‘Weekly Post. Anno Domini 2023 January 21
Beloved of the Lord:
Today is Saturday, 21 January, in the year of our Lord 2023. The scheduled services are as-follows:
- Saturday (today): 5:00 PM, Mass, S. Agnes, Virgin & Martyr.
- Sunday: 8:30 & 10:00 AM, Mass, Epiphany III.
- Monday: 10:00 AM, Mass, S. Raymond, Confessor.
- Tuesday: 6:30 PM, monthly Parish Requiem.
- Wednesday: 12:10 PM, Mass, Conversion of S. Paul.
- Thursday: 6:30 PM, Mass, S. Polycarp, Bishop & Martyr.
- Friday: 9:00 AM, Mass, S. John Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor, with Gregorian Canon.
Immediately following, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. - Saturday: 5:00 PM, Mass, Feria.
- Sunday: 10:00 AM, Mass, Epiphany IV, Parish Annual Meeting and pot-luck.
Please remember, and write in your calendars and planners, that next Sunday, 29 January, Epiphany IV, is the Annual Parish Meeting. All voting members must be in-attendance at this meeting. We will elect the next class of vestry members, approve the annual budget, and the usual necessaries. There will also be a pot-luck luncheon, after the ONE SERVICE on that day, at 10:00 AM.
After an unfortunate, recent posting on the internet, some good, Christian folk were left with the impression that the OAC were in-discussion with the Church of Rome, concerning unity. Archbishop Gordon thereafter made a video, wherein he made it very clear that we are not going to Rome, as 'twere, nor are we going to Eastern Orthodoxy, nor any where else ~ we are remaining as Orthodox Anglicans, the Western Orthodox, our Ancient heritage. That issue having been laid to rest, let us examine some of the underlying questions that are thereby raised.
Our Lord referenced His one flock, His one Church. His shepherds were to feed and tend the faithful ~ one body in-, and of, Him. Sadly, since the Great Schism, we've done nothing but break it into further pieces.
This does nothing, however, to relieve us of our responsibility to restore what we've broken, to work-towards the reunion of Christendom. As His love for- and towards us is eternal, so are His commands. He left us One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We sundered it; we must work to undo our sinful damage to His Church.
The obvious objects of our attention and labour, the other two branches of the Undivided Church, somewhat shockingly, are those with whom reunion seems most unlikely, if not impossible, in earthly terms. The current occupant of the Chair of Peter is a published, on-record, marxist and heretic ... no reunion there. The Eastern Orthodox, if pressed on the point, do not consider us to be Christian ... not an open door.
Interestingly, we have many things in-common with some evangelical Christians; many of their leaders have, especially in the last fifty-years, warmed to the idea of sacraments, of ancient worship, and other things that we've always held-close. Again surprisingly, at-least to me, the vast majority of American evangelicals, if-not American protestants on the whole, are thoroughly infected with Calvinism. Thus, another seemingly impossible hurdle to cross.
We've a clear command from the Christ. We can see no possible (to our minds) way of fulfilling it. What to do? PRAY! Pray without ceasing. Just as Holy Church has prayed for centuries for the conversion of the Jews, so too we should pray for reunion with our Christian brothers and sisters in Eastern Orthodoxy, and in the Church of Rome. Do not forget to pray for reunion with all protestant and evangelical Churches. Pray daily; pray now!
It is hoped that everyone has adopted the daily, 9:00 PM prayer sessions recently begun at S. Matthew's. The list of intentions that has been passed-out is a starting point. If you wish to add to them, please do so! Share your added intentions with the rest of us, so that the power of prayer, which can lift us to overcome our sins, to restore that which no mortal can correct, will unite us all with one voice before our Lord. I remain
in His praise,
The Rev'd Fr. T. L. Crowder
Pastor, S. Matthew's Parish