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.