CEC News and Father Riley's homily from Christmas Eve service 2019

CEC News:

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist January 5 and 19, 2020. Happy New Year!

…Mrs. Jane Barnett will lead us in Morning Prayer January 12 and 26.

…Our annual congregational meeting will be January 19, 2020, following the 10am service.  At the meeting the 2020 budget will be presented and we will be electing the vestry for 2020.  All members in good standing are encouraged to run for a vestry position and serve our congregation.  If you wish to run for a vestry position, please contact Faye Corson, Vestry Secretary, by January 15, 2020, so she may place your name on the ballot.

Father Riley's homily:

CHRISTMAS EVE - A - 19                     LUKE 2. 1-20

I do not know about you but there is something different about Christmas this year. Oh, yes we have heard the familiar Christmas carols that have been playing on the radio and through the intercoms in the retail stores since Halloween.

In addition, we have witnessed the annual Salvation Army volunteers who have been standing outside retail spaces ringing that little bell for the past several weeks. And of course, there are the annual Christmas tree vendors who manage to secure every vacant corner beginning Thanksgiving weekend only to suddenly disappear on Christmas morning.

Moreover, as we have driven through our city streets our eyes have caught those Seasons greetings on banners as well as strings of colored lights and yet there is reluctance among some to say “Merry Christmas,” instead one hears more “Happy Holidays.”

I saw a one-liner that appeared on the TV screen a few weeks ago, I have not seen it repeated, and I cannot recall its source. It has stuck in my mind and I have been pondering its meaning ever since. It read, “Christmas is what you make of it.” When you stop and think about it that is true.

I have decided to use it as a basis for my homily tonight. On this holy night, each year, as Christians we hear the familiar story of our Savior’s birth according to St. Luke. It is so familiar that I am sure many of you can recite it in detail. Countless children’s pageants continue to enact it.

Some of our neighborhood lawns are adorned with the familiar scene. Mary, Joseph and the Christ-child are depicted surrounded by lowly cattle and sheep. And more often than not wise men from the East bearing gifts for the newborn king are there as well long before the 12 days of Christmas have ended with feast of the Epiphany. That is to say, before they should be.

So after having celebrated many a Christmas Eve in church hearing the familiar story what are we to make of it tonight? Is its meaning any different for us this year? What do we make of Christmas?

When I read St. Luke’s account of the birth of our Savior I try to imagine what all of those folk who had come to be registered and who had swelled the ranks of the locals were engaged in when the angel appeared to the shepherds.

Did they not see an unusually brilliant star in the sky that just seemed to hang over the little town of Bethlehem as if pointing to something significant? Did they not notice that there was something different about that night?  No, the local populace and all the visitors were oblivious to Christmas. To them it was just like any other night.

We know, however, from Luke’s Christmas story what the angels made of it - they sang glory to God and announced that God’s peace had come to all. And we know what the shepherds who were the first to receive the good news of the savior’s birth made of it. They did the unthinkable.

They abandoned their watch over their flock and they left them shepherd less to go and see for themselves if what the angel had told them was true. When they had seen him, of whom the angels did sing, and reported to Mary and Joseph what the angels had said concerning the child, they returned, glorying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

And we know what the Blessed Virgin Mary made of what the shepherds told her about the child that came from the voice of an angel. She treasured all those words and pondered them in her heart. Maybe that is what is different about Christmas this year.

Maybe we have forgotten to treasure the angel’s message and to ponder its meaning in our hearts. Surely we did at on time, but perhaps because of it familiarity we have ceased to treasure it. Christmas indeed is what we make of it.

For if it no longer speaks to us of God’s gift of love, of God’s gift of peace in and through His Son, Jesus Christ, then, it has ceased to be good news. Instead, it has simply become a holiday that brings to an end all the hustle and bustle of trying to find that perfect gift.

All the while ignoring the One that God has given from the very depths of His Love to be the light and life of the world.

To ignore that, then, makes it easy to say “happy holidays” and to share season’s greetings without a second thought as to the real meaning behind Christmas. For then it has become but one night’s celebration and one morning of sharing.

The next day the tree is on the curb, the wrappings in the trash. Our lawns quickly become empty of the Nativity scene, as do our lives without treasuring and pondering the angel’s message in our hearts.

Life continues as if the angels did not sing of God’s glory of the birth of His Son, Jesus who came to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Christmas, then, is no different from any other day, from any other holiday. Sadly, that is what some make of it.

Christ’ coming in the flesh as one of us has made a difference in the life of the world. “The grace of God has appeared, Titus writes, bringing salvation to all…” That is the good news that the angel brought to the shepherds and was confirmed in song by a multitude of the heavenly host. It was such good news, that it moved the shepherds to do the unthinkable.

As Christians, it is important that we never lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. We never will as long as we treasure the angel’s message “of the good news of a great joy which has come to all people” and ponder it in our hearts, as Mary did.

Christmas is what we make of it, not only in the yearly festival of the birth of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, but in our living and in our sharing of the Good News, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father. “O come, let us adore Him.”

Merry Christmas. AMEN+



  

CEC News and Father Riley's homily from Christ Episcopal, Bastrop, from Dec 22, 2019

CEC News:

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist Tuesday, Christmas Eve, at 5pm.  Caroling will begin about 4:40pm.  Invite others to join us.

…Mrs. Jane Barnett will lead us in Morning Prayer December 29, 2019.

…Our annual congregational meeting will be January 19, 2020, following the 10am service.  At the meeting the 2020 budget will be presented and we will be electing the vestry for 2020.  All members in good standing are encouraged to run for a vestry position and serve our congregation.  If you wish to run for a vestry position, please contact Faye Corson, Vestry Secretary, by January 15, 2020, so she may place your name on the ballot.

Father Riley's homily:

ADVENT IV - A - 19                          MATTHEW 1. 18-25

There was a reason why God chose Mary to be the mother of his incarnate Son, Jesus, just as there was a reason why God chose Joseph to be the foster father of Jesus. The answer in both cases is to be found in one word - obedience.

On this fourth and final Sunday of Advent, the gospel reading turns our attention to Joseph. What little we know about him is recorded in Matthew’s gospel. Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus tracing his lineage to the house of David through Joseph. This was to fulfill the prophecy that Messiah would come from the house of David.

In addition, in today’s reading Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in the naming of Jesus as Emmanuel. God always makes good on His promises. He often uses human characters to carry them out, characters like Joseph who accepted his role in God’s divine plan for the salvation of all mankind.

Scripture is replete with examples of the way in which God communicates his will. Last week’s Canticle was The Song of Mary, known as the Magnificat. It was Mary’s humble response to God’s having chosen her to be the mother of Our Lord.

The angel Gabriel had surprised her with his unexpected visit and the Annunciation that Mary would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and become the mother of the Son of God. Joseph, on the other hand is told in a dream by an angel what God’s plan for him is to be and he obediently accepts his role and takes Mary to be his wife.

It was no small thing for him to do in light of the fact that Mary was with child. Under the circumstances, Joseph could have legally divorced her that is, breaking the engagement and leaving her to tend for herself pregnant and unwed. No one would have thought any less of him for doing so.

However, it would have been a devastating situation for Mary. She would have been ostracized. Her reputation ruined. But Joseph did not do that which speaks to his character and to the reason why God chose him in the first place.

He set aside his initial fear of what people might think and say about him if he proceeded to take Mary as his wife. Instead, he assumed his God-given role as her husband and the foster-father of Jesus. He named the child, which in the Jewish tradition the father is supposed to do, and in doing so, publicly proclaims the child as his own.

In the Jewish world of Jesus, the father was the one who taught his son the traditions of their race, culture, and religion. Joseph, then, was the one who took Jesus to the synagogue where he heard and learned the scriptures and Psalms. There the child Jesus listened to the ancient prophecies concerning messiah.

Joseph was the one who taught Jesus the table prayers, which the Lord Jesus would one day use in the presence of his disciples in the upper room as he celebrated the Last Supper. Joseph taught him how to earn an honest living by working with his hands, a skill that would one day enable him to provide for his mother.

Joseph taught Jesus how to be a man by the examples he set for the child during his formative years as a husband, father, and as a man of faith. He fulfilled his role as the provider and protector of the Holy Family. Joseph is often depicted in the background of the Nativity scene sometimes holding a lantern that shines light on the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus.

However, in Matthew’s gospel, Joseph is at the forefront of the birth of the Messiah. We can learn much from him from the few verses Matthew records concerning Joseph. He was a righteous man. That says a lot. He was not one to make a snap decision.

Although he had decided to dismiss Mary quietly, he slept on his decision. So often, we make quick decisions that we later regret. Many of us are so busy that our minds are filled with many things and we often decide to sleep on it, as we like to say, before we make a final decision.

God has a difficult time getting through to us, especially when our thoughts are so crowded. I have to admit that God often speaks to me in dreams. Not that I see images and hear voices, perhaps some of you do? But the fact that I go to sleep with an issue on my mind, one I have prayed about, and when I wake, it has become clearer in regards to the direction I am to take in resolving it.

There are other times when I might be standing in line at the grocery and again with something that has been weighing on my mind. When I happen to overhear an exchange between two rank strangers standing near by that reveals the very answer, I have been searching for. God speaks to all us if we will but listen.

In addition, he uses other people to deliver his message - sometimes it may be an angel in disguise - other times it can be someone we are close to and know, and then again, it may very well be a rank stranger who surprises us by delivering God’s message whether they realize it or not.

The thing we can best learn from Joseph is once God revealed his plan for him he said, “Yes,” as Mary did. He was a righteous man and he was obedient to God’s word. He fulfilled his role in accordance with God’s plan for him. With the birth of the Christ-child, the Holy Family was complete and in Him, and through Him, God’s plan of salvation was revealed.

As we stand on the threshold of celebrating yet another Christmas and view the familiar Nativity scene, we see St. Joseph sometimes standing in the background with lantern in hand illuminating the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. At other times, he is simply depicted kneeling nearby the holy mother and child in humble adoration.

Through Joseph’s obedience to God’s call to him, he became the protector and provider for the Holy Family. Through the waters of Holy Baptism, we have given our “yes” to God’s call to us in His Son, Jesus Christ to be part of His Holy Family, the Church.

It is no small thing to call our self a Christian. To be a part of God’s family is to live a life of obedience in accordance with God‘s will, a righteous and holy life. One in which we are to fulfill our divinely appointed role, as did Blessed St. Joseph.

Not by calling attention to our self but, to Him, as St. Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans, “who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…” AMEN+

Christ Episcopal News and Father Riley's homily from December 15, 2019

CEC News! 

… Mrs. Jane Barnett will lead us in Morning Prayer December 22.  Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist on Christmas Eve at 5pm. On Christmas Eve, carols will be sung starting about 4:30pm. Invite others to join us for this beautiful service.

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com  .  All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

…Our annual congregational meeting will be held January 19, 2020, following the 10am service.  At the meeting we will be electing our 2020 vestry.  All members in good standing are encouraged to run for a vestry position and serve our congregation.  If you wish to run for a vestry position, please let Faye Corson, Vestry Secretary, know by January 15, 2020, so she may place your name on the ballot.

… Please join us for refreshments in the Parish House following the service.

ADVENT III - A-19                       MATTHEW 11. 2-11

The prophetic age ended with Micah some 400 years before John Baptist burst on the scene. The Jewish people had heard of the prophets of old in the readings in their synagogue and temple worship. They could only begin to imagine what a true prophet of God sounded and looked like.

In last week’s gospel reading John Baptist began his ministry down at the Jordan. He preached a message of repentance and baptized those who accepted it as a means of preparing the people to receive the Messiah, the promised one of God.

John quoted the Old Testament prophet Isaiah as a way of introducing himself and his mission to the people: “A voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Not only did he quote a former prophet but also John himself prophesied, “…one who is more powerful than I is coming after me…he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear the threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John’s preaching and baptizing drew a mixed audience as well as a mixed reaction. There were the curious who came just to see and hear what John was all about. There were the others who came out of genuine interest hoping that what John was saying was true that the long expected messiah was about to descend upon God’s people and rescue them from the hand of their oppressors.

Then there were the Jewish leaders, namely the Pharisees and scribes, who came out to see and hear him in order to reject his message and ignore his warning. They sought to discredit him in the eyes of the people. Instead were chastised by him in front of the people. Because of it John quickly became and enemy of the state and was eventually arrested for his speaking out against the immorality of King Herod.

That is where our gospel for this third Sunday of Advent picks up, John is in prison and word comes to him of the things Jesus is doing and saying concerning God and his kingdom. Could he be the one, John was thinking. The one John had predicted would come after him.

John sends messengers to inquire of Jesus if he is indeed the promised one of God, whom they have patiently waited for. If not, God’s people will continue to wait and endure their present conditions. Jesus says “yes” that he is the one by implying that the ancient prophecy of Isaiah had been fulfilled in him.

“Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

When the messengers had gone away Jesus turns to the crowd and confirms that John is indeed a prophet of God, and more. What John had said and done was in accordance with God’s plan of salvation. Yet, as great as John is, Jesus said, one does not have to be great to inherit the kingdom. The kingdom of God is open to all who receive Christ as the one whom God has sent to redeem the world - from the greatest to the least.

God’s people had been waiting patiently for God to act, to rescue them from the hand of their oppressors and to reunite them as a nation. Generations had come and gone yet God’s promise had not been fulfilled. Again and again, they hear with expectation the ancient prophecies proclaimed in their worship and anticipate God sending a messenger.

Thus, many of God’s people accepted John as a prophet and were eager to hear what the Baptist had to say. They received his message with joy and gladness, while others did not. This mixed bag of joy and gladness, rejection and ridicule of John was but a foreshadowing of the very way in which Jesus himself would soon be viewed.

Sometimes, however, what appears to be too good to be true - really is. Sadly, as human beings, we have become accustomed to doubting good news. Why would God care enough to send his only son to be born of a virgin, to live and die as one of us as a means of reconciling us to God?

Sin and doubt blinds us from opening our hearts and minds to believe such good news. Sin convinces us that we have no need of a savior. We are not in the same place, as we like to say, as God’s people were in the time of Jesus and John Baptist. Thus, we do not see ourselves as needing to be rescued. We convince ourselves that we are fine just the way we are.

John came to make straight a highway for God’s anointed one to walk through the desert of our lives. It is to be called a Holy Way, Isaiah said, for God’s people where the redeemed shall walk and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and obtain joy and gladness, while sorrow and sighing will flee away.

However, as long as we remain convinced that we do not need to be rescued, that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That leaves us walking a path that takes us away from God, a path of our own choosing. However, God’s love for us in Christ Jesus will forever seek to “stir us up” through the workings of the Holy Spirit.

In His love for us, God has sent His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth if we will but learn to cooperate with Him. The Spirit will convict us, then, of our sin and turn our hearts back to God so that we might repent and be reconciled to God, and learn to walk the highway of God’s Holy Way to the glory of His name.

More importantly, the Holy Spirit will continue to open our hearts and our minds to the Good News that is in Christ Jesus, news that is indeed too good to be true. That God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to live and die as one of us, in order to redeem us from sin and death and open to us - from the very least to the greatest -  the way to everlasting life. AMEN+
(Isaiah 35:1-10; Canticle 15; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11)

CEC News and Bishop's visit December 8, 2019

CEC News:

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby and Mrs. Joy Owensby visited with us on Sunday, December 8^th.  We had a beautiful service with music offered by Cecil Evans, Vickie Sanders and Suzie Rush.  Thank you to Jim & Brenda Funderburg for organizing our luncheon and to all who made the Bishop’s visit a family gathering for us.  You may follow the Bishop’s homilies at https://jakeowensby.com/blog/

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist December 15 at 10am as usual and on Christmas Eve at 5pm.  Invite others to join us.

…The indoor and outdoor crèches have been placed and will change through Advent.  

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Great food and fellowship at our luncheon with the Bishop and Joy Owensby:

CEC News and Father Riley's homily for December 1, 2019

CEC News! 

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th, 10am, to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist Sunday December 15 @ 10am and Christmas Eve, at 5pm. Please invite others to join us.

… Morning Prayer will be offered Sundays @ 10am December 22 and 29.

…The crèches are in place for Advent.  Watch each week as the scenes progress.  The outside crèche was planned and given by Mrs. Allein Watson.

… It’s time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

…The Shepherd Center will have its annual Christmas event Saturday, Dec 7, 8am-noon.  Come and see!

Father Riley's homily:

ADVENT I - A - 19                      MATTHEW 24. 36-44

St. Paul begins today’s Epistle by reminding us that “we know what time it is.” It is time for us to wake up, Paul says, for our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. That is a sobering thought.

Of course, Paul is referring to the day of the Lord when Christ will come again in power and great glory to judge the earth and all that is in it.  If we only knew when that day or that hour would come, then, perhaps, we would be more than ready. However, we do not.

Jesus tells his disciples who have already asked when that will be that even he does not know; only God knows. Today we begin a new church year with the season of Advent, a short season of preparation for our annual celebration of the coming of the Christ child, the first Advent.

Our gospel reading on this first Sunday of Advent always speaks of the expected second coming. We do not always think about the fact that we live between the two. Yet here we are. Moreover, we do not always think that this could be our last Advent celebration for none of us knows how many Advent seasons God has granted us.

Nor do we know how much time God has given us to prepare ourselves for the day when Christ will come again, or just as equally important, the day when our life will end. Again, a sobering thought. Who knows what will happen next week, next year?

It is up to each of us as individual Christians, to answer the question: are you ready? Are you awake?  As St. Paul aptly reminds us, salvation is nearer than when we first believed. That is true for all of us.

During this new liturgical year, we will hear from the gospel of Matthew. In our gospel reading for this first Sunday of the new church year, Jesus stresses our being prepared for the unexpected hour of the Son of Man’s return.

The Second Advent will entail a sudden revelation of judgment. In his words to his followers regarding this, Jesus paints a vivid scene.

“Two will be in the field, one taken, one left,” Jesus says. “Two women will be working side by side; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

But who likes to wait and watch when you do not know how long of a wait it will be. Most of us are impatient people. We do not like to wait for anything. We always seem to be in a hurry. We don’t like to wait for a red light to change green. We don’t like to wait in long lines.

I do not like to wait for example, for the plumber to show up when all the operator will tell me is he will be at my house sometime that day. I know he is coming, yet not the exact time. I have to live with the expectation and the hope that he will come soon without knowing when, while putting my life on hold.

The early church lived with that same expectation in terms of Christ’ second coming, but without putting their life on hold. They hoped it would be immediate and that they would soon be caught up in Christ’s glory. However, their waiting was not a period of inactivity, but one in which they sought to make Christ known.

We know that Jesus is coming again. He has told us and we say that we believe. We just do not know when, either the day or the hour. As time passes without his appearing, some 2000 years now, we, the church have, in many ways, become less expectant, less prepared. Christians as a whole have fallen spiritually asleep. We have lost our sense of time.

We rouse ourselves, as Church, long enough to sing Silent Night and fill the crèche, on an annual basis, as we celebrate his first coming. Then we return to business as usual without giving Christ’ second coming a second thought.

We live between the two Advents, taking the time to celebrate the first but with less than a heightened expectation of the second.

Jesus knew this would be the case, not only for his very first disciples to whom he was addressing his remarks in our gospel for today, but to all those who would in successive generations choose to follow him. Thus, he stresses the point that we as his followers must stay awake, like people who know that there will be surprised visitors coming sooner or later but don’t know exactly when.

That is hard to do isn’t it? It is far too easy to get caught up in our day-to-day routines, marking our calendars for future events as though we were assured of their taking place and preparing ourselves for them. Just think of all the preparation we are going through right now getting ourselves ready for Christmas, which is still some weeks away.

We can’t afford as Christians to allow ourselves to be lulled into believing that when Christ comes again all will be gathered to himself. His words in today’s gospel speak otherwise.

No doubt, we all want to be the one “taken” and not the one left behind.

Thus, it is imperative upon each of us as individual followers of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus to make certain we are ready for that day.  Where and what do you want the Lord to find you doing when that hour comes?

Ancient Israel longed for life on the heights of Zion. It ached to walk in the “light of the Lord.” The Christian hope is the same. So as the days continue to darken earlier in this season, we are summoned to the light at the end of the Advent tunnel. The light is Christ.

Advent is a time for making ready. It is a brief season that belongs to the Church to be lived as if each day will be our last. Advent tells us what time it is, it is time to wake up for the “night is far gone,” as St. Paul, says, and the Light of Life is near.

These four weeks, then, are given to us as a reminder that Christ will come again at an unexpected hour. It will be nothing like His first coming as a babe in the manger where only a handful was made aware.

At the Second Advent, Christ will come in power and great glory accompanied by a myriad of angels and with the sound of a trumpet that will take the whole world by surprise. Amen+
(readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44)

CEC News & Father Riley's homily from Christ Episcopal, Bastrop November 24, 2019

CEC News!

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th, 10am, to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.
… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist December 1, 15; 24 !!!
…The crèches will go up the first Sunday in Advent, December 1^st.  If you want to help put the outside crèche together, see or contact Sam (318-766-0998) or corsonsam@gmail.com .  The outside crèche was planned and given by Mrs. Allein Watson.
… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.


(Father Riley's homily from Christ Episcopal, Bastrop, November 24, 2019)

LAST PENTECOST, PROPER XXIX - C - 19   LUKE 23. 33-43

“When they came to the place that is called the skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.”

This is not the scene one would expect to hear of this time of the year. Nor is it the last scene in the gospel that belongs to Easter. Our thoughts and plans are elsewhere these days. Thanksgiving is next Thursday. We just finished Halloween. Don’t know about you, but I still have bowl full of milky ways left?

Black Friday is on the horizon and Christmas Eve is a mere 4 weeks away. However, on the Church’s calendar today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday and with it, we close out the church’s liturgical year and stand on the threshold of Advent.

All three of today’s lessons, as well as the collect, speak of kingship, but not the kind of kingship we normally think of or have seen depicted in the movies. In our first lesson, the prophet Jeremiah predicts that one day God will raise up for David’s righteous branch…a king who will execute justice and save Israel. His name will be called The Lord of Righteousness.

St. Paul writes to encourage the young Christians at Colossae by reminding them that they have been rescued from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins…who has made peace through the blood of his cross.

Which brings us back to the scene St. Luke is presenting to us this morning, the crucifixion of Jesus. There was an inscription over the head of the dying Jesus that read, “This is the King of the Jews,” however it was only written in mockery.

Luke describes the crowd that gathered to watch Christ die as one made up of the religious leaders that scoffed at him, and the soldiers who mocked him. There were others present, Luke reports that merely stood by in silence. Then there were the two thieves that were crucified on either side of him. Even one of those railed against him. But the other thief rebuked him, admitted he deserved what he was getting, but that Jesus did not. He was the only one that day, according to Luke, who confessed that Christ was king when he asked to be remembered by Jesus when he came into his kingdom.

The latter way is the path to paradise. Jesus has stood on its head the meaning of kingship, the meaning of the kingdom itself. He has celebrated with the wrong people, offered peace and hope to the wrong people, and warned the wrong people of God’s coming judgment.

Now he is hailed as king at last, but in mockery. His true royalty shines out in his prayer and promise. Jesus prays for his tormentor’s forgiveness. Jesus promises a place of honor and bliss to the one who requests it. Forgiveness and reconciliation to God brings the life of the kingdom into the present.

Only in Luke do we find the story of the two thieves and their different behavior towards Jesus. Yet throughout the gospel of Luke, the author has reminded us of life’s two ways: the way of fearing God and the way of taking care of self.

The people of Bethlehem, for example, turned their backs on Mary and Joseph, but the shepherds rejoiced and believed. Ten lepers were healed of their terrible disease, but one returned to give thanks to Jesus. Two men went into the temple to pray; one paraded his achievements before God, while the other could only beg for mercy.

All the way through Luke, many ignore God and court disaster, but a few heed God and find mercy and blessing. Even at the cross this human pattern of choice, of alternative paths, continues. But there is another aspect of the scene Luke is holding up for us this morning.

That is, Satan’s continued temptation of Jesus that occurs even on Calvary. “If he is the messiah of God, his chosen one,” the leaders scoffed, “let him save himself.” To which the soldiers added their own mockery, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Satan speaks through their voices.

The “if” resonates, doesn’t it, with the scene from the wilderness where Jesus was tempted by Satan to surrender his humanity in favor of his divinity. Satan did his best in the beginning to derail Christ’ God-given mission to live and die as one of us in order to reconcile us to God. At the beginning and even now at the end of his earthly ministry Satan is still at work in an effort to keep Christ from fulfilling his divine mission.

Instead, Jesus chooses to continue to share in our humanity, to die as one of us on the cross between two thieves who share the same fate. One who rejects him and one who asks to be remembered by Him. Satan did not want Jesus to die on the cross for he knew that God would raise him from the dead.

Easter put an end to Satan’s tempting Jesus, but his temptation of each and every one of us who call ourselves Christian continues. “If you are a child of God, Satan whispers repeatedly, prove it.”

Prove it by the way you live your life in relationship to others. Prove it by forgiving as Christ forgives you. Prove it by loving one another as He loves you. Prove it, Satan whispers by giving to those in need, by putting others before self. The challenge each of us faces on a daily basis, is to put our faith into practice, to prove to the world and to ourselves that we are Christians.

Satan’s “if” is always an attempt to have us doubt ourselves as Christians, doubt whether or not we can live into the new life to which we have been called in Christ, to bring the life of the kingdom into the present. The challenge of life’s two ways is always before us: the way of fearing God and the way of taking care of self.

To choose the way of fearing God over taking care of self is to choose life over death. It is the path to paradise. To choose God’s way and to live our lives accordingly, is to be assured that the request of the penitent thief to be remembered by Jesus has been granted to all who confess him as their Lord and King. AMEN+

Christ Episcopal News and Forward Day by Day for November 24, 2019

CEC Breaking News!

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th, 10am, to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.

 … Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist December 1, 15; 24 !!!

…The crèches will go up the first Sunday in Advent, December 1^st.  If you want to help put the outside crèche together, see or contact Sam (318-766-0998) or corsonsam@gmail.com .  The outside crèche was planned and given by Mrs. Allein Watson.

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Reading & meditation from Forward Day by day

SUNDAY, November 24

Last Sunday after Pentecost

Colossians 1:19-20a For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him was pleased to reconcile himself to all things.

Division and enslavement by sin is the default human condition. It dogs us every day of our lives and at every level of our lives. It mars relationships between people in families, in local communities, among nations, and yes, even in churches. In the collect for today, we acknowledge that the peoples of the earth are “divided and enslaved by sin,” and we implore God to be “freed and brought together under [the] most gracious rule” of “the King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Reconciliation is critical. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, has repeatedly said that reconciliation is not just part of the gospel; reconciliation is the gospel. But, in both our catechism and in Colossians, this restoration to unity happens in a very particular way—in Christ. It is “in him” that the “fullness of God” is found, and “through him” that restoration to unity takes place. It flows from the cross of Christ.

CEC News & Father Riley's homily from November 17, 2019

CEC Breaking News!  The Bishop is coming, the Bishop is coming!

… We will celebrate Morning Prayer led by Mrs. Jane Barnett November 24.

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist December 1^st, 15; 24th

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.


Father Riley's homily:
23 PENTECOST, PROPER XXVIII - C- 19                 LUKE 21. 5-19

If you have been fortunate enough to visit the holy city of Jerusalem, that is the old city, you most likely found yourself standing at the “wailing wall,” the remnants of the Temple Herod the Great built in 20 BCE.

It is a most sacred place to the Jews of the world. Hundreds visit it every day to pray. Thousands of annual visitors, many who are non-Jews likewise come from all over the world to write their prayers and petitions on small bits of paper, roll them up, and insert them in the cracks and crevices of the ancient wall.

I have been fortunate enough to have stood next to the wall and prayed on two separate occasions. Each time I tried to visualize what the temple, in all of its grandeur, must have looked like in the time of Jesus. I can only imagine how a first time pilgrim to the holy city and to the temple mount must have reacted when they saw it gleaming in the mid day sun.

Jesus’ own disciples may or may not have ever made an annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem as the law required and thus may be viewing it for the very first time as they sit opposite the temple treasury and watch the people come and go. If so, their remarks contained in our gospel reading for today in regards to its beauty are understandable. “…how it is adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God,” they marveled.

Then, Jesus shocks them when he says, “As for these things which you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Naturally, they asked when, and how?

This passage from Luke has its parallel in Mark, and Matthew and is often referred to as the “little apocalypse,” a reference to the end time. Thus, even today, when people either read it or hear it, they want to know when and how the end will come. They get caught up in the detail of what Jesus is saying about the natural and human disasters and miss what is really important.

Jesus stresses over our not being deceived by false messiahs and predictions of when and how all of this will eventually take place, in order to keep us from being carried away by all of that. Yet, it is easy to see why many today want to point to current wars and rumors of war, famines, diseases, earthquakes, fires, and floods, etc. as “signs” that the end is near.

However, Jesus says before the signs of nature and man’s inhumanity to man that will accompany the end occur, we who call ourselves Christians will be persecuted for our faith. That is the “sign” that we need to pay attention to. And yes, it is happening throughout the world today. However, not yet, on the scale Christ is referring to in today’s passage.

We don’t like to think about it happening here, but Jesus says it will, but when it does, we are not to despair rather we are to see it as an opportunity to witness to our faith. We are not to worry for the words of our defense will be given to us when the time comes. Christ promises that by our perseverance we will be saved.

The story of the first generation of Christianity - the time between the resurrection of Jesus and the fall of the temple - bears out these prophecies, which Jesus presents to his disciples as they sat opposite the temple treasury and admired the temple’s beauty.

The destruction of the temple was complete in the year A.D. 70 by the Romans. All that remains today is that portion of the western wall that continues to draw thousands each year to pray.

How easy it is for some Christians to be caught up in the beauty of a building. I have to admit that I have been the rector of more than one church, and listened to more than one vestry focus their energy and efforts on maintaining the building rather than expanding the mission of the church.

In addition, I have heard countless Christians who never tire of remarking of the beauty of the stain glass windows and other appointments of the church to which they are members of, to the point of distraction.

The great cathedrals of the world, which in most cases took hundreds of years to build, were done so to reflect the glory of God and to inspire genuine worship. If you have ever visited one of these, you see how easily one can be awed by their beauty. Sadly, many of them are virtually empty on any given Sunday today as are many of our own churches in this country.

The beauty of any sacred space, at least for me, has always been in my reflecting on how many prayers have been said in that place. How many tears have been shed in grief and sorrow, as well as joy? How many Eucharists have been celebrated to the Glory of God in Thanksgiving for the means of grace and the hope of glory?

Some of my most memorable moments as a priest have been when I had the opportunity and the privilege to celebrate the Holy Mysteries in the ruins of ancient churches in Ireland, Scotland, and England.
The beauty of those spaces was reflected in the stones that were scattered about and in my realizing that early Christians worshipped there. Although no structure remained, I was still awed and humbled knowing that I was standing on holy ground once dedicated to the glory of God.

Buildings and even remnants of once magnificent structures, no matter how holy they may be or once were, remain only as silent witnesses.

The witness our Lord is referring to in today’s gospel, however, is anything but a silent one rather one made manifest by the promise that Christ himself will give us the words when that day comes. That “day” will precede the “signs” so many wish to be able to recognize as bringing on the end time.

Between now and then, our witness to the world is in our daily living based on the promises of God in Christ. In our prayers, our worship, in our reaching out to meet the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves, and especially in our not growing weary in doing what is right, as St. Paul exhorts the Christians at Thessalonica.

These are precious promises, to be learned ahead of time and clung to in a moment of need, so that by our learning to hold fast to them we may be able to persevere in our faith, and at the last day be found worthy to stand before Him who is our light and life, the very hope of our calling. AMEN+
(readings: Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19)

CEC News and Father Riley's homily from November 10, 2019

CEC News

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist November 17 and we will celebrate Morning Prayer led by Mrs. Jane Barnett November 24.

…Vestry meeting after fellowship November 17.

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th to celebrate with us.  A pot-luck luncheon is planned for all to attend.  More news later.



Father Riley’s homily:
22 PENTECOST, PROPER XXVII - C - 19                 LUKE 20. 27-38

The twentieth chapter of Luke contains several attempts on the part of the chief priests and scribes to trap Jesus into saying something they can use against him. First, they questioned his authority to do and say the things he did. Failing in that, they turned their efforts to the issue of paying taxes. Again, Jesus thwarted their attempt to trap him.

In today’s passage, the priests and scribes step back and let the Sadducees take a shot at him through a theological debate over the question of resurrection. Who were the Sadducees?

They were the Jewish elite, the sacerdotal aristocracy from whom the High Priest was chosen. They were educated in Greek and Hebrew. Theologically their special tenant was the denial of the resurrection; neither did they believe in angels.

However, the mass of Jews in Jesus’ day believed in immortality and it was an integral element in their religion. Against the gloom of the present, they had learned to set their hopes on a future age where God would one day set things right by vindicating his elect.

The Sadducees, however, were content with what the present life had to give. They saw no need to budge from the conservative adherence to the older Jewish view that God’s judgments were accomplished in this world alone. Jesus and his kingdom ideas and about the true nature of God was a threat to the status quo. Naturally they had to challenge him in hopes of both discrediting him and his views in the eyes of the people.

The debate on the resurrection in today’s passage, and its equalivants in Matthew and Mark, is the only discussion of this vital topic anywhere in the gospels. In this passage, Christ confirms that there will be a resurrection but not the sort the Sadducees are imagining. In that, Jesus is taking sides with the Pharisees, their theological opponents, who also believed in angels.

The Sadducees consider the resurrection to be a continuation of earthly life including marriage, and thus mock such doctrine with an absurd scenario. Jesus’ response to their test reflected their lack of knowledge of the scriptures, which revealed a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection, making such an earthly question irrelevant.

In doing so, Jesus makes two points. First, resurrection life will not be exactly the same as the present one. Death will have been abolished. Continuation of a particular family line, therefore, will be irrelevant. Those who are raised will be “equal to angels,” not becoming angels as is sometimes suggested, and to the disappointment of some, but in the sense they will live in a deathless, immortal state.

Jesus is not here suggesting that the resurrection will not be bodily; merely that the bodies of the raised will be, in significant ways, quite unlike our present ones. Second, Jesus proposes that the book of Exodus, one of those that the Sadducees acknowledge as authoritative, does indeed teach the resurrection when it describes God as the God of the living and not of the dead.

The resurrection of Jesus, of course, gave a huge boost to his follower’s belief of both about Jesus himself and about their own future life. Easter proved the Sadducees wrong.

As often is the case, even in our own times, an apparently academic issue is used as a façade for a political agenda. Today we have divisions among us of liberals and conservatives, in not only the realm of politics, but also religion, and our attempt to nail our opponents is frequently every bit as transparent as that used by the Sadducees in their attempt to embarrass Jesus.

The Sadducees had no real interest in what Jesus would say about the state of their hypothetical woman in life after death: they expected to expose what they took to be the absurdity of belief in resurrection. Jesus, however, had another agenda for them, and the church in selecting this text for our reflection directs out attention to a major article of faith.

As followers of Christ, we profess belief in the resurrection. The faith that we profess draws its confidence from the fact that God has raised Jesus from the dead. If Christ were not raised from the dead, as St. Paul says in another place, our faith is in vain. However, God did raise Jesus, and Christ has promised that we too shall share eternal life, a life described for us also as resurrection.

Sadly, there are Sadducees within the Body of Christ, even today, some of whom I have personally encountered over the years. One in particular always comes to mind. She was a long time member of the church serving on the altar guild and as a lay reader.

One Easter Sunday as I stood at the back of the church offering Easter greetings to those who were exiting the church, she took my hand, looked me in the eye, and said you don’t really believe that do you? Referring to my homily on the Resurrection of Jesus.

At first I was without comment, then, I could see that she was serious. Of course I do, I said, don’t you? No, she said emphatically. I never have. Then how can you stand and repeat the words of the Creed, I asked. I just skip over that part and never cross myself at the end. There is no consolation in that I responded and with that said, the exchange ended.

St. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians speaks of the eternal consolation that the Father has given us out of mercy, and Jesus in his response to the Sadducees in today’s gospel has named that consolation. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. All are alive in God.

Job knew that and believed that centuries before Christ, or the Sadducees for that matter, and was able to endure his present sufferings with the hope that one day he would be vindicated before God as he boldly proclaims in today’s first lesson from one of the oldest books in the Bible I might add.

 “I know that my redeemer liveth, and at the last day he shall stand upon the earth, and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.”

Job’s words continue to bring consolation and hope to those who suffer from grief and sorrow at the loss of a loved one as they are traditionally used at the beginning of the burial office of the Church and set the tone for that which follows - an Easter liturgy.

So, having been fed by God’s Word, we will in a moment stand and profess our faith in the words of the ancient Creed that culminates in our belief in the resurrection and the life of the world to come. Those who choose to cross themselves at the end of that profession do so as an outward sign of  affirmation.

Likewise, our celebration of the Holy Eucharist which follows our profession of faith witnesses to Christ’s promise in a most tangible and holy way, as we partake of the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood and fed on Him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving, an outward an visible sign of the pledge and hope of our calling. AMEN+

(Readings:  Job 19:23-27a; Psalm 17:1-9; 2Thessalonians 2:1-5,13-17; Luke 20:27-38)

Stewardship letters & pledge forms for 2020

Christ Episcopal Church Annual Stewardship Drive Underway



… We have mailed our annual stewardship letter and pledge forms.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please read the following letter and follow the instructions on the pledge form.  All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

2020 Stewardship Letter:

October 31, 2019

Dear Congregational Family of Christ Episcopal Church,

With this letter we begin our annual giving request.  Our operational budget is expected to be near $62,000 for 2020.  A revised budget will be developed based on pledges received.

With the giving of your time, talents, and financial assistance, Christ Episcopal presently offers:

·         Holy Eucharist or Morning Prayer every Sunday.  With the leadership of The Rev. Canon Gregg Riley usually offering Holy Eucharist 3 to 4 Sundays a month and Mrs. Jane Barnett leading us in Morning Prayer on other Sundays.  Cecil Evans, Vickie Sanders, and Suzie Rush lead us in music for our worship services.

·         Financial and volunteer support to The Shepherd Center.  Jane also offers Morning Prayer each Wednesday at The Shepherd Center. 

·         Financial support to Nashotah House Theological Seminary, The School of Theology in the University of the South at Sewanee, and Camp Hardtner.

·         The requested annual ‘giving’ to the Diocese. 

·         In 2019 your capital campaign donations allowed us to complete the handicap access ramp and major repairs and painting to the exterior of the church and parish house.

·         A meeting home for AA, community events and elementary age school tutoring.

We will conclude the 2020 Stewardship Drive with pledges returned in time for a thanksgiving and blessing service on Sunday, December 8^th lead by Bishop Jake Owensby.   The celebration will include a potluck luncheon following the 10am service. 

Your time is as critical as your financial support.  We appreciate the service you provide whether it’s offering refreshments for fellowship time, volunteering to read during the service, serving on the vestry, leading us in our prayerful music, joining the Flower/Altar Guild, serving as lay person with Father Gregg; or, any other support you wish to join us in. 

 Yours in Christ,

                Sam Corson                                                                        Brenda Funderburg

                Sr.  Warden                                                                        Treasurer

2020 Pledge Form:

”Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)  Your pledge is greatly appreciated and enables us to provide for our church and community.  Thank you!

2020 Pledge for Christ Episcopal Church, Saint Joseph

NAME(s):_________________________________________

PLEDGE AMOUNT $:_________________ (weekly, monthly, yearly)

Please return your pledge by November 24, 2019.  You may return your pledge by placing this form in the collection plate, mailing it to our Treasurer, Mrs. Brenda Funderburg, 477 Miller Road, Waterproof, LA 71375, or email your pledge to Brenda at bfun@me.com