News
Come Worship With Us!
Join us for Worship at our Franciscan Chapel, 1004 N. College Avenue in Columbia, Missouri.
Saturday mass is at 5pm, followed by fellowship (about 90 minutes.) Tuesday and Thursday mass at Noon (about thirty minutes)
All baptized Christians are welcome to receive Holy Communion
May 24-31, 2020
Blessings as we yearn and pray for a fuller coming of the Holy Spirit!!!
I would like to give 2 reflections before I get to the scriptures for Pentecost. The first is from the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius IV in 1988 to the World Council of Churches. "Without the Holy Spirit, God is far away; Christ stays in the past; the Gospel is a dead letter; the Church is simply an organization; authority, a matter of domination; mission, a matter of propaganda; the Liturgy, no more than an evocation; Christian living, a slave morality. But in the Holy Spirit, the cosmos is resurrected and groans with the birth-pangs of the Kingdom; the risen Christ is there; the Gospel is the source of life; the Church shows forth the life of the Trinity; authority is a liberating service; mission is a Pentecost; the Liturgy is both memorial and anticipation; human action is deified."
The second is from spiritual writer, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser about this "yearning" season we are in. "Pentecost is part of a cycle of life that has five moments: Good Friday, Easter, the Forty Days, Ascension, and Pentecost. We understand Pentecost only when it's seen as the culmination of the other four moments. It works like this; On Good Friday, life is lost; on Easter, new life is received; during the Forty Days, the disciples adjust to a new presence of Jesus; at the Ascension, the disciples let go of the Jesus they once had; and at Pentecost, they receive a new Spirit for the life they're now living. And that's the cycle too within our own lives. We need, constantly, to accept our own deaths, receive the new life that's then given us, grieve our losses, let go of the old, and then receive the Spirit for the actual life we are living. Pentecost is an ongoing, lifelong mystery."
Just some thoughts to challenge our in-between-time as we seem to be in a major IN-BETWEEN-TIME, a paradigm shift ...much like 9-11-2001. May God send upon us the HOLY SPIRIT for this era we are in, so that we the Church will shine forth the presence of the Resurrected, Ascended Jesus Christ to this struggling, needy world.
Our scriptures have many possibilities and I am not sure which I myself will preach from. Our CEC calendar gives Isaiah 49: 8-16a, Psalm 62, 1 Corinthians 4: 1-5 and Matthew 6: 24-34. GIVE US THIS DAY gives us Acts 2: 1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12: 3-7, 12-13, and John 20: 19-23 (Roman Catholic lectionary). Our CEC Lectionary, which I use most often gives us Acts 2: 1-7; 12-21, Psalm 104, 1 Corinthians 12: 3-13 and John 7: 37-39.
Reminder: We are beginning to allow (not require) you to come to our Eucharistic celebrations. We will now have noon liturgies on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning this week (May 26, 28, this week). Numbers should not be a problem during weekdays. Do bring a mask and we will DO PHYSICAL DISTANCING. If you intend to come to Saturday weekend Eucharist at 5 pm, LET ME KNOW so that we will have a cup for your own (and your social group) for receiving the Eucharistic precious blood.
We will continue for the near future to use ZOOM and Face Time to record our Eucharistic gatherings. We are deliberately not singing (except in our hearts) because of the respiratory nature of the spread of COVID 19.
I think that is all for now. Today as I write this it is MEMORIAL DAY. We remember and we celebrate those who have gone before us, especially those of offered their lives in defense of our country and our world.
With love, for sake of the Kingdom of our Messiah,
- Fr. John, OFP
NEW CEC NEWSLETTER! The CEC is now offering an electronic newsletter which features news and information from CEC churches world-wide. Sursum Corda (Latin for "Lift Up Your Hearts") is available by e-mail FREE from the denomination web site. To subscribe, go to www.iccec.org/sursum-corda.
CHECK OUT THIS NEWS FEATURE ABOUT US:
http://columbiafavs.com/2014/02/15/christian-traditions-converge-charismatic-episcopal-church/
