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We pray for power to do God's will, not our own
Amos 7:7-15; Psalm 85:8-13; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29
Last week our sign said "God told St. Paul 'Power is perfected in weakness." This week the sign reads, "We pray for grace and power to do God's will." There's an opportunity for us to look again at the link between our limitations and their power when employed to do the will of God.
Our collect orients us in the proper balance between our limitations (or weakness) and the pursuit of God's will. It reads, "O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them..."
Asking God to hear our prayers is one thing. But you'll notice the collect doesn't then ask God to answer our prayers in the affirmative. In fact, when we pray the collect we pray that God would help us know what we ought to do about our prayers. This empowers us, of course. One of the tremendous freedoms it gives us is the capacity to let God's will be revealed on the topic of our prayer.
Our reading from Amos which depicts God holding a plumb line and commenting on the irregularities in Israel's structure. Amos is called to prophesy to a nation that is thriving, in which the religious authorities are ignoring significant parts of their tradition and Amos has to preach to this complacent society that God will not tolerate this much longer.
Our psalm acknowledges God's great mercy and the failures of God's people to seek and do God's will. In the middle of the psalm is the verse, "Show us your mercy, O Lord, * and grant us your salvation." And then the psalm goes on to convey images of just what that salvation will be like. It would seem the psalmist had heard from Amos and taken his warnings seriously.
The letter to the Ephesians describes our inheritance in faith, having acknowledged our faults and having been forgiven. It also points out that Jesus has made known to us the will of God. Hence we have the knowledge, we need only the grace and power to seek it.
Our Gospel shows us what it is like to ignore the will of God, as Herod did when he condemned John the Baptist to death. The back story has John criticizing the king for marrying his brother's widow, infuriating the queen. She waits until her daughter has pleased the king with her dancing. Herod offers her anything she wants. She runs to her mother, who suggests she ask for the head of John the Baptist. Clearly for Herod living up to his word in offering the gift to his daughter was more important than the will of God which surely would have been to spare the holy man.
We are living in a time when religious extremists in other lands are beheading those they consider infidels. We Christians, too, have our militants, who want to fight with those of other faiths. But one thing worth remembering as we sing "Onward Christian soldiers" on Sunday, as we sang our patriotic songs on July 5, is that our war is against sin, the sin in us and the sin that spoils the lives of our brothers and sisters around the world. Seen that way, we Christian soldiers are trampling down the temptations and the misdeeds that present themselves to us as opportunities, as options. Our war is against evil, not other people, not even those who do evil.
 
Brandon and Clifford Clarke got in the spirit of the Independence Day weekend on Sunday and processed with the American flag as we sang, "America," and "My country 'tis of thee."
Our hymns for this Sunday are:
Nearer my God to thee (Bethany) LEVASII 54
Holy holy holy, Lord God almighty (NICAEA) 2/2 362
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound (New Britain) 671
Onward, Christian soldiers (St. Gertrude) 562
From left, Shawn Prater-Lee, Bobbie Gordon, Rhonda Melius, Shirley Mowell , Cynthia Benjamin, Carol Reichert, Rose Marie Proctor, Colleen Misner.
Vacation Bible School is just around the corner
Members of St. Paul's and First Lutheran churches met last week to plan this summer's Vacation Bible School, set for Aug. 3-7 from 6-8 pm at St. Paul's. The theme for this year's VBS is "EVEREST! Conquering challenges with God's Mighty Power."
If you know of children ages 6-12 who might be interested, please let them or their parents know about our Vacation Bible School. Fliers are available in the narthex. Parents should call the church office 452-8440 ASAP to register their children. We will be accepting the first 30 children registered.
If you'd like to join the volunteers who are helping with the Vacation Bible School, speak to either Shawn Prater-Lee or Bobbie Gordon.
So, what do you know? What would you like to know?
I don't know how many of you use Facebook, but they often have these quizzes. The idea is to see how well you do compared to your friends. There are quizzes about American history, how much you know about 60's movies or 70's T.V. shows. I have not seen a quiz on the Bible or on how much you know about Christianity, but I wonder how any of us would do. After all, how many know the names of all 12 Apostles? (Peter, Andrew, James [son of Zebedee], John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James [son of Alphaeus], Thaddeus, Simon the zealot and Judas.) Even simpler, how many books are in the Bible (66 in the King James version if you want to know).
Now, knowing these two things will not necessarily make you a better Christian, but the point is that many go to Church, enjoy the service go home, and, well, that is it until next week. How much time do we spend thinking about why we go to church? Why we are Christians? Or: What being a Christian actually means.
Last week in this space I mentioned that the Bible is a good place to spend some time. But we also need to think about it to figure all these questions out. The Bible is a good start, don't get me wrong. But (there is always a but) we need to share and learn as part of the community that is St. Paul's. We have the discussion of the lessons between the 8:00 and 10:00 services, but that touches only a small number of parishioners. There are a lot others out there (I include myself in the "others") who could benefit from additional opportunities to develop my "Christian IQ" (another term for faith).
So let me put this out there: What things do you want to know? What programs or classes or activities do you want to see us bring to St. Paul's to help us all learn more about our faith? If you have some thoughts, you can email me, or drop off your thoughts in my mailbox (A-4 in the parlor). You will also have the opportunity to share your ideas with the Faith Enhancement Task Force. (Mark Debald, Joanna Frang, Deb Williams, Dewy Clark and me!)
Why am I asking all these questions? We are at a point of renewal at St. Paul's. We have families with children, new thoughts and ideas (from our Mutual Ministry Review and Strategic Planning meetings) and the restoration of the Parish Hall. We have an opportunity to move forward and strengthen our own faith as well as our presence here as St. Paul's on Mansion Street. Let's make good use of this opportunity. --Warden Pete Bedrossian
New record set at Small Blessings Food Pantry
Tuesday, June 23, was the busiest day in the history of St. Paul's Food Pantry. Forty-three individuals came looking for help and went home with three meals a day for three days for 60 children, 69 adults, and 5 seniors.
In June food was provided for 264 children, 354 adults, and 23 seniors.
A big hats off to the food pantry volunteers and to our parish family for supporting this vital ministry.
Buildings and Grounds meeting Saturday
The Building and Grounds Committee will conduct its monthly meeting this Saturday, July 11, at 9am. In addition to the usual members who attend we hope to have representation from our other parish groups, especially Hospitality, Men's Club and Parish Aid.
On the agenda for Saturday are hanging the Vacation Bible School banners, washing windows and doing outside clean up. If you have ideas of other projects you'd like us to take on, let me know. (mabell1264@yahoo.com). Better still, let me know and come to the meeting to help out.
Anyone interested in lending a hand is welcome to join us. We can ALWAYS use help!! --Maria Bell
It takes all hands to heal a hurting world
Celebrating 75 Years of Episcopal Relief and Development
For 75 years, Episcopal Relief & Development's (ERD) diverse, faithful community has responded compassionately to the suffering in our world. Whether providing farm animals, or nets for malaria prevention, or disaster response, the ERD is guided by the challenge of Jesus Christ to love and care for the most vulnerable. With financial gifts from parishes like ours, ERD uses financial gifts in the most effective ways possible by partnering with local churches for disaster relief in the US and global development missions. ERD programs empower entire communities to fight poverty, hunger and disease with sustainable, locally-driven solutions.
St. Paul's supports ERD with annual collections and through special projects promoted at our parish Outreach Committee. Joanna Frang is our parish ERD representative.
With our support, ERD reaches more than 3 million people annually in almost 40 countries. Throughout Lent, St. Paul's uses the ERD study guide for our Wednesday evening Soup and Study group. There are many other ways we might participate in ERD programs. These include Nets for Life, a global campaign to provide mosquito-nets that help fight malaria, and the Gifts for Life campaign, which supports the purchase of tools, animals, and clean water technologies in underdeveloped regions. ERD also partners with other aid groups to leverage resources to improve access to education for the underserved and provide micro-finance loans and small business training. Interested in fundraising to help a village buy a well, a flock of chickens, or a goat? Are you, or do you know, a St. Paul's youth who would be interested in learning about and helping lead a church-wide ERD campaign to purchase malaria nets or disaster relief kits for the U.S. and abroad?
For information on these programs and so much more, check out http://www.episcopalrelief.org . Interested in getting involved? Contact Joanna Frang, joannafrang@gmail.com or 845-223-3320.
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