May 2025
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
May 2025 from Father Tim
May 2025 has arrived and finds us in the midst of Eastertide. May begins and ends with a Day of Obligation, Ss. Philip & James, Apostles and Martyrs (1st) and Ascension Day (29th). In addition to the Eastertide Sundays the month contains four Doctors of the Church, Athanasius (2nd), Augustine (5th), Gregory Nazianzus (9th), and the Venerable Bede (27th). These great Christians were all visionaries. They looked to the future with holy wisdom. 2025 marks my tenth year as the Rector of Saint John’s. I am definitely not a Doctor of the Church, but I have always maintained a vision for both our members and our church. Thankfully, some of that vision has been achieved. Sadly, some parts of it have not, but I have not given up hope. As the old saying goes, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” A church without a vision will stagnate. But a church with a vision provides a framework for growth, both spiritually and numerically. A church should have a vision to help guide its purpose, to facilitate growth, and unify its members. A shared vision provides a framework for focused decision-making, intelligent resource allocation, and meaningful ministry direction. All of the aforementioned ultimately leads to a more effective and impactful ministry. One part of my vision as Rector has been to expand our church grounds. Not an easy task based on the physical location. A few years ago we purchased a Rectory just fifty feet up the street. A very smart investment for the future of our parish. We don’t need a larger church building, there is still plenty of worship room in the pews we currently have. But we do need space to stretch out in most other areas. Could we use a safe and expanded garden area for our children? Absolutely. Do we need extra storage areas? For sure. Would it be helpful to have actual classrooms? Without a doubt. What about a small parking area close to the church building? A parish hall makeover? A larger Ladies Restroom? Yes, yes, and (I’ve heard our ladies comment on the latter from day one) YES!!! Again, this is only a part of my vision. But if we want to help lost souls to know Christ, grow our membership, impact the area around us with additional charity, and position Saint John’s for a secure future, we don’t need a mission statement, we need a unified vision. Where there is no vision, the people perish. ~ Proverbs 29:18. As members of Saint John’s, I’m hoping all of you, the stewards of Saint John’s, have a vision for our beautiful parish as well, and I would love to hear your thoughts. I hope your May is full of spring flowers and blessings. ~ Father Tim
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Do you envision bringing someone you cherish to Christ? If yes, invite them to church this May, where they can come to know and see the Way, the Truth, and the Life. ~ Father Tim
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Nothing can altogether overthrow and destroy [the church]. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, beaten, beheaded, burned; but the true church is never altogether extinguished; it rises again from its afflictions; it lives on through fire and water. When crushed in one land it springs up in another. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, have labored in vain to put down this church; they slay their thousands, and then pass away and go to their own place. The true Church outlives them all, and sees them buried each in his turn. It is an anvil that has broken many a hammer in this world, and will break many a hammer still; it is a bush which is often burning, and yet is not consumed. ~ J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
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Do you know?
Do you know Saint John’s doubled our donation for the CareNet ‘Baby Bottle Campaign’ in 2025 over 2024? Do you know our Book of Life Club will begin The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis in May? Do you know our Confirmation Classes are underway? Do you know we made a charitable donation to the Emergency Shelter of NKY in April?
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Saint John May Ordo Kalendar
Saturday, the 3rd of May, at 8:00 AM, Rule of Faith Meeting
Sunday, the 4th of May, at 10:30 AM, Easter II, Order for Morning Prayer
Wednesday, the 7th of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sunday, the 11th of May, at 10:30 AM, Easter III Mass
Wed., the 14th of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 17th of May, at 8:00 AM, Rule of Faith Meeting
Saturday, the 17th of May, at 9:00 AM, Morning Prayer
Sat., the 17th of May, at 9:45 AM, Book of Life Club, The Weight of Glory
Saturday, the 17th of May, at 11:00 AM, Confirmation Class
Sun., the 18th of May, at 10:30 AM, Easter IV Mass, Vestry Meeting
Wednesday, the 21st of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sun., the 25th of May, at 10:30 AM, Easter V Mass, Birthday/Anniversary Coffee Hour
Wednesday, the 28th of May, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 31st of May, at 8:00 AM, Rule of Faith Meeting
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The true greatness of any church is not how many it seats but how many it sends! ~ Unknown Author
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May Birthdays & Anniversaries
Carol & Bob Petrie – Anniversary – May 9
Judie & Rich Boughner – Anniversary – May 15
Mike Murray – Birthday – May 16
Fr. Richard Bryant – Birthday – May 17
Bill Hill – Birthday – May 21
Kim & Jim Marshall – Anniversary – May 23
Jackie Hodges – Birthday – May 23
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
The highest expression of the will of God in this age is the church which He purchased with His own blood. To be scripturally valid any religious activity must be part of the church. Let it be clearly stated that there can be no service acceptable to God in this age that does not center in and spring out of the church. Bible schools, tract societies, Christian business men’s committees, seminaries and the many independent groups working at one or another phase of religion need to check themselves reverently and courageously, for they have no true spiritual significance outside of or apart from the church. ~ A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963, American Christian Pastor, Author, Magazine Editor, and Spiritual Mentor
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The Resurrection of Jesus
Every Mass we confess our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. Some of the affirmations about Jesus Christ is that he “was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried: And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures…”. What has made me as confident as anything in my faith is the knowledge of the abundance (really an embarrassment of riches) of historical evidence for these events at the center of human history. Even many of the most skeptical, atheist scholars acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus is perhaps the most well-attested event in all of ancient history. For this reason, Jesus Mythicism, the belief that Jesus never existed, is considered a radical fringe view among historians. We have multiple, independent sources from the 1st century AD that attest to the crucifixion, among which are the Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.3), and St. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), and that’s not even counting the gospels and other early-2nd century references.
Besides the death of Jesus, we have strong evidence that several of the apostles died as martyrs. Acts 12:2 records the death of James the brother of St. John the Evangelist, Josephus (Antiquities 20.9.1) records the death of James the Lord’s brother, and the epistle of St. Clement makes mention of the martyrdoms of Ss. Peter and Paul (1 Clement 5). And don’t forget that Paul was originally an enemy of the Church; his faith is thus unlikely to be invented. All of these are well within 40-50 years of the events they describe and appear unembellished (poor James in Acts 12:2 gets a measly one verse!), which are some criteria that historians look for in ancient sources. These are unlike later martyrdom accounts such as that of Thomas (in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas), which come from over a century after the fact and contain detailed dialogue and teaching that almost certainly did not come from the real apostle. Perhaps Thomas was martyred, perhaps not; the evidence is much weaker with him. Peter, Paul, James the Lord’s brother, and James the brother of John are perhaps the best attested out of the apostles’ deaths. I am loath to overstate the historical case, and so I typically leave it at these; we can do ourselves a disservice in the skeptic’s eyes when we embellish the evidence. It is certainly possible that all of the apostles were martyred, as we have no early sources, to my knowledge, on any of them dying peacefully in old age. But what we do not have is good evidence that they were martyred. The evidence we do have has led most critical scholars to agree that the apostles were convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead. Why does the fate of the apostles matter? Simple; liars make poor martyrs, and so their belief is proved sincere by their martyrdoms. We have no evidence of a single apostle recanting their claims.
Besides the fact that Jesus was truly dead, there is a strong case for the burial and the empty tomb, although these have compelled less agreement among skeptical scholars. A surprising amount, though, will grant these items. The source behind Mark 15:42-16:8 is believed to be quite early, and the account of Jesus’ burial recorded there is straightforward and unimpressive. Joseph merely asks for Jesus’ body, has it wrapped, and placed in a tomb. And then the women that find the tomb do not actually see Jesus, but instead see, well, an empty tomb. Even the angel that is recorded there is merely described as “a young man” wearing white; this is a quite tame angelophany. By contrast, if you ever want a fun read, look up the “Gospel of Peter”, and then you’ll see what a dressed-up account really looks like. One independent source from Mark is 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, which, for reasons that would be a different essay, is a creed that likely goes back to the very first few years of the Christian movement. The creed mentions that Jesus was buried and then raised, which, given the Jewish view of bodily resurrection, implied the empty tomb. It then lists appearances of the risen Jesus to individuals and groups.
One may wonder at the citations of Scripture used in arguing for historical facts around Jesus; isn’t that circular? Not at all, for before they were recognized universally by the Church as authoritative Holy Scripture, they were historical documents written by early eyewitnesses of Jesus, and thus are valuable evidence for his life and deeds. The facts I’ve mentioned: the death of Jesus, the faith of the apostles, the burial and empty tomb, all have even more evidence than I am able to share in this limited space. The best explanation (by far) of these facts is that Jesus was truly raised in vindication of his claims to be the Son of God. If one wanted some good reading on the topic this Eastertide, I would encourage them to look into the work of Michael Licona (The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (2004)) and Gary Habermas (Did the Resurrection Happen? (2009)), who are perhaps the world’s leading experts on the topic. So, “Christ is risen” isn’t just a fun thing to say. It’s a historical and ongoing reality that should embolden us in our witness. ~ Chris Stockman
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Let no one deceive himself. If anyone is not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or two possesses such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole church! He, therefore, that does not assemble with the church, has even by this revealed his pride and condemned himself. ~ S. Ignatius of Antioch, died 108/140 AD, Christian Author & Patriarch of Rome
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If you study [Paul’s letter to the Philippians], you will it find it [the Church] to be the way to build you up in the faith you have been given, which—when it is followed by hope and preceded by love towards God, Christ, and our neighbor—is the mother of us all. ~ S. Polycarp, 69-155, Church Father & Bishop of Smyrna
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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