Candlemas
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Feast of
Candlemas is upon us again,
so-called because of the custom of
distributing, blessing, and lighting of candles
during the service. It is one of
the more beautiful occasions we celebrate at St. Paul ’s.
Set
on February 2nd, this year it falls on a Sunday, so it affords more
of an opportunity for everyone to participate in this diginified and joyous Mass. February 2nd is the fortieth day
from Christmas, which makes it the day when any woman who gave birth was
required to come for her rite of purification.
Thus the Blessed Virgin Mary came, and when she came she presented her
first born Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as she was also required to do by the
law.
When
Jesus was presented in the temple, the priest Simeon also came in and declared,
in the words of the Nunc Dimittis,
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy
word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before the
face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of
Thy people Israel.
This declaration of the Christ Child as a
Light is the reason for the ceremonial use of candles at this Mass. The use of these lights in connection with
the Blessed Sacrament emphasizes the analogy of Simeon’s jubilation on
receiving the Child with our own reception of Christ at the altar. This connection is made at every Mass, of
course, in our own recitation of the Nunc Dimittis. At Candlemas, the connection is highlighted
because the Gospel appointed for the day is this very Gospel.
The
name of this Feast, Candlemas, also subtly provides a link to the Feast
from which it springs, that great feast of forty days earlier, namely Christmas.
+ Pastor Eckardt
Also
called Groundhog’s Day
The
reason for the legend of the groundhog who comes out, sees his shadow, and goes
back into hiding for another six weeks off winter, is probably the fact that we
are nearing the season of Lent, which is also (roughly) six weeks long. But that’s just trivia.
More
seriously, this year we begin pre-Lent on Septuagesima, February 16th. So Ash Wednesday will fall on March 5th. Easter is late this year, coming on April 20th.
We look
forward to our first use of new paraments on Septuagesima.
February
Birthdays
2/2 Mindie Fisher
2/4 Joshua Kraklow
2/5 Tom Wells
2/17 Monroe
2/23 Carol McReynolds
February Ushers
Otis Anderson, John Ricknell, Bill
Thompson
February
Anniversaries
none
Shut ins
Mary Hamilton at home; Anna Baker at home; Mirilda Greiert at Kewanee
Care; Emmy Wear at Williamsfield .
Private Confession is always
available to anyone between 6 and 6:30 pm Wednesdays (and also, as
always, by appointment). Pastor is usually available as well on Saturdays, from
about 4 pm until Mass.
Altar Guild Notes
·
Parament color is WHITE until February 15th at evening, when we enter
pre-Lent, and the color changes to VIOLET.
This is also when we revert to
the use of oil lamps instead of tapers.
Next meeting is Tuesday, February 4th.
First Tuesday
Vespers, etc.
February 4th,
Altar Guild is at 6 pm, Vespers is at 6:45, and Elders is at 7:15, as usual.
In Our Prayers
In
addition to our shut-ins, our current list of prayer intentions at mass
includes the names on the lists here following.
Anyone wishing to update the lest by addition or subtraction, please
inform the pastor.
Sick or infirm:
in our parish:
Sara Bidni, Emilie Ricknell, Linda
Rowe, Sharon Hartz, John Sovanski, Jean Russell
And all of our shut-ins.
And also:
David Dakin [re Harris]
Anna Rutowicz [re Harris]
Julie Ross [Svetlana Meaker’s daughter, cancer]
Caleb Cleaver [Ricknell]
Christian Johnson [re Kemerlings]
Madison Lindsay [re Andersons
Rev. Don Chambers [Manito]
Rev. Brian Feicho [E. St. Louis ]
Stacie Liese [wife of Rev. Michael Liese ]
Michelle Steuber [re Fisher]
Marilyn Johnson [relative of the Kemerlings]
Jill Matchett [re Shreck]
Michele Dador [friend of Kemerlings]
Rick Nelson [Ricknells’ son-in-law]
Christopher Krueger [re Fishers]
Anthony Strand [re Murphys]
In the military:
John Eckardt
Donny Appleman [re Ricknell]
Thomas Kim [re Shreck]
Jaclyn Harden Alvarez
Michael Creech
and Richard Heiden [re Eckardt]
in trouble:
any unborn children in danger
of abortion
Those suffering persecution
in Sudan , India , Iran
Details on some Christian persecution worldwide:
In Sudan
Militant Hindus attacked believers in several incidents during
recent weeks. On Christmas Day, about 20 assailants raided the home where a
group of Christians had gathered for prayer, grabbing Bibles and ripping them
apart while shouting and cursing at the group for "destroying the Hindu
culture." The Hindus also called local police, accusing the believers of
"forced conversions to Christianity." Police arrested Pastor Arjun,
24, and five other Christians, seizing 20 Bibles from the home as evidence. The
six Christians were released on bail the following day but still face
prosecution.
In Andhra Pradesh, a pastor was left in critical condition
after he and his wife were attacked on December 30th by a group of radicals
wielding swords, knives and sticks. Pastor Namha Mosses, his wife Suvartha, and
their seven-year-old daughter were asleep in their home when they heard a knock
on the door at 1 a.m. When Pastor Namha answered the door, he was repeatedly
stabbed in the stomach and back, causing damage to his liver, kidneys and other
internal organs. When Suvartha rushed to help her husband, the assailants
turned on her, injuring her head and hands. Neighbours called an ambulance for
the wounded couple, who were immediately taken to a nearby hospital. Because
Pastor Namha's injuries were more severe, he was transferred to a hospital in Hyderabad
Also in Andhra Pradesh, another church leader who had been
stabbed succumbed to his injuries and died on January 13th. Brother Sanjeev was
attacked several days prior to his death after the assailants came to his home
which was located on his church's premises. Although the pastor was rushed to a
local hospital, and later transferred to a larger medical facility, he died
while undergoing treatment. Brother Sanjeev's wife was also attacked and
suffered serious wounds to her arm. The pastor leaves behind his grieving wife
and three children. At last report, three members of a militant Hindu group had
been arrested for the murder.
Davoud Alijani, an Iranian believer imprisoned along with
four other Christians in December of 2011, was released on January 13th after
spending more than 250 days in jail. Davoud had been charged with converting
from Islam to Christianity.
Pastor Farhad Sabokrouh and Naser Zamen-Dezfuli, who were
imprisoned along with Davoud, were earlier released from custody in December
2013. At last report, the fourth Christian, Pastor Farhad's wife Shahnaz
Jayzan, remained imprisoned. However, unconfirmed reports indicate that she
will be released in the next several days.
Meanwhile, January 16th marked the third anniversary of the
trial of Behnam Irani, 43, a house church leader imprisoned for "offences
against national security." Contacts report that Pastor Behnam is being
held in appalling conditions at Ghezal Hesar prison and that he is seriously
ill. His medical conditions, for which he has received inadequate treatment, include
a bleeding ulcer and a herniated disc. He has also been beaten and tortured by
prison officials. His family is concerned that he may die in prison. (To learn
more about his imprisonment, click here.)
In a letter Behnam wrote in prison, he shared: "In jail
I have attained new experiences about love. Here, I live with cellmates of whom
it is hard to see anything positive in their lives and personalities. They
don't think about anything but negative values, abhorrent acts, learning new
experiences in crimes and nasty literature. I look at them and whisper to
myself, 'Do they really deserve prayers and intercessions?' Immediately, I
remember that Jesus Christ was sacrificed for their sins too. 'He is the
atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of
the whole world’ (1 John 2:2)."
While imprisoned, Pastor Behnam's family is facing scrutiny
by authorities. On December 15th, 2013, security forces raided the home of his
wife Kristina, as well as the homes of three other Christians. Authorities
confiscated Bibles and other Christian materials, as well as Kristina's laptop.
Sources: VOMC, Release
International, VOM USA , The
Hindu, National Council of Churches in India
Anyone Seen a Robin yet?
The first-robin-sighting contest is on. Tell Pastor the date on which you see one, on your honor. And it has to be a living robin . . .
On “Father”
Here’s a post from late last year on the question of calling
a pastor “Father,” written at Gottesdienst Online by a fellow Gottesdienst
editor, Rev. Heath Curtis
I am honestly surprised at how often Gottesdienst
is called upon to defend our editorial practice of referring to clergyman as
Father. I'm also not a little surprised at the direction from which the
questions come. But one thing almost all of the questions have in common is a
quoting of Matthew 23:9-10 "And call no man your father on
earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called
instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ."
Fair enough:
let's get a post up that covers all the Biblical ground and be done with it.
You can link your questioning friends, neighbors, and Fathers here. So how did
this title develop in the Church with this clear statement from Jesus? Doesn't
calling a pastor Father violate it?
Let's
examine what Jesus says. It's an absolute statement: call no one your father on
earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. The statement is either
literal and means "call no human being on earth by the term father"
or it is in some sense figurative, with the figure in the word
"call," that is, "realize that no man on earth is really your
father, even though you have many fathers on earth, for there is only One True
Father."
Well, if
it's the former then how is it that we all call our fathers father? How does
one justify that in light of Jesus' statement? "Call no man father"
does not make room for biological exceptions. That is, if there is a figure
here it certainly can't be in the negative particle because the whole force of
the statement is most obviously aimed at earthly, biological fathers. There is
no way the statement means "Call your dad father but nobody
else."
So the
figure is obviously in the word "call:" realize that some words we
use towards men are used only in shadowy ways because they belong to God. To
"call" something by name in the Bible has great importance. Think of
all those name changes in the Bible: God calls a thing what it is. To name
something is supposed to directly speak of its essence. But when we call our
earthly fathers father we just can't be using words that way. Our fathers are
shadows, reflections, images (often poor ones) of the ultimate reality. We
could just as well say that no wife should call her husband husband because
there is only One Husband who is in heaven, Christ the Lord. Or, no one ought
to call the lords in the House of Lords lords because there is only One Lord.
In every case we are not thereby calling for some silly undoing of plain speech
(let's make up a new word we can call our fath...um, I mean maleparent), but
for a realization that God is the reality and things down here are the shadow.
And, indeed, it is clear from the
rest of the New Testament that "father" was already a term used in
this shadowy sense:
1
Corinthians 4:15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do
not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the
gospel.
Philemon
1:10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my
imprisonment.
Philippians
2:22 But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he
has served with me in the gospel.
1
Thessalonians 2:11-12 For you know how, like a father with his children, we
exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner
worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
1 Timothy
5:1-2 Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father.
Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like
sisters, in all purity.
So there you
go: St. Paul
COLD AS
ICE
From the
pen of Pastor Karl Fabrizius of Our Father
Lutheran Church ,
Greenfield
The days of cancellation
for cold caused me to recall the words of an old song by Foreigner
(appropriately), “You're as cold as ice, You're willing to sacrifice our love;
You want Paradise , But someday you'll pay the
price, I know.” This song of the world, those who are foreigners from God, has
something to say to those of us who are fellow-citizens in the kingdom of
heaven. It is similar to the warning cry of the Lord in Revelation 3:15-19.
I know your works: you
are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So,
because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my
mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need
nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and
naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so
that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe
yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to
anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love,
I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
In
the midst of a culture dominated by foreign gods like Rome, as evidenced by the
societal gods preaching individual independence, gay marriage, living together,
other sexual perversions, abortion, socialism and a distorted environmentalism
(to name a few), the church is being silenced and compromised on every hand.
Why is it that we are so often eager to listen to those outside the kingdom,
rather than speaking the truth in love to them? We even struggle to speak
lovingly to one another and exhort one another to abandon sin. It is as if we
are willing to sacrifice the love that is ours in Christ Jesus for the sake of
being loved by the world. If it is the words of the song will come true,
“someday you’ll pay the price” and we will be spat out by the Lord who first
brought us into His body by “spitting” upon us in the waters of Holy Baptism.
Are
we, like the church of Laodicea
Christ
calls us back to faith in His words for He is the Amen, the faithful and true
witness to what is the greatest treasure. In Him there is the gold refined by
His precious suffering and death for us upon the cross in which He became our
priceless treasure so that we sing, “Hence all earthly treasure! Jesus is my
pleasure.” Christ cures our blindness with the salve of Holy Baptism that
anoints us with His Spirit so that with Paul with might confess Him as the only
Savior. He strips us naked in the Light of His Truth and then clothes us with
His own righteousness. So He calls out to you to repent and be zealous for the
good works He has given you so that you are merciful as He is merciful; not
tolerant as the world is tolerant
For
our God is not Cold As Ice, but the
God who serves sinners. Which leads us to a better hymn about the Paradise for which we do not pay at
which our souls recline: “The world may hold her wealth and gold; But thou, my
heart, keep Christ as Thy true treasure. To Him hold fast until at last a crown
be thine and honor in full measure.”
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