Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2: 17-18)

Read Sunday's Lessons (Acts, Romans, and John)  here.

 Jesus tells his disciples in John 14 that God the Father will send them a "Companion" (Advocate). Our Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world (kosmos) can't receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. The term "world" has a bunch of possible meanings including everything from the "no-kidding" world, to a harmonious group of people, to all of humanity. He goes on to suggest that the Holy Spirit presently abides with those followers who obey Jesus commandments and, in turn abide with him and God the Creator. You (the disciples and us) know him, (The Holy Spirit) because he lives with you and will be with you. (John 14: 15-17)

That's all really great and wonderful and .... it's hard for us to understand sometimes, at least it is for me. How do we "know" God's Spirit. We can't see it? We don't often hear him/her? Do we miss our opportunities to connect with The Holy Spirit? Are we members of the "World" (whichever world that is???) who don't recognize the Third Person of Christianity's Holy Trinity.

Jesus calls our Divine Companion the Spirit of Truth. Luke, the author of the Acts of Apostles describes the Holy Spirit's arrival in quite observable terms (howling of a fierce wind, individual flames of fire) Acts: 2: 1-4. The Spirit's in-dwelling opens believers up to the possibilities of prophesing God's salvation, dreaming of peace and righteousness, and participate in becoming people who profess their faith in God's reign of justice, wisdom, and compassion here and now. Seemingly, God would not have sent the Holy Spirit to serve as our Advocate and abide with us as God's Companion unless we are indeed to act upon Jesus' Commandments to Love God, One Another, and Our Neighbors, and Ourselves now. 

Perhaps we can only recognize the Holy Spirit's fantastic arrival through our annual ritual of reading Acts 2 on each Day of Pentecost.  Is it even more possible to recognize theThe Holy Spirit in our midst by intentionally searching for the Spirit's advocacy for us and those who serve Christ alongside of us. Early and medieval Christians came to believe that The Holy Spirit offers seven unique gifts to faithful Christians. These virtuous traits are: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe (fear of the Lord) , counsel, knowledge, fortitude, and piety (reverence). Certainly God's presence is living in us when we adopt these traits as our own. Importantly, God is the providing Source for these gifts. It is our responsibility to continually seek God to restore them in us given our human, often "wordly," nature.

the back side. I hope that our newly "Spirit-filled" members will share The Holy Spirit's gifts.  May we welcome the Spirit's presence all around us. May we more fully believe that God is accomplishing new and glorious things at St. James as we continue to "know" that Jesus is alive and the Holy Spirit is working within and through us.

Blessings Along The Way, Jim+

calendar. Take a minute to see everything taking place at St. James. Be with us as the Spirit leads you for a Healing Eucharist Service on May 22nd @ 6 PM and our Special Children's Feast Day Sunday Eucharist on May 26th!~

 

This Sunday will be Joyce Keeshin's last Sunday with us as a seminarian. She graduates from Bexley Hall on Saturday (1 PM). Unquestionably, she has blessed us with her presence, talents, and growth in ministry during the past year. We're pleased to announce that Joyce's pilgrimage with us @ St. James does not end here.  She will begin her Residency Program for Priestly Formation Program  @ St. James in September.  This is an exciting opportunity for her and for us as we continue working together to accomplish the transformational, pastoral, and mission-based work we started when she joined us in September.

I'd like to personally thank Joyce for her efforts and support while she's been here as a seminarian. It's been no set of easy tasks to be sure. I especially want to invite everyone, on Joyce's behalf, to attend her ordination service to the transitional deaconate.  Joyce along with some of her peers will be ordained a deacon at 11 AM on June 29th (The Feast Day of St. Peter and St. Paul) at Christ Church Cathedral. Joyce will serve with us as a deacon for an initial portion of her residency. She will at some point in that program then be ordained as a priest.

It's a rare and precious opportunity for us as a pastoral sized parish to have two ordained clergy serving here and our efforts to become a more relevant and alive Episcopal Church on Cincinnati's Westside. We should be immensely grateful to the diocese and to Joyce for offering us this Spirit-Led opportunity to more prophetically and pastorally work, play, and proclaim the Gospel.

It is

Taize Veni Sancti Spiritus

customary at such ordination services for a cantor, the clergy and the congregation to chant the Veni Sancte Spiritus music as the candidates are ordained. This chant is a bidding for the Holy Spirit's Grace to descend upon those gathered together as the Spirit did on the Day of Pentecost. Perhaps you'll enjoy listening to this video between now and Pentecost Sunday as well as between now and when we chant it with one another and Joyce on the day of her ordination.

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