2007 Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity

Today was the Sunday after All Saints’ Day and the Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity, as well as the first Sunday of the month (Free Teen Guitar Class Sunday). The fires across the county are all out or under control, the marine layer was back down the hill, extending to Dunbar Lane. At church, the temperature was about 75°F with a light Santa Ana breeze blowing under a very thin overcast. The beautiful weather and the guitar kids brought out 30 people.



Free Teen Guitar Class
Today was the first Sunday of the month. This is the customary Sunday for Father Ironhand’s Free Teen Guitar Class to play for our service. Playing today were:

Ryan Howell Alex Springer Jack Arnold Father Ironhand

Father Acker teaches the Free Teen Guitar Class on Wednesdays. The class plays for us on the first Sunday of the month. They have about six other performances throughout the year around the village. If you know a young person who would like to learn the guitar, call Father Acker or check out the website:

http://www.freeteenguitarclass.com/

Dying to Know?
Father Acker is nearing the end, so to speak, of his short series on Death from the Christian Perspective.

In talking about the Christian view of death, we’ve talked about everything from Paradise to the cost of Cremation. With Halloween and All Saints’ Day just past, it is a good time to talk about Christian Holidays. As Christians, we have events to celebrate and remember. As humans, exposed to seasonal change, we have a year to live, with its four seasons, first pagan, then Christian. As CS Lewis said, "Boiling an egg is the same process whether you are a Christian or a Pagan."

Throughout the ages, Christians have placed their feasts around the year at times similar to those of pagans, to allow Christians something to celebrate all year. It had the dual effects of providing enjoyment and edification to Christians, as well as eliminating the draw of a pagan event.

As winter approached, particularly in the time of old, also approached the reality of winter, Hardship, Starvation and Death. A time of “Evil.”

Halloween comes from the ancient Celtics religion. The Celtic people were very conscious of the spiritual world and had their own ideas of how they could gain access to it - such as by helping their over 300 gods to defeat their enemies in battle, or by imitating the gods in showing cleverness and cunning. Their two main feasts were Beltane at the beginning of summer (1 May), and Samhain at the end of summer (1 November). They believed Samhain was a time when the division between the two worlds thinned, hostile supernatural forces were active; ghosts and spirits were free to wander.

The Celtic priests (Druids,) members of pagan orders in Britain, Ireland and Gaul, performed their rituals: offering sacrifices, of animals and humans, to placate the gods; ensuring the sun would return after the winter; frightening away evil spirits. To the Celtics, the bonfire represented the sun and was used to aid the Druid in his fight with dark powers. The term bonfire comes from the words "bone fire," literally meaning the bones of sacrificed animals and human were piled in a field with timber and set ablaze. All fires except those of the Druids were extinguished on Samhain and householders were levied a fee to relight their holy fire which burned at their altars. During the Festival of Samhain, fires would be lit which would burn all through the winter and sacrifices would be offered to the gods on the fires. The practice of burning humans was stopped around 1600, and an effigy was sometimes burned instead.

Samhain was the supreme night of demonic jubilation. Spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander the countryside, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Frightened villagers tried to appease these wandering spirits by offering them gifts of fruit and nuts. This is the origin of our present day "trick-or-treat." They began the tradition of placing plates of the finest food and bits of treats that the household had to offer on their doorsteps, as gifts, to appease the hunger of the ghostly wanderers. Villagers feared that the spirits would kill their flocks or destroy their property if not placated.

The problem was... if the souls of dead loved ones could return that night, so could anything else, human or not, nice or not- so-nice. The only thing the superstitious people knew to do to protect themselves on such an occasion was to masquerade as one of the demonic hoard, and hopefully blend in unnoticed among them. Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening the face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around. This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures.

Trick or Treat has been thought to have come from a European custom called "souling". Beggars would go from village to village begging for "soul cakes" made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers could guarantee a soul's passage to heaven.

In many parts of Britain and Ireland this night used to be known as 'Mischief Night', which meant that people were free to go around the village playing pranks and getting up to any kind of mischief without fear of being punished. Many of the different customs were taken to the United States by Irish and Scottish immigrants in the nineteenth century and they developed into 'trick or treat'.

The Jack-O-Lantern is the festival light for Halloween and is the ancient symbol of a damned soul. Originally the Irish would carve out turnips or beets as lanterns as representations of the souls of the dead or goblins freed from the dead. When the Irish emigrated to America they could not find many turnips to carve into Jack O'Lanterns but they did find an abundance of pumpkins. Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips and pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since. Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons and was originally intended to frighten away evil spirits. It was said that if a demon or such were to encounter something as fiendish looking as themselves that they'd run away in terror, thus sparing the houses dwellers from the ravages of dark entities. They would have been carried around the village boundaries or left outside the home to burn through the night. Bats, owls and other nocturanal animals, also popular symbols of Halloween, were originally feared because people believed that these creatures could communicate with the spirits of the dead. Black cats has religious origins as well. During the Middle Ages it was believed that witches could turn themselves into black cats. Thus when such a cat was seen, it was considered to be a witch in disguise.

To this odd time, Christians brought a new message of one God who was a God of Life, a victory of life over death—Jesus raised from the dead. Not a haunting, but Life with God for eternity. Christians didn’t ignore the Night of the Dead, rather they gave it new meaning. They made it an 8 day celebration of the saints. We celebrate the saints, the holy ones, the hallows, who accepted God’s victory over death. Chrysostom tells us that as early as the fourth century, the Eastern church celebrated a festival in honor of all saints.

In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on 13 May. In 834, Gregory III moved All Saints’ Day from 13 May to 1 November and for Christians, this became an opportunity for remembering before God all the saints who had died and all the dead in the Christian community. 31 October thus became All Hallows' Eve ('hallow' means 'saint'). Many of the customs survived and were blended in with Christianity.

As long as we keep in mind that the message of Halloween is that tomorrow is All Saints’ Day when we honor those who have gone before us, then the ghouls, goblins and the like are harmless fantasy.

We focus on the Good News, the All Hallows message: Jesus’ victory of Life over Death and Evil; a reminder of the hallows who have gone before us in Victory, the saints.

Ben Lizak read the Epistle for today, which came from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians beginning at the Third Verse of the First Chapter. Writing to the church in Philippia, Paul sends his greetings letting them know he has been praying for them constantly. He tells them that the good work God has begun in them will surely continue until Christ returns to them. Paul tells them he prays that they will find more and more joy in following the will of God. Continually reminding people of the joy of being born a new person, Paul prays that their “love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

The Gospel was written in the Twenty-Eighth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew beginning at the Twenty-First Verse. On the subject of confession, repentance and forgiveness, knowing the rabbis had ordained forgiving one’s transgressors three times Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Knowing Jesus as he did, Peter no doubt expected Jesus to say more times than three, but 490 may have been somewhat more than he expected. In one of the more important stories in the Bible concerning God’s forgiveness of us and our obligation to forgive others, Jesus went on to say, “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

Peter said unto Jesus, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take ac-count of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Sermon - Learning to Forgive Like God


If you read the Lord’s Prayer or today’s Gospel from Mark, it is clear that as we have accepted God’s forgiveness purchased at great cost for us by Jesus, we too are called on to forgive those who “trespass against us.” Jesus has instructed us “those who believe on Him (me), keep His (my) sayings.” God calls on us to be like Him. If we repent, He will forgive us. If we can be forgiven of mortal sin, can we not forgive our fellow imperfect beings?

Like the father in the story of the prodigal son, God is waiting for us, watching from the Widow’s Walk. He doesn’t wait inside, He sees us driving up the road to come home. God is always ready at the door, hoping you’ll ask.

God wants you to be happy. He knows that anger, like a festering sore, brings no good. Accept the apology, welcome the repentance and move on towards God in you life.

Let not the sun set on your anger.

Follow the examples given. Look out for the opportunity to forgive. Yet, be not misled, God does not call on you to forgive those who will not repent.

We repent, we vow to do better, we fail. We are human. Thus the admonition to forgive seventy times seven, not literally, but figuratively. Thanks be to God our parents could not count to 490. Not to worry, God can, but He won’t.

Now, it is your turn:

Forgive Like God
 

First Communion
Today Nick Patton, our junior acolyte, had his first communion. Nick has been studying hard to learn and understand the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed. Good work Nick! Welcome to the Lord’s Supper.

Birthdays and Anniversaries
There were no reported birthdays or anniversaries today.

After Church Hospitality
Martha Stevens went all out on snacks today. She brought baby brownies, which look for all the world like cupcakes, roll cookies, brownies and sugar free apple pie. For the points impaired, she had red-flame seedless grapes. Wonderful!



Barrista Ben Lizak took time off his Epistle reading duties to make coffee on behalf of Tim’s House of Coffee. Once again, Father Acker got up early enough to make his famous low carb lemonade, a sacrifice much appreciated by your Beadle.

New Nametags
We no new nametags today.

People in our Prayers
If you are on our prayer list, or you have submitted a person for us to pray for, please update Father Acker in person, by telephone or e-mail. It helps to be able to pray specifically for these individuals including their specific needs; plus if they get better, it is good to give thanks!

Travel
Betsy and Marianne are on travel this week.

Sick or in need of healing
Diane Chase
Muriel Pappin
Fran Dexter
Martha Stevens

Betty Cooke has good days and some not so good. She occasionally gets picked up to go out to lunch from time to time. She and Shilo, her cat, are enjoying the sunshine streaming in her living room as she’s has a makeover going on in her front yard.

Victor – Donna Dingwall’s husband, is recently out of the hospital and is in need of prayer for increased strength. Please pray for his rapid recovery.

Marie “Rede” Acker – Father Acker’s mother broke her good shoulder on 14 July 2007. She is doing very well in her recovery. She is now in her 4th week of major muscle rehab for her shoulder. She and Jack (Father Acker’s dad) are planning to be with the Ackers for Thanksgiving; prayers of thanksgiving are in order.

Evelyn Hunt is doing very well. She was at church two weeks ago with her daughter Kathy.
 


Annie Springer made it to church this morning. She still has problems with her vision which preclude her from driving right now. They are working on stabilizing her diabetes and blood pressure medications. Your continued prayers are asked for successful stabilization of her medications, as well as improvement of her vision to allow her to return to driving. In addition, please pray for strength for the Springer family.

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

Miney Farrell was in church three weeks ago. She is doing great. Thanks to Greg Chase, she will in here at least once a month.

Lorraine Winkles is showing small increments of improvement with a prolonged case of shingles. She appreciates our praying for her on Sunday mornings.

Donna Dingwall is doing well enough that she and her family were able to do a bit of travel. 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 & Bibles
During his many travels and general rooting around, your Beadle has come across some very nice personal 1928 Prayer Books, including a couple with Hymnals attached and leather bound Bibles. If you would like one, please contact him directly.

How about a film review? What can you tell me about The Golden Compass?
The Golden Compass is a forthcoming fantasy film based upon Northern Lights, the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials. The children’s fantasy film stars Nicole Kidman and features a little girl on a quest to kill God. The anti-religious themes get progressively stronger with each book in the trilogy; in the final installment, the characters succeed in killing a character called God — who turns out to be a phony, and not God after all.

Just in case you are wondering where Pullman is coming from, he has said they are in response to C. S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia," the popular children's fantasy series of which "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the first book — written by Lewis to teach Christian ideals to kids.

"I loathe the 'Narnia' books," Pullman has said in previous press interviews. "I hate them with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away." He has called the series "one of the most ugly and poisonous things" he's ever read.

In spite of complaints about the forthcoming film, Pullman fans and atheists are still excited about the exposure it will give his novels. They say the American literary market is sorely lacking material for those who don't believe in God, and they scoff at the idea that the series is hazardous to children.

"Philip Pullman and I would say it is religion that poisons everything," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the atheist advocacy group the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and a co-host of Freethought Radio, a talk show that recently went national on Air America Radio.

Several key themes of the novels, the rejection of organized religion and the abuse of power in a fictionalized Catholic Church, are to be diluted in the adaptation. Director Weitz said "in the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots" but the organization portrayed in his film would not directly match that of Pullman's books. In an attempt to avoid a religious backlash, the Magisterium will instead be a critique of all dogmatic organizations. Weitz said that New Line Cinema had feared the story's anti-religious themes would make the film financially unviable in the US, and so religion and God will not be referenced directly. Attempting to reassure fans of the novels, Weitz said that religion would instead appear in euphemistic terms, yet the decision has been attacked by some fans, anti-censorship groups, and the National Secular Society (of which Pullman is an honorary associate), which said " they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it", "this is part of a long-term problem over freedom of speech."

I think you can be assured that your Beadle will not be seeing this movie.

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.

Now that Bishop Boyce and Father Mai have returned from Vietnam, we will be working on a plan for Phase II. If we it looks like we can move further forward, we will start solicitations for funding this second phase. We note that there is no Book of Common Prayer currently available in Vietnamese. This will be a priority, in addition to funding the new priests and deacons.


Archbishop Chew, of the Province of Southeast Asia, and Bishop Ackerman are planning to meet in November to discuss possible cooperation on the Missionary Diocese of Vietnam.

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.

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

11 November 2007 Greg Chase
18 November 2007 Stephanie Boyd
25 November 2007 Jan Macauley
2 December 2007 Dru Arnold
9 December 2007 Hap Arnold
16 December 2007 Jack Arnold
23 December 2007 Alice Acker
30 December 2007 Alex Boyd

Next Sunday
Next Sunday is the Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, it is also Veterans’ Day.

You need to come to church to find out what Father Acker is going to say in the next of his pre-service classes. They are really more interesting in person than the Beadle’s dull summary. Don’t miss it! Come to church so 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