The Mass during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This is an update to notify you that St. Anne’s continues to Worship together and to say the Mass.

In addition, if you are considering a visit, this post serves to answer any questions you may have about the precautions we are taking in response to COVID-19.

At St. Anne’s we seek to serve and protect our members by taking a practical and cautious approach, while ensuring that we are still providing the Sacraments and meeting Pastoral needs.

Some of the steps we currently have in place are:

• Spaced seating, to ensure Social Distancing.

• Alcohol Gel available for use and Hand Hygiene encouraged.

• Masks encouraged (but not required).

• Strict hand hygiene for Clergy prior to Communion.

• No passing of the Peace.

• Cancelled Coffee Hour.

• Those with particular increased Risks are encouraged to stay home (and also encouraged to contact us for any spiritual needs they may have during this time).

These steps will be reassessed on an ongoing basis, and updated as needed.

We understand that our decision to continue Worship services is considered controversial by some, so a consideration of some of the reasons for us having Mass are provided here for reference:

• Our first priority is the Worship of Jesus Christ.

• Christians have, since the first days of the Church and throughout history, had to weigh the risks associated with Worshipping Jesus. While we do not encourage foolish behavior, we do acknowledge that Worship has been for the Christian community the most important thing in life – even when Worship involved Risk of one’s life (this remains true in much of the world today).

• Christians consider Worship of Jesus in the Mass to be both “a duty” and “a joy” – we have a responsibility to attend Mass. Priests have a responsibility to say Mass.

• The Church Fathers and ancient Bishops, following the example of the Apostles, opposed Roman law that forbid the Mass and declared the necessity of Christian Worship.

• The Church Fathers and the entire history of the Church shows that the Christian response to plague and disease is to *increase* our Prayer and to say the Mass on behalf of those facing illness and disease.

• Taken as a whole, it has by far been the exception and not the rule for the Church to find herself in a time that did not involve Persecution, Plague, Famine, or War – and in all those times and places, the Church prioritized the Mass. In many times and in many places, Priests have said Mass knowing that they did so for the Spiritual benefit of the Flock and that in doing so this presented a real and present Physical danger.

Please know, I am not advocating for presenting unnecessary risks to the people that we love and pray for. Quite the opposite. We have taken many precautions – and do not see the Mass as possessing a risk beyond the risks involved with many other activities that people currently participate in – such as going to work, the grocery store, the gas station, etc.

We welcome all who desire to come to Mass – not because of personal sentiment, but because of the evidence of the entire history of the Church. The entire focus of the Church’s response should not be on “cancelling” Mass, closing churches, etc. The Church should take all necessary precautions, provide appropriate Pastoral Guidance, and should dispense the faithful from their *obligation* to attend Mass when necessary due to COVID risks. The people can be freed from their obligation to attend a particular Mass, but the Clergy have an obligation, whenever possible, to offer Mass and have no right to withhold the Sacraments from the people or to fail to offer them participation in the Mass. So, the command of Christ to “do this” stands, and I pray that the Church offers Mass throughout the United States and the entire World with intentions and Prayers to Christ to dispel the Plague of Coronavirus – until then, we will go to the Altar praying that “we and [HIS] whole Church may obtain forgiveness of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.”

In Christ,

Jon+

Art, Generosity, & Ministry

This week, our church was reminded of the wonderful devotion, talents, and generosity of those who continue to give to our Church – especially Jewel Morgan.

Jewel is the Treasurer, Music Director, Coordinator of countless things, endless volunteer, and Chief Artist of our Church – she also happens to be the wife of our Rector, Father PT Morgan.

Jewel made a new banner for the Church for use during Ordinary Time. The banner is Green, and has a Cross. It bears the phrases “Fear not”, “Follow me”, and “feed my Sheep” – words taken from the Teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jewel and Father PT work endlessly to provide for the needs of our Church. Nearly all of the items in our church were purchased or actually made by them. Some examples include that Jewel has made are several banners, Altar frontals for the seasons of the Church year, the hangings of the Altar curtain, etc. Father PT has personally made the Altar screen, the processional cross, the Icon stands, several Altars that have been used, and many other items for the Church.

We are so grateful for their dedication and their work!

May God Bless them.

Our Help is in the Name of The Lord - Episcopal Visitation

On Sunday, August 21, St. Michael Anglican Ministries had a wonderful Episcopal Visitation from The Right Reverend Dr. Peter H. Beckwith, Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes, at St. Anne's Anglican Church in Anderson, Indiana.

The Bishop celebrated the Mass with Confirmation and Diaconal Ordination.

SEEKING THE MYSTERY: THE AWESOME NATURE OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

SEEKING THE MYSTERY:

THE AWESOME NATURE OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY           

             Approaching Trinity Sunday always presents the opportunity for greater reflection on the Nature of Almighty God, and a prayerful engagement with the Mystery that is the Revelation of the Most Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

              I spent time this week re-reading some of the works of St. Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzus), 4th Century Archbishop of Constantinople, particularly the Theological Orations on the Holy Trinity.

              St. Gregory tells us that “No one has yet discovered or ever shall discover what God is in his nature and essence.” True knowledge of God in his essence will only occur when our souls (and intellect) “mingles with its kin” and “the copy returns to the pattern it now longs after…that we shall, in time to come ‘know even as we are known.’” We receive knowledge of God Himself as “a scant emanation, as it were a small beam from a great light.”[1]

             Since this mystery leaves us with many question which we cannot answer, we can relate to St. Gregory’s question as to whether we “Shall we stop our preaching here at matter and objects of sight?”

             Yet, this great Doctor of the Church seems to call us forward by his next question: “Or, since Scripture recognizes the tabernacle of Moses as a symbol for the whole world (the world, I mean, of things ‘visible and invisible’) shall we pass through the first veil, transcending sense, to bend our gaze on holy things, on ideal and heaven transcending reality?”[2]

              As we seek to enter in to this great Mystery, we follow the footsteps of the Saints, who have received the Light of Revelation and have given us the Faith of the Church. We follow “The Theologian” in the profession that:

We have one God because there is a single Godhead. Though there are three objects of belief, they derive from the single whole and have reference to it. They do not have degrees of being God or degrees of priority over against one another. They are not sundered in will or divided in power. You cannot find there any of the properties inherent in things divisible. To express it succinctly, the Godhead exists undivided in beings divided. It is as if there were a single intermingling of light, which existed in three mutually connected Suns.[3]

            The Divine Word of God is the eternal Son, whom the Father was never without, and in his Incarnation he is the “image” [εἰκών = Icon] of the invisible Father (Col. 1:15), restoring humanity to the Divine image.[4] The Divine Spirit of God provides us with the Divine Life, allowing us to be partakers [kοινωνός = participation, fellowship] of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 2:4) through baptism: “From the Spirit comes our rebirth, from rebirth comes a new creating, from new creating.”[5]

              Thus as we receive God through the Sacraments and as we seek Him through prayer, pushing past the veil to gaze on holy things, the revelation of the Holy Trinity “shines on us bit by bit.”[6] As we receive this light, we can agree with St. Gregory when he says: “Thus do I stand, thus may I stand, and those I love as well, on these issues, able to worship the Father as God, the Son as God, the Holy Spirit as God—‘three personalities, one Godhead undivided in glory, honor, substance, and sovereignty.’”[7]

              This Trinity Sunday, let us seek to know the Most Holy Trinity more deeply and let us, with St. Gregory, commit ourselves to call others into a deeper engagement with the Mystery that is Almighty God:

“To the best of my powers I will persuade all men to worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the single Godhead and power, because to him belong all glory, honor, and might for ever and ever. Amen.”[8]

I pray that you have a Blessed Feast of the Most Holy Trinity.

In Christ,

Fr. Jon+

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St. Anne’s – Anderson, IN – Sundays @ 11:30 AM at Davis Park (4507 Nichol Ave., Anderson IN 46011).

St. Matthew’s – Nashville, IN – Sundays @ 9:00 AM (51 East Chestnut, Nashville IN 47448).

St. Patrick’s – Noblesville, IN – Sundays @ 9:00 AM (1175 South 10th Street, Noblesville IN 46060).

St. George’s – Muncie, IN – Sundays @ 10:30 AM (Chapel, College Ave. UMC, 1968 W Main St, 47303).

MAILING ADDRESS ONLY: 816 Northwood Drive, Anderson, Indiana 46011

PHONE: 937-515-3264

CONTACT: Fr. Jon Back (Curate) – jonback.anglican@gmail.com

_________________________________________________________________

[1] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (pp. 49–50). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

[2] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (pp. 62–64). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

[3] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (pp. 127–128). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

[4] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (pp. 84–85). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

[5] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (pp. 138–139). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

[6] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (pp. 138–139). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

[7] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (pp. 138–139). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

[8] St Gregory of Nazianzus. (2002). On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. (J. Behr, Ed., F. Williams & L. Wickham, Trans.) (p. 143). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

Divine Anointing: The Gift of Love & The Gift of Righteousness

This Sunday is the Feast of Pentecost, the day on which God the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church.

This Gift was given that we might attain the great hope of the New Testament message - Transformation into the likeness of Jesus Christ and participation in His Divine Life.

In His Lectures on Justification Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman articulates that prior to the Gospel the Law of God and the Heart of Man were at enmity with one another, and thus men were left unrighteous.

He states that a man could be made righteous in only one of two ways; either by God lowering or abolishing the law, or by God enabling us to actually fulfill the law.

The answer, says Newman, is not in the lowering or abolishing of the law, but in the raising up and remaking of man. [1] He provides a remarkable summary of the view that justification must result in an inward renewal that brings forth true righteousness:

not to have the Holy Law taken away, not to be merely accounted to have done what we have not done, not a nominal change, a nominal righteousness, an external blessing, but one penetrating inwards into our heart and spirit, joints and marrow, pervading us with a real efficacy, and wrapping us round in its fullness; not a change merely in God’s dealings towards us, like the pale and wan sunshine of a winter’s day, but (if we may seek it) the possession of Himself, of His substantial grace to touch and heal the root of the evil, the fountain of our misery, our bitter heart and its inbred corruption. As we can conceive God blessing nothing but what is holy, so all our notions of blessing center in holiness as a necessary foundation. He may bless, He may curse, according to His mercy or our deserts; but if He blesses, surely it is by making holy; if He counts righteous, it is by making righteous; if He justifies, it is by renewing; if He reconciles us to Him, it is not by annihilating the Law, but by creating in us new wills and new powers for the observance of it[2]

This fulfills God’s promise in the Old Covenant that he would give his people a new heart, replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and that he would put his Spirit within us, that we may walk in his ways and obey his commands.[3]

The justifying nature of the New Law of the Holy Spirit is “creative as well as living” and creates love in our hearts, for “love is said to be the fulfilling of the Law, or righteousness” and “it is, in fact, nothing else but the energy and the representative of the Spirit in our hearts.” [6] Newman then cites St. Paul, who says that “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given us”[7] and St. John, who said “He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.”[8] These scriptures point to the teaching that Love is “the perfection of religion” and “the fulfilling of the law.”[9] Newman denies that Christians are made righteous in a different sense than Christ himself is righteous. As Christ is perfectly righteous, it is perfect righteousness which is acceptable and pleasing to God; and so Scripture teaches that the very righteousness of the Son of God is applied to us.[10] 

Newman presents a view of justification as the gift of Divine Love, in which the Holy Spirit is bestowed on the believer as the love of God, the gift of righteousness, the justification of man. In baptism we receive this gift of grace, the love of God in the Holy Spirit. This gift brings inward renewal and the promise of eternal life. This gift places the love of God within us as God’s gift of Himself for our salvation. This gift is our righteousness, cleansing what is past and enabling us to fulfill the Divine Law through Love. As Augustine said, “We abide in God and He in us…because He has given us of His Spirit…who is love.”[1] In Newman, we see that the justification of man comes through that faith which is formed by love. “Faith…is in the Gospel grafted on the love of God, and made to mould the heart of man into His image.”[2] Love is that which makes faith justifying[3], and love itself arises from the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is the true justifier. [4]  

“Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest…

Font of life, Fire of love, The soul’s Anointing from above.”[5]

[1] Augustine of Hippo. (Ed. Philip Schaff, NPNF-1-III).  On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises, (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1887), p. 219.

[2] John Henry Newman, Lectures on justification (London: J. G. & F. Rivington, 1838), p. 307.

[3] Ibid., p. 22.

[4] John Henry Newman, Lectures on justification (London: J. G. & F. Rivington, 1838), p. 398.

[5] The (1928) Book of Common Prayer (Delray Beach, FL: Deus Publications), p. 544.

[1] Newman, J. H. (1838). Lectures on justification (35–36). London: J. G. & F. Rivington.

[2] Ibid., p. 36.

[3] Ezekiel 36:26-27

[4] 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, 6

[5] John Henry Newman, Lectures on justification (London: J. G. & F. Rivington, 1838), p. 49.

[6] Ibid., p. 56.

[7] Romans 5:5

[8] 1 John 4:16

[9] John Henry Newman, Lectures on justification (London: J. G. & F. Rivington, 1838), p. 57.

[10] Ibid., p. 118.

[11] Ibid., p. 125.

The Consecration of A Bishop

              Next week, on April 28, 2016, The Most Reverend Foley Beach, Archbishop and Primate of The Anglican Church in North America, will Consecrate the Rev. Canon Dr. Ronald Jackson as Bishop, and Install him as the second Bishop of The Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes.

               This will be a most solemn occasion, and also a most joyful occasion. The Church of God will be given another Bishop, and the ministry of the Apostles will be carried forward, made ever new through the work and gifts of the Holy Spirit and the participation in the fullness of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

               As members of the Flock of Christ, and especially those who will belong to that portion of Christ’s Flock entrusted to then-Bishop Jackson, let us Pray for the Ministry of this man, and seek the Grace of Christ and the Power of the Holy Spirit on his behalf.

               I offer you the following prayers for use in your intercession. These prayers are taken from the Sarum Missal, the Liturgy in use prior to the English Reformation, and would have been prayed for of a great number of Bishops in the English Church.

For the Bishop [i.]

Govern, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy servant Ronald, our bishop, and through the intercession of Mary, the blessed mother of God, and of all thy saints, multiply in him the gifts of thy grace; that he may be delivered from all evil, and that not being destitute of temporal aid he may rejoice in the ordinances of life eternal. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the holy Spirit, God.

For the Bishop [ii.]

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to thy servant our bishop, that by preaching and doing such things as be rightful, he may by the example of good works edify the minds of those who are subject to him, and may receive of thee, most kind shepherd, an eternal recompence and reward. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the holy Spirit, God.

For Bishops

God, who hast caused thy servants to be reckoned as of episcopal dignity in the apostolic ministry, grant, we beseech thee, that they may rejoice in everlasting fellowship in heaven with those whose office they bore awhile on earth. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the holy Spirit, God.

Let us pray also for Bishop (elect) Jackson, that he may fulfill the charge given to a new Bishop by the Archbishop according to the Church of England Ordinal of 1550, the words of which are provided here as they were in that Ordinal:

[Then shal the Archebisshoppe putte into his hande the pastorall staffe, saying.]

BE to the flocke of Christ a shepeheard, not a wolfe: feede them, devoure them not; holde up the weake, heale the sicke, binde together the broken, bryng againe the outcastes, seke the lost. Be so mercifull, that you be not to remisse, so minister discipline, that ye forgeat not mercy; that when the chief shepheard shal come, ye may receyve the immarcessible croune of glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please join in these prayers for Father Jackson, and present him before our Lord Jesus Christ, that his new ministry may be a blessing to Him and to the Flock of Christ.

Fr. Jon+

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St. Michael Anglican Ministries: http://stmichaelanglican.net/

Our Mission Parishes:

• St. Anne’s – Anderson, IN – Sundays @ 11:30 AM at Davis Park (4507 Nichol Ave., Anderson IN 46011).
• St. Matthew’s – Nashville, IN – Sundays @ 9:00 AM (51 East Chestnut, Nashville IN 47448).
• St. Patrick’s – Noblesville, IN – Sundays @ 9:00 AM (1175 South 10th Street, Noblesville IN 46060).
• St. George’s – Muncie, IN – Sundays @ 10:30 AM (Chapel, College Ave. UMC, 1968 W Main St, 47303).

MAILING ADDRESS ONLY: 816 Northwood Drive, Anderson, Indiana 46011

PHONE: 937-515-3264

CONTACT: Fr. Jon Back (Curate) – jonback.anglican@gmail.com

Holy Week

Palm Sunday + The Sacred Triduum + Easter Sunday

Holy Week at St. Michael Anglican Ministries:

• PALM SUNDAY (March 20)
  • St. Anne's, Anderson - 11:30 am
  • St. Matthew's, Nashville - 9:00 am
  • St. Patrick's, Noblesville - 9:00 am
  • St. George, Muncie - 11:30 am
• MAUNDY (HOLY) THURSDAY (March 24)
  • St. Matthew's, Nashville - 5:00 pm
  • St. Patrick's, Noblesville - 7:00 pm
• GOOD FRIDAY (March 25)
  • St. Anne's, Anderson - 12:00 pm
  • St. Matthew's, Nashville - 12:00 pm
  • St. Patrick's, Noblesville - 7:00 pm
• EASTER SUNDAY (March 27)
  • St. Anne's, Anderson - 11:30 am
  • St. Matthew's, Nashville - 9:00 am
  • St. Patrick's, Noblesville - 9:00 am
  • St. George, Muncie - 11:30 am

The Liturgies of holy Week invite us to enter in to the journey of Jesus Christ and to live the Paschal Mystery, the heart of the Christian Faith in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Liturgies of this week will contain many beautiful and wonderful Rites, including:

• Palm Sunday – The Liturgy of the Palms in Procession and the Reading of the Passion
• Maundy Thursday – The Mass of the Lord’s Supper, The Washing of Feet, The Stripping of the Altar, & Prayer at the Altar of Repose
• Good Friday – The Solemn Collects, The Veneration of the Cross, & The Liturgy of the Presanctified
• Easter Sunday – Solemn Mass of Easter Day with Asperges & the New Light of the Paschal Candle

Please join us for Worship this Week!

Journey with Christ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Join the Apostles at the Table of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday. Behold the Cross of Christ on Good Friday. Celebrate the Mystery of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Let us Pray:

Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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This Post: http://stmichaelanglican.net/newsblog/2016/3/14/holy-week

St. Michael Anglican Ministries: http://stmichaelanglican.net/

St. Anne’s – Anderson, IN – Sundays @ 11:30 AM at Davis Park (4507 Nichol Ave., Anderson IN 46011).

St. Matthew’s – Nashville, IN – Sundays @ 9:00 AM (51 East Chestnut, Nashville IN 47448).

St. Patrick’s – Noblesville, IN – Sundays @ 9:00 AM (1175 South 10th Street, Noblesville IN 46060).

St. George’s – Muncie, IN – Sundays @ 10:30 AM (Chapel, College Ave. UMC, 1968 W Main St, 47303).

MAILING ADDRESS ONLY: 816 Northwood Drive, Anderson, Indiana 46011

PHONE: 937-515-3264

CONTACT: Fr. Jon Back (Curate) – jonback.anglican@gmail.com

The Lenten Journey

Lent at St. Michael Anglican Ministires:

• Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper – 5pm-8pm @ St. Anne’s Anglican Church
• Ash Wednesday – 12pm @ St. Anne’s, 7pm @ St. Patrick’s
• Sundays in Lent – 9am @ St. Patrick’s, 9am @ St. Matthew’s, 10:30am @ St. George’s, 11:30am @ St. Anne’s

This Wednesday we will observe Ash Wednesday, and thus begin the journey with Our Lord to the Cross.

During this season the Church calls us to a “Holy Lent” in which we are called to follow Jesus more closely through:

• Self-examination
• Repentance
• Prayer
• Fasting
• Self-Denial
• Reading & Meditating upon God’s Holy Word

In the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday we receive Ashes on our foreheads with the word “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

In a world which is all about the here and now, these words stand as a striking reminder of our own mortality. Further, we are reminded that we are but dust, and possess no life within ourselves. We are reminded that this mortal life will end, and that we will face our Judge.

These words reveal to us our need for a Savior – our need for Jesus Christ. He is our Judge, in whom we seek Mercy. He is our Life, in whom we seek immortality. He is Our God, in whom we exist.

Our Lord turns toward the Cross. Let us follow the Way of the Cross with Him, so that in His Cross we may find life.

Let us live A Holy Lent.

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Epiphany of Christ

This Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord.

This is the beginning of the Season of Epiphany, in which we celebrate the Revelation of Our Lord Jesus Christ as His Glory and Divinity are Revealed to the World.

St. Matthew tells us that after Christ was born to the Virgin Mary, Wise Men from the East came looking for the Child who was Born as King, for they had seen His Star and had come to pay Him homage.

May we learn from the example of these Wise Men.

Christ is revealed to those who are looking for Him, and they will recognize His star at its rising.

Christ is among us, let us travel to where He resides and pay Him homage.

The Eternal Word, The Lord, has become Flesh – Let us come to Him in awe, being “overwhelmed with Joy” as the Wise Men were.

“On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage” (Matthew 2:11).

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Celebrating The Feast of The Nativity (Christ Mass)

Merry Christmas!

The Mass of the Feast of the Nativity (Christ Mass) is a wonderful celebration of Joy and Hope!

We were Blessed to experience this Joy together in each of the parish missions of St. Michael Anglican Ministries.

Thank You to all who came to Worship with us!

We pray that You have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Thank You to the members and staff of our Parishes...

Thank You to all those who put so much work into making these parish missions a reality - who give of your time and your talents to acolyte, prepare tha altar, serve, read, usher, provide flowers, pray with others, put up tables, give generously, clean up, create beautiful items for the church, etc., etc. - the list is endless! 

Unto us a Child is Born! Unto Us a Son is Given!

    "Unto the King new-born new praises sing,
    Whose Father by his word did frame the worlds,
    Whose mother a most hallow’d virgin is;
    Begotten of the Father, God of God,
    Born of his mother without carnal stain,
    Word of the Father ere the world was made,
    In the full time forth from his mother’s womb
    He issues in a human body veil’d.
    O wonderful, mysterious generation!
    O most astonishing nativity!
    O glorious child! O Deity incarnate!
    So had the prophets, by thy Spirit moved,
    Declared thou should’st be born, thou Son of God!
    So, at thy dawning, angels sing thee praises,
    And to the earth glad tidings bring of peace.
    The face of all the elements is gladden’d,
    And all the saints exultingly rejoice,
    Crying, All hail! save us, we pray, O God,
    In persons trine, one undivided substance"

(Sequence Hymn for the Sarum Mass of Christmas Day)

Gaudete Sunday

Gaudete in Domino Semper...

(Rejoice in the Lord always)

So begins the Mass for the Third Sunday of Advent. A Sunday which calls us to Joy in our Hope of the coming of Christ and his fast approaching Nativity (Christmas). The admonition of St. Paul to Rejoice in the Lord Always (Phil. 4:4) is a wonderful reminder of the Joy of the Gospel, despite the many and varied difficulties of our lives.

This Mass also provides us with the beautiful "Stir up" Collect...

"Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let thy bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honor and glory, world without end. Amen."

What a tremendous prayer - May the Lord Stir Up His power and come among us with great might!

Please join us for The Fourth Sunday of Advent next week, and let us Pray together for the Lord's power among us. Let us prepare to celebrate together the Feast of The Nativity of Our Lord - The Mass of Christmas.

The Advent Tree at St. Anne's Anglican Church:

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