AOC Two

A ND  I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said,  Behold, I make all things new . And he said unto me,  Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7  He that overcometh shal

   (To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David) M Y  God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. 3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.                          Suppose one beautiful, sunlit morning, your father called you into his study to make a very unusual request: he desired you to go to a far-away land to a people hostile to all foreigners and carry a message of peace and forgiveness for past offenses. But, he informed you, these people are quite treacherous and will not accept your platitudes of peace and love

F OR  ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.    (Psalm 119:89)  F OR  he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast .   (Psalm 33:9) H EAVEN  and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away .  (Matthew 24:35 )  A ND  God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  (Genesis 1:3) God’s Word is an immutable Force that requires neither concession on the part of the created, nor acquiescence of any other power of angels or other heavenly beings. This hymn honors and praises that Almighty and Invincible Word in terms reverent and majestic. The lyrics are the work of John Marriott (1780-1825) in 1813 of Cottesbach, England.  The tune author is unknown beyond the fact that it is of Italian origin and, therefore, titled, ITALIAN HYMN.  Lord, Your Almighty Word Lord, your almighty Word Chaos and darkness heard, And took their flight; Hear us, we humbly pray, And where the gospel day Sheds no

Happy Seventh Sunday after Trinity!  The AOC Sunday Report can be downloaded  RIGHT HERE ! Today we have excellent sermons from Bishops Jerry and Roy, as well as Revs Jack and Bryan.  Each, as usual, is quite different.  I am confident you will enjoy them. There are a lot of people who need your prayer; Bishop Roy, known to many as Bishop Beaver for felling a tree in Statesville, managed to almost fell another tree, this time near his home and hurt his knee; Bob is undergoing surgery for a broken shoulder this week, Shamu is still very hurting from her internal injuries and Amy's dad Bill is slipping away.  Please give the people your prayers. There is an excellent week ahead that you can find with the help of the Holy Ghost. Godspeed, Hap Church of the Faithful Centurion Descanso, California

The Seventh Sunday after Trinity. The Collect. L ORD  of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. The opening of the Collect (using Gelasius translation) formerly used the honorific: “O Lord of Host” as its introductory opening; however, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer referenced the Lord as described in James 1:17 - “ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above , and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning .”      This Collect asks four things of God which we are incapable of doing ourselves: 1) “ Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name ”; 2) “ increase in us true religion ”; 3) “ nourish us with all goodness ”; and, 4) “ keep us ”. We can neither receive, nor retain, the love of God’s nam

Do you need a short Morning or Evening Prayer service?  You can download one  RIGHT HERE,  it is straight from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. The Propers for today are found on Page 198-199, with the Collect first: The Seventh Sunday after Trinity. The Collect. L ORD  of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. The Epistle came from the Sixth Chapter of Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans beginning at the Nineteenth Verse. Paul reminds us when we strive above all else for the things of this world, we gain nothing we can take with us to the next.  “For, when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.” Conversely, if we will be servants of God (righteousness) we can be free from the devil sin).  “… the wages of sin is death; b

a series of devotions by Rev Mark Sutherd Carroll, AOC The following description of our Lord as Christ Militant by Rev Mark Sutherd Carroll has been our Devotion for three days, this is the conclusion. Christ Militant - Vision of a Beautiful Warrior A ND  it came to pass, when I, even Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.  [Daniel viii. 15]   Comment: The verbiage of the Authorized Version doesn't convey the militant nature of this passage. however a word study reveals that indeed Daniel saw Jesus Christ as a warrior. In the first place, this entire vision passage is about the rising and falling of empires: Persia, Media, Greece, Rome through conquest. Secondly, the image of the vision was "the appearance of". The Hebrew word is Mareh