Liturgy Lesson for Independence Day: Prayer for our country
June 30, 2007
Why does the Church offer prayer for the nation and its leaders? To teach her people the duty of loyalty and submission to civil rulers and to secure peace and righteous government. (Read 1 St. Timothy 2:2.) Our liturgy employs prayers for our government in several places. In today’s Holy Communion we celebrate our Nation’s birth with the propers (Collect, Epistle and Gospel) especially composed to render the Eucharist, or Great Thanksgiving with the intention of thanking our Heavenly Father for our free land and His blessings on it, while at the same time, calling down further blessings from Him for our country. In the Prayer Offices, we pray the Prayer for the President and Civil Authority, derived from the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, a 4th Century rendering of the Holy Communion service. In it, we ask for Godly leadership, inspired by the Gifts of the Spirit exercised in obedience to God. In other places, we pray for Congress, the military, legislatures, justices, and our Country in general. We also pray for fruitful seasons, rains, relief from rain, safety in calamity, education, and Christian service. And, of course, we also thank God for His provision and Grace to our land. Clearly the Church, along with the Founding Fathers (mostly Anglican) intended us to invoke God into the affairs of our Country. May we continue in their footsteps - may God bless and revive America!
Collect for Independence Day:
O ETERNAL God, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Starting the day
June 28, 2007
Bible Reading: “… we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. ” - 2 Corinthians 4:18 (New King James Version)
Bonus Reading: St. Matt. 13:44-46
Many families wake up to the smell of coffee brewing or the sound of a rooster crowing. A story I read told of a certain family whose wake-up call was the father’s passionate praying filtering through the house. In this household, one youngster would sometimes ease downstairs and join his father as He prayed. One knee was usually raised, so he’d slip in underneath, shielded by his father’s body as he pleaded for the souls of the family. He was drawn by his father’s fervor and commitment - and comforted by being under his knee.
This Godly Dad never prayed for their happiness. He realized that the pursuit of happiness for its own sake is a frustrating, disillusioning, often futile effort. Happiness usually hides from those addicted to its sugar, while it chases after those caught up in something more lasting than momentary excitement.
The youngster never heard his father pray for a bigger house, car, or bank account. Instead, he prayed that his family’s hearts would be ignited and inspired to do things of eternal consequence. “Turn our eyes from the temporal, the physical, and the menial,” he prayed, “and toward the eternal, the spiritual, and the noble.” What intercession - and what priorities!
No, this father never pressured his children toward achievement. He knew that the push had to come from inner reserves Jesus provided as He built by a real and personal relationship and Godly character - something outward designs could not do. As the priest of his household, he simply dangled before them the possibilities, set the example, and then commended them to Heavenly Purpose. Thanks to his example, they sometimes took the bait.
–Adapted from John Ashcroft’s Lessons from a Father to His Son
Think about it: What kind of priorities do we set in our household and family? Do we have our concert first and tune our instruments afterward? Start the day with God instead!
Grace and peace,
Chip+
Liturgy Lesson for St. John Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
June 22, 2007
Today, we commemorate St. John Baptist, and, in contrast to many of the saints’ days, we observe his nativity (birth) rather than his death. Called in some places the “Christmas of Summer,” this event celebrates a miracle birth involving a supernatural and miraculous intervention by God in the pregnancy and birth. St. John Baptist was the last and greatest of the prophets, and was both our Lord’s cousin and His herald, as documented in the early chapters of SS. Luke and Matthew. He was the first to proclaim the Lamb of God and actually ministered Baptism to our Lord, an act of humility on Jesus’ part, and certainly an awesome and highly emotional act of obedience on St. John’s. St. John said, speaking of the coming ministry of the Messiah words we can live our devotional lives by: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” St. Augustine renders a strikingly mystical interpretation of these words when he notes that beginning with the celebration of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, the days actually decrease in length, whereas, beginning with the Nativity of Our Lord, they lengthen. This is the lesson on this day, then - He must increase, and we diminish - for the Christian, this means invoking and assimilating Christ’s nature, more and more, in favor of our own fallen selves - lives changed by His Presence!
He’s There For Us
June 17, 2007
I will never leave you nor forsake you. — Hebrews 13:5
Don Harris frequently interviews Christian athletes for Sports Blast show and common themes run through the sports celebrities’ lives. One theme is the importance of parents in the lives of stars who find success in life as well as on the field.
Howard Cross, a football player for the New York Giants, typifies that response. “I spent most of my time with my dad. He was always there for me, taking care of me, pointing me in the right direction.” And basketball player Avery Johnson, ex-point guard for the San Antonio Spurs, says, “My parents were prime-time examples. They were always there for me.”
“Always there” - what a tribute those two words are for parents! The importance of “being there” is indisputable. Children need a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, a heart to share. On this Father’s day weekend, we can take a cue from our heavenly Father. Godly parents who demonstrate this “being there” attitude live out, on a small scale what God does for us, every day - if we let Him. He literally is always there! And He promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). What a great deal!
There’s never a moment you can’t ask our heavenly Father for help. There’s not a trial we pass through without His assistance. Once we’ve placed the entirety of our lives and faith in Him, we can confidently say, “He’s always there for me!” Praise the Lord!
Grace and peace,
Chip+
Liturgy Lesson for the Second Sunday after Trinity: The Eucharist
June 16, 2007
The Lord’s Supper , also called Eucharist (Great Thanksgiving), Holy Communion, or Mass (meaning a sending out) is the central worship act and one of two sacraments (including penance) repeated in the Church.
Ordained by our Lord in St. Matt 26, St. Mark 14, St. Luke 22 and 1 Cor 11 , it is central to our life in Jesus. We use the term “life” decidedly, because Jesus commanded us to observe this sacrament to have life.
Additionally, He also told us to do it in remembrance of Him - a term meaning “calling Him back.” Because of this, we believe He inhabits the wine and bread spiritually by the Holy Ghost, accomplished by the Prayer of Consecration (”This is my Body”) and the Epiclesis - the calling near of the Holy Ghost (”And we most humbly beseech thee to hear us…”) prayed shortly after the Consecration. In short, our Lord is present in the consecrated elements.
But what does this mean to the Faithful who eat this Heavenly feast? We can express it well in the simple devotion we teach in the Salt and Light Course. After we have spent time preparing for the service by a personal examen and invoking the Holy Ghost’s indwelling presence personally, we ask Him to minister to us collectively by a series of entreaties to purify us, teach us by the Scripture, forgive our sins and admit us to the Holy Table - all leading us to an exchange of our own nature for that of the Lord Himself.
The simple devotion? Just before receiving the Holy Sacrament we pray,” Thy nature, O Lord, for my nature.” This is the ultimate “good deal” of the ages - giving our Father our fallen flesh for His more Excellent Way. This is why we urge our members to have Communion at least weekly - we need His life and His nature.
Come Holy Ghost - change us into the Lord’s image when we exchange His own nature for ours in your sending out of your Church into the World.
Liturgy Lesson for the First Sunday after Trinity: St. Barnabas, the Apostle
June 11, 2007
Saints’ days, (such as St. Barnabas on June 11) honor the first martyrs, those most nearly connected with our Lord in establishing His Church, and all our faithful departed. We should study their Godly lives - especially their commitment to God’s Kingdom - and ask God to help us follow their examples. Saints’ days date from at least the second century, growing from ancient Christians meeting at martyrs’ graves on their death anniversaries to celebrate and praise God for their heroic lives in our great Heavenly parokia, or parish - God’s family.
St. Barnabas was a Levite - a Jewish priest who became a Christian and one of the 70 evangelists in St. Luke 10:1. The most striking thing about him was his commitment to prayer, characterized by a retreat he and St. Paul had at Antioch, where they ministered to the Lord and fasted. Here, the word “ministered” means celebrated the liturgy and the Holy Mysteries of the Eucharist daily. In the middle of this, the Holy Ghost directed the Church to separate (make holy - ordain) Barnabas and Paul for the work He had for them. As a result of focused prayer, then, their work began - ministry for both men that yielded the Church we know today. The huge lesson, then, is the great mission of the Church Militant stems from the liturgy (people’s work) of prayer and worship - not wishing, planning, scheming, or manipulating. May we, then, be people of prayer and liturgy - to a great harvest in God’s vineyard!
Liturgy Lesson for Trinity Sunday: Celebrating the Triune God
June 2, 2007
Trinity Sunday celebrates the great Christian belief in our triune God-one (among many) that distinguishes us from any religion, anytime, anywhere. We aren’t pagan polytheists, worshipping multiple gods, but believe in the one true God, expressed in three persons-the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost-but still, one God. He revealed this truth to us via His Word - Holy Scripture - and much of the New Testament would be unintelligible without it. The Word trumpets God’s Trinity nature: He is one God in Isa 44:6-8; II Sam 7:22 & Deut 6; the Father is God in St. Matt 6:9; St. John 20; Rom 9:25 & II Cor 6:18; the Son is God in St. John 1 & 20; Heb 1: 1-8 & I Tim 3:16; the Holy Ghost is God Acts 5:3; I Cor 2:11 & Ps. 139:7. In liturgical worship, we reverence the invocation of the Blessed Trinity in worship with the Sign of the Cross, made over our forehead, breastbone, and to either shoulder-which also commemorates the Jewish Passover-the Blood of the Pascal Lamb, Jesus, applied to door and lintel, forming a cross by which we enter our dwelling place. The Church Fathers correctly represented Trinity with green, as this is the time of growth and fullness, because we have received God’s fullness-God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-and grow in Him!
