Saints Mary & Martha Church: December 2017

Thursday, December 28, 2017

A New “Anglican 101” Class...

Hello, friends!

We’ve had some interest expressed in launching another “Anglican 101” class – not only for all the new folks at Bethany House, but also for those who’d like to re-visit that journey.

The plan would be to meet either every other Sunday after Mass (with a potluck meal) or one Sunday a month after Mass (also with a potluck meal).

If you’re interested, please let Father Todd know – either by Facebook message or by e-mailing him at fr.todd4you@yahoo.com.

God bless you!

The First Tuesday Rosary Group...

The First Tuesday Rosary Group will meet at Bethany House on Tuesday, January 2 @ 6:00pm.

We'll be contemplating the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary (the Annunciation to Mary, the Visit of Mary to Elizabeth, the Holy Nativity of Our Lord, the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple).

Our prayer intentions will include the needs of mothers and fathers, the needs of the elderly, and the needs of children.

Come and join us!

Monday, December 25, 2017

A Christmas Blessing for You!

Merry Christmas from Saints Mary & Martha Church at Bethany House!

What a celebration we had at Bethany House last night! The Chapel of Saints Mary and Martha was packed to the hilt, the voices of the congregation drowned out the organ, and (most important of all) we offered our praises to the new-born King Jesus!

May the glory of his Presence fill your life with his joy, now and always! Amen!

Monday, December 18, 2017

A Timely Reminder...

Times, Seasons and Colors...

Dear friends,

The time of “purple” (the color of repentance and self-denial, the color of Lent) is upon us again. And as we enter the season of Lent, I’m reminded about being reminded! That’s right, I’m reminded to remember some wonderful things: What Lent was like in the parish in which I was raised; what it means to give myself over more completely to Jesus; what it feels like to journey (with deep purpose) through forty days of repentance and self-denial; and, above all, what it should mean to me that Jesus has invited me along for the journey.

As Saints Mary and Martha Church continues down a road filled with prayer and service, the invitation of Jesus should resound all the more clearly in our hearts and minds. We are a people who have committed themselves to gathering regularly around the Word of God as contained in Sacred Scripture and the holy Sacraments – especially Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. We hear that invitation week after week (at Sunday Mass) and day by day (as we pray Morning and Evening Prayer in our homes). In those moments, as God speaks to us in Scripture and Sacrament, we can rest assured that the invitation is being renewed to each of us.

“Are you with me?” is the fundamental question that echoes down the ages from the first moment God interacted with man. It’s a question that reaches its climax (over and over again) in the invitation of Jesus to take up our crosses and follow him. No matter who we are, where we are, what we are doing, or what we are thinking, this is the question that Jesus is pressing us to answer. God gives us the gift of Lent that we might be reminded of the invitation issued to us in Christ Jesus, that we might act upon it again and again, ever more deeply.

May this Lenten season be such a reminder in your life. May our Lord use it to fill your heart and mind with the knowledge of him who saves and renews us. And may his grace encompass you in these forty days of prayerful journeying!

Father Todd

A Few Things that Describe Us...

1. We’re a community of faith – we passionately believe that Jesus gave us the Church and calls us, as believers, to be a part of his Church. According to Scripture, we can’t possibly be who we’re called to be as individuals without participating in the life of our Church community.

2. We believe that pure, unadulterated, self-giving, outreaching love covers a multitude of sins – the grace of God offered to us in the sacrificial love of Jesus through the Presence of the Holy Spirit means that divine love is closer to us than our sins will ever be, all we need to do is reach out and ask for it.

3. We worship God because we want to offer him something – our first and greatest work in this life is not found in the career we’ve chosen, in our hobbies, or even in our families; it’s found in how we respond to God’s gift of salvation. Our most important work is the worship we offer to God. Only then can our families, our careers, and our pastimes make any sense and receive the attention they deserve.

4. We’ve chosen Saints Mary and Martha as our ‘patrons’ – in looking for a name for our parish, we wanted to make sure that we were listening to the Lord. The name of a parish should always match its unique mission – ours is to listen to the Lord like Saint Mary of Bethany and to work for the Lord like her sister, Saint Martha of Bethany (see Luke 10:38-42).

5. We are radically non-conformist – when the world prods us to relinquish our unique identity or mission in Christ, we lovingly explain that we’ve found something we’ll never give up.

6. We are Christians in the Anglican way – we’re not Anglicans because of some special or unique belief system. Anglicans simply believe the Bible to be the Word of God and affirm that belief through the Apostles and Nicene Creeds – that’s it.

7. We use the Book of Common Prayer as our guide in worship – the BCP allows us to pray God’s Word as worship. Because nearly 85% of the BCP is either direct quotation of Scripture or a paraphrase of Scripture – while the rest of points to Scriptural concepts – we don’t have to continually re-invent our way of worship.

Saints Mary & Martha Church

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Thursday, December 28, 2017

A New “Anglican 101” Class...

The First Tuesday Rosary Group...

Monday, December 25, 2017

A Christmas Blessing for You!

Monday, December 18, 2017

A Timely Reminder...

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Times, Seasons and Colors...

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