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Weekly News

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October 25, 2009 21st. Sunday after Pentecost

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WELCOME: A warm welcome to our guests. We hope you will enjoy worshiping with us.

HYMNS FOR TODAY

Processional 54 Nearer my God, to thee

Gradual 88 My faith looks up to thee…….

Offertory 89 My Jesus, I love thee …………

Communion 115 Spirit of the living God

Recessional 79 Jesus, lover of my Soul.

PRAYERS to be Introduced by Frank Vincent

For Telephone Conference call by Oliver Sharpe

THE CHURCH.

Knowing that our loving God supplies all our needs, let us pray to him now on behalf of the Church and the world.

Juliette Davies: Father, we offer this time and the love of our hearts as we pray for the Church with all its varied ministries; for the youngest to the oldest baptized members; for those of mellow faith and those who struggle with doubts. We pray particularly for St. Cyprian of Carthage Episcopal Church and for the members of the church. We bring the leaders of the church to you Lord.

Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury) Katherine, (Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal church of the United States of America), Thomas (Bishop, Diocese of Southern Ohio), Kenneth (Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio) and continue to pray for him as he assumes extra responsibilities in overseeing the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

We pray also for Ethel Thomas, who was installed as Canon in the Diocese of Freetown recently becoming the first female Canon in the history of the Diocese.

IN OUR DIOCESAN CYCLE OF PRAYER, WE PRAY FOR:

Sunday: Episcopal Church Women (ECW) ; Lay leaders of the Diocese; Lay preachers, teachers, and evangelists; Retired clergy, especially: St. Andrew, Washington Court House; St. Mark, Upper Arlington; The Diocesan Council and Standing Committee;

Monday: Caracole House; Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati; Episcopal Healing Ministry Foundation; Marafiki Global AIDS Ministry; St. Anne, West Chester; St. Mary, Waynesville; St. Matthew, Westerville

Tuesday: Ascension and Holy Trinity, Wyoming; Clergy licensed to officiate, especially: Pastor to retired clergy and their spouses; St. John, Worthington; The School for Ministry; Those exploring calls to ordained ministry.

Wednesday: Christ Church, Xenia; Directors of Christian Education; Extraparochial clergy, especially: Postulants, candidates for priesthood; St. James, Zanesville.

Thursday: Campus Ministries; Downtown and Urban Ministries; Hospitality Ministries; Inter-Parish Ministry; Literacy Ministries; Procter Camp & Conference Center.

Friday: Episcopal Appalachian Ministries; Episcopal Retirement Homes; Forward Movement Publications;

The Anglican Consultative Council

Saturday: For peace in our lives, our churches, and our world. For the Clergy, People, and Deaneries of Southern Ohio; The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church; The staff of the Episcopal Church Center.

We thank God for the ordination of Edward Lense to the Diaconate on Thursday 8th. October. We pray for God’s blessing on him as he continues the work in God’s vineyard. We also bring Susan Mwatatu in Seminary in Nairobi to God as she prepares for the ministry. We pray also for Leaders of all denominations.

May God bless and guide His church leaders, Priests and Deacons and all His people. We make our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You are our God Who does all things well

THE WORLD: We bring to you, Lord, our stewardship of the world’s resources; all discussions and councils where far-reaching decisions are made concerning government, conservation, international relations, methods of harnessing power, and fighting diseases; may your generous will prevail over human greed and prejudice.

We now pray for the leaders of the world.

LEADERS OF THE WORLD

by:Cecilia Cleeve: Father, we pray for the leaders of the world. That you may direct and further all international discussions so that they lead to peace, goodwill and mutual understanding.

We pray for our President, Barak Obama, and all in authority in this nation. May they be given the wisdom to direct this nation’s affairs in accordance with your will. Amen.

You are our God Who does all things well

SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES : We pray for our young people in school and for all those in colleges and universities.

SCHOOLS, COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES: by Oliver Sharpe. God of love, inspire by your Spirit all those involved in the work of our schools, colleges and universities.

Bless pupils, students and parents, teachers, in schools. All instructors in colleges and universities, administrators and all who work in those institutions.

We pray that our schools, colleges and universities will be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You are our God Who does all things well

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THE SICK : We pray for the sick throughout the world: those in hospitals, infirmaries, mental hospitals and those at home.

We now bring those we know to God as we name them.

By Franklyn Davies: Paul C. Mason-Nabrit; Clarice Davies; Denise, Ben, Susan P, Harry, Karlin, Laurel; Mercy Atepe; Julie F; Eric Weirdmann;Terry Boorman; Zawukanya Lyton; Shirley McWhorter; Lynett Gabbidon; Keisha; Barbara Makanga; Arnold Benjamin;Deacon; Lynett Gabbidon; George Gilmore; Paula Tenn-Nabrit; Mary Elizabeth; Damaris Williams; Shawn Brian; Ngo Mbogol Anne Le’ocadie; Alister Sharpe; Dorna & Christine Silverman; Bridgette Cummings; Doris; Yvonne; Anthony.

Creator and Father of all, we pray for those who are ill. Bless them, and those who serve their needs, that they may put their whole trust in you, and be filled with your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

You are our God Who does all things well

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INDIVIDUALS & FAMILIES WITH CHALLENGS:

We pray for all those individuals and families who have challenges - those who are anxious and worried and others who are attending to difficult issues. We now pray for those we know.

INDIVIDUALS: by Susan John: Rosemond Williams; Harriet; Danielle; Adeline; Barbara Seje; Juan Alberto; Durosemi; Monica; George; Helene; Beverly Kure; Augusta Macauley; Harry; Michaella Macauley; Kabuie Grace; Keisha Williams, Mona loonie Wambui; Maria; Laurel.

FAMILIES: The Price family; Williams & Samuels family; Aquah family; Parkinson Family; Farris family; Horace & Susan P; Dian & Husband; the Davies family; Edward & Sue; Susan frost & family, The Stanley Family ;Clarice and family; the Cleeve family; Graham family; Akimbole family; John Family; Harriet & family;

Father, we offer our homes and our relationships for you to work in and transform. As individuals and families we offer you our meetings and conflicts and our concerns and worries and all differences of opinion for you to use to your glory. Amen.

You are our God Who does all things well

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BIRTHDAYS IN OCTOBER: All over the world we see and experience the work of the Lord in the lives of his people. We thank him that so many have occasions to rejoice as they celebrate their birthdays. We now name those we know who have or will be celebrating their birthdays during the month of October.

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BIRTHDAYS: by Juliette Davies: Anita Eddy; Amina Darinity; Sonny Eddy; Tony Davies Jr.; Martha Eddy; Georgiana Aberdeen; Clare Irene.

God our Father, for those who celebrate their birthdays this month, we pray for happiness, of course, but also for a greater sense of fulfillment in work and leisure, an ease of communication with those they love, and a sense of satisfaction and anticipation for all that they have or hope to accomplish. Above all, may they rest secure in the knowledge of God’s constant love and care for them, personally. Amen

You are our God Who does all things well

FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED: We bring to God all our loved ones who have left us and are now in His safe keeping. We now name those we know to God who have died recently.

THOSE WHO HAVE DIED: by the Vicar: Father, we remember those who have died and their loved ones, we pray particularly for Chuck Price; Leonora Samuels; Juno Parkinson & Robert Dixon Garlo.We pray that you will comfort all those who mourn and for all the departed, may their souls through the mercy of God REST IN PEACE AND RISE IN GLORY. Amen.

You are our God Who does all things well

PSALMS & READINGS FOR TEL. CONF. CALL 6.00 A.M

Sunday No service

Monday Luke 1:46-55 Juliette D.

Tuesday 95:1-7 Harry W.

Wednesday Rev. 15:3-4 Franklyn D

Thursday . Isaiah 55:6-11 G. Aberdeen

Friday Isaiah 12:2-6 C. Cleeve

Saturday No service

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TEL. CONF. CALL- NOON DAY PRAYER SCHEDULE.

Officiant Psalm

Monday Franklyn D. 126 Susan John

Tuesday . Harry Whitecross 23 Franklyn D

Wed. Vicar 119:105-112 H. Whitecross

Thurs. Harry W 15 Vicar

Friday F. Davies 121 Susan John

MEDITATION DURING THE 9.30 P.M. & DAILY PRAYERS .

Sunday 1 Cor. 13:1-7 Clarice Davies

Monday Ephesians 6: 6-14 Harry Whitecross

Tuesday Jeremiah 10:12-16 Franklyn Davies

Wednesday Matthew 18:1-6 Juliette Davies

Thursday 2 Thimothy 2:22-26 Cecilia Cleeve

Friday Hebrews 10:26-29 Oliver Sharpe

Saturday Romans 12:12-21 Susan John

PSALMS FOR TEL. CONF. CALL 9.30 P.M

Sunday 4 Juliette Wiliams

Monday 31 Clarice Davies

Tuesday 91:1-7 Franklyn Davies

Wednesday 134 The Vicar

Thursday 1 Susan John

Friday 15 Oliver Sharpe

Saturday 34:2-7 Harry Whitecross

ST CYPRIAN OF CARTHHAGE CHURCH PRAYER: O God our heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus Christ commanded us to go out and make disciples. In response to His command, we have started St. Cyprian of Carthage. We know that without your help and blessing we cannot succeed in bringing people to your church. We pray that you will be with us as we take your gospel to your people. Give us wisdom and understanding to say and do the right things when we meet our friends, acquaintances and even people we have not met before;. so that our membership may increase in accordance with your will and to your praise and glory. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS.

DIOCESAN CONVENTION: The Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Southern Ohio will take place at Sharonville, Cincinnati on November 6 & 7. St. Cyprian delegation will be: The Vicar, Senior Warden and Alternate Delegate, Oliver Sharpe. The Theme for this year’s Convention is: “Let your Light Shine.” The full schedule is available on the church’s website. Click on “Links” and click on the heading “Diocesan Convention”.

RETREAT: The Mission council and some members attended a retreat in Procter on Saturday 10th. October. It was a successful retreat as members who attended said that they gained a lot and that it was Spiritually beneficial to them. Another retreat is being planned for February 27 or March 27 next year. Watch this space.

HOLY WATER: Holy Water is always available in church. Those who need Holy Water to take home can have it in containers at the cost of the containers ($1.00) only. The Holy Water is not for sale but donations are welcome. Holy water is only available to those who attend church.

BLOG. We are pleased to announce the introduction of a ‘Blog’ to our website. Our weekly church news and schedules for our tel. Conference calls are also available on the Blog.

CONFERENCE CALL BY TELEPHONE: We started our prayers by telephone conference call in September of 2008. We pray and have Bible Study daily as follows: Monday - Friday: 6.00-6.15 am- prayers only.: 12.00-12.05 pm.-prayers only: 9.30 - 10.15pm. (Bible Study from 9:30 p.m. - 10.00 p.m. then Compline - the last prayer in the Anglican Church - from about 10.00 p.m. to about 10.15 p.m.)

Every Thursday, at 9.30 p.m., we use all the time in the worship and praise to the Almighty. We include Testimonies. No intercessions, only Praise to God for his goodness and wonderful acts.

In addition, members are encouraged to pray individually (wherever they are) at specific times during the day - at 9.00 a.m., 3.00 p.m. and at 6.00 p.m. On Tuesdays we have Bible discussion from about 9.30 p.m.- 10.00 p.m. then

Compline from about 10.00 p.m. to 10.15 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays we hold prayer sessions at 9.30 p.m. only.

The 9.30 p.m. prayer session is held daily the whole year round including all holidays and festivities - 365 days.

If you want to join us, here are the details:

Telephone 1-213 289 0555 and the Access code is 43205 # As you go home today, please ask the ushers for some business cards with information about the church for distribution.

COUNSELING/ THERAPEUTIC SESSIONS FOR MEMBERS.

Counseling is available to all members of St. Cyprian church. It will be available for marital problems, unemployment, difficulties with children and a host of other concerns.

Appointment will be necessary and the sessions will take place in the Clergy Room in church at a date and time that are mutually convenient.

There will be no charge but donations are encouraged.

SPECIAL PRAYERS : Special prayers are also available for members after service, in church or at home by appointment.

HOLY COMMUNION is available to members who are ill or whose work does not allow them to attend services on Sundays or Thursdays. Please see the Vicar for appointment.

OFFICE HOURS.

Wednesday: 2.00 - 4.00 p.m.;Thursday: 3.30 p.m. - 6.30 p.m.; Friday: 2.00 - 3.30 p.m.


MISSION COUNCIL

Rev. Admire Cleeve - Vicar

Mrs Juliette Davies -Senior Warden

Mrs. Susan John - Junior Warden

Mr. Sonny Eddy Treasurer

Mr. Franklyn Davies - Auditor

Mr. Jere Stanley - Web Master

Ms. Yvonne Palmer -Youth

Mr. Oliver Sharpe - Youth


It may not be easy to believe this now, but there was a time when I was a tiny little boy with no beard and a full head of hair. It wasn’t gray, either. One New Year’s Day when I was maybe six or seven I was visiting my grandfather’s house and, as it happened, I was the only kid there. All the other people at the New Year’s party were huge loud adults who were eating traditional foods like sauerkraut and pickled herring and drinking wine from the vines my grandfather grew in back of the house. At midnight, someone said, Why not let Eddie have a sip of wine too? So they gave me a sip of the most horrible wine I’ve ever tasted, more like vinegar than wine. I must have made a face, because they were all laughing and chuckling. My grandfather wasn’t a very good winemaker, at least not by then, because he had grown old and no longer bothered to prune the vines. A healthy grapevine, as Jesus said, has to be pruned, and the branches that no longer bear good fruit are burned; otherwise, each vine will grow unchecked and, while it will bear a lot of grapes, they will not be very good. This happened to my grandfather’s vines, and the wine they produced was bad. For a while they were good enough for jelly, so every year my grandmother made a huge batch of grape jelly and gave it away to everyone she could think of. In time, as more people politely turned it down, she gave up on that too. By the time I was ten, I was living at their house and helping to harvest the grapes as table grapes. The red ones were useful only for table grapes; they had almost no flavor, but were refreshing eaten cold. In the end, my grandfather’s labor over thirty years had come down to no more than that. I learned from this that more is not necessarily better; a small fraction of the jungle canopy behind our house would have borne better grapes and good wine. Everyone who heard Jesus understood all this, since wine was not a luxury but a necessity of life and vineyards were and are everywhere in the Holy Land. But Jesus goes further. He makes one of the “I am” statements; just as in last week’s gospel he says “I am the good shepherd,” here he says “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Now he is not only our protector and leader, but he is part of us and we are part of him. Now the wine that we drink in the Holy Communion is not only wine but also his blood, and because we are made one with him his blood is our blood, which we drink to nourish the spirit of God within us. The bread and the wine are our spiritual food and drink, not in an abstract sense but a very physical one, and they sustain us in spirit just as ordinary food and drink us sustain us in body. I would like to say just one other thing about vineyards. The roots of grapevines go deep into the earth, very deep, which is why they can grow in dry hot places like Israel and California; they don’t rely on rain, like grains and tubers, but draw up pure water from underground and fill their fruit with it. The branches that bear the good plump fruit do so by tapping deep wellsprings, and the branches that flourish in the vineyard of God tap the source of all life in the love of God and the redeeming power of Christ, the vine and deep root from which we grow. When we live in Christ we are not separate from him, and we are not separate from other human beings. The reading from the Book of Acts, St. Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, is a perfect example of the unity of all peoples. As we heard just a few minutes ago, the eunuch was earnestly reading Isaiah, trying to learn more about God, but could not understand what the prophet was saying. Who, he asks, is the one who was denied justice, humiliated and slaughtered like a sheep? When Philip explains, the eunuch – obviously a very intelligent man – immediately understands that salvation is not to be gained only by the Law and the prophets, but by participating in the life of Christ. This begins with baptism, so when he sees water he asks what prevents him from being baptized immediately. This is as close as the New Testament comes to humor, since in fact there are a few details that, before Christ, would have made it impossible even consider: He is not Jewish by birth, being a eunuch he can never be circumcised, and he is in service to the ruler of a foreign power. But Philip doesn’t even hesitate, and the eunuch goes on his way rejoicing because he has discovered in the act of baptism, the act of becoming part of the body of Christ, the truth he could not find by himself. I thought for a while about preaching just on the lesson from Acts, since its relationship to this congregation is so obvious, but it seems pretentious for me to talk at length to you about racism. Unfortunately you understand this better than I do. But the lesson is clear: Here is a man who is trying to understand the scripture of the Jews even though the Jews would have rejected him absolutely as a stranger who could never have been part of their community. How often we have, even unconsciously, shunned people whom we would not want to be part of our community, whether that means our church, our neighborhood, or the school our children go to. Shunning need not be a matter of race; homeless people are universally shunned, and so are those who are strange, whose behavior is “inappropriate” according to our social norms. We all know such people, and we have met plenty of them with our community lunches. We will meet many more in a little while when we return to Trinity Church for the garden ministry. Many of them also attend daytime services at Trinity and other downtown churches; like the eunuch, they are searching for truth and wholeness of spirit in their own way. They and we are all the same, branches of the great vine that is the source of life and truth. Amen.

The Bible doesn’t say anything about St. Thomas’s background, but I think he was probably from Missouri. Missouri is the “Show Me State,” populated apparently by people who are hard to fool; some skeptical folks like to say, “I’m from Missouri, show me,” no matter where they are actually from. We Americans like to think of ourselves as hard-headed and practical, people like Sgt. Joe Friday from the old Dragnet TV series. If you’ve ever seen an episode of this show, you might have heard his famous line, always addressed to an hysterical woman, “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” This is sound reasoning, and also scientific thinking. The scientific principle of basing theories on physical evidence rather than hearsay is so natural in the modern world that we rarely think twice about it – of course, we think, the only way to make sure a statement is true is to test it against the facts as rigorously as possible. Thomas, then. is more like us than we might want to admit. He is reluctant to accept the news of the Resurrection unless, like a scientist, he has the physical data: he wants to touch the wounds made by the nails, and put his hand in the gash in Jesus’ side. He doesn’t disbelieve the other disciples, and surely he wants to believe that the Lord has somehow returned from death, but he cannot overcome his doubts even though he has followed Jesus through most of his ministry and watched him heal the sick and the blind and the crippled and even return Lazarus to life. The divided state of his mind must have been terrible, and in his place my mind would have been equally divided between hope and the fact that the other disciples had no evidence to back up their outrageous claim. And, of course, it was an outrageous claim; in Thomas’s defense, let’s think for a moment about what they were asking him to believe, not only that Jesus was alive but that he seemed able to walk through walls. This is a lot to believe. For one thing, there was no doubt that Jesus hadn’t faked his death, like Elvis; the Romans were nothing if not thorough, and when Jesus was taken down from the Cross he was dead indeed. As for the upper room, it was, well, upstairs, so Jesus didn’t climb in the window, and the door was locked. This scenario is like one of those British murder mysteries in which the body is found inside a locked room with no way to get in or out without leaving a lot of clues. Even Sherlock Holmes would have been baffled. Thomas’s doubt was surely understandable, especially to us who also look for facts and proof. I, at least, would have suspected that maybe the other disciples wanted so much to see Jesus again that they were sharing a kind of collective hallucination. No doubt there’s a description of something like this in the psychiatric literature. Somehow (and How is a good question) Jesus is aware of Thomas’s doubts, and the next time he appears he singles him out, saying “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Jesus’ comment reminds me of all the times he said to those he healed, “Your faith has made you well.” These people believed before he performed the miracle, not after he had demonstrated his power unmistakably. Thomas didn’t get a blessing because his rational skepticism was stronger than his faith. As children of the Enlightenment, we too have to struggle against the temptation to think much more than we feel, and to try to explain everything in the world by reason alone, aided only by the facts, ma’am. Jesus himself often discussed the power of faith: Faith can move mountains, he said, and faith is like a mustard seed that grows into a plant thousands of times larger than itself. Unless you are like a little child, he said, you shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven; that is, unless you trust and believe in Christ, you shall never experience the pure joy of the kingdom. You can’t think your way in. One phrase Jesus never used but that we now use frequently is “leap of faith.” Done properly, the leap of faith is a leap into the unknown, where no bottom is visible and the bottom may not exist. You have to let go of everything that we use to keep from falling into that abyss: our rationality, our knowledge, our common sense, our habit of saying, “I’m from Missouri, show me.” Only when we let go completely, trusting God to catch us before the leap becomes an endless fall, can we learn to trust and love him like a little child. Just letting go, however, is not enough. When we come to truly believe in God’s love and redemptive power, we will naturally act on our faith. Faith without acts is an abstraction, but when we live our faith it will transform us: we will learn to see the image of God in every person, and experience directly the divine love that surrounds us. As St. Paul wrote, a person in Christ is “a new creation.” This does not mean, though, that we have to give up our faith in reason. Some prominent atheists, most of them scientists, believe that there is a big gap between rational thinking and irrational feeling, with faith in an otherwise obscure man who lived nearly two thousand years ago definitely on the irrational side of the gap. In fact, if we look at our faith in purely rational terms it is, like the story the other disciples told to Thomas, a lot to believe. Outside the Bible, there are only a couple of fleeting references to Jesus – not much evidence, certainly not much underpinning for the two thousand years of faith that followed his death. The problem for these worshipers at the Temple of Reason is that they don’t recognize any way of thinking, of perceiving the creation, except their own. On the other hand, religious people like the fundamentalists who insist against all the evidence that the universe is only six thousand years old seem to believe that thinking is sinful. Of course neither side is balanced, and in any case there is no real conflict between science and religion – after all, our Presiding Bishop is also a marine biologist. Far less is there any conflict between using the minds God gave us to think and the hearts he gave us to love. Thomas was not alone, though in a way he was far ahead of his time in insisting on empirical data. Peter found himself walking on water across the Sea of Galilee, and when started losing his faith he promptly started to sink. I would have sunk too, and I would have asked for some hard evidence before I believed Peter and the others. Lord, help my unbelief, our unbelief, and let us become, in you, new creations. Amen.

Today does not look like a special Sunday in Lent- but it is. What is today called? Today is called “Refreshment Sunday.”

In the Anglican Communion we call the fourth Sunday in Lent “Refreshment Sunday.” The Roman Catholics also have a special Latin name for today which when translated means “Rejoice.” I remember when I was in Britain that today they celebrate “Mothering Sunday.” In America, we observe it on May 10. In the United Kingdom, today they honor their mothers. We will consider this in detail on May 10.

You will observe that it is indeed a special Day. What makes it special? Why should we rejoice in the middle of Lent? We learned that Lent is a time for serious reflection, a time for fasting and meditation, of prayer and the reading of the scriptures. In the midst of all these, why should we rejoice?

Well, the answer is simple - it is because we are halfway through lent. We are now in the position where we can see the light “at the end of the tunnel” - a day when we have a glimpse of the Resurrection on Easter Day and we rejoice. As you well know, Christians are not encouraged to fast on Sundays because every Sunday is Resurrection Day and on this day, Christians are to rejoice. Today however, we rejoice for another reason. We rejoice that in the midst of gloom and suffering as we look ahead to Good Friday, we can see beyond the horizon, that Resurrection Day is eminent.

The children of Israel had the same experience long time ago. God had heard their cry of despair when they were slaves in Egypt and had come to their rescue by sending Moses to confront Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. God had shown the Egyptians and the Israelites alike that there are no other gods greater than the true GOD. That he was the Omnipotent (all powerful), Omnipresent (present everywhere) and Omniscience (knows everything.) He had delivered them by causing the ten plagues on the Egyptians when their Pharaoh had refused to release them from slavery and also when he worked wonders for them by dividing the Red sea and drowning all the army of Egypt in the bed of the sea while the children of Israel crossed unharmed.

It did not take long before the children of Israel forgot all the Lord had done for them and began to complain about nearly everything - food, water, the environment - you name it, they complained about everything. God in turn punished them at first, but forgave them when they repented and gave them Life through the brazen image of a serpent. Anyone who was bitten by the poisonous snakes and looked at the image, lived. God gave them LIFE in the midst of death - but only when they looked on the image God had provided.

Look at the world’s situation today - unemployment, repossessions of homes, poverty, homelessness, loss of pension funds and 401Ks, diseases, wars; the list is endless. Like the Israelites, we have distanced ourselves from God by allowing ourselves to be distracted. As a result, we have been focusing on everything else but God. It was only when the Israelites focused on the image of the serpent that they lived.

The children of Israel had to be helped to have faith in God. They repented and God saw their plight and knew their difficulties - they lacked faith. After all they had just started to know God in a different and more direct way and they needed time to get used to a God who is a Spirit.

We on this side of history are also faced with so many distractions that we keep having less and less time for God. During this Lent, we need to repent. We need to do this on behalf of our world leaders and the peoples of the world. We need to learn to trust God and to Focus only on Him who loves us so much that He sent His Son so that all who believe in Him “should not perish but have everlasting life.”

So on this Refreshment Sunday when we look ahead we see two clear visions that mark our future-

the Crucifixion of our Lord that earned us our Salvation and the Resurrection that gives us the HOPE of Eternal Life.

So let us rejoice. Amen

Sermon by Rev. Admire Cleeve

Every command of God is reasonable as it is divine and enjoined no less from regard to human happiness, than to secure the glory of the great lawgiver.

Those generally termed the Ten Commandments stand prominently conspicuous in the sacred volume and from the manner in which they were announced, the frequency with which they are introduced, and their essential connection with all good conduct. They present the strongest claims on our attention. As Christians you are aware that our text forms a part of this sacred code; that it stands among these Commandments, and is found in a part of the divine records which gives an account of God’s delivering his law to mortals, and that it has the sanction which accompanies the mandates of heaven.

The Institution of the Sabbath day, and the manner in which we should regard it, are the topics which our Text embrace and, those which now demand our serious attention. Moses was on Mount Sinai when God spoke the words to him. God first introduced himself to Moses. He said ‘I am the Lord they God’, as he is saying to us this morning. He is the God that has brought us thus far from all the certainties and uncertainties of life. He warned Moses and he is warning us this day that we shall have no other God but Him. He warned us not to create graven images, nor adopt any mortal, beast or thing as our God, for he God is a jealous God. He promised punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject Him, but promise to show steadfast love to those who love Him and follow His commands.

The misuse of the Name of God is a sin, and God will not acquit anyone who misuses His name. God also asked that we remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy, as we have six days to work and labor Our entire household should observe the Sabbath day and do no work on that day but praise Him; for this reason God blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.

God commands that we honor our fathers and mothers so that our days may be long in the land as our Lord has assured us. We are warned not to murder, commit adultery, not to steal, nor bear false witness against our neighbors.

Amen.

By: Rev. Frank Vincent

Mark 8:31-38 Some years ago, the new president of CCAD held a party at his home so that the faculty and trustees could get to know him better. We did indeed get to know him better, and he was fired hardly more than a year later. One example of his charm at the party was a conversation with me and a few other faculty about our hobbies, if any. “Photography,” I said. He nodded. “Fishing,” another guy said. He nodded. Another said, “I like to watch the Weather Channel, sometimes a couple of hours a day.” He just stared at her, and said, “You need to get a life.” What does this have to do with today’s Gospel? Jesus said, “Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” The problem with “getting” or “saving” one’s life in modern terms is that this so often means doing something for yourself, something that will make you richer or better-looking or at least less boring. So the former president’s comment about the Weather Channel wasn’t just a general injunction but a suggestion that she take up fishing like Walter or photography like Edward, or maybe needlework or gardening or something, or maybe move on to teaching in Seattle or Houston where she wouldn’t be so bored. In broader terms, he was also suggesting that “Your life is empty, it has no meaning”; Jesus too suggested that some lives are empty, and offered discipleship as the alternative. As I read today’s lesson, I kept thinking about last Sunday’s lesson – and, of course, there is a reason why these passages are put together in sequence. To me, one of the reasons is that the temptations in the wilderness represent wrong ways to get a life, and today Jesus tells us the right way. Since Admire chose not to discuss the temptations in detail last week, I’m going to talk about them a little now, but from the perspective of how different they are from “Take up your cross and follow me.” The first temptation was to give up self-denial and do a magic trick, turning stones into bread, to make himself more comfortable. Hunger alone would make this an attractive proposition, but throughout our lives, hungry or not, we are constantly urged to use our skills to make ourselves materially comfortable, to gain status in our communities, to put our personal stamp on our lives. Just as Satan suggested to Jesus that he take care of his own hunger and no one else’s, so we are taught from childhood to look out first for ourselves and satisfy our own needs first. This is why one of the biggest sections of any bookstore will be the “self-help” aisles where we learn how to “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps,” as Emerson put it, usually by thinking positive thoughts about ourselves until they come true and we are rich and successful in our jobs. The most famous of these mantras, still repeated many times a day by many people, is “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” The emphasis is pretty clear, as it is the psychobabble we hear every day about “self-esteem,” “selfworth,” “self-determination,” “self-motivation” and so on. From this point of view, each of us is like a miniature Las Vegas: What comes from the self stays in the self. Jesus’ point of view is different: don’t pull up your bootstraps but instead take up your cross and follow me. The second temptation is not wealth through self-improvement but sheer power. Satan gives Jesus a vantage point where he can see “all the nations of the world,” that is, south through Egypt to Ethiopia, west to the Rock of Gibralter, north to Asia Minor and west through Iraq and Iran to the first of the Himalayas. Our world is larger than that, but still it is an impressive piece of real estate. And, while the Gospel doesn’t mention this, I think the second temptation is a lot harder to resist than the first. After all, the ruler of the world will surely have his or her material needs met without difficulty, so the ruler will be free to be wise and just. That is the real temptation: Take a shortcut, gather power to yourself rather than let it flow out of yourself, and do good without suffering. Another story we all know, Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings is all about this form of seduction. Only the real lord of the Ring, Sauron, accepts it for what it is – pure evil – while everyone else who comes near it believes that he can control it and use it for good. Even saintly Frodo fails in his mission to destroy the Ring because its power possesses him; only divine intervention saves the world from its evil. In the Gospel too, Satan says that all the kingdoms of the world have been given to him, and offers to turn them over to Jesus, implicitly so he can take a shortcut in saving them and avoid the agony of the cross. But Jesus, perhaps recalling this conversation in a high place, rebukes Peter – “get thee behind me, Satan!” – when Peter objects to the idea that Jesus must undergo great suffering and rejection by all human authorities. Satan required in the second temptation that Jesus worship him, by which he would have forfeited his life, and in the third, rather desperate temptation he tries again to make Jesus turn divine power into a magic trick, this time ordering angels to catch him in mid-air. What matters to me about the third temptation is where it happens: at the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem. From there Jesus could easily see the hill of Golgotha where his ministry would end among mocking soldiers and bystanders who would say “If you are the Son of God, send angels to bring you down from there!” He would face the same temptation, this time in agony, but would choose instead to die like any one of us. Jesus foretold his death, and in the process relived his temptation in the wilderness, not only so the disciples would know what was to come but to offer an invitation to them, and through them to us: Give up your obsession with yourself and your needs, deny them, not just to observe Lent but throughout your whole life and being. We do not have to take up a cross to be crucified, but we do need to put to death the selfish impulses that carry us into ourselves and away from other people and from the image of God in all people. We must do this every day, in our work and our prayers, because only then can we learn to live no longer for ourselves alone, but for him who died for us and rose again. Amen.

By Edward Lense

Conference call

We are striving to make St. Cyprian of Carthage a PRAYING CHURCH.

So far, we started our prayers by telephone conference call in October of 2008. We pray daily as follows:

Monday – Friday: 6.00–6.15 am. 12.00–12.05 pm.

9.30– 10.00pm

(we include Compline – the last prayer in the Anglican Church - and it starts at 9.45 p.m.)

In addition, members are encouraged to pray individually (wherever they are) at specific times during the day – at 9.00 a.m., 3.00 p.m. and at 6.00 p.m.

On Tuesdays we have Bible discussion from 9.30 p.m. – 10.00 p.m. then Compline from 10.00 p.m. to 10.15 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays we have hold our prayer sessions at 9.30 p.m. only.

We also have our usual main Holy Communion service on Sundays at 10.30 a.m. On Thursdays from 6.30– 8.00 pm. we have Holy Communion and Bible discussion. In addition, we hold Bible discussions and prayers weekly at members’ houses by invitation. Whenever we gather for prayers; individually, by telephone conference calls, at members’ houses or for services, we pray for people everywhere, collectively and individually.

Yet our Evangelistic work and our outreach are progressing unhindered.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

We pray for people everywhere

You are invited to send us your requests for prayers. Including your name (part or full) is optional. Just give us a gist of your needs on our Blog, by post, email or leave a message on our telephone and we will pray for you. We also include request in our Sunday services at “prayers of the people” during our main service and at “Holy Communion”.

Address: Suites 1 & 2, 6075 Cleveland Avenue, Columbus, Ohio, 43231, U.S.A.

Telephone: 1-614-221-5221 Email: church@scocec.org

Also, all are invited to join in our prayers.

Telephone 1-309 946 5100 and the Access code is 43205 at the times stated above.

Please note: All times stated above are Eastern Time in the United States.

This service is free.

However, donations are welcome – see below for details.

Feedback is always encouraged.

St. Cyprian of Carthage Episcopal Church. Sermon by Rev. Admire Cleeve

Gen. 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-9; 1Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15.

Just before the beginning of lent, I ask someone what he planned to give up for Lent. After a moment’s thought he replied that he had decided to stop smoking. I was impressed, because I know that for a smoker to give up smoking for Lent is a great sacrifice. To my surprise someone turned to him and said, “ but you don’t smoke”.

I know that at this first Sunday in Lent every year we focus on “the temptation” and some of you will be saying to yourselves, “here we go again”. Looking around the church this morning I can see a few of you that have heard at least three sermons on this subject since the beginning of St. Cyprian of Carthage. Whether I preach on “the temptation” or not, the message of Lent is always the same. It is a special time in the life of a Christian and one that presents us with great opportunities.

It should never be one that presents us with challenges like the person who was going to stop smoking when in reality he didn’t smoke. Rather, it should be a period we look forward to with anticipation. A time when we have an opportunity to draw nearer to our Lord so that we may come to know him more. It is an opportunity to take another step of faith in our spiritual journey.

The Bible is full of accounts of people who, when presented with the opportunity, decided to take steps of faith. In our readings for today, we read about God establishing a covenant with Noah and his sons after the flood and we think of the tremendous step of faith that Noah took when God commanded him to build an ark. He could have made many excuses and thereby fail to carry our God’s command; instead he resolutely set his heart and mind to do God’s will and the covenant is clearly the result. I do not intend to dwell on the details of the covenant in this sermon, but call to mind many in history, from Abram to the minor prophets, who took steps of faith in obedience to the Lord.

In our Gospel for today, we read of Jesus taking a step of faith when he left Nazareth of Galilee to be baptized by John in the Jordan – a journey of about 14 miles. We can well ask why he should leave his close community – a community with an excellent social network where they looked after each other and each other’s family and travel all the way to the Jordan to be baptized by John and we should note that after the baptism, he never looked back. One Reason is that Jesus knew that he had work to do as ordered by his Father; one that could not wait and that he had to go to Jordan to begin his father’s work there with the baptism from John. In the Gospel we note that Jesus’ step of faith brought about the Father’s approval – “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

Just two weeks ago, St. Cyprian of Carthage also took a step of faith when we moved from Broad Street to this building in Cleveland Avenue. You will discover from many of the accounts of old and many today where people had and are being called to take steps of faith that their lives were never the same after. A great change and a transformation of their lives are usually the result.

We do not know what the future holds for our church (St. Cyprian of Carthage), although as we are positive that if God is with us, all will be well. What form the future will take is for him to decide. What we do know, however, is that like Noah and our Lord, we have work to do and that work is – to “go out and make disciples” as commanded by our Lord. That is what we have to do now – go out and meet people and invite them to come and meet our Lord – tell them we have an open house on Sunday, March 29, at 10.30 a.m. for our service and lunch at 12.00 p.m. We are aware also, that if we keep faith, there will be change for the better and a transformation beyond our dreams will be the result.

This year, Lent is beginning at a time when the United States and the rest of the nations of the world are experiencing difficult times; the U.S economy is in crisis. It is a period of uncertainty, anxiety and worry. So many are losing their jobs, some who have been unemployed for some time now are not so sure they are employable any more. People have lost their homes and are still losing them in record numbers. This downward spiral of our economy makes even experts to doubt whether recovery will come soon. In our nation today, Millions of people are afraid of the future for themselves and for their families.

We are God’s children and what we know others don’t know. We Christians have a Lord who will take care of us. He often said over and over again, “Be not afraid”. As a matter of fact, the whole Bible is full of this assurance from God to his people “Be not afraid”. As I was preparing my sermon, I conducted a search in the Authorized Standard version of the Bible for the phrase “be not afraid” and I found forty-six.

He promised us also in Matthew 11:28-30, 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

For us who believe, we need Lent to further take another step in our faith to remind us of his promise and to strengthen the bond with our Lord. He is always there for us, for he also promised us in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and we know it and we believe it.

There are others outside, who have not heard this good news who are worried, anxious and frustrated and who have nowhere to turn because they do not know our Lord. We need to go and meet them where they are and give them HOPE. We need to tell them about our Lord and what he promised us - “His yoke is easy, His burden is light.” Invite them to come to his Church to taste and see the Generosity, Love, Compassion, Mercy and the Saving Grace of our Lord. Let them join us in taking another Step of Faith. Amen.

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