Advent 1B 2020 St. James Anglican Church

Advent 1B 2020

Celebrant FR. Carlos Raines

Preacher Beth Kunkel

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

Thanksgiving Day

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear brothers and sisters, I hope you had a blessed Feast of Christ the King earlier this week. I also want to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day has an interesting history in our country. Thanksgiving became an official holiday in the United States in 1863 under President Lincoln. Days of thanksgiving were called sporadically since the first European settlers came to what’s now the United States, often around the time of harvest. One of the most well known examples was when the governor of the Plymouth Colony appointed a day for praise and thanksgiving for the Pilgrims in 1621.

Before those settlers had reached our shores, days of thanksgiving along with days of fasting had been called in England since the Reformation. If the country was facing something like a war then a day of fasting may be called, if there was some wonderful national event like peace, a day of thanksgiving would be called.

It’s good to have a set day in our national calendar, but we must remember the adage from Jaroslav Pelikan that “tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Many Americans have turned away from church, but they still see Thanksgiving as a time for turkey dinner, or pilgrim decorations, or football games. There’s nothing bad about those things individually, but there is a problem when a day dedicated to give thanks to God, a day centered around a living faith, gives way to a traditionalism of familiar customs with no actual thanksgiving.

We’re facing a difficult Thanksgiving not being able to gather with family or eat the foods we normally have, but it’s my hope that in having to forgo so many of those customs, we can focus more on the original meaning and purpose of Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving isn’t about a turkey, Thanksgiving is about reflecting on the year you’ve had, looking for the blessings and the ways God has worked in your life, and turning to him and expressing your gratitude for his role in your life.

If we do that we’ll have the Thanksgiving we truly need this year. Many of us have struggled with fears, anxieties, and stress since the pandemic started. It’s easy to look at and focus on all of our concerns and our failings, especially this year. What Thanksgiving forces us to do is look at the ways God has been with us through all of that. We may have drifted from Him, but He’s been there with us through all of 2020. God has been working in ways we can’t truly know to support us and strengthen us in everything we’ve faced. Too often in our lives we take the blessings he gives us for granted. We have much to give thanks for this year. Please spend some time both individually and with your families reflecting on this. If ever there’s been a time in our lives when this country has needed a true day of Thanksgiving it’s this one.

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving Day! 

Bishop Menees

 

Most merciful Father, we humbly thank you for all your gifts so freely bestowed upon us: for life and health and safety, for strength to work and leisure to rest, for all that is beautiful in creation and in human life; but above all we thank you for our spiritual mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Last Sunday After Pentecost St. James Anglican Church Service

Last Sunday After Pentecost

Fr. Carlos Raines Celebrant And Preacher

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

King David and the Path to True Reconciliation Part 1

Fr. Carlos Raines

“What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”

1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.” 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab 1 the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest. 10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11 When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

This has been one of those stand-alone passages in the Bible that I have probably read many times, but never really pondered; never understood; never taken to heart.  Recently I was struck by it and have pondered it for weeks now.  Perhaps this is because of the paroxysms of the racial divide expressed in rage, protest and destruction that has again afflicted America in general and the church in particular.  Perhaps you too will be as stunned as I in the shadow of this demonic Goliath named racism that has exalted itself over church and nation for nearly our whole existence.  David paves a road to reconciliation that is actually breathtaking.  It deserves to be studied and applied in every instance where serious reconciliation is needed in order to bridge deep divides of injustice and suffering.  This applies everywhere from individuals to families to churches, to nations.  Another passage just like it is found in the New Testament in Acts 6 as the newly founded church discovered prejudice and contempt between the Greek speaking Jews and the Hebrew speaking Jews.  In that passage a very similar road to reconciliation occurs. This passage in 2 Samuel begins with an all too familiar yet tragic setting: a plague that lasted three years “year after year.”  David and the people no doubt were crying out to the Lord each of these years. Yet the plague with its terror, suffering, and death had not abated.  So David got serious and “sought the face of the Lord” concerning the disease.  “He who seeks will find…”God’s answer?  He expresses His judgment concerning Saul and his family’s attempted genocide against a helpless minority: the Gibeonites.  We may remember that the Gibeonites had employed deception and treachery to obtain a covenant with Israel.   (Joshua 9:3).   Despite its impure roots, Joshua and the people knew that a covenant once put into effect is sacred.  So the Gibeonites were permitted to live among the Israelites yet they were made to be “haulers of water and cutters of wood.”  In other words, something like indentured servants born to difficult and menial work.  They were, in fact, an unwelcome minority among the Jews and evidently King Saul’s “zeal for the people of Israel and Judah” led him to a kind of ‘final solution’  for the Gibeonites.   He put many of them to the sword, apparently with the help of the men of his family. Nothing had been done about this.  Like so many peoples, the Israelites (even if they thought what Saul did was evil in the eyes of the Lord) just wanted to let the dishonorable acts of the past be buried under the carpet of forgetfulness.  This policy held until the plague.  Only then was the judgment of God who witnessed the breaking of covenantal vows leading to this act of brutality and oppression of the powerful over the weak made known.  When David finds out about God’s judgment of Saul’s atrocities, his response is so wise, so courageous and so just as to set a standard for all time for those who wish to reconcile.  It is especially a powerful message to the powerful who seek reconciliation with the powerless.  David’s opening words upon engaging the Gibeonites empower them while offering an open ended invitation to reconciliation:  “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”We will look more closely at these words in the next blog article on this passage.  The story continues. For many peoples and many centuries there was something akin to what the Old English called Wergeld,  “in ancient Germanic law, the amount of compensation paid by a person committing an offense to the injured party or, in case of death, to his family.”  (editors of Encyclopaeda Britannica) David and the Gibeonites seemed to be aware of the likelihood of a cash gift to make reconciliation for the lost lives.  There is an implied rejection of this normal way of reconciling over murderous deaths: “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.”David hears this and understands.  But he in no way tries to control the path of reconciliation and again replies in an open invitation:  “What do you say that I shall do for you?” The Gibeonites’ answer seems worse than severe to modern ears.  They want blood for blood, life for life, yet not a total destruction of the descendants of Saul: 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.”  David’s response to this severe price of reconciliation:“I will give them.” The Gibeonites clearly see this as an act of atonement (as David himself described it from the beginning).  The sons of Saul are to be “hanged before the LORD in the capitol city of Saul and his tribe, the Benjaminites.  They are like a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of their father.  This tragic story continues with the astounding act of love of a woman named Rizpah and the effect of her love on David’s heart, impelling him to perform one more act of loving loyalty:  to find and bury the bones of Saul and his sons (including David’s beloved friend Jonathan).   When all this has come to pass the passage ends with the powerful words bringing us back to the source of the story:  the heart of God for justice and especially for the powerless and the poor:  “And after that God responded to the plea for the land.” Would you join me in pondering the meaning of this passage?  I expect the Holy Spirit will also show anyone who cares to stop and listen a new understanding of how to go about reconciliation---the kind of reconciliation that truly restores.  The kind that enables the offended and wounded and nearly destroyed to “bless the inheritance” of the evil doer.  This is part one of this study, so stay tuned for part two that will be uploaded in about a week. 

Part 2 is here: https://sanjoaquinsoundings.blogspot.com/2020/12/king-david-and-path-to-true.html

Communion of the Sick - Part 3

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear friends, I pray you’re all doing well and staying healthy as we continue our examination of the 2019 BCP’s Rite of Communion of the Sick.  Last week we covered the confession and absolution, this week we finish this study by looking at the last third of the service, including the peace, the Lord’s Prayer, the Agnus Dei, the distribution of the Eucharist, and a post-communion prayer. It’s important to look at all of these parts at the end of Communion of the Sick not just as individual components, but as a whole. Many Christians see this service as simply bringing the Eucharist to someone to let them know they’re remembered, but this ministry is far from that.

Minister        The peace of the Lord be always with you. People           And with your spirit. Minister        Let us pray. Minister and People Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,    for ever and ever. Amen.

The peace and the Lord’s Prayer are reminders that the person who is sick isn’t just an individual, they’re receiving the Sacrament as part of the larger body of Christ, the Church. The person bringing the Sacrament to them isn’t just a delivery person, they are an extension of the Body of Christ reaching out to and including the sick brother or sister.

Then may be said Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; grant us your peace. The minister may say The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving. The Sacrament is then distributed with the following words The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life.

Having acknowledged that the sick person receiving Communion is receiving it as part of that one body, the Agnus Dei and the words of distribution drive home the importance of what is being received. This isn’t just a nicety; this member of the Body of Christ is receiving the Body and/or Blood of Christ.  They are receiving what St. Ignatius called “the medicine of immortality” that preserves their body and soul to everlasting life. While we may be concerned about our physical or emotional health during times of illness, this is a reminder of our need for Christ with us if we want to truly have life.

After Communion, the Minister says Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us, in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us, through this Sacrament, of your favor and goodness towards us: that we are true members of the mystical body of your Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs, through hope, of your everlasting kingdom. And we humbly ask you, heavenly Father, to assist us with your grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all the good works that you have prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. A Priest gives this blessing The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen. A Deacon or lay person says the following The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.     2 Corinthians 13:14 Minister        Let us bless the Lord. People            Thanks be to God.

Last but not least, this section is a reminder of why the person is receiving the Eucharist. As an older Eucharistic prayer used to say, “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal.” The Eucharist isn’t given so the person can receive this grace and keep it to themselves, they’re supposed to share it. It doesn’t have to be large acts in the community, if someone is sick or even in a hospital they can show their love as Christians in the way they interact with the people around them, such as staff, family, or other visitors. Even in sickness the Eucharist isn’t for solace only but also for strength, to grow in love towards not only God but our neighbor as well. This is the end of our examination of Communion of the Sick, next week in light of the holiday we’ll discuss thanksgiving. I want to close this study of Communion of the Sick with a prayer “In Time of Great Sickness and Mortality” from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:

O Most mighty and merciful God, in this time of grievous sickness, we flee to you for comfort. Deliver us, we beseech you, from our peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick; prosper the means made use of for their cure; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom which leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I hope you all have a blessed Feast of Christ the King this Sunday!

Pentecost 24A 2020 St. James Anglican Church Service

Pentecost 24A 2020

Celebrant Fr. Carlos Raines

Preacher Deacon Anthony Velez

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

Communion of the Sick - Part 2

Bishop Eric Menees

Friends, as we continue our examination of the Rite of Communion of the Sick we move to a very important aspect – confession and absolution. Sin, especially unrepented sin is a major obstacle in our spiritual, emotional and physical lives, which are, of course, integrally intertwined.   This is not to say that God punishes us for sin by making us sick but he does allow us to bear the consequences of our actions. What unrepented sin does in our lives is act as a filter to God and his work in our lives. Think of a shade cloth stretch above you. Light still gets in but not direct light. It’s the same with God’s Grace which he intends to shine upon us, but our unrepented sin acts to filter that Grace.  Of course, James tells us to confess our sins before others that we may be healed. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16) Confession of sin and healing go hand in hand, As the participant confesses their sin and the celebrant prays the shade cloth is rolled back allowing God’s Grace to shine. Note that this rite can be led by either a priest, deacon or layperson. The absolution changes from the pronouncement of the forgiveness to the asking for forgiveness of sin. Both are efficacious and a blessing both for the celebrant as well as the participants.  I invite you to pray through the following from both the perspective of the celebrant and participant.  I pray you all a truly blessed week.  Bishop Menees

The Minister may say the Confession, and the sick person joins in as able.  Most merciful God,  we confess that we have sinned against you  in thought, word and deed,  by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.  We have not loved you with our whole heart;  we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.  For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,  have mercy on us and forgive us;  that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways,  to the glory of your Name. Amen.  A Priest, if present, says  Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who in his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with true faith turn to him, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  A Deacon or lay person prays  Grant to your faithful people, merciful Lord, pardon and peace; that we may be cleansed from all our sins, and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pentecost 23A 2020 St. James Anglican Church Service

Pentecost 23A 2020

Preacher and Celebrant Fr. Carlos Raines

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

Communion Of The Sick

Bishop Eric Menees Communion of the Sick

Friends, last week, we concluded the service of Ministry to the Sick. As we continue our examination of the Pastoral Rites in the 2019 BCP we move today to the rite of Communion of the Sick.  The rite of Communion of the Sick is intended for use by both clergy and licensed laypeople. This service is intended to extend the communion table on Sunday to include the sick and those who are shut in. This service can be held in a home, a hospital, or any institution, wherever the sick and lonely are.  This first section is a shortened version of the Liturgy of the Word and serves as a reminder that we are a people of word and sacrament.  A layperson can either use the suggested scriptures or share the scriptures from the Sunday service. Equally, they can either share a short reflection of their own or the sermon delivered from the pulpit.  I pray that you will prayerfully read this first section thinking of how to reach the sick and lonely.

Communion of the Sick This rite is used when the consecrated elements are brought from an earlier celebration of Holy Communion.  The Minister says  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:2  The Minister continues  Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.  A psalm may be prayed. Psalms 23, 62, 103, and 145 are particularly appropriate.  One of the following Gospel lessons is read, or the readings appropriate to the day.  God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” john 6:51, 55-56  Reflection on the Lessons may follow. Additional prayers may be offered.

All Saints Day 2020 St. James Anglican Church Service

All Saints Day Year A 2020

Preacher Fr. Dale Matson

Celebrant Fr. Carlos Rains

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

All Saints Day Year A 2020

Fr. Dale Matson

The Passing Of Things Present And The Past Ever Present II

My homily today is based a reading from Ecclesiasticus and the Gospel Lesson for today.

As I was preparing the homily for this week, I was struck by our reading from Ecclesiasticus. “Let us now sing the praises of famous men, our ancestors in their generations. The Lord apportioned to them great glory, his majesty from the beginning…. these also were godly men, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten; their offspring will continue forever, and their glory will never be blotted out. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name lives on generation after generation.”

After reading this passage from Ecclesiasticus. I read our Gospel lesson for today. The Beatitudes from Christ’s sermon on the mount took on an additional meaning for me. How even more fitting that we should hear on All Saints Day, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

The Beatitudes are not just a call for us to strive to lead righteous and holy lives. The Beatitudes are an ongoing and eternal benediction from our Lord Himself to those saints who have gone before us. 

Hallowmas season is where the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church celebrates the eternal and mystical “Now” of God’s Kingdom. Hallowmas Season is in three parts. Day One is All Hollows Eve. The secular celebration is Halloween. Day Two is today, All Saints Day and tomorrow is All Souls Day, where we pray for the faithful departed. We are primarily looking back at brothers and sisters who came before. As it states in our opening Collect, “Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you.” It is where we remember those who rest in Christ. It was they who handed us the pure and undefiled Gospel by which we too have been saved. They are partly responsible for the faith we hold and defend today. The church has always recognized the importance and celebrated the death of martyrs such as John The Baptist, Steven and Paul. There were so many Christian martyrs however that the church developed a specific day to honor all the saints in addition to those saints who had specific days set aside to honor them in the church year. The church calendar days that honor martyrs are marked in red.

I am sure there is no one here who didn’t have help along the road of faith. I think of my mother and two men in particular. What was it about them? I think of two particular traits. They lived their faith and were steadfast. They ran the good race and provided an example for me and many others. I remember them with gratitude and some sadness that they have passed on. My first mentor died suddenly at age 61. My second mentor died at age 73. Both these saints died at an age younger than I am now. My mother’s mind was stolen by Alzheimer’s by the time of her death. Her final words to me were, “You’re a nice young man, but I don’t believe I’ve ever met you.” 

In spite of all the scripture verses about not being anxious, I believe the older I get the more fearful I become. The confidence and strength of my 50s has given way to the lack of confidence of old age. Most of my life is now in the rear-view mirror. I don’t have to compare myself to others. I have 25 years of journals to remind me of how robust I used to be. I find the following prayer from our 2019 book of common prayer useful in the midst of my many infirmities. (Page 233). The prayer is titled “For the sanctification of an illness” Sanctify, O Lord the sickness of your servant that the sense of his weakness may add strength to his faith and seriousness to his repentance and grant that he may live with you in everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”

One of the tasks of old age is called reminiscence. Thankfully I have been able to reconstruct many of my hikes and many of my backpacking experiences in two new books published this month. The Lord asks me each day, “Have you made good use of the time?” I am reminded of the passage from Ephesians.  “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:16-17) The King James version says it better for me. Rather than the ESV, the King James version uses the phrase “Redeeming the time”. This says to me that time wasted in the past can be made up by doing what is right now. And I confess to you that I have wasted a lot of time.

We are the church militant looking back to those whose souls now reside in the church triumphant. We have separated ourselves from deceased ancestors in the modern church and have been the poorer for it. Verse four of our processional hymn “For All The Saints” states, “4 O blest communion, fellowship divine, we feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in thee, for all are thine. When Bishop William How penned these words in 1864, the Anglican church was very different.

When you think of old churchyards, you think of graves too. Relics of the saints are objects associated with the saints and often displayed in churches. St. Andrews Scotland is said to have the bones of St. Andrew buried in a monastery cemetery. The Shroud of Turin is reported to be the burial cloth of Christ and is located in the Cathedral of John the Baptist. Sometimes the saintly relic is the body of the saint that resides in the church. For example, the remains of St. Francis are buried under the altar in the cathedral built in his honor in Assisi Italy.

While we shy away from such veneration of relics today, it occurred to me that we should have a photograph of Bishop Schofield on display when we have our own location

All Souls Day is the final service in the Triduum of Hallowmas. In Anglicanism it is called Commemoration of All Faithful Departed and is an optional celebration; Anglicans view All Souls' Day as an extension of the observance of All Saints' Day and it serves to "remember those who have died", in connection with the theological doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the Communion of Saints. The prayers appointed for that day remind us that we are joined with the Communion of Saints, that great group of Christians who have finished their earthly life and with whom we share the hope of resurrection from the dead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls%27_Day

But Father Dale, when we remember those who have died, we don’t pray for them do we? The Protestant reformation focused on the prayer for the church militant and not the church triumphant. Archbishop Cranmer’s first prayer book (1549) contains the following prayer for the dead.  ‘Grant unto them, we beseech thee, thy mercy and everlasting peace’. 

Yet the practice of prayer for the dead is practiced in the Anglican Church. It began to be practiced again as a result of the horrors of WWI. More recently, at the funeral of Princess Diana, Archbishop Carey prayed, “May she rest in peace where sorrow and pain are banished, and may the everlasting light of your merciful love shine upon her; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.” The Church of England under Archbishop Rowan Williams on the 10th anniversary of her death issued this same prayer.

We are told that anything we ask in Christ’s name will be granted. We are told to come before the throne of grace boldly. We are told to be intercessors for others. I believe that in this case as Anglicans, we are guided by Tradition and the Church Universal has been praying for the dead for two millennia.  I read this comment regarding an article on prayer for the dead. “If someone has what seems to be a horrible death, I think most of us are moved to pray that God was with them and that their suffering may not have been too great, which is praying for the dead for sure, and even believing God can act in the past, which he can.” https://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/articles/can-we-pray-for-the-dead/

There is also reciprocity in us interceding for the dead and the Saints interceding for us. How many here remember our use of the Litany of the Saints at Easter Vigil and for All Saints Day when John David was Bishop? I can still see in my mind’s eye, our dear brother, Danny Fahrenbacher as crucifer, leading us around the courtyard in procession as the litany was sung. 

The point of this is to offer hope to those of you who have a burden on your heart that God has placed there for an individual in your life. For example, I believe that God was involved in preparing Steve Kunkel’s heart for Christ his whole life. This was also true of dear sister Collette Fascio. St. James seems to be a kind of ‘finishing school’ for saints. Sometimes we are the last stop before entering a new life for many who have struggled their entire life. 

There is no shelf life for prayers. Maybe your prayers for the salvation of one of your children will be answered after you have passed on. I would like you to think about someone in your life that God has placed on your heart. The time to witness to them is now. Now is the acceptable time. For those who have been witnessing, don’t be discouraged…. persist.  For those you know who have passed, I don’t believe the opportunity is lost either. For those of you who have not reconciled I ask you pray for that person that you may also forgive them. It’s not too late. God’s Kingdom is the eternal now. 

Finally, I offer this blessing from page 233 of our 2019 Prayer book.

“May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country, where he lives and reigns for ever and ever, Amen