Pentecost 13A 2020 St. James Anglican Church

Pentecost 13A

Beth Kunkel Preacher

Fr. Carlos Raines Celebrant

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

Holy Matrimony - The Kiss of Peace

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear Friends, I hope and pray that this Bishop’s Note finds you healthy and well.  As we gradually work through the pastoral rites in the ACNA 2019 BCP we continue with the Rite of Holy Matrimony. This last week we briefly examined the nuptial blessing. Today we discuss the kiss of peace and the Eucharist.  This tends to be that moment in the service that the bride dreams of for so much of her life and the groom worries that he’s going to mess up. In Ecclesiastes it’s said, “there is nothing new under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) and that’s true with the understanding of the Kiss of Peace during the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

THE PEACE   The Officiant may say to the People          The Peace of the Lord be always with you. People And with your spirit. The newly married couple may then exchange the Kiss of Peace, after which greetings may be exchanged throughout the Congregation.

Today, many people who didn’t grow up in the church see the kiss during this sacrament as something romantic, but that’s not how it began. In the early church, one frequent practice was called the kiss of peace. Originally, this kiss wasn’t something done romantically, it was done as a way of expressing reconciliation and peace between two people. Paul asks that the members of churches greet each other with a kiss of peace in Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, and 1 Peter. Back then though, people had the same misunderstandings as today. One record mentions a Christian wife whose husband was upset that she was giving others the kiss of peace during the Eucharist. The Eucharist was the main place for this kiss of peace because of what it expressed. Before receiving the Eucharist, everyone needed not only repentance of their sins but reconciliation with their brothers and sisters in Christ. When the peace was brought back into the Eucharist in the 19th and 20th centuries, it changed from being a kiss to another sign like a handshake. So rather than being something romantic in origin, this kiss is closer to passing the peace on a Sunday. Being present during Holy Matrimony the kiss has somewhat different connotations. Rather than being only preparatory for the Eucharist, it shows that marriage needs to be entered into with that same sense of reconciliation. It’s also a reminder that marriages won’t be easy and there will be times the couple disagree or get upset with each other, but they need to recognize those moments and both seek reconciliation and demonstrate the willingness to forgive. Now for some weddings the service ends there, but for many others the service continues:

When Communion is not to follow, the wedding party leaves the church. A hymn, psalm, or anthem may be sung, or instrumental music may be played. When there is Communion, the liturgy continues with the Offertory, at which the newly married couple, or members of their family, may present the offerings of bread and wine.

When I prepare couples for Holy Matrimony and put the service together, I strongly encourage them to include the Eucharist. The Eucharist is that sacrament where we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and receive the benefits of the crucifixion and resurrection. To put it simply, the Eucharist is the sacrament that gives us the grace and strength to lead Christian lives. It’s important for the couple to start off their marriage with this grace and it serves as a reminder that they’ll need this grace continually in their married life. Putting the Eucharist in a service of Holy Matrimony also serves to more closely identify the union of husband and bride with the union of Christ and his Church, which we see exemplified in the Eucharist.  I pray you all have a blessed week.

Pentecost 12A 2020 St. James Anglican Church

Pentecost 12A 2020

Deacon Anthony Valdez Preacher and Celebrant 

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

Holy Matrimony - The Nuptial Blessing

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear Friends, I hope and pray that this Bishop’s Note finds you healthy and well.  As we gradually work through the pastoral rites in the ACNA 2019 BCP we continue with the Rite of Holy Matrimony. This last week we briefly examined the prayers for the husband and wife. Today we discuss the marriage blessing or nuptial blessing. What happens here is interesting. It is my practice to have the couple kneel, I remove my stole, the sign of my priesthood – my yoke with Christ – and I tie their hands with my stole stating, “I bind your hands with my stole, the symbol of my yoke with Christ. From this moment on your marriage is inextricably bound in the church and the church in your marriage.”  This is a practice that was taught to me by my mentor priest, William Thompson, and a practice that I pass on to young priests.  This act is not specifically mentioned in the Book of Common Prayer, however, the following blessing is…

THE BLESSING OF THE MARRIAGE The Husband and Wife kneel, and the Officiant says Most gracious God, we give you thanks for your tender love in sending Jesus Christ to come among us, to be born of a human mother, and to make the way of the Cross to be the way of life. We thank you, also, for consecrating the union of man and woman in his Name. By the power of your Holy Spirit, pour out the abundance of your blessing upon this man and this woman. Defend them from every enemy. Lead them into all peace. Let their love for each other be a seal upon their hearts, a mantle about their shoulders, and a crown upon their foreheads. Bless them in their work and in their companionship; in their sleeping and in their waking; in their joys and in their sorrows; in their life and in their death. In your mercy, bring them to your heavenly banquet where your saints feast for ever at the great marriage supper of the Lamb; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. The Husband and Wife still kneeling, the Bishop or Priest adds this nuptial blessing. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully with his favor look upon you, and fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace; that you may faithfully live together in this life, and in the age to come have life everlasting. Amen.

This blessing is interesting because this and the blessing of the rings are the only parts of the service that require the ministrations of a priest. In the same way that a priest is the minister of the Eucharist and a bishop is the minister of Confirmation, the husband and wife are the ministers of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. If that’s the case, why should the couple come to the church? A large part of it is this blessing. We as human beings are fallen and incapable of so much by ourselves. If a man and woman decide to get married, the odds are it won’t be successful if it’s just them by themselves putting the effort in. In the presentation and the witnesses earlier in the service we see the community of friends and family come around the couple to support them in this new union. In the exchange of vows, God joins together this man and this woman and gives them the grace they need in their new life together. This blessing in a sense is the priest calling on God in thanks, to not only set apart the new couple but to prepare them to receive that grace from God to strengthen their marriage, to cooperate with it rather than struggle against it. This blessing reminds me of the episcopal blessing I and every other bishop give at the end of the Eucharist. It’s not trying to give an extra helping of grace in addition to what’s just been received, it’s preparing us to continue to receive grace and to cooperate with it. It’s not just that the Eucharist is over and I can go on with my life, it’s that this service is over and I need to be thankful for what I’ve received and I need to live into that. This nuptial blessing is a reminder of not only the grace we receive in Holy Matrimony, but the importance of living into it.  I pray that this week you will be able to discern God’s grace and presence in your marriages and in your lives. One way to turn to God more and more this week is to join others in our diocese online for Morning and Evening Prayer. If you go to https://www.dioceseofsanjoaquin.net/daily-office.htmland submit the form you’ll be given an invitation to join them at 7am and 6:30pm. Morning and Evening Prayer is a wonderful way of regularly praying throughout your day, and this is a great way to do that with others in our diocese to support each other in our prayer lives. Have a very blessed Lord’s Day.

Pentecost 11A 2020 St. James Anglican Church

Pentecost 11A 2020

Preacher and Celebrant Fr. Carlos Raines

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

Bishop’s Note - The Prayers - Holy Matrimony

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear Friends, I am rested, back from vacation, and excited to be writing you again.  You’ll remember that we are slowly working our way through the ACNA 2019 BCP. The last time I wrote about Holy Matrimony we examined the marital vows and the pronouncement of husband and wife. This morning we continue with the section simply referred to as The Prayers.  These, of course, underline the importance of surrounding the couple in prayer.   These prayers begin appropriately with the Lord’s Prayer and then move to specific prayers for the couple, their life together in Christ, and God willing the formation of a family.  I’ll not comment on each prayer as they are self-evident.  Please take a moment and read through these prayers thinking of your own marriage or that of someone you love.

THE PRAYERS If Communion is to follow, the Lord’s Prayer may be omitted here.  All standing, the Officiant says Let us pray together in the words our Savior taught us. People and Officiant 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.  Let us pray, saying, “Hear our prayer.” Eternal God, creator and preserver of all life, author of salvation, and giver of all grace: Look with favor upon this man and this woman whom you make one flesh in Holy Matrimony, and enable them to fulfill the vows they have made. Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer. Grant them wisdom and devotion in the ordering of their common life, that each may be to the other a partner in prayer, a strength in need, a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy. Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer. Grant that their wills may be so knit together in your will, and their spirits in your Spirit, that they may grow in love and devotion to you and with one another all the days of their lives. Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer. Give them courage, when they hurt each other, to recognize and acknowledge their faults, to seek your forgiveness, and to forgive and be reconciled to one another. Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer. May their union in Holy Matrimony be a sign of the love between Christ and his Church, and a joyful witness to the world. Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer. Bestow upon them, if it be your will, the gift and heritage of children, and the grace to bring them up to know you, to love you, and to serve you. Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer. Grant that they may so love,  honor,  and cherish each other in faithfulness and patience,  in wisdom and true godliness,  that their home may be a haven of blessing and peace.  Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer.  Give them such grace that together they may reach out in love and concern for others, and grant that all married persons who have witnessed these vows may find their lives strengthened and their loyalties confirmed.  Reader Lord, in your mercy:  People Hear our prayer.

Sermon For Pentecost 10A 2020 St. James Anglican Church

Sermon for Pentecost 10A 2020

Fr. Carlos Rains Celebrant and Preacher,

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