaim the Goo News of Jesus and to be a prophetic voice preparing his way into the hearts of our communities.  Christ brings light into the darkness of our world.  Although at times things may seem hopeless, with Christ they are not because he has redeemed us.  We need to tell the world the Good News.


Let us pray: Gracious God, in the midst of darkness, reveal the light of your Son Jesus who is the Christ, and send your Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Thursday, 20 December starting at 11 a.m. the Seaside Seniors will have their Christmas luncheon in Sutton Hall at St. Augustine's.

Next Sunday, 23 December, we will have our Christmas pot luck lunch.
 
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of those who are suffering in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Your servant in Christ,

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

 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Christmas & Good Friday

On this Tuesday in the third week of Advent, the appointed Gospel reading for the Church’s daily prayer is taken from the Passion Narrative of the Gospel according to Luke.  As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Incarnation, this reading is a good reminder why Jesus came:

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance.  When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.  Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man also was with him.’  But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’  A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not!’  Then about an hour later yet another kept insisting, ‘Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about!’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed.  The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’  And he went out and wept bitterly.

The Mocking and Beating of JesusNow the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, ‘Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?’  They kept heaping many other insults on him.
Jesus before the Council
When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council. They said, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I question you, you will not answer.  But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’  (Lk. 22: 54-69).

Christmas, the Passion and the Resurrection are all part of the salvation story.  If you look at the traditional Christmas carols, they start with the birth of Jesus but end on the cross. For example, the fourth verse of “We Three Kings” is: “Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, breathes of life of gathering gloom, sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb.”  The fifth verse of the carol celebrates the Risen Christ: “Glorious now behold Him arise King and God and Sacrifice, alleluia, alleluia, earth to heav'n replies.”

As we are in the frenzy of buying gifts, cooking, baking and going to holiday parties, let us remember why Christ came.  Jesus came so that you and I might have life, and have it more abundantly.

Let us pray:  Lord as we prepare for the coming of your beloved Son, send your Holy Spirit to inspire our hearts to remember why Christ came, and may we live our lives in response to your great love.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Thursday, 20 December starting at 11 a.m. the Seaside Seniors will have their Christmas luncheon in Sutton Hall at St. Augustine's.

Next Sunday, 23 December, we will have our Christmas pot luck lunch.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of those who are suffering in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Monday, December 17, 2012

God Stands With the Poor & The Helpless

One of the appointed Psalms for this Monday in the third week of Advent is Psalm 41 where the Psalmist prays:


Happy are those who consider the poor;
  the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.
The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
  they are called happy in the land.
You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
  The Lord sustains them on their sickbed;
  in their illness you heal all their infirmities.
As for me, I said, ‘O Lord, be gracious to me;
  heal me, for I have sinned against you.’
My enemies wonder in malice
  when I will die, and my name perish.
And when they come to see me, they utter empty words,
  while their hearts gather mischief;
  when they go out, they tell it abroad.
All who hate me whisper together about me;
  they imagine the worst for me.
They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me,
  that I will not rise again from where I lie.
Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted,
  who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
  and raise me up, that I may repay them.
By this I know that you are pleased with me;
  because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
  and set me in your presence for ever.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
  from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen. (Ps. 41)

 

In the Old Testament, one of the prominent themes is God’s concern for the poor and those who are unable to care for themselves. In today’s Psalm we hear that God has a special place in His heart for those who care for those who are less fortunate because those who help the poor and those who cannot help themselves are carrying out God’s will. This is especially so at this time of year when there are many who have nothing and are struggling to make ends meet in a hard economy.  So take some time this week and remember to help those who are going through difficult economic times, for those who are not able to care for themselves. Next Sunday, you might even remember to bring something to place into the St. Vincent’s Food Pantry basket at the narthex of the Church, or to give a helping hand to someone who needs it.

 

Let us pray:  Generous God, you love those who put their trust in you.  Help us to remember those who are in need this season and all year round. We ask this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS


Thursday, 20 December starting at 11 a.m. the Seaside Seniors will have their Christmas luncheon in Sutton Hall at St. Augustine's.

 

Next Sunday, 23 December, we will have our Christmas pot luck lunch.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of those who are suffering in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

 

Your servant in Christ,


Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Thursday, December 13, 2012

St. Lucy

Today the Church remembers and honors a martyr from the early 300s, Lucy (whose name means “light”).  Virtually nothing is known about her except what we know by tradition.  Lucy vowed to give her life to Christ and the service of His Kingdom; however, Lucy’s mother had other plans.  She tried to arrange a marriage for Lucy with a non-Christian Roman, but Lucy did not want to marry the man. Lucy prayed for her mother to overcome a long illness, and tradition has it that her mother was cured. Now Lucy’s mother was more receptive to her daughter’s way of life. Lucy gave all of her money to the poor and committed her life to God.

Tradition has it that the jilted bridegroom was less than happy with Lucy and turned her over to the Roman authorities for being a Christian. The governor tried to send Lucy into prostitution; however, the guards who came to take her away could not move her. Ultimately, Lucy, like so many other Christians during Diocletian’s reign, was tortured and died for their faith.

Let us pray:  Loving God, for the salvation of all you gave Jesus Christ as light to a world in darkness: Illumine us, with your daughter Lucy, with the light of Christ, that by the merits of his passion we may be led to eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Next Sunday at 2 p.m., Bishop Doyle will dedicate the new Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center at Trinity Episcopal School.

Adult Christian Education on Sundays at 11 A.M. during Advent: The Scripture behind Handel’s Messiah.

Christmas Eve Eucharist, Rite II on 24 December at 4 P.M.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

Your servant in Christ,

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

 

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

It Is Time to Turn Your Life Around

On this Wednesday in the second week of Advent, the appointed Gospel reading for the daily prayer of the Church is taken from the Gospel according to St. John.  It is the familiar story of the woman who was caught in adultery:

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.  When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’ (Jn. 8: 2-11).

 
This passage makes 2 key points: (1) everyone of us is a sinner, and (2) Jesus accepts us where he finds us, but he doesn’t expect us to stay there.  Although John does not tell us what Jesus wrote, it would seem that he was enumerating other sins, and one by one they all depart—each one of them recognizing his sin.  Then Jesus turns to the woman who was caught committing a sinful act.  Jesus does not condemn her, but he does tell her “from now on do not sin again.”  Jesus invites the woman to turn her life around.  This reading is very appropriate for Advent, a season where we look back at Christ’s first coming, look forward to his second coming while we look for him in our midst today.  Jesus knows that we all fall short, but once we encounter Christ, he invites us to turn our lives around and to follow him.
 
Let us pray:  Lord, we are all sinners.  Give us grace to realize our sinfulness and to turn our lives over to you in all things.  Amen.
 
CALENDAR REMINDERS
 
Next Sunday at 2 p.m., Bishop Doyle will dedicate the new Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center at Trinity Episcopal School.
 
Adult Christian Education on Sundays at 11 am during Advent: The Scripture behind Handel’s Messiah.
 
Christmas Eve Eucharist, Rite II on 24 December at 4 P.M.
 
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.
 
Your servant in Christ,

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

 

Monday, December 10, 2012

Two 20th Century Powerhouses: Karl Barth & Thomas Merton

Today the Church remembers two powerhouses: Karl Barth, one of the foremost theologians of the 20th Century, and Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and a prolific writer.

KARL BARTH: 
 
Barth was born in Switzerland on 10 May 1886 and he died on this day in 1968.  He was a Reformed pastor and theologian, and he is referred to as “the Father of Neo-Orthodoxy.” 

Just as there is a pre-Einsteinian science and a post-Einsteinian science, so there is a pre-Barthian and post-Barthian theology; the contribution of Barth to theology is, like that of Einstein to science because it marks one of the great eras of advance in the whole history of the subject.

Barth believed that Christian theology should derive its entire thinking about God, man, sin, ethics, and society from what can actually be seen in Jesus Christ as witnessed by the Old and New Testaments rather than from sources independent of this revelation.

When he made his one visit to the U.S. in 1962, he was asked how he would summarize the essence of the millions of words he had published, he answered, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Let us pray:  Almighty God, source of justice beyond human knowledge: We thank you for inspiring Karl Barth to resist tyranny and exalt your saving grace, without which we cannot apprehend your will. Teach us, like him, to live by faith, and even in chaotic and perilous times to perceive the light of your eternal glory, Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, throughout all ages. Amen.
 
THOMAS MERTON:
 
He was born on 31 January 1915 in France to American parents, and he died on the same day that Barth did. 

Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews, including his best-selling autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). 

After a rambunctious youth and adolescence, Merton converted to Roman Catholicism while he was at Columbia University.  On this day in 1941, Thomas Merton entered The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, in Kentucky and he became a Trappist monk.

At the core of Merton’s spiritual writings is the search for the true self, the self that is not to be experienced alone but to be lived in community. He writes often about the importance of relationships focusing on 4, the relationship with self, God, other people, and all of creation. By nurturing our relationships we deepen our connections to God and our selves.

Let us pray: Gracious God, you called your monk Thomas Merton to proclaim your justice out of silence, and moved him in his contemplative writings to perceive and value Christ at work in the faiths of others: Keep us, like him, steadfast in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Next Sunday at 2 p.m., Bishop Doyle will dedicate the new Robert L. and Ann Moody Activity Center at Trinity Episcopal School.

Adult Christian Education on Sundays at 11 am during Advent: The Scripture behind Handel’s Messiah.

Christmas Eve Eucharist, Rite II on 24 December at 4 pm.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Thursday, December 6, 2012

St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, A Selfless Giver

Today the Church remembers and celebrates a bishop of the Church who has been morphed into a popular cultural icon: St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (the western part of what is now Turkey), who lived in the 4th century.

Nicholas happened to be in Myra when the clergy and people had gathered together to select a new bishop, and they believed that God had directed them to select Nicholas. This was at the time of Diocletian's persecutions at the beginning of the fourth century.  Nicholas served as bishop caring for his people in any way that he could.

One of the most widely known stories of Nicholas involves a man who had 3 daughters who were not married partly because the family was poor and could not provide a dowry for each of them. Given the socio-economic structure of the day, in order to earn a living, chances were that they would end up as prostitutes.

Tradition has it that Nicholas went by the family’s home on 3 separate nights, and each time he went by, he threw a bag of gold through a window.  As a result, the family had enough to provide dowries for the 3 daughters who were then able to marry. 

With this and other such stories about Nicholas’ anonymous generosity, he became symbolic of giving without seeking any reward for himself, just as Christ had done through his death and resurrection.

 

Let us pray: Almighty God, who in your love gave to your servant Nicholas of Myra a perpetual name for deeds of kindness on land and sea: Grant, we pray, that your Church may never cease to work for the happiness of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor, and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Handel’s Messiah Advent Christian Education Series: Join this wonderful exploration of Scripture for Advent through the beauty of Handel’s Messiah in Bright-Davies Hall at 11:00 a.m. every Sunday with Tom and Jillian Bain.

Christmas Eve Eucharist, Rite II, at 4 p.m. on the 24th of December.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Caleb Boyer.

Your servant in Christ,

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