June 2022
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
June 2022 from Father Tim
June 2022 has arrived and the summer season is just around the corner. On the Church Ordo Kalendar we begin with Whitsunday on the 5th and the following Ember Days (8th, 10th, & 11th). Trinity Sunday and the Exhortation on the 12th, and then Corpus Christi (16th), Sacred Heart of Jesus (24th), Nativity of S. John Baptist (25th), S. Peter, Apostle & Martyr (29th), and we end the month with the Commemoration of S. Paul, Apostle & Martyr. This year I thought I would expand a little on the Sacred Heart of Jesus which, to many, always sounds so – for lack of a better word – ‘Romanish’. Many people feel this way because they have had too much exposure to Roman Catholic effeminate, and even tacky, Sacred Heart pictures or prints. And they are everywhere! As Anglo-Catholics we struggle when we see such a holy devotion commercialized and degraded. Our Anglican heritage demands more of us when it comes to proper reverence. The roots of the Sacred Heart devotion lie as far back as the Crucifixion, and the piercing of Christ’s side by Saint Longinus with his Holy Lance. Ancient Christian tradition describes Longinus as a convert to Christianity shortly after the crucifixion. Devotion to the wound in Christ’s side and the instruments of His Passion was widespread throughout Christendom, and nowhere more than in Medieval England. Closely tied to this practice was the veneration of Christ’s blood, centered at Ashridge, Hailes, Westminster – symbolized by the Holy Grail, and memorialized by the oath “God’s Blood!” All five wounds of Christ taken together were similarly revered throughout Europe: the Jerusalem Cross was the badge of the Crusaders (the large central Cross represents Christ’s side wound that pierced His heart). Reverence to the Sacred Heart survived the Reformation and the Anglican Caroline Divines (these guys were the envy of the theological world during their day) retained the close connection between Christ’s wounds, His Blood, and the Holy Eucharist that had characterized undivided Christendom. This reverence passed through some of the Tractarians of the Oxford Movement and survived to our present time in the Anglican Catholic Church. I pray that your June is full of reverence for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. ~ Father Tim
✠✠✠
Is there someone you know who is in need of reverence to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? Are they in need of the body and blood of Christ? June is a wonderful month to invite someone to church to witness the five wounds of Christ Jesus in our little parish. Please invite someone into the Holy Church to experience our Savior who will ‘win their hearts’ through His pierced heart, and His church family. ~ Father Tim
✠✠✠
And as in the time of building the tower [of Babel] the one tongue was divided into many; so then [at Pentecost] the many tongues frequently met in one man, and the same person used to discourse both in the Persian, and the Roman, and the Indian, and many other tongues, the Spirit sounding within him: and the gift was called the gift of tongues because he could all at once speak divers languages. ~ Saint John Chrysostom
✠✠✠
Did you know?
Did you know that we are getting a quote to restore and protect the last two windows at Saint John’s? Did you know that St. John’s made a nice charitable donation to Hosea House Soup Kitchen in May? Did you know we now have wireless internet and will soon have outside security cameras at the church? Did you know security cameras have already been installed at the Rectory? Did you know the move into the Rectory is finished (albeit we are still somewhat disorganized)?
✠✠✠
St. John June Ordo Kalendar
Sunday, the 5th of June at 10:30 AM, Whitsunday – Pentecost, Vestry Meeting
Sun., the 12th of June at 10:30 AM, Trinity Sunday, Coffee Hour for Emily & Collin Dunn
Sunday, the 19th of June, at 8:30 AM, Trinity I and 10:30 AM Morning Prayer
Sunday, the 26th of June at 10:30 AM, Trinity II
The Evening Prayer Office on Wednesday at 6:30 PM is canceled until July
✠✠✠
In the Trinity Term of 1929, I gave in and admitted that God was God and knelt and prayed. ~ C.S. Lewis
✠✠✠
It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, “Let us make man” (Gen. 1:26). It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, “Let us save man” (Mt. 3:16-17). ~ J.C. Ryle, 18th century Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
✠✠✠
June Birthdays & Anniversaries
Rachel Barnett – Birthday – June 6
Peggy & Bill Minor – Anniversary – June 8
Rick Hanson – Birthday – June 9
Sally and Sandy Thomson – Anniversary – June 11
Bill Minor – Birthday – June 25
Janet & Fr. Tim Butler – Anniversary – June 30
✠✠✠
God has hidden every precious thing in such a way that it is a reward to the diligent, a prize to How then, brethren, because he that is baptized in Christ, and believes on Him, does not now speak in the tongues of all nations, are we not to believe that he has received the Holy Ghost? God forbid that our heart should be tempted by this faithlessness… Why is it that no man speaks in the tongues of all nations? Because the Church itself now speaks in the tongues of all nations. Before, the Church was in one nation, where it spoke in the tongues of all. By speaking then in the tongues of all, it signified what was to come to pass; that by growing among the nations, it would speak in the tongues of all. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
✠✠✠
Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, but its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced…more true than the truth itself. ~ Saint Irenaeus, Bishop & Martyr, feast day 28th of June
✠✠✠
The bread that is spoiling in your house belongs to the hungry. The shoes that are mildewing under your bed belong to those who have none. The clothes stored away in your trunk belong to those who are naked. ~ Saint Basil the Great, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor, feast day 14th of June
✠✠✠
The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief. ~ T.S. Eliot, poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic, editor, and Anglo-Catholic
✠✠✠
Pentecost, commonly called Whitsunday
Pentecost, also called Whitsunday, a major festival in the Christian church, celebrated on the Sunday that falls on the 50th day of Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other disciples following the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ (Acts 2, and it marks the beginning of the Christian church’s mission to the world. The Jewish feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) was primarily a thanksgiving for the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, but it was later associated with a remembrance of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The church’s transformation of the Jewish feast to a Christian festival was thus related to the belief that the gift of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus was the firstfruits of a new dispensation that fulfilled and succeeded the old dispensation of the Law. When the festival was first celebrated in the Christian church is not known, but it was mentioned in a work from the Eastern church, the Epistola Apostolorum, in the 2nd century. In the 3rd century it was mentioned by Origen, theologian and head of the catechetical school in Alexandria, and by Tertullian, Christian priest and writer of Carthage. In the early church, Christians often referred to the entire 50-day period beginning with Easter as Pentecost. Baptism was administered both at the beginning (Easter) and end (the day of Pentecost) of the Paschal season. Eventually, Pentecost became a more popular time for baptism than Easter in northern Europe, and in England the feast was commonly called White Sunday (Whitsunday) for the special white garments worn by the newly baptized. In The First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549 BCP), the feast was officially called Whitsunday, and this name has continued in Anglican churches. In Western churches, priests often wear red vestments during Pentecost to symbolize the “tongues of fire” that descended on the disciples from the Holy Spirit; members of the congregation also wear red in some traditions, and the altar is commonly dressed in a red frontal cloth.
✠✠✠
The seeking of Jesus Christ, and the quest for chivalry combined, lead directly to one place only: Anglican-Catholicism. Courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help and defend the weak and the poor. Welcome to the Anglican Catholic Church. ~ Father Timothy Butler