St. Boniface

Today the Church remembers the life and ministry of an English Benedictine monk, Boniface, who took the Good News of Jesus to the people of Germany.  Boniface was born around 680 near Crediton in Devonshire, England. James Kiefer tells us that when Boniface was 5:

 

He listened to some monks who were staying at his father's house. They had returned from a mission to the pagans on the continent, and Boniface was so impressed by them that he resolved to follow their example. Although his father had intended him for a secular career, he gave way to his son's entreaties and sent him at the age of seven to a monastery school. He eventually became director of the school at Nursling, in Winchester, where he wrote the first Latin grammar in England, and gave lectures that were widely copied and circulated.

 

At 30, he was ordained and set out to preach in Friesland (overlaps with modern Holland), whence he was soon expelled because of war between its heathen king and Charles Martel of France. Boniface, after a brief withdrawal, went into Hesse and Bavaria, having secured the support of the Pope and of Charles Martel for his work there. In Hesse, in the presence of a large crowd of pagans, he cut down the Sacred Oak of Geismar, a tree of immense age and girth, sacred to the god Thor. It is said that after only a few blows of his axe, the tree tottered and crashed to the ground, breaking into four pieces and revealing itself to be rotted away within. It was the beginning of a highly successful missionary effort, and the planting of a vigorous Christian church in Germany, where Boniface was eventually consecrated bishop. He asked the Christian Saxons of England to support his work among their kinsmen on the continent, and they responded with money, books, supplies, and above all, with a steady supply of monks to assist him in teaching and preaching.

 

Boniface did not confine his attentions to Germany. He worked to establish cooperation between the Pope and others in Italy on the one hand and Charles and his successors in France on the other. He persuaded Carloman and Pepin, the sons of Charles, to call synods for the reform of the church in their territories, where under previous rulers bishoprics had often been sold to the highest bidder. He never forgot his initial failure in Friesland, and in old age resigned his bishopric and returned to work there. Many Frisians had been converted earlier by Willibrord (another Saxon missionary from England--see 7 Nov), but had lapsed after his death. Boniface preached among them with considerable success. On June 5, the eve of Pentecost, 754, he was preparing a group of Frisians for confirmation when they were attacked and killed by heathen warriors.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, who called your faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering raised up a people for your own possession:  Pour forth your Holy Spirit upon your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many your holy Name may be glorified and your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

It is hurricane season!  Are you ready?  Make sure that you home insurance is up to date and that you have an evacuation plan.  Remember that St. James Episcopal Church in Austin is a place where you can use as an evacuation center. 

 

Every Wednesday, the Healing Arts Ministry with Lee Runion starting at 11:00 AM with a light lunch provided.

 

The Seaside Seniors meet every third Thursday of the month in Sutton Hall at 1100 AM.

 

The Adult Christian Education series continues: “The Resurrection: Now What?”  We have explored how the Bible came to be and now we will explore the Patristic period and the Nicene Creed.  Come join us at 11:00 AM on Sunday mornings.

 

Gospel by the Sea is 14 June at 6 PM at Greater St. Matthew’s Baptist Church, 6333 Highway 6, Hitchcock, Texas 77563.

 

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Pat, Patricia, Julie for her quick recovery, and all of those who are serving in the Armed Forces.

 

 Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

One Body & Many Parts

The Epistle reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus:

 

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

 

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, ‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’ When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.  (Eph. 4: 1-16)

 

We, the Church, are the living body of Christ in the world, and we must be one body brought to life by the breath of the Holy Spirit. You and I are different parts of the body have different functions, yet working together as one we can bring the Good News of Jesus into people’s lives.  The Good News that they have been redeemed by Jesus and that their lives have a profound meaning and purpose wherein each of us is called to live our lives in the presence of God so that ultimately we will be in the very presence of God.

 

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.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

It is hurricane season!  Are you ready?  Make sure that youR home insurance is up to date and that you have an evacuation plan.  Remember that St. James Episcopal Church in Austin is a place THAT you can use as an evacuation center. 

 

Every Wednesday, the Healing Arts Ministry with Lee Runion starting at 11:00 AM with a light lunch provided.

 

The Seaside Seniors meet every third Thursday of the month in Sutton Hall at 1100 AM.

 

The Adult Christian Education series continues: “The Resurrection: Now What?”  We have explored how the Bible came to be and now we will explore the Patristic period and the Nicene Creed.  Come join us at 11:00 AM on Sunday mornings.

 

Gospel by the Sea is 14 June at 6 PM at Greater St. Matthew’s Baptist Church, 6333 Highway 6, Hitchcock, Texas 77563.

 

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Pat, Patricia, Julie for her quick recovery, and all of those who are serving in the Armed Forces.

 

 Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

The Martyrs of Uganda

Today the Church remembers all of those who gave their lives in 1886 and 1887 in Uganda because of their faith in Jesus Christ.  Twenty-three (23) Anglican and twenty-two (22) Roman Catholic converts to Christianity in the historical kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda, were executed between November 1885 and January 1887.  They were killed on orders of Mwanga II, the King of Buganda.

 

James Kiefer writes: “These martyrdoms totally changed the dynamic of Christian growth in Uganda. Introduced by a handful of Anglican and Roman missionaries after 1877, the Christian faith had been preached only to the immediate members of the court, by order of King Mutesa. His successor, Mwanga, became increasingly angry as he realized that the first converts put loyalty to Christ above the traditional loyalty to the king. Martyrdoms began in 1885. Mwanga first forbade anyone to go near a Christian mission on pain of death, but finding himself unable to cool the ardor of the converts, resolved to wipe out Christianity.”

 

Let us pray:  O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: Grant that we who remember before you the blessed martyrs of Uganda, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they gave obedience, even unto death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Every Wednesday, the Healing Arts Ministry with Lee Runion starting at 11:00 AM with a light lunch provided.

 

The Seaside Seniors meet every third Thursday of the month in Sutton Hall at 1100 AM.

 

The Adult Christian Education series continues: “The Resurrection: Now What?”  We have explored how the Bible came to be and now we will explore the Patristic period and the Nicene Creed.  Come join us at 11:00 AM on Sunday mornings.

 

Gospel by the Sea is 14 June at 6 PM at Greater St. Matthew’s Baptist Church, 6333 Highway 6, Hitchcock, Texas 77563.

 

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Pat, Patricia, Julie for her quick recovery, and all of those who are serving in the Armed Forces.

 

 Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Blandina & Her Companions

Today the Church remembers Blandina and her companions who died for their faith in Christ on this day in 177 A.D. Lyons and Vienne, in Gaul, were missionary centers which had drawn many Christians from Asia and Greece. Persecution began in 177.  James Kiefer writes:

 

At first, Christians were excluded from the public baths, the market place, and from social and public life. They were subject to attack when they appeared in public, and many Christian homes were vandalized. At this point the government became involved, and began to take Christians into custody for questioning. Some slaves from Christian households were tortured to obtain confessions, and were induced to say that Christians practiced cannibalism and incest. These charges were used to arouse the whole city against the Christians, particularly against Pothinus, the aged bishop of Lyons; Sanctus, a deacon; Attalus; Maturus, a recent convert; and Blandina, a slave. Pothinus was beaten and then released, to die of his wounds a few days later. Sanctus was tormented with red-hot irons. Blandina, tortured all day long, would say nothing except, "I am a Christian, and nothing vile is done among us." Finally, the survivors were put to death in the public arena. 

 

Let us pray:  Grant, O Lord, we pray, that we who keep the feast of the holy martyrs Blandina and her companions may be rooted and grounded in love of you, and may endure the sufferings of this life for the glory that shall be revealed in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.   Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Every Wednesday, the Healing Arts Ministry with Lee Runion starting at 11:00 AM with a light lunch provided.

 

The Seaside Seniors meet every third Thursday of the month in Sutton Hall at 1100 AM.

 

The Adult Christian Education series continues: “The Resurrection: Now What?”  We have explored how the Bible came to be and now we will explore the Patristic period and the Nicene Creed.  Come join us at 11:00 AM on Sunday mornings.

 

Gospel by the Sea is 14 June at 6 PM at Greater St. Matthew’s Baptist Church, 6333 Highway 6, Hitchcock, Texas 77563.

 

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Pat, Patricia, Julie for her quick recovery, and all of those who are serving in the Armed Forces.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Some doubted

Today is Ascension Thursday where the Church remembers Jesus’ ascending to the Father.  In the Gospel according to Matthew we read:

 

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).

 

Forty days after the Resurrection, the Son returns to the Father.  Prior to the ascension, Jesus calls his disciples together.  One of the amazing things in this passage is Matthew’s frankness that “some doubted.”  The 11 had been with Jesus throughout his entire public ministry.  They knew that he was crucified.  They saw the resurrected Jesus.  Nevertheless, some doubted.  Whenever doubts creep into your life, just remember that even some of the 11 who had witnessed the Resurrection and Jesus’ ascension doubted, but they soon found themselves doing just what Jesus told them to do—they went forth and made disciples and they baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and taught them to obey everything that Jesus commanded them.

 

Let us pray: Gracious God, there are times when my ability to trust seems absent. My heart longs for truth and I even find within me a kernel of desire to believe, but my mind seems unable to grasp the truth and belief that I seek. Let your sure and true presence wash over me, shedding shafts of light where only darkness resides, and in those shafts of light may I see the outline of your face. I ask this for the sake of your love. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Every Wednesday, the Healing Arts Ministry with Lee Runion starting at 11:00 AM with a light lunch provided.

 

The Seaside Seniors meet every third Thursday of the month in Sutton Hall at 1100 AM.

 

The Adult Christian Education series continues: “The Resurrection: Now What?”  We have explored how the Bible came to be and now we will explore the Patristic period and the Nicene Creed.  Come join us at 11:00 AM on Sunday mornings.

 

Gospel by the Sea is 14 June at 6 PM at Greater St. Matthew’s Baptist Church, 6333 Highway 6, Hitchcock, Texas 77563.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Pat, Patricia, and all of those who are serving in the Armed Forces.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Ephesians: Paul's Great Letter About the Church

The Epistle reading appointed for today is taken from the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

 

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:1-10).

 

Ephesians is Paul’s great letter about the church. It deals, however, not so much with a congregation in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor as with the worldwide church, the head of which is Christ, the purpose of which is to be the instrument for making God’s plan of salvation known throughout the universe. This idea of church is anchored in God’s saving love, shown in Jesus Christ, and the whole of redemption is rooted in the plan and accomplishment of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Paul uses the language of praise and of liturgy and hymns.  Paul reminds us that you and I are the church; we are the body of Christ and Jesus is our head.  God’s plan is to gather everyone and everything together in Christ.

 

Let us pray:  Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus who is the Christ.  Send your Holy Spirit to make us one in Christ that we may reflect your love in the world.  Amen.

 

Today the Church also remembers and honors a Reformer, John Calvin who was born on 10 July 1509 and died on 27 May 1564.  He was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Reformation. Calvin was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After religious tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestants in France, Calvin fled to Switzerland, where in 1536 he published the first edition of his seminal work Institutes of the Christian Religion.

 

Let us pray: Sovereign and holy God, you brought John Calvin from a study of legal systems to understand the godliness of your divine laws as revealed in Scripture: Fill us with a like zeal to teach and preach your Word, that the whole world may come to know your Son Jesus Christ, the true Word and Wisdom; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, ever one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Every Wednesday, the Healing Arts Ministry with Lee Runion starting at 11:00 AM with a light lunch provided.

 

The Seaside Seniors meet every third Thursday of the month in Sutton Hall at 1100 AM.

 

The Adult Christian Education series continues: “The Resurrection: Now What?”  We have explored how the Bible came to be and now we will explore the Patristic period and the Nicene Creed.  Come join us at 11:00 AM on Sunday mornings.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Pat, Patricia, and all of those who are serving in the Armed Forces.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Today's Martyrs

Today the Church remembers those who gave their lives for their faith in the Sudan on this day in 1983:

 

The Christian bishops, chiefs, commanders, clergy and people of Sudan declared, on May 16, 1983, that they would not abandon God as God had revealed himself to them under threat of Shariah Law imposed by the fundamentalist Islamic government in Khartoum. Until a peace treaty was signed on January 9, 2005, the Episcopal Church of the Province of the Sudan suffered from persecution and devastation through twenty-two years of civil war. Two and a half million people were killed, half of whom were members of this church. Many clergy and lay leaders were singled out because of their religious leadership in their communities. No buildings, including churches and schools, are left standing in an area the size of Alaska. Four million people are internally displaced, and a million are scattered around Africa and beyond in the Sudanese Diaspora. Twenty-two of the twenty-four dioceses exist in exile in Uganda or Kenya, and the majority of the clergy are unpaid. Only 5% of the population of Southern Sudan was Christian in 1983. Today over 85% of that region of six million is now mostly Episcopalian or Roman Catholic. A faith rooted deeply in the mercy of God has renewed their spirits through out the years of strife and sorrow. (From the proposal before the 75th General Convention)

 

This continues even today.  In a very recent new story (15 May 2014) from the Morning Star News we read:

 

A judge in Sudan today confirmed the death sentence for “apostasy” (leaving Islam) for a pregnant Christian woman after she refused to recant, sources said.

 

After her conviction on April 30, Judge Abaas Al Khalifa had given Meriam Yahia Ibrahim 15 days to recant or be executed, with the ultimatum repeated at her hearing on Sunday (May 11). He also confirmed the sentence of 100 lashes for having sex with her husband, considered illicit in Islam because he is a Christian.

“The court has sentenced you to be hanged till you are dead,” Al Khalifa told Ibrahim, who also has a 20-month-old son, after Islamist crowds shouted for the court to punish her.

 

As other Sudanese convicted of leaving Islam have recanted their new faiths in order to avoid execution, the 27-year-old Ibrahim is the first person to be sentenced to death under Sudan’s apostasy law, according to Amnesty International.

 

Before the court appearance, a Muslim scholar went to Ibrahim — as has happened repeatedly since her incarceration without trial in February — and spent nearly 40 minutes trying to force her to recant, sources said. She told him what she told the judge.

 

“I am a Christian, and I have never been a Muslim,” she told Al Khalifa in court.

 

Let us pray:  O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by your providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death, and so by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest, may we, too, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

WE HAD A WONDERFUL EVENING LAST NIGHT AT THE SHARING OUR FAITH DINNER AT THE PUTMANS’ HOME.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Safeguarding Adults and Children Program at Grace tomorrow starting at 8:30 AM.

 

Adult Christian Education: “The Resurrection: Now What?” continue Sunday at 11 AM.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550