E-Newsletter for June 15, 2005 Issue 2
Pax et Bonum


The Weekly E-Newsletter and Online Worship Resource from St. James Parish

As you can see, we have a new name, suggested by Alice Ober.  Thanks, Alice!
 
Enkindle,
we beseech thee, O Lord,
the light of our
understanding,
And pour forth love
into our hearts,
that we may be able
to love thee worthily.
Amen

Today is the feast day of Evelyn Underhill, an English mystic who began writing about the spiritual life when she was sixteen.  During the first world war, Evelyn was deeply involved in the war effort, as was much of the Anglican church.  However, when the devastation of that war with its overwhelming loss of life became known, Evelyn, through her own spiritual journey, became a lifelong pacifist.  
   Evelyn had for a spiritual director a devout Catholic, and struggled for many years with wondering if she should convert to Catholicism.  She chose in the end to remain with her Anglican roots, but considered herself a "Catholic Christian."
   In her little book, The Spiritual Life, Evelyn wrote:  

"We mostly spend those lives conjugating three verbs:  to Want, to Have, and to Do.  
Craving, clutching, and fussing, on the material, political, social, emotional, intellectual
­ even on the religious plane, we are kept in perpetual unrest:
forgetting that none of these verbs have any ultimate significance,
except so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be;
and that Being, not wanting, having and doing, is the essence of a spiritual life."  

Extraordinarily Ordinary

   On Sunday, Charlie+ challenged us to  remember the ordinary people that have done extraordinary things.  We have been challenged to be willing to take a risk, to step out into the harvest as laborers.  I found myself thinking once again of Abraham, an ordinary man with nothing particular to set him apart, except that he was called by God.
  "The Lord said to Abram, "Leave you native land, your relatives, and your fatherıs home, and go to a country that I am going to show you." (Gen. 12:1).  So Abram, at the age of 75, packed up his household and left the place he had always known. The stories in the Bible, and the commentary on Abram in the Letter to the Hebrews focus on Abramıs faithful response: God called him to go, so he did.  What we are not told is the human side of the story.  What kind of sorrow did Abram suffer in leaving all he knew behind?  How much stress was put on Abram and Sarahıs relationship when this call happened?  How many beloved people did Abram say goodbye to?  
  Sometimes, in looking at the faith stories, we forget to see the human side.  I think many times, it is that human side that makes the story truly remarkable ­ the ordinary person going through the pain and stress that ordinary people go through, in order to do the extraordinary.  Faithfulness requires something of us beyond our comfort zones.  The wonderful thing is, that we are called into this extraordinary existence in the midst of community ­ other ordinary people attempting to live extraordinary lives.  No doubt Abram and Sarah found the same comfort in those that went with them on the journey.


Teach us good Lord to serve Thee as Thou deservest:  

to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;

to labour and not ask for any reward

Save that of knowing that we do Thy will

                                               St. Ignatius Loyola


Debra's Midweek Meditation


"We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Romans 6:9-11


 Chapter 6 of Romans continues the explication of faithful living.  Paul has turned to talking about sin and grace.


The desire to live in accordance with grace comes from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Christ died so that we might experience the hope of Resurrection life.
 
Paul alludes to the theology of Baptism as the crucifixion of the old self and the resurrection of the new self.
 
In other words, we are sealed as Christ's own in Baptism.  We belong to God now.  Our life is to be lived in faithfulness to the gift of grace pouring out into us even now.
 
But what does that mean for me as I pray this day and work and struggle?
It means, at least in part, that I am becoming a new creation each moment I move closer to God.
It means that God has a vision of my life that surpasses my wildest imaginings.
It means that in my prayer, and my living out of that prayer, I may begin to participate in that vision.
 
I am filled with grace.
 
I belong to God.
 
Blessings, Debra
 
For further study on Chapter 6 read from p.564-568 in Brown's book and Chapter 1 in NT Wright's book.
e-mail questions will be answered!


Daily Morning Prayer:

http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

If the link doesn't open, highlight it, click copy, and then Paste it into your web server address line.

This Week at St. James


Tonight:  6:30 Summer Christian Formation Discernment Group
Friday:  Godly Play training, Annapolis
Saturday:  Social Ministries barbecue
Sunday:  Holy Eucharist at 8:00 &10:15
1:30 Polo match
5:00 Evensong ­ Donıt miss it!
Monday:  7pm  Buildings and Grounds

Prayers Etc.

Last week I asked prayers for Rick Hoecker.  He has a virulent form of colon cancer, and is in Godıs hands.  Pray for him, and his wife, Maria.

Prayer needs from St. James:

Those in need of healing and their families:
Susan              Dorothy         Frank           David    
Philip              Mercer          Chloe    
Tom                Jeffrey          Sarah J.
Joel B.             Anna B.        Lelia G.
Lorraine           Milt             Lauren S.
Laurel              Natalie K.     Karl
Maria R.           Peggy K.      Rosemary
Denise              Pat               Patıs Mother
Heather             J.B.             Uncle Bob O.
Mark C.            Marion J.    Chase & Sandy

All wounded soldiers, sailors, marines and
airmen in our military hospitals.  

The crew of the USS San Francisco

For our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

We pray for the repose of the soul of the mother of Judy Connelly and Jo OıDonnell.

In Closing:  


No pictured likeness of my lord
I have;
He carved no record of His ministry
On wood or stone,
He left no sculptured tomb
Nor parchment dim
But trusted for all memory of Him
Manıs heart alone.

Who sees the face but sees in part;
Who reads the spirit which it hides,
Sees all;
  he needs no more.

Thy life in my life, Lord,
   Give thou to me;
And then, in truth,
   I may ever see
My Masterıs face!

                                                       William Hurd Hillyer




In the traditional Franciscan salutation,

Pax et Bonum,  


Loree+



   



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