Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Jesus’ Mission Is One of Reconciliation

The Gospel reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from the 15th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke:

Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’  (Lk. 15: 1-10).

Jesus’ mission is one of reconciliation; he came to call sinners back into relationship with God.  Since we are all sinners, Jesus came to call all of us back into relationship with God.  Some of us can be like the Pharisees in Luke’s Gospel believing that somehow we are not as sinful as the next person might be.  But the fact of the matter is that all of us have fallen short, and all of us are redeemed by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and things seen and unseen rejoice when one of us sinners returns into our Father’s arms.

Let us pray:  If we claim to be sinless, we are self-deceived and strangers to the truth. If we confess our sins, God is just, and may be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from every kind of wrong. Most loving God, we thank you for your pardon and forgiveness. By the power of your Spirit within, enable us to overcome temptation and evil, keep us securely in the fellowship of your Church, and as we live daily in your presence, grant victory, peace, and joy, through the merits of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

HURRICANE SEASON IS HERE.  ARE YOU READY?

CALENDAR REMINDERS

St. Augustine’s Community Garden is on the Garden Tour on the Island this weekend.

Gospel by the Sea, 8 June 2013.

EFM begins in the fall.  Please contact Tammie Taylor to sign-up.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of the victims of the recent tornadoes in North Texas and in Oklahoma. During this graduation season, please remember all of those who are graduating from high schools and universities, and all of those who are traveling.

Your servant in Christ,

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

 

Friday, May 24, 2013

Do Not Ordain Anyone Hastily

The Epistle for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from 1 Timothy where we read:
 
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain’, and, ‘The laborer deserves to be paid.’ Never accept any accusation against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest also may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I warn you to keep these instructions without prejudice, doing nothing on the basis of partiality. Do not ordain anyone hastily, and do not participate in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.
 
No longer drink only water, but take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
 
The sins of some people are conspicuous and precede them to judgment, while the sins of others follow them there. So also good works are conspicuous; and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden. (1 Tim. 5: 17-25).
 
This is good advice for the Church community, and especially timely since this is the time that deacons are ordained.  Paul tells his partner in the ministry of Church leadership not to ordain anyone hastily.  The process for preparation for ordination is one of discernment by the Church community and the individual under consideration for ordination.  It is a time of prayerful consideration.  It is a time of prayerful preparation.  Not all those who seek ordination should be ordained while there are those who may not consider themselves worthy of ordained ministry whom God is calling.
 
Let us pray for all those to be ordained: By the Holy Spirit all who believe and are baptized receive a ministry to proclaim Jesus as Savior and Lord, and to love and serve the people with whom they live and work. In Christ they are to bring redemption, to reconcile and to make whole. They are to be salt for the earth; they are to be light to the world. After his resurrection and ascension Christ gave gifts abundantly to the Church. Some he made apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers; to equip God’s people for their work of ministry and to build up the body of Christ.  We stand within a tradition in which there are deacons, priests and bishops. They are called and empowered to fulfill an ordained ministry and to enable the whole mission of the Church. Our authority is in Scripture and in the Church's continuing practice through the ages. Shower your abundant grace to all those who are about to be ordained and to all those who serve in ordained ministry, we ask this through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.
 
HURRICANE SEASON IS HERE.  ARE YOU READY?
 
CALENDAR REMINDERS
 
This is the Memorial Day weekend.  Please keep in your prayers the families of all of those men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country.
 
St. Augustine’s Community Garden is on the Garden Tour on the Island next weekend.
 
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday.
 
Gospel by the Sea, 8 June 2013.
 
EFM begins in the fall.  Please contact Tammie Taylor to sign-up.
 
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of the victims of the recent tornadoes in North Texas and in Oklahoma. During this graduation season, please remember all of those who are graduating from high schools and universities.
 
Your servant in Christ,
 
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Faith & Science

Today the Episcopal Church remembers and honors two men of science, Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) who was the first astronomer to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe, and Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630),  a German mathematician and astronomer who is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers and one of the foundations for Isaac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation.

Many think that the Church is opposed to science; however, nothing could be farther from the truth.  That which is true is not contrary to God who is all truth.  Within the Anglican Communion there are a number of scientists who are also priests.  For example, the Rev. Alister McGrath, obtained a D.Phil. at Oxford for his research in molecular biophysics (December 1977), and gained first class honors in Theology in June 1978.  McGrath then left Oxford to work at Cambridge University, where he also studied for ordination into the Church of England. In September 1980, he was ordained deacon, and began work as a curate at St Leonard’s Parish Church, Wollaton, Nottingham, in the English East Midlands. He was ordained priest at Southwell Minster in September 1981. In 1983, he was appointed lecturer in Christian doctrine and ethics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and a member of the Oxford University Faculty of Theology.  He often debates the world renowned atheist, Richard Dawkins, who studied zoology at Oxford, graduating in 1962 receiving his M.A. and D.Phil. degrees by 1966. 

Another priest-scientist is the Rev. John Polkinghorne who was professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, and then resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest in 1982. He served as the president of Queens’ College, Cambridge from 1988 until 1996.  Polkinghorne considers that “the question of the existence of God is the single most important question we face about the nature of reality.”

Fr. Polkinghorne suggests that God is the ultimate answer to Leibniz’s great question “why is there something rather than nothing?” The atheist’s “plain assertion of the world’s existence” is a “grossly impoverished view of reality,” he says, arguing that “theism explains more than a reductionist atheism can ever address.”

There are many other such people, both clergy and laity, who are people of faith and also people of science.  One such person was a friend of mine who died recently, Randall Furlong, an Episcopalian, scientist, and just all around brilliant and wonderful person who now is with God, the Great Scientist, is the author is all physics, biochemistry and reality itself.

Let us pray:  Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its order, atoms, worlds, galaxies and the intricate complexities of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to know you more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

St. Augustine’s Community Garden is on the Garden Tour on the Island next weekend.

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday.

Gospel by the Sea, 8 June 2013.

EFM begins in the fall.  Please contact Tammie Taylor to sign-up.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of the victims of the recent tornadoes in North Texas and in Oklahoma. During this graduation season, please remember all of those who are graduating from high schools and universities.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Making the Liturgy Accessible: the First Book of Common Prayer

In the cycle of the Church Year, we recall the first Book of Common Prayer which, 464 years ago, made the liturgy of the Church accessible to all those who spoke English.  Surprisingly there was little uniformity in the liturgy of the Church during the Middle Ages.  The one consistent thing was that it was in Latin, and the people did not participate in it; therefore, you may have heard expressions such as “hearing Mass.”  The leaders in the Church in England, particularly Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, believed that the worship of God should be something that everyone was able to partake in.  In fact the very word “liturgy” itself is from the Greek, “the people’s work.”  In the early Church, as we see in the New Testament, Christians gathered together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, in people’s homes and as you might expect, it was done in a language that everyone was familiar with, namely their own. 

Once the Church became a legal entity in 313 during the reign of the Emperor Constantine with the issuance of the Edict of Milan, the Church gradually shifted to the use of Latin, the official language of the Empire, and it went this way until the time of the Reformation.  Although perhaps a good idea at first, Latin became the language of the professional academician and not the common person.  People became more and more removed from the celebration of the Eucharist until eventually they did not participate at all.  This condition existed for the better part of the Middle Ages. 

Thomas Cranmer researched and reviewed nearly all of the liturgies in use around the world at the time and he did a wonderful work of synthesis.  One of the liturgies that he carefully reviewed was the Sarum rite used in the Diocese of Salisbury in England which was used in England from about 1100.  Archbishop Cranmer’s masterful use of the English language is simply some of the most beautiful English prose.

Let us pray:  Almighty and everliving God, whose servant Thomas Cranmer, with others, restored the language of the people in the prayers of your Church: Make us always thankful for this heritage; and help us so to pray in the Spirit and with the understanding, that we may worthily magnify your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

St. Augustine’s Community Garden is on the Garden Tour on the Island next weekend.

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday.

EFM begins in the fall.  Please contact Tammie Taylor to sign-up.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of the victims of the recent tornadoes in North Texas and in Oklahoma.  We also remember the family of Mary Pearson, especially Bishop Doyle and his wife, Joann, and their children as they mourn the death of Joann’s mother.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Form Over Substance

The Daily Prayer of the Church continues today with Luke’s Gospel. We hear about Jesus curing on the Sabbath a woman who was ill for a considerable time and what one of the leaders of the synagogue had to say about that:

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. (Lk. 10:13-17).

Jesus performed a number of curing miracles on the Sabbath and each time he does it, he runs into problems with the Pharisees and the Sadducees who point out that the law, the rule, was not to do any work on the Sabbath because it was a day dedicated to God.  Jesus’ response in today’s passage is this: What a better way to celebrate the Lord’s Day than to free one of God’s children from the bondage that she has experienced for 18 long years and now this daughter of God can finally rest on the Sabbath?

What is your attitude toward the Sabbath?  At times, many of us place the rule of law ahead of the purpose behind the rule of law.  Sometimes we get caught up in form over substance.  Jesus asks us to place substance over form.

Let us pray:  Jesus, you spoke with passion, you acted without fear, and we remember. Help us when we have to speak out, to speak the truth and without malice to speak.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

St. Augustine’s Community Garden is on the Garden Tour on the Island this weekend.

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday.

EFM begins in the fall.  Please contact Tammie Taylor to sign-up.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially all of the victims of the recent tornadoes in North Texas and in Oklahoma.  We also remember the family of Mary Pearson, especially Bishop Doyle and his wife, Joann, and their children as they mourn the death of Joann’s mother.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Friday, May 17, 2013

Sometimes We Are Too Busy

Today we have the familiar story of Martha and Mary from Luke’s Gospel:

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’ (Lk. 10: 38-42).

In considering this passage, the Rev. Eugene Peterson, a Presbyterian pastor and professor, the busy-ness that we all experience, and that Martha demonstrates in this passage, is rooted in two things: vanity and laziness. The Rev. Peterson says we are vain and we want to feel important so we make ourselves overly busy to shore up our feelings of self-worth. He also says we are lazy and do not do the work of discerning which tasks are important and should be tackled and which should be refused, so we make ourselves overly busy by not prioritizing our work and never saying no.  There is much truth in what the Rev. Peterson says.  When we are busy, we give ourselves permission to neglect the hard work of discernment.  Mary takes the time to be still, to sit in the presence of God, and to listen to His voice.  Perhaps we should take time to do the same.

Let us pray:  Gracious God, grant that when we hear Jesus’ voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

THE SHARING FAITH DINNER AT ST. AUGUSTINE’S WAS A WONDERFUL TIME OF SHARING AND FELLOWSHIP.  THANK YOU TO JIM AND JO BREMER FOR HOSTING AND FOR THE WONDERFUL MEAL.

CALENDAR REMINDERS
 
Sunday is Pentecost!  Wear red.  We will baptize Kensleigh Paige Florence and Jeremiah James Florence.

8 June 2013: Gospel by the Sea.

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, May 16, 2013

Who is my neighbor?

The Daily Prayer of the Church continues today with the Gospel according to Luke:

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’  (Lk. 10: 26-37).

One of the basics of trial law is not to ask a question of a witness during trial that you do not know the answer to, but our lawyer does it in today’s Gospel, and the answer he gets is one that takes him by surprise.  “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus answers, “The person who is in need.”  That answer may take us by surprise as well.  Our neighbor is not necessarily the person who lives next door, although it could be.  Our neighbor is not necessarily someone we have a lot in common with or that we like, although it could be. Our neighbor is the person who needs our help, no matter who that person may be.

Let us pray:  Make us glad, we pray you, gentle God, to give each other your loving care; make us happy to receive it. May there daily grow within us a generous, trusting spirit.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Tonight, 16 May, Sharing Your Faith Dinner at Jo & Jim Bremer’s home at 7 P.M.

Sunday is Pentecost!  Wear red.  We will baptize Kensleigh Paige Florence and Jeremiah James Florence.


8 June 2013: Gospel by the Sea.

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

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

"I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you."

The Daily Prayer of the Church continues today with the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke:

The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’ (Lk. 10: 17-23).

Jesus tells his disciples that he has given them “authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.”  Some of our Christian sisters and brothers have taken this passage quite literally.  But let’s look at what Jesus is saying more closely.  You may recall that in the Book of Genesis, Satan is described as a serpent.  The context of today’s passage has the disciples telling Jesus that:  “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!”  And Jesus responds, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.”  Jesus is telling his disciples, and you and me, that he has given us, his Church, authority over Satan—Satan has no power over us if we are with Jesus and Satan cannot hurt us if we are with Jesus.  As St. Paul told us, “If God is for us, who can be against?”  Rm. 8:31.

Let us pray:  Almighty and loving God, as we follow Your son, Jesus, may we recognize the tempter when he comes; let it be your bread we eat, your world we serve and you alone we worship.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Thursday, 16 May, Sharing Your Faith Dinner at Jo and Jim Bremer’s home.

Sunday is Pentecost!  Wear red.  We will baptize Kensleigh Paige Florence and Jeremiah James Florence.

8 June 2013: Gospel by the Sea.

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

 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."

The Gospel appointed for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from Luke:

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'  I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.  "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!"  (Lk. 10: 1-17).

Jesus sends his disciples in pairs to prepare the way for him and the Good News.  Jesus says that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few.  How true that is!  There are so many who are so hungry to hear the Good News of Jesus.  Many of them have a sense of emptiness in their lives and they fill that emptiness with things that do not last.  Jesus sends us into the fields as well to bring the Good News to everyone we meet.  Be a laborer, go out into the fields, and you will see that the harvest is plentiful.

Let us pray:  Almighty God, grant us opportunity, give us willingness to serve you day by day; that what we do and how we bear each other's burdens, may be our sacrifice to you.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Thursday, 16 May, Sharing Your Faith Dinner at Jo and Jim Bremer’s home.

Sunday is Pentecost!  Wear red.  We will baptize Kensleigh Paige Florence and Jeremiah James Florence.

8 June 2013: Gospel by the Sea.
 
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

Monday, May 13, 2013

Total Commitment


After a long absence (2 weeks), the Daily Reflections are back.  The appointed Gospel reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from the Gospel according to Luke:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.
Would-Be Followers of Jesus
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus* said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’  (Lk. 9: 51-62).

God demands our all; we cannot have split loyalties.  We cannot come to Church on Sunday and put on our “churchy faces” and then on Monday put on the face of the world and deal ruthlessly with others.  Following Jesus means following him all the time, not just on Sunday.

Let us pray:  Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Thursday, 16 May, Sharing Your Faith Dinner at Jo and Jim Bremer’s home.

Sunday is Pentecost!  Wear red.  We will baptize Kensleigh Paige Florence and Jeremiah James Florence.

Please remember the family of the Rev. Jody Tomberlin.  She died last Friday in Hendersonville, North Carolina.  Also, keep the family of Randy Furlong in your prayers.  His funeral service will be held today at St. Martin Episcopal Church in Houston.  Let us pray:  Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servants Jody and Randy. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, sheep of  your own fold, lambs of your own flock, sinners of your own redeeming. Receive them into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

8 June 2013: Gospel by the Sea.

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