Upcoming Events

Saturday, Sept. 27:     Feed the Homeless, 10:30 AM

Sunday, Sept. 28:        Odeon Concert, 4:00 PM

Tuesday, Oct. 14:
Commissions & Vestry  6:30 PM

Birthdays

September 

1   Felix Spinelli

1  MyChi Haan

4   Laura Kennedy

8   Lucille Selby

8   Nghia Dao

10   Rachel Burgess

11   Oanh Phan

13   Debbie Clark

13   Doan Huynh Tucker

13   Michael Knowles

14   Thanh Nguyen

18   Pauline Leonard

23   Hannah Knowles

24   Deani Coker

24  Margot Deanna Miller

28   William Houston

29   Justice Lebo

30   Michael Spinelli

October
2 Charles Hiller
4 Nghia Nguyen
6 Catherine Leonard
12 Jean Wetrich
12 Viet-Long Tran
14 Hong Van Phan
16 Joe Hiller
17 Natalie Dang-Ellis
17 Jorden Benjamin
22 Emmeline Pizzola
22 Matthew Pizzola
22 Tess Miller
23 Paul Los, Jr.
27 Victoria Coker-Gunter
28 Harriette Benjamin
30 Carolyn Gawarecki
 

Our Prayer List

We remember in our prayer:

Cathy Anderson, Dee Bailey, Kari Boeskov, Brandon, Rachel Burgess, Jane Chapman, Marie Cosimano, Tim Clary, Dorothy Connelly, John Davis, Michael Dickinson, Loretta Dougherty, Steve Escobar, Nance Finegan, Luis Garay, Carolyn Gawarecki, Louise Gibney, Jean Graham, Katherine Hafele, Margaret Ellis Harris, Alek Hensley, Leslie Hogan, Cindy Hogman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Michael Horn,  Lindsay Johns, Gray Johnson, Jamie Kaplon, Laura Kennedy, Iona Kiger, Quinn Kimball, Alice King, Michael Knowles, Ashley Kolitz, Peter Kosutic, Susan Lawrence, Thai Lee, Bruce Lineker, Evelyn Morgan, Danielle Morgan, Que Nguyen, Chick Nixon, Mary Esther Obremskey, Tom Olander, Olive Oliver, Jim Owens, Gary Owens, Valerie Parkhouse, William Ross, Fern Shuck, Irene Skowron, Josh Smithers, Inez Stanton, Candi Stewart, Patrick Stefl, Barbara Stefl, Kara Stryker, Walter Sushko, George Thomas, Elizabeth Trigg, Tammy Vanphung, Michael Weekes, Warren Weinstein, The Crowley Family, The Westfall Family, Meredith Wiech, Bernard Williams, Rev. Letha Wilson-Barnard, Rudy Zimpel.

               ____ 

Note: If you have a loved one or friend who needs prayer please call the church and leave a message at 703-532-5656, or write to Winnie Lebo at

thelebos@verizon.net  or call her at 703-536-2075.  Also, should a name need be removed from the list, please let Winnie know promptly, and give the reason.  

Saint Patrick's Ministers 

The Ministers of Saint Patrick's Church are the People of this Parish

supported by

The Rev. Marian Humphrey, Interim Rector

We serve our Lord as part of the Diocese of Virginia

led by

our chief pastors

The Rt. Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston, Bishop

The Rt. Rev. Susan Goff

Bishop Suffragan 

and  

The Rt. Rev. Ted Gulick,

Assistant Bishop 

The Vision of St. Patrick's

Saint Patrick's Episcopal Church is a community of care, called to be Christ-centered and multicultural in worship, Christian education and action to proclaim  Christ's love to the world.

St. Patrick's Organized for Missions and Ministry 

SAINT PATRICK'S ORGANIZED

FOR MISSIONS AND MINISTRY

Other members of the Vestry:   Elisabeth Nguyen, Milton Thomas, Victoria Kennedy, Ann Nelson. 

GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES

The Propers 

Given by The Rev. Marian Humphrey  

September 21, 2014

"A Life Worthy of the Gospel"

The Scriptures this morning urge us to consider the graciousness of God. God feeds the hungry people of Israel with manna even though the grumble and grouse about how good they "had it" back in Egypt. Our psalm celebrates both God's presence with His people and the sustenance that comes from God. And lastly, our Gospel features a challenging parable that illustrates God's generosity and human self-centeredness.

The phrase that spoke to me this week is found in the St. Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. St. Paul is struggling with his imprisonment and whether it will lead to his death. He loves and cares for the people of Philippi and wants to return to them. But he also knows that the price of speaking of another way of living- the way of Christ is costly. Either way, whether he lives or he dies; Paul is confident that he will see and live again with Christ. Paul wrote, "To live is Christ and dying is gain." Paul desires to live and continue in the work of the Gospel through them.

Paul encourages the Christians at Philippi to "remain stand firm in - one spirit. What spirit we might ask? Well, Paul is talking about the Spirit of Christ at work through them and living among them. Paul also appeals to his fellow Christians to strive side by side with one mind for the sake of the Gospel.

What would our lives really be like if we began to live our lives to the fullest into what God intends for us? What would a life worthy of the Gospel look like?

I believe a life worthy of the Gospel is a life well lived. Christians are encouraged to live a life where forgiveness is a daily routine. In last week's Gospel, Jesus urged His disciples to forgive others 70 x 7 (infinitely) times. We must learn to mean it when we pray the Lord's Prayer- "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors".

A life worthy of the Gospel is a life characterized by gratitude. Twelve Step programs have encouraged those in the process of recovery to develop an "Attitude of gratitude". A life worthy of the Gospel begins with the recognition that everything we have -even our very breath is a gift from God. A grateful life is a humble life that knows that it is not the center of the universe. The world around us wants us to believe that it is "all about me." My needs, my wants, and my feelings are all that truly matter." God is. God is the One in whom, "We live and move and have our being." If not for God, we would not be. Jesus came to show us a different way to live. Jesus told us, "Those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."  

A Gospel worthy life remembers God's goodness and knows that God who has been faithful in the past will continue to be faithful in the future as well. In our first Old Testament reading today, God gave manna to the Israelites in the desert after hearing their complaints. The manna was enough for one day. When it was hoarded by someone who took more, the manna rotted. Moses told the people then as he tells us now in our time, "The Lord has given you bread to eat." The Israelites never forgot God's providential care for them. If we are truly living a grateful life worthy of the Gospel; we will not forget God's help in our times of need.

A life worthy of the Gospel is a life that perseveres in struggle. When illness comes, when marriages end, when children are rebellious; these experiences can shake us to our very core. Christians bear the struggles life gives us because we know that struggle has the ability to either break us or transform us.

Struggle can defeat us by creating resentment that in the words of the Buddha is "like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." It can be toxic that if allowed to linger within our souls will surely destroy any of the joy of living we might possess.

We must as disciples worthy of the Gospel learn to see our suffering as opportunities to grow in faith no matter how difficult they may be to endure. God is present to us even in the darkness that surrounds the soul. The Dark Night of the Soul can be a purifying experience. We are presented with an opportunity to meet God at a deeper more genuine place within ourselves because struggle shreds all that is falsities that we construct to keep ourselves safe and secure. Time and time again, God tells humanity, "Do not be afraid. It is I."

In our brokenness of spirit and of faith; we can find God anew if we can hold onto hope. Joan Chittister says, "Hope lies in the memory of God's previous goodness towards us."[1] Those whose lives are worthy of the Gospel know deep within them that no matter what tragedy or sorrow befall them; God will never forsake those who put their faith in Him. In the book of Deuteronomy 6:31, Moses tells the Israelites, "Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you."

And lastly, as we examine the Gospel for today, Jesus tells His disciples the parable of the Landowner and the Laborers. The story tells us about a landowner that goes to the marketplace and hires day laborers. We see day laborers in our day do we not? Unemployed or underemployed men waiting for someone to come along and hire them so they can put food on the table for their families. Nothing much has changed.

The landowner hires three groups of workers a group at dawn, another at noonday, another at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and the last group just before sunset. When it is time to pay the workers, the landowner starts with the last and pays them the wages for a full day's work. As he pays the first group their salary, they start to complain that the landowner is not acting fairly. They say to him, "These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat." The landowner asks them why are they envious? Did they all not receive fair pay for a fair day of work?

Clearly, the parable is saying more about the generosity of God. But when we are not living a life worthy of the Gospel don't we hold grudges and resentments towards others when we think they are receiving more than we are? When we grumble and complain that someone received more than we did; aren't we really saying that we are more important than someone else? Our assumptions are faulty when we think this way. We assume others should get less than we do because we deserve more because... we are smarter, we are born here in the USA, we are prettier, and we live in a good neighborhood. Whatever lies we tell ourselves. It is said, "Assumptions are planned resentments."[2] We, therefore, must re-examine our assumptions about God and about ourselves.

Disciples of Jesus known that a life worthy of the Gospel believes that we all are recipients of God's grace and mercy. They don't believe that God's favor can be earned. Disciples living a life worthy of the Gospel know deep within their hearts that God always gives His children exactly what they need and not necessarily what they want. These disciples also know through experience that God always gives God's people enough. We all have enough when it comes to God's love. Our God is a god of abundance and not of scarcity.

Let us go forth from this place refreshed and renewed in our commitment to led lives worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us live in the freedom that God's love for all creation is abundant. And let us live in knowledge that we are all brothers and sisters of the same God who calls us "to love one another."

And the church said, AMEN!