Sunday after Ascension, Sunday, May 28th, 2017

Sunday after Ascension, Sunday, May 28th, 2017

"THE end of all things is at hand"  (I St. Peter 4:7)  So begins the passage appointed for this Sunday's liturgy, coming to us from the Fourth Chapter of the First Epistle of St. Peter.  What happens when the "end" is near?  What exactly do we do when the "end" is near?  You may ask yourself as to the context of what exactly is "ending."  Well, I suppose it could be just about anything:  the "end of a job" . .. .  the "end of a relationship" . . . . the "end of difficulties" . . . . "the end of the world"    It could be just about anything, I suppose.  You see it is what St. Peter writes AFTER "the end of all things is at hand" that is really what we should be concerned with.  Because St. Peter immediately follows up by writing:  ". . . . be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."  What happens when something is at an end?  As we stated a little bit ago it doesn't really matter what exactly is at an end  . . . .  a job . . . . a relationship . . . .  etc.   . . . . .  because no matter what it is most folks will react the same way time and time again.  Some people panic.  Some people try to run and hide.  Some people just plain give up.   But what is our response as a Christian supposed to be?  Well, according to St. Peter, we are called to pray:  " . . . . watch unto prayer," he writes.  But he doesn't stop there.  In the next verse he emphasizes a reaction that should be the "core" of every Christian throughout the world, he writes:  "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves."  Of course, the key word in this sentence is "charity" but the meaning is what we would call "love."  In other words, St Peter is emphasizing that we should have "fervent love" for one another.  When you think about it, though, shouldn't this be how the Christian reacts automatically in any given situation?  We should always pray.  We should always show love.  We should always pray because it shows that we are seeking guidance from Our Heavenly Father.  We should always love because that is what Our Blessed Saviour would do.  Plus when we show love to those around us, we are showing the "Face of Christ" to the world.  So, the bottom line is that when we are faced with adversity . . . . when we are faced with difficulty.  . . when our first reaction might be to panic or to simply give up . . . . remember the advice of St. Peter for any situation:  "Pray" and "Love." 

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church worships each and every Sunday at 9:30 AM.  Please take time to join us as we gather together to worship Our Heavenly Father as a family.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene

When it comes to Holy Scripture there are some people that we know a great deal about.  Moses, for example, comes to mind as someone mentioned quite often in the Bible.  St. Paul is another person that has many epistles/letters attributed to him in the New Testament.  Thus, we know a good deal about St. Paul from his own writing.  Obviously, a goodly portion of the Acts of the Apostles is about St. Paul.  On the proverbial "other end of the spectrum," there are others that were very important and yet we do not know very much about them.  St. Joseph comes to mind.   And also Mary Magdalene is another important person associated with Our Lord and yet we do not know that much about her from Holy Scripture.  There are less than twenty verses in the Bible which mention Mary Magdalene.  Yet we know that Mary Magdalene was important to Our Lord and the early Apostles and Disciples.

1)  The Seven Devils

It is commonly believed by many people that Mary Magdalene was a former prostitute.  But despite this widely-held belief, it is never mentioned in Scripture that Mary Magdalene was a penitent prostitute at one time or another in her lifetime.  While it does not say in the Bible that Mary was a prostitute at one time or another, it does say that Mary did have a miraculous recovery.  Let us look at St. Luke 8:2:  "And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom when seven devils."  What can we learn from this verse?  Well, for one, we learn that she was "called Magdalene . . ."   Remember that Magdala was a place.   It was near Tiberias, on the the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Thus, more than likely the name "Magdalene" was really a nickname, if you will, for where she was from.  Similar to how we would call someone from Ohio a "Buckeye."  Or we would call someone from Indiana a "Hoosier."  The second thing that we learn from the verse cited above is that Mary had been miraculously cured of "seven devils."  Now, again, when the term "seven devils" is used, it could be an analogy for sicknesses or illnesses.  She could have been cured of seven different illnesses.  Or the number "seven" could have signified something very important or dramatic.  In either case, nowhere does it say that Mary Magdalene was a former prostitute.  What we can learn, though from this is that each one of us has our own "devils" that we deal with in our lives.  Each one of is more than likely targeted by devils and we have to deal with them.  Certainly, without a doubt, once you become a "Child of God," once you become a "Son or Daughter of God," you become "Public Enemy Number One" to Satan.  Once he sees the love of God growing more and more in your heart, he will certainly send devils to plague you and torment you.  Mary Magdalene had seven devils.  How many do you have?  How many do I have?  The number is not important.  What is important that each one of us is not immune from attacks by the devil.  Each one of us needs the healing touch of Our Blessed Saviour to bring us back to fullness of health:  physically, spiritually and emotionally.

2)  Near The Cross

When you think of all the people whose lives were touched by Our Blessed Lord, it is an absolute travesty that there were so few with Him when He was crucified.  Think about all the people that were healed by Our Lord.  Think about the people that were inspired by His words as He taught and preached.  Think about the people that were touched by Our Blessed Saviour and their lives changed forever.  And yet look at how few people were there at the Hill of Calvary on that dreadful day.  It is obvious that many people were fearful and afraid.  It is apparent that those closest to Our Blessed Lord were afraid for their very lives.  Look at St. Peter.  Our Lord foretold that St. Peter would deny Him and St. Peter did not believe Him.  And yet look who was correct.  St. Peter denied Our Lord not once . . .  not twice  . . .  but three times.  We all know this. There were some faithful souls that remained close to Our Lord in His hour of agony.  "Now there stod by the Cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene."  Mary Magdalene was one of the few that stayed faithful to the end.  This is what faith is all about.  When things look the darkest, how many of us give up?  When things look like they could not get any worse, how many of us give into despair?  How many of us just throw our hands up ready to surrender.  Now, I am not saying that Mary Magdalene and those who were there on that fateful day were not scared.  I am sure that they were very fearful.  I am sure they were confused.  I am sure they were emotional.  We could say a hundred things.  And yet no matter what they were, they were also faithful.  They were faithful to Christ.  They did not know what would happen next and yet they stayed close to the Cross.  In our own situations, we become fearful.  In the drama that we call life, we become confused.  And yet whatever befalls us in life, let us always remain close to the Cross.  Let us always remember that Our Blessed Saviour carried His Cross and that we should carry our own crosses as well.  Our "crosses" are what we have to carry on a daily basis:  money woes . . . .  sickness . . . . perhaps drug or alcohol problems . . . . loved ones who seem bent on self-destruction . . . . Each one of us can come up with our own "cross" that we carry.  Let us be inspired by Mary Magdalene.  Let us remain faithful to God, yes, in the good times but still remain faithful to God when the bad times come as well.  It's easy to be a cheerful Christian when we've got life good.  But how easy is it to be a cheerful Christian when the world is attacking us?

3)  "Woman, why weepest thou?"

In the Twentieth Chapter of St. John's Gospel, we hear a very interesting story about Mary Magdalene.  St. John tells us in this chapter that Our Blessed Lord had already been taken down from the Cross and had been laid in the tomb.  Now bear in mind from what we said above about Mary Magdalene, she not only remained faithful to the end, she remained still faithful once Our Lord had been laid in the tomb.  St John, in his Gospel, tells us that Mary Magdalene had come "to the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre." (St. John 20:1)  At that point she ran and told St. Peter.  But this is not the interesting part yet, in my opinion.  If we move further down in this chapter we will soon find beginning in verse Fourteen:  "   . . . . she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?  whom seekest thou?  She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.  Jesus saith unto her, Mary.  She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master." (St. John 20:14-16)   How many times has God appeared to us and we did not recognize Him?  How many times has God spoken to each one of us and we did not hear Him?  Did we not recognize Him because we were too busy seeking after  worldly goods?  Did we not hear God because we were too busy listening to others?  Or perhaps we only listen to God when He says what we want Him to say.  Other than that, we don't hear God.  In our children we call that "selective hearing."  Do any of us have "selective hearing" when it comes to God speaking to us.  Do we only recognize God when He "fits" our description of what He should look like?  Our Blessed Lord speaks to us at various times.  Our Saviour appears to us at various points in our life.  Let us always remain faithful to God so that we will always recognize Him.  Let us learn from the example of Mary Magdalene and always stay close to God, even to the very end.

Join Us For Third Sunday After Easter, May 7th, 2017

Third Sunday After Easter, May 7th, 2017

I have often thought that it is nearly impossible for us to know what the Apostles and Disciples felt back when Our Blessed Lord walked the earth and also after His Crucifixion and Resurrection.  In other words, those of us living today have known this history for two thousand years now.  We've "read the book," so to speak.  "We've seen the movie," so to speak.  We know how the story ends because it has been ingrained into us by our parents and their parents before them and their parents before them, etc. etc. etc.  Hard as we try, we will never know the fear and the uncertainty . . . . the mixture of emotions . . . . . the unknowing of what was going to happen next . . . . . for the Apostles.  They saw their beloved friend, teacher, master taken in by the authorities and then die on the Cross.  They saw with their own eyes this same man being buried in the tomb.  And then three days later they saw this man rise again from this same tomb.

In the Sixteenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John, Our Blessed Saviour has gathered the Apostles around Him and He is attempting to explain to them the events that would be forthcoming regarding the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  "A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall se Me, because I go to the Father."  (St. John 16:16)  And now after all that they have seen and heard and witnessed in the three or so years they have known Him, Our Blessed Lord is telling them that He is leaving their presence.  Certainly, we can almost imagine the disappointment they were feeling as Our Blessed Lord was telling them this news.  We can try to envision their confusion as He tells them He is leaving.  If we place ourselves in their shoes, so to speak, we can only imagine the wide range of emotions that we would be feeling.   And at the end of the passage Our Lord tells them:  ". . . . . but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you " (St. John 16:22)

All of us, I am quite sure, can think of a time where we lost someone very dear to us.  It might have been losing someone to death.  Or it simply might have been "losing" someone that moved far away to a different state.  I can think in my own life about the times that I have lost beloved family members . . . . whether it be my grandparents . . . or my uncle  . . .  or even my own mother.  I can think of friends who were very close to me that I lost contact with because either they moved or I moved.  And yet in either scenario, the memory of these people so close to me at one time are still close to me because I have their memories in my mind and in my heart.  As Our Lord said, no-one can take your joy from you.  Nobody can take your memories from you.  For the Christian, the joy that we have is the knowledge that Our Blessed Saviour is not only part of our life, He is the Saviour of our life.  He is our Saviour.  He is our Teacher.  We carry Our Blessed Saviour with us in our heart everywhere we go.  He is with us always.  This is where our joy comes from that "no may taketh from you."  Our joy is Our Blessed Saviour.  Our joy is our relationship with God.  Our joy can only come from having a personal relationship with Our Lord.  So many people try to find their "joy" in worldly things:   material possessions . . . . wealth . . . . power . . . . drink . . . .  drugs . . . .  All of those worldly joys ultimately fade away . . . but the joy we receive from a relationship with God can never fade away.  It will never disappoint.  There are a lot of things that can be taken away from us, but our relationship with God can never be taken away.

St. Margaret Church meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  We gather together in the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Join us as we gather together communally as God's family to worship Our Heavenly Father and receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ to strengthen and nourish us for our journey called "life."