The Epistle today is taken from the end of the 4th chapter of James and the beginning of the 5th chapter:
Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. (James 4:13-5:6).
I don’t know how your week has been, but this last week, I have been to the funeral of a woman in her 50s and have visited the sick who were hospitalized. I have been to meetings, driven about 600 miles, listened to the news on the radio about Syria and the stabbings at Spring High School, have been concerned with the cares of the world and making plans and neglecting prayer.
Then this morning, James, puts things into perspective: “‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Sometimes, we forget what life is about and whose we are. James reminds us that we ought to say: “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” Everything else, neglecting to remember who God is and what he has done for us through Jesus Christ, is nothing more than boasting in our arrogance, and all such boasting is evil. Even more, says James, anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. Things done and things left undone.
I invite you today to remember whose you are and that in God we live, more and have our being.
Let us pray on this Friday: Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS & OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINISTRY
Lee Runion: As many of you may know, Lee has been at UTMB after suffering a stroke. He has been discharged from the hospital. It is time for our Church family to do a little cooking for Lee! Lee is on a low sodium/low fat diet, on doctor's orders. Let's co-ordinate to take care of his dietary needs taking turns to bring him soups, sandwiches and fruit. We'll have a sign-up sheet in Church this Sunday. Lee is recovering, so please keep calls and visits to a minimum, but most of all, please keep him in your prayers especially for healing and restoration of the vision he's lost at present.
Children’s Christian Formation begins this Sunday! It will be held during the service. The children will leave right after the collect and will return during the exchange of the peace. Thank you to Stacy, Sammy and Hugh for spearheading this ministry.
Back to Church Sunday is 15 September! This is an Anglican Communion wide event. Please invite someone to Church that Sunday. We will also be having a baptism.
Adult Christian Education: we will resume the ethics series on the 15th of September.
William Temple Cooking Teams: All 3 parishes on the Island are forming teams to cook one Wednesday a month for the William Temple students. Trinity will have 2 teams and Grace and St. Augustine will each have a team. William Temple will provide the food, and we provide the cooking. I will have a sign-up sheet in Sutton Hall.
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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