Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 22nd, 2019

Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 22nd, 2019

In the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel, we hear the encounter between St. John the Baptist and the priests and the Levites from Jerusalem.  You see, these priests and Levites were sent specifically to question St. John the Baptist to find out exactly who he was.  And they began to ask him specific questions as to who he really was.  "Art thou Elias?"  "Art thou that prophet?"  To both these questions he answered "No."  Then they finally asked him, "Well, who art thou?"  It is a profound question when you get right down to it.  "Who are you?"  If someone asks us who are you, we would typically tell that person our name.  Or we were sent by another department at our job we may tell someone what department we are from or that our boss sent us.  But who are we, really?  Going back to the encounter between the priests and Levites with St. John the Baptist, when they finally got to it and asked, "Who art thou," you may notice that he did not answer their question by telling them his name.  He answered their question by describing what he did.  "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness . . . "  We tell the world who we are by what we do and the things we do.  St. John the Baptist was indeed the "voice of one crying in the wilderness."  Everything he did in life was centered on God.  Everything in his life was done in preparation for the Coming of the Messiah. He made God his focal point.  He judged everything according to that.  What is our focal point?  Are we focused mainly on our job or career?  Are we focused on having a relationship with a certain person?  Are we focused on obtaining a certain item that we want for Christmas?  In our modern society, I would dare say that we have many priorities in life.  We have our jobs which we need to do.  We have our homes that we need to take care of.  We have our personal relationships such as our family and loved ones.  But the main focus in our life should always be our relationship with God.  And as long as we make this our main priority, all the other things just mentioned will fall into place.  Similar to St. John, if we make God the top priority in our life, we will soon point others towards God not only by our words but also by our actions.  The way we treat people .. . . we love we show towards others . . . . we will continue to show others how God is working in our life.   So as we are in the final few days before we celebrate Christmas, let us prepare our hearts for the Coming of Christ.   Let us make God the true focal point of our life.  

St. Margaret Church gathers every Sunday morning to hear the Word of God and to worship Our Heavenly Father.  We are a traditional church.  We use the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Mass begins at 9:30 AM.  We celebrate at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Please join us and dedicate an hour of your week to God.  Return home to Him, the God Who waits patiently for your return.

Third Sunday in Advent, December 15th, 2019

Third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete Sunday), December 15th, 2019

Have you ever been overjoyed by something and before you knew it, the joy had worn off?  Or the joy that you had experienced had certainly lessened.  As children, especially at Christmas time, we are overjoyed at what Santa Claus will bring us.  We anxiously look forward to all the presents under the tree and try to figure out what is wrapped inside.  Or it could be the case as you had gotten older and you decided that you just had to have the latest electronic doo-dad or perhaps it is some clothing item such as a new dress or a fancy pair of boots.  And so you save your money and finally go and make your purchase and you are overjoyed at what you have obtained.  But then after a while your joy lessens because after a while your attention is turned toward the next "item" that you have set your sights on acquiring.  Let's be honest, whether as children or adults,  . . .  whether it is a gift given to us or something we have purchased ourselves  .. . .  whether it is an actual physical product or whether it is simply a good meal that we look forward to devouring . . . . the point is the same:  things of this world do indeed bring us joy for a time but then the joy eventually fades.  Even if you look at it from the perspective of someone who turns to drink or drugs to find their "happiness,"  . . . . what happens when the effect of either drink or drug wears off?  That person goes back to feeling like they did before.  The "high" feeling . . .  the "drunk" feeling only lasts so long.  Things of the world . . .  whether they be electronics .  . . or food . . . . or clothing . . .  or positions of honour . . . . or titles at our jobs . . . or booze  . . . . or drugs . .  . all these things only bring temporary fulfillment.  They do satisfy, yes, but only for a time.  The joy we find in them  is only temporary, never lasting.

For the Christian, on the other hand, the joy that is everlasting is our relationship with God.  "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for it becometh well the just to be thankful." (Psalm 33)  Our personal relationship with Our Blessed Saviour will never disappoint.  Our personal relationship with Our Lord and Saviour is one that will last an eternity.  While other things in this earthly life will fade away . . .  or be consumed . . . or rust away . ..  or go out of fashion . . . . the relationship that God offers to us is forever.  God will always be faithful to His people.  "Gaudete in Domino semper" ("Rejoice in the Lord always")  (Philippians 4:4-5)  Rejoice in the fact that God loves you!  Rejoice in the fact that God sent His only Son to die for you!  Rejoice in the fact that God offers you the possibility of eternal life!  Give your heart to the One that offered His Heart to you!  Give your life to Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and rejoice in the Lord always!

The Third Sunday of Advent is referred to as "Gaudete Sunday."  And this is because "Gaudete" is the Latin word for rejoice, which comes from the first word of the introit, "Rejoice ..  . . "  As such, the Church is past the midway point of the season of Advent, and we use this opportunity to take a breather, so to speak.  Remember, the season of Advent is supposed to be somewhat somber in nature . .   . this is why the liturgical colour during this season is violet or purple as it is in Lent.  But today the Church lightens its' mood just a bit and rose coloured vestments can be worn instead of violet for today.  

We would certainly be honored if you would make a point to come worship with us this week.  Take an hour out of your busy week.  Take an hour and give it to God . . . . Dedicate that hour to God.  Spend that hour listening to the Word of God. Spend that time quietly listening to what God is speaking to you.  We use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We use the King James Bible.  We receive the Precious Body and Blood of Our Blessed Lord at Communion time.  We gather each and every Sunday morning at 9:30 am.  We worship in the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Second Sunday in Advent, December 8th, 2019

Second Sunday in Advent, December 8th, 2019

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."  (Romans 15)

Did you ever order something or send away for something and the item finally arrived and you open it with great anticipation.  And when you finally open the package and see what you ordered, you soon discover that the item does not match up with what you thought it would be.  You were "under-whelmed," so to speak.  "This is it?!?"   "This is what I've been waiting for?!?"   As we have spoken in the past, the faithful Jews were indeed praying for a Messiah to save them.  They were anticipating the arrival of the Messiah.  They knew that God would save them and they were waiting.  But they had a preconceived notion of what the Messiah would look like.  They expected the Messiah to arrive as a great warrior riding in on a powerful horse, surrounded by a mighty army in support with flags waving and banners raised.  They expected this messiah and his army to wipe out their foes and save them from their misery.    And yet the Lord Himself has said not to base our opinions on outward appearances:  " . . . for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  (I Samuel :7)  So often we judge solely on "outward appearances," don't we?  And so often we are sorely disappointed, aren't we?  The product we see advertised on television doesn't really match up when we see it in person.   

And yet we know that the Messiah did indeed arrive as promised but Our Saviour arrived as an innocent little baby, born to a common family, born in a lowly manger on a cold winter night  because nobody would take them in otherwise.  In fact, the actual arrival itself was so "low-key" that hardly anyone knew about it at all except for the angels and a few shepherds.  I mean let's be honest here.  In regards to anticipating the arrival of the Messiah, I am sure that none of us would picture the Saviour of the world arriving as a small baby, born to an impoverished family, with nowhere else to stay other than in a place for animals.  But, then again, if we look at a dying man hanging on a cross, if we didn't know any better, we wouldn't picture that as "victory," either.  It would seem more like "defeat" than "victory."  And yet we know through our faith that hope was born in that little manger at Bethlehem and we know that victory truly was earned on that Cross at Calvary.  Sometimes, hope is deceiving to our physical eyes.  Faith is something that we find with the heart and not solely what we see with our eyes.   The important thing for us to always remember as people of faith that we have to look at hope through the eyes of faith if we really want to see how God is working in our lives.  So, use this holy Season of Advent to look at things in a brand new way.  Look at the world with the eyes of faith.

St. Margaret of Scotland  Church worships every Sunday morning at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located on the Northwest side of Indianapolis at 8140 N. Township line Road.  Mass begins at 9:30 AM.  Come join us for traditional worship.  We use the King James Bible along with the Anglican Missal and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We gather together to join as God's family to listen to His Word and worship Him and receive Him in His Precious Body and Blood.  Please join us for Mass and then stay with us afterward for our delicious Coffee Hour.

Sunday Next Before Advent, November 24th, 2019

Sunday Next Before Advent, November 24th, 2019

We hear the following from the Twenty-Third Chapter of the Book of The Prophet Jeremiah:  "BEHOLD, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." (Jeremiah 23:5)  "Behold, the days come .  ..  . ."  Yes, the days do come but what do they bring for you?  At this time of year especially the holidays come . . .  Thanksgiving  . . . . Christmas . . . People are getting ready for family gatherings.  People are getting ready for holiday meals.  People are preparing Christmas celebrations.  "Behold, the days come . . . . "   What do the days bring for you?   Most people are preparing for something.  Most people are waiting for something.  Those of us who work, we keep busy preparing reports that are due or projects that we are working on. At this time of year we may be waiting on something.  Perhaps we are awaiting packages which we ordered online in time for Christmas.  Perhaps we are waiting for a time in which we are paid up on our bills.  Maybe we are waiting for our health to improve.  We might be waiting for someone to come visit us.  For the Christian, we are called to wait for Our Blessed Saviour.  The Prophet Jeremiah reminds us that the a "righteous Branch" will raise up.  He reminds us that a "King shall reign and prosper .. ."  Are we waiting?  Are we looking?  Are we keeping watch?  The holy season of Advent will shortly be upon us.   It is meant to remind us to be on the watch.  It is meant to remind us to wait for the coming of the Saviour.  It is meant to focus on preparing for the Lord.  The secular world truly hijacked Christmas.   Instead of focusing on receiving the Christ-Child we now focus on what gifts we are going to receive.  We should focus as much as possible in the upcoming weeks on the true meaning of Advent and truly await the coming of the Lord.  Open your hearts to Him.  Focus on Our Blessed Saviour.   The world tries so hard to grab our attention away from God.   The holy season of Advent is meant to bring that focus back to Christ . . . to focus on Him.   Use the upcoming weeks leading up to Christmas to prepare a place in your hearts for the Divine Infant Jesus.  Will you have room for Him there?

Mass is celebrated in the Chapel of Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us as we hear the Word of God preached from the King James Version of the Bible.  Listen to the Word of God speaking to you.   Spend time as God's family in solemn worship of God, taking time out of the busy schedule of life and devoting one hour to God.  And receive Our Blessed Lord in His Precious Body and Blood to help sustain us and nourish us for the journey called life.

Feast of St Margaret of Scotland (Transferred), November 17th, 2019

Feast of St. Margaret, Queen and Widow 

(Transferred), November 17th, 2019

Can you think of a time when you were perhaps in school or maybe as an adult and you responded to a question and you thought that you gave the perfect answer but it ended up not being correct at all?  We hear in the the Eighteenth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, a discussion between St. Peter and Our Blessed Saviour in regards to forgiveness.  In asking the question, it seems as though St. Peter was trying to impress Our Lord with his generosity in forgiveness when he asks:  "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?"  (St. Matthew 18:21)  St. Peter thought he was giving an answer that would surely impress Our Lord but Our Blessed Saviour responded:  "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."  This prompted Our Lord to immediately tell the parable of the king who was owed an incredible amount of money by one of his servants, who begged for mercy in regards to the debt, and the king had compassion and forgave the enormous debt of the servant.  Our Lord continues the parable by stating that this very same servant who had just been forgiven by the king turned around and refused to forgive another servant who owed him a mere fraction of money compared to what he had just been forgiven for.

I would imagine Our Lord told this parable with great zeal and passion because He saw so much hatred  . . .  so much division . . . so much inhumanity among humanity.  As I write this, it sounds like things haven't changed very much.   We make mistakes and we are forgiven.  We are given a "second chance."  And yet we get up on our "high horse" and hold other people accountable for things that they have done.  I am convinced, without any doubt whatsoever, that we human beings tend to focus on the shortcomings of others so that we do not have to dwell on our own shortcomings .  . . our own failings.  When we stay busy focusing on the sins of others, we don't need to focus on our own sins.  Listen, God sent His Son into the world to save us from our sins.  We all know that.  Sin is what keeps us away from God.  Thus, we are all guilty of committing sin.  We are all guilty of not being perfect.  All of us are in need of God's forgiveness.  We should try as much as possible to remember this when dealing with others around us.  Let us not be like the servant in the parable who received forgiveness of a great debt but this same servant would not forgive the debt of someone else against him.  

On November 17th, St. Margaret Church will celebrate the Feast of our patron saint, St. Margaret of Scotland, Queen and Widow.  Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Come and receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord at Communion time.   Afterwards, please join us for refreshments and fellowship at our coffee hour.  

Mass is celebrated each and every Sunday at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Mass begins at 9:30 am.  

Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity, November 10th, 2019

Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity, November 10th, 2019

If you are anything like me, history proves to be a fascinating subject.  I love learning about history.  It was particularly interesting for me recently to see the pictures of my daughter's trip to California where she went to see my grandson, who is in the Marines.  He is stationed in San Diego.   And while she was there they had a big birthday banquet in honor of the Marines.   Part of the celebration had different Marines come out dressed in the Marine's uniform of that particular time period.  My grandson was included in this pageant of various Marine uniforms.  He wore the Civil War era uniform which would have been worn by the Marines at that time.   Anyhow, it's fascinating and very interesting to see the different styles of uniforms and see how they have evolved after two-hundred years or so.  It amazes me how much equipment is worn today by our military.  And yet every thing worn or utilized serves a purpose.  

In Chapter Six of St. Paul's Epistle written to the Ephesians, St. Paul also makes the point of looking at a soldiers uniform.  He wants to point out that every part of the uniform serves a purpose in protecting or adding the soldier.  He wants to show that as Christians we need to be fully protected just like the soldiers uniform is mean to fully protect the soldier.  St. Paul writes "Put on the whole armour of God . .  "  (Ephesians 6:11) and he then goes on the describe all the different parts of the uniform which serve to protect the soldier.  He mentions the belt, the shoes, the shield, the helmet, and the sword.  St. Paul makes mention that we Christians need to fully protect ourselves as well from the enemies attack.  "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  (Ephesians 6:11)  St. Paul didn't write put on "some" of the armour.  He made a point to stress that we should put on the "whole" armour of God.  I can't help but think that a lot of Christians only put on the armour when they feel like it.  Or perhaps they only put on certain items but not others.  St. Paul correctly points out that evil is out to get us.  St. Peter tells us the same thing, in essence, when he writes:  "Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."  (I St. Peter 5:8)  The devil has indeed targeted us.  We need to put on the whole armour of God so that we will be protected from the attacks that are bound to come.   Stay close to God.  Read the Scriptures.  Pray.  Go to church.  Receive the Sacraments.  Use all of the tools which God has provided for us to use.  Fortify yourself.  Nourish yourself.  And always stay close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  

St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday at 9:30 AM at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us as we hear the Word of God found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible.  Come dedicate one hour of your week to God.  Step away from the busy-ness of the world for just one hour and focus totally on God.  Come and worship Him.  Let Him feed you spiritually.   Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time. 

Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, November 3rd, 2019

Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, November 3rd, 2019

"So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good:"  (St. Matthew 22:1 ff)

In the Twenty-Second Chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, Our Blessed Saviour is telling the story of the king who made a marriage-feast for his son.  Now, as the story goes, Our Lord says that the invited guests "made light" of the invitation and decided not to show up for a variety of reasons:   . . . . . "one to his farm, another to his merchandise . . . ."  Now the fact that none of the invited guests showed up once the feast was ready upset the king greatly.  As a result the king instructed his servants to bring guests to the feast, no matter who they were.  Our Lord continues the story as He relates the instructions of the king to his servants:  "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."  Now, there are a number of things we could say about this story but I would like to point out two important considerations:

1)  The first thing I would like to point out in this story is that the servants invited as many as they could  . . . . and Our Lord continues . . . . "both bad and good."  Why would Our Lord make the statement "both bad and good?"  Remember the main reason why Our Lord is telling this story to begin with is that He is comparing it to the Kingdom of God.  So, we should always remember that God has love for both the "bad and good."  Our Lord died on the Cross for both the "bad and good."  And Our Heavenly Father invites both the "bad and good" to be with Him in Heaven.   How often though do we not show love to those whom we deem to be "bad?"  How often in our life do we not reach out to certain people because we think of ourselves as "good" and them "bad?"  Our Lord came to this earth to tell everyone  . . . . both bad and good . . . about the Kingdom of God.  He came to instruct everyone in regards to His Heavenly Father.  He did not come to just save the "good."   He came for the "bad" as well.   If Our Blessed Saviour did not differentiate between who was "good" and who was "bad,"  why should we?

2)  The second consideration we should make point to remember is that the original invited guests did not show up because they were more concerned with other things.  Our Lord states that the original invited guests "made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise . . .  "  How many of us in the world "make light" of God's invitation because we are too concerned with "things of the world."  How many of us are too distracted by things in the world to even pay attention to what God is calling us to?  The world offers so many distractions that catch our attention and divert us away from God.  We need to be always vigilant to stay focused on God and not on the things of the world.  This story should help remind us of the importance of this fact that we should stay focused on "things of above" and not on "things below."

Please make a point to come visit St. Margaret.  You would be very welcome and Our Lord would certainly appreciate the fact that you took time out of your weekly schedule and set it aside for Him!

St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  We use the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Come join us as we listen to God speak to us through His Word.  At Communion time, we receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ to nourish us and give us strength for our journey called life.