January 2024
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
January 2024 from Father Tim
Christmastide is here and Epiphanytide is upon us. Along with three Epiphany Sundays the month of January includes other days of note such as the Circumcision of Christ (1st), the Epiphany (6th), Conversion of S. Paul (25th), and Septuagesima (28th). Yes! Pre-lent begins on the last Sunday of January! We begin this month by celebrating with the Three Magi, and end the month in pre-Lent. As we enter 2024, and this month contains the Conversion of Saint Paul, I would like to reflect a little on ‘conversion’. Many will be making New Year’s ‘resolutions’ once again. Many, as usual, will fail (or fall) right out of the gate. Some may shake off an old habit (easiest). Some may ‘convert’ an old lifestyle into something different or better (not quite so easy). Some may relinquish a former vice and strengthen a virtue (toughest). Moral conversions, such as involving the latter, definitely deserve our hearty congratulations, even for the unbelievers amongst our family and friends. Many have an overwhelming sense of sin or failure. Of course some of those unbelievers would quickly tell us their manner of living is pretty much blameless, so far as treating others right, and obeying both God and man’s laws right where they are in life. And for some we may know this to be true. But it is a lack of following the star which is their ultimate failure to become ‘Wise Men.’ For unbelievers need, not just a conversion of conscience, but a conversion of belief. A belief that the Christ-child born in Bethlehem, who grows to manhood as Jesus of Nazareth, is really the ‘Son of God’ and ‘very Christ.’ Once a person acquires this belief, even those who are leading pretty much a blameless life, they will more easily see (by His light) the hidden sins – and not so hidden sins – that have made their own resolutions to pay the wages of death. It is only by faith in Jesus Christ, not by ‘works of the law,’ that we become justified in the eyes of God. I pray your January is full of successful resolutions, your life of conversion leads many to belief, and your joy is complete as you watch them journey toward the star of Bethlehem. ~ Father Tim
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Is there someone in your life who lives a good life but ignores or denies the Son of God? Do they feel they have all the answers and see no need to become one of the Wise Men? If so, January is a wonderful month to invite them to church to experience a true conversion during this Epiphanytide ~ Father Tim
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A man may be so bold of his predestination, that he forget his conversion. ~ Thomas Adams, 1583-1652, English Clergyman & highly regarded Preacher
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Did you know?
Did you know Saint John’s made a charitable gift to the Dayton Family Resource Center in December? Did you know our Book of Life Club will begin discussing The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis in January? Did you know that the gutters on the S. John Rectory now has a nice extended deck on the back? Did you know that Judy Adams is the new Vestry Secretary? Did you know we have two new Church Wardens (Brian Miller & Kyle Maycock)? Did you know that St. John’s was established in 1873 and 2023 is our 150th anniversary? Did you know Archbishop Mark Haverland will be at Saint John’s on the 7th of January for Confirmations and will cap our Sesquicentennial celebration?
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The difference between an unconverted man and a converted man is not that one has sins and the other does not; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins. ~ William Arnot, 1808-1875, Scottish Minister & Theological Writer
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Saint John January Ordo Kalendar
Wednesday, the 3rd of January at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 6th of January at 3:00 PM, The Epiphany Mass
Sunday, the 7th of Jan. at 10:30 AM, Epiphany I Mass, Archbishop Mark Haverland Visitation, Confirmations & 150th Anniversary Celebration
Wednesday, the 10th of January at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sat., the 13th of Jan., at 2:00 PM, The Usual Suspects Club, Bible Study Lineup
Sat., the 13th of Dec., at 3:15 PM, The Book of Life Club, The Abolition of Man
Sun., the 14th of January, at 10:30 AM, Epiphany II Mass
Wed., the 17th of January, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sat., the 20th of Jan., at 2:00 PM, The Usual Suspects Club, Bible Study Lineup
Sat., the 20th of Jan., at 3:15 PM, The Book of Life Club, The Abolition of Man
Sunday, the 21st of Jan., at 10:30 AM, Epiphany III Mass, Vestry Meeting
Thursday., the 25th of January, at 6:30 PM, Conversion of S. Paul
Sun., the 28th of Jan., at 10:30 AM, Septuagesima, Birthday & Anniversary Coffee Hour
Wed., the 31st of January, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
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Without conversion your being is vain. Is it not a pity you should be good for nothing, an unprofitable burden of the earth, a mere wart in the body of the universe? Thus you are, while unconverted…. Verily you are in vain, except you are for God. It were better you had no being than not be for Him. ~ Joseph Alleine, 1634-1688, English Pastor (who influenced John Wesley)
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Conversion is not the smooth, easy-going process some men seem to think it; otherwise man’s heart would never have been compared to fallow ground and God’s Word to a plough. ~ John Bunyan, 1628-1688, English Author & Preacher
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January Birthdays & Anniversaries
Eileen Hanson – Birthday – January 14
Alyssa Maycock – Birthday – January 19
Kim Marshall – Birthday – January 24
Devan Smith – Birthday – January 25
Jessica Clark – Birthday – January 28
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
Scripture tells us that the state of an unconverted man is this: he sees no great felicity in the love and communion of God in the life to come, which may draw his heart thither from this present world; but he lives to his carnal self, or to the flesh; and the main bent of his life is, that it may go well with him on earth; and that religion which he has is but a little by the by, lest he should be damned when he can keep the world no longer; so that the world and the flesh are highest in his esteem, and nearest to his heart, and God and glory stand below them, and all their service of God is but a giving him that which the world and flesh can spare. This is the case of every unconverted man; and all who are in this case are in a state of misery. ~ Richard Baxter, 1615-1691, English Church Leader & Theologian
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Conversion of Saint Paul, Luca Giordano, 1690
I doubt, indeed, whether we have any warrant for saying that a man can possibly be converted without being consecrated to God!… If he was not consecrated to God in the very day that he was converted and born again, I do not know what conversion means. Are not men in danger of undervaluing and underrating the immense blessedness of conversion? Are they not, when they urge on believers the “higher life” as a second conversion, underrating the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, of that great first chapter which Scripture calls the new birth, the new creation, the spiritual resurrection? I may be mistaken. But I have sometimes thought, while reading the strong language used by many about “consecration,” in the last few years, that those who use it must have had preciously a singularly low and inadequate view of “conversion,” if indeed they knew anything about conversion at all. In short, I have almost suspected that when they were consecrated, they were in reality converted for the first time. ~ 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