Eighth Sunday after Trinity, July 30th, 2023

 Eighth Sunday after Trinity, July 30th, 2023

I am sure that you have heard the expression that someone is "bigger than life."  Someone who is "bigger than life" is a person that is known for doing things in a wild way or who is known for doing something dangerous or exciting.  Like, for example, a race car driver or a movie star.  We meet a person with a "big personality" and we say he/she is "bigger than life."  You could say that a person "bigger than life" is someone who points to something beyond his or her self:  they do a dangerous job . . . they have a unique hobby . . . . they take care of dangerous animals, for example.  In a strange sort of a way, all of us point to something beyond us.    Each one of us represent something to someone else.    Well, for example, to a store owner, you are not just a person, you are a customer or a potential customer.  If you have a spouse, you are a husband or wife.  If you have children, you are a parent.  If you like a particular sports team, you are a fan.  The list goes on and on.  To your boss, you are an employee.  It is rare that we are just merely our self, in other words.  Typically, we represent something beyond our self.  In other words, we fill roles that point beyond our self.  People don't look at us and just see . . . . Jack  . . . . or Mary . . .  or Gladys . . . . etc.  When people look at us they see rather . .   . a scout leader . . .  a customer . . . . a potential customer . . .  a parent . .  a neighbor, etc.

As Christians, we are also called not to point to our self but rather we are called to point to something greater than our self.  We are called to point to something beyond our self:  God.  In a certain sense, this is why Our Lord gave a warning about false shepherds who were only looking out for themselves.  "BEWARE of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." (St. Matthew 7:15 ff)  A true man or woman of God points beyond themselves.  They point to someone greater than they are.  A false prophet will only worry about fulfilling their own needs and not the needs of others.  A false prophet will spend their time feeding their own desires and making sure their own needs are met.  A false prophet will want all of the attention focused solely on them . . . they want the spotlight focused on them alone.  But we as true,  committed Christians are called to focus the light on God.  We are called to point towards God and not to ourselves.  We should learn to imitate St. John the Baptist when he said:  "He must increase, I must decrease." (St. John 3:30)

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.

Seventh Sunday after Trinity, July 23rd, 2023

 Seventh Sunday after Trinity, July 23rd, 2023

We have all heard about the famous "feeding of the multitude" or the "multiplication of the loaves and fishes."  In the beginning of the Eighth Chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, we hear of the feeding of the four thousand.   We all know what happened in regards to what Our Lord did and what He did to perform this miracle:  He multiplied the few loaves and fishes they had in order to feed the thousands gathered to hear Our Lord.  But I don't want to focus on the miracle right now.  I would prefer to focus on why Our Lord performed the miracle.  I want to focus on the reason He chose to do what He did.  In the second verse of this chapter, we hear the following:  "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:" (St. Mark 8:2)  Our Lord took notice of the crowd.  He saw their faces.  He took notice that they had been with Him for three days.  And because of all these things and more, He had compassion on them.  In speaking to the multitude, He looked after their spiritual needs but in feeding them the loaves and fishes He looked after their physical needs.  Our Lord cares about His children.  Our Lord has compassion on His children because He loves us.  He shows His care on a daily basis.  How often do we show our care for Our Heavenly Father?  How often do we, as His children, return the love shown to us by Our Father?  Do we take time to spend time with God and if we do, how often?  On a daily basis?  Once a week?  Once a year?  Or perhaps we only go to God when we need something.  Maybe we only go to God it seems that we are out of all our other options.  We show care and concern for the things we care for.  If we spent a lot of money on a car we work to keep it looking nice.  If we have a collection of things, we take care of it, don't we?  We care for and look after the things we love.  So the question remains:  what do we do in regard to our relationship with God?  Do we spend time with Him or do we ignore Him?  Do we listen to Him or are we too busy listening to the world?  God  cares for us.  He loves us.  He wants the best for us.  The question is do we care for God?  If you do, how do you show that love?  Only you can answer that question.

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.

Sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 16th, 2023

 Sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 16th, 2023

In the Sixth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, we hear the following:  " . . .  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him   . . . " (Romans 6:3 ff)  I would imagine that just about all of us have been in the position at one point  or another in our life where we had the feeling that we had hit "rock bottom."  Perhaps it came when we had lost a job unexpectedly.  Maybe it came about when we struggled with a difficult project that fell apart and had to start all over again.  Maybe it had involved health issues or the death of a family member or a close friend.  Nonetheless, whatever circumstances we can think of, I am sure that most of us have had the feeling at one point or another that our world came crashing in on us.  I know I have felt that way a time or two in my life.  I have found myself struggling with some issue and everything seems to go wrong all at once and I feel like the whole world is crashing in on top of my head.  But then afterwards I moved forward and the world brightened.  In other words, I had to go through the darkest hours in order to finally see the light of dawn ahead of me.   And then everything seemed to improve and things got better and better and better . . .  . . Sometimes, as I say, we have to hit rock bottom in order to move forward.  Sometimes by struggling and going through the darkness, we are able to get stronger and learn from our difficulties.  We become strong through our struggles, it would seem.  We learn from our mistakes . . . . or at least we should learn from our mistakes.  When I look back on my life, I realize now that it was the struggles that made me a stronger human being.  It was the times when things seemed the worse, that I was able to move forward and grow stronger.   Although we may not want to admit it, it seems like the best "teacher" is to learn from our mistakes.

This is what we are also hearing from today's passage from the Epistle to the Romans, that through death to sin we are able to live again with Christ.  It is through dying to self that we can live with Christ.  It is through dying that we can live.  We must never forget that Christ did not experience Easter Morning without first carrying His Cross to the hill at Calvary.  The same is true for us.  We can not truly live in Christ until we have died to our sinful ways.  And for most us, this is painful whether we want to admit it or not.  As human beings, we want things our way.  We want people to do things the way we want them to be done.  We want to be comfortable.  We desire our wants and we want them right now.  We focus on our own needs and desires and forget about what God wants for us.  Most of us, quite frankly, only go running to God when we need Him for something.  Other than that, we go our own way in life.  But sin is a barrier that keeps us away from God.  Sin is like a brick wall that we keep running into time and time and time again.  We have to remove the brick wall of sin in order not to run into it again.  And once we do this.  Once we die to our sinful selves.  Once we do all we can to get rid of the sinful desires in our life, it allows us to focus more and more on God and less and less on ourselves.

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.

Fifth Sunday after Trinity, July 9th, 2023

 Fifth Sunday after Trinity, July 9th, 2023

In St. Luke's Gospel at today's Mass, we hear the story of the beginning of the association between Our Blessed Saviour and St. Peter.  As was very often the case, the crowds were pressing against Our Blessed Lord so much and He could not make Himself heard.  We hear the following:  ". .  . . He stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships . .  . : "  (St. Luke 5:1)  And as a result, Our Lord got into St. Peter's boat so that He could preach to the multitude that had gathered to hear Him speak by Lake Gennesaret.  Now the rest of this passage obviously focuses mainly on Our Lord directing St. Peter to throw the nets out in order to catch fish.  And what happened?    St. Peter and his friends ended up hauling in a miraculous load of fish when they could catch nothing themselves  working all the night long.  But the one thing that really caught my attention in reading and rereading this Gospel passage was the fact that there were two ships, St. Luke tells us.  But then if there were two ships, why did Our Lord choose the one that St. Peter owned and not the other ship?   This should point out to each of us that God chooses each one of us for specific tasks because each one of us has particular skills and talents.  One person might be good at teaching while someone else is good at preaching.  Or it might be the case that someone is good at fixing things while another person is skilled in music.  The bottom line is that each one of us might not be talented in one area but very skilled in something totally different.  Again, I can not help but focus on the fact that there were two ships in today's Gospel passage and Our Lord picked one but not the other.  Maybe I am making too big of a deal out of this fact, but in my mind, it does point out that Our Lord does indeed pick us.  He chooses us.  He singles us out and calls each one of us.  The key, though, is that we need to respond accordingly.  We have to say "yes" when we are called.  We may not understand why Our Lord has chosen us.  Look at today's passage, St. Peter did not understand Our Lord's instruction to cast the net out when he had been working so hard all night and caught nothing.  And yet he did it anyway.  Our Lady most certainly did not understand when she was told that she would be pregnant with child and yet her response was "Let it be done to me according to your word!"  She said yes despite the fact that she did not understand . . . .  St. Peter said yes despite the fact he could not understand how it would be possible.  This is the definition of faith.  God chooses us.  We respond. And sometimes we may not even understand how it will take place . . . . or why it will take place . . . . or why in the world that God would choose us . . . but we respond to God's call and move forward.   This is faith!

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.

Fourth Sunday after Trinity, July 2nd, 2023

 Fourth Sunday after Trinity, July 2nd, 2023

The Gospel appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity is taken from the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke.  When I hear this passage read it always makes me think of dear Bishop Mote because he would always say this passage from the Bible was his passage because this is the one that mentions "cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye"  Obviously, Bishop Mote was referring to the use of the word "mote" in the passage also being his last name.  But the importance of Our Lord's words recounted in this passage are of utmost importance for all of us to make note of.  In this section of St. Luke's Gospel Our Lord states that we should be merciful just as God, Our Heavenly Father is merciful.  But it is Verse 38 which should give us something to think about:  "give, and it shall be given unto you; . . . . For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again"  This phrase "Give, and it shall be given unto you"   What exactly do we give unto others?  Do we make a point to give what we get?  Do we make a point to get revenge when we feel we have been wronged?  Do we give what comes out of our anger and hatred and rage?  Do we give even worse than we got because the other person deserves it?  If so, Our Lord warns us that we should be very careful.  We should be very careful indeed because He reminds us "For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again"   In other words, if we give anger we will receive anger in return.  If we give hatred we should expect hatred in return.  If we show a lack of forgiveness for others, that is exactly what we should expect to receive in return.  If we refuse to forgive those who have wronged us, how in the world can we expect the Good Lord to show forgiveness to us?  Our Blessed Saviour doesn't ask us to do anything that He did not do Himself.  He forgave those who did Him wrong.   Being a Christian is very difficult.  Being a good Christian is extremely difficult.  It takes a lifetime of practice but God is with us every step of the way.

 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.