2007 Sunday after the Ascension

Today was the Sunday after the Ascension. On Mount Olympus, it was clear and sunny. There was a deep marine layer, with the overcast extending all the way to the East Willows. Temperature at church was in the low 60s. When we came out, the overcast had burned off and the temperature had creeped up to the low 70s. With much happening today, we had 37 attendees.

There was no pre-service class as today was the “final exam” for the Confirmation and Reception class, the actual event itself!

Hap Arnold read today’s Epistle, which came from the Fourth Chapter of St. Peter’s First Epistle, Chapter Four, beginning at the Seventh Verse. “The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

St. Peter exhorts us to be sober and prayerful “and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” We are asked to give of ourselves to the extent we have been given. If we will not be charitable with those we know, what will we do with those with whom we have no relationship? We must take care of each other so that we might spread the Word of God.

Today’s Gospel started in the Fifteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John beginning at the Twenty-Six Verse. “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.”

Jesus tells his disciples, “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” He predicted the persecution to come, “…yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth the God service.” He reminded the disciples that he told them these things so “that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.” The disciples were saddened by Jesus’ impending departure. He told them unless he returned to His Father, the Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit or Holy Comforter would not be sent to bring understanding to them.

Commissioning of the Church
We formed Alpine Anglican Church of the Blessed Trinity with the intention of joining a larger unit of the Anglican Communion. Evaluating all of the Anglican Churches in the United States, our parish felt that the Anglican Province of America was that arm of the Church most nearly perfectly aligned with Scripture, Reason and Tradition. We applied to join The Diocese of the West of the Anglican Province of America. Our parish was accepted into the organization. Today, Bishop Boyce formalized our association with the Anglican Province of America. As can be seen below, today we were formally received into the Anglican Province of America’s Diocese of the West.

Today, our parish received its official commission.

Our parish is now a full fledged member of the Anglican Province of America and member of the greater worldwide Anglican Communion!

Reception
With our church now part of the APA, our confirmed members were received into the APA by Bishop Boyce and given their commission to minister according to their various talents.

Admission of Lay Readers
With our church now part of the APA, we needed to properly license our leadership. Prior to this time, as we were not actually under the authority of the APA and could not be licensed by them. Father Acker was license by Bishop Boyce at the inception of our parish formation. Now that the parish is fully commissioned, the Bishop commissioned Ben Lizak and Hap Arnold as Lay Readers.

This allows them to lead prayer services in Father Acker’s absence, to act as chalice bearers and perform other duties they have been performing with the full authority of the Church.

Confirmation
We had six members who confirmed their dedication to God and our Lord Jesus. Bishop Boyce laid his hands on them to accept their confirmation of dedication to God and our Lord Jesus, receive them into the APA and most importantly pass unto them the Holy Ghost. As Bishop Boyce later explained in his sermon, any baptized Christian can perform the baptism, but the act of confirmation is limited to Bishop’s whose apostolically derived authority expressly provides for the laying on of hands and passing to confirmands the Holy Ghost. Beyond the knowledge required for confirmation, more importantly a dedication to God and our Lord Jesus is mandated. Our confirmands, as the rest of our parish, is far more knowledgeable than the average group, but more important their dedication to God and our Lord Jesus is unquestioned. For our first confirmation, we had six confirmands:

• Jackson Arnold
• Alexandra Boyd
• Greg Chase
• Tim Macauley
• Alexander Springer
• Emilie Springer


Sermon - Confirmation
Bishop Boyce’s sermon centered on confirmation; its origin and meaning.

Confirmation, like baptism and Holy Orders, is a once in a lifetime event, for it imprints an indelible mark on the soul.

In the early church, teaching and baptizing were performed by many.

The authority for confirmation was retained by the Apostles and those to whom they later specifically passed that authority, Bishops. This is not to be take lightly, for with the confirmation and acceptance comes the Holy Ghost.


The church teaches there are seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost passed on through confirmation:

Wisdom to aid us in our search after God
Understanding to lead us to a knowledge of the truth
Counsel to help us to discern the right path
Fortitude to confirm us in doing right
Knowledge to teach us the will of God
Piety to help us to lead good lives
Holy Fear to aid us in loving and obeying God as our Father
 
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Today we celebrated Diane and Greg Chase’s 36th anniversary. We had no reported birthdays.

Name Tags
We had one new nametag today, Bishop Boyce’s lovely wife Cathie. If you met her, you know just how nice she is. If you did not, you missed a meeting a wonderful person.

After Church Hospitality
We had no after church goodies today. Not all bad, however. Immediately after church, we met at the Arnolds for the Second Annual Beadle’s Party.

People in our Prayers
Travel
Betsy and Marianne are on travel for the next week.
Donna and Hamish are on travel.

Sick or in need of healing

Betty Cooke
Diane Chase
Muriel Pappin

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

Miney Farrell is doing well. She asks your prayers for Bertha Rose’s balance problems which are compounded by her blindness.

Barbara Emrich was enjoying the warm day on Friday of this last week and hearing about the Easter service.

Evelyn Hunt is recovering from being in the hospital for severe back pain. She is at home, but not able to drive to see Gene who said, “No use complaining.”

Lorraine Winkles thinks she is having some improvement. She’s been down with this very painful version of chicken pox since Christmas.

Donna Dingwall is doing quite a bit better. She had a great time on the cruise with her family. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Back Door Lending Library
The Back Door Lending Library is happy to announce the availability of 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.

What is this PX thing?
Actually, it is not a PX, it is a Chi Rho.

Chi Rho (ΧΡ) are the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ (Greek : "Χριστός" ), and so have come to be used for a number of Christian-related usages.
The Labarum was Roman emperor Constantine I's banner that used the letters.

The Chi-Rho symbol is an anagram of the first two letters of Christ in Greek, the Chi (our CH) and the Rho (our R). These two letters written together stand for Christianity in the Late Roman and Early Medieval periods.

In case you were wondering, the reason some chi-rho's have a Greek letter alpha (A) on one side of the chi-rho and a Greek letter omega (looks like a W) on the other side (this carving is missing the alpha) is that Jesus said "I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end" (because omega was the last letter of the Greek alphabet, as Z is the last letter in English).

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 Catechism 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’s worldly possessions, while small by church standards, are getting pretty big by Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla and Scion Xa standards and that is how they get to church. Plus, the constant double loading and unloading is taking a toll on the equipment. The church would like to buy a single axle 6X12 covered utility trailer with a side door and a V nose, along the lines of a Wells Cargo, to use a brand name you may be familiar with. 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.

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 have committed to two months advertising to see if it has any positive effect. The advertisement follows the general layout of our bumper sticker and patches for “brand recognition.” 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.

Second Annual Beadle’s Party
Bishop and Mrs. Boyce joined us for the Second Annual Beadle’s Barbeque at the Arnolds’ after church. The party began right after church, which was sooner than usual as there were no post service goodies and everybody helped break down. The 20 minute drive to the Arnolds’ did not seem so long after everyone got there. Thankfully, everyone who set out got there with no wrong turns and no calls to Search and Rescue! It was easier than last year, as Jack set out 11 signs to point the way!

The weather on Mount Olympus was almost perfect. A very light breeze, temperature about 76°F and sunny. The Chuck Wagon fare was a bit simpler than last year’s Californian BBQ, we had:

• 24 hour slow cooked beef;
• Grilled chicken, for the bovine challenged;
• Sponge buns;
• Chuck Wagon Beans;
• Home made potato salad;
• Home made cole slaw;
• SRT Cake

There were three trash cans full of drinks, and a bar inside. The food was excellent and the company even better. The Under Beadle had prepared for 40 people, 35 showed up so we only got through 40 percent of the beef and half the cake. Your Beadle, on the other hand, is grateful as he is eating potato salad as he types this.

We gathered on the lower patio for grace by Bishop Boyce, then we went through the Chow Line at the BBQ pavilion.

We ate off stainless steel mess trays, with bandanas for napkins. The beef was outstanding and the chicken disappeared, so it must have been pretty good too. The potato salad was BSD (Best Seen to Date).

We had a great time, in addition to great company, the partygoers got a tour of the Arnold Wheeled Vehicle Museum and Fire Station.

On the way there everyone had an opportunity to check out Jack’s Friendship Club and ride the “Slide for Life” zip line from his club to the house.

The weather was perfect outdoor dining weather, the food was outstanding and the company even better. If you made the event, you will not miss the next one. If you failed to make the event, ask someone who was there if it was worth the drive.

Next Sunday
Next Sunday is Pentecost, commonly called Whitsunday, or White Sunday, celebrating the coming of the Holy Ghost. It seems likely the pre-service class will be back in one form or another. The sermon seems very likely to involve the Holy Ghost. Who knows where it will lead? The short answer is to post service goodies. But, 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