Spirit of the Eagle – December 2013

Spiritual Tidbits for December from Father Tim
Advent has arrived! December is our time to prepare for the arrival of our Lord and Savior. Advent is a penitential season that slowly turns into a celebration. As we Christians journey through Advent, the rest of the pagan world will be on their journey through what they call (at best) the holiday season. Let’s all be sure to avoid all the rush and worldliness connected with the pagan season, and be Wise Men to a world lost in darkness. Who knows what pagan, such as Saint Clement (below), may be converted to Christ by our witness as we travel through Advent toward the star of Bethlehem.
~Father Tim

Feast Day: December 4, 150 AD – 217 AD
Confessor and teacher at the Catechetical School in Alexandria, Egypt; Born Titus Flavius Clemens, he trained Origen and left numerous writings.

Titus Flavius Clemens (Greek: Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; c. 150 – c. 217), known as Clement of Alexandria, was a Christian theologian who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria, Egypt. A convert to Christianity from Paganism, he was an educated man who was familiar with classical Greek philosophy and literature. As his three major works demonstrate, Clement was influenced by Hellenistic philosophy to a greater extent than any other Christian thinker of his time, and in particular by Plato and the Stoics. His secret works, which exist only in fragments, suggest that he was also familiar with pre-Christian Jewish esotericism and Gnosticism. In one of his works he argued that Greek philosophy had its origin among non-Greeks, claiming that both Plato and Pythagoras were taught by Egyptian scholars. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. Clement is regarded as a Church Father, like Origen. He is venerated as a saint in Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Catholicism and Anglicanism. He was previously revered in the Roman Catholic Church, but his name was removed from the Roman Martyrology in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V on the advice of Baronius.

December Spirituality Class
Our Spirituality Class will take a break from our current study series for Advent. Please join me on the 22nd as we pray and meditate the “Stations of the Nativity”. We will walk, read scripture, and pray a spiritual pilgrimage through a circuit of 14 stations of special art depicting the chief scenes of Christ’s birth.
~Father Tim

Mary’s Girlhood
This is the blessed Mary, pre-elect
God’s virgin. Gone is a great while, and she
Dwelt young in Nazareth of Galilee.
Unto God’s will she brought devout respect
Profound simplicity of intellect.
And supreme patience. From her mother’s knee
Faithful and hopeful; wise in charity;
Strong in grave peace; in pity circumspect.

So held she through her girlhood; as it were
An angel-watered lily, that near God
Grows and is quiet. Till, one dawn at home
She woke in her white bed, and had no fear
At all – yet wept till sunshine, and felt awed:
Because the fullness of the time was come.

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti

•••

I know not how, but when we hear of saving, or mention of a Saviour, presently our mind is carried to the saving of our skin, of our temporal state, of our bodily life; further saving we think not of. But there is another life not to be forgotten, and greater the dangers, and the destruction there more to be feared than of this here, and it would be well sometimes we were reminded of it. Besides our skin and flesh, a soul we have, and it is our better part by far, that also hath need of a Saviour; that hath her destruction out of which, that hath her destroyer from which she would be saved, and those would be thought on. Indeed, our chief thought and care would be for that; how to escape the wrath, how to be saved from the destruction to come, whither our sins will certainly carry us.

Sin will destroy us all. And to speak of a Saviour, there is no person on earth has so much need of a Saviour as has a sinner. Nothing so dangerous, so deadly unto us, as is the sin in our bosom; nothing from which we have so much need to be saved, whatsoever account we make of it. From it comes upon us all the evil of this life, and of the life to come, in comparison whereof these here are not worth speaking of. Above all, then, we need a Saviour for our souls, and from our sins, and from the everlasting destruction which sin will bring upon us in the other life not far from us. Then if it be good tidings to hear of a Saviour, where it is but a matter of the loss of earth, or of this life here; how then, when it comes to the loss of heaven, to the danger of hell, when our soul is at stake, and the well-doing or un-doing of it for ever? Is not such a Saviour worth hearkening after? Lancelot Andrewes.

There is no joy like the joy of a Savior.

Christmas Flower Memorials
With Christmas quickly approaching, now is the time to consider honoring loved ones by donating to our Christmas Flower Memorial. You may either give the money to Joyce Murray or you can drop it in the collection basket. Please write on your check memo line: Christmas Flower Memorial, and don’t forget to include a list of the names of your loved ones along with your check.

Vestry Meeting
Our Vestry Meeting for December will be held on Wednesday, the 18th, at 7:00 PM. If you are a member of the Vestry please make plans to be present. New Vestry members, especially, are asked to attend. All are welcome.

Christmastide Open House hosted by Father Butler and Family
You are invited! Please join the Butler family at our home on Saturday the 28th of December anytime between 2:00 PM until 8:00 PM for some Christmastide Holy-Day cheer! Arrive and leave at the time which best suits your schedule.

We will provide baked turkey and ham sandwiches and some other treats. We ask that each of you bring one dish of your favorite “finger food”, appetizer, or hors d’oeuvres so we can avoid troublesome things like forks.

We look forward to friends, fun, games, music, and some thought provoking conversation – with a little silliness (okay maybe a lot) sprinkled in between! We hope to see you Saturday and hope I don’t have to shovel a mountain of snow this year to get you up the drive!

The Butler’s
3514 Germantown Road
Maysville, KY 41056

Directions: From the northern, KY area travel south on the AA Highway (and don’t trust your GPS). Once you enter Mason County watch for Marathon Truck Stop on your right and a huge black water tower directly across from it on your left. Turn left on the cross road at the black water tower called Slack Pike (be careful it is short but narrow and has a surprisingly high level of traffic). At the end of Slack Pike turn right on Germantown Road. We are the 8th house on the right – the only two story white house. Watch for the white detached garage with a large painted St. Mary and St. Joseph in front of it!

Please RSVP by calling our home number 606-883-3907. Merry Christmas! Travel safe and God bless you!

•••

Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed…and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p46

The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the Sons of God. We do not know…how things would have worked if the human race had never rebelled against God and joined the enemy…. You and I are concerned with the way things work now. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p178

Have a very merry Christ-mass and Happy New Year from Father Tim, Janet, Brittany & Savannah!

Manipur India Missions/Mark Volz
I wanted to share with my church family about my great nephew Mark Volz. Mark is in India this semester. He will be returning in the next weeks to his home in Malabar, Florida. He will resume his studies at the University of Central Florida in January. Mark is the grandson of my brother and sister-in-law, Ralph and Arline Wolff, and the son of their daughter Cindy and son-in-law Jeff Volz.

Mark celebrated his 20th birthday in October in India. I have enjoyed reading his inspiring words traveling his awesome journey. I pray that you will too. I am so proud of him. Please check out his blog at or try Manipur India Missions.

In Christian love,
Brenda Strong

Wednesday Night Service
Our Wednesday night, Holy Communion service is an excellent way to rejuvenate our spirits as we face the balance of our week. There is nothing quite like taking a pause from the daily grind at mid-week to refresh ourselves by receiving our ‘spiritual food for our spiritual journey’. I want to encourage all of you who were making the effort to attend Wednesday services, as it is just the kind of boost you need to complete your week.

ST. JOHN’S HOLIDAY OUTREACH
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Thanksgiving outreach effort. Thanks to your generosity, eight families were assisted with the fixings for a Thanksgiving meal along with additional food items. Thanks for those who assisted with the deliveries; it went really mooth this year!

Christmas is right around the corner and we will again be assisting eight families with Christmas dinners. The giving tree will be available for the selection of a child’s name for a Christmas gift. Each name will include a wish list of items. Please select a name, sign the sign-up sheet and return all gifts by Sunday, DECEMBER 22nd. On December 22nd all gifts and meals will be delivered. Please be generous and participate in this St. John’s annual outreach tradition.

For this year’s holiday outreach, in addition to food, it was brought to our attention that the less fortunate are in need of paper products (toilet tissue, paper towels and tissues), soap products (such as hand soap, bar soap and bodywash), toothbrushes and toothpaste, and shampoo. If the parishioners at SJC could bring just one or more of these items in the next week or two it would greatly help out those in need. Anything you are able to assist with will be greatly appreciated. We will have a box in the back of church and in the parish hall for donations.

We are in need of food item and cash donations to make this outreach as successful as in the past and continue our ‘reputation’ of stewardship within the community. If you would like to make a monetary donation by check, please make the check payable to “St. John’s ACC” with a designation in the memo portion of “ACM Outreach”. The donation will be processed through the general fund and directed to the ACM group. Thank you for your participation and generosity to this worthy cause.

December Birthdays & Anniversaries
Sarah “Helen” Foster – Birthday – December 1
Jim Barnett – Birthday – December 3
Fr. Timothy Butler – Birthday – December 4
Lori & Rich Seyberth – Anniversary – December 9
Sally & John Whalen – Anniversary – December 21
Michael Whalen – Birthday – December 22
Joan & Gary Blade – Anniversary – December 22
Artie Robbins – Birthday – December 24