Those Who Lead Should Be Humble

Today’s Epistle selection is from Peter’s first letter.  It is a good guide to those who are called to be pastors:

Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it—not for sordid gain but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away. In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power for ever and ever.  Amen.

Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you, and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. Your sister church in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace to all of you who are in Christ. (1 Pet. 5: 1-14).

Those who are charged with leading the Christian community should do so with humility, and as examples of those in their care.  What is “humility”?  St. Thomas Aquinas defines “humility” in this way:  it consists in keeping oneself within one's own bounds, not reaching out to things above one.  Another way of putting is that you have to know your strengths and limitations.  Those who are called to lead the community of faith must do so knowing their strengths and limitations.  That is good counsel to everyone.

Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, Shepherd of your people, we thank you for those whom You have called to care for your flock, that they may by  following Christ’s example and the teaching of his holy life, we may by your grace grow into the stature of the fullness of the Good Shepherd, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sharing Your Faith Dinners this Thursday, 26 April at 6 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

St. Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury

Today the Church remembers a bishop who loved his people and sacrificed his life, Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born around 953, during a violent period in England; it was the second major period of Viking raids.

Alphege became a monk, then a hermit, and was made Abbot of Bath. In 984 he became Bishop of Westminster.

In 994, King Ethelred sent him to negotiate with the Danish invaders. One of the invaders, Anlaf, became a Christian and swore never to invade England again. He never did. In that same year Alphege brought the newly baptized King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway to a peaceful meeting with King Ethelred, and to his confirmation at Andover.

In 1005, Alphege became Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1011 the Danes overran much of southern England. In September, they captured Canterbury and held Alphege and other prominent persons for ransom. The others were duly paid for and released, but the price demanded for Alphege was a fantastically high. Alphege, knowing the poverty of his people, refused to pay or let anyone else pay for him. His action infuriated the Danes, and at the end of a drunken feast, brought him out and repeated their demands. When he again refused, they beat him to death. Their chief, Thorkell the Tall, tried to save him, offering all his possessions except his ship for the Archbishop's life, but to no avail.

When the Dane Cnut (Canute) became King of England in 1016, he adopted a policy of conciliation, and in 1023 he brought the body of Alphege from London to Canterbury, where he was remembered as a martyr. Although he did not die for his belief in Christ, Alphege gave his life so that his people would not have to suffer ruin. He is an example to us of one who gives his all for others.

Let us pray: O loving God, whose martyr bishop Alphege of Canterbury suffered violent death when he refused to permit a ransom to be extorted from his people: Grant that all pastors of your flock may pattern themselves on the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep; and who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially, Randy Furlong, Patricia Robinson and Peggy Tuthill.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Mercy Has Been Shown to You; Show Mercy

On this Wednesday is the second week of Easter we continue with Peter’s first letter wherein he tells his readers:

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: ‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’

To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner’, and ‘A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Pet. 2:1-10)

Peter, “the Rock”, is inviting his readers to become “living stones” in building a spiritual house that will offer sacrifice, i.e., that will sanctify. How do we as living stones make life holy, sacred? Peter gives us the answer; he tells us that we are God’s people who have received mercy. Being recipients of God’s mercy, we must show mercy to others. In doing this, we proclaim the Risen Christ.

Let us pray: O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love all people, including our enemies: Lead us from prejudice to truth: deliver us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Patricia Robinson, Randy Furlong, Peggy Tuthill, and all of those who may be ill at this time.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Do Not Be Conformed to the Desires that You Formerly Had In Ignorance.

In this second week of Easter we hear from the first letter of Peter where he writes:

Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures for ever.’ That word is the good news that was announced to you. (1 Pet. 1 -13-25).

Peter tells his readers “do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.” Be holy yourselves in all your conduct. In this season after Easter that is what we are called to, be holy in all of our conduct.

Let us pray: Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially those generous gifts bestowed upon our discretionary fund and our general fund.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Although You Have Not Seen Him, You Love Him

On this Monday in the Second Week of Easter, the Epistle switches to Peter’s first letter. We have the first 12 verses of the first chapter:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated, when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look! (1 Pet. 1:1-12).

This is the same Peter who denied Christ in the courtyard of the high priest, the same Peter who claimed that he did not even know the man. Here he is in today’s reading proclaiming the Risen Jesus.

This letter is as fresh today as it was when it was written nearly 2000 years ago. Peter tells his readers: “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Just like Peter’s original audience, you and I have not seen Jesus, yet we love him and we rejoice in him. You and I are part of that tradition of faith which lives in the wake of the Risen Christ, working to love one another as Jesus has loved us.

Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Betty Robinson, Patricia Robinson and Cindi Clack.

Your servant in Christ,

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

And the Trumpet Will Sound!

On this Friday in Easter Week,we have a poetic passage from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15: 51-58).

This passage has been put to music in Handel’s Messiah. Paul paints a wonderful picture which sometimes has been very misunderstood, and you may have heard of it as “the rapture” the belief of some that there will be some who will be taken by God and others left behind for a period of tribulation. This belief has been the subject of a somewhat popular series of books, The Left Behind Series.

I don't think that Paul had The Left Behind Series in mind in this passage. In the 15th chapter of his letter, Paul has been telling the Corinthians about the resurrection. Paul is looking toward the Second Coming of Christ, the first born of the new creation who has been raised to life in the resurrection. What Paul is telling the Corinthians in this portion of the letter is that death has no more power over them; death is the very thing that the majority of human beings are terrified of because of its finality and because of the unknown. Paul is telling his readers that Christ is victorious over death because he has risen, and God the Father has made him a new creation. Paul tells us that this same end awaits you and me.

Let us pray: Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

BISHOP’S COMMITTEE MEETING THIS SUNDAY—IT IS THE THIRD SUNDAY OF THE MONTH. We have a few things on the agenda: (1) the recurring Internet access issue (we are paying for it but do not seem to have it); (2) the Community Garden and adding a new signatory to the account; (3) some maintenance issues old and new, including a few dead trees.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST especially Cindi Clack and Betty Robinson.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Go and Baptize All Nations

On this Thursday in Easter Week, we hear the end of the Gospel according to Matthew:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Mt. 28: 16-20).

Matthew just tells it like it is. Even though they see the Risen Christ, “some doubted”. There are skeptics in every age; they were even standing in front of the very Jesus who rose from the dead.

This passage contains the Great Commission, that is, Jesus’ command to go and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian formula is used at baptisms all around the world; we even used it on Easter Sunday when we baptized Toni, and it stems from the time of the Early Church. In the baptismal liturgy, both the spoken word and the sign of poured water are outward signs of what God is accomplishing internally in conveying grace. Not only do our liturgies reflect our beliefs, but they also convey God acting in our lives in profound ways. Baptism, which is Greek for “to dip” or “to dunk”, is one of the rites of Christian initiation wherein God makes us members of the Body of Christ. In baptism you and I are baptized into the death of Christ so that we may share in the resurrection thereby reconciling us to God through the forgiveness of sins.

Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ART CLASS WITH LEE RUNION THIS WEEKEND: Join the tour of the historical Galveston cemetery this Saturday.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST, especially Betty Robinson who is recovering from surgery.

Your servant in Christ,

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