Martin Luther: Reformer

Today the Episcopal Church remembers a Reformer, Martin Luther.  Recently while I was visiting with Roman Catholic friends from Ireland, they said: “I read what Martin Luther advocated at the time of the Reformation, and he was right, and now the Roman Catholic Church agrees with what he said and made many of the changes he advocated were passed during Vatican II in the 1960s, but the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated him then.  How could the Roman Catholic Church have been right at the time?”  My answer: sometimes institutions, and those who have a vested interest in them, let things like power, wealth, “it’s the way we’ve always done it” attitude; blind our eyes to the need for change and renewal.  Martin Luther recognized that the Church is always in need or reformation.  He had the courage to step out and to engage the powers that be to work for renewal and reformation.  So today we remember that Augustinian monk who was born in 1483 and died in 1546, who taught theology at a new university in Germany, Wittenberg, who translated Holy Scripture into the language of his people and did the same with the liturgies of the Church, and we give thanks to God for those who have the courage to challenge the greater Church to renewal and reformation.

 

Let us pray:  O God, our refuge and our strength, who raised up your servant Martin Luther to reform and renew your Church in the light of your word: Defend and purify the Church in our own day and grant that, through faith, we may boldly proclaim the riches of your grace, which you have made known in Jesus Christ our Savior, who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Thursday, 20 February 2014: the Seaside Seniors meet at Sutton Hall at St. Augustine’s at 11 A.M. to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day.

 

Join the Absalom Jones Eucharistic Celebration: Come Saturday, 22 February at 11 A.M. to St. James', Houston, and meet the seven diocesan Black clergy and enjoy the musical talents of St. James’ Young Dancers and The Jazz Ensemble.  Enjoy a great lunch and a lively panel discussion on "Fifty Years Later: The State of Racism in America." St. James is located at 3129 Southmore Blvd. in Houston.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Pat, Patricia, Karen and Xavier and the Daniel’s children to be baptized this Sunday.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

God Is Light

The Epistle reading today is taken from the opening of the first letter of John:

 

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

 

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 Jn. 1:1-10).

 

The opening of the epistle is just as powerful as the opening of the Gospel according to John.  Whereas in the opening of his account of the Good News John tells us that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, in the opening of his letter, John tells us that God is light and in God there is no darkness at all.  John acknowledges that we are all sinners and that we cannot lie to ourselves about that.  Once we acknowledge our sinfulness, we can be open to the great mercy of God who forgives our sins in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who dwells in endless light.

 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMIDNERS

 

The Seaside Seniors will celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on Thursday, 20 February starting at 11 A.M.  The children, under Lee Runion’s guidance (and maybe the help of some adults), are making the centerpieces.

  

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Pat, Frances, Carol, Xavier, Patricia and Karen.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

The Rev. Absalom Jones

Today the Church remembers the life and ministry of Absalom Jones, the first Black Episcopal priest and he was ordained deacon in 1795 and priest in 1802 (61 years before the Civil War).  (By contrast, Augustus Tolton was the first Black to be ordained a Roman Catholic priest was in 1866, a year after the Civil War ended.)

 

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church at the time was Williams White (1789-1^st PB; 1795–1836-4^th PB).  James Kiefer writes: “1786 the membership of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia included both blacks and whites. However, the white members met that year and decided that thereafter black members should sit only in the balcony. Two black Sunday worshippers, Absalom Jones (1746-1818) and Richard Allen (1760-1831), whose enthusiasm for the Methodist Church had brought many blacks into the congregation, learned of the decision only when, on the following Sunday, ushers tapped them on the shoulder during the opening prayers, and demanded that they move to the balcony without waiting for the end of the prayer. They walked out, followed by the other black members.  Absalom Jones conferred with William White, Episcopal Bishop of Philadelphia, who agreed to accept the group as an Episcopal parish.”

 

That parish, St. Thomas, has thrived since the late 1700s to this very day where Fr. Martini Shaw serves as the parish’s 17^th rector.  Here is a link to their parish’s website: http://www.aecst.org/.

 

On Saturday, 22 February at 11 A.M. at St. James Episcopal Church on 3129 Southmore, Houston, the Diocese will gather together to celebrate the life and ministry of Absalom Jones.  Please come, if you are able, and be a part of the celebration.

 

Let us pray:  Set us free, heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear: that, honoring the steadfast courage of your servants Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMIDNERS

 

The Seaside Seniors will celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on Thursday, 20 February starting at 11 A.M.  The children, under Lee Runion’s guidance (and maybe the help of some adults), are making the centerpieces.

  

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Pat, Xavier, Patricia and Karen.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

A Powerful Blessing: the End of the Epistle to the Hebrews

The Epistle reading appointed for the Daily Prayer of the Church is the end of the Letter to the Hebrews:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing—for that would be harmful to you.

Pray for us; we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you very soon.

Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been set free; and if he comes in time, he will be with me when I see you. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you. (Heb. 13:17-25)

The blessings in the Epistles are always very powerful.  In today’s blessing, you and I are reminded that our God offers peace, that He raised Jesus from the dead, that Jesus gave his life for you and me, and that God will make us complete in everything good so that you and I may do God’s will in everything we do.  Remember the power of that blessing today.

Let us pray: Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

ST. AUGUSTINE’S MADE DIOCESAN NEWS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH:  Check out this link:  http://www.epicenter.org/article/black-history-spotlight-st-augustines-the-first-african-american-episcopal-church-in-texas/

CALENDAR REMIDNERS

The Seaside Seniors will celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on Thursday, 20 February starting at 11 A.M.  The children, under Lee Runion’s guidance (and maybe the help of some adults), are making the centerpieces.

Saturday, 22 February, 11 A.M. at St. James, 3129 Southmore, in Houston, will celebrate Absalom Jones Day with a Festive Eucharist and lunch to follow with a presentation.  Please make plans to join the Diocese as it gathers to celebrate the life and ministry of Absalom Jones.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Patricia and Karen.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550

The Holy Spirit at Work!

Thank you to everyone for making Bishop Fisher’s visit such a special event!  The hospitality shown by the people of St. Augustine’s is legendary and it is a gift that we share with everyone.  There is no doubt that we have entertained angels without knowing it, and as the holy spirit would have it, that is exactly what today’s epistle reading is all about!

 

The Daily Prayer of the Church has as its appointed reading for today a passage from the Letter to the Hebrews:

 

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’

 

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them. We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.  (Heb. 13:1-16).

 

The Holy Spirit has been full of surprises for us at St. Augustine’s.  Bishop Fisher in his sermon preached about “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” As we were gathering before the procession, Bishop Fisher told me that he was going to sing that during his sermon, but that he did not know that would be the sequence hymn.  The Holy Spirit was at work.  When I started to write the Daily Reflection, I wrote the thank you first, only to find that the Holy Spirit was already at work when I looked at the readings for today.

 

At St. Augustine’s we witness the Holy Spirit’s moving among us and using us as the Trinity’s instruments in showing hospitality to the stranger.  You have reached out beyond the doors to invite everyone to experience the love of Christ in reconciliation at St. Augustine’s from the Seaside Seniors, to the art programs throughout the year which include adults and children, to the Community Garden, to the BBQ, the World Wide Aids Day, to simply living out the Gospel’s call to love God, neighbor and self. I am continually humbled to witness God’s work at St. Augustine’s.  The Lord is indeed our helper!

 

Let us pray:  Holy God and Father you are the source of all graciousness.  We thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who gave his life so that we may all have life in You.  Continue to send the Holy Spirit to burn brightly in our hearts.  Amen.

 

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED WITH THE 165^th DIOCESAN COUNCIL!  IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN DONE WITHOUT YOUR PRESENCE AND HELP.

 

CALENDAR REMIDNERS

 

The Seaside Seniors will celebrate St. Valentine’s Day on Thursday, 20 February starting at 11 A.M.  The children, under Lee Runion’s guidance (and maybe the help of some adults), are making the centerpieces.

 

Saturday, 22 February, 11 A.M. at St. James, 3129 Southmore, in Houston, will celebrate Absalom Jones Day with a Festive Eucharist and lunch to follow with a presentation.  Please make plans to join the Diocese as it gathers to celebrate the life and ministry of Absalom Jones.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Patricia and Karen.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

The Bread of Life

The Gospel appointed for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from John and it is the Eucharistic discourse:

 

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. (Jn. 6:52-59).

 

Chapter 6 of the Gospel according to John starts with the feeding of the 5000.  It then moves into a discussion of the feeding of the Exodus and God’s providing the people with manna in the desert to sustain them.  Then Jesus tells them that he is the bread of life and that he will give his flesh for the life of the world.  Jesus did just that on the cross; he gave his flesh for the life of the world.  In the Eucharistic feast, we gather as the Body of Christ, the Church, and are truly made the body of Christ when we received the flesh and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion where we become one body in Him.

 

We also remember today the Rev. Jody Tomberlin whose memorial service was held today at 11 a.m. at Grace.  I was unable to be there; however, at the very hour that God’s people we gathered in Galveston, I participated in the Eucharist at Trinity on Wall Street in New York City remembering the Body of Christ gathered at Grace to celebrate her life and ministry.  God transcends time and space!  Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to you our sister Jody, who was reborn by water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism. Grant that her death may recall to us your victory over death, and be an occasion for us to renew our trust in your Father's love. Give us, we pray, the faith to follow where you have led the way; and where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to the ages of ages. Amen.

 

Your servant,

 

The Rev. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Anskar: Bishop & Missionary

Today the Church celebrates the life and ministry of Anskar who spent his life as a missionary.  We read in J.C Robertson’s Sketches of Church History (SPCK, 1904 SPCK, London) that:

 

In the north of Germany, in Denmark, and in Sweden, Anskar, who had been a monk at Corbey, on the Weser, laboured for thirty-nine years with earnest devotion and with great success (AD 826-865). In addition to preaching the Gospel of salvation, he did much in such charitable works as the building of hospitals and the redemption of captives; and he persuaded the chief men of  the country north of the Elba to give up their trade in slaves, which had been a source of great profit to them, but which Anskar taught them to regard as contrary to the Christian religion. Anskar was made archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, and is styled "The Apostle of the North." But he had to suffer many dangers and reverses in his endeavours to do good. At one time, when Hamburg was burnt by the Northmen, he lost his church, his monastery, his library, and other property; but he only said, with the patriarch Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" Then he set to work again, without being discouraged by what had befallen him, and he even made a friend of the heathen king who had led the attack on Hamburg. Anskar died in the year 865. It is told that when some of his friends were talking of miracles which he was supposed to have done, he said, "If I were worthy in my Lord's sight, I would ask of Him to grant me one miracle--that He would make me a good man." 

 

James Kiefer writes:

 

Anskar (in Latin, Ansgarius) was a monk of Saxon family,  born in Corbie, France, in 801 (the year after the crowning of Charlemagne). In 826, when King Harald of Denmark asked Charlemagne's successors for missionaries, Anskar led a group to Denmark, and a few years later to Sweden.  Because of unsettled political conditions, his work ran into difficulties, and Anskar withdrew into Germany, where he served as first Archbishop of Hamburg. Later, however, he helped to consecrate Gotbert, the first bishop of Sweden. The Church of Sweden honors him as its apostle, and he serves as symbol of the historic friendship and present-day connection between the Anglican Churches and the Church of Sweden. 

 

Let us pray:  Almighty and everlasting God, who sent your servant Anskar as an apostle to the people of Scandinavia, and enabled him to lay a firm foundation for their conversion, though he did not see the results of his labors: Keep your Church from discouragement in the day of small things, knowing that when you have begun a good work you will bring it to a faithful conclusion; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

The 165^th Diocesan Council, 7 and 8 February, in Galveston, at the Convention Center.

 

Bishop Fisher will join us at St. Augustine’s on Sunday, 9 February at 12:30 p.m. as our celebrant and preacher. We will have a catered lunch following the service.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550