Fishing

I offer this poem for all of you who have ever fished for fish, or ever knew someone who did.

It is "Fishing" by Sarah Rossiter, reprinted from The Anglican Theological Review, Summer 2006, Volume 88, Number 3, page 419 (used by permission of the managing editor).

FISHING
Who can explain what holds me
at the river's edge: is it the scent
of water, or the sound of liquid slipping over stone,
the solitude,
or, then again, the line unfurling
back and forth through whispered air,
like breath, perhaps, or maybe prayer,
or the White Wulff, light as milkweed,
drifting, or that moment when
the salmon leaps, such silver shining,
fish, fly, sky, as if the river catches fire.

And so I wonder how it was that when
He met them by the sea, and all He said
was "Follow me," they turned, it seemed,
with no regret, leaving boats and nets
behind, as if He was the fish they sought,
as if their hearts burned even then.



Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Founding Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

We Still Pray Together

Almost three years ago I graduated from "Sewanee" - The University of the South School of Theology at Sewanee, Tennessee, with thirty other people eager to be priests. In our three years at Sewanee, not only did we go to classes together every day, we spent a lot of time praying together. Every day at 8:10 a.m. we would gather in the Chapel of the Apostles for Morning Prayer. At noon there was a service of Holy Communion, and at 5:00 p.m. we met for Evening Prayer. Of course not everyone was there for every service, but if we had to be absent we knew that the prayers were being offered by those present.

Our group liked praying together so much that we formed a "Yahoo Group" to stay in touch. This lovely prayer appears on our computer screens every day:

Lord God, through holy scripture you have taught us that some plant and some water, but that only you grant increase and growth. Cultivate and nourish, we pray, all church planters, especially Linda McCloud and Frank Logue, that knowledge of your love, healing, and saving grace may grow without limit throughout the world. We pray your blessing especially upon the the Bishop, priests, deacons, and lay persons of the Diocese of Georgia that your will may be done through them for the Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek. In the Holy Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

We still pray together. It's the Episcopal way.

Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com
912-267-0333

George Herbert (1593-1633)

Today is the feast day of George Herbert, best known for The Country Parson and The Temple. George turned away from a promising career as a Member of Parliament to become a country parson. He also wrote prose and poetry that has endured.

Here is a sample:

The Sun arising in the East,
Though he give light, and th' East perfume;
If they should offer to contest
With thy arising, they presume.

or this:

The Country Parson values Catechizing highly: for there being three points of his duty, the one, to infuse a competent knowledge of salvation in every one of his Flock; the other, to multiply, and build up this knowledge, to a spiritual Temple; the third, to inflame this knowledge, to press, and drive it to practice, turning it to reformation of life, by pithy and lively exhortations; Cathechizing is the first point, and but by Cathechizing, the other cannot be attained.

or this, my favorite of all George Herbert' writings (Hymn No. 387, The Hymnal 1982):

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life;
such a way as gives us breath;
such a truth as ends all strife;
such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength;
such a light as shows a feast;
such a feast as mends in length;
such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart;
such a joy as none can move;
such a love as none can part;
such a heart as joys in love.


Here's a quiz: Which President of the United States was named after this man?


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Getting Ready for Easter

Amidst all our preaching about keeping a holy Lent and getting ready for Easter, our Bishop calls his priests and deacons to a quiet day so that we can get together as clergy and ponder the events of Holy Week and Easter. In this way we can get ready inwardly in addition to getting ready outwardly.

This event happens every year and this year we will be hosted at Christ Church, Dublin by my seminary classmate, the Rev. Louis Miller. The part I like most about "Clergy Day of Preparation"? We are usually treated to sermons by the newest priests in the diocese, and it has been a few years since that was me.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Saint Matthias the Apostle

Today is the feast day of Saint Matthias the Apostle. This year his day was moved from February 24 to February 25 because the 24th fell on a Sunday. All Sundays are feast days of our Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing trumps a feast of Jesus.

It seems almost more appropriate that we celebrate Matthias' feast today when few people are looking, because we know so little about Matthias. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus and who had died at his own hand.

The rules for choosing a replacement were simple: the person chosen had to have been traveling with Jesus and the other disciples from the beginnings of his ministry. Two such people were found among their number, and the remaining eleven Apostles and others in the meeting said their prayers and cast lots -- tossed a coin -- drew straws -- threw dice -- to take the decision out of their own hands and put it into the hands of God.

So for a few minutes Matthias stepped into the spotlight, but he stepped out of it just as easily. I wonder how he would feel about being remembered all these years.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Halfway there

This is the Third Sunday in Lent, which means we are almost exactly halfway through this period which the church holds as a holy time of repentance and fasting. Just as a reminder, the Episcopal Church offers the private rite of The Reconciliation of a Penitent to anyone who wants to make an appointment with his or her priest. (See pages 446-452 of The Book of Common Prayer).

Here is what James Keating has to say about reconciliation:

"When we name our sins in truth, they are met with divine mercy. The result of this naming is not condemnation, but reconciliation and salvation.

"Perhaps we are so used to experiencing personal rejection when speaking the truth to others that we cannot trust that Christ will simply heal our sins in his grace and not use them against us. . . . He asks us to stop sinning, to stop living lives that obscure our dignity as the images of God that we are (Genesis 1:26). Instead, we are invited to cooperate with grace, to come to know God and so be morally transfigured."


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Churdch of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://ousaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Photo: Top half of church at
Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery,
Conyers, GA, January 28, 2008

The Woman at the Well

Our Gospel for tomorrow is John 4:5-42. This story is commonly known as that of "The Woman at the Well" and indeed the principal female character came to the well to draw water. But in his wonderful way of preaching and playing on words, the Evangelist John tells us that she left the well with living water that only Jesus gives.

The good news for this woman is that she decides on her own that Jesus is the Messiah. Then she takes it upon herself, almost unwittingly, to become the first Christian missionary. It is significant that she "left her water jar and went back to the city" to tell everyone that she had found the Messiah. And it is significant that this woman was a Samaritan, which means that during Jesus' life on earth it became clear that Jesus is the "Savior of the world."

My sermon for tomorrow is "Jesus had lunch with his Father." Come to our service at 10:00 a.m. and find out why.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

And God saw that it was good

"And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.' And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good . . . God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good." (Genesis 1:24-25, 31a)


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Photo: Left to right -- Barnabas and Maximus -

being good - very good - for a change

True Freedom

Jesus said, . . . "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:31-32)

"These words contain both a fundamental requirement and a warning: the requirement of an honest relationship with regard to truth as a condition for authentic freedom, and the warning to avoid every kind of illusory freedom...every freedom that fails to enter into the whole truth." (John Paul II, 1979)


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Photo: Seagull near Cumberland Island, Georgia
December 6, 2007

The Special Effects of Stained Glass

A few weeks ago I made a pilgrimage to The Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia to visit the Retreat Director, who will soon celebrate his fiftieth anniversary of ordination to the Priesthood. This comes in the eightieth year of his life.

While waiting to meet with him at the retreat house, I walked around the grounds and took a few pictures. As you can see, it was a sunny day. The inside of the church always benefits from the sunlight flowing through the stained glass. The walls of the church appear to be painted blue and/or gold, but they are not. The colors are strictly the reflection from the stained glass, which is simple but beautiful.

A visit to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers is worth a trip from anywhere, especially during this holy season of Lent.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Occasionally we use incense

At Evening Prayer we often use this Opening Sentence: "Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." (Psalm 141:2) I have often wondered, "If prayer is like incense, is incense like prayer?"

I like to use incense at Evening Prayer, Compline, and on special feast days of the Church, such as Christmas, Easter, and All Saints' Day. But if you want to see some amazing incense, check out this Youtube presentation of the use of incense at a service at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

If it makes you dizzy to watch the incense burner swing back and forth across the wide expanse of the church, just hang in there until the end when one of the priests(?) stops it from swinging. When I saw that I wanted to applaud, and lo and behold the people in the church began to applaud. It is amazing. Enjoy.

(cut and paste) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QFd_55El1I&NR=1



In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Prayer - call and response

Here is a prayer for today by E. Glenn Hinson:

Dear God, You give much, but You ask more.
You bring our world into being, but you ask that we be its caretakers.
You make us in Your image and likeness,
but you ask that we show the world we are your children.
You pour love into our hearts, but You ask that we love others.
You are our hope, but You ask that we awaken hope in others.

Sometimes we think it's too much.
"I know," God says, "Sometimes I think it's too much, too.
We both must live in hope.
I hope that one day this world will match my dream,
That you human beings will grow up into
the humanity of Jesus Christ,
That faith, hope, and love - these three - will reign in every heart.
That's why I sent my Son."

Dear God, let us be fellow sufferers and harbingers of hope in our world.
May we not be so overwhelmed by the dark we cannot see the light.
May others know hope through us.
May we with our hearts love you,
with our minds seek you,
with our whole selves serve you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Congratulations to Genny and John Shymanik

One of the joys of being a priest is the privilege to provide wedding ceremonies and to bless marriages. As I told Genny and John, I am only there to provide the ceremony. They have to marry each other. And that is what they did yesterday at high noon at the Honey Creek chapel.

O God, you have so consecrated the covenant of marriage that in it is represented the spiritual unity between Christ and his Church: Send therefore your blessing upon these your servants, 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. [The Book of Common Prayer, p. 431]


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Nicodemus and Jesus

Our Gospel for tomorrow is so famous that one of its verses stands alone. In fact it stands out as a verse that many people know by heart, or at least they know where to find it. Remember when we used to see banners behind first base at the ball parks with this verse on it? Or at the fifty yard line at football games? The verse itself did not appear on those banners, but the book, chapter and verse were in giant print: John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

The next verse, John 3:17, carries equal weight but is often overlooked. So, in order to balance things out a bit, I offer a John 3:17:

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus gave these truths to Nicodemus, a seeker of truth who came to Jesus by night. He evidently made a special appointment with Jesus after the crowds had dispersed. For these truths Nicodemus returned the favor. He stood up for Jesus when the Sanhedrin had turned against Jesus, and he helped Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus' lifeless body after they took it down from the cross. Nicodemus asked the right questions, and got the right answers.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

The Great Litany

Recently I was asked to join the "Episcopal Church Social Network" at a website created by The Reverend Steve Rice, Rector, St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Waynesboro, Georgia. Steve invited me to spread the word and invite others to join at http://www.episcopalchurch.ning.com/ . In his usual cleverness with turns of phrases, Steve calls this "The Facebook of Common Prayer" or words to that effect. If you want to see what I might call the lighter side of the Episcopal Church, sign on and take a look.

One of the questions on the sign-up page is "What is your favorite page of the Prayer Book?" Quickly I wrote 355, which the opening page for The Holy Eucharist: Rite Two. I'm thinking I might go back occasionally and change that page number, depending on my thoughts for that day. Today, I might have chosen page 148, which begins The Great Litany, even though that prayer goes on through page 155. This prayer is rarely used, but I have been in wonderful worship services in which we marched round and round the inside of the church singing it.

The Great Litany is intercessory prayer at its best, dating back to the fifth century in Roman Christian tradition. Our earliest English publication of it dates to 1544, and we have retained much of that language in our present prayer book. The Great Litany covers all sorts and conditions of people and situations. The petitions are usually sung or said by a deacon or other leader, and the responses are said or sung by the congregation.

Here is a sampling appropriate to today:

That it may please thee to make wars to cease in all the world; to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord; and to bestow freedom upon all peoples,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

That it may please thee to show pity upon all prisoners and captives, the homeless and the hungry, and all who are desolate and oppressed,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

That it may please thee to inspire us, in our several callings, to do the work which thou givest us to do with singleness of heart as thy servants, and for the common good,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

That it may please thee to preserve, and provide for, all women in childbirth, young children and orphans, the widowed, and all whose homes are broken or torn by strife,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

Look on page 154 of the Prayer Book for that portion called "The Supplication" which is used "especially in times of war, or of national anxiety, or of disaster." Today, we could pray the entire Great Litany.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Ordinary Moments

More food for thought on our Lenten journey:

Lent promises to introduce us once again to God and God's great love for us in Christ. In and through that love, we come to know ourselves again and feel restored. When we have emerged from the desert of Lent, we can then bring this restored self in Christ back to the ordinariness of our days, pouring some of his living water on those who feel they are stumbling through an arid time.

Then, the ordinariness of family, work, and social commitments does not remain in the category of "more of the same." Rather, these ordinary moments take on a transcendent quality that reaches from a simple talk with a spouse on the back porch or a game of catch with the kids, to the grounding of those events inthe ever-present and saving love of Christ.

From such a consciousness, we will begin to truly thirst for moral goodness. No longer will moral living appear as simply an "ought." Moral conversion and living will become the desire of our hearts. - James Keating, Crossing the Desert: Lent and Conversion, 29.

Happy Valentine's Day!


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Photo: My adoption of "Thaddaeus"
from Suzie's Friends, Homerville, Georgia
Labor Day 2007

Cherish the days

In his Lenten meditation book, The Desert of Ordinary Life, Jame Keating gives us these insights:

Through a rhythmic pattern of explicit worship and daily commitment to the meaning of sacramental living, we grow more deeply aware of God's merciful and life-changing presence in all things ordinary.

Lent becomes a time to cultivate our feeble sacramental imagination, as the opportunities for worship, prayer, meditation, service, and reconciliation increase over these forty days. In a real way, Lent beckons us to go into the sacramental and the ordinary folds of our lives in ways that enrich both; we begin to live out of them simultaneously and more deeply. Truly, as Saint Paul exclaimed, we carry the "marks of Christ" (Galatians 6:17) within us every single day of our lives.

This is true as a result of being given over to God in baptism, of being more richly conformed to Christ's self-offering on the cross through reconciliation and Eucharist, and in our particular vocations of commitment.

To receive again our call from Christ during Lent, and to let that call resonate throughout the daily affairs of secular life, is the true gift of Lent to us. . . Our daily lives carry an invitation from God to become morally good and holy; it is the only medium through which this invitation can come. Cherish the days.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Photo: grass and leaves
at The Gray Center, Canton, Mississippi
October 2007

Who are your heroes?

Other than "heroes of the faith" as listed in the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, I can name my personal heroes on the fingers of one hand. Jesus does not count, as he falls into a totally separate category as the fully human, fully divine Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

My number one hero counted on the fingers of my hand is my dad, and running a close second is Abraham Lincoln, who was born on this date in 1809. In his own words:

I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks.... My father ... removed from Kentucky to ... Indiana, in my eighth year.... It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.... Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher ... but that was all."

If you go to Hodgenville, Kentucky you can visit the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and see a log cabin which is said to be a reasonable facsimile of the one in which he was born. You can see the deep spring at the cave where the Lincolns drew their water, walk around the grounds and visit the small but lovely museum. It is a National Park and Admission is free.

Here is my favorite apocryphal story about Abraham Lincoln: After a long winter it was a fine spring day in 1809 and two farmers saw each other at the general store in Hodgenville. They hailed each other and asked what was new. In the course of the conversation one said, "Well, back in February Tom Lincoln's wife Nancy had a baby boy and they named him Abe. Nothing much ever happens in Hodgenville."


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Help for Lent from Brother Lawrence

"My God, since You are with me, and since it is Your will that I should apply my mind to these outward things, I pray that You will give me the grace to remain with You and keep company with You.

But so that my work may be better, Lord, work with me; receive my work and possess all my affections."

-- Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, published in 1691



In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

A Stream of Limitless Meaning

It seems that there is
a stream of limitless meaning
flowing into our lives
if we can but patiently entrust ourselves to it.

There is no hurry,
only the need to be true to
what comes to mind,
and to explore the current carefully
in which one presently moves.

There is a constant fluency of meaning
in the instant in which we live.
One may learn of it from rivers
in the constancy of their utterance,
if one listens and is still.

- Henry G. Bugbee, Jr.
The Inward Morning

In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviohoneycreek.org
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com
912-267-0333
Photo: Honey Creek sunrise
November 2007

186th Convention

Dear Friends -- I am in Augusta, Georgia for the 186th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. It is being held at the Church of the Good Shepherd on Walton Way, in the heart of Augusta. Our worship services and the ordination of Transitional Deacons will take place at Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church across the street. Three rows back on the left there is a Seal of the President of the United States and a plaque that says Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower worshiped in that church in that pew.

This place means much to me because it was here that three years ago, on February 5, 2005, I was one of those who were ordained Transitional Deacon. Six months later on August 5, 2005 I was ordained Priest. It's all good.

In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneyhcreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

.

Ash Wednesday

At the Episcopal Church of our Savior we will offer two Ash Wednesday services. The first will be at 7:00 a.m., and the other will be at our regularly scheduled Wednesday service time - 6:15 p.m.

Ash Wednesday gives us an opportunity to prepare to observe Holy Week and Easter. This could take some time, and the Church has set aside forty days in which to do that. Tomorrow I will say these words from The Book of Common Prayer:

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. . . .

I will also invite you to receive the imposition of ashes on your forehead, at which time I will say those time-honored words: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Looking for the Living Water

Today is "Fat Tuesday" -- Mardi Gras -- the last day to feast before the fast of Ash Wednesday. We are about to enter the "desert of Lent" as some would call it. But in the desert of Lent there are springs of living water and oases for those who would travel that way. Here is what David Rensberger says about it:

The great promise is that our thirst for God will be satisfied. Jesus, the endless source of Spirit flowing out like living water, calls the thirsty to come to him. It is when we hear his voice and turn toward it that our thirst begins to be quenched. And not our thirst only, for there is another promise in the gospel of John. For those who come to Jesus to drink, "The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

The Spirit welling up within us is capable of overflowing into the thirsty world around us, so that our thirst for God's will, our thirst "to see right prevail" in that world, can find satisfaction as the world itself drinks in the love of God.

--from "Thirsty for God" -- Weavings, July/August 2000, 24.

To properly start off your Lenten Season, we will offer a 7:00 a.m. and a 6:15 p.m. service tomorrow, Ash Wednesday.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Photo: fountain at Sanctuary Cove

Epiphany Season

Today is the feast day of Cornelius the Centurion (Commander of one hundred Roman soldiers). It is interesting that on the cusp of Lent we celebrate the feast of a Roman soldier who was converted to Christianity by Saint Peter. As we enter Lent, which begins on Wednesday, we will move toward Maundy Thursday and Good Friday when we hear of Saint Peter's denial of Jesus and Jesus' crucifixion which was carried out by Roman soldiers.

In these waning days of Epiphany Season, Cornelius is held out as a prime example of the love and forgiveness of God that reaches to the ends of the earth.

To read the story of Cornelius and his household, see Acts Chapters 10-11. You will read not only of the conversion of Cornelius, but also of a continuing conversion of Saint Peter as he begins to see that God's call of love is to everyone.

O God, by your Spirit you called Cornelius the Centurion to be the first Christian among the Gentiles: Grant to your Church such a ready will to go where you send and to do what you command, that under your guidance it may welcome all who turn to you in love and faith, and proclaim the Gospel to all nations; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

The Communion of Saints

Every Sunday we stand and say the Nicene Creed, and in our daily prayers we say the Apostles' Creed. The two creeds are essentially alike. The Nicene Creed says "we believe" and the Apostles' Creed says "I believe." Both creeds mention "the communion of saints."

Here is a brief comment from late German theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar on this topic:

The Church is "the communion of saints" -- in German, "the communion of the holy." This expression signifies first those "holy things," including above all the Eucharist, around which the Church assembles for purposes of her salvation and catholic mission.

But precisely for that reason, the transition to "communion of holy persons" follows as an immediate consequence. And out of both, we have a glimpse into that unfathomable Mystery that, because Jesus "died for all," no one may any longer live and die for self alone (2 Cor 5:14f.); but that, in loving selflessness, as much of the good as anyone possesses belongs to all, which gives rise to an unending exchange and circulation of blood between all the members of the ecclesiastical Body of christ.

--Credo: Meditations on the Apostles' Creed, p. 85

Food for thought on this Lord's day.


In peace,
Linda+


The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Jesus' Mountaintop Experience

Our Gospel for tomorrow is Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus has taken his closest disciples Peter, James and John up on a high mountain to pray, and suddenly Jesus looks very different. His clothes become dazzling white. The brightness is too much for them and the disciples fall on their faces in fear. Then they see Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah, who represented the Law and the Prophets.

Then to top all that off, they hear God saying of Jesus, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" How wonderful and generous it was of Jesus to share this mountaintop experience with his disciples. They were going to need this to help carry them through some very tough valleys.

We celebrate this event of the Transfiguration twice in the church year -- the last Sunday after the Epiphany, and August 6 - the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus. This makes it doubly important for us to heed the words of God: Jesus is God's Son, the Beloved. We need to hear his words. Like the first disciples, this will help us through the tough valleys of our lives, too.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com
912-267-0333

Humility

Lent is on the way, beginning with Ash Wednesday on February 6. In Lent, many people give up something or take on something. I'll say more about that in a later blog entry, but now is the time to begin thinking about what that might be.

On Ash Wednesday we are told: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." If we really think about that, humility will set in. Here is a word of wisdom from Thomas Merton's Thoughts in Solitude:

Humility is a virtue, not a neurosis. It sets us free to act virtuously, to serve God and to know Him. Therefore true humility can never inhibit any really virtuous action, nor can it prevent us from fulfilling ourselves by doing the will of God.

Humility sets us free to do what is really good, by showing us our illusions and withdrawing our will from what was only an apparent good.

A humility that freezes our being and frustrates all healthy activity is not humility at all, but a disguised form of pride. It dries up the roots of the spiritual life and makes it impossible for us to give ourselves to God.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333