150th Anniversary of Juneteenth

One of the Psalms appointed for the Daily Prayer of the Church today is Psalm 9. As you read it, reflect on the 150^th anniversary of Juneteenth, and the horrific murders at Emmanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina:

 

         He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,

                  abides under the shadow of the Almighty.

         He shall say to the Lord, "You are my refuge and my stronghold,

                  my God in whom I put my trust."

         He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter

                  and from the deadly pestilence.

         He shall cover you with his pinions, and you shall find refuge under his wings;

                  his faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.

         You shall not be afraid of any terror by night,

                  nor of the arrow that flies by day;

         Of the plague that stalks in the darkness,

                  nor of the sickness that lays waste at mid-day.

         A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand,

                  but it shall not come near you.

         Your eyes have only to behold

                  to see the reward of the wicked.

         Because you have made the Lord your refuge,

                  and the Most High your habitation,

         There shall no evil happen to you,

                  neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.

         For he shall give his angels charge over you,

                  to keep you in all your ways.

         They shall bear you in their hands,

                  lest you dash your foot against a stone.

         You shall tread upon the lion and adder;

                  you shall trample the young lion and the serpent under your feet.

         Because he is bound to me in love, therefore will I deliver him;

                  I will protect him, because he knows my Name.

         He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;

                  I am with him in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him to honor.

         With long life will I satisfy him,

                  and show him my salvation. (Ps. 91:1-16).

 

There is hope in the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.  Those who believe in God the Father, and the redemption of his Son Jesus Christ, have hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We know that God has the victory; evil and violence, although they try to do their worst, have fallen to the power of God.  Those who lived as slaves had their hearts filed with the hope of freedom.  Those who were murdered as they met in Church know that they have fallen asleep in Christ, and that they will rise with Christ.  We live in that between time, that time after the death and resurrection of Jesus, but before everything is finally set to rights.  We live in hope.

 

Let us pray:  Gracious God, you have brought your people from the land of slavery into the light of freedom.  Let us not take that freedom for granted; rather, let us live as builders of your just and right kingdom where there is no more pain, no more suffering and every tear is wiped away.  We ask this in Jesus’ name who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDER:  Sunday 21 June at 10 AM, we celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of Juneteenth and Father’s Day at St. Augustine.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Bernard Mizeki

Today the Church remembers Bernard Mizeki who was born in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) in about 1861.

 

James Kiefer writes that

 

When he was twelve or a little older, he left his home and went to Capetown, South Africa, where for the next ten years he worked as a laborer, living in the slums of Capetown, but (perceiving the disastrous effects of drunkenness on many workers in the slums) firmly refusing to drink alcohol, and remaining largely uncorrupted by his surroundings. After his day's work, he attended night classes at an Anglican school. Under the influence of his teachers, from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE, an Anglican religious order for men, popularly called the Cowley Fathers), he became a Christian and was baptized on 9 March 1886. Besides the fundamentals of European schooling, he mastered English, French, high Dutch, and at least eight local African languages. In time he would be an invaluable assistant when the Anglican church began translating its sacred texts into African languages. 

 

After graduating from the school, he accompanied Bishop Knight-Bruce to Mashonaland, a tribal area in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), to work there as a lay catechist. In 1891 the bishop assigned him to Nhowe, the village of paramount-chief Mangwende, and there he built a mission-complex. He prayed the Anglican hours each day, tended his subsistence garden, studied the local language (which he mastered better than any other foreigner in his day), and cultivated friendships with the villagers. He eventually opened a school, and won the hearts of many of the Mashona through his love for their children. 

 

He moved his mission complex up onto a nearby plateau, next to a grove of trees sacred to the ancestral spirits of the Mashona. Although he had the chief's permission, he angered the local religious leaders when he cut some of the trees down and carved crosses into others. Although he opposed some local traditional religious customs, Bernard was very attentive to the nuances of the Shona Spirit religion. He developed an approach that built on people's already monotheistic faith in one God, Mwari, and on their sensitivity to spirit life, while at the same time he forthrightly proclaimed the Christ. Over the next five years (1891-1896), the mission at Nhowe produced an abundance of converts. 

 

Many black African nationalists regarded all missionaries as working for the European colonial governments. During an uprising in 1896, Bernard was warned to flee. He refused, since he did not regard himself as working for anyone but Christ, and he would not desert his converts or his post. On 18 June 1896, he was fatally speared outside his hut. His wife and a helper went to get food and blankets for him. They later reported that, from a distance, they saw a blinding light on the hillside where he had been lying, and heard a rushing sound, as though of many wings. When they returned to the spot his body had disappeared. The place of his death has become a focus of great devotion for Anglicans and other Christians, and one of the greatest of all Christian festivals in Africa takes place there every year around the feast day that marks the anniversary of his martyrdom, June 18. 

 

Let us pray:  Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love in the heart of your holy martyr Bernard Mizeki: Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love, that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Sunday, 21 June at 10 AM we will celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Juneteenth Day and Father’s Day.  We will have a pot luck lunch.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially those people who lost their lives in the shooting at Immanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."

The 150^th anniversary of Juneteenth is quickly approaching.  One of the appointed readings for today is taken from the Acts of the Apostles.  It recounts the events of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit infused the gathered believers with the very life of God.  People from all over the world were there, and each one could understand what was being said in their own language.  Peter begins to preach and he says:

 

‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:  “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.  And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Acts 2: 14-21).

 

As we remember the proclamation of freedom 150 years on this Friday, let us keep in mind the words of Peter to the crowd gathered: “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”  That same Holy Spirit that swept the Early Church is still sweeping the Church today.  Now is the time for us to dream, for us to have visions and for us to prophesy that all of us, sinners, have been redeemed, that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and that God’s invitation and love are infinite, and that we are called to respond to that love by the way we live our lives.

 

Let us pray: O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

This Sunday at 10 AM we will celebrate Juneteenth and Father’s Day at St. Augustine.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Ordination

I have been remiss about doing the Daily Reflection partly because Mary and I were out of the country, and partly out of summer laziness.  One of today’s readings reminds me of my own ordination and how vital it is to pray.  We hear from the Acts of the Apostles today and how the apostles went about deciding on a replacement for Judas Iscariot:

 

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred and twenty people) and said, ‘Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus—for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.’ (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ‘For it is written in the book of Psalms, “Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it”; and “Let another take his position of overseer.”

 

So one of the men who have accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.’ So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.  (Acts 1: 15-26).

 

This is the season of ordinations to the diaconate.  The anniversary of my own ordination as a deacon is quickly approaching.  Ordination is a serious matter for the Church.  We who are ordained do not have a “right” to be ordained.  It is God’s call to lead and to serve His people gathered together as the embodiment of Christ in the world.  Ordination is a gift; it is a privilege.  With ordination comes the responsibility to preach the Good News purely, honestly, kindly and without personal agenda.    

 

So let us pray now for those who are ordained as deacons, priests and bishops and those who will be so ordained: O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred  mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry  out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were being cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Sunday, 21 June at 10 AM, we will celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of Juneteenth and Father’s Day at St. Augustine.   

 

         Izola Collins author of Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started, will speak.  Mrs. Collins was born in the family home in Galveston, Texas on October 26, 1929, educated in the Galveston school system. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Prairie View A&M University and her Masters of Music degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She organized and directed three school bands, in Bay City, Hitchcock, and Galveston Catholic.  Retiring from Galveston I.S.D. as an award-winning choir director, she then was elected city-wide to the GISD Board of Trustees, and served nine years, the last, as president. Mrs. Collins has written articles published in the "Southwestern Musician" (Texas Music Educators Association), "Fanfare" (School of Music of Northwestern University), the story of St. Mary's Hospital in Galveston, poems in "The National Library of Poetry", and is the author of "Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started", as well as two poetry books, "Divine Light Never Fails" and "I Know That's Right" and a children's book, "Pip, Squeak and Zoom".

She was married to Roy Lester Collins, Jr., now deceased, and is the mother of three children, June, Roy III, and Cheryl, who have given them eight grandchildren. In June 2011, Mrs. Collins was honored at Miller Outdoor Theater by Mayor Annise Parker of Houston, with a proclamation of June 19, 2011 as "Izola Ethel Fedford Collins Day" in Houston, "for her contribution to our region's cultural history".

 

         Our preacher will be the Rev. Wren.

 

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 people of Israel are reminded that God took care of them as they wandered through the desert for 40 years

The Old Testament reading appointed for today’s Daily Prayer comes from the Book of Deuteronomy (meaning the “second law”), wherein the people of Israel are reminded that God took care of them as they wandered through the desert for 40 years:

 

This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.  (Dt. 8:1-10).

 

God fed his people as they journeyed through the desert.  God provided them with water to drink.  God had more in store for them, a land of their own. You see, often times we need to be reminded that God is always at work, whether we know it or not, and whether we believe in him or not.  God takes care of us, His people.

Let us pray: Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who care for us: Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE MEN WHO COOKED A WONDERFUL MEAL FOR OUR MOTHER’S DAY CELEBRATION.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Thursday, 21 May starting at 11 AM, the Seaside Seniors will meet in Sutton Hall for food and fellowship.

 

ESL every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening starting at 6 PM with our ESL instructor, Jack Hawley.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Lee, his mother who is very ill, and his entire family.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Julian of Norwich

Today the Church remembers the life and ministry of Julian of Norwich who was born around 1342 and died on this day in 1417.  When she was 30 and living at home, Julian suffered from a severe illness. She was on her deathbed when she had a series of intense visions of Jesus, and they ended by the time she recovered from her illness in May of 1373. Julian wrote about her visions immediately after they had happened; however, the text may not have been finished for some years. She wrote The Revelations of Divine Love, now known as The Short Text; and is about 11,000 words long. It is believed to be the earliest surviving book written in the English language by a woman.

 

Twenty to thirty years later, Julian began to write a theological exploration of the meaning of the visions, known as The Long Text, consisting of about 63,500 words. This work seems to have gone through many revisions before it was finished.

 

James Kiefer writes:

 

She was concerned that sometimes when we are faced with a difficult moral decision; it seems that no matter which way we decide, we will have acted from motives that are less then completely pure, so that neither decision is defensible. She finally wrote: "It is enough to be sure of the deed. Our courteous Lord will deign to redeem the motive." 

 

A matter that greatly troubled her was the fate of those who through no fault of their own had never heard the Gospel. She never received a direct answer to her questions about them, except to be told that whatever God does is done in Love, and therefore "that all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." 

 

Let us pray:  Lord God, who in your compassion granted to the Lady Julian many revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek you above all things, for in giving us yourself you give us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Don’t forget Mother’s Day!  It is this Sunday.  “A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.” Tenneva Jordan (1904-1988).

 

Seaside Seniors, Thursday, 21 May at 11 AM.

ESL on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.  If you know someone who could benefit from it, please let them know.  It is free.

Spanish speaking Al-anon every Wednesday evening.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

The Rev. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550

Things They Don't Teach You in Seminary

“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (Jn. 14:21).


 It was one of those days they never prepared you for in seminary. The Eucharist was over, and the people were gathering in the parish hall for breakfast. As usual, I was just about the last one there, but I was ready to bless the food.


After the blessing, I was heading to take my vestments off when I spotted a man sitting in the corner. He was sitting at a table, about 45 years old, thin, African-American, wearing green shorts with a white t-shirt, and had his head buried in his hands. He looked as if he had been crying.


Someone came up to me and said the man in the corner wanted to talk to me. Just as I was finishing unvesting, the man came up to me. I asked him his name. “Terry,” he said. I asked him what we could do for him. Terry said, “I don’t need any money, and I don’t have any money to give, but I want to share something with the congregation. It might touch their hearts.”


All of my red flags went up. His eyes were red from sobbing. Terry wanted me to stop the breakfast and have him address the congregation. What would he say? Was he mentally ill? We have had regular visitors who were mentally ill during the liturgy and after during breakfast. Was he high on drugs? We have had visitors who were high before. But none of our visitors who were mentally ill or were high on drugs asked to address the congregation. This was a first.


“Terry, why don’t you have some breakfast, and we can talk,” I said. Tom sat down with him, and Jillian, Tom’s wife, brought him breakfast. Terry started to eat. I asked Terry if he was ok. “I have so many problems in my life, pain; my wife, my kids.” “Do you have a place to live?” I asked. “No.” “Where are your wife and kids?” Terry did not answer. “Can we help you find a place to live?” Terry answered, “no.” Then he said, “I need to talk to the people.” “What do you want to say to them?” I asked fearful of the answer, “can you give me a clue.” “Trust me,” he said, “I won’t say anything bad.”


“Trust me,” I thought. “Trust, you, I don’t even know you,” the thought continued, and I had just preached how we are all connected in Christ as followers in Christ, and I told them how Jesuit novices are given a bus ticket and $30 to go on pilgrimage to learn trust as they travel and they ask Christians, religious orders, to take them in as they make their pilgrimage into the world." “Trust me,” Terry said. My sermon came back on me. God has a way of doing that.


“Ok, Terry, I’ll trust you.” We got up from the table, and both of us walked over near the front door to the parish hall. “This is a bit unprecedented. Terry here would like to share something with you.” That was my introduction.


Terry spoke; fear clenched my heart. “We go through hard times in life. I don’t have any money to offer. My grandmother always told me that when things get hard, when life is difficult, you need to pray like this,” and Terry began singing the Lord’s Prayer. No one stirred. It was silent, except for Terry’s voice singing, clear and pure.


After he was done, everyone clapped. Tom and I prayed with Terry and then as Terry went back to his breakfast, others came to pray with him. “Trust me.” I was humbled. In the words of today's Gospel reading: “And those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”