First Sunday in Lent, February 26th, 2023

 First Sunday in Lent, February 26th, 2023

The Gospel passage which we will hear on the First Sunday of Lent comes to us from the Fourth Chapter of St. Matthew.  Here, St. Matthew describes Our Lord's Forty Days in the Wilderness.  As we all know, the devil likes to take every opportunity he can to take advantage.  This is no exception.  He tries three separate times to take advantage and tempt Our Blessed Saviour while He is fasting.  Finally, the Lord  admonishes the devil by telling him:  "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." (v.10)   After this, we are told, the devil left Him and "angels came and ministered unto Him." (v. 11)  There are two major points that we can take away from this:

First, Our Lord was fasting for forty days and forty nights and during this time, the devil came to tempt Him.  How many of us have sat down to pray, or sat down to read the Bible, or tried to concentrate while we were in church and every type of thought comes into our head:  we start thinking about what we're going to eat for lunch; we start thinking about something we should have done at home;  we start thinking about a movie or a TV show; etc.  I am sure this has happened to all of us at one point or another.  The point is this:  if the devil is bold enough to tempt Our Blessed Saviour, he is certainly bold enough to tempt you and I.  Some people let these distractions over-power them and keep them from prayer completely.  They take these "distractions" as some sort of a "sign" that they weren't meant to pray or that they can't pray.  If this happens, the devil has won.  Don't give the devil the victory.  Remember always that the devil will stop at nothing in order to keep you from growing closer to God.  If the devil can tempt Our Blessed Saviour, he will certainly tempt you as well.  Don't let the temptation stop you in your tracks.  Tell the devil who is in charge of your life and then move on!

The second point is that the devil will try to tempt us with things that are attractive to us, that are appealing to us.  He will tempt us with things that we would want and desire to begin with.  The devil will use any tool necessary to tempt you and I.  He will use food and drink; he will use power and money; he will use position and title.  Any of these things mentioned are not necessarily bad in and of themselves, but if they keep us away from God or if they stand as a barrier between us and God, then this is what makes them bad.  Also, many of these things that the devil tempts us with, we end up "worshiping" those things instead of God.  For example, how many people end up focusing on drink instead of God.  How many people focus all of their energies on gaining more and more power or more and more money?  In that example, that person worships money or power and never thinks about God.  Again, the devil does not want you to have a relationship with God.  He will use anything and everything to keep you from having a relationship with Our Blessed Saviour.

We need to counter these temptations by keeping our eyes fixed on Christ.  Always go towards Him and do not let any temptation . . . .  no matter how wonderful it seems . . . . prohibit you from having a good relationship with God.  Give God your heart.  Let Him be the ruler of your life.  Don't let "things" rule your life:  whether they be food, drink, power, riches, etc.  God should be the ruler of our hearts.

St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

NOTE:  Keep in mind that we must enter in the main entrance of the lobby and sign in before we go to the chapel.  

Please 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.

Quinquagesima, February 19th, 2023

 Quinquagesima, February 19th, 2023

In the 18th Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel appointed for today's Mass, we are witness to Our Blessed Lord speaking to the Apostles and letting them know how He will suffer and die and then rise on the third day.  In this same passage we are told about the blind man who hears that Jesus of Nazareth is coming near.  And when the blind man is told this news he yells and yells and  yells some more in order to get Our Lord's attention.  The more he is told to be quiet . . . the louder the man gets.  Finally, Our Lord takes notice of him and listens to his request.  And Our Lord responds:  "And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee." (St. Luke 18:42)

We are called by faith.  All of us have faith but the problem is that in our day and age our faith is often placed in the wrong things.  We place our faith in people that ultimately let us down . . . or we place our faith in objects that ultimately break down or fall apart . . . we place our faith in things that we should not have any faith in to begin with, such as drugs or alcohol . . . . Quinquagesima is the last Sunday before Lent begins.  We should use Lent as an opportunity to get our priorities straight.  We should use these forty days, as the blind man did, to call out for Our Lord's attention.  We should continue to call to Him until He responds.  When the blind man was made aware that Jesus was near, he focused all of his energy on getting the attention of Our Divine Saviour.  He kept calling and calling and calling until Our Lord responded.  The blind man kept his attention and his resolve fixed on the Lord.  That is exactly what we are called to do:  focus our attention on Our Blessed Saviour until He responds.  Most of us get too distracted by other things to keep our attention fixed solely on Our Blessed Saviour.  Let us use this Lent to keep our focus fixed solely on Our Blessed Saviour and wait for Him to respond.

St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

NOTE:  Keep in mind that we must enter in the main entrance of the lobby and sign in before we go to the chapel.  

Please 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.

Sexagesima, February 12th, 2023

 Sexagesima, February 12th, 2023

On Sunday, February 12th, 2023 in the Gospel passage appointed for Sexagesima (the Second Sunday before Lent), we hear about seed falling on different types of ground.  The passage that we are referring to comes to us from St. Luke 8:4-14.  And Our Blessed Saviour was speaking this parable to a multitude of people.  When He was finished His disciples wanted to know exactly what each of His examples in the parable meant.  Here, Our Lord explains directly to them that the "seed" represented the Word of God and that this Word gets planted among different types of soil or ground:  some of the seed as it was sown by the sower in the story got devoured by the birds; some of it fell on rocky ground; some of the seed got thrown in among the thorns; and, finally, some fell on good ground.  Trying not to get too awfully philosophical here but as I like to point out:  life is never perfect.  Sometimes it is easy-going; sometimes it is difficult; sometimes, life presents challenges to us; sometimes, life is boring; sometimes it is exciting, etc.  But no matter what challenges life presents us with, the one constant in our life should be our relationship with God, first and foremost.  Even when we become Christians, we are not promised that life will be easy.  We are not promised that we will never have any problems.  We are not promised that we will never have any concerns in life.  What we are promised is that when we do have a loving, committed, personal relationship with Our Lord, we are promised that He will never leave us.  The point being is that throughout our life, going back to the parable of the sower, sometimes our life will seem as rocky ground; sometimes it will seem as filled with thorns; and sometimes it will seem like it is simply good ground for planting.  Let the Word of God be planted in you,  . .  .  .  in your heart.  Let your heart be the good ground that Our Lord was referring to.  Let the Word of God be planted so deeply in your heart that nothing can never take it away from you.  Let that Word of God grow in your heart so that you will become committed like never before to Our Blessed Saviour.

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church meets every Sunday at 10:30 AM.  We gather together at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

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 worship Our Blessed Lord and dedicate time out of our busy week and give that time to God

Septuagesima, February 5th, 2023

 Septuagesima, February 5th, 2023

On Sunday, February 5th, 2023, the Church celebrates Septuagesima Sunday . . .  or the Third Sunday Before Lent . . .  The "Gesima Sundays" are the final countdown, if you will, or the three Sundays of preparation for the holy season of Lent. 

The Gospel for today's Mass comes to us from the Twentieth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew.  In this Chapter, St. Matthew recalls the words of Our Lord in regards to the householder who hired laborers to work in his vineyard.  And the householder went out at various points throughout the day to hire laborers to come and work in his vineyard.  And at the end of the day each of the laborers got paid the same exact wage whether they worked the whole day or merely the last hour of the day.  God invites those whom He chooses to invite.  But the key is that it is up to us to accept or decline the invitation.  The very end of the passage that we heard today ends with:  " . .  .  for many be called, but few chosen ."  (St. Matthew 20:16)   All of us are involved in a whole host of activities at one point or another.  Just think about all the different "hats" that you may or may not have in your own life:  worker; homeowner; spouse; parent; neighbor; volunteer; friend; customer; etc.  The list could go on and on.  And every now and then we get chosen to work on a special committee or get chosen to be in charge of a special project.    Throughout our life, all of us can think of one example or another where we have been chosen.  God has chosen His people as well.  "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord Thy God: the Lord Thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all the people that are upon the face of the earth."  (Deuteronomy 7:6)  We are chosen by God to be a "special people" unto Him.  We must never forget that.  God has chosen YOU!  It is up to us whether or not we accept the invitation.  Remember who you are:  You are "special"; You are "chosen" You are "loved."  I do not think that most of us realize the importance of this fact.  If we did, we would spend more time focused on the things above as opposed to being focused on the things here below.

St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church gathers together each and every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM.  We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

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 gather together as God's family and worship Our Blessed Saviour.  And, at Communion time, we come forward to receive His Precious Body and Blood so that we can be nourished for the journey ahead.