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ALL ANGELS BY THE SEA
WEEKLY TIDINGS
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Sunday, June 8th is the Day of Pentecost.
Please add to this festive worship by looking like
the "Flames of the Spirit."
We'd love everyone to wear Red, Orange or Yellow.
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The flowers for Sunday, June 8th are given by David Stasney
to the glory of God.
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We Pray for our People
Bring the healing of your touch to all those who suffer in body or spirit, especially Downs IV, Holden, Barbara, Maria Christine, Caitlin, Dennis, Angie, Amy Jo, Carling, Michael, Ian, Joan, Diana, Anne, Alyssa, Joe, Denise and Zachary, Chris, Alice and Michael. We pray for those who recover from surgery, especially Nancy and John.
We pray for those going through cancer treatments and those in remission, especially, Margaret, Downs III, Victoria, Alex, Connie, Douglas, Frank, Gerta, Lauren, TJ, Cara, Valerie, Joan, Nancy, Julie, George, Denise, Mark, and John. We pray for those who receive the care of skilled nursing, especially Timothy and Barbara.
We pray for those in Hospice, especially Jeanne and Regina.
For the repose of the soul of Kim Bradshaw.
May light perpetual shine on her.
| A BRIDGE BETWEEN ALEX AND DAVE | |
Podcast: A Bridge Between
Episode 129: Led By the Spirit
Also available on Spotify:
Spotify: A Bridge Between
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Gallery Artist
The Gallery Artist for May is Zerbe Sodervick. Please stop by and enjoy the work of this talented local artist. Checks should be written to All Angels by the Sea.
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Choir News
Choir Rehearsal/Warm-up Sunday Mornings at 9 am through June 15th, Trinity Sunday. Then on the first Sunday of July, August and September.
Regular Rehearsals will begin in October.
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Discussion Groups
Men's Discussion Group on Tuesdays
Women's Discussion Group on Wednesdays
10:00am
For June, July and August, (because of vacation scheduling) we will have one combined discussion group on Tuesdays.
We are meeting twice in June: this coming Tuesday, June 10th and then the following Tuesday, June 17th.
I'll send the schedule for July and August later.
For Tuesday's discussion, I attached an article about the saving power of communion. It is a part of a series of articles discussing communion and highlights what the Church as a whole is discussing right now (open/closed, memorial or real-presence, to be received daily, weekly or once a month/quarter/year).
I'd like to know what you think about Tara's story about being saved by communion.
For those in person, I'll have the coffee ready. For those on Zoom, here's the link: https://zoom.us/j/5955701807
To read the article, click the link below:
Saved at Open Communion
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Coffee Hour Hosts Needed
One of the most important things we do is gather after the service for coffee hour. If you are interested in hosting, the sign up sheet is on the Gallery table. If you would like help, sign up and we will find someone to show you how it is done.
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Online Giving
If you would like to give to the offering plate electronically, you can find the online giving link on our All Angels website by clicking the link below:
AllAngelsLBK.org
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Centering Prayer
Centering Prayer invites you to pray with them, every day, at 8 am, wherever you are. When you enter into prayer at 8 am (Eastern), you will know that others are praying at the same time.
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The Limiting
A fellow clergy person recently asked me this: Do you believe God is in charge of everything? I asked what he meant by in charge and everything. He said to use the broadest sense of both words – do you believe God is in charge of everything? I replied, “Yes and no.”
Is God in charge? Yes. Of everything? Yes.
Does God exercise God’s power over everything all the time on this side of heaven?
No, not as far as I can tell.
Let’s start with wisdom. I believe that God and Jesus are one. When he was just twelve years old, Jesus was in the Temple teaching the religious leaders and scholars. Later in life, there are stories of how Jesus could perceive what was in the hearts and minds of people. Jesus expressed God's wisdom. Yet, he did not know when the End of Times will be. He said it is not for him to know. Jesus could have known but instead chose to be limited in wisdom. That means to me that God’s plan was to limit wisdom on this side of heaven.
How about love? God is love. God is the source of all love. When we know love we know God. To know God is to know love. Yet, love is limited by choice. God does not force us to love God, or creation, or one another. In fact, forced love is not love at all. Love, in this sense, is limited by God.
How about sin and evil? We are told to confess our sins to God. Why, if God is all-knowing, should we do that? A theology that I have been kicking around in my head is that God – and by extension Jesus – cannot see sin or evil. It is not from them so they cannot perceive it. When I confess, I am filling Jesus in on the times when he did not perceive my thoughts because they were not of him or of love.
Jesus was arrested and sent before King Herod Agrippa. At one point the king started yelling at Jesus to answer him; yet Jesus stood “silent like a lamb before its shearers.” I’d like to think that Jesus couldn’t hear what was being said because it was full of lies and blasphemy. In other words, Jesus was limited in what he could hear and see.
One last point: Jesus told stories that ended with the person in charge – which we understand as God – saying, “I don’t know you.” God didn’t know the person because God couldn’t see what the person was doing because it was not of God’s kingdom. If the person in the story made a confession, then God would know that person. These stories highlight a limiting of God’s perception. God cannot see what God chooses not to see.
What about heaven? Jesus talks about a place where all things happen according to God’s will. Angels serve God there. Humans are there too. It’s a place of absolute joy and peace. It’s a place where “Thy will be done”. Jesus taught us to pray that earth becomes like that place, “as it is in heaven.” Earth can become that place but not because God has forced it into being. On earth as it is in heaven can happen because God has chosen to limit God’s power on earth so that we have the freedom to love, to serve, to confess, and to freely receive God’s grace.
- Fr. Dave
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