St Bartholomew, one of the 12 Apostles (Transferred from yesterday)

                                  The Baptismal Covenant 

Will you continue

 in the 

apostles 

teaching  &

 fellowship,

in the 

breaking 

of bread 

& in the prayers?  

     “Nothing certain is known about St Bartholomew - not even his name”. Bar-tolome may be the last name, it being Aramaic for Son of Tolomai (Ptolemy.) SO maybe Batholomew is his last name and Maybe the first name is Nathaniel… The manner of his death is also in dispute - some traditions say he was flayed alive, others that he was sewn into a leather bag and thrown into the sea.. And his feast day is celebrated variously today (in the West since the 8th century) and in  the Eastern Church on June 11..  

        I love this quote from the Lutheran New Book…“  The collect of the day…. may appear as vague as the details of Bartholomew’s life, but, in fact, in the concise manner of the collect form, it is quite precise. ‘What he believed’ and ‘what he taught’ is not to imply soto voce  ‘Whatever that was!’  Rather the prayer asks God to preserve the Church on the apostolic foundation, believing, teaching and preaching the word of God.” Which lead me finally to my meditation verse for the day., the Baptismal Covenant because it’s collective - not HIS teaching but THEIR teaching. It matters a great deal what we do, how we live our lives, what choices me make, what we stand up for.  But in the end, as Christians, it is not who we are individually, but  Whose we are collectively that counts. One hand has too be firmly n the hand of the Man who stilled the waters. The other hand has to be firmly in yours.