As we enter Lent 2011 and prepare for the 'journey to Christ's Passion, Cross and then the Easter Resurrection,' I pray that we may all focus with greater clarity for the discernment of Christ's call.

I was greatly heartened to read today an "open letter to the Anglican Communion" from the retired Bishop of West Uganda, the Right Reverend Christopher Senyonjo. The courageous Bishop expresses his sorrow regarding the violence, prejudice and phobia  that we have heard about in recent news reports- most shamefully in the brutal murder of David Kato, a Christian Ugandan gay-rights activist.

Bishop Senyounjo writes, [that the] "Anglican communion should not keep quiet about the treatment of gay people in Africa... if Anglicans in one country de-humanise, persecute and imprison minorities, we must be true to the Gospel and challenge such assaults on basic human rights... a loving Anglican Communion should not keep quiet when Rolling Stone [not the US publication but a Ugandan 'hate publication'] tabloid in Uganda openly supports 'hanging of homos'... silence has the power to kill. We have witnessed its destruction ... in the tragic and cruel murder of David Kato."

  

Such courageous expression from a Bishop within Uganda inspires me to pray for him, and the Church of Uganda, for God's grace and blessing upon all who seek to bring the healing power of God's grace and Holy Cross.

"Broken heart of the city," above, Bishop Victoria Matthews contemplates her ruined Cathedral of Christ Church, New Zealand.

  

As we learn of violence and sectarian hatred in the news please may we also especially remember our brothers and sisters in the Church in New Zealand.

  

I also encourage you to please join with our Parish Family as we commence this Season of Preparation and focused prayer for Christ's grace at all our Lenten liturgies, studies, devotions and Masses.

  

With my love & prayers in this Holy Season,

Fr Ian Elliott Davies

  

Exploring  the  Spirit of the Liturgy
"Prayer is at the center of our worship and binds us together as a community of faith.  St. Thomas the Apostle is an Episcopal Parish in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. "

Those words are at the beginning of the email [ePrayer] I get each week reminding us that the essence of St. Thomas the Apostle and our chief aim is the Mass where we come together to worship God.  All that is good and beautiful and loving about our community is formed and nurtured in the liturgy of our Church.   This liturgy is unique in many ways to St. Thomas, yet it is drawn from a rich tradition in the Universal Church and also from our particular Anglo-Catholic, American and even Hollywood setting.

  

Drawing on the 2000 book of the same name by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and many other sources in Week 1 we will explore  what makes Catholic -- including our Anglo-Catholic worship --similar and distinct from its universal and Jewish roots.  Week Two we'll examine sacred time and space (architecture) in the liturgy drawing on our own church and other examples.  Week Three we'll consider Art and Liturgy, including images and sacred music both in our Church and other Christian traditions.  Week Four we'll look at our own liturgy and how all participate both in prayer and movement.  The final Tuesday will be a consideration of how our liturgy brings us into the presence of God and how Heaven is made present in our midst in the liturgy.  We will examine the worship of the heavenly Jerusalem in the Apocalypse (Revelation) and how our liturgy mirrors that of Heaven.

  

Hope to see you there.

  

Fr. Bill Ledbetter  

Saint Patrick (c. 387 - 17 March, 493) was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland.

Patrick was born about 390, in southwest Britain, son of a deacon and grandson of a priest. When about sixteen years old, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. Until this time, he had, by his own account, cared nothing for God, but now he turned to God for help. After six years, he either escaped or was freed, made his way to a port 200 miles away, and there persuaded some sailors to take him onto their ship. He returned to his family much changed, and began to prepare for the priesthood, and to study the Bible.

Around 435, Patrick was commissioned, perhaps by bishops in Gaul and perhaps by the Pope, to go to Ireland as a bishop and missionary. Patrick made his headquarters at Armagh in the North, where he built a school, and had the protection of the local monarch. From this base he made extensive missionary journeys, with considerable success. To say that he single-handedly turned Ireland from a pagan to a Christian country is an exaggeration, but is not far from the truth.

Written by James Kiefer from  www.missionstclare.com

 

Prayer

Almighty God, who in your providence chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that light, that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.

Father Davies has provided this list of books for your pre-Lenten preparations.  Any of the following which have received good reviews in the Church press.

The Lent edition of the now online-only Episcopal News is available from the Diocese.  Click here

for a PDF of the magazine.

Turn thy Face From Sin

Attwod