St. James Anglican Church Easter 3

Here is the sermon by Father Carlos for Easter 3A 2020

https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html

Bishop’s Note: The Pastoral Rites Introduction to Holy Matrimony

Bishop Eric Menees

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

This week in the Bishop’s Note we move on to the Pastoral Rites.  The Pastoral Rites are Holy Matrimony and the Thanksgiving for the Birth or Adoption of a Child.

Before we turn to the actual rite of Holy Matrimony we are blessed in the 2019 BCP to have an explanation of biblical marriage that lays out the standard for the Anglican Church in North America. This is one of the lines of demarcation between the ACNA and other mainline denominations in the United States. Most mainline denominations have left the biblical understanding of marriage and adopted a secular understanding that has been redefined in the courts. We in the ACNA have maintained and promoted a biblical understanding of marriage that begins with marriage preparation.

The first difference is the requirement that both the bride and groom be baptized believing Christians. St. Paul was clear in his second epistle to the church in Corinth that we should not be unequally yoked. “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2. Cor. 6:14) In other churches those who are not Christians are welcome to participate in the sacrament of marriage.  Far too often this ends very poorly with either divorce if the non-Christian party is unwilling to convert or the Christian party walking away from his or her faith in order to please their partner or simply avoid conflict.

The couple are also required to go through serious pre-marital counseling with the priest or his designee. This counseling should take place with plenty of time prior to the wedding so as to allow the couple to work together and seek to make the appropriate adjustments in their relationship.

Below is the section “Concerning Preparation for Holy Matrimony found on page 199 – 200 of the 2019 BCP.

Concerning Preparation for

Holy Matrimony

“Marriage is a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, binding both to self-giving love and exclusive fidelity. The rite of Holy Matrimony is a worship service of the Church, in which the couple exchanges vows to uphold this covenant. They do this before God and in the presence of witnesses, who pray that God will bless their life together.

The covenantal union of man and woman in marriage signifies the communion between Christ, the heavenly bridegroom, and the Church, his holy bride (Ephesians 5:32). While all do not marry, Holy Matrimony symbolizes the union all Christians share with their Lord.

In Holy Matrimony, God establishes and blesses the covenant between husband and wife, and joins them to live together in a communion of love, faithfulness, and peace within the fellowship of Christ and his Church. God enables all married people to grow in love, wisdom, and godliness through a common life patterned on the sacrificial love of Christ.

Great care should be taken to prepare all candidates for Holy Matrimony.

In preparing couples for Holy Matrimony, the clergy should comply with their Provincial and Diocesan Canons, and any Diocesan Customaries. The canons expect that both candidates are baptized. It is also the responsibility of the clergy to understand local law and to consult with the Bishop should they believe themselves compelled by law to act in a manner contrary to the teaching or canons of this Church.”

Next week we’ll take a look at a brief liturgy for the signing of the Declaration of Intention.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

St. James Anglican Church Sermon 2-19-20

Fr. Carlos Raines

 https://www.stjas.org/sermons.html

Bishop's Note - How the Virus Stole Easter

Bishop Eric Menees

Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! This Easter Week I’d like to share a small gift with you all for the Bishop’s Note, enjoy!   Twas late in ‘19 when the virus began Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land. People were sick, hospitals full, Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school. As winter gave way to the promise of spring, The virus raged on, touching peasant and king. People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen. They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned. April approached and churches were closed. “There won’t be an Easter,” the world supposed. “There won’t be church services, and egg hunts are out. No reason for new dresses when we can’t go about.” Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest. The world was focused on masks and on tests. “Easter can’t happen this year,” it proclaimed. “Online and at home, it just won’t be the same.” Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went. The virus pressed on; it just would not relent. The world woke Sunday and nothing had changed. The virus still menaced, the people, estranged. “Pooh pooh to the saints,” the world was grumbling. “They’re finding out now that no Easter is coming. “They’re just waking up! We know just what they’ll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two, And then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo. “That noise,” said the world, “will be something to hear.” So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear. And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies. It started down low, then it started to rise. But the sound wasn’t depressed. Why, this sound was triumphant! It couldn’t be so! But it grew with abundance! The world stared around, popping its eyes. Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise! Every saint in every nation, the tall and the small, Was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all! It hadn’t stopped Easter from coming! It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same! And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine Stood puzzling and puzzling. “Just how can it be?” “It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies, It came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money.” Then the world thought of something it hadn’t before. “Maybe Easter,” it thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more.” And what happened then? Well....the story’s not done. What will YOU do? Will you share with that one Or two or more people needing hope in this night? Will you share the source of your life in this fight? The churches are empty - but so is the tomb, And Jesus is victor over death, doom, and gloom. So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer, As the virus still rages all around, everywhere. May the world see hope when it looks at God’s people. May the world see the church is not a building or steeple. May the world find Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, May the world find Joy in a time of dejection. May 2020 be known as the year of survival, But not only that - Let it start a revival. That was “How the Virus Stole Easter” by Kristi Bothur with a nod to Dr. Seuss. I hope you all have a blessed Easter Week!

Easter Sunday Services At St. James Anglican Church

You can view the Easter Sunday Services at St. James here:

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Bishop's Note - “Spiritual Communion”

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Diocese of San Joaquin, I hope and pray that you are all doing well, looking after yourselves, your families, friends, and neighbors and following the directions of the civil authorities. Today is Maundy Thursday and I am acutely aware that on this holy day in which we are reminded of Jesus’ institution of the sacrament of Holy Communion that most of you are, as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, prohibited from receiving holy communion – what an irony. While this current crisis may be a surprise to us it is no surprise to our Lord. This is only one in a long line of crises throughout history that have formed a barrier between the people of God being able to receive the body and blood of Christ.  The Church, long ago, responded to this crisis by developing the practice of Spiritual Communion.  Today this humble and profound prayer can be found on page 677 of the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. While this practice has existed for centuries the 19th Century French priest Jean-Marie Vianney captured the essence of spiritual communion by saying,

“If we are deprived of Sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far as we can, by spiritual communion, which we can make every moment; for we ought to have always a burning desire to receive the good God. Communion is to the soul like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out, but that has still plenty of hot embers; we blow, and the fire burns again.”

Today as you participate in the Maundy Thursday liturgy, however presented, if you are prevented from physically receiving the sacrament I invite you to kneel before the Lord and in your minds eye to picture yourself with our Lord and the disciples in that Upper Room and utter this prayer.

“Dear Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I desire to possess you within my soul. And since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, I beseech you to come spiritually into my heart. I unite myself to you, together with all your faithful people [gathered around every altar of your Church], and I embrace you with all the affections of my soul. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen”

I pray you all a truly blessed Holy Week in which you are healthy and safe, filled with Grace and able to share God’s light and love in a dark and frightened world.

The Corona Virus, Social Distancing And The Church

Palm Sunday Year A 2020

Father Dale Matson

            An Oriental curse is to say, “May you live in interesting times”. I think we could consider these interesting times.

            Spring has arrived and our Golden State of California is green. Unfortunately, the rain will soon end and there is an anticipatory sadness that this season will give way to a golden hue in a matter of weeks. Palm Sunday has that same anticipatory sadness as our California Spring. In our Gospel lesson today, we hear the following which I will summarize.

Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to adoration and great fanfare.  We are always hopeful yet we know the outcome, don’t we? Then we begin the passion narrative. We say to ourselves, “How can this be? How could things have gone so tragically wrong so quickly”? From his triumphant entry we now see Jesus in Gethsemane nearly dead from sorrow and literally sweating blood. He went to his closest friends Peter, James and John three times asking for their prayers and companionship yet they remained asleep. He was so alone there. Have you been there too? Are you there now? I believe this is an extreme example of what we term today in the age of the Corona Virus, “Social Distancing”. Jesus knew the outcome…that he would die soon. He had no one to comfort him, yet he yielded to the will of His Father.

Many of our coping mechanisms and distractions have been taken away like Churches, parks, theaters, fitness centers etc. Lots of safe outdoor places have been closed. City parks, county parks, state parks and even the national parks are closed. We are under a form of "house arrest" and physically isolated from our own families. I am glad for the internet that offers a more balanced view of our situation and a means of keeping our church family together. We are live-streaming our services. People are rethinking bricks and mortar institutions. I think the pagans are more bothered by this than Christians based on the comments I have read on First Things. I can’t believe the hate filled comments I have read. Faith is a healing balm. I am seeing less quarreling between Protestants and Catholics however as we ban together.

The First Things Blog had an article this week titled, “CHURCH AS A NON-ESSENTIAL SERVICE”. I will read the following from that article. “Judging by the response of many religious leaders, church is a non-essential service. We are capable of taking prudent measures to keep our supermarkets open, but not our sanctuaries. Coronavirus has shown what we value. In Pennsylvania, beer distributors are deemed essential. In San Francisco and New York, cannabis dispensaries are [considered to be essential]. The rules vary by jurisdiction, but they all aim at one overriding goal: the preservation of physical health.”  https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/03/church-as-a-non-essential-service

Only time will tell if the current measures taken to combat the virus are draconian or not. As a 75-year-old, I am optimistic and not fearful but I have lived through much worse. We are having to endure both the problem and the solutions to the problem. At this point I am concerned that the solutions may create bigger unseen problems than the disease. I am mourning my missing freedoms. We are losing our freedom by degrees daily. But I am fortunate to have Sharon with me. What about the elderly who have no one else? What about the loss of human contact. Is a phone call a form of virtual hug? I’ll bet you are keeping in touch with relatives by phone more than before.

 And yet we find the very climax in our narrative in these words, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but thou wilt.”  He made his decision to do His Father’s will. It cost him his earthly life as a ransom for our sins.

From this point on, things became increasingly worse with his friend Peter denying three times he even knew him.  And we say to ourselves, “How can this be?” There is a betrayal by Judas, followed by an arrest and false accusations by the religious leaders. There is a mock trial followed by severe and humiliating beatings and a murderer Barabbas is set free instead of an innocent and perfect man. The crowd yells, “Crucify him” and we say to ourselves, “How can this be? Where are all the people who would defend him? Why aren’t they yelling, “Free Jesus”. He is even forced to carry his own cross on which he will be crucified. His garments are taken from him and he is left in his nakedness, to hang on the cross in front of his friends and mother. After his death he is taken down and placed in another man’s tomb. The Old Testament prophet Isiah predicted this. “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

Paul wrote his letters to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians and Philippians while under this house arrest in Rome.  These letters were written around the latter part of A.D. 60 to 61.  Paul was under house arrest and imprisoned at the time. You could say that Paul was suffering from enforced social isolation. His letters have been called his imprisonment or captivity letters. It is no accident that Paul was imprisoned in Rome for God had told him, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” (Acts 23:11b). Christ was destined for the cross on Calvary and Paul was destined to witness and die in Rome.

We know that Paul would have preferred to go to these churches in person but think about the letters he wrote that had wide circulation. Think about how being imprisoned forced him to do what we would call today a “Work Around”. He used the technology of the day to communicate the Gospel and that technology had a widespread effect. We read his letters today. God intended them for us too!

Now think about our technology today in the era of “social distancing”. We are able to reach the world in an instant via video streaming. The “Work Around” we use today can and will be used in the future as the church finds new ways to spread the Gospel. The transition to a virtual church was easier for us than some who had to give up their church temporarily. We had no church to give up.

Now let us examine the first portion of our Epistle lesson from Philippians.

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹

And this is the lesson of Lent for us that we have the mind of Christ.  And what is that mind? It is the mind of Obedience, Humility and Self Denial. We must be obedient to our Father in Heaven. If He gives us His Gifts then we must step out in faith and obedience to use them for the good of his body the Church. We too must be obedient to the point of our own death. This is the death of selfishness and self centeredness.  We are called to serve others.  We must be humble. When we think or do something, is it for our glory or God’s glory? Can we do the good work unseen? Can we give that gift anonymously?  Sometimes it is only a matter of keeping a criticism about someone else to ourselves isn’t it?  It is hard to resist that shopping trip or that Easter candy since both make us feel so much better at the time. We’ll just save the remorse for tomorrow. One of Sharon’s favorite annual events is the Easter egg hunt on our front lawn for the children and grandchildren. We have had to cancel that and the dinner that follows it this year for the first time.

And where is the hope we hold so closely to our hearts in this season of Lent?  It is coming, my brothers and sisters. It is coming. We hold out our hope as Jesus enters the gates of Jerusalem yet we know tragedy and unspeakable injustice await the Lamb of God.  We know this is not the time. This is not the place. He has been humbled, humiliated, crucified and placed in a tomb and WE WITH HIM. 

Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

  And what we have is the New Testament witness of God and Jesus Christ as God, that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is our Salvation and there is no other. We look with hope through the eyes of faith, having been crucified and buried with him, that we too will follow him up from his lowly borrowed grave to the heights of Heaven.

Prayer

Lord forgive the very way we live our lives. Especially our hard hearted and self-centered focus. Please hear our prayers for others. We pray for the ill, the dying, those who lost jobs and those who face the social isolation alone. Thank You for our friends, spouses, children and grandchildren. Please give us a sense of peace about all of these things beyond our control. In the end You are in control. Help us to focus on You. I pray for those who rule over us that they would have good council and make wise decisions that would make a positive difference in our lives. Help us to learn our lessons from this. May the Lord bless and keep you all. Amen

The Rite of Reconciliation – "Prayer & Dismissal"

Bishop Eric Menees

My dear friends, I hope and pray that you are all doing well, looking after yourselves, your families, friends, and neighbors.

In our Bishop’s Note we are going through the 2019 BCP and the Rite of Reconciliation.  Last week we examined the actual absolution given by the priest. This week we cover the closing of the Rite of Reconciliation, the optional prayer and the dismissal.

The following prayer may also be said

Let us pray.

O most loving Father, by your mercy you put away the sins of those who truly repent, and remember their sins no more. Restore and renew in your servant whatever has been corrupted by the fraud and malice of the devil, or by his own selfish will and weakness. Preserve and protect him within the fellowship of the Church; hear his prayers and relieve his pain; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Priest concludes

Go (or abide) in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.

Now the optional prayer in this section may look new to you but this is actually one of the new/old parts of the prayer book. This prayer is a modernized version of a collect at the end of reconciliation that can be found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It’s one of those things that was removed in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer that’s now been restored.

It’s optional but I’d encourage clergy doing reconciliation to pray this prayer. Reconciliation can often seem like a service that’s just a negation, the penitent coming has their sins removed, but this prayer reminds us that we need more than that and this is more than that. On top of having our sins forgiven, we need to ask God to renew us and strengthen us to better follow his will, and to preserve and protect us in our walk with him. It’s not just between us and God though, this prayer makes clear that we’re asking for that preservation and protection within the fellowship of the Church. We as a body of believers should be supporting each other in our relationship with God. Not just in prayer, but also in admonishing sin and in making moral decisions.

Then we get that powerful last line, “Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.” Oftentimes people hold their clergy up on a pedestal, and for some this service can seem like the priest reaching down from the pedestal and lifting up the penitent to a closer relationship with God. That’s not the case at all. In this service the priest pronounces absolution, but all of us fall short of the glory of God, ordained clergy and your bishop included. This is a reminder that while the priest can pronounce absolution, he doesn’t celebrate this sacrament looking down on the penitent from above, but side by side with them as someone who is also a sinner. It connects very well with the prayer before this, because the priest in asking for prayers from the penitent is showing that members of the church should support each other in their Christian life. We live our lives as Christians in community, not in isolation.

After you go through this sacrament, I’d encourage you to spend some time praying for your priest and confessor. He is there going through many of the same struggles as you, often times more, and he can’t do it alone. Clergy are in need of reconciliation just as much as laity, and clergy can’t do their ministry unless they have a right relationship with God.

I pray that you will avail yourself to the Rite of Reconciliation. Remember it’s not, “all may, some should, none must,” it’s “all should, and some REALLY should, seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

I hope all of you in our current Lenten season are able to see God’s mercy and love more and more in your lives! Abide in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.