January 29, 2010

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

We continue to pray for the people of Haiti as they recover from the earthquake that devastated their country. Thank you to all who contributed to provide medical care, food, water, clothing, and shelter to the people of the Haiti. If you wish to make a donation online, please click on Partners in Health, Episcopal Relief and Development, Oxfam America and the Sisters of St. Margaret.

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti:

Holy God, source of life, lover of souls, out of the depths we call to you; in the face of incomprehensible anguish and sorrow, we lift the cries of our distress and implore you to show mercy upon those who are suffering from the destruction of the earthquake in Haiti.

The town of Leogane is at the epicentre of Haiti's disastrous earthquake - with up to 30,000 dead and almost all of its buildings flattened.

We pray for those who have died and for their loved ones who grieve, asking you to hold them in the arms of your love; we pray for those who have been injured in body, mind or spirit and ask you to heal them; we pray for those who are homeless and wandering, for families torn asunder and ask you to shelter them. Strengthen the hands and hearts of those who assist in relief efforts and grant us all firm resolve to stand with our neighbors who are in need, to love them and to offer our generous support of them in this their time of trouble; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

This Sunday at the 10:30 am worship service, we will welcome the Journeys Candidates as they take an important step in preparation for fuller membership in the Church. Laurie Rofinot, Philip Major, and I are leading Journeys in Faith, the popular course for adults who wish to be baptized, confirmed, or received into the Episcopal Church. We will meet on Mondays, January 25 to March 29, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. For more information, please click here.

Philip Major is leading a bible study entitled "Paul's Not-Quite-First Letter to the Corinthians" on Sundays, January 24 & 31, February 7 & 14 at 9:15 am. This bible study is especially relevant since we are reading the first letter to the Corinthians in our Sunday worship services. All are welcome. For more information, please click here.

This Sunday from 12 noon to 2:00 pm, we will gather for the 116th Annual Meeting of All Saints Parish. After a delicious lunch, we will hear brief reports on the "state of the parish" and elect officers, vestry members, and delegates. The Yule Candle Award will be presented.

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

The reading from Jeremiah is a dramatic telling of the story of the prophet: "The word of the LORD came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.' Then I said, 'Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.' But the LORD said to me, 'Do not say, "I am only a boy"; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.' Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, 'Now I have put my words in your mouth.'" (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

Psalm 71 is a prayer of hope in God's protection: "In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge; let me never be ashamed. In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; incline your ear to me and save me. Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; you are my crag and my stronghold. Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor. For you are my hope, O Lord GOD, my confidence since I was young. I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother's womb you have been my strength; my praise shall be always of you."

The reading from the first epistle to the Corinthians is Paul's magnificent encomium to love: "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

The Gospel from Luke describes the opposition to Jesus in his home town of Nazareth: Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. (Luke 4:21-30)

Please join us for the Holy Eucharist on Saturday at 5:00 pm and on Sunday at 10:30 am.

Sincerely,

David A. Killian
Rector

Worship Services for

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 30-31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, at 5:00 pm: Preacher - The Rev. David A. Killian
Sunday, January 31, at 10:30 am: Preacher - The Rev. David A. Killian

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