A Message from our Rector,
Fr. Gary Lawler:

The Season after Pentecost is known by our Roman Catholic friends as “an ordinary” season.  We have been shaped by our social environment and by the ubiquitous purveyors of materialism and personal excess to automatically hear ‘ordinary” as meaning common and/or boring.  Actually, “ordinary” is meant merely to reflect orderly and peaceful circumstances, free of the hullabaloo which dominates the less “ordinary” times,  the perfect setting for personal grown and spiritual maturity which are clearly more difficult to achieve during periods of festivity and excitement.  The Season after Pentecost has also come to be known as “The Season of the Spirit,” because during it long succession of “ordinary” days and Sundays, we seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we try to live out the promises of Christ and the implications of living in his as yet unrealized kingdom here on earth.  For those who invite the Holy Spirit into their lives, and honestly open their hearts to its direction, and honestly strive to live out those directions to the best or their ability, there is this sure promise:  The season will not be common, boring, or anywhere nearly long enough!

Yours faithfully,

Gary+

The Anne - a log

* This Sunday, the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, finds most of us still clinging to these last days of summer.  We all know that the season doesn’t end astrologically until September 21^st.  Yet, with the schools back in session and the crops beginning to take on their fall colors, we know that we are already in one of the transitional times which, in this part of the world, we face every three months or so.  Our lessons, however, call us to a kind of spiritual and moral constancy which supersedes the transitory, mundane events of our lives, and guides us ever so insistently to a higher calling based in humility, generosity, kindness and patience. All our attitudes and our works need to be tempered with a profound sense of gratitude to avoid an inevitable drift toward pride, arrogance and other manifestations of hubris.  It is a formula for our success, not only in this world, but in the world to come, and one that our Lord Jesus Christ commends to us most whole heartedly, this morning.

 

* Our Adult Education Forum continues this morning with our current series of lectures on the Old Testament by Professor Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt University.  Sessions begin as soon after 9:00 am as possible and continue to just before the 10:00 am Mass.  No advanced preparation is required, and interested persons are welcome to join in at any time. Become a regular participant in this excellent continuing Christian formation weekly opportunity.

 

* Father Lawler is asking all Lay Eucharistic Ministers to attend a meeting on Wednesday, September 1^st, following the regularly scheduled mid-week Mass.  The purpose is to up-date LEMs on some changes and additions to the ministry which they perform.  Those interested in becoming a LEM are also invited to attend.

 

* This coming Saturday, September 4^th, the feast day of Paul Jones, Bishop and Peace Advocate, is the first Saturday of the month and the occasion of our monthly Healing Mass.  Healing Masses are open to all persons desirous of God’s healing power in their lives.  The Mass begins at 9:00 am, immediately following Morning Prayer at 8:30.  All are welcome.

 

* We are announcing a new program here at Saint Anne’s, designed to meet the concerns of our teens.  X4U is intended as a gift of time and space for the discovery and articulation of beliefs and challenges confronting people of that certain age group.  The initial meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 8^th, following the regularly scheduled mid-week services.  Meeting time is 7:00 – 8:30 pm.  All teens and their friends are encouraged to come and check it out.

 

* Our Sunday School for the younger members of our Parish will begin on Sunday, September 12^th.  Our Sunday scholars meet at 10:00 am in the Undercroft Sunday School room for approximately 45 minutes, before joining the rest of the congregation for Holy Eucharist.  We are most blessed to have as our teacher, Pam Long, a professional educator, who has been deeply committed to Christian Education and Formation for many years.  Bring children, grandchildren, neighbor’s children, anyone you can find.  They will be in for a great experience!

 

* The annual Diocesan Convention is being held this year on November 19^th-20^th, at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, in Lombard, Illinois.  We have additional openings for three delegate alternates in our delegation.  The Convention is open to all members of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese.  If you have an interest in going, please tell Fr. Lawler.  Our registrations need to be in this week in order to benefit from the early-bird registration fees.

 

* You will find in your bulletins, again this morning, a Communications Data Sheet.  This is step one in reorganizing our Parish Phone Tree, setting up an E-mail Network, and publishing at new Parish Directory.  If you have not already done so, please fill out the form as completely as you can, and deposit it in the receptacle at the rear of the nave.  Failure to do so, may result in being left out.

 

* The Calendars for September have been compiled, published and await distribution, today, at the rear of the nave.  Please pick-up your copy as your leave.  Failure to do so may result in ignorance and embarrassment.

 

* The flowers at the altar today, are given to the Greater Glory of God and in thanksgiving for all God’s many blessings in out lives, by Jalayne and Kent Riewerts.

 

This Week at Saint Anne's

Regular weekday schedule in effect.

Wednesday – David Pendleton Oakerhater, Dn - E. P. – 6:00 pm, Mass – 6:20 pm.

Lay Eucharistic Ministers’ Meeting – 7:15 pm.

Friday – Phoebe, Deaconess – Noon Office – 12:00 pm, Mass–12:15 pm.

Saturday – Paul Jones, Bishop – Monthly Healing Mass – 9:00 am.

 

Throughout the Week

Remember in your prayers:

those celebrating birthdays: Daniel Haag (30^th), Jacie VanKooten (31^st).

Those celebrating anniversaries: Chick and Becky West (3^rd).

Those who are away in service: Tom Richmond.

Those who are sick and shut-in: Andrew, Michael, Silas, Gregory+, Merle,  Kailash, Josie, Teena, Don, Derek, Lois, Maxine, Lila, Don, Erin, Alyce, Mike, Aaron, Marion, Ann, Daesha, Ross, David, Peter+, Kathy, Jakie, Dot, and those who were injured or wounded in the war or in acts of terrorism this week, those recovering from natural disasters, those seeking to aid them and those working for a lasting world peace.

Those who have entered glory: Don Davis (8/10/10) +R. I. P., for all those who lost their lives during Hurricane Katrina, five years ago, and  for all those who have lost their lives in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of violence, hostility and conflict during the past week.

 

Next Week

Ministers for next Sunday's Divine Worship:

L.E.M. – Donald Miller, Server – Adam Scott, Lector – R. Kent Reiwerts,

Altar – Sug Austin, Greeter – Will Grimes.

 

Lections for Next Sunday: 15^th Sunday after Pentecost (Year C – Proper 18)

Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1-20; Luke 14: 25-33.