Volume 67, September 2024

OUTLIVE YOUR LIFE 

 Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days. . . Psalm 39.4

Last Wednesday at my weekly fellowship group, the member presenting the devotional read an excerpt from Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado. He read to us from a chapter about the significance and beauty of hospitality as a hallmark of Christian faith and practice from the beginning of the Church (They ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts--- Acts 2:46). But the presenter said he chose the book to share with us for its title as well: ‘outlive your life’.

The title appealed to him because he said, in later middle age, the death of his father made him begin to reflect more deeply about what he was doing with his life and what meaning there is in the passing of time. He was struck by time passing swiftly and not being able to fully account for the days and the years as they speed past. So, he began to keep a journal, pulling a tiny notebook lodged in his shirt pocket from time to time during the day and recording what he was doing; what thoughts particularly struck him, the people he was with. Looking back at his first journal, a year later, he realized that a lot of it all really did add up to something, and the journal helped him to recollect more meaningfully. It gave him courage to face the future with more of a sense of purpose.

There are many ways to mark or ‘redeem’ the time. Our Church’s liturgical calendar is the most remarkable teaching device ever made and the most wonderful aid in giving us help in ordering our days. Following the liturgical calendar, and the Lectionary, I find from time to time the need to pause and reflect on what all this adds up to mean as essential to my faith--- boiling it down, for lack of a better phrase—to what there is in it that I could not live without. I guess I kind of make a personal testimony and deliver it to myself.

I recently came across such a wonderful personal testimony of faith—by a Roman Catholic lay theologian, Tina Beattie. She writes about her cherished Roman Catholic Church, but it could just as well be you or me writing about the Episcopal Church. (She writes out of an acute sense of frustration that her Church is not planning to discuss further the question of the ministry of women at the upcoming climactic meeting of the Synod next month. That’s the acute irritant that produces the pearl of her confession of love for her Church).

Tina Beatie writes:

I was received into the Catholic Church nearly 40 years ago, and I refuse to let the politics and institutions of the hierarchy drive me away from all that most gives meaning to my life: the goodness of the Catholic doctrine of creation and sacramental grace; the story of the human quest for Justice and peace that shines through the Scriptures and illuminates the lives of the saints; the quiet dedication of those who through the ages have served the poorest and most marginalized of God’s people, inspired and sustained by their Catholic faith; the inspiration that this tradition continues to offer to some of humankind’s greatest expressions of art, music, literature, and architecture.

More specifically, as someone called to a teaching ministry in the Church, she says: 

My theological studies have led me to love the Catholic intellectual tradition for its marrying together of revelation and reason, grace and nature, mystical contemplation, and practical action. The anachronistic workings of the modern institutional Church pale into insignificance before the magnificent hymn of the cosmos that the Catholic faith funnels the human story.

Her beautiful testimony led me to think afresh how I might write mine.

-Douglas Dupree

St. Michael and All Angels: September 29

Angels and ministers, spirits of grace

Angels and ministers, spirits of grace,

friends of the children, beholding God's face,

moving like thought to us through the beyond,

molded in beauty, and free from our bond! . . .

Earth's myriad creatures live after their kind,

dumb, in the life of the body confined;

you are pure spirit, but we here below

linked in both orders, are tossed to and fro:

You do God's bidding unshaken and strong,

we are distraught 'twixt the right and the wrong;

yet would we soar as the bird from the mesh,

freed from the weakness and wonder of flesh.

We too shall join you as comrades in grace,

here but a little below you in place;

then, when we climb from our lowness in worth,

we too shall herald good will upon earth.

Percy Dearmer (1933)

A Feast and an Anniversary:

St. Michael and All Angels and Althea Gibson

By Angela Bruton

This year, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels occurs on a Sunday and The Rt. Rev. Scott Benhase, Assisting Bishop of the Diocese of Florida, will celebrate with St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, Florida (10:00 a.m.). Also occurring on the weekend of Michaelmas is the 21st anniversary of the death of tennis great Althea Gibson, who passed away on September 28, 2003.

As we reflect on a wonderful season of tennis play that saw the crowning of the 2024 US Open winners - women’s singles champion Aryna Sabalenka and men’s singles champion Jannik Sinner - we remember Althea, who was honored at the US Open on August 25th, which would have been her 97th birthday. She was a grand slam tennis champion of the late 1950’s, the first African American to win Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the French Open and the U.S. Open, and...a former St. Michaelite!

Ms. Gibson, enrolled at Florida A & M College (now University) in 1947 on a full scholarship as the reigning ATA (American Tennis Association) champion. She was recruited by legendary football coach, Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither. She lived a full life as a student at Florida A & M University, joining the band and singing in the choir, in addition to her athletic pursuits in tennis and golf. She joined Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and was a communicant at St. Michael and All Angels, having been presented for confirmation by The Rev. David Henry Brooks, then chaplain at Florida A & M. The Bishop was the Rt. Rev. Hamilton West, D.D.

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On Writing by Philip Beyer

Philip Beyer is a member of St John’s Episcopal Church, Tallahassee and an accomplished writer. He is the author of the daily devotions for June 2024 in the widely circulated and much-loved Forward Day by Day devotional book available quarterly. He has also written A Soul Walkin’ Home: Stories of Those Living on the Fringes. . . and What They Can Teach Us. Below, in his own words, he shares his gratitude for the gift of writing

Writing reflections emerged from my following Jeanie’s developing ministry into the world (she is a Deacon and former Archdeacon in the Diocese of Florida). Jeanie repeatedly called to me, “Come and see.”  See with me God’s people in Haiti, at Micah Ministry in the red-light district of Kansas City that grew from nurturing twelve prostitutes to weekly feeding four hundred working poor and underserved, and at Grace Mission, a storefront Episcopal mission in Tallahassee for the underserved, where she served for seven years. And later, at the invitation of another Deacon, Joe Bakker of St. John’s, Tallahassee, to come and see prison inmates with him.

My reflections depict Matthew 25:44 people who profoundly touched my soul. They risked being vulnerable and shared their innermost being. Their honesty made me let down the protective drawbridge of my ivory tower and welcome them into my life as they had welcomed me into theirs.

My utmost joy in writing reflections is feeling God’s life-giving, creative energy. I have come to believe the reflections are of the Holy Spirit, not of me. Each reflection starts predawn, sitting in my prayer chair, with my hands wrapped around a steamy cup of coffee, listening. And the words just flow if I get out of the way.

Reflection: A Man with Unclean Lips from Isaiah

by Philip Beyer

Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand…with it he touched my mouth with it and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:5-7.

Conditions in Haiti were oppressive. Extreme poverty. Filth. Undrinkable water. Crowds pressing in on me with outstretched hands. Protestors burning tires in the streets. Over hundreds of miles, our medical mission team never drove out of the “bad side of town.”

Our first medical clinic day set the routine for the week. We loaded up pickup trucks and drove to remote villages. There, villagers would see the doctors, receive medications, and then come to me and other team members for anointing and prayers.

Soon, a mother with an emaciated two-year-old on a hip and newborn at her breast stood in the prayer circle. Perspiration soaked through her dress after walking miles in the intense heat. Her eyes cast to the ground, she whispered, “Pray that my babies will live another season. We have no food, and my breasts are dry.”

My chin trembled. I choked back tears. Standing in the sacred prayer circle, I was Isaiah, “a man with unclean lips.” A man more concerned with preserving my abundance than sharing it. I turned so that others would not see my tears. Pere Cole, the local priest, took me aside. “There is no immunity for a broken heart. God does not condemn you.”

Pere Cole was my seraphim, searing my lips with a hot coal. I sighed, realizing the extent I had disregarded the suffering of others. After hours of heart-to-hearts with Pere Cole, my guilt slowly diminished.

Hundreds more came for prayer over the course of the week. They, too, were my seraphim searing my lips and my heart.

For Reflection

Have you ever experienced a life-changing event? Or, had a seraphim, (e.g., friend, mentor, minister) who touched your life? What experiences have brought you closer to God?

Haiti by Philip Beyer

Matthew 25:44 “…Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and not help you?”

Jeanie dropped a bomb as the family sat around the dinner table, “How about this Christmas we go to Haiti on a medical mission?” Christopher, age 14 and Erin, 12, let their forks fall to their plates. I choked on my burger, “We talked about a Caribbean trip, but Haiti?”

Two months later we arrived in Port Au Prince, fully vaccinated, our multiple suitcases jammed with give-away tee shirts and donated medication. That was the first of our many missions to Haiti.

Never has there been a Christmas so blessed. Instead of building sandcastles on a beach, we were building relationships in remote Haitian villages. Erin held infants, singing to them while dropping vitamin A in their eyes and multivitamins on their tongues. Chris became the impromptu pharmacist, providing prescribed medicines to patients who had just visited the physicians. Alongside Haitian priests and seminarians, Jeanie and I were on prayer teams anointing hundreds with oil over the course of the mission.

Our trip was made possible by the Haitian Education Learning Project (HELP), a consortium of Kansas City area Episcopal churches. What began as the priority of the bishop of Haiti to build schools bourgeoned into medical missions and building churches. Years later, the Global Birthing Foundation formed Masion de Naissance (A Home for Birth).

In most regions of Haiti, pre-and post-natal care was nonexistent, resulting in extreme infant mortality. Jeanie and I traveled to Maison with the two pediatrician founders and have supported it through the years. What strikes me about Maison are the workers who travel miles on foot to provide care and education for expectant mothers. I compare their visits to Deacons and lay eucharistic ministers (minus the long walks) visiting parishioners who are unable to attend church.

The contact information for the Episcopal Birthing Center in Haiti is as follows:

Jim Grant

Global Birthing Home Foundation

5000 W. 134th Street

Leawood KS. 66209

www.globalbirthinghomefoundation.org

Haitian Madonna

Father in Heaven, by your grace, the Virgin Mother of your incarnate Son was blessed in bearing Him, but still more blessed in keeping your word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Archdeacon's Corner

The Book of Malachi

The Book of Malachi is the 39th and last book of the Old Testament (OT). It is lumped together with other OT prophetic books referred to as the twelve “Minor Prophets.” As the last of the OT books, Malachi segues into the New Testament, with the promise of sending a messenger: “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, (Malachi 3:1). The Gospel of Mark starts with “…I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.” (Mark 1:2), who is John the Baptist.

Also, as the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi speaks of a future “Great day of the Lord”, the same way the Revelation of John speaks of an end time and a “Day of Judgement.” Perhaps this is why many call Malachi the prophet of doom, because his oracle foretells the terrifying calamity that will befall Judah if they continue in unrepentance, which is exactly what will happen. 



The Hebrew name malaki means “my messenger.” In Malachi (3:1), “See, I am sending my messenger,” (or Malaki). Most historians believe the author of this book took “Malachi” as a pen name. So, in a double sense, “Malachi” is the messenger bringing us this book, and his message is that God will send another messenger in the future. It was written sometime in the first half of the 5th century BC, around the same time as Neamiah.

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Yoga and Christian Prayer Retreat

The Bishop's Institute for Ministry and Leadership invites you to attend a Yoga and Christian Contemplative Prayer Retreat at Camp Weed and Cerveny Conference Center for the weekend of Sept. 27-29 2024. The retreat will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, and conclude after lunch on Sunday, Sept. 29. 

Megan Cochran will lead the yoga sessions and the retreat chaplain leading prayer will be The Very Rev. Kate Moorehead Carroll.

No yoga experience is needed. This retreat works for those trying yoga for the first time and for those who regularly practice yoga. Chair yoga is an option. All ages are welcome. The retreat is inter-generational and singles as well as couples are welcome.

For more information and to register, please click here.

Bishop's Institute Spring 2024 Pilgrimage

March 11-25, 2025

A Tour led by the Rev. Canon Douglas Dupree with the Archdeacon, Mark Richardson and the Rev. Deacon Annette Sines

Join the Bishop's Institute for an extensive journey from March 11- 21, starting with a flight to Greece and then traveling to various historical and archaeological sites. On arrival in Athens, the group will visit Corinth to see ancient ruins and the Corinth Canal. The following days include a tour of Athens' significant monuments like the Acropolis, Parthenon, and the Acropolis Museum. The journey continues to Vergina, Thessaloniki, and Philippi, following the footsteps of St. Paul, visiting ancient tombs, and significant early Christian sites.

The tour then proceeds to Rome, exploring key locations associated with early Christianity, including the Abbey of the Three Fountains, St. Paul's Basilica, the Catacombs of Santa Domitilla, the Colosseum, and the Vatican Museum. The trip concludes with visits to significant basilicas and the Vatican, reflecting on the early Christian history in Rome, before flying back home.

Don't miss this unique opportunity to connect with history and faith in some of the world's most storied locations. Book your spot today and be part of this enlightening and inspiring journey!

St. John's Cathedral Bookstore & Gift Shop

Sharing LOVE at the CORE Every Day

St. John's Cathedral Bookstore & Gift Shop, with the best reads and the best gifts in downtown Jacksonville, recently announced the launch of its new online store. The online shop expands the reach of the bookstore, making its vast collection of inspirational books and gifts available to customers throughout the Diocese of Florida and nationwide.

The new online store, accessible at jaxcathedralbooks.org, features books, Episcopal church supplies, and many of the gifts found in our brick-and-mortar location. Customers can browse and purchase a variety of Bibles, inspirational and theological texts, children's books, gifts for the home, jewelry, greeting cards, and much more - all from the convenience of their own homes or offices. Local imprinting services can be ordered online as an add-on to Bible and prayer book orders.

St. John’s Cathedral Bookstore & Gift Shop began in 2012 in a small office at the Cathedral with a part-time manager (Kathryn Bissette) and a small group of volunteers. In 2018 the bookstore moved across the street to a beautiful, historic home and transformed into a full-fledged brick-and-mortar operation.

Kathryn Bissette now serves as full-time manager. The store recently added a part-time operations assistant, Patricia Moore. Patricia also serves as part-time bookkeeper at the Cathedral.

Our mission is to extend the Cathedral’s message of LOVE at the CORE by:

• Connecting people with resources that enrich and inspire them on their faith journeys and provide for their spiritual and intellectual needs.
• Offering carefully selected gifts from social enterprises and fair-trade organizations that support lifting people out of poverty.
• Being a catalyst for creating an engaged and spiritual community through educational programs, speakers, discussion groups, fellowship and outreach programs.
• Generating funds and support for Cathedral outreach ministries

“The bookstore was created because we had a vision of an alternative economy, where the purchase of books, art and beautiful jewelry would generate profits that could be returned to the community, to the artists both local and across the developing world who are struggling to survive,” says Dean Kate Moorehead Carroll. “To shop with us and buy anything that you could have bought at Walmart or Target is to begin to use your purchasing power to change the world.”

"For over six years, the mission of St. John’s Cathedral Bookstore & Gift Shop has been to extend the Cathedral’s message of LOVE at the CORE with books that inspire and gifts that give back,” says Kathryn Bissette, Bookstore Manager. "With the launch of our new online store, we're excited to expand our reach and share our ministry with a wider audience."

The online store offers secure, easy-to-use checkout, with options for standard and expedited shipping. Local customers can also take advantage of in-store pickup.

In addition, the new website includes info on upcoming bookstore events and educational programs, including our First Monday Book Club, ART@noon Salon, and author events. The First Monday Book Club meets monthly and engages in lively discussions of member-selected books. The ART@noon Salon program presents an opportunity to members to engage in lifelong learning in all areas of the arts by participating in regular Zoom programming, art walks, author and artist interviews, and attending music, drama and dance productions at the Cathedral and in the Jacksonville community. This programming is a vital part of the life of St. John’s Cathedral. It encourages evangelism, engagement, connection and fellowship.

The bookstore recently introduced a special book purchasing program for book clubs and study groups. Members receive a special one-time 10% discount code to use online or in-store. The best part is that the discount can be used for other books and gifts purchased in this order.

Churches receive a 10% discount on all online or in-store orders.

To celebrate the launch, the bookstore is offering a free LOVE at the CORE phone wallet or bumper sticker with each online purchase for a limited time.

For more information or to start shopping, please visit www.jaxcathedralbooks.org.