July 2022
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
July 2022 from Father Tim
July 2022 is here and Summer is now in full swing. Millions now celebrate the striking down of Roe versus Wade by SCOTUS (which simply returns the battle down to each State), and millions more will soon be celebrating Independence Day, along with many other Summer Festivals all across the nation. Even with all the turmoil, rampant inflation, high energy costs, and supply chain headaches, we are still a nation enjoying many blessings from God. Suffering , often tragic suffering, does remain everywhere, all around the globe; but hope remains as well. This month contains all Sundays of Trinitytide, however, July begins with the feast of the Precious Blood on Friday, the 1st. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was instituted in 1849 by the Bishop of Rome, Pius IX, but the devotion is actually as old as Christianity. The early Church Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood. The Precious Blood, the ‘Real Presence’ which we receive at the altar is the Blood which Jesus shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present by the words of Consecration in our liturgy; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for each of us, it is the Blood which cleanses and beautifies our soul, and it is the Blood which inaugurates the beginning of eternal life. I pray your July is full of hope and that you partake, as oft as you can, the Precious Blood of the Christ. ~ Father Tim
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Is there someone you know who is in need of hope, in need of the Precious Blood of Christ? July is a perfect month to bring someone to church to receive the sanctifying grace of Jesus in our little parish. Please invite someone into the Holy Church to experience our Savior who will, if they will allow Him, wash and beautify their soul, alongside His church family. ~ Father Tim
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I cannot pray, except I sin. I cannot preach, but I sin. I cannot administer, nor receive the holy sacrament, but I sin. My very repentance needs to be repented of and the tears I shed need washing in the blood of Christ. ~ William Beveridge, 1637-1708, English writer and Bishop of St Asaph
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Did you know?
Did you know that St. John’s made a nice charitable donation to Holly Hill Child & Family Solutions in June? Did you know that we are getting a quote to restore and protect the final two windows at Saint John’s? Did you know we now have wireless internet and our outside security cameras are operational? Did you know we are now in the process of restoring our garden spotlights to light up the church at night?
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St. John July Ordo Kalendar
Sunday, the 3rd of July at 10:30 AM, Trinity III
Sunday, the 10th of July at 10:30 AM, Trinity IV, Madeleine May Miller Baptism
Sunday, the 17th of July, at 10:30 AM, Trinity V, Vestry Meeting
Sunday, the 24th of July at 10:30 AM, Trinity VI
Sunday, the 31st of July at 10:30 AM, Trinity VII
The Evening Prayer Office on Wednesday at 6:30 PM is canceled until further notice.
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If Christ be not the Substitute, He is nothing to the sinner. If He did not die as the Sin-bearer, He has died in vain. Let us not be deceived on this point, or misled by those who, when they announce Christ as the Deliverer, think they have preached the Gospel. If I throw a rope to a drowning man, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more than that? If I cast myself into the sea, and risk my life to save another, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more? Did He but risk His life? The very essence of Christ’s deliverance is the substitution of Himself for us, His life for ours. He did not come to risk His life; He came to die! He did not redeem us by a little loss, a little sacrifice, a little labor, a little suffering. “He redeemed us to God by his blood,” “the precious blood of Christ” (Rev 5:9; 1Pet 1:19). He gave all He had, even His life, for us. ~ Horatius Bonar, 1808-1809, Church of Scotland
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The blood of Christ stands not simply for the sting of sin on God but the scourge of God on sin, not simply for God’s sorrow over sin but for God’s wrath on sin. ~ P. T. Forsyth, 1848–1921, Scottish Theologian
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July Birthdays & Anniversaries
Leslie Shelton & Michael Griswold – Anniversary – July 9
Judie Boughner – Birthday – July 21
Mike Lenz – Birthday – July 31
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The four views…on the subject of the Sacrament
- The Romish doctrine, or transubstantiation. This maintains the absolute change of the elements into the actual body and blood of Christ; so that though the elements of bread and wine remain present to the senses, they are no longer what they seem, being changed into the body, blood and divinity of Christ.
- The Lutheran view, called consubstantiation. This maintains that after consecration the body and blood of Christ are substantially present, but nevertheless that the bread and wine are present, unchanged.
- The Zwinglian, which declares the sacrament to be no channel of grace, but only a commemorative feast, admitting only a figurative presence of Christ’s body and blood.
- The Anglican view – that Christ is present in the sacrament only after the spiritual manner, and that His body and blood are eaten by the faithful after a spiritual, and not after a carnal manner, to the maintenance of their spiritual life and their growth in grace. ~ John Foxe, 1517-1587, English historian and martyrologist
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Believer! is not this the source – the proper source of your joy – that Jesus lived, and suffered, and died for you – that He paid “all that great debt” you owed to law and justice, and washed away the foul stain of your guilt, in His own most precious blood? ~ John Ross MacDuff, 1818-1895, Scottish Divine and prolific author
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Sanctification is that inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Ghost, when He calls him to be a true believer. He not only washes him from his sins in His own blood, but He also separates him from his natural love of sin and the world, puts a new principle in his heart, and makes him practically godly in life. The instrument by which the Spirit effects this work is generally the Word of God… The subject of this work of Christ by His Spirit is called in Scripture a “sanctified” man. ~ J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
Feast of the Precious Blood
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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