Today was the Fifth Sunday after Easter, commonly called Rogation Sunday. After last week’s “normal” weather, we had a moderate Santa Ana again. The sunrise temperature on Mount Olympus was 67°F, by the time church ended the mercury had climbed to 85°F. With members on travel and at work, we ended up with 22 people present for the service.
Free Teen Guitar Class Plays Again!
The FTGC regulars, that is to say Ashley Turner, Jack Arnold and Father Ironhand, provided the music today because our lovely organist Marianne Lane had to work this morning. While we missed Marianne and Betsy, we enjoyed having the guitarists.
Rogation Sunday
The fifth Sunday after Easter is commonly called Rogation Sunday from the words in the Gospel appointed for the day: "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give to you". (The Latin is 'Rogare' - to ask.) In the strictly biblical context, the chief thing to ask for is the spirit of God to enable us to be true children of God.
In the Western Church, processions to bless the crops and to include "beating the bounds", developed from the o1d Roman rites of "Robigalia" ("robigo": Latin for "rust" or "mould"), when prayers would be offered to the deity for crops to be spared from mildew.
Today the emphasis has shifted. A blessing on growing crops in fields and gardens, and on young lambs and calves remain. In the agricultural cycle, the main themes are seed sowing and the tending of the young plants and animals. This does not pre-suppose that all sowing takes place around Rogation. Sowing is done all the year round, as is the birth and rearing of the young, but it is convenient to fix on one particular festival as the time to remember these before God in a public way.
Rogation takes place in the springtime, when there is a renewing of the earth. In this country, it follows Easter, the season of resurrection. Renewal and resurrection therefore are also underlying themes of this occasion.
Father Acker’s Pre-Service Class - Around the Bible in 140 days by popular demand
Today continued the twenty week tour of the Bible, 10 minutes of teaching each Sunday, beginning at 8:30am. The class started with one of the Collects for the Day, applicable to the subject at hand, in this case the Second Sunday in Advent:
BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Second Sunday of Advent BCPp92
We have been making our way through the Bible and are now at the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther:
• Ezra returns to rebuild the Temple
• Nehemiah rebuilds Jerusalem
• Esther is the story of the Jews who remain in Babylon
Nebuchadrezzar was bad enough, then came Nebuchadrezzar II, “And in the 5th month, on the 7th day of the month, which is the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came…unto Jerusalem; And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house he burned with fire…the guard brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.” 2Kg25.8-10
“Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away
Nebuchadrezzar II had expanded the Babylonian Empire, using the old fashioned way of conquering, looting and taking the inhabitants as slaves.
Then after 70 year of captivity, there was a new kid on the block, Cyrus the Great of Persia. The first of the asset managers, he had a new and improved plan: He conquered, rebuilt, gave his new subjects freedom of religion and taxed them only to the point they could pay. Thus his empire expanded quickly.
In the year 539BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia defeated Babylon. Thus, after 70 years of captivity, the Jews were freed by proclamation:
“Now in the 1st of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’” 2Chr36.22-23
The Temple had to be rebuilt and the city returned to habitability, Ezra was sent to take care of the temple:
[Certain men of Judah came, then I asked them:] The remnant that are left there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Nehemiah 1.3
In the year 445BC, the Persian king Artaxerxes decrees that Nehemiah was to oversee the rebuilding of Jerusalem (walls & interior).
In 516BC a smaller Temple is finished and dedicated, but by 445BC Jerusalem is in trouble; the city hasn’t been rebuilt.
The Book of Esther tells the story of God’s people being preserved in persecution and the story of the ninety percent who stayed in Babylon rather than “return” to a place they had never known.
The timeline for the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther looks like this:
710 Isaiah prophesying against Assyrians
605 Daniel is deported to Babylon
597 Ezekiel is deported
586 Jeremiah in Jerusalem siege
539 End of Babylonian Captivity
516 New Temple is dedicated
445 Artaxerxes decrees rebuilding
Here is the summary of what the books cover:
Ezra Rebuilding of Temple
Nehemiah Rebuilding of Jerusalem
Esther Remaining in Babylon
Coming up next week, the Book of Job.
Alice Acker read today’s Epistle, which came from the First Chapter of the Book of Saint James beginning at the Twenty-Second Verse. Saint James tells us “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
St. James reminds us we not only must:
¬ Talk the Talk;
but
¬ Walk the Walk.
We do not gain eternal life and salvation by our good works here on earth, but only by the Grace of God, through His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Through Christ our sins are atoned for that we might go to heaven. True enough, but we demonstrate our attempt to follow his instructions by our works here on earth.
BE ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and contin-ueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Today’s Gospel started in the Twenty-Sixth Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John beginning at the Twenty-Third Verse. Jesus said to his disciples, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
He told us not to ask Him to pray to the Father, but rather that we pray directly to the Father, asking for what we will in His name, “for the Father loveth you, because ye have loved me.” This explains why many of our prayers end in, “we ask all this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” or similar words.
VERILY, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Sermon – Led by the Holy Spirit
To be truly happy here on earth, we need to act in a manner consistent with that which God would have us act. To do this, we need to open our hearts, to allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit that:
• By thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good
• By thy merciful guiding we may perform those things
Thus, we need to enter into a relationship with God, to pray for guidance from Him through the Holy Spirit, that we might be led to think those and do those things which are good.
We need to take a God’s view of our lives and the lives of those around us; not the world’s view. We need to God’s view to a useful understanding of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Jesus tells us not to think in terms of petition—I want…, but rather in terms of consulting—What do you want? Then, wait for the Father’s decision.
Jesus told us to ask God for what we need in His name, not to pray to Him, but to pray to God in His name. For, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.”
By thy merciful guiding we may perform those things, Having consulted the Father, the Answer is carried out by us. For, we are to be doers of the Word of God, and not hearers only!
In His Name, ask to “Be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction and made one body with him that he may dwell in us, and we in him”
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Today we celebrated Ben and Holly Lizak’s 7th anniversary today and Walt Dexter’s 80th birthday!
After Church Hospitality
Today was a team effort. Alice Acker brought a superb selection of local dog nuts and Holly Lizak brought some of the best watermelon seen this year, as well as strawberries which also looked lovely.
Although there was much talking and eating, no one sat down. No known reason, just an observation.
Command Master Chief Brewer Macauley made great coffee. Father Acker managed to get up early enough to make his famous low carb lemonade.
New Nametags
We had no new nametags today.
Blessed Trinity Prayer Team - http://blessedtrinityprayerteam.blogspot.com/
Prayer is an extremely important activity. It is not that God knows not our needs, for He surely does. Yet, Jesus commanded us to ask God for those same needs. In addition to the obvious of asking God for help, offering thanksgiving and the like, prayer helps focus our thoughts on how we might do God's work.
The Prayer Team of the Alpine Anglican Church of the Blessed Trinity was established to help our members and fellow Christians pray for those in need and to give thanks as well for the blessings we have been granted.
What is the commitment from the prayer team?
Each member of the team will pray for the desired outcome at least once per day.
How do I get myself or someone else on the prayer list? You can e-mail one of the prayer team leaders Greg - gnchase@cox.net or Dru - dru@descansorodents.com or call the church office at (619) 722-1772 or fill out a card in church.
What should I ask for? Depends on what you want. Some people merely want God to be asked to heal their ills and be mentioned by their first name, others want a specific outcome and / or have more of their personal information known to the team. Ask for what you want. It is your desire and need for prayer the team is attempting to meet. For typical examples see the list below.
Updating the Team
If you are on our prayer list, or you have submitted a person for us to pray for, please update one of the team members or 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!
Please note that on the green or orange cards at church, you can ask that those to be prayed for have their names disseminated to the “prayer team”, those names will be said in church and appear here. Or, your can ask that the names and purpose be kept confidential, then only Father Acker will know to pray for them.
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!
Please note that on the green or orange cards at church, you can ask that those to be prayed for have their names disseminated to the “prayer team”, those names will be said in church and appear here. Or, your can ask that the names and purpose be kept confidential, then only Father Acker will know to pray for them.
Travel
Ken is on travel this week.
Tim, Jan, Chris, Stephanie, Alex and Andrew are on travel this week.
Tracie and Warren are on travel this week.
Healing
Caroline (age 10 leukemia reoccurrence), Betty, Annie, Salvador (cancer), Betty, Marge, Uni, Bethany (collision), Greg (shoulder surgery), Kathy, Richard, Christian, Trish, Marie, Wanda, Sarah, Tina, Mark, Lois, Jennette, Linn, Gary, Delores, Anna, Ruth, Theresa, Don (post surgery), Melanie, Connie, Tom, Crystal, Thomas, Hadley, Diane, Norm, Gregory, Terri, Mary, Edward, Bert, Jesusa (difficult pregnancy), Sheila, Michele, Marybeth (broken foot, stroke), Bill (infection), Bruce, Susanne, Paul (stroke), Ralph (eyes), Allison (kidney), Bill (ETOH poisoning), Fran (eye)
Kay Denton (Mrs. Kay) – Hospitalized with heart, kidney and lung difficulties with fluid buildup on the lungs and what may be a form of septic arthritis. Please pray for the fluid to dissipate and for her heart to regain regularity. Also, please pray for her to regain her positive attitude. As always, she retains her trust in the Lord, she is just a bit down on things of this earth. Pray also for Mrs. Kay’s family and her close friend Len who are under great stress that they might also keep their trust in the Lord.
Nicole Ethridge - Age 27, mother of two - Has a form of liver disease which is causing her liver to shut down. She is near dialysis and would like you to pray for her disease to go into remission so that she can keep off dialysis and avoid a liver transplant. She asks that you pray for her continued faith and good spirits, as well as strength to take care of her children.
Angelina Torres - hospitalized with a heart condition, please pray for her recovery and return home.
Greg Chase – fell in a gopher hole at school and may have separated a rib, he has much difficulty getting around and prays for a quick recovery. He also asks for forgiveness for making light of the getwell card he got by mistake earlier this year.
Guidance
Christiana, Alexander, Breyana, Vie, Asha, Cory, Heather, Holly, Ken, Maruja, Stella, Shelly, William, Joe, Alexander, Jonathan, Phil, Sandy, Larraine, Brad, Brian, Cindi, Uni, Jennifer, Greg, Ed, Ruthie, Rick, Carol, Susan, Curtis, Stephen, Donny, Chris, Andrew, Keith, Jeff, Penny, Sara, Mark
Homebound/Aged and Infirm
Mary, Donna, Betty, Noko, Adelaide, Evelyn, Lorraine, Ellie, Walter
Armed Forces & Contractors
Tillman, Patrick, Justin, Tim, Evan, Jim, Jason, JR, Matt, Phillip
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.
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.
I’d like to get a different point across or announce something
If you have a different point of view, I would be happy to give you room to get your point across. While this publication is my perspective on events, I recognize not everyone may agree and that some people would like to express their own opinion.
If want to write an article or make an announcement, please forward your item to the Beadle (with a note as to whether or not you would like editing help) to the following address: thebeadle@mac.com.
Special Thanks
Today your Beadle would like to give special thanks to Timothy and Benjamin Barrett who filled in as Front Door Greeters on a moment’s notice. Two more bright and smiling welcome agents one could not ask for.
Epistle Readers
We post the list of Epistle Readers in the Beadle’s Report each week so you can either plan your attendance or your pre-reading as the spirit so moves you.
Date Reader
4 May 2008 Emilie Springer
11 May 2008 Alex Springer
18 May 2008 Jack Arnold
25 May 2008 Jan Macauley
The near future, as well as Next Sunday
Ascension Day is Thursday, 1 May 2008, forty days after Easter. There will be a service at Victoria House Chapel, Evening Prayer at 1815 (6:15 pm) and Holy Communion at 1830 (6:30 pm).
Next Sunday is the Sunday after Ascension Day. What about the sermon? Seems like ti ought to be about the Ascension and what it means to be left behind. But, who knows? What about the pre-service class? Will we have one? Will it pick up where we left off in the Old Testament with Job or will Father Acker lose his place? What about Ground Hog Day instead of Job? Was Job a doctor? Some one said he had a lot of patients, or what that patents? Isn’t it much the same thing? Kind of like déjà vu all over again? Maybe Father Acker will lose his place and overshoot all the way to Matthew.
Unless you come to the service, you will have to wait until you read the Beadle’s Report to find out.
See you next week on Sunday!
Alternate Sources of The Beadle’s Report
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 a single photograph and simple text is available at:
http://thebeadle.blogspot.com/
or with one photograph per issue and colorful text 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
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