Beginning February 9, we are restarting our monthly grocery collections for hungry and needy people in the community. Please bring your shelf-stable food, toiletries and pet food to church each second Sunday and the donations will be taken to Saint Leo’s food bank in downtown Tacoma later that week.
Polycarp was one of the leaders of the Church who carried on the tradition of the apostles through the troubled period of Gnostic heresies in the second century. According to Irenaeus, who had known him in his early youth, Polycarp was a pupil of John, “the disciple of the Lord,” and had been appointed a bishop by “apostles in Asia.”
Yesterday, Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States. We pray that he and all of our elected officials will, in the words of the Book of Common Prayer, have the wisdom and strength to know and to do God’s will and be filled with the love of truth and righteousness.
We’re beginning a new year. This will be the fifth year for Kresha and me to be at All Saints’. It’s been an enjoyable run that we intend to continue.
Paul, or Saul as he was known until he became a Christian, was a Roman citizen, born at Tarsus, in present-day Turkey. He was brought up as an orthodox Jew, studying in Jerusalem for a time under Gamaliel, the most famous rabbi of the day. Describing himself, he said, “I am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1)
We don’t think as often as we should about the Old Testament. These ancient Hebrew Scriptures offer a striking interpretation of humanity, who we are and how we relate to the Divine. More importantly, they demonstrate how the Divine relates to us, explained through the story of the Jewish people. I recently preached on Psalm 132. Not all of the Psalms are locked to a particular time and place, but this one is. It’s written to honor King David after his return of the Ark of the Covenant to Israel. The original story is found in 2 Samuel 6-7, and it bears some relevance to our own time. The Ark had been constructed by Moses, and it was seen as the place where God’s glory dwelt…
Ambrose was the son of a Roman governor in Gaul, and in 373 he himself was governor in Upper Italy. Though brought up in a Christian family, Ambrose had not been baptized. He became involved in the election of a Bishop of Milan only as mediator between the battling factions of Arians and orthodox Christians. The election was important, because the victorious party would control the powerful see of Milan.
FEAR NOT: Embracing the Call To Love. An election message from Bishop LaBelle.
Our Diocesan Convention is being held this weekend, October 25 and 26. By the time you read this, it may be in the past, but I thought I would write a bit about conventions in any case. The history of conventions, gatherings of clergy, bishops and lay people to debate issues relevant to the life of the church, begins after the American Revolution. The Episcopal Church in the United States needed to find a way to govern itself after having its ties with the Anglican Church broken by the Revolutionary War. Efforts at organization began in Maryland in 1780 with small gatherings of people that led to the formal establishment of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland.
In the Rule for the Order of the Holy Cross, James Huntington wrote: “Holiness is the brightness of divine love, and love is never idle; it must accomplish great things.” Commitment to active ministry rooted in the spiritual life was the guiding principle for the founder of the first permanent Episcopal monastic community for men in the United States.
