Epiphany News

Our hearty congratulations to John Haynie and Laura Williams, our two newest Vestry members! The congregation elected Laura and John yesterday in our church-wide meeting. John and Laura replace Mike Edwards and Eddie Harper, both of whom are rotating off the vestry after faithful service. We all owe Eddie and Mike a heartfelt thank you for a job well done through this challenging time of transition.

John has agreed to serve as Senior Warden in 2012, and Tom Bray has agreed to serve another year as Junior Warden. Betty Weldon has agreed to serve as Treasurer. And a special thank you to Cathy Jones, not a member of the Vestry, who has agreed to serve as Secretary so the Vestry members can focus on the business at hand.

These are the notes on Christian Healing that Father Arnold has developed for use in our worship on January 22. He will draw his sermon and portions of his Sunday School lesson from them, and they will likely form the basis for a series of lessons in the future.

Notes on Christian Healing

What a fun time at the Blessing of the Animals yesterday! Here are some of the photos of our treasures! If I were a real man, I would know how to link each of these images to its full resolution version on Flickr, but alas, WordPress doesn’t seem to be willing to bend to my will on this one. If you like one of these and want me to get it to you in full resolution, just let me know.

Here are the notes Father Arnold prepared for his sermon January 15, 2012, entitled “Habits that Hurt and Help in Becoming a Devoted Follower of Christ.”

Sermon for January 15, 2012

Father Arnold has sent out to the membership this summary of events during January:

E- Epistle from Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, Tallassee, AL
1st Week of Season of the Epiphany, from the Rev. Arnold Bush, Pastor

God’s Peace and Power during this Season of Epiphany! This is my first Season of Epiphany (Jan.6-Feb. 19,2012) as your Priest in Charge. Please consider this E-Epistle in first week of Epiphany as an official notification of the following events and news:

JANUARY 15, Second Sunday after the Epiphany, BLESSING OF PETS AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC …Here is our schedule:
9:30 am Adult Forum, Prayer Book Disciplines that Transform & BCP Expectations
10:30 am Eucharist, Caleb Hart on piano and Tom Bray on guitar will lead us in the singing of all Contemporary Songs and Hymns. Sermon: “Habits that Hurt and Help us”
11:45 am Refreshments while some return home to bring back their pets
12:15 am Blessing of Pets, in a large circle between Church and Parish Hall

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 6:30 PM BISHOP SLOAN HERE FOR ANNUAL VISITATION…will celebrate Holy Eucharist with Sermon, Blessing of Oils, and Communion. A soup supper with bread will follow. Short meeting with Vestry. Please join your fellow Episcopalians in greeting and meeting the new 11th Bishop of AL.

JANUARY 22, Third Sunday after the Epiphany, 9:30 am Adult Forum and 10:30 am Eucharist with theme of “Understanding of Christian Healing and Health” using Propers for Sacrament of Holy Unction (Healing), James 5:14-16;Psalm 23; Mark 6:7:12-13, BCP,453 following.

ANNUAL MEETING OF CONGREGATION elect new vestry members and delegates to Diocesan Convention, February 17 and 18, Huntsville, AL following the 10:30 am Eucharist. Canons require a two week notification for any meeting of the congregation.

JANUARY 29, Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, 9:30 and 10:30 am, “Best Practices for Wellness and Preventive Behaviors”, guest speakers

FEBRUARY 5, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, 9:30 and 10:30 am, “Souper Bowl Sunday” , Bring 2 cans of soup wrapped in $ bills for Beans and Rice Ministry. Theme: “Joining the Lord’s Team”.

Pastoral Care and concerns: Lynda Denton, Dot Harris, Pam Stewart all at home recovering. Keep them in your prayers for healing and wholeness.

Amanda and I had the pleasure on Saturday of traveling to Birmingham with John and Kathy Haynie, Janet Bray, and Ann Easley to see Kee Sloan invested as our new bishop. The picture at the right shows the group with a new friend we made later that day, Darrell Ford. There were many features of the day that stand out in our minds, so I’ve collected them as well as I can here.

We thought we were leaving in plenty of time to arrive at the church and get a seat for the 11:00 service, with John graciously agreeing to drive, but I made the wrong call on where we should park, which meant a long walk between the truck and the church. By the time we arrived at the church it was 10:15, and we had hoped to arrive there at 10:00. We anxiously looked around for restrooms, because all of us were tired and needed to use the facilities. The first delight was a forest of helpful people wearing signs saying “Cathedral Church of the Advent – Ask me” around their necks. We instantly got instructions about the nearest restrooms and how to enter the nave and set about our business. Fortunately, there were still seats available in the nave at 10:25 when we made it there. We had to break into two groups, but we all were able to seat ourselves about 3/4 of the way back on the left hand side.

The congregational singing was wonderful, although a tad slow for my taste. The organist observed the Anglican custom of a short pause between verses, and it was fun to hear the sound of the last verse reverberate through the large room before beginning the next.

Perhaps the most powerful moment of the service for me was Kee’s entrance to the nave. By custom, he knocked three times on the back door of the nave. The President of the Standing Committee inquired of him, “Who seeks to enter here?” His first answer was “John McKee Sloan, Bishop Suffragan of the Alabama Diocese.” Silence. Then again he knocked three times. “Who seeks to enter here?” “The Right Reverend John McKee Sloan, Bishop-elect of the Alabama Diocese of the Episcopal Church USA.” Again silence. Again he knocked three times. “Who seeks to enter here?” “Kee Sloan, a child of God and a servant of Jesus Christ.” That did it. The door opened. “The Lord prosper you; we wish you well in the Name of the Lord.”

Another gift from the day for me was that I learned to love our kneelers at Epiphany. It has been Amanda’s and my custom to kneel during those times when congregants can choose whether to stand or kneel, so I chose to kneel during the Litany of Prayer. The kneelers at Advent rotate on a locked axis, which means you cannot adjust their position. And they’re tucked way under the pew, which meant that I had to grip the pew during the prayer to avoid falling backward. MOST uncomfortable. Is that by design? Are we striving to create discomfort to give us a taste of the Passion of Our Lord? Perhaps, but I learned my lesson. No more kneeling at the Cathedral Church of the Advent!

During the Eucharist each congregant got to choose whether to walk to the front of the nave and be served the elements at the altar rail or to take advantage of one of the stations on the side of the nave. Amanda walked to the rail, but most of us filed by the station on the left, where Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was administering the host.

There were no smells or bells during the service, which was surprising to some of us. However, the Cathedral more than made up for that after the service by ringing the large bells in the tower. L-O-U-D-L-Y.

We opted to stay after the service for the reception. Standing in the crowd packed into the Commons, we were told by one of the hostesses that there was plenty of food and more space in a side room. Best advice of the day. We were able to get something to eat and something to drink quickly and actually found a place to sit. A few minutes after we got seated, Katharine strolled in and stood talking to several people, so we all got a chance to visit quietly with her and with each other.

Father Arnold invited us to his house to rest up, so we drove out to his house near Liberty Park and had a brief, warm visit with him and Zoe. I sneaked into a side room and changed into my jeans, which was a wonderful relief for me.

We had decided as a group to stay for what was billed as an informal question-and-answer session with Katharine at the Trinity Commons Episcopal student center on the UAB campus. We had enjoyed our visit with Arnold and Zoe so much that we were late getting away from their house. We knew there would be a large crowd and that we might not get a seat because we were not due to arrive at the reception until 4:15 or so, but we decided to give it a go anyway. SO glad we did. The huge crowd we were expecting turned out to be a couple of handfuls of people standing around who looked really glad to see us arriving. Not sure what happened with the publicity for the event, but even at 4:30 there were plenty of seats available. The six of us could sit anywhere in the room, so we sat on the second row. I took this photo of Katharine from my seat with available light and no zoom. We really were this close to her.

Our presiding bishop is an impressive person. Blessed with a wonderful speaking voice, an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Anglican, and the calmest of demeanors, she entertained questions from our little group and answered them thoughtfully for about an hour and a half. She invited us into “conversation,” taking time to define true conversation as much more than exchanging words. In answering our questions, she talked about the state of Anglicanism today and noted that the Episcopal Church churchwide is growing in some places and losing members in other places. She said that in her experience, churches that focus their ministry outward to respond to the needs of their community and the world tend to grow, and churches that focus on the needs of their own members tend to shrink. She described the joys and challenges of reconciling the disparate provinces in the Anglican Communion, talked about her own process of discernment about her role after she is no longer presiding bishop, and offered advice on how to talk to atheists and agnostics.

This last issue was one of the more helpful for me. Responding to a question from a young college student about how to talk to her atheist friends, Katharine began by acknowledging that much harm has been inflicted on people in the name of the Christian church, with the result that there are some twisted ideas about God that have permeated our culture. “I encourage you to engage people and find out more about what they know of God. If you are willing to be changed by them, you may find they are willing to be changed by you as well. I like to ask this: ‘Tell me more about this God you don’t believe in.’ It could be that once you learn more about the God they don’t believe in, you won’t believe in that God either, and then the two of you can begin exploring together what kind of God you CAN believe in.” Now that’ll preach.

Amanda and I delighted this morning to listen to a recording of a conversation between a morning talk show host in Ohio and The Right Revd Mark Hollingsworth, Jr, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. Bishop Hollingsworth’s calm assurance of God’s uncompromising love in the face of a withering barrage of provocative challenges was an inspiration. We commend it to you.

Thanks to the Episcopal Cafe for the heads-up.

You can listen to the interview here.

I have formatted the following Order for Compline from the Book of Common Prayer as a 3-page printed document. I will print enough copies of it for us to use on First Thursday and leave it in a manila folder in the church office.

An Order for Compline, BCP page 127

Father Buddy shared this with several church members during his ministry at Epiphany. Thanks to Jean Kerr for saving it all these years and making it available to us now.

I cannot say “Our” if my faith has no room for others.
I cannot say “Father” if I am not his child.
I cannot say “Who art in heaven” if all my pursuits are based in earthly desires.
I cannot say “Hallowed be thy name” if I am the only one in control.
I cannot say “Thy Kingdom come” if I am unwilling to receive his kingdom.
I cannot say “Thy will be done” if everything has to be my way.
I cannot say “On Earth as it is in Heaven” unless I am willing to give myself to his service.
I cannot say “Give us this day our daily Bread” if I ignore the needs of others.
I cannot say “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” if I continue to harbor ill will against others.
I cannot say “Lead us not into temptation” if I choose to remain in sin.
I cannot say “Deliver us from Evil” if I choose to follow its path.
I cannot say “Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the Glory” if I live in fear.
I cannot say “Forever” if I remain anxious about today.
and I cannot say “Amen” unless I honestly say “Cost what it may, this is my prayer.”

Here are the notes Father Arnold prepared for his sermon on January 1, 2012. Thanks to my lovely bride Amanda for revising them for the web.

The Wise Man still seeks; the Wise Woman still seeks!
Five Offerings from the Wise Men, the Magi
Sermon notes for Sunday, Jan.1, 2012, Church of the Epiphany, Tallassee, AL by Priest in Charge, The Rev. Arnold A. Bush

I. Introduction; who were the Wise men?
Astrologers (NEB.MRSV); “Wise men” (EV); How many kings? See Hymn 128. At best they were seekers after wisdom and truth. Rate yourself as a seeker?
Indifferent……………Seeker
Apartheid…………….Desirous

II. Our Seeking
How will you seek a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ in the year 2012? Are you motivated to have an abiding relationship with Jesus?
1. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, “Our Christian duty is to develop a personal faith.” In John our work is to believe.
2. As we recite the Nicene Creed we state, “We believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”…A better translation is WE TRUST IN FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT.
3. As you are alone in a walk outside, an early walk, do you have an attitude of seeking God?
4. Are you seeking a deeper experience of Christ as you come to the Sunday Eucharist?
5. Will you be a WISE MAN OR WISE WOMAN WHO SEEKS CHRIST IN THIS NEW YEAR? WHO? WHEN?
6. What I will practice…?

III. They Offered their TIME.
It took several days to travel over 900 miles as some research suggest. They gave their time to leave family, friends, colleagues, home to travel. Twenty miles a day would take 45 days one way. As citizens of the Western world we are very conscious of time. A great deal of advertising is selling time saving equipment, appliances. Cox Bundle…downloading photos or large files in to our computer, faster Internet. Time traveling by car or by flying? Time commuting or time dressing or time eating. But I want to suggest that you consider trying a time each day to seek Christ. This could involve a devotional time, a place, a passage, a quiet time. Twelve minutes a day for 5 days a week = 1 hour a week. You will be a different person in 12 months. He meets your deepest needs. Just suppose if 80 % of the members of Epiphany spent 12 minutes in some exercise daily what would happen in our lives.

IV. They offered their worship.
“When they saw the star they stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy (overjoyed, delighted). On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage (KJV “worshiped”). Then they opened their gifts…”
The word worship is to bend the knee. (Must be Episcopalians or Roman Catholics) They offer their worship. A large part of Christian Worship is to relinquish something. Thus to worship the Father God is to relinquish, to offer to God, to know you need help. I relinquish responsibility to the parent. To acknowledge one’s need for help and to give up control. If you were asked the difference between the church going and the non-church-going citizens in Elmore County, how would you answer? To me the difference is not the genes, not the personality, the amount of education, BUT THE WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE, TO ADMIT I NEED HELP FROM OUTSIDE OF MYSELF. GENERALLY SPEAKING THE FOLKS WHO STAY AWAY FROM SUNDAY WORSHIP ARE ONES WHO DO NOT WANT TO CHANGE OR WHO FEEL NO NEED FOR ASSISTANCE.

V. The offering of Gold, a symbol of Jesus to be a King.
Back in November I had a sermon on Jesus as King. Do I relate to Christ as King, Lord, Boss? Do you recall the Christmas Eve Eucharist when Calab and Miriam played the Hallelujah Chorus?
Lord of Lord and King of Kings (2X). There are jokes around about a tendency of men in the USA, who are reluctant to ask for directions when driving on an unfamiliar road. Maybe there are some men as well as women who are reluctant to ask Jesus for directions. To ask Christ for guidance.
1. When you are having a morning offering or devotion… often we ask Lord, I need some assistance in this area. But If Jesus is your King, Boss, then he possibly has something for you to do. So ask him, Lord, what do you want me to do?
2. EG Celia Bailey in Tifton, GA… retired from the Rural Development Center and volunteered to be the part-time secretary for St. Ann’s. Over the months I asked how her day was going. I discovered every morning she would usually read a devotion book and scripture. Then she would ask God what she could do to love and care for someone. Over some 50 years she would write a card, deliver some food, make a call in the Nursing Home or Hospital, purchase a small gift. I was asked by her family to return to officiate at her funeral. The nave was rather full and comments were “Cecilia loved many people in this county and church.” What I learned from her I have attempted to practice the rest of my life. To do an act of agape everyday…an act of unselfish love. As you do a devotion, ask God: What do you want me to do today?
3. Will I listen with my heart to what God is saying to me in 2012?

VI. Frankincense, Jesus as Priest (worship)
The Psalm 1412 (BoCP p 115) reads: “Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” (See sack in sacristy) Frankincense is a gum resin from a Boswellia Tree. This was a symbol of prayer in the Temple. Frankincense is a reminder for us to prayer. I recall there are some Episcopalians who love to have incense used in worship every Sunday. Do you have an intention to offer prayers during 2012? We need to remember the basis of all prayer is God’s willingness to have a relationship with us. He is the Hound of Heaven, seeking to establish a relationship with us!!! Let me offer some suggestions for gestures for prayer:
1. Prayer in the car when parked…before you get out of the car. Some men comb their hair and some women put on lipstick. How about raising your hands to offer a need or an assistance…. Raising the hands.
2. A special intention as you come to communion every Sunday. I will be offering this for……those who are ill… a member of your family, …a colleague at work.
3. Centering Prayer…. Fr. Thomas Keating writings… Jimmy Owens has an easy tune of adoration: “Holy, Holy, And we lift our hands before you as a token of our love”. Or the hymn, Take my voice and let it sing…Take my will and make it thine… take my heart, my lips….

VII. MYRRH, A symbol of burial, the Passion and Death of Christ

Myrrh is a gum rosin that makes perfume with alcohol which is used for embalming. Let us make an offering of thanksgiving for the Passion of Christ and for our atonement. Here are some types of things we can do to relate to the Death, Passion of Christ, and Grief.
1. Offer in prayer the name of a friend or relative who has lost by death a spouse, child, or friend. Make contact with a person in the area who is in grief over the death of a relative or friend. When I was on the staff of CC in San Antonio, one of the items on the checklist for a funeral was to make a note to call on this family one year after this death. Remember those who have lost a spouse or relative have anniversaries that trigger some grief.
2. Ask yourself: Am I in need of healing from a painful experience in the past year or years? Are you unable to release your anger or hurt to the Lord? Do you have some bitterness or anger wrapped up in a closet needing the balm of healing?
3. Have you prayed for families in the area who have lost a son, sibling or parent in Iraq or Afghanistan?
In the year 2012 we can become better seekers to know Christ deeper. We can increase and grow our friendship with Christ. The gold reminds us to seek him as King and Lord of our life… giving us direction and guidance. The Frankincense can remind me to offer prayer for each day the Lord allows me to live. Myrrh was given to remind us of the passion and death Jesus must go through. Let us be responsive to those in grief and pain as they enter 2012.