November 2026
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
November 2026 from Father Tim
As we near the end of 2026 November arrives with All Saints’ Day (1st) and All Souls’ Day (2nd) and concludes with S. Andrew, Apostle & Martyr (30th). In between we have our final three Trinitytide Sundays (8th, 15th, & 22nd), our nation’s Thanksgiving (26th), and The First Sunday in Advent (29th) which commemorates the first and anticipates the second coming of our Lord launching our new Church Year. Why does the Chistian year begin with Advent? Because the Holy Church does not number her days or seasons so much by the motion of the sun as by the course of her Savior. The Church begins her year with Jesus,Who, being the true ‘Sun of Righteousness’, began as at this time to rise upon the world, and as the ‘Day Star’ on high to enlighten all those that sit in spiritual darkness. Advent is a time of sorrow and of joy, and in the lessons for the Third Sunday in Advent the joyous element predominates. The same goes for lessons in The Fourth Sunday in Advent, especially the Epistle. The vestments and hangings during Advent are purple and rose. We focus the first two weeks on the purple (penitential) and the last two weeks on the rose (joyous) to further symbolize the temporary change from sorrow to joy. The Psalmist writes, Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness. (Ps. xxx.12) and Isaiah declares, The desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose; it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. (Isa. xxxv.1,2) The last eight days of Advent, beginning December 16th, the greater antiphons should be sung (or at least read) at Evensong both before and after the Magnificat. These antiphons were called the O’s, as each one began with that word. December 16th is “O Wisdom, which camest forth out of the mouth of the Most High, and richest from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: come and teach us the way of prudence.” Worldly people are ignorant of the meaning of Advent. They are too busy with things like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Travel Tuesday. Most don’t consider the first Advent of Christ, let alone His second that we Christians anticipate. His second inward invasion of eternity into time will be immediate, violent, and conclusive. An Advent observed without its true meaning reinforces a dark teaching that this life is the only life, and we have no eternity to prepare for. Christ will come again. That is the teaching of Advent. Christians yesterday, today, and those who will come after us must always be alert and vigilant, so that His coming will not be a terror, but an overwhelming and joyous day. ~ Father Tim
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Do you know any lost souls who need less festivity and more holiness? If yes, please invite them to church this November where they can anticipate and experience Holy Days. ~ Father Tim
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Biblical prophecy provides some of the greatest encouragement and hope available to us today. Just as the Old Testament is saturated with prophecies concerning Christ’s first advent, so both testaments are filled with references to the second coming of Christ. One scholar has estimated that there are 1,845 references to Christ’s second coming in the Old Testament, where 17 books give it prominence. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second advent of Christ – an amazing 1 out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ’s first advent, there are 8 which look forward to His second! ~ Unknown Author
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Did you know?
Did you know St. John’s gave a charitable donation to Holly Hills Child & Family Solutions in October? Did you know Saint John’s has begun the process of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places? Did you know we have made improvements to the storage and meeting area of the church?
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Saint John November Ordo Kalendar
Sun., the 1st of Nov., at 9:45 AM, Psalm-Children Sun. School Class
Sun., the 1st of November, at 10:30 AM, All Saints’ Day Mass
Wednesday, the 4th of November, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sun., the 8th of Nov., at 9:45 AM, Psalm-Children Sun. School Class
Sun., the 8th of November, at 10:30 AM, Trinity XXIII Mass
Wednesday, the 11th of November, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sun., the 15th of Nov., at 9:45 AM, Psalm-Children Sun. School Class
Sun., the 15th of Nov., at 10:30 AM, Trinity XXIV Mass, Annual Meeting
Wednesday, the 18th of November, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sat., the 21st of Nov., at 9:00 AM, The Office of Morning Prayer
Saturday, the 21st of November, at 9:45 AM, Bible Study
Saturday., the 21st of Nov., at 11:00 AM, Book Club
Sun., the 22nd of Nov., at 9:45 AM, Psalm-Children Sun. School Class
Sun., the 22nd of Nov., at 10:30 AM, Sunday Next Before Advent Mass
Wednesday, the 25th of November, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Sun., the 29th of Nov., at 10:30 AM, Advent I Mass
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The apostolic church thought more about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ than about death and heaven. The early Christians were looking, not for a cleft in the ground called a grave but for a cleavage in the sky called Glory. ~ Alexander MacLaren, 1826-1910, Scottish Minister & Author
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Pseudo-Christian Cults
Pseudo-Christian cults (such as Latter-Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, World Mission Society, etc…) have varied beliefs and practices, but one thing they almost all have in common is a belief in a “Great Apostasy”. They are aware that they deviate from historic Christianity, and to explain that, they postulate a great falling away. For example, in the LDS church, Joseph Smith claimed that Jesus spoke the following to him about Christians in the First Vision: “I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’” (Which you can read more of at www.churchofjesuschrist.org.) And for JW’s, in an article titled “The Great Apostasy Develops” on their website, they say that: “For over 60 years, the apostles had ‘acted as a restraint,’ endeavoring to hold back the tide of apostasy. (2 Thess. 2:7; compare 2 John 9, 10.) But as the Christian congregation was about to enter the second century, the last surviving apostle, John, died, about 100 C.E. The apostasy that had slowly begun to creep into the congregation was now ready to burst forth unrestrained, with devastating organizational and doctrinal repercussions.” For the JWs here, the chief early sign of this apostasy was the formation of the episcopacy, as a context-less and uncited quote they appeal to supposedly shows. The World Mission Society (the “Mother God” church) calls Sunday worship a deviation by Constantine on one of their Beliefs pages: “Christians observed the Sabbath Day as God commanded from the time of Christ until A.D. 321. At that time, Roman Emperor Constantine outlawed worship on Saturday and forced people to worship on Sunday. However, Jesus taught that the seventh-day Sabbath must be kept even until the end of the age (Mt 24:20). The World Mission Society Church of God keeps the seventh-day Sabbath holy, just as Jesus and the disciples did, to receive God’s promises of rest and blessings.” Many of these groups will also pin belief in the Trinity on Constantine, ignoring the mountain of early evidence of Trinitarianism.
Setting aside that butchery of Matthew 24:20 (here is all it says: “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.”), and the historical inaccuracy to Sunday worship arising in the 300’s, or the JW’s highly selective and dishonest use of church historians, the theme of “it went wrong immediately” is the fundamental issue here. For this reason, cultists will remain entirely unmoved by the weight or unanimity of tradition. It won’t matter to them that we have no recorded controversy over the structure of bishops, presbyters, and deacons in the early Church. They are told that ‘the tradition’ IS the problem.
Talk of a massive failure in the Church is quite the claim, and as with all claims, talk is cheap. The cultist is opened up to a few counters. Perhaps the most obvious is “How do you know?” How do they know that what they have is the original? Some Scripture may be pointed to, such as the JW appeal to 2 John or 2 Thessalonians. But as with claims, appeals to Scripture are cheap. “How do you know that is referring to what you want it to?” The cultist is simply begging the question against the Christian.
There are more devastating issues with the conspiracy theory of “It all went wrong basically immediately.” First, is the scope of the failure. The cults require us to believe not just that the Church in this or that city went wrong immediately, but that every congregation went wrong. Not just Jerusalem, but north Africa, Asia Minor, and Europe. This strains credulity, and the cults bear a massive burden of proof. The most devastating issue, however, is that Jesus himself specifically taught that the “Great Apostasy” required by the cults would not happen. Apostasy is predicted by the New Testament, in pattern with the people of Israel in the Old Testament, but that is of individual believers that will be deceived, not the entire institution. Matthew 16:18 says that “the gates of Hades will not prevail against [my church].” Yet the cults require exactly that, that the early Christians were entirely ineffective against the Enemy. In their concern to be true to the authentic Christianity, they have set out to prove too much. ~ Chris Stockman
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A deep feeling that we are soon to stand in the presence of a holy God, our final Judge, cannot but have a happy influence in making us pure. ~ Albert Barnes, 1798-1870, American Theologian, Clergyman, Abolitionist, & Author
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November Birthdays & Anniversaries
Brian & Sarah Miller – Anniversary – Nov. 11th
Andrew Blake Chancery II – Birthday – Nov. 11th
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
If there is any truth in Scripture at all, this is true – that those who stubbornly refuse to submit to the Gospel, and to love and obey Jesus Christ incur at the Last Advent an infinite and irreparable loss. They pass into a night on which no morning dawns. ~ James Denney, 1856-1917, Scottish Theologian & Preacher
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Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor. ~ C.H. Spurgeon, 1834-1892, English ‘Prince of Preachers’
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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