Do We Have the Courage?

Today we hear from the Gospel according to Luke; Jesus tells us:

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. … So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (Lk. 14: 25 & 35).

As we draw toward the end of Ordinary Time, and as we approach Christ the King Sunday, Jesus talks about picking up our crosses and following him. Jesus’ kingship is not what the world understands a king to be. Just look at the kings and queens who are still sit on thrones today like the British royal family. They certainly live a lavish life style. They have a few palaces, Buckingham Castle in London, and just 25 or so miles away from London, Windsor Castle, and Hollyrood in Scotland, just to name a few.

But we have our own royalty in the United States, just look at the magazines in the check-out line at the grocery store. On the cover of People, we see Hollywood celebrities jetting around the world and sunning themselves in the Riviera. They live in massive mansions that are as large as hotels.

Jesus tells us that his kingship is nothing like that. Jesus identifies with the poor and the outcasts, with those that polite society wants nothing to do with. Jesus’ throne is a cross on a hill; his crown is made of thorns. Jesus invites you and me to follow his kingly lead. Do we have the courage to do it? Do we have the courage to pick up our crosses and to follow our King?

CALENDAR REMINDERS

This Sunday for Adult Christian Formation, we will begin a short series on Sundays until Advent at 11:00 a.m. in Sutton Hall—Stump the Vicar. Bring your questions whatever they may be, about Scripture, the Episcopal Church, the liturgy, you name it, bring it! There will be a prize for anyone who stumps the Vicar.

Thursday, 11 November, is Veteran’s Day. Please remember in your prayers all of those who have served this Country in the Armed Forces.

Art classes begin Saturday, 13 November in the art room in Bright-Davies Hall. Please join Lee Runion. The class is free. Lee’s phone number is 409-392 4171.

Thanksgiving luncheon, Sunday, 21 November, after the Eucharist. Please remember to sign up to bring a dish to share.

Big Mista BBQ fundraiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Melva Pope has tickets, so please pick some up for friends and family.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST, especially Pat Williams, the trumpeter who played at Second Sunday Jazz, who is in ICU.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

One of today’s appointed readings is taken from the Gospel according to Luke. He writes:

Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.’ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”(Lk. 14: 14-23).

This passage has the ring of familiarity. Excuses, excuses, excuses. Sometimes we can be filled with excuses when it comes time to do God’s work. You and I can come up with all sorts of creative excuses. They are only limited by our imaginations. Some of our excuses may be motivated by laziness, while others are motivated by fear. Some others may be motivated by feelings of unworthiness. Some may be motivated by caution. However, the excuses do not make up happy, they do not make us complete. What makes us more human, what makes us more complete is doing God’s will as difficult as it may be.

Let us pray. Gracious God, sometimes when You call us to do Your work, we come up with all sorts of excuses why we can’t. Open our hearts to Your Holy Spirit. Motivate us to follow what Your Son Jesus calls us to do in building Your Kingdom always praying, and meaning it, “Your will be done.” Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

This Sunday for Adult Christian Formation, we will begin a short series on Sundays until Advent at 11:00 a.m. in Sutton Hall—Stump the Vicar. Bring your questions whatever they may be, about Scripture, the Episcopal Church, the liturgy, you name it, bring it! There will be a prize for anyone who stumps the Vicar.

Art classes begin Saturday, 13 November in the art room in Bright-Davies Hall. Please join Lee Runion. The class is free.

Thanksgiving luncheon, Sunday, 21 November, after the Eucharist. Please remember to sign up to bring a dish to share.

Big Mista BBQ fundraiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST.

Your servant in Christ,

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

A Relationship with God Lasts Forever

One of the Psalms appointed for today is Psalm 73, and the Psalmist prays:

Truly God is good to the upright,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pain;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not plagued like other people.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.
Their eyes swell out with fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.
Therefore the people turn and praise them,
and find no fault in them.
And they say, ‘How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
Such are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain I have kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all day long I have been plagued,
and am punished every morning.
If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way’,
I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end. . . .

They are like a dream when one awakes;
on awaking you despise their phantoms. . . .

You guide me with your counsel,
and afterwards you will receive me with honor.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
you put an end to those who are false to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
to tell of all your works.

Sometimes you and I look around at the rich and powerful and it seems that they gained their wealth by unfair means. They are, to put it in a common saying, “fat and happy.” You and I may may ask ourselves, “why be good, it doesn’t get me anywhere; ot doesn't pay off? Just look at those who aren’t good, they have easy lives and no worries.”

The Psalmist is struggling with this. He thinks that he has kept his heart clean in vain. The Psalmist writes: “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God.” when he comes before God, then his mind is cleared and he understands that riches and fame are passing; they do not last forever. What outlasts wealth is the Psalmist’s relationship with God. That relationship develops with his daily decisions to live as God would have the Psalmist live. That is a good reminder for us. What we do in our everyday lives has eternal consequences. Either we build our relationship with God or we build a relationship with things that do not last. God is always available and calls us into relationship. The choice is ours.

JOINT OUTREACH PROJECT BETWEEN HOLY SPIRIT AND ST. AUGUSTINE

Tomorrow, the Youth Group from Holy Spirit in Houston will team up with St. Augustine to make 300 "breakfast bags" for the volunteers at the Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief at William Temple, the food pantry at St. Vincent's House, and also for the parishioners at St. Augustine of Hippo to take and deliver to those in need. We will provide the goods for the bags and Holy Spirit will provide the manpower. The “breakfast bags” will contain a water bottle, a breakfast bar, a fruit bar (or something similar) and will be sealed with a sticker with St. Augustine’s address and service time.

REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR FELLOWSHIP

Jo and Jim have sent the sign-up sheet for our Sunday morning fellowship. Please be sure to sign up.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Tonight is Friends & Family Game Night at 6:00 p.m. Bring your favorite game and most importantly, a friend. Everyone is also encouraged to bring a snack, a dessert or a beverage to share.

Adult Christian Formation: Join us every Sunday in Bright-Davies Hall at 11:00 a.m. as we study the Gospel according to Mark.

All Saints Sunday, 7 November 2010.

Thanksgiving Lunch on Sunday, 21 November after the Eucharist. Please sign up to bring a dish.

Art Classes begin in November. Stay tuned for details.

Big Mista BBQ Fund Raiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Tickets go on sale soon. Tell everyone you know about it.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST! Please pray for Angela Lemons who is in the hospital with a pneumonia.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

REMEMBER TO SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK ONE HOUR THIS SATURDAY EVENING!

On this the fourth day of the month, one of the appointed readings is from the Old Testament’s Ecclesiasticus (44:1-15). It is a celebration of history, of remembering who we are, and that you and I are shaped by those who came before us:

Let us now sing the praises of famous men,
our ancestors in their generations.
The Lord apportioned to them great glory,
his majesty from the beginning.
There were those who ruled in their kingdoms,
and made a name for themselves by their valor;
those who gave counsel because they were intelligent;
those who spoke in prophetic oracles;
those who led the people by their counsels
and by their knowledge of the people’s lore;
they were wise in their words of instruction;
those who composed musical tunes,
or put verses in writing;
rich men endowed with resources,
living peacefully in their homes—
all these were honored in their generations,
and were the pride of their times.
Some of them have left behind a name,
so that others declare their praise.
But of others there is no memory;
they have perished as though they had never existed;
they have become as though they had never been born,
they and their children after them.
But these also were godly men,
whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
their wealth will remain with their descendants,
and their inheritance with their children’s children.
Their descendants stand by the covenants;
their children also, for their sake.
Their offspring will continue for ever,
and their glory will never be blotted out.
Their bodies are buried in peace,
but their name lives on generation after generation.
The assembly declares their wisdom,
and the congregation proclaims their praise.

There are a few lines that specially strike me: “But of others there is no memory; they have perished as though they had never existed; they have become as though they had never been born, they and their children after them. But these also were godly men, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.”

The fact of the matter is that there are so many whose lives are not celebrated in history books, whose lives are not the stuff of movies. The vast majority of humanity does not have songs sung about their great deeds. These are the lives of ordinary men and women, people like you and me, who are by no means famous, but who try to live Godly lives. These actions, count as much as those whose lives are memorialized in history books. So during the day, remember all of those who have come before and be thankful for all that they have done to bring you and me to where we are today.

JOINT OUTREACH PROJECT BETWEEN HOLY SPIRIT AND ST. AUGUSTINE

On Saturday, 6 November, the Youth Group from Holy Spirit in Houston will team up with St. Augustine to make 300 "breakfast bags" for the volunteers at the Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief at William Temple, the food pantry at St. Vincent's House, and also for the parishioners at St. Augustine of Hippo to take and deliver to those in need. We will provide the goods for the bags and Holy Spirit will provide the manpower. The “breakfast bags" will contain a water bottle, a breakfast bar, a fruit bar (or something similar) and will be sealed with a sticker with St. Augustine’s address and service time.

REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR FELLOWSHIP

Jo and Jim have sent the sign-up sheet for our Sunday morning fellowship. Please be sure to sign up.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Friends & Family Game Night, this Friday, 5 November at 6:00 p.m. Bring your favorite game and most importantly, a friend. Everyone is also encouraged to bring a snack, a dessert or a beverage to share.

Adult Christian Formation: Join us every Sunday in Bright-Davies Hall at 11:00 a.m. as we study the Gospel according to Mark.

All Saints Sunday, 7 November 2010.

Thanksgiving Lunch on Sunday, 21 November after the Eucharist. Please sign up to bring a dish.

Art Classes begin in November. Stay tuned for details.

Big Mista BBQ Fund Raiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Tickets go on sale soon. Tell everyone you know about it.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST! Please pray for Angela Lemons who is in the hospital with a pneumonia.

Your servant in Christ,

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

Richard Hooker, Theologian

REMEMBER TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK 1 HOUR THIS SATURDAY NIGHT!

Today the Church remembers Richard Hooker, a theologian who lived in England in the late 1500s. He is famous for teaching that within the Anglican way of thinking, three things are import, Scripture, tradition and reason. This came to be known as “the three legged stool.”

James Keifer writes:

On any list of great English theologians, the name of Richard Hooker would appear at or near the top. His masterpiece is The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Its philosophical base is Aristotelian, with a strong emphasis on natural law eternally planted by God in creation. On this foundation, all positive laws of Church and State are developed from Scriptural revelation, ancient tradition, reason, and experience.

The occasion of his writing was the demand of English Puritans for a reformation of Church government. Calvin had established in Geneva a system whereby each congregation was ruled by a commission comprising two thirds laymen elected annually by the congregation and one third clergy serving for life. The English Puritans (by arguments more curious than convincing) held that no church not so governed could claim to be Christian.

Hooker replies to this assertion, but in the process he raises and considers fundamental questions about the authority and legitimacy of government (religious and secular), about the nature of law, and about various kinds of law, including the laws of physics as well as the laws of England. In the course of his book he sets forth the Anglican view of the Church, and the Anglican approach to the discovery of religious truth (the so-called via media, or middle road), and explains how this differs from the position of the Puritans, on the one hand, and the adherents of the Pope, on the other. He is very heavy reading, but well worth it.

Collect for the day: O God of truth and peace, who raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

JOINT OUTREACH PROJECT BETWEEN HOLY SPIRIT AND ST. AUGUSTINE

On Saturday, 6 November, the Youth Group from Holy Spirit in Houston will team up with St. Augustine to make 300 "breakfast bags" for the volunteers at the Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief at William Temple, the food pantry at St. Vincent's House, and also for the parishioners at St. Augustine of Hippo to take and deliver to those in need. We will provide the goods for the bags and Holy Spirit will provide the manpower. The “breakfast bags: will contain a water bottle, a breakfast bar, a fruit bar (or something similar) and will be sealed with a sticker with St. Augustine’s address and service time.

REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR FELLOWSHIP

Jo and Jim have sent the sign-up sheet for our Sunday morning fellowship. Please be sure to sign up.

WE ARE OPENING UP OUR FACILITIES TO THE COMMUNITY

The Galveston Heritage Chorale will begin practicing in Sutton Hall
The Boys and Girls Club this Tuesday, 2 November 2010

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Friends & Family Game Night, this Friday, 5 November at 6:00 p.m. Bring your favorite game and most importantly, a friend. Everyone is also encouraged to bring a snack, a dessert oR a beverage to share.

Adult Christian Formation: Join us every Sunday in Bright-Davies Hall at 11:00 a.m. as we study the Gospel according to Mark.

All Saints Sunday, 7 November 2010.

Thanksgiving Lunch on Sunday, 21 November after the Eucharist. Please sign up to bring a dish.

Art Classes begin in November. Stay tuned for details.

Big Mista BBQ Fund Raiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Tickets go on sale soon. Tell everyone you know about it.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST!

Your servant in Christ,

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

Our Rock, Our Fortress, Our Refuge, Our Salvation

One of the appointed Psalms for today is Psalm 62. The Psalmist sings out his trust in God:

For God alone my soul waits in silence,

for my hope is from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my deliverance and my honor;

my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.

It is easy to put our trust in God during times when life is easy and we have no cares. But when times get tough, when we are faced with challenges that we feel are overwhelming us, then putting our trust in God can be difficult. We may feel alone and abandoned by God. But God is there. As the Psalmist reminds us, God is our rock, our fortress, our refuge and our salvation. We should trust in God at all times, good and bad.

Let us pray: Mighty God, we pray this morning the words of the Psalmist. Our souls wait for you, our hearts hope in you. You are our rock, our fortress, our refuge and our salvation. Amen.

JOINT OUTREACH PROJECT BETWEEN HOLY SPIRIT AND ST. AUGUSTINE

On Saturday, 6 November, the Youth Group from Holy Spirit in Houston will team up with St. Augustine to make 300 "breakfast bags" for the volunteers at the Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief at William Temple, the food pantry at St. Vincent's House, and also for the parishioners at St. Augustine of Hippo to take and deliver to those in need. We will provide the goods for the bags and Holy Spirit will provide the manpower. The “breakfast bags: will contain a water bottle, a breakfast bar, a fruit bar (or something similar) and will be sealed with a sticker with St. Augustine’s address and service time.

REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR FELLOWSHIP:

Jo and Jim have sent the sign-up sheet for our Sunday morning fellowship. Please be sure to sign up.

WE ARE OPENING UP OUR FACILITIES TO THE COMMUNITY:

The Galveston Heritage Chorale will begin practicing in Sutton Hall

The Boys and Girls Club this Tuesday, 2 November 2010

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Friends & Family Game Night, this Friday, 5 November at 6:00 p.m. Bring your favorite game and most importantly, a friend. Everyone is also encouraged to bring a snack, a dessert or a beverage to share.

Adult Christian Formation: Join us every Sunday in Bright-Davies Hall at 11:00 a.m. as we study the Gospel according to Mark.

All Saints Sunday, 7 November 2010.

Thanksgiving Lunch on Sunday, 21 November after the Eucharist. Please sign up to bring a dish.

Art Classes begin in November. Stay tuned for details.

Big Mista BBQ Fund Raiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Tickets go on sale soon. Tell everyone you know about it.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST!

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

The Feast of All Saints

Today is the Feast of All Saints. The Church’s liturgical rules, however, allow us to celebrate if the Sunday following 1 November, so we will celebrate it Sunday, 7 November.

One of the appointed Psalms from the Daily Office readings is Psalm 148. The Psalmist writes:

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.
He established them for ever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

On this day the entire Church celebrates, we who are living today and those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith who are in God’s presence. God has raised up faithful people from generation to generation in all parts of the world and even in our little part of it, Galveston Island. Our parents, grandparents, great-great grandparents who go back to 1884 when St. Augustine’s was established. God raised up faithful clergy to serve the community, the Rev. Thomas Cain, the Rev. William H. Bright Davies, the Rev. Fred Sutton and so many others. Today we join our voices with theirs and give praise to God in the words of Psalm 148.

Let us pray: O Almighty God, who have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those indescribable joys which you have prepared for those who truly love you: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

JOINT OUTREACH PROJECT BETWEEN HOLY SPIRIT AND ST. AUGUSTINE

On Saturday, 6 November, the Youth Group from Holy Spirit in Houston will team up with St. Augustine to make 300 "breakfast bags" for the volunteers at the Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief at William Temple, the food pantry at St. Vincent's House, and also for the parishioners at St. Augustine of Hippo to take and deliver to those in need. We will provide the goods for the bags and Holy Spirit will provide the manpower. The “breakfast bags: will contain a water bottle, a breakfast bar, a fruit bar (or something similar) and will be sealed with a sticker with St. Augustine’s address and service time.

REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR FELLOWSHIP:

Jo and Jim have sent the sign-up sheet for our Sunday morning fellowship. Please be sure to sign up.

WE ARE OPENING UP OUR FACILITIES TO THE COMMUNITY:

The Galveston Heritage Chorale will begin practicing in Sutton Hall
The Boys and Girls Club this Tuesday, 2 November 2010

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Friends & Family Game Night, this Friday, 5 November at 6:00 p.m. Bring your favorite game and most importantly, a friend. Everyone is also encouraged to bring a snack, a dessert of a beverage to share.

Join us every Sunday in Bright-Davies Hall at 11:00 a.m. as we study the Gospel according to Mark.

All Saints Sunday, 7 November 2010.

Art Classes begin in November. Stay tuned for details.

Big Mista BBQ Fund Raiser for the Community Garden, Saturday, 11 December. Tickets go on sale soon. Tell everyone you know about it.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST!

Your servant in Christ,

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