AOC Two

  A ND ,  now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand .     (Acts 13:11)               The Hand of the Lord is a mighty hand that cast into their orbits the earth, the moon, the sun, and all celestial bodies to set their path and to determine their place. The first chapter of the Gospel of St. John tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of all that exists in this material Universe – including every species of plants and animals . . .  and man.                It can be a great blessing to know the Hand of the Lord is upon us, but it may also be a fearful realization if that Hand comes upon us in judgment. There are a number of charac...

  J ESUS , when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  51  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.    (Matthew 27:51)                 The seemingly random references of Scripture to things that may not seem related usually are most related. This passage of the Rent Temple Veil is no exception. It is the exclamation point for the conclusion of our Lord’s work of redemption on the cross at Mount Calvary. The Rent Temple Veil coincided with the powerful last words of our Savior at the last moment of ministry: “  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, " It is finished :" and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost .”  (John 19:30)  So how were these two events related?                 In fact, they were...

  A ND  the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?  10  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.    (Genesis 3:9-10)   F OR  what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?  26   For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels .   (Luke 9:25-26)   The emotion of shame is brought on by humiliation, pride, or sinful behavior among other things. Have you ever been ashamed of yourself? Probably you have been if you are like me and about seven billion others in the world. That kind of shame is often brought on by a feeling of inadequacy or some revealed sin. Unfortunately, we are not often ashamed of ourselves as long as the sin remains secret.   What of Adam in the Garden f...

Happy Sixth Sunday after Trinity. The AOC Sunday Report can be downloaded  RIGHT HERE ! We have excellent sermons this morning from Bishops Jerry and Roy, as well as Revs Jack and Bryan.  Rev Jack's can be viewed on video  RIGHT HERE ! There are always a lot of people who need your prayer.  Today is no exception.  Please start with Tricia, Buzz, Shamu, Jim, Laurie and Lourie, work out from there. There is a super week ahead, if you have trouble seeing it, maybe you need the lens the Holy Ghost can and will provide.  Yes, things do not always go the way we want, part of that is our miss using the words WANT and NEED, two four letter words used interchangeably that do not mean the same thing.  Part of that is our point of view, the Holy Ghost can help there.  Part of that is having done the easy thing rather than the right thing at some time in the past.  Well, you cannot go back.  Consider that for the future. Have an EPIC Week! Godspeed,...

The Propers for today are found on Page 197-198, with the Collect first:   The Sixth Sunday after Trinity.   The Collect.   O  GOD , who hast prepared for those who love thee such good things as pass man ’ s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen .   As is oft the case, the Collect asks for help from the Holy Ghost to enter into our hearts that we might love God and, thus obtain His most excellent Gifts.  As imperfect creatures with free will, if we ask God for something, it tends to be what we want, not what we need.  He knows.  Thus, we need His Help in the form of the Holy Ghost.   The Epistle came from Paul ’ s letter to the Romans, beginning at the First Verse of the Sixth Chapter. Paul tells us that as we were baptized unto Jesus in life, so we are baptized unto...

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity.   The Collect.   O  GOD , who hast prepared for those who love thee such good things as pass man ’ s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen .   The Collect               As an introduction, I will quote a fellow I am not so fond of quoting – myself! This is taken from my Sunday Sermon opening remarks:  The Prayer of Collect for this day stresses a very distinct and singular element of our faith – LOVE! Love of God has a fundamental dependence upon FAITH. If we do not know or believe that someone, or something, exists, love for that person or thing cannot exist. Of course we could further narrow the field to a   ‘ person’ since we cannot truly love a ‘thing’ though we may be very fond of it. Our degree of lo...

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity.   The Collect.   O  GOD , who hast prepared for those who love thee such good things as pass man ’ s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen .                 As an introduction, I will quote a fellow I am not so fond of quoting – myself! This is taken from my Sunday Sermon opening remarks:  The Prayer of Collect for this day stresses a very distinct and singular element of our faith – LOVE! Love of God has a fundamental dependence upon FAITH. If we do not know or believe that someone, or something, exists, love for that person or thing cannot exist. Of course we could further narrow the field to a   ‘ person’ since we cannot truly love a ‘thing’ though we may be very fond of it. Our degree of love for God i...