In All Circumstances, Give Thanks

In his letter to the Church in Thessalonica, Paul writes: “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thes. 5:18. On this Thanksgiving, we are reminded to give thanks to God in good times and in bad times because God makes all things work together for good. Rom. 8:28.  In the midst of the meals and football, take a moment to give God thanks for all things.  Give thanks for those who love you and those you love.  Give thanks for everyone who has touched your life and for the all lives that you have touched.  Give thanks for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who has redeemed us and given us the victory.

 

Let us pray: Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

 

 We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

 

 We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.

 

 We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

 

 Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

 

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Let the Children Come to Me

The appointed Gospel reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church comes from Luke:

 

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’

 

A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.” ’ He replied, ‘I have kept all these since my youth.’ When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’

 

Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ He replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.’

 

Then Peter said, ‘Look, we have left our homes and followed you.’ And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’ (Lk. 18:15-30).

 

There is a lot packed into this selection; there are at least 4 different things going on.  Let’s focus on just one: the children.  

First century Jewish men rarely interacted with children, even their own.  For the most part, children were considered to be property with very few rights.  Jesus broke with social norm by dealing with children. Kyle D. Felder, Exploring Christian Ethics: Biblical Foundations for Morality, p. 180 (2006). 

When Jesus tells the adult male disciples, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs,” Jesus is putting the children on equal footing with the adult males. These children who have no voice of their own, who are considered property, are to be just as loved and respected as their fathers.  This would have been radical to the ears of Jesus’ listeners.  What?  Children are on the same human level as adult males?  Then Jesus tells them that the Kingdom belongs to the children, those lowest on the social scale, those who have no voice.  During this last week of the Church year, right after we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King on Sunday, we are reminded that the Kingdom of God belongs to those who have no voice, who are helpless, yet who are made in the likeness and image of God just as the most powerful among us.  That is King Jesus’ kingdom.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

THANK YOU TO MICHELLE AND EVERYONE WHO MADE THE SEASIDE SENIORS THANKSGIVING DAY LUNCH A DAY OF LOVE AND FELLOWSHIP.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Next Sunday is the start of the Church’s New Year, the start of Advent when we switch to violet (purple).  Fr. Jim Scott will be preside and preach this Sunday.  We will also remember World Wide Aids Day.

 

2015 Calendars are available at the back of the Church throughout the Advent Season.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Elizabeth of Hungary: Friend of the Poor

Today the Church remembers and celebrates the life and ministry of Elizabeth of Hungary who was born on 7 July 1207 and died on 17 November 1231. She was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania.

 

Elizabeth was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in central Germany, to become betrothed to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia.  She married him in 1221 at the age of 14.  After her marriage, Elizabeth continued her charitable practices, which included spinning wool for the clothing of the poor. In 1223, Franciscan friars arrived, and the teenage Elizabeth not only learned about the ideals of Francis of Assisi, but started to live them.[

 

James Kiefer tells us that: “During a famine and epidemic in 1226, while her husband was away in Italy, she sold her jewels and established a hospital where she nursed the sick, and opened the royal granaries to feed the hungry. After her husband's death in 1227, her inlaws, who opposed her "extravagances," expelled her from Wartburg. Finally an arrangement was negotiated with them that gave her a stipend. She became a Franciscan tertiary (lay associate) and devoted the remainder of her life to nursing and charity. She sewed garments to clothe the poor, and went fishing to feed them.”

 

Let us pray: Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Our Church Thanksgiving Lunch will be Sunday, 23 November 2014 following the 9 AM Eucharist.

Starting Monday, 5 January 2015, we will begin our new ESL class.  Please spread the word.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially Patricia Florence’s family.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

St. Hilda of Whitby

Today the Church celebrates the life and ministry of a pioneering woman, St. Hilda of Whitby who was born in 614 and died in 680.  What we know of her comes primarily from St. Bede’s An Ecclesiastical History of the English People written in 731.

 

Hilda was born to a royal family; she was the grandniece of King Edwin of Northumbria, a kingdom of the Angles.  Although she was born in 614, Hilda was not baptized until 627 her family became Christians.  Twenty years later, Hilda became a nun.  Under St. Aidan’s direction, she established several monastic communities.  The last monastic community that she founded was at Whitby.  Archaeological evidence shows that her monastery was in the Celtic style, with its members living in small houses, each for 2 or 3 people. The tradition in double monasteries, such as Whitby, was that men and women lived separately but worshipped together in church.  Hilda served as the Abbess for the monastery’s men and women until her death.  Whitby became a great center of English learning, and it produced 5 bishops. 

 

St. Bede described Hilda as a woman of great energy, who was a skilled administrator and teacher. As a landowner, Hilda had many in her employ to care for sheep and cattle, farming and woodcutting. She gained such a reputation for wisdom that kings and princes sought her advice. She also had a concern for ordinary people; when Hilda recognized that someone was gifted in a particular area, she would encourage them to develop it. St. Bede wrote, “All who knew her called her mother because of her outstanding devotion and grace.”

 

Hilda is an example to us today.

 

Let us pray: O God of peace, by whose grace the abbess Hilda was endowed with gifts of justice, prudence, and strength to rule as a wise mother over the nuns and monks of her household, and to become a trusted and reconciling friend to leaders of the Church: Give us the grace to respect and love our fellow Christians with whom we disagree, that our common life may be enriched and your gracious will be done, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

 

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR GABRIELLA GILES AND CHRISTOPHER RAGLE:this evening at 7 PM at St. Patrick’s on 34^th and Broadway.  Both will have separate funeral services tomorrow; Gabriella at 10 AM at Moody Methodist and Christopher at 1 PM at St. Patrick’s.  Please remember the families and all of the students at Ball High School in your prayers.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Our Church Thanksgiving Lunch will be Sunday, 23 November 2014 following the 9 AM Eucharist.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially Patricia Florence’s family.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Hugh & Robert, Bishops of Lincoln

Today the Church remembers and honors the life and ministry of 2 bishops from the Diocese of Lincoln in England, Hugh (1140-1200) and Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253).

 

Hugh was born in France.  When he was 15, Hugh became a religious novice and was ordained a deacon at 19. Around 1159, Hugh was sent to be the prior of the nearby monastery at Saint-Maximin. From that community, he left the Benedictine Order and entered the Grande Chartreuse, then at the height of its reputation for the rigid austerity of its rules and the earnest piety of its members. There he rose to become procurator of his new order until he was sent in 1179 to become prior of the Witham Charterhouse in Somerset, the first Carthusian house in England.  King Henry II, who in reference to Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas a Becket, uttered the phrase, “will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest,” did penance for his statement and the resulting murder of the Archbishop by Henry’s knights, frequented the  monastery where Hugh was prior.   In May 1186, Henry summoned a council of bishops and barons at Eynsham Abbey to deliberate on the state of the Church and the filling of vacant bishoprics, including Lincoln. On 25 May 1186, the cathedral chapter of Lincoln was ordered to elect a new bishop and Hugh was elected. Hugh insisted on a second, private election by the canons, securely in their chapterhouse at Lincoln rather than in the king's chapel. His election was confirmed by the result.

 

Hugh was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln on 21 September 1186 at Westminster. Immediately Hugh established his independence from King Henry. As a bishop, Hugh was exemplary, constantly travelled within his diocese and generous with his charity. He raised the quality of education at the cathedral school. Hugh was also prominent in trying to protect Jewish people, who lived in great numbers in Lincoln, in the persecution they suffered at the beginning of Richard I’s reign, and he put down popular violence against them in several places.

 

Robert Grosseteste was born into a poor family.  He was very intelligent and has been called "the real founder of the tradition of scientific thought in medieval Oxford, and in some ways, of the modern English intellectual tradition". See A. C. Crombie.  He became Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

At the same time he began lecturing in theology, Hugh (discussed above) appointed him Archdeacon of Leicester.  James Kiefer writes: “In 1235, he was elected Bishop of Lincoln, in area the largest diocese in England. He promptly visited all the churches in the diocese and quickly removed many of the prominent clergy because they were neglecting their pastoral duties. … He insisted that his priests spend their time in the service of their people, in prayer, and in study.”  Robert also spoke out against the King’s tyranny and was there when the Magna Carta was signed.

 

Let us pray:  Holy God, our greatest treasure, you blessed Hugh and Robert, Bishops of Lincoln, with wise and cheerful boldness for the proclamation of your Word to rich and poor alike: Grant that all who minister in your Name may serve with diligence, discipline and humility, fearing nothing but the loss of you and drawing all to you through Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you in the communion of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Our Church Thanksgiving Lunch will be Sunday, 23 November 2014 following the 9 AM Eucharist.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially Patricia Florence’s family.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Bishop Samuel Seabury

Today the Church remembers the life and ministry of Samuel Seabury (30 November 1729 – 25 February 1796), the first consecrated bishop of the Anglican Communion in the United States of America.  He was born in North Groton, Connecticut in 1729. His father, also Samuel Seabury (1706–1764), was originally a Congregationalist minister, but he was later ordained deacon and priest in the Church of England in 1730, and he served as rector in New London, Connecticut, from 1732 to 1743, and of St George's, Hempstead, Long Island, from 1743 until his death.

 

His son, Samuel Seabury, graduated from Yale College in 1748, and studied theology with his father. He studied medicine in Edinburgh from 1752 to 1753 and was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Lincoln and priest by the Bishop of Carlisle in 1753. He served as rector of Christ Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey from 1754 to 1757, rector in Jamaica, New York from 1757 to 1766, and of St. Peter's, Westchester (now annexed to The Bronx) from 1766 to 1775.

 

During the colonial era, there had been no Anglican bishops in the Colonies; and those seeking ordination had to travel to England. After American independence, it was important for the Church in the United States to have its own bishops, and an assembly of Connecticut clergy chose Samuel Seabury to go to England and there seek to be consecrated as a bishop.  So Seabury went to Scotland to be ordained bishop where he was consecrated on this day in Aberdeen in 1784.

 

Let us pray:  Eternal God, you blessed your servant Samuel Seabury with the gift of perseverance to renew the Anglican inheritance in North America: Grant that, joined together in unity with our bishops and nourished by your holy Sacraments, we may proclaim the Gospel of redemption with apostolic zeal; through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

CANCELLED Mammogram Screening on November 16, 2014 because the mobile unit is out of service; therefore, we will reschedule.  Please pass the word along. 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  The Lujan family is in need to 2 couches.  If anyone has a couch they are trying to find a home for, this would be a great place.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Our Church Thanksgiving Lunch will be Sunday, 23 November 2014 following the 9 AM Eucharist.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List especially Patricia Florence’s family.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550