;  Offering Counters:  Bob Cascella; Diocesan Council Delegate: Kathy Oliver (Amelia Nicholson, alternate delegate);

Michael Knowles   

 
-  School Supplies for the Westlawn Children. Saint Patrick's has partnered with Westlawn Elementary School in helping students from needy families in the church neighborhood.  As school will start in a couple of weeks,  we are  asking for donations of school supplies and sweatpants and underwear for both boys and girls from Kindergarten through sixth grade.  A list of needed supplies has been posted in the narthex.  Please help us help these children with your gift of supplies and/or monetary donations.  Checks may be made payable to St. Patrick's with Westlawn on the memo line.  If you wish to give cash, please put it in an envelope with Westlawn on the front and place it in the alms basin.  We thank you for your love and support of these children.

  
-  Please pray for Saint Patrick's need of a youth minister and for our upcoming Sunday School program for our children.

- We need people to serve coffee hour every Sunday.  Everyone enjoys coffee hour as a time to visit with our friends and catch up on what has been going on in each others lives.  We are down to just a few people providing coffee hour and it is hard, and expensive, for these few families to continue to do coffee hour week after week.  If you do not feel that you can do this by yourself, please sign up with a friend and provide coffee hour with a partner.  This helps cut down on both the expense and the work. Please sign up to help! The sign-up sheet is in the kitchen.

- Many thanks to Elisabeth Nguyen, Charlie Pizzola, Matthew Pizzola and Hao Nguyen, and to Elisabeth's  friends Henry Oh, Paul Chang and Ji-Sung Chen, for feeding the homeless on Saturday, August 17th, at the Bailey's Crossroads Community Center.  Many thanks also to all of you who were so generous in making the cupcakes and donating money to the ministry.


 
We thank cellists Alex Glaubitz, Kristin Gilber and Marion Baker for the beautiful music they offered during worship at our church on Sunday, August 18th.

 

Texts:   

Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 46:1-12
Hebrews 12:18-19,22-29
Luke 13:22-30
Collect:   Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name;  through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Sunday, August 18, 2013   -- Tinh Huynh+

Proper 15 -- Year C --  Sunday, August 8, 2013.  Luke 12:59-56.   

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Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled."

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Fire deserves respect.
We have heard people say, "Do not play with fire."
Each winter, when Saint Patrick's participates

in the hypothermia shelter program,

the fire marshals come more than once to inspect the building, and each of their visits may add new requirements.  

As we gather this morning, our thoughts and prayers are with those suffering from fire disasters this summer, and our thankfulness are for those who put themselves in harm's way to save lives and properties. 

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On a different note,

there are people in the world who are not fearful of fire.
In many countries, you play with fire when you speak against the government.
From the first century to today, there are many Christians who play with fire as they live their baptismal covenant. They speak up against evil.
Theologian Dietrich Bonhoefer was imprisoned and killed by the Nazis.  

The martyrs in the early centuries of Christianity stood straight as they faced the beasts.

Why were they willing to risk suffering, challenging the powerful?
There must be an invisible fire in their hearts.
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In the First Lesson of today, Jeremiah speaks of the "fire."
Jeremiah speaks against the false prophets, and the most influential and powerful spiritual and political leaders of his society and time --   

They encouraged their people to pursue easy money and earthly wealth.

They disregarded the weak and the orphaned.  
Because of them, the nation of Israel has become arrogant, seeing itself at the top of the world.

Yet under their leadership the society jitters at the mentioning of vulnerability.
The psalm we read this morning says,

"They neither know nor understand;  

they go about in darkness."  

God warns them in Jeremiah's uttering:
"Is not my word like fire,

and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" 
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Jesus said: "I came to bring fire to the earth."
Jesus said that he came to bring division.

A follower of Christ may be at odds with his family and the world.

Jesus' worldview brings about conflict. 

Remember the words of the hymn "In Christ there is no east or west"? 

You can find yourself having less friends if you speak out for sameness among humanity.  

What Jesus sees is not necessarily what the Church sees.

The Church may regard certain types of people as undeserving, yet Jesus says, "Wait a minute!"
While the world exalts the rich and the powerful,

Jesus sees all people the same. 

While we see ourselves better than some other folks,

Jesus sees all people the same.

Sometimes we try to quench the fire within us,

out of fear of what others might think of us.
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It is because we are reluctant in drawing near to Him

that we do not feel the heat of His Word.

Do we look at things spiritually?
How do we, as followers of Christ, interpret the present time?
Are blind to our own poverty and brokenness?
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Jesus touches the roots of the problem,  

deep in the human heart.
He points out what is wrong in us and demands change.
His is the fire that reveals what is perishable and what is everlasting.
He awakens us to the voice of the Holy Spirit,

which proclaims love and restoration.

Jesus' fire is the fire that can make us bold in speaking and taking action for justice,

calling for care of the poor and the weak.    
The fire that Jesus brings should be at the center of our hearts to guide our lives.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote:
"Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and  perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, disregarding its shame.  Consider Him who endured such hostility against Himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart."
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Let us not quench that fire.

Let us draw near to it, to feel and listen for it.  

Let that fire burn away our fears and anger.
Let that fire consume us and show us that only love will remain.
Let the energy of such fire empower us to do His will.  Amen.