Second Sunday of Lent, February 25th, 2018

Second Sunday of Lent, February 25th, 2018

In the beginning of the Fourth Chapter St. Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians, we hear St Paul advising them:  " . .  . .that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. "  (I Thessalonians 4:1)  In other words, St. Paul is telling them that they have learned and been taught and now he is hoping that they will take what they have learned and have been taught even further.  It is only logical, isn't it?  I mean think about it.  When a baby is born, this little one is dependent on you for everything.  But little by little he/she begins to learn a little at a time.  As children grow they learn how to do more and more things for themselves.  And then as teenagers they "branch out," so to speak, by getting a job .  . . learn how to drive . . . go out with friends . . . etc.  By the time they leave high-school, they either get a full time job or continue full time in college.  They learn more and more as they progress in life and they do more and more things in life until they are fully independent.  They live away from home.  They pay their own bills.  They make their own decisions.

This is what St. Paul hopes for the Thessalonians.  He is telling them that they they know how to lead good lives.  They know how to lead lives that are pleasing to God.  They know exactly what they are supposed to do in life.  Now, says St. Paul, you need to put these things into practice.  In the society in which we live so many of us know exactly what is right and what is wrong . . . and yet we continue to make the wrong choices.  Why is this?  How often do we do something stupid and end up paying the consequences and then we say to ourselves:  "Why did I do that?"  "Why was I so stupid?"  "I can't believe I did that."  

The problem is that we depend more on ourselves than we do on God.  Or, more specifically, we listen more to what WE want and our desires than we do to what GOD wants for us in our life.  "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."  (Romans 12:2)   The problem is that we "conformed to this world" instead of being conformed to the will of God.  We focus more on what the world would have of us than what God would have of us.  We listen more to what the world wants of us than what God wants of us.  We listen to the opinions of actors and actresses.  We listen to sports-stars.  We listen to politicians.  We listen to commercials.  We listen to fads and gimmicks.  How often do we listen to God?  We know right from wrong.  The problem is that so often doing the wrong thing is easier than doing the right thing.  Very often it takes courage to do the right thing in this world that we live in.  That is because in this world we have gotten to a sad state.  We have gotten to the point where doing what is right is mocked by the world as evil or backwards.  And very often those who do the right thing  . . . and stand by God . . . are mocked and persecuted and shamed for standing up for what is right.   "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:30)  What we need as Christians is Courage, Conviction, and Fortitude.  Courage to stand against the world when the world is against God.  Conviction in knowing that we are standing with God and listening to Him instead of the world..  And Fortitude in carrying out the will of God, to standing up with Him, and moving forward no matter what.  

St. Margaret Church gathers together every Sunday morning and we would love for you to join us in our weekly worship of Our Heavenly Father.  Mass begins at 9:30 AM.  We celebrate Mass in the Chapel of Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Please choose to take some time out of your busy schedule to spend some quality time with God.

Love One Another As I Have Loved You

It is certainly understandable when we get irritated with people.  Whether it's that person at work that is always "pushing our buttons" or the complete stranger that cuts us off in traffic.  We are human and getting angry or irritated is a human emotion.  We all do it.  I get mad.  You get mad.  You may even get mad at me or perhaps me at you.  So often we get mad, we try to justify the way we feel.  We come up with excuses.  We do our best to excuse ourselves from being mad, . . .. from being angry.  But the bottom line is that as Christians we are called to be different from the world.  As Christians we are called to emulate, . .  to imitate Our Blessed Saviour.  Even when we are justified in being angry (i.e., the person that cuts us off in traffic and almost runs into us), Our Lord commends us to show forgiveness because that is what He did.

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?  do not even the publicans the same?"  (St. Mathew 5:43-47)

In fact, if you notice what Our Lord stated above, He said not only to love your enemy but specifically He said that we should "pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."  So, for us to be more Christ-like as Christians we should both love our enemies and pray for them.  Now, bear in mind what we are called to do is not just a suggestion.  It's even more than a recommendation.  It's actually a commandment that we should love one another:  "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if you have love one to another."  (St. John 13:34-35)

Is any of what Our Lord commanded easy to do?  Not in the least!  Will we always be successful?  No!  And yet we are called to love . . . . Nay, we are commanded to love one another . . . . This is how the world will know that we are Christians Our Lord tells us.  As I say it will not be easy to do.  It will not be simple to achieve.  But we need to do if we want to be a Christian.  Our Blessed Lord never asks us to do something that He was not willing to do Himself.  Our Lord didn't just "talk the talk," He "walked the walk!"  He loved those that hated Him.  He showed love to those that mocked Him.  He asked forgiveness for those who crucified Him.   He died on the Cross for my enemy just as much as He did for me.

Let us lift up those in prayer those who oppose us.  Let us bring them to God in prayer.  Let us ask God to bless our enemies and to be with them.  As hard as this may be for most of us, it may ultimately benefit us as well when we pray for our enemies and those who oppose us.  Number one, in order to truly pray for someone we have to begin letting go of the hatred and bitterness inside of us that we are holding on to.  Second, when we get rid of the anger and hatred inside of us, it will stop eating us up inside.  Typically, I have found that the anger and hatred that I have towards someone else does more damage to me than it does to the person I am angry with.

"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth."  (Proverbs 24:17)

First Sunday of Lent, February 18th, 2018

First Sunday of Lent, February 18th, 2018

In the Fourth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, we are told how Our Blessed Saviour went into the wilderness where He fasted for "forty days and forty nights." (St. Matthew 4:1)  And St. Matthew describes what happened to Our Lord when He was hungry.  Of course, the devil came and tried his best to take advantage of Our Lord's condition.  He tempted Our Blessed Saviour a total of three times:  first, he tempted Him by offering to turn stones into bread; secondly, he tried to get Our Lord to prove Himself by throwing Himself off the pinnacle of the temple to show that the angels would save Him; finally, the devil  ". . .  . sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; "  in exchange for His loyalty to Him.   Our Blessed Saviour without hesitation turned down each and every one of these temptations despite His weakened condition from fasting for forty days.  

How many of us are tempted by the devil?  How many of us give in at the first sign of weakness?  Our Lord remained firm in His purpose and resolve for forty days although St. Matthew tells us that Our Lord was "hungered."  I seem to get hungry after forty minutes without eating, let alone forty days.  So certainly He was hungry.  But the point being is this:  Our Lord remained firmly committed to His purpose here on earth no matter how tempting the offers of the devil were.  We need to remain true to ourselves and our purpose is the bottom line.  

So often the devil tries to tempt us as well.  And things don't really change that much, the devil still tempts us with the same things he tempted Our Lord with.  We get tempted with gluttony.  We don't know when to stop ourselves sometimes when it comes to eating.  We eat until we are full and then we eat again, knowing full well that we are full, but we eat again simply because it looks "so delicious."  You ever hear that old phrase:  " My eyes were bigger than my stomach?"  Yes, of course.  We see it.  We want it.  End of story.  That's called gluttony.  The devil tempts us to prove ourselves to the world.  How often are we tempted to prove who we are . . .  to show who we are.  As kids we hear:  "Go on I dare you . . .  "  The world mocks us for who we are.  People mock us for what we believe.  Even loved ones will mock us sometimes.  The world dares us.  But we don't have to prove anything to anyone.   The only thing that we need to "prove" is that we are loyal to Our Heavenly Father.  And, finally, don't we sometimes daydream what it would be like to be rich . . . . to be famous . . . to be a star?  Do we ever ponder what it would like to be a millionaire .. . .  or in charge of a company  . . . . or to live in a mansion?  Sure, all of us have these dreams from time to time.  All of us think about "what if?"   What if I was rich?  What if I was famous?  What if I was in charge?  What if   . . . . what if . . .  what if . . . .  What we need to focus on is doing the will of God in our life.  We need to focus on staying close to Our Blessed Saviour in the good times and the bad.  We need to focus on showing God that we are a loving son or daughter to Him.  Our Blessed Saviour remained loyal.  He remained true to both Himself and His Heavenly Father.  This is the lesson we can learn from Our Blessed Saviour's forty days in the wilderness:  stay true to who we are; stay true to what we believe in; stay true to God in the good times and the bad.

Join us on Sunday, February 18th, at 9:30 AM as we celebrate the First Sunday of Lent.  Mass is celebrated at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Quinquagesima, Sunday, February 11th, 2018

Quinquagesima, or the Sunday Next Before Lent, 

February 11th, 2018

We've often heard the phrase, "There's a right way and a wrong way to do something."  This only makes sense.  When we are two and three years old, we throw a tantrum when we don't get our way.  So if a child wants a toy or wants some candy, they demand what they want and if they don't get it the child throws a tantrum and begins yelling and screaming.  When I was growing up, this really didn't work out too often in my favor, I soon discovered.  If anything, it got me the opposite result.   With age, we are supposed to learn again that there is a correct way to go about something and a wrong way.  Let's say, for example, that I feel that I am entitled to a raise at work.  Now, I suppose I could go to my boss and call him/her every name in the book and demand a raise.  But more than likely that is the wrong way to go about it.  Not only would I NOT get my raise, I would probably run the risk of losing my job in the process.  Now the correct way to go about asking for a raise would be respectful to my supervisor and ask for a meeting and then point out my reasons for wanting a raise in a calm, courteous fashion and talk it over with my boss.    

In the Eighteenth Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, we hear about Our Blessed Saviour on the way to Jerusalem with the Twelve Apostles. And as they are going by, they encounter a blind man who became aware of the presence of Our Blessed Lord.  This man began yelling to get Our Lord's attention:  "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me."  (St. Luke 18:38)  The blind man must have been making quite a commotion because St Luke tells us that the people there told the blind man to "hold his peace."  (v. 39)  But he continued until he caught the attention of Our Lord.  Our Blessed Saviour commended the man and gave him his request:  "Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee."  (v. 42)  It wasn't the fact that the man was yelling and screaming that impressed Our Lord, it was the fact that the man was persistent.   

Even in the epistle appointed for today's liturgy, St. Paul makes the point that no matter what we do, we have to do it with the correct intention.  For example, St. Paul writes:  "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."  (I Corinthians 13:1)  Again, what St. Paul is referring to is that we can have the correct action (on the surface) but if we do not do it with love, then it is wrong.  St Paul goes on to write:  " . . . and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."  (v. 2)  Love again is the key.  It is love that should our motive in everything that we do.  So often in the society in which we live, love is certainly the motivation behind what we say, . . . what we do, . . .  how we act.  But the problem is that it is specifically "love of self" as the main motivation.  We demand things because we have ourselves in mind and what WE want.  We demand people to respect OUR views and OUR beliefs without any thought of anyone else's views or beliefs.  We expect people to consider OUR point of view but we don't take the time to consider anyone else's point of view.  

As St. Paul tells us, we are to do all things with love as the key.  Certainly, Our Blessed Lord used this as His main motivation.  Why else would He do what He did?  Even as He spoke to the Apostles on the way to Jerusalem:  "For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death."  (St. Luke 18:32-33)  Why would Our Blessed Saviour subject Himself to any of this?  Of course, the answer is love.  He endured what He did out of love for us.  He subjected Himself to torture and death out of love for us.  He died on the Cross for love of us.  He endured all these things because He knew that He was the "Innocent Lamb led to the slaughter."  He did all that He did for us out of love.  He was not thinking of Himself when He did these things.  He was thinking of you, . . . of me.  As such, if we truly want to be "Christ-like" we need to focus more on others and less on ourselves.  In short, we need to love others more and love ourselves less.

Join us 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 join together as God's family and worship Our Heavenly Father.  Join us as we come to the altar to be fed the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time.  And, finally, please stay after Mass for some fellowship at our coffee hour.

St. Margaret Anglican Church worships at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Mass begins at 9:30 AM.

Hope in the Lord

They say that February is the gloomiest month of the year.  Unfortunately, unless you live in someplace tropical all year around  . . .  like Tahiti or Southern California . . . . you have to deal with the ice and snow and frigid temperatures of the season.  Most people, I would guess, don't like February very much.  At least in November and December we have the holidays to look forward to.  That takes our minds off of the cold and ice, doesn't it?  But in February, it would seem that we don't have anything to look forward to . . . . just more ice . . .  more snow . . .  cold temperatures . . .  and darkness.   Not much to do either because you don't feel like going out in all that mess.  This is why a lot of folks say they don't like February.   It's just plain gloomy.

In a similar vein, I guess you could say, people also don't like the holy season of Lent.  It's gloomy.  It's depressing.  People focus on what they give up  during Lent . . . . such as giving up chocolate, for example.  They focus on the penitential aspect of Lent.  In other words, dealing with being sorry for our sins.  Nobody enjoys admitting their faults, do they?  I know I don't.   This is probably why we get in the habit of pointing out the faults of others because it keeps us occupied so that we don't point out our own faults.  Let's face it, if I'm busy focusing on what others have done wrong, that probably means I am less likely to focus on what I have done wrong.  

And yet we know that life itself is not perfect.   As the old song goes, "I never promised you a rose garden."   Life is not filled solely with roses and unicorns and pretty rainbows.   Life can be difficult at times.  We can work our tails off to pay bills, for example, and then just as we finish paying the bills off, something in the house breaks and needs to be replaced.  The car breaks down.  Doctor's bills come due because we are sick.   We can all come up with our own examples, can't we?   And if we are honest, life can be downright depressing at times if we focus solely on the negative things that life throws at us.

But as Christians we are called to focus on the positive.  We are called to focus on the blessings that the Good Lord has provided us with.  "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."  (Romans 14:17)   Yes, to a certain degree, we are called to be penitential during Lent . . . to focus on our sins, the things we have done wrong . . . . but we do that in order to "get right" with God.  During Lent, we are encouraged to give up the things of the world so that we can focus more on the things of God.  Also, it helps us to see first hand that Our Blessed Saviour gave up the glories of Heaven in order to walk among us as a human being.  He worked with His hands . . .  He was tired . . . He was hungry . .  .  He traded in His throne in Heaven so that He could be with us, . . . spend time with us, . . . . preach to us,  . . . . tell the world of His Heavenly Father.

"But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised of the people.  All they that see me laugh me to scorn:  They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him"  (Psalm 22:6-8)

Our Lord humbled Himself so that ultimately we could share in His glory.   This is the beauty of His suffering.  This is the true meaning of His Cross.   In carrying that blessed Cross, Our Lord paid the price . . .  for you . . .  for me.   He paid a price that we could never have paid ourselves.  This is the true meaning of Lent.  Lent is meant to be a time to prepare ourselves for the glory of Easter.  It is a time of preparation.   It is a time to set aside both the cares and riches of the world so that we can focus on the greatness of Our God.

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." (Hebrews 6:19)

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is."  (Jeremiah 17:7)

We are indeed a people of hope.  We are all called to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the prize.  And of course that prize is life eternal spent with Our Blessed Saviour in His glory.  So often we are sidetracked by either the cares or riches of the world.  Lent is a time set aside by the Church so that we can step back, take a deep breath, and get our priorities straight.  Yes, life can be gloomy at times.  Yes, cares of the world can be overwhelming at times.  Yet, as Christians we know that God never leaves us.  We know that God sent His only Son into the world to save us.  For this we should glory in Our Blessed Saviour and all He has done for us.

Sexagesima, February 4, 2018

Sexagesima, February 4th, 2018

In the Eighth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear Our Blessed Lord telling the parable of the sower who sowed his seed in the field.  And as Our Lord told the parable, He explained that some of the seed fell along the way-side; and some of the seed fell on rocky ground; and some of it was eaten by the birds; and so on.  What I want to focus on is that when Our Lord was in the middle of telling the parable of the sower, He paused and cried out:  "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!"  (St. Luke 8:8)  Honestly, how many of us need to be told to pay attention?  How many of us need to be told "wake up?" How many of us need to be taken to task and heed what we are hearing?  It's so easy to not pay attention to what we are doing.  I know because, quite frankly, I do it all the time.  I start doing something but then my mind wanders to something else.  I start thinking about all the things I have to do . . .  all the things I want to do.   I get sidetracked by something that grabs my attention.  I get bored.  It could be for any number of reasons.  I am sure we have all had the experience where "our mind was somewhere else."  In other words, you may be physically present but your mind is a thousand miles away.  And usually something or somebody grabs our attention and brings us back to reality.  We all need that wake up call to come back to reality . . ,.  to pay attention . . . to wake up . .   Again, Our Lord is saying to each one of us:  "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!"   Pay attention, in other words.   Our Blessed Saviour is telling each of us to pay attention to Him, to listen to what He has to say.  There is a big difference between "hearing" and "listening."  Lots of things might be going on around me . . . . noise from the television . .   from the radio . .   from people talking  . . .  . . from traffic going by . . . . but after a while we can tune all those things out if we choose to.  But in order to "listen" to something, this involves "paying attention."  Our Lord is telling us to open our ears . . . pay attention . . . listen up!  We pay attention to so many people and so many things in the world.  And we fixate on TV shows . . . and the Internet . .   and movies . . . and the news.   And we listen to so many people and things that are here today and gone tomorrow.  But Our Blessed Lord is always with us.  Our Blessed Lord is always by our side.  Our Blessed Saviour is the One Who never forsakes us.  Let us always pay attention to Him and to listen to everything He tells us.

  St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday at 9:30 AM at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us as we hear the Word of God found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible.  Come dedicate one hour of your week to God.  Step away from the busy-ness of the world for just one hour and focus totally on God.  Come and worship Him.  Let Him feed you spiritually.   Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time.