Christmas Holy Communion Services
Christmas Eve Worship with Carols and Candlelight - 11:00pm
Christmas Day, a simple service for families and friends - 11:00am
Showing posts with label announcements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label announcements. Show all posts
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
St. Mark's News & Notes, September 17, 2010
Blessings to you all today.
Our readings for Sunday in the NRSV translation with the collect may be found at this link.
Readings for Sunday in the ESV translation.
Amos 8:4-12
Psalm 138
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
The Sunday at 9:45 the classes continue: Children's Sunday School in the classrooms; Adult Bible Fellowship in the parish hall. The Adult Bible Fellowship will discuss the Sunday lessons from Scripture.
See you all Sunday,
Fr Greg+
Our readings for Sunday in the NRSV translation with the collect may be found at this link.
Readings for Sunday in the ESV translation.
Amos 8:4-12
Psalm 138
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
The Sunday at 9:45 the classes continue: Children's Sunday School in the classrooms; Adult Bible Fellowship in the parish hall. The Adult Bible Fellowship will discuss the Sunday lessons from Scripture.
See you all Sunday,
Fr Greg+
Friday, August 20, 2010
St. Mark's News & Notes, August 20, 2010
Blessings to you all this week. My family and I are back from a wonderful week of camp. We are looking forward to launching into a wonderful season of school and, God willing, cooler temperatures.
I trust we will notice the upcoming temperature changes, and suspect that we will welcome the cooler weather (come on October!). I want to let you all know about another upcoming change that may or may not be noticeable to some of you. And, as to whether or not it's a welcomed change, I'd be happy to hear your responses, positive and negative.
The change will be two-fold, (1) a new lectionary (schedule of Sunday Bible readings), and (2) a different Bible translation (the New Revised Standard Version).
The lectionary we have been using is found in the back of our Book of Common Prayer 1979. It's a three-year lectionary that has been in use since the Prayer Book was revised. As of coming Advent we will be required to use the Revised Common Lectionary.
The Revised Common Lectionary is very similar to that of the BCP 1979. Most of the changes bring it more closely into line with the lectionary used by the Roman Catholic Church. The main difference is that it includes various options in selecting Old Testament lessons which, oddly enough, make it less "common." The option I'm choosing is the one that keeps us closest to what we've been doing. For those of you who would like some additional information about the Revised Common Lectionary, click here.
The other change will involve a change in translations from the RSV (Revised Standard Version) to the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version).
When I arrived, both churches were using the NRSV for most of the readings and the RSV for the gospels. The bulletin inserts were also in the NRSV. Since our Gospel books were RSV, I standardized all the readings in the RSV translation and ordered different inserts as well. That change went quite smoothly. I trust the change back will be just a smooth.
A few more notes on Bible translations:
I preach out of the ESV (English Standard Version) and you may have noticed that the link I use for our upcoming readings is to the ESV website. By the way, you may click this link for daily readings from the Prayer Book Daily Office lectionary from the ESV translation.
I think the best translation is whatever translation you will actually read.
In my sermon preparation I usually translate the passage from the Greek New Testament (with many helps) and reference the RSV, ESV, NRSV, NASB (New American Standard Bible), NAB (New American Bible), and NET Bible (New English Translation, click here for more info) as I work through the text.
For study I recommend using multiple translations: at least one word-for-word (i.e. ESV, NASB) and one thought-for-thought (i.e. NIV, NLT).
Click here to read a short, informative article about Bible translations. The article also contains a helpful graph comparing the various translations. Click here for a graph comparing Bible translations.
Here endeth this particular lesson (because this Bible nerd could go on and on!).
Readings for Sunday, August 22 are:
Isaiah 28:14-22
Psalm 46
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:22-30
Our regular weekly Sunday morning 9:45am Bible study is on break until after Labor Day.
Our regular weekly Thursday morning 10am Mass has resumed following my week of vacation.
Finally, I am speaking this Sunday evening, August 22, at St. Andrew UMC in Mt. Pleasant at 6pm as part of the Mount Pleasant Summer Worship series. Those who are available are invited and encouraged to attend.
Blessings,
Fr Greg+
I trust we will notice the upcoming temperature changes, and suspect that we will welcome the cooler weather (come on October!). I want to let you all know about another upcoming change that may or may not be noticeable to some of you. And, as to whether or not it's a welcomed change, I'd be happy to hear your responses, positive and negative.
The change will be two-fold, (1) a new lectionary (schedule of Sunday Bible readings), and (2) a different Bible translation (the New Revised Standard Version).
The lectionary we have been using is found in the back of our Book of Common Prayer 1979. It's a three-year lectionary that has been in use since the Prayer Book was revised. As of coming Advent we will be required to use the Revised Common Lectionary.
The Revised Common Lectionary is very similar to that of the BCP 1979. Most of the changes bring it more closely into line with the lectionary used by the Roman Catholic Church. The main difference is that it includes various options in selecting Old Testament lessons which, oddly enough, make it less "common." The option I'm choosing is the one that keeps us closest to what we've been doing. For those of you who would like some additional information about the Revised Common Lectionary, click here.
The other change will involve a change in translations from the RSV (Revised Standard Version) to the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version).
When I arrived, both churches were using the NRSV for most of the readings and the RSV for the gospels. The bulletin inserts were also in the NRSV. Since our Gospel books were RSV, I standardized all the readings in the RSV translation and ordered different inserts as well. That change went quite smoothly. I trust the change back will be just a smooth.
A few more notes on Bible translations:
I preach out of the ESV (English Standard Version) and you may have noticed that the link I use for our upcoming readings is to the ESV website. By the way, you may click this link for daily readings from the Prayer Book Daily Office lectionary from the ESV translation.
I think the best translation is whatever translation you will actually read.
In my sermon preparation I usually translate the passage from the Greek New Testament (with many helps) and reference the RSV, ESV, NRSV, NASB (New American Standard Bible), NAB (New American Bible), and NET Bible (New English Translation, click here for more info) as I work through the text.
For study I recommend using multiple translations: at least one word-for-word (i.e. ESV, NASB) and one thought-for-thought (i.e. NIV, NLT).
Click here to read a short, informative article about Bible translations. The article also contains a helpful graph comparing the various translations. Click here for a graph comparing Bible translations.
Here endeth this particular lesson (because this Bible nerd could go on and on!).
Readings for Sunday, August 22 are:
Isaiah 28:14-22
Psalm 46
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:22-30
Our regular weekly Sunday morning 9:45am Bible study is on break until after Labor Day.
Our regular weekly Thursday morning 10am Mass has resumed following my week of vacation.
Finally, I am speaking this Sunday evening, August 22, at St. Andrew UMC in Mt. Pleasant at 6pm as part of the Mount Pleasant Summer Worship series. Those who are available are invited and encouraged to attend.
Blessings,
Fr Greg+
Saturday, August 7, 2010
St. Mark's News & Notes, August 7, 2010
I urge you all to read--carefully, repeatedly, thoughtfully--the Dallas Willard article, How Does the Disciple Live?
If you find his thinking and writing helpful--and I dearly hope you will--you might print the article and keep it in your Bible for easy reference. This is what I'm doing as part of my spiritual exercises, because this article can help us as we employ good Bible study method: context, observation, meaning, application. And it can help in this way.
The first step in Bible study, context, most specifically refers to what part of the Bible we're reading, (1) what kind of writing it is (law, letter, gospel, poetry, prophecy) and (2) what section of the writing it is (Exodus 12, or John 3, or Colossians 5). But there's another, and perhaps more fundamental way to think of context, namely, our personal context.
Our personal context involves especially the question of how we are coming to the text. I would suggest that there are two basic approaches, (1) at a distance and (2) as a disciple.
On the first approach, we might ask ourselves, Am I an observer from a distance? In other words, do I simply want to be aware of what the Bible contains so that I can then form my own opinions about it? This strikes me as the approach of much Bible scholarship. This approach has some value, yet it can become quite dangerous to us spiritually as it tends to put us in judgment over the text.
For the second (and recommend approach) we can ask ourselves, Am I coming to the text--a text unique in all human writing as God's inspired revelation--in order to learn from Him how things really are so that I can live with Him in His goodness? This assumes many things. For instance, it assumes that we trust a good and loving God who can and does communicate with His people in writing. It also assumes that His people can, with His help, understand and practice the things He communicates with us in His inspired and fully reliable text.
Willard's short article on discipleship (along with his many books and lectures) will help form us in this second and life-giving approach. And this approach, this context, which is the context of discipleship, can also become the context from which pray, worship, read Scripture, relate to each other, and do everything else that we do.
I'm deriving much benefit from these articles, and they are benefits that continue to accrue after over 10 years of reading and reflection. I hope I'm not over-selling one particular writer. Please know that these recommendations come from my experience and excitement that this is some of the best guidance on Christian discipleship that I've found. And much of this guidance is easily available, short, clear, and of astounding depth.
Of course, the best guidance is in the Scriptures. And here are our readings for the next two weeks.
Readings for Sunday, August 8, 2010
Genesis 15:1-6
Psalm 33
Hebrews 11:1-16
Luke 12:32-40
Readings for Sunday, August 15, 2010
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82
Hebrews 12:1-14
Luke 12:49-56
Announcements
There is no Thursday morning Mass at St. Mark's on Thursday, August 12th.
This Sunday, August 8th, is the final scheduled Sunday of The Screwtape Letters discussion. The plan is to take a break for a few weeks. After Labor day we will begin a regular Sunday morning study of the weekly Bible lessons, or "propers," (click here for definition).
The Mt. Pleasant Summer Worship Series continues this Sunday evening at 6pm at First Christian Church on 105 Redbud Ln. Pastor Chuck Huffman will be speaking. The series will continue on Sunday evenings at 6pm as follows:
August 15, 6pm, Tennison Memorial UMC, speaker - Mr. Don Boggs
August 22, 6pm, St. Andrew UMC, speaker - Fr. Greg Crosthwait
August 29, 6pm, First Presbyterian Church, speaker - Rev. Scott Stewart
Blessings to you all,
Fr. Greg+
If you find his thinking and writing helpful--and I dearly hope you will--you might print the article and keep it in your Bible for easy reference. This is what I'm doing as part of my spiritual exercises, because this article can help us as we employ good Bible study method: context, observation, meaning, application. And it can help in this way.
The first step in Bible study, context, most specifically refers to what part of the Bible we're reading, (1) what kind of writing it is (law, letter, gospel, poetry, prophecy) and (2) what section of the writing it is (Exodus 12, or John 3, or Colossians 5). But there's another, and perhaps more fundamental way to think of context, namely, our personal context.
Our personal context involves especially the question of how we are coming to the text. I would suggest that there are two basic approaches, (1) at a distance and (2) as a disciple.
On the first approach, we might ask ourselves, Am I an observer from a distance? In other words, do I simply want to be aware of what the Bible contains so that I can then form my own opinions about it? This strikes me as the approach of much Bible scholarship. This approach has some value, yet it can become quite dangerous to us spiritually as it tends to put us in judgment over the text.
For the second (and recommend approach) we can ask ourselves, Am I coming to the text--a text unique in all human writing as God's inspired revelation--in order to learn from Him how things really are so that I can live with Him in His goodness? This assumes many things. For instance, it assumes that we trust a good and loving God who can and does communicate with His people in writing. It also assumes that His people can, with His help, understand and practice the things He communicates with us in His inspired and fully reliable text.
Willard's short article on discipleship (along with his many books and lectures) will help form us in this second and life-giving approach. And this approach, this context, which is the context of discipleship, can also become the context from which pray, worship, read Scripture, relate to each other, and do everything else that we do.
I'm deriving much benefit from these articles, and they are benefits that continue to accrue after over 10 years of reading and reflection. I hope I'm not over-selling one particular writer. Please know that these recommendations come from my experience and excitement that this is some of the best guidance on Christian discipleship that I've found. And much of this guidance is easily available, short, clear, and of astounding depth.
Of course, the best guidance is in the Scriptures. And here are our readings for the next two weeks.
Readings for Sunday, August 8, 2010
Genesis 15:1-6
Psalm 33
Hebrews 11:1-16
Luke 12:32-40
Readings for Sunday, August 15, 2010
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82
Hebrews 12:1-14
Luke 12:49-56
Announcements
There is no Thursday morning Mass at St. Mark's on Thursday, August 12th.
This Sunday, August 8th, is the final scheduled Sunday of The Screwtape Letters discussion. The plan is to take a break for a few weeks. After Labor day we will begin a regular Sunday morning study of the weekly Bible lessons, or "propers," (click here for definition).
The Mt. Pleasant Summer Worship Series continues this Sunday evening at 6pm at First Christian Church on 105 Redbud Ln. Pastor Chuck Huffman will be speaking. The series will continue on Sunday evenings at 6pm as follows:
August 15, 6pm, Tennison Memorial UMC, speaker - Mr. Don Boggs
August 22, 6pm, St. Andrew UMC, speaker - Fr. Greg Crosthwait
August 29, 6pm, First Presbyterian Church, speaker - Rev. Scott Stewart
Blessings to you all,
Fr. Greg+
Friday, July 23, 2010
St. Mark's News & Notes, July 23, 2010
In reading Ecclesiastes this week I ran across this passage.
"Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing; it benefits those who see the light of day. For wisdom provides protection, just as money provides protection. But the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life of its owner" (Eccl. 7:11-12, NET).
The obvious, and striking, question that I immediately asked myself was: Since wisdom and money are both useful, but wisdom is more advantageous, do I give more of my attention to money or to wisdom?
Please notice that I'm not saying (and the Bible is not saying) that money is bad. It's only saying that wisdom is more useful than money for preserving the life of it's owner.
Practically speaking, I probably spend more time each month accounting for and making plans with and about money than with and about wisdom. Much of that accounting and planning is good and necessary. The challenge that I felt was this: Will I at least consider matching the time and effort I give to gaining and accounting for money with the time and effort I give to gaining and accounting for wisdom?
And an immediate follow-up to this question is, What would this look like?
In the letter of James we read, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5, ESV). So we can get something, wisdom, that is more useful than money when it comes to preserving the life of its owner, and all we have to do is ask God. All we have to do is pray in humility (i.e. recognizing that we lack wisdom, which means we can't be proud). And we must pray in faith.
Praying in faith simply means trusting that God is generous and wise; it means trusting that he will give us the wisdom we ask for and that he has the wisdom to give us. As James continues, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1:6-7, ESV).
We Christians have something better than a money tree. We have a wisdom fountain. As we prayed last Sunday, "Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen" (Book of Common Prayer p. 231, emphasis added).
This Sunday the sermon will focus on prayer, which is our access to the wisdom fountain. My prayer, as I prepare for Sunday, is that we will assemble for worship confident in our access to something more useful than money, God's wisdom. I also pray that we will intend to practice a realistic, daily plan to collect and live on his wisdom, as surely as we collect and live on the money that he allows us to use for a season. Money is temporary. God's wisdom is eternal. And our loving heavenly Father is the giver of both. What a great God we serve.
The lessons for this week are:
Genesis 18:20-33
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 11:1-13
Announcements
The 9:45am Sunday morning Screwtape Letters study will cover letters 22-24 this week. It's not too late to join or, if you've been away, to re-enter the conversation. The study has about 2 or 3 weeks remaining. News will be shared about a Fall study as it becomes available.
Blessings to you all,
Fr Greg+
"Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing; it benefits those who see the light of day. For wisdom provides protection, just as money provides protection. But the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life of its owner" (Eccl. 7:11-12, NET).
The obvious, and striking, question that I immediately asked myself was: Since wisdom and money are both useful, but wisdom is more advantageous, do I give more of my attention to money or to wisdom?
Please notice that I'm not saying (and the Bible is not saying) that money is bad. It's only saying that wisdom is more useful than money for preserving the life of it's owner.
Practically speaking, I probably spend more time each month accounting for and making plans with and about money than with and about wisdom. Much of that accounting and planning is good and necessary. The challenge that I felt was this: Will I at least consider matching the time and effort I give to gaining and accounting for money with the time and effort I give to gaining and accounting for wisdom?
And an immediate follow-up to this question is, What would this look like?
In the letter of James we read, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5, ESV). So we can get something, wisdom, that is more useful than money when it comes to preserving the life of its owner, and all we have to do is ask God. All we have to do is pray in humility (i.e. recognizing that we lack wisdom, which means we can't be proud). And we must pray in faith.
Praying in faith simply means trusting that God is generous and wise; it means trusting that he will give us the wisdom we ask for and that he has the wisdom to give us. As James continues, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1:6-7, ESV).
We Christians have something better than a money tree. We have a wisdom fountain. As we prayed last Sunday, "Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen" (Book of Common Prayer p. 231, emphasis added).
This Sunday the sermon will focus on prayer, which is our access to the wisdom fountain. My prayer, as I prepare for Sunday, is that we will assemble for worship confident in our access to something more useful than money, God's wisdom. I also pray that we will intend to practice a realistic, daily plan to collect and live on his wisdom, as surely as we collect and live on the money that he allows us to use for a season. Money is temporary. God's wisdom is eternal. And our loving heavenly Father is the giver of both. What a great God we serve.
The lessons for this week are:
Genesis 18:20-33
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 11:1-13
Announcements
The 9:45am Sunday morning Screwtape Letters study will cover letters 22-24 this week. It's not too late to join or, if you've been away, to re-enter the conversation. The study has about 2 or 3 weeks remaining. News will be shared about a Fall study as it becomes available.
Blessings to you all,
Fr Greg+
Friday, July 16, 2010
St. Mark's News & Notes, July 16, 2010
Blessings to you all this very summery Friday.
Since it's too hot to go outside, why not stay inside a read? May I recommend this short article by Dallas Willard called, Why Bother with Discipleship?
I'll also take the time here to remind us all of the the basic ideas and questions behind the Sunday sermons right now. These will continue to frame my teaching and preaching for the next several weeks in a focused way. I appreciate your patience and interest as we continue this series. And I hope you will find this teaching as helpful as I have in my life.
As we come to the subject of sermons (why have them?), and the Bible (why read it?) and Church (what is it? and why go?), we might ask this fundamental question.
Who is your teacher? And what does your teacher teach? All of us have a teacher, maybe several of them. And we'd better make sure our teachers our good ones.
Well, quite obviously, I'll say that Jesus is the best one there is. There is another short, helpful article by Dallas Willard titled, Who is Your Teacher? that may help you see my point (well, Dr. Willard's point). I've found this article very helpful in presenting a sound view of Jesus, and revealing how much I value (or undervalue) Jesus' authority as a teacher of real life in the real world.
The next four questions are also from Dr. Willard. I've found them in teaching and his books, particularly Knowing Christ Today, from which they are taken.
These are all questions that we answer each day, usually subconsciously. Bringing to our conscious mind these questions and our answers to them helps us reflect on them and, if necessary, make needed corrections.
Question 1: What is real? What is reality? The answer is of Jesus is: Reality is God and his kingdom. And the kingdom is, in the simplest terms, where God is active, where what God wants done is done.
Question 2: Who is well-off, or blessed? The answer of Jesus is: Anyone who is alive in the Kingdom of God, that is, anyone who is interactively engaged with God and with the various dynamic dimensions of his reigning. Such engagement with God is an eternal living, an eternal life (cf. John 17:3).
Question 3: Who is truly a good person? A really good person, as Jesus teaches, is anyone who is pervaded with love: love for God who first loved us and who in his Son taught us what love is (1 John 4:9-11).
Question 4: How do you become a really good person? You place your confidence in Jesus Christ and become his student in kingdom living. In other words, you learn from him how to live in the kingdom of God as he himself did.
I'll keep unpacking these questions and showing how our lessons in Luke specifically address them (1) because Jesus is a good teacher and (2) so is St. Luke who wrote an authoritative record of of Jesus' life and teachings so that we can "have certainty regarding the things [we] have been taught" (Luke 1:4).
The readings for this coming Sunday are:
Genesis 18:1-14
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
Announcements
Since it's too hot to go outside, why not stay inside a read? May I recommend this short article by Dallas Willard called, Why Bother with Discipleship?
I'll also take the time here to remind us all of the the basic ideas and questions behind the Sunday sermons right now. These will continue to frame my teaching and preaching for the next several weeks in a focused way. I appreciate your patience and interest as we continue this series. And I hope you will find this teaching as helpful as I have in my life.
As we come to the subject of sermons (why have them?), and the Bible (why read it?) and Church (what is it? and why go?), we might ask this fundamental question.
Who is your teacher? And what does your teacher teach? All of us have a teacher, maybe several of them. And we'd better make sure our teachers our good ones.
Well, quite obviously, I'll say that Jesus is the best one there is. There is another short, helpful article by Dallas Willard titled, Who is Your Teacher? that may help you see my point (well, Dr. Willard's point). I've found this article very helpful in presenting a sound view of Jesus, and revealing how much I value (or undervalue) Jesus' authority as a teacher of real life in the real world.
The next four questions are also from Dr. Willard. I've found them in teaching and his books, particularly Knowing Christ Today, from which they are taken.
These are all questions that we answer each day, usually subconsciously. Bringing to our conscious mind these questions and our answers to them helps us reflect on them and, if necessary, make needed corrections.
Question 1: What is real? What is reality? The answer is of Jesus is: Reality is God and his kingdom. And the kingdom is, in the simplest terms, where God is active, where what God wants done is done.
Question 2: Who is well-off, or blessed? The answer of Jesus is: Anyone who is alive in the Kingdom of God, that is, anyone who is interactively engaged with God and with the various dynamic dimensions of his reigning. Such engagement with God is an eternal living, an eternal life (cf. John 17:3).
Question 3: Who is truly a good person? A really good person, as Jesus teaches, is anyone who is pervaded with love: love for God who first loved us and who in his Son taught us what love is (1 John 4:9-11).
Question 4: How do you become a really good person? You place your confidence in Jesus Christ and become his student in kingdom living. In other words, you learn from him how to live in the kingdom of God as he himself did.
I'll keep unpacking these questions and showing how our lessons in Luke specifically address them (1) because Jesus is a good teacher and (2) so is St. Luke who wrote an authoritative record of of Jesus' life and teachings so that we can "have certainty regarding the things [we] have been taught" (Luke 1:4).
The readings for this coming Sunday are:
Genesis 18:1-14
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
Announcements
The 9:45am Sunday morning Screwtape Letters study--after a lively and enjoyable talk on letter 16 last week--will cover letters 19-21 this week. It's not too late to join or, if you've been away, to re-enter the conversation.
Blessings to you all,
Fr Greg+
Blessings to you all,
Fr Greg+
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