John 14:9-10
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and
you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority,
but the Father who dwells in Me does His works.
John 1
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
John 2
2 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 3
22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing.
John 4
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
43 After the two days he departed for Galilee.
46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.
John 21
24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness
about these things,
and who has written these things,
and we know that his testimony is true.
25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.
Were every one of them to be written,
I suppose that the world itself could not contain
the books that would be written.
St. Francis of Assisi
"In our walking should be our talking"
Romans 10:9
If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shall believe in your heart that God
has raised him from the dead,
you shall be saved.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God
Luke 11:3
Give us each day our daily bread
Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation.
Jesus tells us to see our blessings
look diligently
and know the blessings of each day.
Because Jesus is sent to overcome the world.
Luke 19:43
For the days will come upon you
Mary sings in Luke 1
the days of Jesus living as Grace upon Grace
have room for many troubles.
And Jesus tells us life is Joy in John 14, 15, 16, 17
Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Ephesians 1:18
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
in order that you may
know the hope to which He has called you,
the riches of His glorious inheritance in
His holy people,
19 and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe.
These are in accordance with the working
of His mighty strength
He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.
Do not fear or be dismayed
Again
Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation.
Psalm 139
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Today, Edward and I did something joyously new. We have joined St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. Why? To participate in the Joy of the Lord is our Strength.
My parents were only children. And I was an only child until I was 8 and, finally, we had my brother, John. We were a family of 23, growing up in Dallas. My grandmothers, my step grandfather Rev. Wm Tate Young, great aunt Eloise, great uncle Cary, Maxine and JT, Maxine was my ward for 12 years through the State of Texas, not having no children and 23 strokes. Cousins who moved to Mount Pleasant and then Colorado back in the golden 1980s. Cousins rarely seen in Houston, but enjoyed at holidays back in the days of yesteryear.
Tate was an Episcopal Priest, he and Bit had been corresponding for several decades as extended and actual family before their marriage, due to widow ship, in 1974. And through their friendship, my father had been raised Episcopalian. And in this family, my great grandfather had built the brick Fisher Methodist Church across the street from his family home and business in Richardson, Louisiana. My grandmother Anita taught Sunday School to about 40 people for 42 years of Sundays at the Kessler Park Methodist Church, in Dallas.
I loved when Tate was with us. He was such a joy. Always interested, always with an opinion, hammering on the dinner table. Laughing. Building something. Sailing. Making dueling pistols, shooting them in his backyard. Devoted to his white VW square back station wagon. Always coming back from pastoral this or that. Usually in his collar. Telling my parents get me in Parochial School. Which they did. Grandmother Anita asking what we did in Morning Prayer.
And then I met Edward in EYC, Episcopal Youth, dated in high school. Same Texas A&M University. Dated after college, married at 22. Put our child in St. Michael's Episcopal Church for Elementary School. And way before Bishop Robinson had been heard of, left the Church because Paul was being decried for being a fake Christian and remove his books from the Bible. Quickly left. Became Catholic, and couldn't adjust to the whole of Mary being a perpetual virgin with Jesus' cousins. Edward loved the holiness of Catholicism. I do as well. i just grew up outside of the Catholic Tradition. Love to hear Catholic Sermons, and discuss what's happening in the Holy Apostolic Church. We watched a lot of the Vatican during the Covid Lockdown.
And headed back to Church after Covid, to find all our beloved Pastors were retiring. And realized as we watched 4 or 5 services during Covid, we loved the Episcopal Worship. During Covid, my brother moved, my two children moved out of state. Edward's siblings have all been apart their entire lives. My mother died. Edward's mother enrolled in a great care facility. And then had to leave because that facility suddenly plunged. His family had a rare discussion and my mother in law moved to a Jewish facility that is truly wonderful care. Covid created a vast change in our family. Vast.
And we decided after watching so many Sundays, we felt Home had happened as we watched the Episcopal Church. And suddenly the Red Sea parted and the Anglican Church decided that only the Bible would be their guide. Queen Elizabeth had removed the governing authority away from just the top and placed the Common Wealth as the governing Body. If the Red Sea parts, and The Word of God is held high, that is the direction to go.
AND WE DID, LAST SUNDAY! SUCH JOY! LOVE! Have enjoyed all the Clergy we have met and had a spontaneous blessing the first Communion. All the mornings of Church as a child and Home has occurred again.
We've been to 4 weddings here, and at the last wedding, an elderly woman came up to me as we were all proceeding toward the vestibule, she put her hand on my arm. She said, "When you join St. Martins, this is where I want you to sit." And she explained at length. "And there is something else you should know, the greenery looks like we use green lights in the garland. You will like this, but you should know these are really white lights. But I like that too!" This was 2016. And this Christmas we had decided to watch a lot of St. Martin's we had liked the Sermons so much, we had decided to watch the whole Service beginning to end each week. (Golly, Look Edward they use green lights! And then... I remembered!)
One of the reasons, I had always stayed so partial to the Episcopalians, they have such a loving Spirit. If you've been away from Church and find you are dying in the Hospital, you are the Prodigal Son. Jesus wanted the people to be well. And the Episcopal U.K. Anglican Church, always, always, always is about wellness. No one is above being considered to be a sinner or a saint.
Edward's parents and grandmother were one of the first members of St Michael and All Angels Churches in Dallas from after World War II. My parents joined in the 1950s. As my mother was dying from Pneumonia, the Church visits were the bright spot. Mother lived another 5 years. And when she had Covid, Father Craig, left his convention out of Dallas County, to return to give her last rites. And he wept copiously. Mother had been an invalid for 5 years, not in Church. Her funeral and the words said over her, were generous, kind, and touched a very upset atheist member of our family. Graciousness, Love and Joy. A milestone never to be forgotten.
St. Martin's led by Rector Russell Levenson, is all about the Joy and Love found in the Word of God as a lamp to our feet. Long may the Joy of God's Love feed this good community! Amen.
Abba, Father,
Jesus came to You, and these things He did speak in the world:
That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself,
that they also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
I made known to them your name,
and I will continue to make it known,
that the love with which you have loved me may be in them,
and I in them.”
We Thank You, Father,
Jesus prays for us yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Dwell in us, Father,
Dwell in those we Love,
Help us to seek You first
and we will finish well
in Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Thank You, Jesus Lord Christ of God.
Amen.
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