2007 Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

Today was the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. Although this is the coolest year on record, August is summer, even in Alpine, even this year. By the start of church, temperatures were in the low 80°s and 92° by the end of the service. Even though we had a number of people on travel, we ended up with 17 people present.

Father Acker and Alice have been on “vacation” this week. Three of their vacation days they spent in the San Jose area with Ben at the diocesan synod. You don’t want to miss details of the synod later in the report. Also exciting details on progress towards the Missionary Diocese of Vietnam.

Every couple of years, Father Acker does a series of instructional Holy Communion services. He provides contemporary footnotes as it were for the service. This gives us a chance to find out why we do what we do and what it means. This is not only interesting but fun and you have a lot more appreciation of what we are doing each Sunday. If all works out according to schedule, the instruction will last three weeks.

Introduction
Usually on Sundays when we come to Church, we take part in the worship, we listen to God’s word, and renew our communion with God.

A song, a talk and a meal

Song
Even if we’re just saying the words much of our worship are songs. Lyrics which praise God for what he has done and continues to do.
 
Today and next two Sundays, the usual pattern will be changed to include commentary for our instruction. So we can know some of the reasons behind the things that we do. As Holy Communion is our chief act of worshiping God, the explanations are intended to help us enter more fully into the mystery of our worship of Almighty God. We will worship as usual, but brief explanations will be given along the way. These explanations will occur before we say the prayer or before the action, so we may better understand their meaning.
 
We gather together as the people of God to praise God for what he has done, to have God speak to us, to be restored in our relationship with him.

This service is called the Liturgy—the work of the people.
            It is our work, not to be entertained.
            We come to participate in an active way.
            Each one of you joining in the prayers, the offering, and blessing.

Like the Israelites and the Tent, the Tabernacle for the Ark of God,
            Everyone has a specific job in setup, worship, and take down.
            If you haven’t gotten your job assignment see me.

Today our instruction begins with the Preparation.

Vestments
The special clothes that are worn in the Church are called vestments.

“Why are vestments worn?”

As with costumes, it is to help us to understand the player’s part.

Our Acolytes are wearing a special shirt—to help identify that they aren’t just wandering around the altar moving stuff and rearranging the furniture. They each have a specific set of jobs to do for which they have been trained.

The vestments have symbolic value—they represent something in our faith.

One of the priest’s functions is to serve as the Icon of Christ, he stands in Jesus place. The whole point of the priest’s vestments is to have the person disappear, so that Christ can be seen. It is to see Jesus who gathered with his Apostles at the Last Supper.
 


Cassock
The first vestment is the cassock. It is a long-sleeved waistcoat, which corresponds to medieval clerical street dress. Although fashions changed to the suit jacket, the Church kept the cassock as it reflected that the ministry remains constant despite changes in the world. The cassock is the basic garment worn by clergy, acolytes, choir, and lay readers.
 
Amice
The Amice is the collar. Later, collars would be attached to the garments. The Amice is put on over the head. It calls to mind the passage of Saint Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus, “…put on the helmet of salvation.”

Alb
Alb is the Latin word meaning white. This vestment is white for the innocence and purity of Christ—who was without sin. Although Jesus died the death of a criminal, He was innocent of the accusations. The priest is covered in white putting on the nature of Christ.

The alb was the typical street wear of first century Roman men.
 
Girdle or Cincture
The girdle is the rope that binds the alb at the waist. It is tied with five knots reminding us of the five wounds of Christ.

Stole
The stole for a priest is like a badge for a police officer. It tells us the special job of the person wearing it. The priest wears the stole crossed upon his chest to show the Christ-likeness of the priesthood. As the priest stands at the altar, he is there in the person of Jesus, once again making intercession for us.

Maniple
The Maniple is the narrow cloth that hangs over the left arm of the priest. As Jesus came, “not to be served, but to serve,” the Maniple is the servants towel, and a symbol of the servant Christ.
 
Chasuble
The seamless robe put on Christ before He was led away to the Cross. It was a festal garment worn to Passover meals. In allowing Himself to be crucified He showed how great His love is for all people. In His death on the Cross, He would be the Passover lamb.

The chasuble is a sign of Christ’s love for us.

Saint Paul knew this when he wrote his famous letter to the Church in Corinth: “In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.”

Ceremonial
Before we begin, a few words about Ceremonial in the Church. Some churches you may have attended have little or no ceremonial, for example, bowing, genuflecting, or making the sign of the cross. While others have a great deal of ceremonial.

This church comes from the Sacramental tradition.

We worship not only with our heart, soul, and mind. We use our physical being as well.
Our whole person, our being, including our bodies, are used in worshiping the God who made us, body, mind, and spirit. Ceremonials are personal acts of devotion, things like Genuflecting (bowing down on one knee) or making the Sign of the Cross.

These Ceremonial actions are part of historic Christianity throughout the world and the centuries. They are not “Roman Catholic,” but part of Western Christianity.

In our Anglican tradition, we also have in our tradition influence from Eastern Christians from the Eastern Orthodox Churches. We are liturgical—we have a clearly laid out plan, a printed plan so everyone will know when to do their job, their part, when it comes along.

Virtually all churches have plan for their worship. Because you’re not being entertained, we don’t keep the plan a secret. You need to know the script.

We are actors, participants, in our giving praise to God—God is the audience, not us. We have the script and stage directions. What makes the difference is what you put into your part and your interaction with those around you.

Reading the words isn’t enough.

Each action is individualized—it is your part; it is your personal devotion. You add your part to the whole—the work of God’s people—the Liturgy.
 
Manual Acts, outward gestures, are personal acts of worship. They are optional and not uniformly practiced. There are some common uses. We will mention these as we continue.

For example the Sign of the Cross was used by early Christians as a sign by which to recognize fellow Christians during times of persecution in the early centuries of the Church.

It was widely used as a sanctifying action that reflected the inward working of God in the lives of Christian men and women.
 
The Ceremonial of the Church’s worship comes from the history and practice of the congregation and it’s Priest. Worship in the Communion Service has always involved our entire being—our hearts, minds, and bodies. Individually we may desire to express our devotion with outward signs, others may not.

None of the ceremonial, corporately or individually, is devised to put on a “good show” or “to amuse ourselves.” We do it to show what is in our heart.

Whether you want to use ceremonial or not, you should know what people are saying through these actions.

Prayer Book
Many of you carry your own prayer book with you. The advantage is to have prayers marked for your preference.

Holly Lizak read the Epistle, which came from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the Fifteenth Chapter beginning at the First Verse. Paul tells us he is delivering the message he received, the Good News of the Saving Grace of God through Jesus. He recounts the death and resurrection of Jesus; noting the various witnesses to the resurrection, including himself. He goes on to say, if he, who he categorizes as the least of the apostles, not even meet to be called an apostle due to his persecution of the Church of God, can be forgiven and work the Work of God, who cannot?

“Brethern, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”

Today’s Gospel started in the Eighteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning at the Ninth Verse. Jesus tells a parable to an audience which apparently consisted of some self-righteous people. The parable is that of a Pharisee and a publican both of whom pray in the temple. While the Pharisee might well have been a “better” man than the publican, he clearly was not the man he thought he was, for he “prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” Quite the holy fellow. The publican, quite aware of how much he fell shot of God’s perfection stood “afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus told his audience, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” None of us is truly good, we can only strive to be better and look to our Lord to help us.

“Jesus spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Sermon - Why are we here?
Today’s sermon was short, but powerful. Father Acker asked the rhetorical question,

“Why are we here today?”

The answer was in the Epistle and the Gospel. In today’s epistle, Paul tells us he is here first of all to deliver to us the message “first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins …; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day …” Paul’s first message is central to our lives as Christians. The second reason is to be like the publican, not that we are better than others because we come to church to worship and learn, but rather that we are better than we would be if we “slept in.” Make no mistake, being a Christian, even a “good” Christian does not make you better than anyone else. It just makes you better than you would be otherwise. As with the answer in the Holy Baptism service, will you do better?

I will, by God’s help.

Birthdays and Anniversaries
No reported birthdays or anniversaries today.

After Church Hospitality
After last Sunday’s miracle of loaves and fishes, your Beadle was wondering what was coming up next. The answer was Holly Lizak’s carrot cake, egg salad sandwiches and curried chicken sandwiches, not to mention red grapes for the cake and sandwich impaired. Your Beadle can testify to the supreme quality of the carrot cake, to the tune of four pieces; to the quality of the sandwiches (both kinds), two each. Unfortunately, he cannot speak to the grapes, with personal knowledge, as he was too busy with the other fine items. He does report that the grapes looked good. Ben was seen eating several clumps, so he fees safe in reporting them to be well above satisfactory.

Tim’s House of Coffee provided the coffee with Chief Barrista Ben Lizak doing today’s brewing. Father Acker got back from synod in time to make his famous low-carb lemonade; although your Beadle failed to get any.

Travel
Traci is already in Mississippi and Aaron will be joining her. They will be gone the next two Sundays.
Karen, Donna and Hamish are traveling week.
Father and Alice should be on holiday this week.

Sick or in need of healing
Betty Cooke
Diane Chase
Muriel Pappin
Fran Dexter

Marie “Rede” Acker – Father Acker’s mother broke her good shoulder in a fall Saturday morning 14 July 2007. She is back home with her husband Jack. Please pray for her rapid recovery.

Annie Springer was in the hospital with a kidney infection. She is recovering at home. Your prayers are asked for her completed recovery and for strength for the Springer family as she gets well.

Lona Walsh (Wanda Michaelis' mother) surgery has been put off.

Barbara Emrich was moved to the Southside of Jacob Health Center. The dining/common room where Barbara spends a good part of the day has floor to ceiling windows looking out into one of the garden areas.

Miney Farrell is doing great an looking forward to getting back to church in the next week or two.

Lorraine Winkles is finally recovering from shingles. She still has continuing discomfort, but thinks things are improving slightly.

Donna Dingwall is doing well enough that she and her family are on travel. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Rest in Peace
On Wednesday, 15 August 2007, Gene Hunt passed away after declining health. Over the past few weeks we have been praying for him as he passed from this world to that of our Lord. Please pray for Evelyn and her family as the mourn his passing and for the repose of his soul. Evelyn is planning on a graveside service but no date at present.
  
Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord.
And let light perpetual shine upon him.
May his soul, and the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

Back Door Lending Library
We have some new Amazing Grace books of several flavors, in addition, there are still several sets of the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, as well as some background books on the series. There are plenty of sets, so don’t be shy.

There are also Annotated Holy Communion Books. These books have the Prayer Book Holy Communion service on the left page and an explanation on the right page. They are a great way to learn about the service. Pick one up when you come in and use it for the service, if you like.

Personal 1928 Books of Common Prayer & Bibles
During his many travels and general rooting around, your Beadle has come across some very nice personal 1928 Prayer Books and leather bound Bibles. If you would like one, please contact him directly.


Question that only you can ask
What would you like to know about our history, what we believe, what we do or how we operate? Father Acker is looking for material for the continuing education class and the Beadle is looking for Thought for the Day material. Help us help you. Please send your question to the Beadle so we all can get an answer. Just because you don’t know the answer to your question doesn’t mean you are the only one who doesn’t know. But, if you don’t ask, no one will know.


Anglican Province of America – Diocese of the West Synod
The synod was held at the Jesuit Retreat Center in beautiful Los Altos Hills, just north of San Jose, California. Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America, Walter Grundorf, flew in from Florida to be with us to share greetings from his Diocese of the East, preaching and celebrating Holy Communion.

Joining us in his new capacity for the first time, our new Suffragan Bishop Winfield Mott with Presiding Bishop Walter Grundorf and our Diocesan Bishop Richard Boyce.

The synod was blessed with the Faculty Choir of St. Andrew's Academy (Lake Almandor, CA; a classical liberal arts preparatory school (K-12) now accepting boarding students), who graced them with classical Anglican music for our worship.

Many of you do not know that one of the reasons the Diocese of the West runs “in the black” is that our unpaid bishop has a huge unpaid staff, seen below assembling handouts for the bishop:

All in all synod was a success. Next year the event will be held in Tucson, Arizona in late June. While we only get a couple of delegates, everyone is welcome. Much like the Vestry Meetings, the voting is the least important thing. Consider going to Tucson next year.

Missionary Diocese of Viet Nam
If you did not get the initial briefing on the Anglican Missionary Diocese of Vietnam, please look at the Beadle’s Report for 22 July 2007.

The project ran into a bit of a problem with the "Rev Canon Soon Soo Kee, Dean of Vietnam" a fellow in Singapore overseer of the lone Anglican Church in Vietnam, an English speaking congregation in Hanoi. This appears to no longer be an issue.

The project is going forward and needs your support, both in prayer and in action. We hope to be able to complete funding by the end of this month. We need additional funds. Father Acker is approaching all the various Anglican churches, but if you know someone outside the church who might like to help, call Father Acker. This is the most cost effective way your Beadle has seen to spread the Word. Your Beadle is in front of this project and trusts you will follow him with your heart.

In the meantime, we invite you to join in the prayers we have been praying each night that:

• The people of Vietnam will not lose their ardor for the church;
• The people here will provide the support they can;
             and where prayer is most needed:
• The church hierarchy will not place roadblocks in the way of the Lord's Work.

of Bishops
What does the Bible say about bishops? Paul wrote a pretty concise and clear set of qualifications to Timothy in Chapter Three, he said:

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Bishops are not only to be commanders, but leaders of the Church. They are to “Go forth and preach the Word of God!” They are to be exhort their followers to follow them towards God, to do His Will, to serve the Lord in all they do.

If you look around, you will see how fortunate we are to have Bishop Boyce. He is a follower of God, a good man and a leader. He knows what he should do and he does it, regardless of who is looking. Such are few and far between.

Epistle Readers
In response to requests from the congregation and the readers, we will be posting the list of Epistle Readers in the Beadle’s Report from henceforth. This way, you can either plan your attendance or your pre-reading as the spirit so moves you.

Date Reader

26 August 2007 Jan Macauley
2 September 2007 Alice Acker
9 September 2007 Dru Arnold
16 September 2007 Hap Arnold
23 September 2007 Jan Macauley
30 September 2007 Stephanie Boyd

Next Sunday
Next Sunday is the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.

Summer is in full swing. We have a lot of people on travel. The Continuing Education Class for the next two Sundays will be the rest of the instructional Holy Communion classes with contemporary footnotes as it were for the service. You will have a chance to find out why we do what we do and what it means. This is not only interesting but fun and you will have a lot more appreciation of what we are doing each Sunday. Don’t miss it! You won’t want to wait for the Beadle’s Report to find out what happened.

See you next week on Sunday!


Father Acker posts a .pdf version of the current Beadle’s Report on the church website:

http://alpineanglican.com/BeadleReports.htm

An alternative version of the Beadle’s Report without photographs is available at:

http://web.mac.com/thebeadle/iWeb/BeadleBlog/Blog/Blog.html

All back issues of the Beadle’s Reports are available on request from:

thebeadle@mac.com