Grant us, Lord, to begin this period of Christian warfare by holy fasting;

so that we who are about to fight against the spirits of evil

may be helped and defended by self-denial, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Wednesday: Wednesday: Evening Prayer 5:45, Low Mass 6pm, and Bible study 6:45 on the Gospel of St. John (picking up at John 4:1).

Next Sunday February 28th, Second Sunday in Lent, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.

Reflections: Our Gospel tells us the events of Our Lord’s 40 days of Fast and the subsequent encounter with Satan, the spiritual overlord of this world. There are so many points for reflection within this, a lifetime of study. But what I would like to do is make the shift from our human fleshly perspective of these events, to that of Heaven and the Unseen World. We naturally understand these stories from our own point of view … how we might experience such adventures and trials (which is a noble exercise for sure) and miss the larger picture on the Cosmic scale and beyond. First it is important to follow the flow of unfolding events. And they are real events and not intended to be read as allegories or parables. The vast majority of Biblical scholars agree that the reported the events in Jesus’ ministry are just that … eye witness accounts of actual happenings.

So … just before Jesus “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness”, what had happened? He had been baptized by John Baptist and a huge Seen and Unseen reality event occurred. Jesus, the perfect man, the second Adam, while redeeming water baptism for us, had the Fullness of the Holy Ghost descend upon Him … that is come down from the heavenly realms and enter Fully  into Him. And all this was sealed by the Father Almighty declaring His identity as the Second Person of the Trinity. “This is My Son in Whom I am well pleased.” Now that’s Who  walked into the wilderness to pray and commune with His Father for 40 days and nights in preparation for the encounter with the resident spiritual overlord of the earth. Can you just imagine that person?! No lightweight I assure you … but the heaviest of heavy weights. Filled with the Full weight of Glory as C S Lewis might put it. He  was God, the Logos and Word among us.

We tend to see such a fasting pilgrimage as full of suffering and deprivation, as surely it would be for us mere men. But Scripture doesn’t tell us that Jesus suffered … just that afterwards He was hungry, understandably so. The fasting was a time of turning down the demands and voice of His body so that His attention could be totally towards His Father God. (and that’s certainly a Lenten lesson for us) So after this time of pure communing with His Father through the Fullness of the Holy Ghost, what kind of magnificent and glorious Being do you think was waiting for the approach of the mightiest fallen angel, Satan? The most intelligent and spiritually powerful being on earth, hereto for, presuming to attempt to “make a deal with”, negotiate with, over power with lies … the very Creator of the Worlds filled with the fullness of the Holy Ghost.

Again from our perspective it might seem nip and tuck … because it sure would be for us. We see the story from the perspective of the man and not the Divinity. No thank you to food for a starving body. No thank you to total invulnerability to any human suffering. No thank you to rule over the whole earth. Only the greatest of the Saints could withstand such offers, such temptations. For us, there would be no contest. We’d be lost.

But it wasn’t us, it was Him  in all His pre-Ascension Glory that allowed that traitor to approach, to even converse with Him. So I don’t think it was a struggle for Our Lord. I suppose His body may have yearned, but it could wait for the coming angels. What happened was as always, Our Lord serving notice to a very real Satan that his rebellion was doomed, and giving us a life saving lesson in recognizing and avoiding Satan’s traps. All of it unfolded in His purpose, Grace and Mercy.

The whole journey to Calvary and through death to Resurrection … was to satisfy our debt to a totally Righteous God so that now we can commune with Him in Spirit and Truth.  Because God in His three Persons could atone for us, we, every one of us, can be restored to God’s intended purpose and Glory for us. We couldn’t possibly do this. God Almighty the Triune God did it for us. To be able to glimpse the activities of heaven, the Holy Motions, can free us to soar in the freedom of redeemed souls adopted by God Almighty for eternal life.

Wednesday: Ash Wednesday Choral Mass with Imposition of Ashes at 6pm. A day of Obligation.

Next Sunday February 21st, First Sunday in Lent, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.

Reflections: “Remember, oh man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” Last night we had our solemn and beautiful service of Ash Wednesday. Within that solemn rite, we formally and solemnly acknowledge our wretchedness before God.  And we do it corporately … with each other, as a parish family going before the overwhelming Righteousness of God to plead for mercy … instead of richly deserved justice. We plead that the Passion of Jesus Christ be placed between us and our thoroughly deserved punishment.  We plead that God Almighty see only Jesus and not our miserable fallen selves. We ceremonially abase ourselves.  We mark ourselves with ashes … ashes of grieving and regret … drawn in a Cross on our foreheads. The ashes say it all. Ashes to mark us.  We look at each other and see those ashes, that declaration of sinfulness. I look at you and see it.  You look at me and see it. There’s no getting around it, it’s there !  And it’s telling the truth!

We are all like dust … with absolutely nothing to hold us together except for the loving will of Almighty God. And if we deserve to lose that holding together, and we really do deserve to lose that holding together … what could possibly make the difference? The difference is … and this is the whole point really, those ashes are shaped in a Cross.  Even our dust bears the mark, bears the pattern of Our Lord’s Cross of Crucifixion … of His Body broken and His Blood poured out … for us,   given for us. Our very natures are shaped by His nature. We bear His identity as a shaping,  patterning Cross sealing us from, protecting us from  judgment and hell.

And our part is live that Cross of ashes … to go to Him with broken and contrite hearts … to acknowledge to Him the truth of our utter wretchedness and our complete dependence on Him. Lent is a time of getting real about ourselves … so that God can be real to us. As we do that, that pattern, that Cross seeps down into and through us. It shapes us and prepares us.  That Cross makes us ready to receive perfect remission and forgiveness … and ready for a life of love with God and each other.

Grant us, Lord, to begin this period of Christian warfare by holy fasting; so that we who are about to fight against the spirits of evil

may be helped and defended by self-denial, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

A  Bible memory verse: St. Luke viii: “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Wednesday: St Scholastica, Evening Prayer 5:45, Low Mass 6pm, and Bible study 6:45 on the Gospel of St. John (picking up at John 4:1).

Remember the next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday (a day of Obligation). Imposition of Ashes and Choral Mass begin at 6pm.

Next Sunday February 14th, Quinquagesima, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded with your pledges.

Reflections: In our Sexagesima Gospel Our Lord offers us the wonderful Parable of the Sower. In it he describes how most folks will respond to Him and His Word. He knew that it was going to hard for them to hear and understand. Many will hear and not really hear. Many will see and not really see.  The seed of the Word sown by the Word Himself will not be taken in … and there will be no fruit. As Scripture says, His own received Him not. Even His own disciples were perplexed.

And then He does a wonderful thing. He draws aside the veil of countless centuries and He explicitly explains the Parable to His disciples.  (And by inheritance, to all of us. We are to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.) It is not as though the disciples were prepared, or able, or safe to receive it. They didn’t get it.  In fact they were headed for the sad crisis of cowardice and betrayal in Jerusalem.  They themselves weren’t a lot of good ground … but Our Lord as Sovereign decided to give them Word and Spirit. And till them up and spade them over, so to speak, and make them “good ground.”

So we have the miracle of His opening the mysteries of God for the first time in all of history. Then we have miracle of to whom  He opened the mysteries … His disciples and thereby us and all men.    And we have the miracle of the Gospel itself which is the guarantee of reconciliation with God Almighty. The Gospel which to us seems so open, so available, had been closed to all mankind. And we have it now as a “testament”, a new testament, a God given legal guarantee of the terms and realities of our relationship with Him and our eternal life. Can you think of picking up your Bible or your BCP (which is mostly Scripture) and holding it in your hands knowing that it is a written totally solid guarantee of your eternal glorious future? That’s what it really is, you know. Nothing less than that. How’s that for a warranty? Terms of the contract … forever. Benefits … resurrection and glorious eternal life. I’ll take it!

Praise be to Jesus Christ!

God bless you all.

A  Bible memory verse: I Corinthians ix, “So run, that ye may obtain.”

Wednesday: Please note that there will be no services this Wednesday Feb 3rd. Your Vicar will be meeting with the +Archbishop at St.  Thomas’ in San Francisco that day. Everyone is invited to join the folks at St. Thomas’ for Mass and Bible study starting at 5:45 p.m.

Next Sunday February 7th, Sexagesima, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded with your pledges.

Reflections: Welcome to Shrovetide, everyone. In I Corinthians, St. Paul uses the analogy of preparing for and competing in the Isthmian Games (very like the Olympian Games) to describe what should be our model for Lenten life. “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air”. “I beat my body and make it my slave.” The competitors in the Games gave their all to win a wreath of parsley … the corruptible crown that withers away.  This means performing the disciplines of  the necessary physical training, which nobody really wants to do, because it hurts, although you may feel great afterwards.  We’ve got to do more than we’re inclined to do. Our human nature fights against our following Christ and obeying His Father.  If Our Lord has allowed Himself to be tortured and beaten and crucified for our sake, then for His sake we can do our training and discipline ourselves to His honor and glory. We can make every act of our bodies, every act of our lives, a sacrifice to the glory of the True God we worship. If pagans could do this for false gods, then we can do it for the True.  Each one of us has some way or means we can use to practice a Lenten discipline. The point is to focus on God and not be obsessed with fasting or observance. Some of us will be able to follow a strict  dietary fast and most of us will find some lesser way that we can accomplish that is in balance with the rest of our responsibilities. Whatever we give up or add, it should draw us closer to God. Perhaps we could start out with reading a Psalm a day and the Lord’s Prayer. 5-10 minutes? We can do that. God will be pleased.

Please note that there will be no services next Wednesday after this, Wednesday Feb 3rd. Your Vicar will be meeting with the +Archbishop at St.  Thomas’ in San Francisco that day. Everyone is invited to join the folks at St. Thomas’ for Mass and Bible study starting at 5:45 p.m.

Next Sunday January 31st, Septuagesima, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded with your pledges.

Reflections: It is ironic that in 40+years of counseling and ministry the most common complaint I hear, when people are being really honest about themselves, is that they judge themselves unworthy and are afraid to approach God. They get past the barrier of self absorption and trying to rebuild self esteem and then confront a deeper truth. We have this delusion that we could  be  clean and sweet and pure enough  to approach God on our own. I’ll tell you a secret about human psychology and the human soul. Are you ready for it?? We have no essential worth of self except  that we bear the image of our Creator. The only source of our worth is God. No amount of good works or good intentions will ever qualify us to approach God on our own merits. The Kingdom of Heaven is not a meritocracy. We are loved and valued by God as our Heavenly Father … our ABBA. He loves us as His children; as unique and special each and every one.

To disregard that beautiful Truth is very perilous. Our particular difficulty is that we live in such a materialistic culture, that belief in the Unseen realm is regarded as goofy or neurotic or dangerous. But to deny our Heavenly Father’s love is downright crazy.

The sins we hold against ourselves block our approach to the Savior. We’ve been washed clean by God and we won’t accept the momentous truth of it. We can’t believe Jesus wants to ease and relieve us. This is why there is such deep wisdom and common sense in our approach to Him through the Liturgy. He gives us prayers and forms and assurances. And finally He brings us to the point where we truly can say:

“We are not worthy, but you Lord will speak the Word and we shall be healed.”

And it’s true. Praise be to Jesus Christ!

Blessing means to release whomever and whatever into the Will of God. To bless means to pray for God’s will, God’s blessing, to happen in that person’s life. It doesn’t mean wishing good or bad for them, even though your heart may strain for good or bad. All that ultimately matters,  is being in God’s will. So how ever we’ve been hurt or disappointed, we are to desire and pray for that person to be within God’s purpose for them. It’s all  that we can ultimately do anyway. If we cannot do that, then we end up in opposition to God’s will … that he would rule over all. However much we have been hurt by whatever unrighteous person or deed, we must release them to God or else the wound causes us  to be alienated from God. And we begin our journey to hell, alienation from God, regardless of what happens to our persecutor. It can seem very hard to be hurt terribly and then have to pray for God’s will, which may be mercy, for that person, that betrayer, that wretch, that monster, that ungrateful one. But that is what we must do in order to avoid being sucked into the cycle of evil ourselves. It is really spiritual survival.

“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem.”

A  Bible memory verse: St. Mark I, ”Thou art my Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”

Wednesday: SS Fabian and Sebastian, Evening Prayer 5:45, Low Mass 6pm, and Bible study 6:45 on the Gospel of St. John (picking up at John 3:27).

Next Sunday January 24th, Third Sunday after the Epiphany (Comm St. Timothy), Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded with your pledges.

Reflections: In our rapt gazing into the light of Epiphany, into the manifold revealing of the true Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we look along our natural lines of sight which go to our horizon in our time and world. We look for how Our Lord chooses to reveal Himself to us on our scale. In the Epiphany Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul gives us a glimpse of the Cosmic and Unseen world consequences of that Epiphany. The church … that’s us … is to make known unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God. Hardly just a local planet earth event! All that we can imagine exists, seen and unseen, the entire universe and beyond, is to be taught by the Body of Christ … again, that’s us … about the manifold wisdom and purposes of God Almighty. How’s that as a job description? That’s our calling. That’s what the Holy Spirit equips us to do as the Body of Christ. Try stretching yourselves around that revelation. God does not intend us for lesser things. Wow and amen.

A  Bible memory verse: Ephesians iii, “now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God”

Wednesday: Octave Day of the Epiphany, Evening Prayer 5:45, Low Mass 6pm, and Bible study 6:45 on the Gospel of St. John (picking up at John 3:24).

Next Sunday January 17th, Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.

How do we grasp this? Worshipping a baby?!   It’s understandable that the world doesn’t get it or really want to. No intellectual effort, no matter how supercharged can encompass it.  On the one hand we have the frailest being in our human life experience …  and on the other we have the Lord and Creator of all.  Those extreme polar points are like  book ends of the story of our journey with God. And all the in between we will have all of eternity to read.

For us, it begins in the birth of Jesus Christ as a baby boy …  and then journeys towards God Almighty, and the Throne of Jesus Christ. This is all part of the unfolding Epiphany … the great revealing of our Lord among us. Sunday we read the Propers of the Vigil of the Epiphany. Wednesday is the actual Epiphany Day.  Wednesday Mass we will celebrate it, and next Sunday we will celebrate further His revealing in the First Sunday after Epiphany. It’s all to guide us into seeing Him as He really is … so that we are not confused about Who He is and who we are in relation to Him. Try spending a day or even a few hours holding in your minds the Ultimate Truth of Who He is … and that He is your Lord and Savior. It might just change everything for you.

………….

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

A  Bible memory verse: Collect Christmas II: “Grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives.”

Wednesdays: the Feast of the Epiphany, Evening Prayer 5:45, Low Mass 6pm, and Bible study 6:45 on the Gospel of St. John (picking up at John 3:21).

This Feast is considered a Day of Obligation.

Next Sunday January 10th, First Sunday after Epiphany, Morning Prayer at 9:30am; Choral Mass at 11am.