Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, October 1st, 2023

Our Lord gave the example of someone who took the liberty of sitting in a seat of great honour but was embarrassed when they were told to move to a different seat.   Our Lord explained:  "Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted." (St Luke 14:11)   Now as with all things we always have to be careful that we are doing things the way that God would have us do.  I state this because we are humans and, as such, we usually want to have things done our way.  Secondly, the ways of the world are very appealing and it is easy for us human beings to fall into the ways of the world and doing things the "world's way," so to speak.  We are reminded elsewhere in Scripture to "turn the other cheek."  Even when we do that, so often, in the eyes of the world that is taken as a form of weakness.   But for the devout, committed Christian, we are called to do the will of God here in the world.  This takes patience, endurance, and a surety that we are doing what God would have us do.  Even when we do the right thing, we will often be mocked or questioned.   When Our Lord stated that those of us who humble ourselves will be exalted, He was referring to our exaltation when we get to Heaven to spend eternity with Our Heavenly Father.  Let us not get so fixated on the riches and glory of this world, because the riches and glory of this world are passing away and will pass away.  So many people judge their success by the standards of the world.  We Christians are called to judge our success by whether or not we have served God faithfully.  Riches will come, riches will fade away.  Health will be with us and sickness will come as well.  We will enjoy times of ease and will also endure times of misery.  But whether we are rich or poor; whether we are healthy or sick; the one constant through all these "ups" and "downs" in life will be our relationship with God.  Serve God faithfully.  Have a relationship with Him.  Grow each and every day in your faithfulness to God and always remain faithful to Him. 

 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. 

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 24th, 2023

 Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 24th, 2023

In the Seventh Chapter of his Gospel, St. Matthew tells us that Our Lord and His Disciples went into the city of Nain and when He entered the city He saw something which obviously touched His Heart:  "Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother"  St. Matthew confirms that Our Lord had compassion on the mother and because of this He raised the young man back to life.  It is Christ Who needs to breathe life into us.  It is Our Blessed Saviour Who needs to give us life.  It is God Who needs to heal us.  So many people in the world today try to find "life" in the things of the world.   The unfortunate thing is that seeking after the things of the world does not give you life.  People think that drugs and alcohol will cure their ills and yet their addiction becomes like a tight collar constantly strangling the life away from them.  People think that more and more riches and possessions will bring true happiness and yet the more we get the more we spend, and we end up on a never-ending merry-go-round always seeking more and more and more.  Never truly satisfied.  We need to turn our hearts over to God.  "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."  (Ephesians 5:14)  Focus on the love of God.  Focus on your relationship with God.   Set your sights on the things of Heaven instead of the things of the world.  Worldly things are short-lived but the love of God lasts an eternity.

 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. 

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 17th, 2023

 Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 17th, 2023

In the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Mathew, Our Lord states:  "NO man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (St. Matthew 6:24)  Growing up, I  was always led to believe that the word "mammon" specifically meant "money."  And yet the word "mammon" is actually an Aramaic word meaning "riches."  So the point that Our Lord was making was that we can not serve both God and our riches, our possessions.  For the Christian, God should be the center of our heart.  It should be God that we focus our attention on.  So many people are proud of their possessions.  They cherish what they possess:  their home, their car, their rich suits, their clothing, etc.  The list goes on and on.  And the list is different for every person.  But for the Christian we should cherish, first and foremost, the relationship we have with God.  Everything else fades away with time but the love of God is eternal.  Man focuses so much time and energy on earthly, material things that ultimately fade into oblivion.  We should focus our time and our energy into serving God and doing His will here on earth.    

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. 

Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 10th, 2023

 Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 10th, 2023

 Is it just me or are there less and less manners being put into practice by people in today's society?  For example, I enjoy going to a store that sells used movies.   Since the aisles are rather narrow, you have to pass in front of people in order to go down the aisle.  Now, this is not the problem.  Since the aisles are narrow, this is understandable.  What is not understandable to me, though, are the complete lack of manners and total disrespect exhibited by a good percentage of people today.  People will walk right in front of you and never say "Excuse me" or "Sorry" or "Pardon me."    Go ahead and hold a door open for someone today and see if you get a "Thank you" in return for your efforts.  My parents taught me manners while I was growing up.  They taught me to always say "Yes, Ma'am" or "Yes, Sir" when addressing others.  They taught me to say "Please" and "Thank You."  They taught me the art of something we used to call "common courtesy."  You see, common courtesy is something that everyone is capable of if they would just put the effort into it.   I am so grateful that my parents taught me to be courteous and respectful.  It is a skill that I have tried to put into practice my whole life.  Sadly, judging from others around me, it seems that this is a "dying art."  Is it a matter that people were never "taught" manners or is it that they were taught, yes, but they just choose not to be respectful?  It's hard to say.  

In the Seventeenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear about Our Blessed Saviour passing through Samaria and Galilee as He went to Jerusalem.   And as Our Lord traveled, St. Luke tells us, He met ten lepers who begged for healing.  They yelled, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"  Our Lord heard their request and told them to go show themselves to the priest.  As they went, they were miraculously healed .  . . . all ten of them.  The curious thing is that all ten lepers were cured but only one leper turned back to thank Our Blessed Saviour.  Only one man who was cured returned to give praise and thanksgiving.  Only one man came back to acknowledge the amazing thing that Our Lord just did for him.  Now in this story it is easy to find fault with the other "nine" who were not courteous enough to turn around and show thanksgiving to Our Blessed Saviour.  But how often do we fail to show thanks to God for all the blessings He shows us on a daily basis?   Do we thank God for blessing us?  Do we go to God daily in prayer to thank Him for the life He has given us?  Do we thank Him for the blessings He has bestowed on us?  How often do we thank God for the wonderful things He does for us?  Our Blessed Saviour was impressed with the Samaritan who turned around and gave thanks to Him for the healing he had received.  Let us pray that Our Blessed Saviour will be impressed with us as well when we thank Him for all the blessings He has bestowed on us.

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.

Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 3rd, 2023

 Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 3rd, 2023

I remember one particular television show which I have not seen in a long time, "Hogan's Heroes."  And in this particular sitcom from the 1960's, one of the main characters is "Sgt. Schultz."  The catch-phrase, I would dare say for Sgt. Schultz would be:  "I know nothing."  He would say this when he caught Hogan and his men doing something that they should not be doing.  And the point being that Sgt. Schultz did not want to know about those things that he saw with his own eyes.  In our own lives, we see lots of things with our own eyes.  Like Sgt. Schultz, sometimes we see things we would rather not see.  But other times we see things that are wonderful to our eyes.  In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, Our Blessed Lord is speaking to His disciples and He says to them:  "BLESSED are the eyes which see the things that ye see" (v. 23)  In this verse, of course, Our Saviour is speaking to the disciples but, quite frankly, each one of us has seen the Lord at work in our lives.  Each one of us has seen Our Blessed Lord touch our life in one way or another.  Therefore, blessed are our eyes which have seen the Lord at work in our very life as well.  As human beings, similar to Sgt. Schultz, we see what we want to see and ignore what we want to ignore.  As Christians, though, we need to make a point to look for the things of God.  We need to take note of the ways in which God is working in our life.  You see, God is with us every single day of our life.  But often times we are too busy to even notice.  God gives blessings to every single one of us on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, we usually are more interested in the things of the world to even take notice.  Have you ever had the experience where you were looking for something that you needed, like a pair of eyeglasses, for example,  and you searched and you looked around and you could not find it and then it turned out to be right near you and you never saw it?  It was in plain view all along but you never saw it even though it was right by you all the time.  That's how it is with God very often.  God is with us each and every day.  God blesses us each and every day.  And yet despite this fact, so often we do not take the time to notice.  So often we do not even realize that God is at work in our life.  This is why we need to make the point to search for God on a daily basis.  And once we do, I think many of us will be surprised to see how close He was all along.

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.