A reason to pray Evening Prayer

He makes the woman of a childless house
to be a joyful mother of children

Psalm 113

(at Evening Prayer)


Hallelujah!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord;
praise the Name of the Lord.

Let the Name of the Lord be blessed,
from this time forth for evermore.

From the rising of the sun to its going down
let the Name of the Lord be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God,
who sits enthroned on high,
but stops to behold the heavens and the earth?

He takes up the weak out of the dust
and lifts up the poor from the ashes.

He sets them with the princes,
with the princes of his people.

He makes the woman of a childless house
to be a joyful mother of children.

In peace,
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

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Where are the nine?

In our Gospel for tomorrow Jesus meets ten lepers who are crying out (from the appropriate distance), "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Jesus did have mercy on them, and told them to do the lawful thing and go show themselves to the priests so they could be "officially" declared to be clean. In so doing they would be able to re-enter society and not be sequestered as before.

As they went away they all saw that they were healed, but only one returned to thank Jesus. And that person was an outsider - a "Samaritan."

Giving thanks to God is a right and proper thing to do. If we take God's grace for granted, we might start thinking we are entitled to it. If we were entitled to it, grace would no longer be grace.



In peace,
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

Small four-legged creatures

This child needs a puppy or a kitten

or maybe a puppy or a kitten
needs this child

If you, your child, or someone you know needs a puppy or a kitten, "Susie's Friends" would be glad to help. John and Shelley Allison would be pleased to speak with you about pet adoption. There are papers to fill out and promises to make that you will give the small creature a good home, so you must be serious about keeping and taking care of your new pet. You can often find John and Shelley at PetsMart in Brunswick.

The last I heard, John and Shelley have several small kittens who will soon be ready for new humans. Where do they get these animals? The one I adopted was living with his two siblings in a dumpster on Jekyll Island. The kittens were tiny and motherless when the Allisons discovered them and took them in.

Sign seen at a vet's office: You can tell the character of people by the way they treat their animals.

In peace,
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 great nephew "down on the farm"

And now a word from "The Acts of the Apostles"

Philip, Deacon and Evangelist

Acts 8:26-40 --

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went.

Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returnng home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken way from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip an the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.


Holy God, no one is excluded from your love, and your truth transforms the minds of all who seek you: As your servant Philip was led to embrace the fullness of your salvation and to bring the stranger to Baptism, so give us all the grace to be heralds of the Gospel, proclaiming your love in Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


In peace,
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 guest preacher and celebrant

We Welcome
The Rev. Frank Logue

This evening at our 6:15 service of Holy Communion we welcome The Rev. Frank Logue as our preacher and celebrant. Fr. Frank is the founding pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland Georgia, of which The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek is a "daughter church."

Please come and welcome Fr. Frank, and for a short while after the service share with him your hopes and dreams for our new church. You may learn more about King of Peace Episcopal Church at http://www.kingofpeace.org/ or visit Fr. Frank's blog at http://kingofpeace.blogspot.com/

In peace,
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 New Zealand Prayer Book

A Psalm for Tuesday

Your hands have made me and fashioned me:
give me understanding that I may know your mind.

Those who fear you will be glad when they see me,
because I have put my trust in your word.

I know that your judgments are right,
that in your faithfulness you have caused me to be troubled.

Let your merciful kindness be my comfort,
according to your promise to your servant.

Let your loving mercies come to me, that I may live,
for your law is my delight.

Let the proud be confounded, who twist us with deceit,
and I will meditate on your wisdom.

Let those who fear you turn to me,
that they may know your truth.

—Psalm 119:73-79 -- A New Zealand Prayer Book, p. 149.


In peace,
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

Silence and solitude (in moderation)

Silence and Solitude

Priest and spiritual writer John Westerhoff III (born 1933) has this to say about what clergy really need. I think this applies to all who try faithfully to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Teachers and preachers require spiritual lives that embrace suffering and that are in touch with the depths of existence; lives that are marked by moments of silence and solitude, lived in a rhythm between contemplation and action; lives that are self-critical, that pay attention to the deep restlessness of our spirits, and respond to God's call to grow spiritually; and lives that are lived in a community of faith comprised of persons who see the image of God in us even when we deny and distort it.



In peace,
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