Join us for the Feast of Christ the King, 2015

Reign of Christ the King, Sunday, October 25th, 2015

There are a lot of different kinds of rulers in the world.  In our own country, we have at the national level, we have a president, and we also have senators and representatives.  At the state level, we have a governor for each state plus each state has their own state senators and representatives.  Plus, there are mayors, and city council members, board of education, etc.  The list goes on and on.  In our country, we seem to have a whole lot of people who rule over our lives to one degree or another but we don't have a king in this country.  We have politicians who think they are the king . . . .  but that is a different sermon.  

On the last Sunday in October, the Church celebrates the Solemn Feast of the Reign of Christ the King.  This is an important feast for Christians to ponder because it raises an important question:  Who is your king?  We all have bosses of one sort or another.  If it is at work, our boss may be a manager or a supervisor.  If it is at home, our boss may even be our spouse.  For a priest, the boss is the bishop . . . . and the vestry . . .  and the altar guild . . . and the music committee . .  . . and the people in the pews!  You see, priests have a LOT of bosses!  Well, all of us have a lot of bosses: whether it be politicians or supervisors or bishops or spouses.  But to a certain degree, quite frankly, our bosses are the ones we choose to be bosses.  In other words, if push comes to shove we can always quit and find another job if we truly do not like our supervisor.  In the case of politicians, if you don't like the job they are doing, vote them out of office.  You get the idea.  To a large part, we pick those who are in charge of us.  

Keeping this in mind, we also choose who is our king in the spiritual sense.  We know what God has done for us but it is always good to be reminded:  "He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son"  (Colossians 1:12 ff)  God has sent His Only Begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins.  God has redeemed us by the Sacrifice on the Cross.  God deserves to be our King.  And yet only we can make Him our king.  Our Blessed Saviour is, first and foremost, a gentleman.  He never forces Himself on anyone.  He waits for us to approach Him.  It is up to us to make Him the King of our life.  It is up to us to make the decision.  It is up to us to live in His Kingdom.  In St. John's 18th Chapter, we hear the dialog between Pilate and Our Blessed Lord:  "Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?"  " Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king"  (St. John 18:33 ff)  We too are called to say that Jesus is our King.  After careful consideration, each one of us should address Our Blessed Saviour as He truly deserves to be addressed:  Christ Our King!  Each one of us has the power to choose who our leader is.  As faithful Christians, we should always make the point to acknowledge Christ as the King of our life!

Two opportunities for Mass on Sunday, October 25th, 2015:

St. Margaret Church celebrates Mass each and every Sunday at 9:30 AM.  Mass is celebrated at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located as 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

The Church of the Holy Spirit meets every Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM.  We worship at the beautiful and historic First Presbyterian Church near downtown Greenfield, Indiana, located at the corner of South and Pennsylvania Streets in Greenfield.

Join us for Mass as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Join us as we hear God speaking to us in His Word.  Our Lord also offers to each one of us His Most Precious Body and Blood at Communion time.  Receive the Precious Body and Blood to strengthen and nourish you for your daily journey.  And afterward, please join us for our Coffee Hour to have some delicious goodies and good fellowship.

Sermon from Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, 2015

The sermon of Fr. Todd given on Sunday, September 27th, 2015, the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.  Please click on the following link to hear Fr. Todd's sermon:

Join us for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 11th, 2015

In the epistle designated for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, we hear from St. Paul's fourth chapter of his Letter to the Ephesians. In the beginning of this chapter, St. Paul writes: "I therefore . . . beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." (Ephesians 4:1) Those who are called to be Christians are called to be something truly noble. That may sound very lofty but it is true. This is because we are called to imitate "light" in a world of "darkness." This is not very easy at times. In fact, it's a pretty tall order if you ask me. But that being said, St. Paul goes on to give some pretty sound advice in this fourth chapter of Ephesians. In verse 31 of this chapter he writes: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." (Ephesians 4:31) Probably, I would dare say, this is the best advice of the whole chapter for us to keep in mind. I say this because we live in a fast paced world. I would say this is true for all of us. Whether we are working or retired; whether we live in cities or in towns; whether we are young or old. Just about everybody I know . . . . myself included . . . is constantly busy at doing this or doing that. Going to work. Going to doctor's appointments. Going shopping. Cleaning the house. Fixing the house. Doing yardwork. Picking up the kids. Going to games. The list goes on and on. And, unfortunately, for many of us . . . . again, myself included . . . . busy schedules oftentimes lead to stressful living. And stressful living can lead to short tempers and lack of patience with those around us. We get angry with the idiots that cut us off in traffic and almost cause a wreck. We get irritated with the people in front of us at the store who are holding up the checkout line by trying to use coupons that have been expired for five months. We get mad at people who may have a different opinion than we do. The list goes on and on. And while these things may seem insignificant in and of themselves, added all together these things have the potential to make our lives very stressful.

God does not mean for our lives to be filled with stress and anger and irritation. Quite frankly, when we get irritated with someone or something . . . . even if we are correct to be irritated . . . this irritation does not harm the other person; it harms us. The other person probably doesn't even know of our irritation and probably wouldn't care anyway even if they would know. The irritation and the anger and the bitterness is what builds up inside of us and harms us. Period. St. Paul is warning the church at Ephesus just like he is warning us two-thousand years later: be filled with things of God instead of things of the world. Fill yourself with the love of God so that you will not be filled with the anger and bitterness offered by the world. In a certain sense, we are similar to a pitcher or a glass or a box. If the container is filled with whatever objects we can think of and the contained is filled to the brim, we can not fit anything else in. Thus, remove the items from the container so that we can fill the other items in there. Thus, in that sense, how can we expect to fill ourselves with the love of God if we are already filled with anger and bitterness and hate? Conversely, how can anger and bitterness and hate fill us if we are already filled with the love of God?

Two opportunities to join us for Mass on Sunday, October 11th, 2015:

St. Margaret Church meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

The Church of the Holy Spirit meets every Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM. We worship at the beautiful and historic First Presbyterian Church near downtown Greenfield, Indiana, located at the corner of South and Pennsylvania Streets in Greenfield.

Join us as we listen to Holy Scripture, hear the Word of God preached, and receive Our Precious Lord in Holy Communion. A Coffee Hour follows Mass.