AOC Two

    Twentieth Sunday after Trinity   The Collect.   O  ALMIGHTY  and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen .   Introductory verses preceding the Gospel Text for Today:   T HE  Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?  4  And he answered and said unto them,  Have ye not read, that  he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,   5  And said,  For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?  6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder...

Bishop Hap brings the propers together today.  His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video  HERE  ->   https://youtu.be/jFg9UZBIlbE   Like what seems to be the majority of the Collects, today’s asks God to keep us from wanting things that are bad for us and make our hearts ready so we can want to do the things that are actually good for us and in line with His purpose; this ties perfectly with the Epistle and Gospel as it always does.  The message of the Collect, the Epistle and the Gospel can be summarized by  Stay away from things that will harm your spiritual and physical health and do things good for your health and be spiritually aware of what is going on .  It all comes together, read or listen and find out how.  I hope you find it useful.  The Propers for today are found on Page 217-218, with the Collect first:   Twentieth Sunday after Trinity   The Collect.   O  ALMIGHTY ...

  W HATSOEVER  thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest .   (Ecclesiastes 9:10)               In the same sense of this counsel of Solomon, each must be all he or she can be in all things righteous. In marriage, we must strive to be the best spouse we can be, the best soldier, the best mother or father, the best teacher or nurse, the best doctor of architect, etc. It is entirely in the will of God that we are the best at whatever we put our hand, or heart, to do. God is perfect in righteousness and we are not; however, we should emulate the example of the perfect Plumbline that illustrates His perfection even though we fail miserably short. By loving our wives or husbands, we cannot fail to do good to them. It is the same in all else.             ...

  A ND  the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.  20  And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.  21  And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?  22  Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.  23  For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:  24  That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever .    (Joshua 4:19-24)               A few months ago while visiting...

  T HEN  said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.  10  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips .   (Job 2:9-10)               At first reading of the above passage, I was immediately convinced Job’s wife was heartless and evil; however, on further consideration, I do not consider her response to Job’s trials and tribulations to be that much different to our own wives in the modern setting under similar circumstances. Wives are much more anchored to hearth and home than the husbands. The security of a good home, peaceful living, loving children, and a faithful husband who can provide for the family – all these loom large in the eyes of a wife.           ...

  R EMEBER  ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.  19  Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.  20  The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.   21  This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise . <<<               At a dedication, Saturday, of a commemorative stone for Jacob Brevette (a Revolutionary War hero of Alabama) I read the Concord Hymn – a hymn written by John Greenleaf Whittier – the same author of today’s hymn written in 1851. It is a hymn of encouragement for those times of dismal fog and darkness that permeates this world of the sinful bog. Though the false and dimming lights ...