Easter Sunday, April 1st, 2018

Easter Sunday, April 1st, 2018

First, I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very happy, a very blessed Easter to both you and your loved ones.  The events commemorated in Holy Week . . .  in particular, Good Friday and Easter Sunday . . . provide each one of us with an opportunity to reflect on what Our Blessed Saviour has done for us . . . what He has done on our behalf.  Let's get straight to the point.  What was the purpose for Our Lord to die a brutal death on the Cross?  What was the point of Our Lord to be beaten? . . . . mocked? . . . . spit upon?   Why was He so savagely tortured and humiliated?  Why was the King of Kings treated worse than a common criminal?  But even more to the point, why did He openly endure all of this?  The pain . . . the suffering  . . . the humiliation . . . . the beating . . . and finally . . . . an agonizing death on the Cross.   Why would He go through all of that?  What was the point?  What did all of this accomplish?  His efforts on our behalf did something we could never do ourselves:  He saved us from our sins and gave us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.  The media went on a frenzy this week when a certain famous clergyman . . .  this clergyman used to live in South America but now he resides in a beautiful city in Europe . . .  this clergyman was supposedly quoted as saying, "There is no Hell."  Now, of course, after this quote came out all the representatives of that famous clergyman scrambled to say that this quote was taken out of context.  But the point remains the same:   Why did Our Blessed Lord suffer and die on the Cross?  If there is no Hell, does this mean that Our Lord's suffering, pain, humiliation, and death meant nothing?  Of course, there is a Hell.  We read in the Book of Revelation:  " . . .  a lake of fire burning with brimstone."  (Revelation 19:20)  This is what most of us throughout history, I would suppose, picture Hell as.  But whatever it is, Christ suffered on our behalf so that He can save us from separation from God.   You see, whatever Hell consists of, the real tragedy of Hell is that it is ultimately, first and foremost, separation from God.  Christ died on the Cross to save us from our sins and thus the opportunity to be united with God for all eternity.  This is why St. Paul writes that we must "seek those things which are above" (Colossians 3:1).  So many of us seek the things below . . . and not the things above .  We spend our time, our effort, our energy seeking out the things below.  We live our lives chasing after the carnal pleasures with no regards for anyone or anything.  And yet, God loves us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins . . . something that we could never hope to achieve ourselves.  And He did this because He loves us and wanted to save us.  He wanted to save us from ourselves and to save us from suffering the consequences of our living apart from God . . . . . eternal separation from God:  Hell.  This is the beauty of the events of Holy Week:  Christ did what He had to do in order to save us from ourselves.  For this, we should be eternally grateful and to fix our minds on Him and serving Him all our life.

Easter Sunday Mass will be held on Sunday, April 1st, 2018 at 9:30 AM at St. Margaret Church.  Mass is held at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

 Please note that on Easter Sunday, we will not be in the chapel as we normally celebrate there.  Rather, we will be on the Fourth Floor of Marquette Manor. 

Palm Sunday, March 25, 2018

Palm Sunday, March 25th, 2018

Now, if you are like me, you are a creature of habit and  this means you never change.  I do the same thing over and over.  I wear the same thing over and over.  I watch the same TV shows and movies over and over.  It doesn't even bother me to eat the same thing over and over.  I'm the first one to admit it . .  .  I'm set in my ways.  But even for someone like me that is set in their ways it is really amazing how much choice we have in life.  We make choices that we don't even think about.  We make a choice when we pick out one pair of socks over another pair.  We make choices when we go to work one direction as opposed to another direction.  We decide whether we want to eat eggs for breakfast . . .  or toast  . . . or both . . .  or neither one and get biscuits and gravy instead.  We choose what to wear.  We choose what to watch on TV.  We choose what brand of cornflakes we buy at the store . . . or macaroni and cheese . . .  or frozen pizza . . . . or . . .  or  .  .  . or  . . . .  We choose to eat healthy  . . . or we choose to get a delicious apple pie.  We choose to be productive on a Saturday.  Or we choose to be a couch potato and watch Bonanza reruns all day.  Life is filled with choices.  As I stated, some of the choices we make are so simple that we make them without even blinking an eye.  

In the Twenty-Seventh Chapter of St Matthew's Gospel, St Matthew describes the events as they unfold on that particular day.  Our Blessed Lord had been brought before the Sanhedrin, the ruling class of the Jews, on charges of blasphemy.  Now, keep in mind, they did not like Our Lord.  They did not like Him one little bit.  At best, they considered Him to be a rabble-rousing rabbi who was stirring up the people.  At worst, they considered Him a blasphemer.  And as such, they brought Our Blessed Saviour that day before the Sanhedrin on charges of blasphemy.  Now the reason Pontius Pilate got involved in all of this was because the Sanhedrin could bring charges, yes, but they could not order the death penalty.  And this was what they wanted.  They wanted Our Lord to be put to death.  They wanted Him out of the way.  They wanted to be done with Him.  So they brought Him to the Roman Governor.  They wanted Pilate to put Our Lord to death.  They wanted Pilate to do their dirty work.  So Pilate contemplated the whole matter.  As we read through the chapter, we see that Pilate was trying to let Jesus go.  He did not think that Jesus was guilty.  Certainly, it does not appear that Pilate believed that Our Saviour deserved the death penalty for these charges.  Pilate tried to think of a way out of this situation so he offered the crowd a choice.  St Matthew tells us:  "Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would." (St. Matthew 27:15)  So Pilate offered the people a choice:  "Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? " (St. Matthew 27:17)  The people had a choice.  They were given their choice by the Governor.  Would it be Barabbas or would it be Jesus?  The people made their choice.  They chose Barabbas over Jesus.   How often do we make our choice when it comes to Jesus?  Whom do we choose over Our Blessed Lord?  What do we prefer in place of Jesus.  We all have choices, don't we?  The world is full of people who have clearly made their choice already.  They don't care about God.  They don't care about Him.  They don't care about serving Him . . .  following Him . . . . obeying Him.  But what about the ones reading this . . . or me, the one writing it . . . . how often do we make our choice?  How often do we make a choice that isn't really the best choice we could make?  How often do we choose to turn a blind eye to God because it's not really convenient or not really what I might want right now?   How often do we choose to treat people poorly but then complain when we are treated poorly?  How often do we choose to sacrifice what we know is right for convenience sake.  Or because "what is right" gets in the way of "what I want"?   You see, life is filled with choices.  Big choices.  Little choices.  And we need to choose to be on the side of God.  We need to choose to be in God's corner.  We need to choose what God wants us to do and not what I want me to do.  What choice would Pilate offer to each one of us?  What do we choose in place of Our Blessed Saviour?  Drugs?  Drink?  Food?  The Internet?  Money?  Fashion?  Expensive shoes?  "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  (St. Luke 12:34)   It is fine to have nice things.  God is the one that made the "nice things" possible for us to have.  But when the "nice things" stand in place of God.  When the "nice things" overshadow God.  When the "nice things" take over our heart.  This is where the problem comes in.  Let us always make our choice for God and His Kingdom.  Let us choose Him over all else.  And let us grow stronger in our devotion to Him and never leave His side.

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.

Fifth Sunday in Lent, Passion Sunday, March 18th, 2018

Fifth Sunday in Lent, 

Commonly Called Passion Sunday, 

March 18th, 2018

I never really had very much interest in any type of "Awards Shows."   You know what I'm talking about.  A night where celebrities get all dressed up in beautiful gowns and tuxedos and walk the red carpet and then they go inside and get nominated for "Best Actor;" "Best Actress:" "Best Movie:" "Best Song;" "Best Album:"  etc . . . . etc.   They have these awards programs for movies, for television, for music, for sports, etc.  They just had the Oscars not too long ago.  I haven't watched the Oscars in years, quite frankly.   The award winners try to get too political in their acceptance speech.  But that's an entirely different sermon topic so let's move on.   It is good, in my opinion, to be rewarded for your hard work.  It's good to acknowledged for dedication.  Far too often, it seems to me, people from all walks of life are never truly acknowledged for the hard work that they do in their professions.   Whether you are a trash man or a bus boy . . . . a teacher.  . . . . nurses  . . . . doctors . . police  . . . fire-men . . . We could go on and on.  Personally, I wish they had an awards show for "ordinary" people where awards are given to our military,  . . .  our teachers, . . . . our police and fire-fighters. .   . .  etc.   But getting back to awards shows, it boils down to a group of people honouring themselves, so to speak.  People in the film industry are giving awards to people in the film industry.  People in the music industry are handing out awards to people in the music industry, etc.  In other words, they are honouring themselves.

In the Eighth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, Our Lord is having a lengthy discussion with the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were trying to figure out exactly whom they were dealing with.  If you read through this eighth chapter, you will soon see that Our Lord is answering their questions directly.  And so at one point, the Pharisees ask Our Lord:  "Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?" (St. John 8:53)  And Our Blessed Saviour responds:  " . . . If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is My Father that honoureth Me; of whom ye say, that He is your God . . . "  (v. 54)  Again, Our Lord Himself stated:  " . . . . it is My Father that honoureth Me . . ."  We need to e more like Our Blessed Saviour.  We need to be concerned more with what God thinks of us than what the world thinks of us.   So often we get all caught up in worrying about what people are thinking  .  .  . . what they are saying . . . . about us.  Especially in this age of "social media" that we live in, people seem to get their knickers all knotted up worrying about what people are saying and thinking behind our backs.  "Was that post about ME?!?"  "Were they writing that about ME?!?!"   We worry about other folks opinion of us and what they are saying and thinking about us.  But do we ever stop to think about what God thinks about us?  Do we care about what God has to say about us?  So often we do indeed "honour ourselves," as Our Lord said.  We give ourselves awards.  We make ourselves to seem more important than we are.  We want people to notice us . . . to acknowledge us.  But just as Our Blessed Saviour said to the Pharisees:  " . . . it is My Father that honoureth Me . . .  "  We need to be more concerned with what God thinks of us.  We need to focus on how impressed God is with our efforts.  I am sure we have all heard those letters:  "WWJD," which of course stands for "What Would Jesus Do."  But maybe we can get some wristbands made up with the letters "WWJT," which stands for What Would Jesus Think."  Are we more concerned how the world honours me or how God honours me.  Are we more interested in impressing the world  . . .  or impressing God?   

St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  We use the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Come join us as we listen to God speak to us through His Word.  At Communion time, we receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ to nourish us and give us strength for our journey called life.