Tuesday, October 27, 2015

What Kind of Soil Are You?

Image result for sower and the seed
The appointed Gospel reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church comes from the Gospel according to Matthew where we read the familiar story of the sower and the seed:
 
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!’ (Mt. 13:1-9).
 
At different points in our lives, we can be different recipients of the sower’s seed.  Sometimes we are not inclined to listen and the seed fall of the pathway of our deaf ears.  At other times, we are rocky ground where nothing can take root, and whatever tries to grow is scorched. There are other times when we are so concerned with how we will survive during difficult times that our worries and concerns are like thorns which kill anything that tries to grow.  There are those other times, and perhaps they are rare, but we are receptive to God’s Word, and it takes root in us and it grows and we are able, through God’s good grace, to be productive bearer’s of God’s Good News bringing forth the healing that restores the world as God intended it to be.
 
Let us pray: Gracious God, we have nothing good in our lives except that which comes from you.  May Your Word take root among us that we may be faithful witnesses to the Good News of Jesus Christ, your Son, who makes all things a new creation through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
 
CALENDAR REMINDERS
 
Turn your clocks back one hour this Saturday evening. We all get an extra hour of blessed sleep.
 
The All Hallow’s Eve Children’s Party this Friday, 30 October from 6 to 9 PM at Sutton Hall at St. Augustine.  We are expecting 100 children, so please bring candy, hot dogs, buns, chip and fruit drinks! 
 
This Sunday is the Feast of All Saints.  We will read the names of all those from St. Augustine’s who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.
 
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially the ill, young and old, the families of those who have recently died, especially, the Rev. Dr. Rhoda Montgomery, the rector of St. Thomas in College Station, who died from cancer this week, everyone suffering from Hurricane Patricia in Mexico, and all of those celebrating birthdays, especially Wanda Makowski.
 
Your servant in Christ,
 
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550

Friday, October 9, 2015

The Body Does Not Consist of One Member but of Many.


The Epistle reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church continues from where we left off yesterday, and it carries the same theme, sameness is not equality:

 

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

 

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.  (1 Cor. 12:12-26).

 

The inspired Word of God spoken through Paul is this: “the body does not consist of one member but of many.”  Diversity, different viewpoints, is the key; sameness is not.  Strength comes from diversity, not uniformity.  If everyone were the same, there would be no spice in life.  Paul knew this well.  The body is composed of many members, many parts, each serving its own function.  God save us from collective sameness.

 

Let us pray: Gracious God and Father, we are your creation.  Some of us are male and others female, some are black and other white, some are short and others tall, some thin and others plump, some blond and other red headed and some with no hair at all, some are physically strong and others weak.  Each of us in an integral part of Your world.  Give us the grace to appreciate the other as a reflection of You since we are made in Your likeness and image, and give us the grace to respect each other in our differences.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

The funeral service for Ernest Lemons, Jr. will be Saturday, 17 October at 11 AM, at E.L. Johnson Funeral Home in Galveston.

 

The Art Show is going on this week in Sutton Hall.  Please come and see the wonderful art work, each as unique as its creator.

 

Adult Christian Education: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis at 11 AM on Sundays.

 

The Seaside Seniors will meet on the third Thursday of this month, 15 October at 11 AM, and the theme will be All Hallows Eve.

 

All Hallows’ Eve children’s party on Friday, 30 October in Sutton Hall from 6 PM to 9 PM.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Thursday, October 8, 2015

We Are Not Called to Be Cogs in a Machine: Equality Is Not Sameness

Image result for cogs
The appointed Epistle reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth:
 
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.
 
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (1 Cor. 12:1-11).
 
There are so many in our society who think that equality is making everyone the same.  That is not equality; rather, that is homogenization, uniformity, amalgamation, destruction of uniqueness. We have a lot of that going around these days.  People who shout down the other person because they have a difference of opinion.  The mantra is, “If you don’t think the way I do, then you and you are either stupid or bigoted.  You must conform to my way of thinking, to my way of being.”  Equality then consists of being interchangeable like a cog in a machine.
 
Today’s Epistle reading from St. Paul tells us that in our different personalities and gifts we find equality.  We are equal because each of us is indispensible; we are all equally needed. Within the same Lord, some heal, some prophecy, some teach, some discern, some do miracles, but each is different, and each is equal because each is indispensible to the Body of Christ.  If everyone was a prophet, or a teacher, or a miracle worker, or a healer, or able to discern, or if everyone was a bishop, or a priest, or a deacon, or a layperson, or an atheist, or a theologian, pick your sameness, it simply would not work.
 
Let us pray:  Open our eyes and ears, O Lord, to see that in our uniqueness we are equal because we are all indispensible.  Amen.
 
CALENDAR REMINDERS
 
The funeral service for Ernest Lemons, Jr. will be Saturday, 17 October at 11 AM, at E.L. Johnson Funeral Home in Galveston.
 
The Art Show is going on this week in Sutton Hall.  Please come and see the wonderful art work, each as unique as its creator.
 
Adult Christian Education: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis at 11 AM on Sundays.
 
All Hallows’ Eve children’s party on Friday, 30 October in Sutton Hall from 6 PM to 9 PM.
 
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.
 
Your servant in Christ,
 
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550