Ministries...

My parish has experienced transition over the past year and a half. All of the transition has been associated with one of the three weekend worship times (the 10:30am service).  Sometimes when transition happens it can seem negative because it can be scary and tumultuous. But I think it's important to be patient and to wait on God to see what the result of the transition or change is - what if any fruit is born as a result of the change.

Total weekend attendance has not really changed, although the attendance at that particular service (10:30am) is down slightly, but what has changed is what is happening in the life of the parish during the week outside of our weekend worship. This, I think, is a clear indicator of growth in holiness and of where the parish is headed in the coming months and years. It seems that for the most part December truly was the close of an old year and January ushered in a new year in many ways. There is a new spirit of peace and excitement present and fruit is being produced. Ministries now extend all through the week and many more members of the parish are becoming involved in those ministries. Some who are normally more reserved are becoming more involved as the Holy Spirit moves them to. We are in the early stages of becoming a church alive 7-days a week instead of just on Sunday mornings.

Saint Mary's now has active ministries taking place on our church campus and beyond every day of the week.

• On the weekend we offer three worship services (Saturday evening Mass at 6:30pm is a traditional 1928 Book of Common Prayer celebration of Holy Communion with a few Anglican Missal additions. Sunday morning at 8:00am is a contemporary 1979 Book of Common Prayer Rite II celebration of Holy Eucharist without music. And Sunday morning at 10:30am is a contemporary 1979 Book of Common Prayer Rite II celebration of Holy Eucharist with music which is a blend of traditional hymns and contemporary Christian music.)
• On Sunday at 9:15am there is a Teen & Adult Sunday School Forum.
• On Monday at 6:30pm there is Discipleship Training designed to teach followers of Christ how to share the Gospel with others.
• On Tuesday at 6:30pm there is a multi-ethnic Bible Study that mirrors the Sunday Teen & Adult Forum.
• On the first Tuesday of the month at 4:00pm Saint Mary's Chapter of the Daughters of the Holy Cross (DHC) meets. The DHC is a lay order of women dedicated to a daily rule of prayer, study of the Word, service, and evangelism.
• On Wednesday at 1:00pm there is a Pastor Fellowship and Prayer Meeting that includes area pastors from a variety of Christian churches.
• Every other Wednesday at 4:00pm there is a Craft Club that meets in the home of a parishioner. The club works on small outreach projects like scarves and hats for Special Olympic, or blankets for nursing homes. 
• On Wednesday evenings at 6:00pm the Alpha Marriage Course is offered for four couples at a time.
• On Thursday afternoons at 2:00pm there is a Ladies Book & Bible Study.
• On Thursday evenings at 6:30pm there is a one hour prayer meeting. The prayer time is silent and verbal extemporaneous prayer for any need. 
• On Fridays at 6:00pm there is a Youth Group Meeting (first, third, and fifth Fridays) and at 6:30pm there is a Healing Service (third Fridays) for healing of body, mind, and spirit.
• On Saturdays at 1:00pm there is an ecumenical Christian Youth Band practice. The band is made up of teens from different churches who want to use their God given gifits to spread the Gospel through music.
• And this summer we will be hosting a five-church Vacation Bible School (VBS) on our church campus! The five churches that will be participating in this ministry are; Saint Mary's, The Grove Community Church, Southgate Church, The Butler Church, and SouthPoint Church.

I share all these ministries on this blog to help remind myself and others that God is doing mighty things at Saint Mary's, and to remind us that He calls us to plant seeds, to tend the field, and to labor in the harvest, and that if we put our trust in Him and remain faithful to Him He will be responsible for seeing that the seeds we plant and tend will grow.  It's so exciting to see and even more exciting to ponder what He can and will do in the future if we continue to trust in Him and remain faithful to Him, and to be patient with ourselves and each other, as we wait on His time.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him all creatures here below!
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Trying this again...

OK, after being away from this for months and months I decided to give it a try again. The problem is that my days are usually so busy that I feel guilty thinking about blogging. But I am going to try again. Perhaps it will help distract me from some of the busyness.

Sacramento here we come

Peppy and I are off to Sacramento for the day. I am very much looking forward to this date with my wife. It will be good t get away for the day and to begin exploring different parts of California. A member of my parish has arranged a private tour of the state capitol building, the forecast is for a sunny day with a high of 74, and this will be a day for just me and Peppy. It will be great. I'll let you know how it was!

Imagine that...

Do you know that there are thousands of homeless men, women, and children in Fresno? While you may not see many in your neighborhood they do exist. Some live in tents, some in cars, some in abandoned buildings, some in boxes - they live wherever they can survive. Many are part of a homeless family with children. How can this be… How can this be???

Can you imagine how uncomfortable life would be if you had to live without access to the basic necessities in life? Imagine that day after day you did not having access to a bathroom for basic hygiene, or access to a kitchen for food, or access to a bed for rest, or access to a home for shelter… imagine not being able to do so many simple things that you take for granted every day like being able to go and use a bathroom when you need to, having toilet paper to clean yourself when you are done.. not having access to soap and water to wash your hands after using the restroom or before eating… not having access to a shower and soap and shampoo and a clean towel every day… not being able to use a tooth brush and tooth paste; being able to put on clean clothes every day… imagine not being able to do these very basic things because you don’t have them?

Imagine being hungry and not having a refrigerator to go and stand in front of for several minutes searching for a snack… forget about a snack, imagine being hungry and not having more than half a meal a day… or having to tell your child that you don’t have any food…

Imagine not having a roof over your head and a door to close and lock when it’s time for sleep… imagine not having a bed and pillow and blanket to go to sleep with…

Imagine waking up in the dark after a nightmare and not even being able to turn a light on… Imagine the nightmares you would surely have night after night…

There is so much more that I could ask you to imagine… but for thousands of adults and children in Fresno they don’t have to imagine these things, they live with them each and every day… just imagine…

These struggles happen each and every day all around us yet we don’t see it. Instead we focus on things like the type of car we drive, how many toys we have in the garage, how large our flat screen TV is (and how many we have), what restaurant we want to go to tonight, whether or not we have an xbox or ps3 or iphone or a host of other “stuff”. And we focus way to often on “stuff” that we don’t have or need, but that we want… we usually say things like “I need that” or "I deserve that" or "I've gotta have that" or "I can't wait to get that"... Imagine that…

Why do we, who have so much, who are blessed in so many way, go through life being anxious about the “stuff” we have or don’t have?

We all need to listen to, and learn from, the words of our Lord Jesus; “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6: 25-34.

New to This

OK, so I am brand new to this. While I have posted comments before on other blogs I have never had my own blog. I'm not sure if I will have time for this, but we'll see. I think I want to use this blog to share my thoughts about life as an Evangelical Anglo-Catholic Priest in Central California in the 21st Century. I suppose that will be the basis for many of my posts. Then again I will likely post thoughts about being a father of a  great 15 year old teen, and husband of an absolutely wonderful wife of 24 years. Maybe I'll also talk about my two English Shepherd dogs from time-to-time. Like I said, this is all new to me so time will tell how this blog unfolds (or doesn't). In any event I hope you enjoy reading and that you'll post comments. Blessings in the name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!