"...written for our learning" - Rector's Rambling for December 10, 2023

     In 1994 I had the grace to hear Bishop Michael Marshall speak at my seminary about Evangelism.  For many Episcopalians, Evangelism sounds like a dirty word.  But Bishop Marshall, at one time the youngest bishop in the Church of England, drove home the imperative that Evangelism is a foundational principle for those in the church who identify as Anglo-catholic as well as Evangelical.  In fact, the church when she is functioning best is Evangelical Catholic.  She is catholic in keeping all the universal teaching of the church, particularly concerning Jesus in the Sacraments and how the church worships and glorifies Him in the liturgy.  But we do it to make Him known, the meaning of Evangelism.

We are to spread the Good News, and in order to do that we must know the Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord, and be able to share the hope that is in us through His Holy Word.

One of the sessions Bishop Marshall led that week was on reading and learning the Bible, germane to today’s Collect of the Day.  In order to really know Jesus, we need to know Him as He has revealed himself in his Holy Word, as well as in the Sacrament, and in the hearts of His faithful people.

Bishop Marshall had a couple of interesting hints that I remember to this day:

1) Find a translation and an edition of the Bible that speaks to you, and buy several copies of it so when that edition goes out of print you will have a back-up.  My study Bible is The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, expanded edition, Revised Standard Version, copyright 1977 – I have three copies.  His point is that you will start remembering where things are in the Bible by left or right page, and column, if you consistently use one edition.  (For memorizing and worship, I use the King James Version).

2) Sing the Bible out loud.  Pick a simple tune and sing it.  Sung things are easier to memorize!  At one time you are reading it, singing it, and hearing it, thereby triple reinforcing the memorization of the Bible.

And I would add that it is best read in the context of prayer.  Pray before you read, pray during, and pray in thanksgiving when you finish.

 

Advent/Christmas Eagle - Rector's Rambling for December 3, 2023

This year Advent is as short as it can be - three weeks long, with the 4th Sunday of Advent also being Christmas Eve. We will have our 4th Sunday of Advent 8 and 10 AM Services in the chapel on the morning of the December 24th, Low Masses with no music.  Then back in the evening for the beginning of the celebration of the birth of Our Lord.

Since Advent is only really three weeks long this year, we have a lot of preparation and activity to jam into a shorter period of time!  The activities of the Advent Tea, Garden Tree Lighting, Giving Tree, Warm Fuzzy Tree, the Bazaar, Cookie Walk, and Soup Sunday with Greening of the Church are condensed into a shorter period of time.  Be ready to be involved in these worthy activities!

The shorter period also cuts into our time of preparation, spiritually, during the season of Advent!   It is the Church’s new year, a reset of the calendar of readings and Feasts.  And it has the important spiritual implications as we are preparing  both for the upcoming Christmas Feast (just as we use Lent to prepare for Easter), and it is also a time of preparation for the return of Jesus Christ, in glorious majesty, to judge the quick and the dead.  One is a preparation for the celebration of what has already happened, the other a preparation for that which has not happened yet.  Both need to be actively prepared for spiritually.

How does one do this preparation?  Although it is not the heavy penitential season of Lent, it is a good time to do an evaluation and examination of the state of one’s soul.  Making a confession to a priest is always a good way to do that.  It is also a time to re-up our dedication to a regular life of prayer, reading of scripture, and attending Mass to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  When it comes to Jesus’ return, one does not want to be caught unprepared!

Plan now on being at St. John’s and involved, and also invite others to join us for Advent and Christmas!