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)