Spirit of the Eagle – May 2019

News

Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC

Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
May 2019 from Father Tim

May begins with Ss. Philip & James and concludes with Ascension Day. As one reads the Gospels it seems Philip, like many of the other Apostles, was a disciple who took quite a bit of time before realizing Jesus truly is the Messiah. James, son of Alphaeus, is also known as James the Lesser to avoid confusing him with James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater. Not much is really known about James, son of Alphaeus. We see in James and Philip human men who became foundation stones of the Holy Church, and we are reminded again that holiness, and the mastery which flow from it, are not something we can achieve solely on our own, but are gifts from God if we choose to embrace them. God has given us His power to choose them: “You will be clothed with power from on high,” Jesus said to Philip and the others. Their first commission was to travel abroad and drive out unclean spirits, heal diseases, and announce the kingdom had arrived. Simple though their ways, these two men learned, gradually over time, that this external clothing of power was a sign of an even greater miracle inside each of them. They now contained ‘within’ the divine power to love like God. The same applies to each of us. At our little parish of St. John’s we are simply men and women who desire to live the life of Christ, and allow Christ to live through us. We have cast off our worldly finery, and our casting off gives God an opening to cloth us with His power. It is my prayer that each of us will go forth this May, drive out uncleanness, heal those who are hurting, and announce to all who will listen that the Kingdom of God is within their grasp. ~ Father Tim

✠✠✠

Bishop Frank Weston [Anglican Bishop of Zanzibar 1907-1924] concluded by warning Anglo-Catholics that victories for the eucharistic reservation and for ritual at large needed to be accompanied by witness and service in the community: You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the tabernacle, if you do not pity Jesus in the slum. Mark that: that is the Gospel truth…. If only you listen tonight your Movement is going to sweep England…. If you are Christians, then your Jesus is one and the same: Jesus on the throne of His glory, Jesus in the blessed sacrament, Jesus received into your hearts in communion, Jesus mystically with you as you pray, and Jesus enthroned in the hearts and bodies of His brothers and sisters up and down this country. And it is folly — it is madness — to suppose that you can worship Jesus in the sacrament and Jesus on the throne of glory, when you are sweating Him in the bodies of His children. ~ Barry Spurr, Anglo-Catholic in Religion

✠✠✠

Have you considered inviting someone to our Sunday Mass? Do you have family members, or friends, who always have an excuse not to attend church? Eastertide is a beautiful season to experience the ‘beauty of holiness’ and experience the risen Christ. Could one of our May services help someone you know experience holiness? The experience must come, not by demonstration, but by pure contemplation, which may help them begin their own personal pilgrimage which leads to the empty tomb. ~ Father Tim

✠✠✠

God’s judgment in the end will be so absolutely perfect that the damned will agree with the rightness of their damnation. ~ James Montgomery Boice

✠✠✠

May Spirituality Class

In May we will be continuing our transitional class with both Spirituality and Bible Study. The class in May will cover, The Infancy Narratives, Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2. The study of God’s word is central to the life and mission of our parish church of St. John the Evangelist. Please join us after Holy Mass on the 26th of May for an engaging, dynamic, and informative exploration of the Holy Scriptures. All are welcome, but be warned: continued exposure to God’s word will change your life.

✠✠✠

May is the Month of Mary and by tradition Father Seraphim at Nazareth House Apostolate follow the NHA “Mays of May” – one for every day of the Month of May. May I….

  1. May I be obedient, doing exactly what God says, immediately, with the right heart attitude. Acts 5:29; Rom. 1:5; Heb. 5:9
  2. May I continue to grow through deepening The Prayer. Psalm 42:7; 64:6
  3. May I have stability of place and vocation. Ps.16:8; ICor. 7:20
  4. May I relinquish doubt and embrace faith. Rom.4:20-25; 14:23.
  5. May I relinquish certitude and embrace paradox. Rom.8:28,29.
  6. May I relinquish apathy and embrace fidelity. Jms. 4:17; 2Cor. 5:15
  7. May I relinquish power and embrace vulnerability. Lk 18:9; Prov. 3:5,6. Ps. 78:7
  8. May I relinquish prestige and embrace humility. Prov.6:16, 17; Jms 4:6
  9. May I relinquish possessions and embrace poverty. Mt.5:3; Lk.1:53
  10. May I relinquish the old self and embrace the new self. Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-10.
  11. May I be salt in a savorless world. Mt.5:13
  12. May I be light in a darkened world. Mt. 5:14; Jn 1:5
  13. May I be leaven in a flattened world. Mt.13:33
  14. May I be branch in a barren world. Jn 15:5
  15. May I be pulled from my comfort zones to suffer the world’s sufferings. Col. 1:24; 1 Cor 12:26; Heb 11:25; 13:3.
  16. May I walk the path I pray and pray the path I walk. Lk. 18:1; 1Tim. 2:8; Mt.4:19
  17. May I become a World Christian by ceasing to be a worldly one. Mk 16:15; Acts 1:8; 1Jn 2:15
  18. May I bear my cross, realizing it is made up of all the crosses that are refused to be carried, mine and theirs. Mk 10:21
  19. May I come to realize and experience that God is hidden and revealed in each moment. Mt. 28:10b, 20b.
  20. May I be flung out to the furthest places by a centrifugal Love. Mk 16:15
  21. May I be pulled into the center by his centripetal Love. Lk 17:21; Acts 17:28; Mt. 11:28.
  22. May Jesus be revealed in and through my life. Mt.5:16.
  23. May I seek not so much to be stimulated as to trust the ordinariness of the present moment. Mt. 6:19-21;Phil. 3:8.
  24. May I trust my life, surrendered to Him, to be enough for God to do what He desires. 2Cor. 10:12,13.
  25. May I embrace that for which there is no substitute. Lk. 10:38-42; Acts 4:12; Ps. 84:3a
  26. May I find that being deprived of prayer is more painful than being deprived of the answer to prayer. Jer.33:3
  27. May I let go, let God and let be. Prov. 3:5,6.
  28. May I understand fully the question that makes Jesus the answer. Phil. 2:5
  29. May I be more for Jesus than I am against something. Mt. 6:33
  30. May He increase and I decrease. Jn 3:30
  31. May I love everybody; love without limits. Jn 13:34,35; Jn 3:16; Mt 5:43-46.

✠✠✠

St. John May Ordo Kalendar

Sunday, the 5th of May at 10:30 AM, we celebrate Easter II Good Shepherd Sun.,Vestry Meeting
Sunday, the 12th of May at 10:30 AM, we celebrate Easter III
Saturday, the 18th of May at 2:30 PM, Savannah and Josiah Wedding
Sunday, the 19th of May at 10:30 AM, we celebrate Easter IV, Mothers Day Coffee Hour
Sunday, the 26th of May at 10:30 AM, we celebrate Easter V, Bible Study & Spirituality Class

✠✠✠

May Birthdays & Anniversaries

Abigail Evans – Birthday – May 4
Maria & Mike Whalen – Anniversary – May 8
Carol & Bob Petrie – Anniversary – May 9
Samuel Masters – May 9
Judie & Rich Boughner – Anniversary – May 15
Natalie Evans – Birthday – May 16
Mike Murray – Birthday – May 16
Fr. Richard Bryant – Birthday – May 17
Kim & Jim Marshall – Anniversary – May 23
Judy Hiltenbeitel – Birthday – May 26

✠✠✠

✠✠✠

I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries. Even so then at the present time also there is a remnant. ~ Jeremiah 23:3; Romans 11:5

✠✠✠

The seeking of Jesus the Christ, and the quest for chivalry combined, lead directly to one place only: Anglo-Catholicism. Courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help and defend the weak and the poor. Welcome to the Anglican Catholic Church. ~ Father Timothy Butler