2007 Fourth Sunday after Trinity

Today was the Fourth Sunday after Trinity. With summer in full swing, as we drove down from Mount Olympus, you could see the Coronado Islands. Temperatures were in the mid-70°s at the start of the service and in the low 80°s by the end. With many people on travel due to the upcoming mid-week Fourth of July, we had our lowest attendance of the year, although three more than last year, with 17 people attending.

Continuing the series of Christian Education Class on discovering Church Membership Father Acker talked about the solution to our problems. What problems? All of our problems. What is the solution? First, it does not matter whether you believe in God or not. While your existence depends totally on Him, He exists whether or not you believe in Him. Luckily, God believes in you. However, He cannot help you unless you will not only listen to Him, but act on those beliefs. He can only lead those who will follow.

We come into this world and are part and parcel of this world. We are born, we live, we die. This is the part that is of this world. But physical death is of little consequence, the issue is not death, but eternal life.

 What God does for you to be part of the solution?
• God has no grandchildren, only children.
• Young or old, you were not born a child of God.
• You are adopted by baptism.
• God has chosen you, but you need to start saying “Yes.” And you keep on saying “Yes” to God’s solution.
• Only when we start by saying “Yes” will God act.


God acts to make you part of His Family.
The bible is rather definite:
• John, Jesus’ cousin, called people to get ready for God by repentance and as a sign of their change of heart, they were washed in the Jordan river as a public act to demonstrate that change.
John made it clear his baptism was not what God would do in Jesus. Jesus was publicly washed to show the way to begin a new way of lifE
• John baptized with water, but Jesus would bring a baptism with God himself, “the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
"Jesus said, 'Go then, to all people everywhere and make them my disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ Matt. 28:19-20

God acts in three ways
This new life of baptize with the Holy Spirit, God acts to:
• Wash away Sin. God fills the gap, applies the solution to our separation from him—Jesus takes away our sin. This was something much more that John’s washing to show you were sorry. Here Jesus takes our sin from us.

• Make us members of His Family. Jesus makes it clear we are not alone, but with others who have been adopted by God we participate in the Family of God. 
The name for that family of God is THE CHURCH .” The Church is not the building, but the people who make up the family.

• Give us a gift, an inheritance of Life forever with God. We will always be members of God’s family.

God gives you a New Life
"By our baptism then, we were buried with Him and shared His death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead ... so also we may live a new life.” Rom. 6:4

The Old Life is living with our sins, our separation from God, and knowing that it would end in our Death, an indefinite separation from God. This New Life requires the death of the Old Life and a rebirth to a new start, a new family, a new relationship with God.

The Early Church understood that in Baptism, your Old Life was drowned—dead. Your coming out of the water was a rebirth to your New Life. When the Early Church baptized in Jordan River, you went out into the water and you were submerged or perhaps water was poured over you like washing a pot. But as the Family of God grew and spread to other areas, the geography dictated changes and adaptations to this rebirth.
The water quality and quantity weren’t the issues, but being adopted by God.

God’s action doesn’t depend upon how much you understand.
God knows what He’s doing in giving you a new life. You may be young or old, smart or not so smart, mature or retarded in your development compared to other people. It doesn’t keep God from acting. He does require an IQ test. He requires saying Yes—belief is the necessary prerequisite.

Paul refers to baptizing entire households, meaning a husband, a wife, children, and slaves. So adults voiced their own belief, but parents make important decisions before the child is old enough to know and articulate their needs. So children were baptized only for active Christians upon their belief. Children can accept the decision made in their best interest by their parents, or of course, they are free to reject it. You can choose not to be part of the Family.
 
In Holy Baptism we are reborn,
Into God’s own kingdom—a glorious morn!
  A child of God, a member of Christ,
  We become for the rest of our life.
The Kingdom of Heaven is open then,
And we’re forgiven all our sin.
  We renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh,
  And begin anew a life that’s fresh.
By water our sins are washed away,
And we inherit the Kingdom of God that day.
  If we are too young to pledge to Christ,
  These promises we make for life,
A sponsor will stand up and say
That he will guide us on our way
  To a more righteous and Godly life
  Thru the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

                                    --Mary Moffitt Aycock

Stephanie Boyd read the Epistle, which came from the Eight Chapter of St. Paul‘s Letter to the Romans, beginning at the Eighteenth Verse. Paul tells us that walking God’s path, though it may seem hard at the time is nothing compared to the reward we receive in heaven for following God’s will. God gave us free will that by using that will to overcome temptation we might receive the gift of eternal salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. For until Christ, there was no delivery from the pain of worldly existence; through Christ there is redemption of our souls.

“I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

Today’s Gospel started in the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning at the Thirty-Sixth Verse. This is a simple message, yet often misunderstood, with majestic language that brings the message to a point of incredible sharpness. “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give and it shall be given unto you… …Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?” “… why beholdest thou the mote that is in the brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? …How canst thou say to thy brother, Brother let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest no the beam that is in thine own eye?” This is often quoted, but the following sentence is left out, “Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the more that is in thy brother’s eye.” Only when we first take care of our own spiritual health, look to our own relationship to God and how we follow His Word, we will be able to spread the Word of His love for us.

“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.”

Sermon - For the Love of God
Father Acker discussed the fact that as Christians we must make Christ the reference point of our lives. Much like navigators navigate by the Pole Star, Polaris, we need to get our bearings from Jesus.

It sometimes seems like Christianity is about not doing things. How can that be any fun? Sometimes life is like a stove, put your hand in the wrong place and you will get burned, put in the right place, with the right plan and you get a nice dinner.

Jesus’ plan for us is to have fun. Today for instance, we have Monkey Bread, cookies, grapes and special quiche for goodies after church. Later today, we have a concert in the park with our Free Teen Guitar Class. The kids will be doing some of our hymn songs as Rock! What a great way to spend a Sunday. We will have a wonderful time and we are serving God, doing what our Lord asks.


As the old hymn says,

The church has one foundation,
’Tis Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation,
Through water by the word.


From heav’n He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;

With His own blood He bought her,

And for her life He died.


Our foundation—our attention should be fixed on Jesus. From Him should we seek direction, our pole star.

Like sacraments with their outward and visible signs and their inward and spiritual graces: the service, the goodies, the concert, these are outward and visible signs of the inward and spiritual destination for us in eternity. We should enjoy them, not as an end in themselves; but rather as signs of what God plans for eternity.

It starts with knowing that we need God. That is why we come to Church every Sunday.
This morning as part of our opening, we sang John Newton’s Amazing Grace. One of Newton’s most famous and accurate quotes is:

“All I know is, I am a great sinner and Jesus Christ is a great Savior.”

When we come the realization that we all are great sinners and need a powerful savior, we are finally on the right track. The reality is we will sin, we will know suffering, we will know loss and all the things of this world will pass. The further reality is we come in to this world, we live, we leave. Where we go depends on what we do here. What we do here depends on what we believe in. Not what we say we believe in, but rather what we believe in.

If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

The Gospel according to Saint John

Birthdays and Anniversaries
We celebrated Stephanie Boyd’s 41st birthday with her today.

There were no reported anniversaries today.

After Church Hospitality
Alice Acker brought the goodies today Monkey Bread, coated crackers, grapes and a special quiche. Your Beadle attempted to persuade everyone that the Monkey Bread was poisonous, but unfortunately several people saw him take his fourth helping and the rather transparent and tired ploy once again failed. For those of you who don’t know what Monkey Bread is, it is similar to a heavy cinnamon roll, but far better. The grapes were excellent, as was the quiche.

Coffee was provided today by Barrista Ben Lizak and Father Acker made his customary low carb lemonade.

Travel
Don, Sandy and Nick are in Texas and surrounding areas
Tim and Jan are in Vancouver, BC

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

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

Miney Farrell is doing well. She asks your continued prayers for Bertha Rose’s balance problems which are compounded by her blindness. Miney would also like to come to church at least once a month. Greg Chase is going to see if he can make that wish come true as soon as he gets a Sunday off to come to church himself.

Barbara Emrich wishes she had better mail service as she has to wait for Father Acker to bring her the Beadle’s Report.

Gene Hunt celebrated his 87th Birthday last week. Evelyn’s doing much better and is back to driving to see Gene on most days.

Lorraine Winkles is finally recovering from shingles..

Donna Dingwall is doing quite a bit better. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

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
While not strictly part of the Front Door Lending Library, we have some personal 1928 Prayer Books. A church in Florida disposed of a nice quantity of personal hardback 1928 BCPs in excellent to new condition, which we were lucky enough to acquire. There are some on the Front Table. We have plenty, although we only put out a half dozen at a time. They are yours to take home as your very own. The only thing the parish asks is that if you ever go to the dark side, please return it. Otherwise, it is yours forever.

Sunday’s Concert in the Park
This afternoon, Father Acker’s Free Teen Guitar Class was the warm-up act for the always popular free “Concert in the Park” at the Alpine Community Center Park. The main event was the local band, Working Country, whose musical talents are much enjoyed by the local citizenry. Father Acker and his roadies showed up about 1500L (3:00 pm) to set up. The new trailer made setup much easier and takedown even better.

The FTGC played for about 45 minutes and did a great job. If you know a young person interested in learning the guitar, have them contact Father Acker and get started now.

Ecclesiastes or Useless, Useless, or So, what are we doing here anyway?
Some times life seems rather pointless, doesn’t it? Pointless or directionless, depending on your point of view. First reflect on this:

If you don’t know where you are going, you won’t know if you are on the right track, if you need to correct left, right, up or down or you won’t even know if you get there for that matter.

So, why are we here? If by here you mean on earth the answer is pretty simple: God put you here to make a difference. God put you here to do a bunch of things, depending on where you are in life:

• The first and most important obligation you have is to insure your children go to heaven;
• The second and corollary duty is to be there to meet them;
• He put you here to be a steward of the earth;
o To leave it better than you found it, to the best of your ability;
o This means to use, but not waste, resources;
o To actively change the environment for the better;
o To change not only things, but people; to help others to hear His Word;
• To bring His Word to all around you;
o To make it available, not to force it;
o To do good to all, harm to none;
• To defend good from evil;
• To provide for your family, your country and His Church;
• To exhort all to worship and work;
• To have fun with fellow beings;
• To be happy, for true happiness is found in doing God’s will.

If you aren’t making a difference, what are you doing here anyway? Breathing in oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide is not making a difference.

Consider these questions:

What did you do today to make a difference?”
What could you have done today to make a difference?

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.

The Beadle’s Trip to York
As you may know, the Beadle was on a business trip to the United Kingdom, the ancestral home of our Anglican Church. He was operating out of York.

The Minster in York is the second largest church in the United Kingdom, the largest being the Canterbury Cathedral. The Minster is one of the most beautiful religious buildings on the planet. The Beadle would also point out that at this past Sunday’s service there were 12 communicants, far short of the attendance at Blessed Trinity. It may be the building is not the most important feature of a “church.” Perhaps the Church is actually the Body of Christ.

The Archbishop of York is the metropolitan bishop of the Province of York, and is the junior of the two archbishops of the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since 5 October 2005, the incumbent is the Most Reverend John Sentamu; he signs himself Sentamu Ebor: (In Uganda it is uncommon to have family names (such as Smith), children have given names, one often Christian and the other a traditional descriptive name, these can be used interchangeably hence the use of Sentamu rather than John. "Ebor:" is an abbreviation of Eboracum, the Latin name for York).

The archbishop's throne is in York Minster in central York and his official residence is Bishopthorpe Palace in the village of Bishopthorpe, outside York. The Province of York includes the 12 Anglican Dioceses north of the Midlands as well as the Diocese of Southwell (Nottinghamshire) and the Diocese of Sodor and Man (the Isle of Man).

The Archbishop is also a member ex officio of the House of Lords.

There was a bishop in York from very early Christian times. Bishops of York were particularly present at the Councils of Arles and Nicaea. However, this early Christian community was later blotted out by the pagan Saxons and there is no line of descent from these bishops to the post-Augustinian ones. [edit]Saxon, Viking and Medieval The diocese was refounded by Paulinus (a member of Augustine's mission) in the 7th century. Notable among these early bishops is Wilfrid.

These early bishops of York acted as diocesan rather than archdiocesan prelates until the time of Ecgbert of York, who received the pallium from Pope Gregory III in 735 and established metropolitan rights in the north.

Until the Danish invasion the archbishops of Canterbury occasionally exercised authority, and it was not till the Norman Conquest that the archbishops of York asserted their complete independence.

At the time of the Norman invasion York had jurisdiction over Worcester, Lindsey, and Lincoln, as well as the dioceses in the Northern Isles and Scotland. But the first three sees just mentioned were taken from York in 1072. In 1154, the suffragan sees of the Isle of Man and Orkney were transferred to the Norwegian archbishop in Nidaros (today's Trondheim), and in 1188 all the Scottish dioceses except Whithorn were released from subjection to York, so that only the dioceses of Whithern, Durham, and Carlisle remained to the Archbishops as suffragan sees. Of these, Durham was practically independent, for the palatine bishops of that see were little short of sovereigns in their own jurisdiction. Sodor and Man were returned to York during the fourteenth century, to compensate for the loss of Whithorn to the Scottish Church.

Several of the archbishops of York held the ministerial office of Lord Chancellor of England and played some parts in affairs of state. As Peter Heylyn (1600–1662) wrote: "This see has yielded to the Church eight saints, to the Church of Rome three cardinals, to the realm of England twelve Lord Chancellors and two Lord Treasurers, and to the north of England two Lord Presidents." The bishopric's role was also complicated by continued conflict over primacy with the see of Canterbury.

At the time of the Reformation York possessed three suffragan sees, Durham, Carlisle, and Sodor and Man, to which during the brief space of Queen Mary I's reign (1553-1558) may be added the Diocese of Chester, founded by Henry VIII, but subsequently recognized by the Pope. Until 1559, the bishops and archbishops were in Communion with the Pope in Rome. This is no longer the case as the Archbishop of York together with the rest of the Church of England is part of the Anglican Communion.

Bumper or Window Stickers
The church’s stickers are finally in. You can get them from the front door table or the Lending Library table, or ask Father Acker or the Beadle. If you are a long distance reader, you can request one from Father Acker or the Beadle.


Opportunity to help the parish
The Vestry identified items that the parish now needs that were not in this year’s budget:

Trailer – Our parish trailer needs signage on the outside for advertising. If you would like to donate, you can write a check, or just add a bit to your normal contribution and put a note in the memo area.

Signs – Our Sunday morning signs have become quite worn. We are looking to get a set of new signs to match our bumper sticker and advertisements in the Alpine Sun, with snap on lower panels for times and special announcements. We are looking for people to donate towards that end. If you would like to donate, you can write a check, or just add a bit to your normal contribution and put a note in the memo area.

Advertisement – If you pick up the Alpine Sun, you will find a half page advertisement; at the suggestion and with the financial support of Muriel Pappin and a few others, we committed to two months advertising to see if it had any positive effect. The advertisement follows the general layout of our bumper sticker and patches for “brand recognition.”

We have completed our two month trial with zero results, positive or negative. We are going to cut back to a small listing for now. If you have any other ideas for advertising talk to Father Acker or the Beadle.

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

8 July 2007 Dru Arnold
15 July 2007 Hap Arnold
22 July 2007 Mike Springer
29 July 2007 Jan Macauley

Quotes of the Day
I don’t go to church so that I will be better than other people. I go to church so I will be better than I would be if I didn’t go to church.

I have broken nine of the Ten Commandments. Jesus Christ, like a cat with nine lives, is my savior.
- The Beadle

Fourth of July
Wednesday is the Fourth of July, we are meeting at the Community Center in Alpine at 1100 to form up for the Crown Hills Parade which starts at noon. After the parade we will come back to the park for a potluck picnic. If you want to join us, come on down. If you want to bring something, call Alice Acker, keeper of the signup sheet.

Next Sunday
Next Sunday is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity. Summer is getting a firm grip on our area. We have a lot of people on travel. The Continuing Education Class should be back on track as we learn what it takes and what it gives to be a Christian in a local church. Perhaps the sermon will interface with that and maybe tie the propers in. For sure? No and unless you come to the service, you will have to wait until you read the Beadle’s Report to find out.



The Fourth is a great time and Sunday is the best. Come to both!

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