It is February 1st and lo and behold – a newsletter is here on-time! Our February 2013 newsletter and calendar is complete and now available. Tons of events, Soup on Sunday, everything you’d ever want to know for your Lenten journey, and a few surprises too. You may view and download a copy right from this website.
How can I know you’re happy?
I’m singing to God.
Make a joyful shout to God all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise glorious – Psalm 66:1,2.
Our Holy Church places a right emphasis on the place of music in worship. In the ancient Church, the Bishop as minister of the Eucharist sung the words of the Eucharistic prayer, raising people’s minds to the beauty and glory of God.
Our worship transcends time. Heaven will always resound with worship. When we complete our life on earth, we will have eternal careers as worshippers praising Him around His throne.
Our days in the community of faith – the Church – are to be spent in preparation for this eternal career through worship.
Jesus said: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.â€
Therefore, we encourage each other to worship and take this opportunity to stress the importance of worship through song. We further encourage study by our youth and adults through scholarships so that their talents might add to our worship.
Worship through music provides the body of Christ in the Church, and here in our parish, with an opportunity to engage in heartfelt and meaningful praise of the Triune God. The style of our worship songs varies, but through each we offer to God our praise and adoration in singing, choral music, ensembles, and special presentations.
Worshipping through song glorifies God, edifies the body, prepares our hearts for hearing the Word preached, and is our response to teaching. St. Paul told the people of Colossae, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
It is the Church’s goal that worship in song be a vital part of each believer’s life, allowing God to mold our attitudes and actions as we give voice to the “new song” He has placed in our hearts (Psalm 96:1).
The ministry of music plays a very important role in our worship. It expresses our joy in a special way and is a unique and vital aspect of our worship.
Our heavenly Father expects absolutely everything we do to be an act of worship. The purpose of worship in music is to bring Him glory by rehearsing His character through song. What better way to show Him, and each other, the joy we have in Christ.
Swim away!
Maybe it would be better if…
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Fishing is a two-way relationship. It involves work, struggle, and tension. It also involves pain and trauma for the fish.
When a fisherman hooks a fish, which of them is really in charge? Most think the fisherman. He has the brains, the tools, and the power to overcome and land his catch.
Every fisherman knows that for every fish caught, many more get away. Some snap lines that trail behind them as they swim away. Others tear the hook out in the struggle, and swim away wounded.
Yet some fish figure out a simpler, braver path. Rather than pull, dash, or thrash, they swim toward shore, and approach the fisherman. When fish do so, you’re bound to see a frantic person reeling like crazy shouting “No, no, no—not towards me!†But if the fish persists, the line goes slack, and the hook comes out with a flick of its head.
In cases where fish swim toward their enemy, they often gain freedom from pain, and leave dragging nothing behind them.
Today, God asks us to consider His forgiveness and the way we forgive each other.
Like the fish and fisherman, we are in relationships with each other. At times those relationships can be marked by struggle, tension, and pain.
When we choose, as a result of hurt (those hooks that stab at us) to fight and flee, we end up either dragging the memories of those hurts behind us, or we end up deeply wounded.
God asks us to be the smart fish, to swim towards those who have hurt us. As we do, we free ourselves from the barbs that hurt us and we are free.
The pain doesn’t go away easily, and true reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships is a much longer process, but it has to start with our going toward those who hurt us. There we offer our forgiveness.
When we hurt God through sin, we will always find Him swimming toward us, with complete forgiveness. As we enter Lent, let us resolve to do the same with each other.
Couldn’t I just sleep in a little?
Nope! Let’s get up and go.
“And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.”
Jesus was hard at work. He fasted in the dessert for 40 days, underwent temptation, walked along the Sea of Galilee gathering His disciples, went to Caper’na-um where He preached and healed, went directly to Peter’s home where He cured Peter’s mother-in-law, took care of the crowds that came. Scripture tells us that: the whole city was gathered together about the door.
It would make sense for Jesus to want to sleep in a little, to seek some respite and refreshment.
Instead, Jesus got up before sunrise and went off to pray. This wasn’t casual prayer either, ‘Hi Father, how are You?’ This was intense prayer in which Jesus sought out the Father’s will. In that time of prayer He listened for direction and engaged in an active dialog with His Father.
None of this is to say that Jesus wasn’t weary. Of course He was. His humanity was screaming at Him, rest, rest, rest.
What did Jesus receive in prayer? First, He received the rest and refreshment He needed. Those who spend time in prayer find that they have more time in their day, a more rested mind and body, and have the ability to accomplish more. This isn’t just getting the dishes and the common work done, but more-so getting the work of God done.
When we are resolved to pray, to rest in God, and follow His commission, we are able to change the world.
St. Paul tells us that he received a commission – to preach the Gospel. Paul saw this as not just a commission, an obligation, but as a duty and a reward in and of itself. Paul chose not to take the things he was entitled to, including rest and recompense, and instead became a slave to all so that God’s work would be accomplished. Paul knew that those who accepted God’s word would be saved, and for this he set aside what he was due, even a moment to sleep in, so that he could pray and spread the Gospel of Jesus.
Our February 2012 newsletter and calendar is now available. You may view and download a copy right from this website.
Pre-Lent, or Septuagesima, began with the ninth week before Easter and includes the Polish names for the weeks dating from around 1248.
The liturgical period is a prelude to Lent and a remote preparation for Easter. It serves as a time of transition from Christmas joy to Lenten sobriety. The Gloria/Chwała is omitted.
Let this time cause you to focus on your journey with Jesus.