“If the only
prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would
suffice.”
Meister Eckhart
Today is the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle. Andrew is the patron
saint of Scotland. Andrew was best known as the brother of the impetuous
Simon Peter. Andrew was one of two disciples of John the Baptist, who,
when seeing Jesus approach the waters of the Jordan, said “Behold the Lamb of
God.” (John 1:29) John also records Andrew as being the one who
brings his brother Simon Peter to Jesus. In this way, one could say Andrew was
the first Christian missionary.
Andrew was the one who brought to Jesus the
boy with the five loaves and two fish – perhaps Andrew had enough faith to
believe that Jesus could actually do something with that small amount of food.
Eusebius, the church historian, claimed that Andrew became a missionary to
Scythia. Tradition says he was fastened on an X-shaped cross and died at
the hands of angry pagans.
Collect for St. Andrew:
Almighty God, who gave such grace to
your apostle Andrew that he readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ,
and brought his brother with him: Give us, who are called by your Holy
Word, grace to follow him without delay, and to bring those near to us into his
gracious presence; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and forever. AMEN
ADVENT
Lord Jesus Christ,
Byzantine
Prayer
Son of God and son of Mary,
You
are the radiant start of the morning.
Come and deliver us from our
fears
And the darkness in our everyday lives.
As the Church in earlier
times
Once cried for you,
We cry again with one voice:
Come, Lord
Jesus, come!
Look with mercy upon us
Who await your coming,
And make
shine on us
Your saving light.
Advent has come upon us like a storm, first crying from Mark, “Be ready!
Stay Alert!” and then telling once again the story of John the Baptist – a story
so familiar to us, that I wonder if we are aware of how strange it is. A
man dressed in camel hair, who eats bugs, and says “Repent, for the kingdom of
God is at hand.” Who would listen? What prompted people to go out to
this strange man at the edge of the Jordan and be baptized? What kind of
hunger was resident in the people of Judea that they would seek to follow such a
strange prophet?
I have
always tried to keep Advent in a quiet reflective way, but this year, I find
myself brought to attention by the stark portrayal of these pre-Christian
events. They are anything but quiet. They are disturbing, calling for us
to do....something! Either reject the message, or behold it, take it in to
ourselves, and become it... Become the very light that we desire to see.
Let Advent speak its
disturbing message, and listen. Listen. “A voice in the wilderness
crying, “prepare the way for the Lord. Make his paths straight.”
Where is our wilderness? How do we need to
prepare?Lord of the excluded,
Iona Abbey
Prayer
Open my ears to those
I
would prefer not to hear,
Open my life to those
I would prefer not to
know.
Open my heart to those
I would prefer not to love,
And so open
my eyes to see
Where I exclude You.
Debra’s Midweek Meditation
A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and
all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Isaiah 40:2-5
We continue walking a prophetic path toward Christmas with this reading
from Isaiah.
God longs to comfort and reveal God's glory to all
people.
The vision of a level path to God strikes me as a cooperation between
humanity and divinity.
I used to hear this prophecy as a job description for
the faithful.
When I consider the admonition in this way, I am
defeated before I begin. It is beyond my ability to alter the landscape of the
earth as well as the landscape of my heart.
If I recognize God's desire for transformation in me then I know I am
being asked to cooperate with grace--the movement of God in and through
me.
What if this way through the wilderness is more like moonlight and less
like a bulldozer.
What if I only need eyes to see this pathway which is
already being made?
Like the blind man that Jesus heals, perhaps as I
recognize the grace of God, I, too, will see clearly.
The path will be made
not only level but visible!
Blessings,
Debra
Daily Morning Prayer
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm
Long is our winter,
Dark is our night;
Come, set
us free,
O Saving Light!
This Week at St. James
Saturday:
Diocesan Blood Drive, 8-2 in the Susan Tucker Moore Room
Sunday:
10:15 Children’s Eucharist in the Susan Tucker Moore
Room
2:00
Gleaning at One Straw
Farm
3:00
Eine Kleine Kirchenmusik: North Harford High Madrigals and the Maryland
Conservatory
Chorale
Tuesday:
7:30 Vestry Admin. Meeting
Prayers ETC.
Almighty God, we
commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed
forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace;
strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the
perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence
wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen
A
prayer for those serving in the armed forces:
Book of Common
Prayer
For those in need of healing and their families:
David W. Pat B. Ellie
Joe R. Bill L. Chris L. Kristin L.
Katie H. Maria R. Anna B.
Kate H. Nancy S.
Josh & Lovisah Bob
M.
Debbie Gary Plummer
JB, Chase & Sandy
The Paul Shelton Family
Becky L. Dot H.
Mary Lee I. Donald
M. Brian E.
Barbara W. Paul R.
Nancy G. Tony G. Joel
Arabella Henry H. Mary Ann
S. Paul & Fritz The Keelty Family
The Shockey Family
Royston Smithson and his family who mourn.
Our seminarian Laura Brecht and her
husband Lyle.
In Closing:
Pax et Bonum,
May Almighty
God, by whose providence our Savior Christ came among us in great humility,
sanctify you with the light of his blessing and set you free from all sin.
May he whose second coming in power and great glory
we await, make you steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, and constant in
love.
May you, who rejoice in the first Advent of our
Redeemer, at his second Advent be rewarded with unending life.
AMEN
Loree+
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