The final online service of this year is dedicated to Katharina Von Bora, a.k.a. Mrs. Martin Luther.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX2VCrIXLSU
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Today is the feast day for St. John of the Cross, sixteenth century mystic and poet. He's discussed in today's recorded service of Noonday Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww91kcXlQEE&t=2s [Image: Orthodox Church in America] Andrew is mentioned twelve times in the New Testament. In all but one instance, he is identified after his brother, Simon Peter. Most of the time he’s simply part of the list of Jesus’ disciples and no further information about him is given. That’s true in the synoptic gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We learn that he’s in business with his brother and the sons of Zebedee, James and John. You’ll recall that when Jesus is about to do something special—raise a girl from the dead, go up on a mountain to be transfigured and speak to Moses and Elijah—he takes the same three men: Peter, James, and John. Not Andrew. The Gospel of John, however, gives us a few stories about Andrew: his introducing Peter to Jesus, his spotting of a boy with a little food that eventually feeds thousands, and his making sure, along with Phillip, that some Greeks who want to see Jesus have that chance. For more about Andrew, see the service of Noonday Prayer, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmhBvhETNmE&t=1s Imagine being the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, then growing up to become the Archbishop yourself! That was the life of William Temple, who overcame doubts and served during World War II, a trying time to hold the church together. You can learn more in this service of Noonday Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYNqEQKzDR4&t=3s For All Saints (11/1) and All Souls (11/2), the Noonday Service focuses on a hymn often sung for All Saints. Here is the link to the service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjejzraCorQ&t=10s
Saint of the Day for October 25 In six verses of Acts 9 we get a touching picture of one of the women who was a co-worker with the apostles. The names Dorcas (Greek) and Tabitha (Aramaic) both mean gazelle. Joppa, the seacoast town in Israel, was her hometown. There she made clothing for the poor as well as made deep friendships. At her death, two men of the community were sent off to Peter, then in a nearby town. He came, and he listened to the women who were crying and showing him Tabitha’s work. Then he made everyone go outside (and if that sounds familiar, it’s because Jesus did the same thing when he raised the little girl from the dead in Mark 5) before kneeling to pray. She returns to life, Peter helps her get up, there is both great rejoicing and an increase in believers in Joppa because of the miracle. Side note: If you’re wondering why Joppa sounds familiar, it may be because it was the town Jonah fled to when told to go to Nineveh. Prayer Most Holy God, who did raise from the dead your servant Tabitha to display your power and confirm that your Son is Lord; Grant unto us your grace, that, aided by her prayers and example, we may be given a new life in you, to do works pleasing in your sight; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Ignatius, who was martyred in Rome around 115, was one of the second generation of Christians. He was likely born around a.d. 30 or 35, in modern-day Turkey. He’s most known for the series of seven letters he wrote on his way to Rome to meet his death. In one of them, he includes what many scholars believe is the first written usage of the word Christianity. Ignatius's martyrdom was planned as part of the festivities in Rome celebrating a military victory. We don’t perhaps understand how watching a seventy-plus-year old man die in the amphitheater is celebratory, but much about that era puzzles us. Ignatius and others were eager to become martyrs, which was considered a great honor. In fact, Ignatius’s greatest fear was that someone in Rome would intercede for him and nullify his conviction as a Christian. In his letter to Christians in Rome, he wrote, “I fear your kindness, which may harm me. You may be able to achieve what you plan. But if you pay no heed to my request it will be very difficult for me to attain unto God….I am God’s wheat, to be ground by the teeth of beasts, so that I may be offered as pure bread of Christ.…If you remain silent about me, I shall become a word of God.” And so he did; the powers that be intended to frighten Christians, but Ignatius's bold witness had the opposite effect. Thanks be to God. Prayer: Almighty God, we praise your Name for your bishop and martyr Ignatius of Antioch, who offered himself as grain to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts that he might present to you the pure bread of sacrifice. Accept, we pray, the willing tribute of our lives and give us a share in the pure and spotless offering of your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Born to Congregationalist missionaries in India in 1861, Scudder and her mother were confirmed in the Episcopal church during the 1870, by no less a person than Phillips Brooks, the noted preacher (and composer of "O Little Town of Bethlehem"). After receiving an excellent education, she founded the College Settlements Association and Denison House in Boston, while also teaching at Wellesley College, which was then an all-women's college. After a breakdown from overwork, Scudder went to Italy to recuperate. Two years later she returned to the U.S. and once again was busy with social activism. In 1911, she became a Christian Socialist; the following year, she supported the textile workers' strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She supported the First World War, but later became a pacifist. She began writing after her retirement from teaching, and became the first woman published in the Anglican Theological Review. She died on October 10, 1954. PRAYER Most gracious God, you sent your beloved Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Raise up in your church witnesses who, after the example of your servant Vida Dutton Scudder, stand firm in proclaiming the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. |
Saints Alive!
I have been privileged to offer Noonday Prayer at my church, usually on Thursdays, which doesn’t matter because it’s on Youtube forever. [It’s amazing what can be done with a smartphone and a smart, helpful parish administrator!] The service is brief, with a place for a meditation. We usually look at the Episcopal calendar of saints, who are nearly always honored on their death dates, not their birth dates. Here is a hymn by medieval saint Hildegard of Bingen to set the mood.
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