September 2024
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
September 2024 from Father Tim
September has arrived, summer 2024 is coming to a close, and fall is just around the corner. Along with four Trinity Sundays this month the feast of S. Michael & All Angels falls on a Sunday (29th). The fall Ember Days are observed on the 18th, 20th, and 21st. Saturday the 21st is also our one BCP Day of Obligation, the S. Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist. For those who love The People’s Anglican Missal you will notice Our Lady of Walsingham is celebrated on the 24th. The Virgin Mary stands for all of God’s people who say, “May it be to me according to thy Word,” when a day suddenly becomes long, hard, and challenging. Often during trials we can only look toward heaven and say “Thy will be done.” There is nothing left to be said, we simply must rise to the occasion, allow the life of Christ to live through us, and pick up our cross. My spiritual father is fond of saying, “If you want to understand Mary it is saying ‘Yes’, to the life of Jesus.” Mary’s fiat can be ours, and provide us with courage and strength. We can call to mind her beginning and her faithfulness despite the difficulties she had to struggle through. “And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the LORD, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior…” (Luke 1:46-47). Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle wrote the following about the Song of Mary, The Magnificat: “Next to the Lord’s Prayer, perhaps, few passages of Scripture are better known than this. Wherever the Church of England Prayer-book is used, this hymn forms part of the evening service. And we need not wonder that the compilers of that Prayer-book gave it so prominent a place. No words can express more aptly the praise for redeeming mercy which ought to form part of the public worship of every branch of Christ’s Church.” If you find yourself in one of those weeks where you need a little (or maybe a lot) more strength to make it to the weekend, please join us Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM for The Order of Evening Prayer, where we say the Magnificat faithfully. Consider lighting a votive candle beside our own little shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, think of the life of Jesus, and utter this short and powerful prayer to God: “Yes”. ~ Father Tim
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Do you know someone struggling with the challenges in their life? Do they struggle with saying ‘yes’ to God? Invite them to a Wednesday Evening Prayer service in September. It is here, in the Song of Mary, their spirit can learn to rejoice in the midst of difficulties. ~ Father Tim
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Afflictions serve most effectually to convince us of the vanity of all that this world can afford, to remind us that this is not our rest and to stir up desires and hopes for our everlasting home. They produce in us a spirit of sympathy towards our companions in tribulation. They give occasion for the exercise of patience, meekness, submission, and resignation. Were it not for the wholesome and necessary discipline of affliction, these excellent virtues would lie dormant. Afflictions serve to convince us more deeply of our own weakness and insufficiency, and to endear the person, the grace, the promises, and the salvation of our Redeemer, more and more to our hearts. Thus we are taught to esteem His very chastisements as precious on account of the benefits we derive from them. ~ John Fawcett, 1739-1817, British Theologian, Pastor, & Hymn Writer
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Do you know?
Do you know Saint John’s made a charitable donation to Pregnancy Center West in Cincinnati in August? Do you know our Book of Life Club will conclude discussing the book Theologia Germanica in September? Do you know the Usual Suspects Bible Study will continue discussing the Lamentations of Jeremiah in September? Do you know our Rule of Faith group has been meeting twice each month? In August they discussed the letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians and to the Magnesians. Do you know the large stained glass window renovation in the Nave is underway?
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Saint John September Ordo Kalendar
Sunday, the 1st of September, at 10:30 AM, Trinity XIV Mass
Wednesday, the 4th of September, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 7th of September, at 7:30 AM, Rule of Faith Meeting
Sunday, the 8th of September, at 10:30 AM, Trinity XV Mass
Wednesday, the 11th of September, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sunday, the 15th of September, at 10:30 AM, Trinity XVI Mass, Vestry Meeting
Ember Wednesday, the 18th of Sept., at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Ember Sat., the 21st of Sept., at 9:00 AM, Morning Prayer & Litany for Missions
Sat., the 21st of Sept., at 9:45 AM, The Usual Suspects Club, Bible Study Lineup
Sat., the 21st of Sept., at 11:00AM, The Book of Life Club, Theologia Germanica
Sunday, the 22nd of September, at 10:30 AM, Trinity XVII Mass
Wednesday, the 25th of September, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 28th of September, at 7:30 AM, Rule of Faith Meeting
Sunday, the 29th of Sept., at 10:30 AM, S. Michael & All Angels Mass
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No words can express how much the world owes to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in the wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through fire. The greatest poets have “learned in suffering what they taught in song.” In bonds Bunyan lived the allegory that he afterwards wrote, and we may thank Bedford Jail for The Pilgrim’s Progress. Take comfort, afflicted Christian! When God is about to make pre-eminent use of a person, He puts them in the fire. ~ George MacDonald, 1824-1905, Scottish Minister, Author, & Poet
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The godly have some good in them, therefore the devil afflicts them; and some evil in them, therefore God afflicts them. ~ Thomas Watson, 1620-1686, English Preacher & Author
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September Birthdays & Anniversaries
Jonelle Prideaux – September 1
Joanna & Jim Barnett – Anniversary – September 5
Robert Kleven – Birthday – September 12
Eliot Miller – September 15
Micheal Fraser – Birthday – September 26
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
[Jesus] saves His people from their sins. This is His special office. He saves them from the guilt of sin, by washing them in His own atoning blood. He saves them from the dominion of sin, by putting in their hearts the sanctifying Spirit. He saves them from the presence of sin, when He takes them out of this world to rest with Him. He will save them from all the consequences of sin, when He shall give them a glorious body at the last day. Blessed and holy are Christ’s people! From sorrow, cross, and conflict they are not saved. But they are saved from sin for evermore. ~ J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
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Take a saint, and put him into any condition, and he knows how to rejoice in the Lord. ~ Walter Cradock, 1606-1659, Welsh Anglican Clergyman
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The religion of Christ is the religion of joy. Christ came to take away our sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy? Where can we find a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy – deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy – in the gospel of Christ. The believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought-of, untold, and endless blessedness. With such a God, such a Savior, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man? ~ Octavius Winslow, 1808-1878, Baptist Preacher and later Anglican Priest
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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