May 2024
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
May 2024 from Father Tim
The month of May closes out Eastertide 2024 and brings us to Ss. Philip & James (1st), Ascension Day (9th), Ascension Sunday (12th), WhitSunday (19th), and the long Trinity Season (26th). The third week of the month also brings us the Ember Days (22nd, 24th, & 25th) and finally at the end of the month Corpus Christi (30th). Last month we established the truth that Saint John’s is The Church upon the Rock. This month a few comments on, not only our building and the people it contains, but on the Builder Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will build my Church.” Of course Saint John’s is lovingly cared for by all three Persons in the Holy Trinity, God the Father who chooses and creates, God the Son who advocates and redeems, and God the Holy Ghost who comforts and sanctifies every member of our little parish. This is God’s plan of salvation which engrafts each of us into Christ’s mystical body. However, that said, there is a mysterious sense in which the help of the Church is placed upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who calls people to His Church, who ‘quickens’ them, who washes away their sins, who gives peace, who grants repentance, who gives eternal life. We do well to remember the words of Saint John, “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” Christ carries out all His work in the members of His Church by the Holy Ghost. It is the Holy Ghost who moves us to invite a lonely person to church, who motivates us to pray, who inspires us to tithe and give charitable gifts (Matthew 25:31-40), who encourages us to be good stewards of church property (to maintain, to beautify, and even expand if necessary). But it is Jesus who builds. Often we are impatient and think the building is going much too slow, we see an empty pew, we think our fellowship space is too small, or we notice our budget is not keeping pace with our goals. It is then we must remember that man’s time is not God’s time. With Jesus all is built at the right time, in the right way, and He makes no mistakes. He often chooses the most unlikely people, the most rough and ungodly, His ‘living stones’. Jesus shapes, reworks, and transforms them, uses them within His most excellent work, placing them into the polished corners of His spiritual temple, His true Church. This May let us each be a tool in the hands of Christ – and He will build.. ~ Father Tim
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Is there someone in your life in need of transformation? Do they know that Jesus despises none, rejects none who repent of their former sins? Do they understand that even they, no matter their past life, by Christ can become pillars of God’s house? May is a beautiful month to invite them to church where the great Builder never fails to accomplish His designs. ~ Father Tim
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We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. ~ E.M. Bounds, 1835-1913, Author, Attorney, & Minister
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Did you know?
Did you know Saint John’s made a charitable donation in memory of Sandy Thomson to Peace for DC in April? Did you know our Book of Life Club will be discussing Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired in May? Did you know the Usual Suspects Bible Study will be discussing the Lamentations of Jeremiah in May?
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Saint John May Ordo Kalendar
Wednesday, the 1st of May at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer, Ss. Philip & James
Sun., the 5th of May, at 10:30 AM, Morning Prayer, Rogation Sunday
Wed., the 8th of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer, Vigil of the Ascension
Thursday, the 9th of May, at 6:30 PM, Ascension Day Mass
Sat., the 11th of May, at 2:00 PM, The Usual Suspects Club, Bible Study Lineup
Sat., the 11th of May, at 3:15 PM, The Book of Life Club, Wide As The Waters
Sun., the 12th of May, at 10:30 AM, Ascension Sunday Mass
Wednesday, the 15th of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sun., the 19th of May, at 10:30 AM, Whitsunday Mass, Pentecost, Birthday Coffee Hour
Wednesday, the 22nd of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer, Ember Wednesday
Sunday, the 26th of May, at 10:30 AM, Trinity Sunday Mass, Vestry Meeting
Wednesday, the 29th of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Thursday, the 30th of May, at 6:30 PM, Corpus Christi
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They are born again of the Spirit; they all possess repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ,” and holiness of life and conversion. They all hate sin, and they all love Christ… They are all led by one Spirit; they all build upon one foundation; they all draw their religion from one single book – that is the Bible. They are all joined to one great center – that is Jesus Christ. They all even now can say with one heart, “Hallelujah;” and they can all respond with one heart and voice, Amen and Amen. ~ J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
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The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly thoughts; the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos; the church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray. ~ A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963, Pastor, Author, Editor
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May Birthdays & Anniversaries
Abigail Evans – Birthday – May 4
Carol & Bob Petrie – Anniversary – May 9
Judie & Rich Boughner – Anniversary – May 15
Natalie Evans – Birthday – May 16
Mike Murray – Birthday – May 16
Fr. Richard Bryant – Birthday – May 17
Bill Hill – Birthday – May 21
Kim & Jim Marshall – Anniversary – May 23
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
Worship is the earthly act by which we most distinctly recognize our personal immortality; men who think that they will be extinct a few years hence do not pray. In worship we spread out our insignificant life, which yet is the work of the Creator’s hands, and the purchase of the Redeemer’s blood, before the Eternal and All-Merciful, that we may learn the manners of a higher sphere, and fit ourselves for companionship with saints and angels, and for the everlasting sight of the face of God. ~ Henry Parry Liddon, 1829-1890, English Theologian, Dean Ireland’s Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford
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The endless cycle of idea and action, endless invention, endless experiment, brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; knowledge of speech, but not of silence; knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, all our ignorance brings us nearer to death, but nearness to death no nearer to God. Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust. ~ T.S. Eliot, 1888-1965, Anglo-Catholic Poet, Essayist, Publisher, Playwright, Literary Critic and Editor
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The marks by which the true Church is known are these: If the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if she maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in punishing of sin; in short, if all things are managed according to the pure Word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only Head of the Church. Hereby the true Church may certainly be known, from which no man has a right to separate himself. ~ Unknown Author
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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