06 August 2012

I Love St. James Episcopal Church

(The following article was first published in the St. James Episcopal Church newsletter, The Epistle, and is used here by permission.)

I invited a friend to church recently. It wasn't hard. You should try it sometime.

She came to worship with me. I was able to look at our church anew through her eyes. This is what I saw:

* The Processional: We begin our worship when the cross is held high before us. It is an empty cross, a symbol of the resurrection of our Lord, so we know that our worship will be good news. The clergy do not lead the cross but follow it as we all do. The young people who carry the cross and the candles show that the young, the weak, and the dependent are valued among us.

* The Reading of Scripture: We value the Scriptures and believe that the Spirit speaks to us through them. We hear, read, and chant four readings from the Bible each Sunday. The Gospel is read within the congregation to show that Jesus came among us to love and save us. The words of Scripture shape our lives.

* The Preaching: We heard from Joel about the General Convention. He told us that the Episcopal Church is not perfect and that it needs to change. I am glad my friend heard this. The churches that claim to be perfect and need not change are useless. Or dangerous.

* The Nicene Creed: We recited an ancient creed that reminds us and tells others what we believe. We have received from our spiritual ancestors "the faith once delivered to the saints" and we will pass it on to our spiritual descendants.

* The Prayers of the People: We prayed for huge issues like justice and peace for the world, we prayed for individuals celebrating birthdays, and we prayed for most everything in-between. We prayed for the Church Universal and the church particular, St. James. We prayed for our president, governor, and mayor whether we liked them or not. We prayed for our clergy and the sick and the dead and those in the military who are in danger. You can learn a lot about what is important to people when you hear them pray.

* The Passing of the Peace: Then, and during the coffee hour, my friend was greeted warmly and received hugs from people who knew her. I did not have to tell her we are a loving church. We showed her.

* The Service of the Eucharist: We heard the great story of God's creation of the universe and ourselves, our falling away from God, and Jesus' ministry to restore our relationship with God. Then we ate the bread and drank the wine. My friend, although a baptized Christian, chose not to partake. She is always invited and always welcome.

* The Prayer Team: My friend joined me for prayer in the chapel at the end of the service. People who loved me gathered around my chair. They put their hands on my shoulders and arms, held my hands, and prayed for my healing with love and hope. I am glad my friend saw their loving prayers.

I do not think that my friend understood all that she saw when she worshipped with us. If she returns, we can begin to explain these things to her. I do know that we helped her. She told me so. The experience helped me, too, for it helped me love St. James Episcopal Church.

As I said, I invited a friend to church. You should try it sometime.

14 comments:

  1. Dear Tom,
    I now know why there were no comments. I have been 10 minutes trying to register just so I could post a comment. I had written a long comment and it all got lost in the screen to screen to get registered. But that is all done now.
    What I was saying was that when I read your writings I do not mentally see your ALS condition and all the things it has stolen from you. When I read your writings I see the inside of you. I see the intelligence and wisdom and spirituality and annointing. You have a great talent and annointing and I am always blessed and my awareness raised by your thoughts.
    So WRITE ON dear one. Rebecca 08-06-2012

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  7. hello I’m from USA , I have been suffering from HERPES virus for the past 3 years and i had constant pain especially in my knees, During the first year I had faith in God that i will be healed someday, but this disease started circulate all over my body and i have been taking treatment from my doctor, few weeks ago i came in search on the internet if i could get any information concerning the prevention of this disease, on my search i saw a testimony of so many people who has been healed from Hepatitis B, HIV/AID, Diabetes,HSV, ALS HPV and Cancer by this Man called Dr, Aire and he also gave the email address of this man and advice we should contact him for any sickness that he would be of help, so i wrote to Dr. Aire telling him about my HERPES Virus he told me not to worry that i will be cured from this deadly disease i never believed it, well after all the procedures and remedy given to me by this man, few weeks later i started experiencing changes all over me as the Doctor assured me that i will be cured,after some time i went to my medical doctor to confirmed if i have be finally cured behold it was true,and now i’m cure totally with Dr.Aire, So friends my advise is if you have such sickness or any other at all you can email Dr,Aire on this email; drairehome@gmail.com or add him up on what-app +2347036740271

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  10. A big thanks to Dr James for reserving my ALS disease with his effective herbal formula. I was diagnosed of ALS disease 5 months ago of all the horrible experience, I was bitterly in pains. My symptoms progressed so fast that I couldn't eat proper, walk, work, breath well, it was my worse part of life then. On this fateful day, I came across a post just like this concerning a patient who used Dr James herbal medicine herbal formula to reserve her ALS disease for over 4 years now. I was skeptical about it but I had no choice than to also contact this dr James I visited his blog site and made my orders. To cut it short, I used the herbal formula for six weeks as instructed and today makes it 7 months without no symptoms. I am also making my testimony about this miraculous did. I have been given 3 years ALS disease reserved guarantee after which i will make another purchase for another 3 years span again. Thank you very much dr James. For those who needs help, you can reach him via email on jamesherbalformula@gmail.com or WhatsApp number: +2348102574680 . Let's share this and help everyone. Don't judge until you give it a try

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  11. Am Richard, I am here to testify about a great herbalist  man who cured my wife of breast cancer. His name is Dr Imoloa. My wife went through this pain for 3 years, i almost spent all i had, until i saw some testimonies online on how Dr. Imoloa cure them from their diseases, immediately i contacted him through. then he told me the necessary things to do before he will send  the herbal medicine. Wish he did through DHL courier service, And he instructed us on how to apply or drink the medicine for good two weeks. and to greatest surprise before the upper third week my wife was relief from all the pains, Believe me, that was how my wife was cured from breast cancer by this great man. He also have powerful herbal medicine to cure diseases like: Alzheimer's disease, parkinson's disease, vaginal cancer, epilepsy Anxiety Disorders, Autoimmune Disease, Back Pain, Back Sprain, Bipolar Disorder, Brain Tumor, Malignant, Bruxism, Bulimia, Cervical Disc Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Neoplasms , chronic respiratory disease, mental and behavioral disorder, Cystic Fibrosis, Hypertension, Diabetes, Asthma, Autoimmune inflammatory media arthritis ed. chronic kidney disease, inflammatory joint disease, impotence, alcohol spectrum feta, dysthymic disorder, eczema, tuberculosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, constipation, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus disease, mouth ulcer, mouth cancer, body pain, fever, hepatitis ABC, syphilis, diarrhea, HIV / AIDS, Huntington's disease, back acne, chronic kidney failure, addison's disease, chronic pain, Crohn's pain, cystic fibrosis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory Bowel disease, fungal nail disease, Lyme disease, Celia disease, Lymphoma, Major depression, Malignant melanoma, Mania, Melorheostosis, Meniere's disease, Mucopolysaccharidosis, Multiple sclerosis, Muscular dystrophy, Rheumatoid arthritis. You can reach him Email Via drimolaherbalmademedicine@gmail.com / whatsapp +2347081986098

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