Jesus Restores Creation

Patricia Florence’s funeral liturgy will be Saturday at 9 AM.  Starting at 8 AM there will be a viewing where you may come and pay your respects. We remember that the liturgy for the dead is an Easter liturgy. It finds all its meaning in the resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we, too, shall be raised. The liturgy, therefore, is characterized by joy, in the certainty that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  This joy, however, does not make human grief unchristian. The very love we have for each other in Christ brings deep sorrow when we are parted by death. Jesus himself wept at the grave of his friend. So, while we rejoice that one we love has entered into the nearer presence of our Lord, we sorrow in sympathy with those who mourn. Book of Common Prayer, p. 507

 

The appointed Gospel reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from the Gospel according to Luke where we hear the Pharisees getting lost in the letter of the law while forgetting the spirit of the law:

 

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. 13:10-17).

The leader of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus cured the woman on the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day.  Jesus restores the created order to the way God intended it to be, whole and healthy.  The leader of the synagogue is so concerned with the rule of law, with keeping the letter of the law, that he forgot what the law was all about, drawing us closer to God and to each other. 

 

Let us pray:  The Almighty Lord, who is a strong tower to all who put their trust in him, to whom all things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth bow and obey: Be now and evermore your defense, and make you know and feel that the only Name under heaven given for health and salvation is the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

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

 

Adult Christian Education: Focus on Islam.  We concluded our review of the book.  The next session for this class will be when Dr. Ahmed Ahmed will join us for a question and answer session.  Once the date is finalized, I will announce it.

 

Sunday Screening Mammogram Program at St. Augustine on November 16, 2014.  Please get the word out on this important project.  They can contact Karen Lidstone at klidston@utmb.edu.

 

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