2007 Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Today was the Tenth Sunday after Trinity. August is summer, even in Alpine. By the start of church, temperatures were in the upper 70°s. Even though we had a number of people on travel, we ended up with 22 people present:



Father Acker has been on vacation this week and will be at the diocesan synod this coming week with Alice and Ben Lizak, thus no class before the service.

Stephanie Boyd read the Epistle, which came from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the Twelfth Chapter beginning at the First Verse. Paul starts off by telling us that no man who “speaketh by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” He goes on to say, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but by the same Spirit.” “…it is the same God which worketh all in all.” Every one is gifted in one manner or another by God, the question really is not do you have a gift from God, but will you use it? Our gifts are so different in their character that we sometimes fail to recognize them for what they are, gifts from God, meant to be used, not ignored.

“Concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will..”

Today’s Gospel started in the Nineteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning at the Forty-First Verse. The Gospel tell of Jesus’ time in the temple wherein he sees the people selling their wares having made the temple a den of thieves rather than a house our prayer and cast them out. He also predicts the fall of the temple saying it shall be laid “even with the ground, … they shall not leave one stone upon another,” because the people of the temple had rejected Jesus. The message to those who accept Jesus and his teaching is clear, their temple shall not fall. The message to those who will not hear his message will never be heard, let alone clear, their first indication of a problem will be when their temple falls.

“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple.”

Sermon - What will bring you Peace?
Today’s gospel talks about Palm Sunday, Jesus’ “triumphant” entry into Jerusalem. It was expected by almost all to be the triumphant entry of the Messiah into Jerusalem where he would take his rightful place in the temple and rule the earth. Yet, as he was coming up the hill, Jesus wept; he knew the peace they needed. He knew what the people wanted and what they needed. They needed the shalom/fulfillment/peace Jesus brought. They wanted the worldly triumph.

As he came to the Temple he knew his gift would be rejected.
 
In contrast to the crowd waving palm branches, the long expected Messiah’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, a return to the glory of David and Solomon, the time of the great Temple, Jesus approaches with tears. Why was he weeping?

Jesus saw judgment and destruction and they didn’t see it coming.

They wanted fulfillment of all here on earth, he wanted to prepare them for everlasting life. They wanted to rule the earth, he wanted them to follow him home.

Jesus brought for them peace, yet paradoxically, the peace he brought was not peace on earth. He brought them the inner peace that comes from doing right, even when no one is looking. The future Jesus promised was full of hope, yet also potentially full of hardship here on earth. Many chose the dominion of the chosen people here on earth, others became Christians.

Like he did to the people of ancient Jerusalem, Jesus comes bringing us the keys to his kingdom. What about our temple? Have we made a place for God?

Will you allow Jesus to give you that peace he brought for you?

Hymn 44, verse 4 “In the bleak mid-winter”

“What can I give him, Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wiseman, I would do my part;
Yet what can I give him—Give my heart.”
 
Birthdays and Anniversaries
No reported birthdays or anniversaries today.

After Church Hospitality
Today we experienced the miracle of loaves and fishes. Due to a minor technical difficulty, there was no 12 August 2007 on the sign up sheet. The missing Sunday was not noticed until about 0820. What to do? People depend on church for their morning goodies. The multitude could quickly turn ugly if not fed properly. Not to worry, Jan and Holly managed to come up with wonderful goodies in less than 12 minutes! Baby lemony cupcake-like things that were wonderful, other cupcake-like breakfast roll things, three kinds of fruit. Wonderful. Thank you Jan and Holly!

Even though we seem to be getting rather blasé about it, we certainly enjoyed out We had a special treat of Kona Coffee from Tim’s House of Coffee brewed by himself, Command Master Chief Brewer Macauley. Father Acker managed to get up in time to make his famous low-carb lemonade; a sacrifice much appreciated by your Beadle.

Travel
Muriel is traveling this week.
Karen, Donna and Hamish are traveling week.
Father and Alice, as well as Ben are traveling this week to the synod.

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 got out of the step down unit this weekend and is back home with her husband Jack. Please pray for her rapid recovery.

Annie Springer has been in the hospital with a kidney infection. She was released late this week and 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.

Gene Hunt is declining and some of his systems are starting to shut down. Fr. Acker did prayers and last rites this weekend. Please keep Gene and his wife Evelyn in your prayers this week.

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 going on travel next week. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Rest in Peace
Wanda Michaelis’ father, William, passed away on 12 July 2007. He has been on our prayer list for the past couple of months.
 
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.

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 is running into a bit of a problem with the "Rev Canon Soon Soo Kee, Dean of Vietnam" a fellow in Singapore who is the overseer of the lone Anglican Church in Vietnam, an English speaking congregation in Hanoi. This will be overcome.

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.

We hope to be able to complete funding by the end of next 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.

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

18 August 2007 Holly Lizak
26 August 2007 Jan Macauley

Next Sunday
Next Sunday is the Eleventh 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 an instructional Holy Communion. Father Acker will be providing 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!

Also, the coming week is Synod. There will be a few interesting things come out of the meeting. 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