MAMA Church at Bethany House: Christians and Politics...

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Christians and Politics...

Hmmm. Here's some food for thought, especially as we face elections.

This is an article by The Rev’d. Timothy Keller, founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. There are some good insights and reminders here. Of course, as Anglicans (in the ACNA) we are pro-life and must weigh all of our voting decisions in the light of that most fundamental of human rights. Without the right to life, no political agenda matters.

Father Todd

How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don’t

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Bethany House FAQ’s...

Q – What is Bethany House? Is it a Church or is it some kind of monastery?

A – Bethany House is both a regular Church (Saints Mary and Martha Anglican Church - lovingly known as MAMA Church) and the home of the Companions of Mary and Martha (a group of Jesus-followers who are using the ancient “Rule of St. Benedict” to help them draw closer to Jesus and share him with the world).

Q – To attend worship or evening prayer at Bethany House, do I have to join the Companions of Mary and Martha?

A – No, you do not. Anyone who is seeking God is VERY welcome to join us for worship and prayer (and potlucks and other gatherings and activities, too)! We welcome you to join us anytime! Some who worship and pray with us are members of other Churches. In order to receive Holy Communion during worship, you do have to be a Baptized Christian and in good standing with your home Church.

Q – Is MAMA Church at Bethany House Catholic or Protestant?

A – It’s both! As Anglicans, we hold to “Catholic order and Evangelical faith”. Our form or style of worship looks very much like Roman Catholic Mass, but the hymns and songs we sing are very “Protestant” (many of them, like “Amazing Grace”, written by Anglicans).

Q – Is MAMA Church at Bethany House part of a particular Christian denomination?

A – Yes, it is. MAMA (Saints Mary and Martha Anglican) Church at Bethany House is part of The Anglican Church in North America. (You can learn more about the ACNA at www.anglicanchurch.net) But, you do not need to be an Anglican to join us for worship and prayer. Likewise, you do not need to be an Anglican to join the Companions of Mary and Martha – you only need to be a Baptized Christian who is in good standing with your home Church and who is willing to undertake the commitments that go with being a Companion.

Q – What does worship at Bethany House look like?

A – It’s both ancient and welcoming. We sing hymns, chant the Psalms, hear three brief readings from sacred Scripture (one from the Old Testament, one from the Epistles, and one from the Gospels), hear a sermon, pray, confess our sins, and receive Holy Communion. The pattern of our worship is called a Liturgy (Latin for “the work of the people”). We call our time of worship the Mass or the Holy Eucharist. On most Sundays, the hymns we sing and the Scripture we read and the sermon we hear all focus on the same topic.

Times, Seasons and Colors...

Dear friends,

The Sundays of Trinitytide (sometimes called Ordinary Time) – especially those we experience during the summer – hold a very special place in my heart! Even as the pace of life slows following the closing of school for summer vacation, so also the pace of life for the Church slows after the great Sundays of Ascension, Pentecost, Holy Trinity, and Corpus Christi. It’s almost as though there’s a welcome return of quietness after the high emotions of great celebrations.

My own childhood memories of these summer Sundays during Trinitytide are filled with a sense of quietude and peace. Everything during this season – from the drive to Church to the hymns we sang to the sermons that were preached – spoke to me of the goodness of God and his joy in making me his own.

So, when the color of the banners, paraments, and vestments changed from gold or white to green – the color for Trinitytide – it was a beloved signal to me. Green, you see, is the color of growth; the color that reminds us of the slow and steady work of becoming more Christ-like in our everyday lives.

Just as the trees and plants around us clothe themselves in green as a sign that the slow and steady work of receiving nutrients from the sun is taking place, so the presence of green in the Lord’s sanctuary is a sign for us that we are engaging in the slow and steady work of receiving “nutrients” from the Son!

May the Sundays of Trinitytide – especially those you experience during the summer – fill you with a quiet, yet inexpressible joy in believing!

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.

COVID-19 Precautions...

As we continue to cope with COVID-19, these are some things we’re doing at Bethany House to keep everyone safe while worshiping Jesus…

1. We require that everyone who attends worship wears a face mask – we have a number of people in our midst with health issues that put them at high risk should they contract the virus.

2. We are practicing physical distancing – the pews in the Chapel are marked out for a seating pattern that ensures we keep physical distance from one another.

3. We are not singing during Mass – the latest research shows that the aerosols (which carry the virus) released when we sing do linger in the air for an extended period of time and that more of the aerosols are released when we sing rather than just speak.

4. We are distributing Holy Communion in one kind only (the precious Body of Jesus) – Father Todd brings the consecrated Host (the precious Body) to each worshiper. It’s just too dangerous at this point to receive the precious Blood of Jesus in the chalice – whether by the common cup method or by the intinction method.

So put on your favorite mask, bring some hand sanitizer, and join us as we worship Jesus!!

MAMA Church at Bethany House

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Saturday, September 19, 2020

Christians and Politics...

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