2007 Second Sunday after Trinity

Today was the Second Sunday after Trinity and Fathers Day. Like last Sunday, there was typical June Gloom down the hill, but the gloom stopped just before Tavern Road and it was bright and clear in Alpine. With almost perfect weather, though slightly warm, even though we had several families on travel, we ended up with 29 people.

The series of our continuing Christian Education Class on discovering Church Membership was on hold today while Father Acker briefed us on the events of the Forward in Faith North America meeting he and Alice attended this week in St. Louis.

Our Bishop Boyce was elected as an Episcopal Member of FiFNA Council. Previously, he has been an adjunct member representing the APA. Second, I, Father Acker, was re-elected as a Priest Member of FiFNA Council, which has nine members (3 bishops, 3 priests, & 3 lay persons).

Our resolution on Anglican Unity was withdrawn in light of the Assembly approval of the Articles of the Common Cause Partnership with its federal structure. We had four points.
1. Hold a convention with a bishop, priest, and lay representative of each organization. We called for a 30 September 2007 deadline. The convention/meeting is scheduled, but after 30 September 2007. We could ask but not dictate to any other organization except FiFNA. The Partners are scheduled to meet and elect representatives. [editorial: the board of each organization could elect for most organizations between meetings, but this was not what the Common Cause Partners had agreed upon earlier.] This point was mostly accomplished with even the same representation formula!
2. Elect a Bishop Moderator. There is to be a Moderator, but I believe the term is 5 years not 4 as we had specified. Close enough when you are dealing with a committee.
3. Affirm a Theological Statement. This was accomplished in full.
4. Present the federation for recognition as a province to one or more of the primates of the Anglican Communion. While this was not specified, Bishop Boyce and I received a commitment the request would be made according to our proposal.

In short while our resolution was withdrawn the points were covered. When it came from the resolutions committee the first move was to table, i.e., kill the motion, in light of the passage of the Articles of Common Cause. However, the table motion was withdrawn after a point of personal privilege by Bishop Ackerman asking that I might have a point of personal privilege to address our parish concerns of the points being met.

The other significant resolution was to reaffirm the 2002 submission of two names to primates for the nomination, election, and consecration of a bishop for FiFNA constituency. The two names from 2002 were David Moyer, who was consecrated by the Traditional Anglican Communion for their mission work, not FiFNA, and William Ilgenfritz (currently a Vice President of FiFNA). So again his name will be put to one or more primates. I suspect that as he was elected by FiFNA, unlike all of the other Common Cause consecrations of appointed individuals, the request will be granted and a consecration will occur. The importance to us is we will have another bishop who is in agreement theological with a very similar understanding of catholic faith and order as the Common Cause federation is founded as a new province for North America.

Please keep in mind this is only my personal perspective. But as the Beadle has promised to have purple T-shirts printed that say, Bishop: Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way, we will be monitoring the follow through on each of the four points of which we have been assured by FiFNA leaders.

You can also go to www.ForwardInFaith.com for the North America Breaking News to see the articles and reports I wrote as the Communications Director. I write most of the press releases and along with other items. Father Bausch (Holy Trinity, Ocean Beach) and I wrote the resolution text for the reaffirmation of the 2002 request for consecration. [note: the resolutions weren’t posted on Sunday evening, but I expect them to be posted by Monday. In the posting you’ll find the link to the text of the Common Cause Articles and Theological Statement.]

Ben Lizak read the Epistle, which came from the Third Chapter of St. John‘s First Epistle, beginning at the Thirteenth Verse. “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of com-passion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

John gave us God’s commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. We are exhorted to love one another not in word only, but in deed and in truth. We are to carry out the word we have been given, not just to repeat the words. 

Actions speak louder than words. If we are to lead people to Christ, we must be in front of them showing the way.

Today’s Gospel started in the Fourteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning at the Sixteenth Verse. This is another of Jesus’s stories. This one is of a rich man who made a great supper; a thing of great value in times of hunger. “A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.”

Are we like the busy people, are our lives so filled with important activities that we have no time to come to the Lord’s Supper? Think about that when you set your bedtime on Saturday, think about that when you schedule the outing for Sunday morning.

Sermon - For the Love of God
Christians talk often about the love of God. But, sometimes they want to keep that love in the abstract and not get down to what it really mean. God sent His only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

He gave His life that we might live.

What does He ask in return?

Simple - That we might give of our lives for the brethren.

You must understand that wealth is having more than you need, poverty is having less than you need. How much you have is not the key, but rather the ratio. You can be rich by having more or needing less. One of the keys to needing less is appreciating what you have,

Of late, I often realize, I have a very good life.
• I’m one flight of stairs from the office;
• I get to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with my wife;
• I don’t have to worry if my next meal will be on the table.

But, “what am I laying down for my Christian brothers and sisters?”

In today’s epistle. We read, “Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

In this country there are few who want to work and still can’t put a roof over their head, or have food to eat. When such need exists, we all step in to help.

We are anxious to feed the starving, but what about the warning, “Man does not live by bread alone?”

There is clearly a spiritual famine around us. Look at us here this morning. Where are your neighbors? Mine are all sleeping in or reading the paper. Perhaps the problem is the rich country we live in, for it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. Not that there is naturally anything wrong with being wealthy, but rather that with wealth sneaks the feeling that we are wealthy because of what we did, that ego thing, Edging God Out, or a feeling that we are owed what we have, or perhaps more.

It is easier to bring God to the young than to the old, like teaching old dogs new tricks. Our teenagers have a better chance of getting their friends to come to God than we have of talking our neighbors into coming to church. By the time people are in their forties, for the most part, they either have a church or want no part of a church.

We all need God’s help, we always have and always will. Most only come to God when they think they need something, a few realize they need something all the time. They make time for God in their lives all the time and God helps them all the time.

Birthdays and Anniversaries
Today we had a bumper crop! We celebrated Mike and Annie Springer’s twenty-seventh anniversary. We can only think Annie married Mike on her sixth birthday.


We celebrated Nick Patton’s eleventh birthday, his mom Sandy Patton’s forty-fourth birthday and Ken Abbiss’ fifty-fourth birthday.

With Sunday’s like today, the vicar’s fund is really growing. Nice work!

After Church Hospitality
Betsy and Marianne Lane brought the goodies today. Your Beadle passed by the table before it was hit by the congregation and noted the chocolate chip cookies, veggie plate and grapes. By the time he arrived late to the table, only a few chocolate chip cookies remained and veggies. The cookies were good and the veggies great! Based on the chocolate around their lips, it would appear Alex and Jack evaluated the goodies the other way around.

Tim handled drinks for Tim’s House of Coffee and in a display of personal fortitude, Father Acker, who got home last night from St. Louis at 2200, got up in time to make his customary low carb lemonade.

Travel
Aaron and Traci are traveling
Don, Sandy and Nick are in Texas and surrounding areas
Hap is in the UK
Tim and Jan are in Vancouver, BC

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

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

Miney Farrell is doing well, however her brother William passed away this week. 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.

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 are very pleased to let everyone know that Emilie Springer has taken over The Back Door Lending Library. Today many people wondered aloud what had happened to the library and why it was so nicely set out. The answer is Emilie!

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.

The Lending Library is a resource you need to use. Most of the books are short, understandable, but very powerful. Also, if you have any books you would like share, please bring them in.

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.

Forward in Faith, the Resolution and the elusive Plan
For years, like Gnostics, bishops like Ackerman have claimed they had a plan, they just can’t share it with us. They claim to support, no, more than support, they think they lead, conservative Anglicanism. Yet not one has left the “safety” of the TEC. They talk one way to us and another to their fellow bishops of the TEC.

The time to act is now, to all the purple shirts, the Beadle says:

Lead, follow or get out the way!

We sent Father Acker to the meeting with a resolution to be presented for adoption; the resolution consisted of four points:

1. Hold a convention of the representatives from each Common Cause Partner (a bishop, a priest, and a lay representative elected by the partner organization) to conduct the necessary organizational tasks to form a federal structure of the partner organizations to work together in unity (see the items 2-4).
2. Elect a Bishop Moderator from the representatives who will act as the chairman for a 4 year term. (Limited to one term and sequential Moderators must be from a different partner organization than his predecessor.)
3. Affirmation of a theological statement or covenant for membership of partner organizations.
4. The Moderator shall approach a primate to present this province for recognition by the Primates.

The meeting adopted the first three points for the most part and made representations as to the fourth. There was no date certain for the actions, which our resolution called to be completed by 30 September 2007.

The time for the Anglican Church of America to be formed is NOW. Delay is not acceptable. To follow the Anglican model, we need a national church, an Anglican Church of America. The primates need a national church in the United States to deal with. We need to coalesce. We need to come together under a common banner, to face a common enemy. No one needs give up autonomy, no one needs compromise on any point. They do need to agree on common points and follow a single leader. Not follow him down the TEC road, but rather God’s road. The point is not that God is on our side, but rather we are on His side. We just need to do what he asks.

If the bishop members of Forward in Faith won’t act, they will become irrelevant, just as the TEC bishops are irrelevant. We follow leaders, not sheep in the middle of the herd. We want a leader. It would be nice if he were already a bishop. But, we have dealt with that problem in the past and we can deal with it again.

If any of you know a bishop, read this to him slowly and very clearly:

Lead, follow or get out the way!

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.

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.

Church Patches
The parish patches are in. They are embroidered, four inch and round. They are available either Velcro backed or plain. The plain are designed to be sewn on, the Velcro backed are designed to be stuck to furry Velcro patches sewn to the garment or whatever.

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 is quite a hit with the Ackers and the Arnolds who now have their cars back. We are working on the interior and hope to have it completed by mid-July. We also are looking forward to getting out logo 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.

Next Sunday
Next Sunday is the Third Sunday after Trinity. Summer is getting a firm grip on our area. We have a lot of people on travel. Your Beadle will be in the United Kingdom on business, the Under Beadle will be taking care of photographs and the like, the report will actually come to you from York. But, not to worry, it will still be written in American. 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.

This will be a great Sunday, do not miss it.

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