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.

Sunday after Ascension Day, May 21st, 2023

 Sunday after Ascension Day, May 21st, 2023

In the Twenty-fourth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear the telling of when Our Blessed Lord ascended into Heaven in the sight of the disciples"  " . . . . he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven ."  (v.51)  To say the least, this moment must have caused a wide range of emotions for the disciples:  joy, awe, confusion, majesty, excitement, inspiration, etc.  At any rate, in the following verse St. Luke tells us that they "returned to Jerusalem with great joy."  When we are in the presence of great people, we are inspired to greatness.  When we see truly inspiring acts of bravery or courage, we are inspired to greatness as well.  When we find ourselves in the presence of someone so filled with the spirit of God, we are inspired to want that same spirit.  The disciples and the apostles experienced all of this in the presence of Our Blessed Lord.  They saw His example on a daily basis:  they heard Him teach and preach; they saw Him cure the sick; they saw Him perform acts of love and compassion on those in need of God's love and forgiveness;  the disciples saw Him show love to those around Him.  And as a result of being in His presence day in and day out, they were affected as well by His life and the things that they saw and heard.  They were inspired to greatness just being in His company.

All of us, I am quite sure, can come up with an example of a time where we were inspired to greatness by what we saw or witnessed.   Whether it be the example of witnessing an inspiring performance by a great singer or a talented dancer.  Or it could be the witness of heroic bravery or courage exhibited by someone in the face of great danger who went forward anyway.  Or, finally, it could be the quiet example of someone who has such a close relationship with God that we can sense God's presence in that person.  Our Blessed Lord inspired the disciples to greatness.  He changed their "ordinary" lives into "extraordinary" lives.  This is how it should be with God.  So many people in the world are affected by the world, drawn to the world, brought down to the world's standards . . . .  We, for our part, should be inspired by Our Blessed Saviour's example to become something "extraordinary."  The disciples allowed their lives to be affected in such a way that the love of God showed forth in their lives.  So, too, we need to allow God to touch our lives in such a way that we show forth His love to the world around us.  Our Blessed Saviour inspired the disciples to greatness.  We should be inspired to that same greatness and show forth the glories of God to the world and to be a reminder of God's love to the world around 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.

Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 14th, 2023

 Fifth Sunday after Easter, commonly called

Rogation Sunday, May 14th, 2023

If we think back on our life, every single person reading this will be able to remember a time or two where they got themselves into a real jam and needed some assistance or a helping hand.  On the other hand, every single person reading this will remember a time or two when YOU were that person lending a helping hand to a person in need.  I've been the person that needed help; I've been the person that did the helping.  So I have been on both ends of the stick, so to speak.  But the bottom line is this, we have all known people that talked a good game but when it came down to it, their words did not quite equal their actions.  I am sure that all of us can think of a good example of one or two people who talked a lot but when you needed that person, they were nowhere to be found.  Like the old saying goes:  "Actions speak louder than words."   I point all this out to show that it just makes sense to expect people to back up their words with actions.  Even St. James knew this and this is why he wrote in the first chapter of his epistle:  "BE ye doers of the word, and not hearers only . . . ." (St. James 1:22)  In the everyday world, if we went to work and had a coworker who bragged and boasted of everything he or she was capable of doing but that person did not actually do anything when it came down to it, what would we think of that coworker?  What if you had a friend that you would see every now and then and each time you saw that friend, the friend said "Oh, I got you a nice jacket but I don't have it with me but I'll give it to you the next time I see you." But, as you can guess, the next time you see the friend:  no jacket.  But then the same friend says, "Oh, I got you a really nice book but I don't have it with me . . .  I will give it to you next time I see you."  Again, you guessed it, no book to be found the next time you met this friend of yours.  After a while, if this pattern continues, what will the word of this friend mean?  Nothing.   As human beings, we expect people to live up to their word.  If they do not, their word means nothing.  St. James points out that we put our Christianity into practice by what we do for others, especially the less fortunate.  We don't earn our way into Heaven by what we do.  But on the other hand, the more we do for others . . .  in the Name of Christ . . . .  we show what our Christianity means to us.  And it also shows how much we have learned from the teachings of Our Blessed Saviour.

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.

Third Sunday after Easter, April 30th, 2023

 Third Sunday after Easter, April 30th, 2023

When you go on a trip, do you ever notice how much time you spend in preparation for the trip by packing?  If you are like me, it seems like you pack half the house to go on a trip.  And even if you are only going to be gone a few days, it's unbelievable how much stuff we pack for those few days: clothing items and shoes . . . . jackets  . . . .  hygiene items  . . . .  The list goes on and on.  Then you spend all that time in preparation making sure you are bringing everything you need.  And then when the trip is done, you have to make sure you don't leave anything behind.  You've heard of people with a fear of spiders or people with a fear of flying?  I think I have a fear of leaving something behind in the motel room.   I will check and recheck to make sure we did not leave anything behind.  It's amazing how much time we spend in packing and preparing for going places.  But truth be known, we don't take anything with us when we die, do we?  I joke around and say that I'm going to take my Elvis record collection with me when I die, but of course that's ridiculous.  We don't take anything with us when we die.   The only thing that we take with us to the grave, it seems to me, is the love that we have in our heart.  When our time comes to an end here on this ol' earth that we call home, the only "thing" we will take with us is the love that we have for God . . .  love for our neighbors . . .  and love for one another.  Other than that, what do we take with us when we die?   Just the love that we have in our heart.  Why do we spend our lifetime accumulating so much stuff?  In comparison, though, how much time do we spend preparing our heart in regards to showing love towards God and our neighbor?

In the Sixteenth Chapter of St. John's Gospel, we hear Our Lord speaking to the disciples about various matters.  One of the things that He tells the disciples is preparing them for when He shall leave.  He says:  "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." (St. John 16:16)  Our Lord is preparing the disciples for His departure because He knows that they will be in sorrow and distress at His departure:  But Our Lord states that the sorrow the disciples will feel at His departure will be turned to joy.  "And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." (v. 22)  Again, many things that we have in life can be lost, taken from us, or stolen but the love and joy we have in our heart, nobody can take that from us.  Our Lord's last words in this discourse state:  "I came forth from the Father; and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." (v. 28)  We can say the same thing, it seems to me.   When we are born, our life is a gift from the Good Lord Himself.   And when we die, we leave the world and return to God.   And when we return, the only thing that we have to show for our journey is how we have lived our life while we were here . . .  how much love we have for one another . . .  and how much love we showed while we were here.  When we travel here on earth, we are careful to pack what we need for the trip.  We should also prepare for our "final trip" by loving one another and showing the love that God has shown us and sharing that love to one another.  

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.