Laetare Sunday, Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 31, 2019

Fourth Sunday of Lent, also called Laetare Sunday, 

March 31st 2019

The Gospel for Laetare Sunday comes from the Sixth Chapter of St. John's Gospel.  As we begin this passage St. John tells us of the large crowds that have followed Our Blessed Saviour due to them hearing about the many people which He has cured.  Our Lord's fame has grown far and wide due to the many miracles that He has performed.   And many of those gathered want to not only to see Him but to hear what He has to say.  Now the first thing that should strike us when we hear the story of Our Lord feeding the multitude is that Our Lord is a compassionate Lord.  He knew that these people that gathered together to hear Him and to get just a glimpse of Him would be tired . . .  they would be hungry . . .  these people would need to be sustained and nourished.  And He called together the disciples and inquired what would need to be done.  Now, we all know what happened next.  Our Blessed Saviour multiplied the five loaves and the two fish into feeding the multitude.

What I would like to focus on is what Our Lord did after everyone was fed.  He called together the disciples and told them:  "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. ." (St. John 6:12)  Sometimes our lives feel like "fragments," in a sense.  We run here.  We run there.  We take care of our families.  We take care of our home. We go to our jobs.  We go shopping for what we need.  The list goes on and on.  As a result, we feel like we are running around from one place to the next, going from doing one thing into something completely different.  I know I feel this way very often.  And I talk to so many people that feel the same way.  Our lives are divided between this, that and the other.  But the important thing to remember is that God takes our "fragments" and makes them whole.  Just like Our Blessed Saviour fed and nourished the five-thousand, He feeds and nourishes us still today.  Just like He saw the vast multitude gathered around Him, He still sees us in need of His strength to carry on our daily lives.  And He is that strength.  He is the One Who nourishes us.  He is the One Who sustains us.  He is the One Who makes us whole.  He takes the fragments of our lives and makes our life complete.   There is no other person, thing, or feeling in the world that can make us complete.  There is only one person who can do this for us.  And that is God.  Give your heart to Him.  Let Him be your nourishment.  Let God be your sustaining force.  Let Our Blessed Saviour be the One you run to in order to be fed.

Join us for Mass as we celebrate Laetare Sunday.  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.

Third Sunday in Lent, March 24th, 2019

Third Sunday in Lent, March 24th, 2019

Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but I am amazed at how often I "revert" back to doing something when I know I should not be doing it and then I turn around and do it again.  For example, I type every day on the computer.  And sometimes . . . . I don't know the reason why .. . . I may type the wrong letter in a certain word and then I will go back and erase it and type the correct word but then the next time I get to type that same word I end up typing the same exact wrong letter again.  And then it gets to the point that it is laughable because then suddenly no matter how hard I try and how determined I am NOT to type that one wrong letter . . .  . I do it again.

Sin is like that as well.  We may keep doing the same wrong things all over again even though deep down inside we know that the sinful behaviour is no good for us but we keep going back and doing the same thing over and over again.  In the Fifth Chapter of St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, we hear the following:  "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord."  (Ephesians 5:8)  Our Blessed Saviour redeemed us by His Own Precious Blood.  Our Saviour took our sins upon His shoulders and carried them to that hill at Calvary.  Our Saviour saved us from our sins by dying on the Cross for us.  With all of this in mind, it begs the question:  why do we do what we do . . . . especially when we supposedly know better?  How often do we do something really stupid and then we say out loud to ourselves:  "Why did I do that?"  St. Paul is saying to the Ephesians just like he is saying to us:  "You used to be ignorant of your sins but now you have knowledge in Christ . . . you are knowledgeable of Our Lord . . .  you know about Him . .    you know His ways . .  . you know Him . . . . now, act like Him and do not go back to your former, sinful ways."  This, in essence, is what St. Paul was saying to the church at Ephesus and what he is saying to us.

Join St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church on Sunday, March 24th, 2019 as we gather together to worship Our Blessed Saviour.  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 receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Blessed Saviour at Communion time and then stay with us after Mass as we share fellowship and goodies at the coffee hour.

St. Margaret Anglican Church worships at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Sermon from Second Sunday in Lent, March 17, 2017

Sermon given by Fr. Todd on the Second Sunday in Lent, March 17, 2019

Listen to Sermon Here

Second Sunday of Lent, March 17th, 2019

Second Sunday of Lent, March 17th, 2019

In the Fifteenth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, we hear the story of Our Blessed Saviour meeting the woman of Canaan who besought Our Lord seeking favour for her daughter.  Now keep in mind that this woman was not Jewish, and yet she said to Our Lord: "Thou Son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." (St Matthew 15:22)  Right from the beginning, it is evident that this woman must have recognized the greatness of Our Lord or else she would not have referred to Him as "Thou Son of David."  Now, we have all heard this story because Our Lord at first  . .. .. it seems .  .  .. that He ignores her because He says not a word at her first request.  After that it is apparent that she then proceeds to bother the disciples for her request because St. Matthew informs us that they "besought Him, saying, Send her away: for she crieth after us." (v.23)  After this, Our Lord still ignores her request by basically saying, in essence, that He was sent for the children of Israel.  And despite all of this, this woman still persisted until finally Our Lord recognized her persistence and her faith when He said:  " O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (v.28)

Now the point that we can all learn from this is to be determined and to have faith.  The woman of Canaan had both.  She recognized Our Lord to be the source of help and healing for her daughter.   But she was also determined.  In faith, we need to be determined.  But we need to be determined for the right reason.  In other words, sometimes we only get "religious" when we need God for something:  We want to get hired for a new job.  We need a favour of some sort.  We need guidance to get our of a jam.   Now there is nothing wrong with going to Our Heavenly Father when we need His assistance.  What is wrong, though, is when we ONLY go to Him when we need something and forget about Him the rest of the time.  A lot of people only go to God when they get into a jam or when they need something.  They suddenly get real "religious" when they are in need but the rest of the time they act as if there is no God.  Our Lord came to offer us Salvation.  He came to die on the Cross for us.  But He also spent some thirty-three years on this earth being a human being like you and I.  He knows what it is like to walk in your shoes.  He knows what it is like to laugh and to cry.  He knows what it is like to work and to rest. He knows what it is like to walk in your shoes as a human being.  As such, we can go to Him on a daily basis and we should go to Him on a daily basis.  Do not just go to God when you are in need of something.  Go to God every day with your concerns, your joys, your sorrows, your everything.

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church worships every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  We worship in the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Come join us for Mass 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 worship Our Blessed Saviour and receive His Precious Body and Blood in Holy Communion.

First Sunday in Lent, March 10th, 2019

First Sunday in Lent, March 10th, 2019

In the Fourth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, St. Matthew presents to us the encounter between Satan and Our Blessed Lord.   This encounter took place when Our Saviour had been fasting for forty days and forty nights, St. Matthew tells us.  And it is at that point that Satan steps in to try and take advantage of the situation.   Because the very first temptation which Satan gives is to tempt Our Lord to turn stones into bread.  The next temptation the old devil proposes is by taking Our Lord up to the top of the Temple and to  throw Himself off.  Here is where Satan quotes Scripture:  ". . . . for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."  (St. Matthew 4:6)  Satan is quoting here from Psalm 91.  Finally, Satan takes Our Lord up to the top of a high mountain and shows Him all the "kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." (St. Matthew 4:8)   One thing that always amazed me about this particular encounter between the devil and Our Blessed Saviour is that the devil is not afraid to quote Scripture.  But we should point out that he can quote verses of Scripture but he does not live them.  Thus, all faithful, devout, committed Christians should make note:  It is more important to live what we learn from the Bible than it is to simply memorize Scripture verses.  Have you ever met someone that seemed to know all kinds of verses of the Bible but that particular person did not act very Christian despite all that knowledge?  They could quote Scripture but they did not live out what they learned from Scripture.   It is important for us to read Scripture.  Perhaps this could be our challenge during Lent.  If you are not already in the practice, read the Bible every day.  Start out with one of the Gospels, perhaps.  Read a chapter every day.  Read two chapters a day.  Get in the habit of reading Holy Scripture.  And then once you get into the habit of reading the Bible, then go out and practice what you have learned.   One of the beautiful things about reading the Bible is that we have the potential to learn something brand new every time we read it.  In other words, during my lifetime I have read the Bible countless times all the way through.  And yet despite the fact that I have already ready a specific verse or a particular section dozens of times . . .  hundreds of times . . .  previously, the Good Lord always shows me something brand new when I read it again.  Use the Bible as a source for inspiration.  Use the Bible as an instrument to learn from.  Use the Bible to hear what God is saying to you.  And then when you have learned from the Bible, go out and live what you have learned.  Be the person that God wants you to be.  

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. 

Quinquagesima, Sunday next before Lent, March 3, 2019

Quinquagesima, or the Sunday next before Lent, 

March 3rd, 2019

Like so many of you, I scan social media.  Most of the time I just scroll through and move on.  Every once in a while I read something that causes me to step back and reflect on what it says.  Recently, I had one of those very moments.  The post read:  "You are killing yourself for a job that would replace you within a week if you dropped dead.  Take care of yourself."  Reading these words truly did cause to think about its' meaning.  I would agree.  Those of us who work.  Those of us who have careers.  Those of us who take our jobs seriously.  I would imagine most of us have been in this position at one point or another.  We run around like the proverbial "chicken with its' head cut off" trying to accomplish everything that we need to do.  We try to jam Twenty hours worth of work into an Eight hour work day.  We prioritize all the things that needed to be done "five minutes ago."  All the while we try to "put out the fires" that spring up without notice.  We try to cover all the bases.   And it's just not the job where this is the case.  We try to do the best at our career; take care of our home; take care of our family; take care of ourselves; raise children; go shopping; find time to relax; etc.  The list goes on and on.  And the sad thing is that we are not only killing ourselves for our jobs.  Sometimes we are killing ourselves for people that are only using us.  Sometimes we are killing ourselves to maintain an image.   Sometimes we are killing ourselves to "fit in" with a crowd that is not really worth our time.   Again, the point of the meme referenced above is to "Take care of yourself."  In other words, we need to prioritize what is really important in life.  Yes, we need to work.  Yes, we need to take care of our home.  Yes, we need to spend time with our family.  We need to do all of these things.  But that being said we also have to put priorities in life.  That is part of the problem as well.  Sometimes our priorities are all messed up.  We place our careers ahead of our family.  We place popularity ahead of being true to ourselves.  We place greater value on attaining wealth than doing what's right.  And through all of this we need to remember God.  We need to have God in our lives.  We need to make time for God.  We make "time" for everything that is important to us.   If we really want to see a movie, we will make time to watch it.  If we really want to exercise, we will find time to do it.  But how much time do we spend with God each day?  How much time do we dedicate to reading the Bible each day?  How about Sundays?  Are we too busy on Sunday to get up and go to church?  Maybe we're too exhausted from  all our activities the other six days of the week to go to church on Sunday.  If it is important to you, you will find time for it.  Lent is a good time to step back and reflect on what we have done in life.  Lent provides us with time to focus on what is important.  Lent allows us to reflect on what we have done wrong . ..  where we have missed the mark . . . and where we have fallen short.  But more importantly, Lent allows us the opportunity to focus on what is ahead of us:  Easter.  Lent gives us the opportunity to look ahead.  Thus, Lent is truly a season of hopefulness.  Let us spend the next forty days to "take care of ourselves" by focusing on God.  Spend the next forty days spending time with God.  Make God a priority in your life.  

St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  Come hear the Word of God preached from the King James Version and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Join us as we receive the Precious Body and Blood of Our Blessed Saviour at Communion time.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.