Fishing for people

Our Gospel lesson for tomorrow is Matthew 4:12-23 - that wonderful story of Jesus making his home in Capernaum by the sea, where he called two sets of brothers to follow him. They were fishermen by trade, so Jesus met them where they were and said, "Follow me, and I will make you fish to people."

Instantly, they got it. They understood enough about what Jesus was asking that they left their nets and followed him. What was it about Jesus that made them follow Jesus? Was it his voice, calling out their names? Once they heard Jesus called their names, they were never again the same. Jesus became the focus of their lives.


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

From Saul to Paul - Transformation

The
Conversion
of
Saint
Paul






When I was Saul, and walked among the blazing rocks,
My road was quiet as a trap.
I feared what Word would split high noon with light;
And lock my sight, and drive me mad:

And thus I saw the Voice that struck me dead!

Tie up my life and wind me in my sheets of fear
And lay my reason in a three days' sepulchre,
'Till Jesus shows me Easter in a dream!

When I was Saul, and sat among the cloaks,
My eyes were stones. I saw no sight of heaven
Open to take the spirit of the twisting Stephen.
When I was Saul, and sat among the rocks,
I locked my eyes, my mind I made a tomb,
Sealed with what boulders rolled across my reason!

O Jesus, show me Easter in a dream!
O Cross Damascus, where poor Ananias in some other room,
(Who knows my locks, to let me out!)
Waits for Your word to take his keys, and come!


-- Fr. Louis (Thomas) Merton; written on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25, 1942, at Gethsemani Abbey, Trappist, Kentucky. Published in Entering the Silence, p. 6.


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

He should be in his own dictionary

Don S. Armentrout, long-time professor of Church History and Dogmatic Theology at The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, is editor with Robert Boak Slocum of a wonderful resource for Episcopalians or anyone who wants to know about Episcopalians. The book is An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church> a User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians>.

There is only one missing entry. Don Armentrout is not in this dictionary, and he should be. The entry could be a photograph of him with the description: "Lutheran minister who prays for the Church."

578 pages. Church Publishing Incorporated, New York.



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 Fruit of the Spirit

Typically people ask, Are there any clues to whether or not I am growing spiritually? Paul suggests there is one test, namely, growth in the fruit of the Spirit: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).

So often people erroneously read this text as if it says "fruits." It really describes a single fruit comprised of numerous characteristics. Our spiritual life is improving when all of these dimensions of a single fruit are present.

Indeed, to have one dimension of the fruit without the others turns that fruit into a distortion. For example, to have only patience and not the other characteristics can lead to the vice of complacence. But if patience is added to the others - love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - then patience becomes a virtue.

-- John Westerhoff, Spiritual Life, The Foundation for Preaching and teaching, 8-9


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
Photo: Stained glass panel at
outdoor altar - The Duncan Gray Center
Canton, Mississippi

Out of fallen snow

Beneath or inside the life we lead every day is another life. This unseen life runs like a river beneath the city, beneath work, family, ambition ...In the helter-skelter, in the rush to get an education, to make a career, to make a family, to find material success, to hurry, to do, to survive, this interior life is often subjugated or paved over...But [it] is unstoppable; it comes up in loveliness like jonquils out of fallen snow.

-- John Tarrant, The Light Inside the Dark, p.4


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

The Church

"In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson, and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ . . ."

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
"Letter from the Birmingham Jail"
April 16, 1963.



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 breaking of the bread, and the prayers

He was the Word that spake it;
He took the bread and brake it;
And what his word did make it,
That I believe and take it.

-- Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603)

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