Psalm 68:5
Bles-
sed
be
the Lord day by day,
the God of our salvation
who bears our burdens.
Tieoplo Sky
Tiepolo Clouds
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Tuesday morning
Tuesday collect
Al-
mighty
God,
to
know
you
is
eter-
nal
life
"Every education teaches of philosophy by suggestion, impli-cation, and atmo-sphere. Every part
has a connection
with every other
part. If it does not combine to convey some general view
of life, it is not education at all." Juan Bosco
Monday, January 30, 2017
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Sunday monring
Hebrews 11:8, annotated
Abra-ham
[no spring chicken. And Sarah.
Don't forget Sarah] obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he
was to receive as an inheritance:
and he set out, not knowing
where he was going.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Today the Church remembers Thomas Aquinas, Dominican friar, priest and theologian, (1225-1274) and author of, among other hymns, “Now my tongue the mystery telling.”
Galatians 3:27, 28
As
many
as
were
baptized
into
Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female,
for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
Perhaps the greatest theologian of the Middle Ages, at the end of his life, said that all that he had written “seems like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me,” reminding
us that life of God begins and ends in the heart.
Friday, January 27, 2017
Friday evening
_________Mark 6:48, 50__
…when Jesus saw that the disciples were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came
to them, walking on the sea…
“Take heart! I it is I…”
Today we celebrate the lives of Lydia, Dorcas and Phoebe, witnesses to the Faith
Collect for Guidance
…so guide
and govern
us by your
Holy Spirit
that in all
the cares &
occupations
of our life
we may not
forget you…
Give thanks
today for
support
people, all
the nameless
ones who make
the world work!
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Heading toward a Thursday evening
Psalm 118:5
I
called
to the
Lord
in my
distress;
the Lord answered by setting me free.
Today we commemorate Timothy, Titus, and Silas companions of St. Paul,*
Friday Collect
Mercifully grant that we,walking
in the way
of the cross,
may find it
none other
than the way of life and peace
* a living reminder that Christianity is not a solitary business. “After Paul's death, Timothy & Titus oversaw the chur- ches transition from its first missionary preaching to a new century in which it would settle into en-during communities, face persecution, and clarify its teaching ... They both died bearing witness to the Gospel: Timothy in Ephesus, Titus in Crete.
(From Give Us This Day) Silas is not in this image - the guy on the right is Paul. Silas has been recently added in. He too is customarily honored as a martyr.
Pray today for recon-
iliation and open heart
-edness, for Christ
-ians in Turkey, for the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey and Crete, and for the knowledge that "it is not we who speak, but the Lord speaks in us and through us." (based on an essay by Wilhelm Löeh.)
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Evening Prayer
Acts 9:17 – 19
Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared
to you on your way here, has sent me to you that you
may regain your sight and be filled with the
Holy Spirit."And immediately \
something like scales fell from
his eyes, and his sight
was restored.
The Week of Christian Unity is bracketed by the Confession of St Peter on the 18th and the Conversion of St Paul which we celebrate today *
Acts 22:6,7
While I was
on my way to Damascus, suddenly a
bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting me?"
*although, not to beat a dead horse, it was Saul of Tarsus, on his way to kill Christians, who was converted. Granted, know-ing that he that strong willed, determined and pigheaded (read: resolute) I have not a single doubt that as St. Paul he also needed conversion throughout this life, as we all do. But this is the biggie.
St Peter was big buds with Jesus, was called by him and was with him at the most significant moments of Jesus’ adult life and ministry - the travels and the teaching the healing, the glory on the mountain, the agony in the garden, the passion, death, resurrection and ascension and at the coming of Jesus’ Spirit, (which is what identifies an apostle,) albeit with a major stumble of two along the way. (One of the things that I love the most about our source material - read Bible - it that it so readily acknowledges, even highlights, the ills we are all heir
to - fear, doubt, jealousy, hard heartedness, fatigue and discouragement, in-fighting, hard heartedness, doubt and betrayal. None of it is left out of glossed over. It is all redeemed.
On the other hand Saul/Paul, did not know Jesus while Jesus was alive. They never met until Jesus knocked Saul off his high horse (nothing less would have gotten his attention) demanding to know why he was persecuting him. “And who are you?” Saul asked. “I’m Jesus” he answered, “whom you are persecuting.” And so, blinded and led by the hand to he knew not where, began the major journey from persecutor of Jesus and his Way, to one who was given “the right
hand of friendship” by those same followers, to be-
come the Apostle to the Gentiles. If you ask
“Will wonders need cease?” the answer is no.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Today in the Anglican Communion we give thanks for the life and witness of Florence Li Tim-Oi (1907-1992) the first woman to be ordained a purist in this Communion.
from Isaiah (48:17)
Thus says the Lord, your rede-emer,
the
holy one of Israel:
I am the Lord your God
who teaches you for your
own good, who leads you
in the way you should go
Born in Hong Kong in 1907, Li-TIm Oi means “beloved daughter,” she died in Canada on Feb-ruary 26, 199.2 We generally commemorate people on the anniver-sary of their death, but because of its signif-icance to the Commun-ion, this date celebrates the occasion of her ordination which occurred during, (and really because of) World War 2, on the January 25,
1944, the Feast of the Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. In 1949 the Communists came to power. From 1959-1974, during the Cultural Revolution, all the churches were closed and she was forced to work first in on a farm and then in a factory, from which work she was allowed to retire in 1974. She was allowed to visit family in Canada in 1979 and finally moved there and was licensed as a priest in the Diocese of Montreal and then Toronto. She died in 1992 at the age of 84. (as the info at the right says, thanks to Holy Women, Holy Men for most of my biographical info…)
Monday, January 23, 2017
In the American Episcopal church on this Monday we remember Phillips Brooks, 1835–1893. priest and preacher, author of “O Little town of Bethlehem" he served as Bishop of Massachusetts from 1891 until his death from diphtheria at the age of 57, for which a vaccine did not come into wide use until the 1940s.
Collect for Peace
O God,
the author
of peace
and lover
of concord,
to know
you is
perfect peace
and to serve you is prefect freedom
"Whatever happens,
always remember
the mysterious
richness of human
nature and the
nearness of God
to each one of us."
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