July 2023
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
July 2023 from Father Tim
July arrives on the Ordo Kalendar with the Feast of the Precious Blood (1st). Along with the five Trinity Sunday’s we also have Independence Day (4th) and the Feast of S. James. Apostle & Martyr (25th). The Blood of Christ, shed during the Passion, has been honored and regarded as of redeeming virtue since the Apostolic Age, especially in connection with the Eucharist. Over the centuries not a few monasteries and churches have claimed to possess particles of it. Such relics have been greatly venerated, although S. Thomas Aquinas maintained that all the particles of the Blood of Christ shed during the Passion were re-assumed by Him at His Resurrection, and that such relics must have flowed from an image of Christ. The Blood of Christ in those relics, from His body or His image, still to this day affect men emotionally (dare I say spiritually?) whether they are true believers or not. Only last year thieves broke into a medieval French church and stole a beautiful golden reliquary. Later, when they discovered what the valuable reliquary contained, they began having second thoughts and panicked. Whether because their own conscience’s began condemning their sin, or they became frightened of the holiness, or the fact that no one would buy such a valuable relic in the underworld of stolen art, the thieves wanted to return it without getting caught. They were convinced keeping the reliquary would bring a curse. Through a third party (these were not stupid thieves) they contacted a Dutch investigator who specialized in recovering high-profile artifacts and stolen works of art. They asked him to help return the reliquary back to the church – no questions asked. The investigator agreed. A few days later, his doorbell rang in the middle of the night. Peering out his window he could just make out the outline of a cardboard box. Inside was the golden reliquary and two lead vials containing the Precious Blood of Christ. The relic was returned to the church where it had been in safe-keeping for over 1500 years. Behold the power of Christ. Over those 15 centuries millions of pilgrims have traveled to that church to behold the Precious Blood, many of them walked hundreds of miles. Today we live in a world where millions will not walk across the street to receive the Blood of Christ at Holy Communion. For those of us at St. John’s, let us number ourselves with the believing pilgrims. I pray your travels in July always lead you to the Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. ~ Father Tim
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Is there someone you know who is in need of the Precious Blood? Why not ask them to travel along with you to St. John’s this July? Please invite someone to church where they can begin clearing their conscience through the Blood of Jesus – as oft as ye shall drink it. ~ Father Tim
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No proof of the fulness of sin, after all, is so overwhelming and unanswerable as the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole doctrine of His substitution and atonement. Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction. ~ J.C. Ryle, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
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Did you know?
Did you know Saint John’s made a charitable gift To Care Net Pregnancy Center of Northern KY in May? Did you know the ACC Provincial Synod is in Orlando, FL in October (10th-13th) this year? Did you know we are scheduled for new kneeler padding and upholstery this summer? Did you know that St. John’s was established in 1873 and 2023 is our 150th anniversary?
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See how red your guilt is. Mark the scarlet stain. If you were to wash your soul in the Atlantic Ocean, you might incarnadine every wave that washes all its shores, and yet the crimson spots of your transgression would still remain. But plunge into the “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,” and in an instant you are whiter than snow. Every speck, spot, and stain of sin is gone, and gone forever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon, 1834-1892, British Preacher and Author
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St. John July Ordo Kalendar
Sunday, the 2nd of July, at 10:30 AM, Trinity IV Mass
Wednesday, the 5th of July at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 8th of July at 2:00 PM, Bible Study Lineup, The Usual Suspects Club
Saturday, the 8th of July at 3:15 PM, The Unseen Realm, The Book of Life Club
Sunday, the 9th of July, at 10:30 AM, Trinity V Mass
Wednesday, the 12th of July at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sunday, the 16th of July at 10:30 AM, Trinity VI Mass, Vestry Meeting
Wednesday, the 19th of July at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 22nd of July at 2:00 PM, Bible Study Lineup, The Usual Suspects Club
Saturday, the 22nd of July at 3:15 PM, The Unseen Realm, The Book of Life Club
Sunday, the 23rd of July at 10:30 AM, Trinity VII Mass
Tuesday, the 25th of July at 6:30 PM, S. James, AP. M. ‘Quiet’ Mass
Wednesday, the 26th of July, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sunday, the 30th of July at 10:30 AM, Trinity VIII Mass
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If Christ be not the Substitute, He is nothing to the sinner. If He did not die as the Sin-bearer, He has died in vain. Let us not be deceived on this point, or misled by those who, when they announce Christ as the Deliverer, think they have preached the Gospel. If I throw a rope to a drowning man, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more than that? If I cast myself into the sea, and risk my life to save another, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more? Did He but risk His life? The very essence of Christ’s deliverance is the substitution of Himself for us, His life for ours. He did not come to risk His life; He came to die! He did not redeem us by a little loss, a little sacrifice, a little labor, a little suffering. “He redeemed us to God by his blood,” “the precious blood of Christ” (Rev. 5:9; 1Peter 1:19). He gave all He had, even His life, for us. ~ Horatius Bonar, 1808-1889, Scottish Preacher, Hymnodist, & Poet
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St. John Shut-In Visits by Fr. Tim & Janet
Wednesday, the 21st of June, visited with Bob & Carol Petrie
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July Birthdays & Anniversaries
Kyle & Alyssa Maycock – Anniversary – July 8
Leslie Shelton & Michael Griswold – Anniversary – July 9
Emily Dunn – Birthday – July 15
Judie Boughner – Birthday – July 21
Mike Lenz – Birthday – July 31
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
Believer! is not this the source – the proper source of your joy – that Jesus lived, and suffered, and died for you – that He paid “all that great debt” you owed to law and justice, and washed away the foul stain of your guilt, in His own most precious blood? ~ John Ross MacDuff, 181-1895, Scottish Divine & Author
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Precious Blood of Christ
All Christ’s sufferings on the cross were foreordained. They did not come on Him by chance or accident: they were all planned, counseled, and determined from all eternity. The cross was foreseen in all the provisions of the everlasting Trinity, for the salvation of sinners. In the purposes of God the cross was set up from everlasting. Not one throb of pain did Jesus feel, not one precious drop of blood did Jesus shed, which had not been appointed long ago. Infinite wisdom planned that redemption should be by the cross. Infinite wisdom brought Jesus to the cross in due time. He was crucified by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. ~ J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
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The seeking of Jesus Christ and the quest for chivalry combined lead directly to one place only: Anglican-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