The sacred Three
To save,
To shield,
To surround
The hearth,
The house,
The household,
This eve,
This night,
Oh! This eve,
This night,
And every night,
Each single night,
Amen.
(Celtic Household Prayer)

Icons: Windows of the Soul
This week a group of women from St. James took a tour of The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Washington, D.C. It is better known as the National Cathedral. Our tour guide had much more to share than the brief hour could hold, but in that hour, she spoke many times about the iconography of the Cathedral. Gothic cathedrals were created during a time when the majority of people did not read. Therefore, the cathedral itself is a representation to the non-reader of God’s incredible power, beauty, and glory. Within Cathedrals there are many iconic representations, from the stained glass windows, to the stone carvings, tapestries, paintings, and needlepoint.

The iconography at the cathedral was a representation to me about how life speaks in its simplest moments. Our trip became an icon of friendship, strength in love, joy, and shared discovery. Our lives in the church community echo the lives of the Trinity – shared relationship, variety of gifts and function, but all unified in purpose and calling. Our community is our cathedral, a living message to be read by all as we walk together toward becoming more Christ-like each day, windows into our own souls, and the shared soul of our church.

Father, behold thy child;
Creator, behold thy creature: Master, behold thy disciple:
Saviour, behold thy redeemed one:

Spirit, behold thy cleansed one:
Comforter, behold one whom thou dost uphold:

So I come to thee,
O infinite and unimaginable,
To worship thee.
- Margaret Cropper

Our God, and God of our fathers, may our rest be pleasing to you….
(Jewish prayer)
Beginning next Monday, I will be on vacation for two weeks. Therefore, there will not be a Pax published until July 5th. Rest is a good thing! I hope all of you will find time this summer for refreshment and renewal.
Loree+

Debra’s Midweek Meditation
" with the eyes of your heart enlightened,
you may know what is the hope
to which he has called you,"
Ephesians 1:18

Last week I introduced Ephesians, the epistle we will be studying this summer. Our quote comes from the thanksgiving for the faithful, with which this epistle begins. What a wonderful way to start a communication with those in your spiritual family--giving thanks for them and the graces which God is pouring upon them.

This gives us a hint of what it means to see with the eyes of the heart. When I am thankful for the blessings I receive, my posture becomes open as well as receptive. I do not need to engage in judging deficits because I see so clearly the deep love that God has for me and the other. Verse 18 of Chapter One emphasizes one of the themes of Ephesians-that of unity. In fact, hope, is one of the "seven unities" of the Church.

As Christians we are meant to have hope--the hope that is given to us from God in Christ. What does that mean for us?

In part, it means that I may count on hope coming from God and not manufactured by me. Because my eyesight is limited I can't always see what there is to be hopeful about. Christian hope is more universal than that. Christian hope is faith in action. The hope that I am given in Christ moves me to help another, or love another, or embrace another. Hope is an active word constantly streaming out of the heart to encounter a suffering world and to leave that world touched by grace.

Blessings,
Debra

Read Ephesian 1:1-18 and linger on verse 18.

Almighty God, the giver of all good things, without whose help all labor is ineffectual, and without whose grace all wisdom is folly; grant, I beseech thee, that in this my undertaking, thy Holy Spirit may not be withheld from me, but that I may promote thy glory, and the salvation both of myself and others; grant this, O Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Lord bless me. So be it.
(Samuel Johnson)

Daily Morning Prayer
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm

This week at St. James
Thursday: St. James Youth Swim Party
Friday: 10:00 Funeral for Constance Miller
Sunday: Worship at 8:00 and 10:15; 5:00 Father’s Day Festal Evensong
Monday: 10:00 Narnia Book Study; 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Vacation Bible School (Monday through Friday at St. James)
Thursday: Newsletter Folding Day
Wednesday: 8:30 Healing Eucharist
Saturday: (6/24) 11:00 Art Callaham Ordination at the Cathedral in Baltimore
Sunday: Blessing of Honduras Missionaries
Monday (26th) 10:00 Narnia Book Study
Wednesday: 8:30 Healing Eucharist
Friday: (30th) Mission to Honduras leaves.

Prayers, Etc.

Dot; Sue; Lori; Bill; Sarah; Joel; Toni; Anna Lelia; Philip
David; Brooke; Leib & Carlyn; Lovisah; Brooke Hodges
Brian E.; Bryan G.; Jeffrey; Margaret; Nancy Beck; Traskey Family

For Constance Miller, who has died, and her family who mourn.
For our missionaries to Honduras.
For Laura and Lyle Brecht.
For those who are deployed and their families.

O come, Holy Spirit, inflame my heart, set it on fire with love. Burn away my self-centeredness so that I can love unselfishly. Breathe your life-giving breath into my soul so that I can live freely and joyously, unrestricted by self-consciousness, and may be ready to go wherever you may send me. Come like a gentle breeze and give me your still peace so that I may be quiet and know the wonder of your presence, and help diffuse it in the world. Never let me shut you out; never let me try to limit you to my capacity; act freely in me and through me, never leave me, O Lord and giver of life!
(M. Hollings and E. Gullick, from The Oxford Book of Prayer)

In Closing:

I pray for thee a joyous life,
Honor, estate, and good repute,
No sigh from thy breast,
No tear from thine eye.

No hindrance on thy path,
No shadow on thy face,
Until thou lie down in that mansion,
In the arms of Christ benign.
(Celtic Blessing)

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

<- Back to Parish News