Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, September 8th, 2019

Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, September 8th, 2019

Have you ever watched the Oscars?  I have not watched the Oscars in years.  Well, it would probably be more accurate to say I have not watched the Oscars in decades but  I digress.   But my reason for bringing this example up is that whenever someone gets up to accept an award they have just won they spend the next ten minutes thanking all the people who made it possible for them to win their award.  They thank the director of the film.  They thank the producer of the film.  They thank the writers and the co-stars and the film crew.  They thank the Academy for voting for them in order to get this award.  In essence, without all these people, they would not have achieved what they have achieved.  This is true for all of us, isn't it?  Whether it be loving parents who have scraped and sacrificed for us.  It might be teachers who helped to mold us and motivate us to do great things.  It might be a supervisor at our job who encourages us and works alongside us to be the best we can be.  All of us can find someone whom we can thank . . . . somebody to acknowledge that person has done incredible things for us and has helped shape us into who we are today.

In the Third Chapter of St. Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul is doing his best to get the Corinthians  . . . . and us too some two-thousand years later . . .. to understand that God is the source for all the blessings in our life.  We read in this chapter:  ". . . . not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;" (II Corinthians 3:5)   To a degree this is part of what St. Paul also discussed in his First Epistle to the Corinthians.  In that letter he emphasizes the fact that all the amazing things he did; all the incredible things he accomplished were first made possible by God:    " . . .  yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (I Corinthians 15:10).  As Christians we should give credit where credit is due.  Without a doubt this is God.   He is our sufficiency, as St. Paul would say.  He is the One Who sustains us.   He provides for us.  He gives us the knowledge and the know-how to do what we do.  Without Him, what could we do?  Without Him, what could we achieve?  It is through the grace of God that I am saved and have my sins washed away.  It was due to the efforts of Our Blessed Saviour dying on the Cross which achieved this incredible accomplishment.  We should thank God each and every day for all the wonderful blessings in our life.  We should thank Him for loving us.  We should thank Him for making us who we are.  So many of us dwell so much on the negative things in our life that we miss out on the many wonderful blessings we have.  As Christians we should get in the habit of counting our blessings every day.  And once we have acknowledged our blessings we should then get in the habit of thanking God for the many blessings which we enjoy.  

Join us as we gather together as God's family to:  hear the Word of God; listen as God speaks to each one of us in our hearts; worship God in song and in word; listen to the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; and, finally, receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion so that we can be nourished for the journey we call life.  Take one hour out of your busy schedule to worship God, to honour God, to acknowledge the need for God in your life.

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