Forward in Africa Report #1

Brother Nathan Dunlap(MSJ) and family arrived in Tanzania on May 15 for a six-month mission in Nyakato, on the outskirts of Mwanza. Here is their first report:

Jamba (Hello):

We are now on our third full day and staying briefly in Dodoma, the capital city. There have been so many experiences in these few days it feel as though we have been here weeks:

Our projected six hour drive from Dar to Dodoma turned into ten hours but was incredibly interesting. We were able to see just about every Tanzanian landscape and lifestyle - from city to far out country to mountains and valleys to deserts. It is difficult to describe this wonderful place. Everyone is working. Hands are busy. People are living. There are no TV’s, no video games. A boy is welding gates, and another building beds. There are others selling food and drinks on the highways. There are the little girls and boys returning from school. There are the young people learning trades from elders. There are the ladies cooking, men working hard, and little boys herding cattle. Everyone is busy. Everyone is unique and different, but all still similar. There's vegetation everywhere; Big trees, pretty flowers, food, bushes, etc.... This land is beautiful!

We have been busy: our first day here we attended the consecration of a Bishop. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the president of Tanzania were present. The service was five hours long, almost completely in Swahili, and half way through I decided I'd never complain about an hour and a half church service in English again!

Sunday we worshipped in a small village Anglican church in the town of Kongwa. Since we had Bishop Kwangu with us, the worship was over four hours. (they usually get a visit from the Bishop maybe every couple years).  Later,  we visited St. Phillip's Theological School where Bp. Kwangu was a student and staff for many years.

We love Tanzania and ask your prayers as our work begins………..

Episcopal Visit - St. John the Apostle (Clinton Twp, MI)

On Sunday May 19^th the people of St John the Apostle Anglican Church of Clinton Township, Michigan were doubly blessed to have Bp William Ilgenfritz (MDAS) and Bp Fredrick Fick (MSJ) join us for our celebration of Pentecost and the Confirmation of nine of our members.  Beginning with fellowship at an informal reception and dinner with the vestry Saturday evening and continuing on to Sunday’s worship with the color red in prominent display, we sang, we prayed, and we worshiped our God and King. 

Six of the nine confirmed had attended weekly confirmation classes since last September.  The other three, as adults, had a less structured approach to their coursework and exam. All were supported by family, friends and sponsors, making the day a reunion of faith expressed and renewal of old friendships. Bp Ilgenfritz preached on the birth of the church at Pentecost being the undoing of the work and curse of Babel. He also took time to personally charge the confirmands to take up as their own the promises made for them or made by them in Baptism.  The luncheon and fellowship that followed provided not only ample food for the journey, but also generous amounts of encouragement and opportunities to get to know our Bishops.

Episcopal Visit - St. Andrew Anglican Church

Bishop Fick, Father General of the Missionary Society of St. John, and wife Jan, made an Episcopal Visit to Spring Grove, IL on the Sunday, May 5.

Enjoying great fellowship with Fr. Scott and Lisa Keenan and the people of Saint Andrew Anglican Church, the weekend was highlighted by the Spring's first barbecue picnic and the blessing and dedication of St. Andrew's new altar.

Run To The Tomb

 
One of my favorite pictures is by the Swiss artist Eugene Burnand (1850-1921), entitled The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection. The picture captures the "seeking heart." We see ourselves in the actions and expressions of both Peter and John as they hurry toward Jesus' tomb. Wonder, awe, anxiousness, fear, anticipation, hope, confusion, a plethora of experiences and emotions are reflected in this depiction of the disciples on Easter morning.

Like all of us, Peter and John are seekers on the path—hearing the good news, struggling to understand, make sense, hear, and respond. At times it is difficult to do anything except run: run to the empty tomb, open wide our eyes, look, and take stock of what we see. Like Peter and John, our open and inquiring disposition will be satisfied as we examine the evidence found in the empty tomb. Jesus is indeed risen, offering freedom from all that binds us! By remaining open and inquisitive, the seeker's heart will find satisfaction in encountering the risen Lord.

A blessed and joyous Easter season. Alleluia, he is risen! 

Holy Week

Holy Week is the week preceding Easter and the final week of Lent. 

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. 

Holy Week includes Holy Thursday (also known as Maundy Thursday) and Good Friday, which, together with Holy Saturday, are known as the Triduum.

During Holy Week, we as Christians commemorate the Passion of Christ, Who died on Good Friday in reparation for the sins of mankind, and rose on Easter Sunday to give new life to all who believe. Thus, while Holy Week is solemn and sorrowful, it also anticipates the joy of Easter through the recognition of God's goodness in sending His Son to die for our salvation.

Invitation to A Holy Lent

As Winter blasts his frigid breath, and Nature sleeps, awaiting Spring, the Church invites us to a Holy Lent. It's a somber call amid a bleak season. Outside, no growth is perceptible; but spiritual roots take their nourishment and medicine, empowering upward growth in due season. 

A certain bamboo grows only one inch per year for four years. During that time, all the growth is in the roots: preparing, drinking, and growing strong underground. When all is ready, in the fifth year, this bamboo grows 80 feet tall in one season! In this example, the natural is pointing to the supernatural. A disciple's growth in the Spirit that all can see comes only after diligent preparation that few see. If you want evident spiritual fruit in your life, you can begin by nourishing your spiritual roots (John 15, Galatians 3).

God builds up your spirit man when you engage the spiritual disciplines that He has appointed in His Word: prayer, fasting, and self-denial; Bible study, self-examination, and service, to name a few. The worldwide Church joins together in these 40 days we call Lent, to prepare our souls and spirits for the remembrance of the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord during Holy Week. 

The Lenten tradition of the Church takes its inspiration from Jesus' 40 days of solitude, prayer, and fasting in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13). Our Lord did this immediately after his public ministry began, as necessary preparation for His ministry to come. He confronted the devil and withstood temptation. As the master, so goes the student. Jesus assumed his disciples would fast and pray (Matthew 6:16). 

We invite you to join us in a Holy Lent.   

The Delightful Book of Proverbs

The Delightful Book of Proverbs 

by Friar Jim Van Vurst, OFM 

The Book of Proverbs, which was written about 400 years before the birth of Jesus, covers only 32 pages in the Bible. These are wisdom sayings that were attributed to King Solomon, the son of King David. In fact, for many years, Proverbs had been called “The Book of Wisdom.” These sayings aim to guide and instruct the reader in the correct ways of behaving toward others and in understanding our relationship with God.In the New Testament, Jesus, Paul, and James quoted wisdom sayings. In Romans, Paul quotes Proverbs 25:21: “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, if he be thirsty give him to drink; For live coals you will heap on his head.” In modern parlance, we have the saying, “Forgive your enemy because it messes up his head.”
The Book of Proverbs covers many areas of life, such as one’s relationship with God. “For each man’s ways are plain to the Lord’s sight” (5:21). In other words, with God there are no secrets. About prayer: “The Lord is far from the wicked, but the prayer of the just he hears” (15:29). Concerning abandonment to the Lord: “Happy is he who trusts in the Lord” (16.20).
Words of Wisdom

Most people have little wisdom sayings that are an indication that we are made in the image and likeness of God. God gave us intelligence, understanding, and the ability to see the results of our acts. Parents often guide their children through their own wisdom sayings. Don’t we remember our parents telling us to look both ways before crossing the street? Not to mention our parents warning us to never get into cars with strangers. We can be sure those words of wisdom have prevented some terrible tragedies.I came across a wisdom saying from Confucius—who has hundreds of such proverbs. In fact, one would have fit very well in the Book of Proverbs. Confucius said, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Revenge will almost always affect the life of the avenger in ways he could not foresee.
If you are on the lookout for a used car, there is a very practical modern-day proverb full of wisdom: “Show me the Carfax.”
The Goodness of God

There is a powerful proverb (3:31) that warns, “Envy not the lawless man and choose none of his ways.” Our wounded human nature being what it is, the temptation may be to wish we didn’t feel so guilty in doing something wrong or sinful. In a moment of weakness, we could wish our conscience was not with us. And yet what a blessing and grace that is for us.

For a moment, we might envy the gains of the man who always gets his way. And it is sometimes difficult to always want to seek the good and the right when it might seem easier to put our conscience to sleep. And yet, when we take a moment to think, we know we are grateful for our well-formed conscience. As the wise saying goes, “The softest pillow we can lay our head on is a good conscience.”

We can be grateful that we are bathed in the goodness and the wisdom of the Lord. We would be miserable without it. 

Presentation of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Lord which occurs forty days after the birth of Jesus and is also known as Candlemas day, since the blessing and procession of candles is included in today's liturgy.

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the end of the Christmas season. The reformed calendar has designated that the Sunday after Epiphany, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, is the end. This feast in the Ordinary Form is no longer referred to as the "Purification of Mary" but the "Presentation of the Lord". 

This day marks the completion of forty days since the birth of Jesus, when Mary and Joseph took the child to the Temple in Jerusalem. The requirement in Levitical law was for Mary to be 'cleansed', the completion of her purification following the birth of a male child. Until that day, she could touch no holy thing nor enter the sanctuary. Yet on seeing the holy family, Simeon praised God and acclaimed the infant as 'the light to enlighten the nations' and the prophet Anna gave thanks and proclaimed him her Redeemer. The image of Christ as the Light has led to the celebration of light countering darkness, with candles often taking a central place in the observance.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.

At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239 he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy.

By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.

Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.

His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished.

The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on.... All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.

THE CONVERSION OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

Artist: Georges de la Tour

On January 25 we remember how Saul (or Paul) of Tarsus, formerly an enemy and persecutor of the early Christian Church, was led by God's grace to become one of its chief spokesmen.

The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
who caused the light of the gospel
to shine throughout the world
through the preaching of your servant Saint Paul:
grant that we who celebrate his wonderful conversion
may follow him in bearing witness to your truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

(From Common Worship)

Benedict On Church Closings

Benedict’s Warning and Consolation: 
Changing Demographics Mean Closing Churches

September 5, 2012 By Kathy Schiffer

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee are reeling at the news that 103 of its 203 parishes—more than 50%– will close or consolidate before 2020.
The Archdiocese of Detroit has embarked on an ambitious program called “Together in Faith” which will result in the closing, merging or clustering of many of its parishes—especially those in the central city, where a changing demographic means that pews are near empty on Sunday mornings.
The Diocese of Saginaw recently announced that it would close half of its parishes.

These are hard times for the Catholic Church in America!  Officials in Milwaukee cite three principal factors which will necessitate widespread belt-tightening and reduction in the total number  of parishes:

• Priest retirements will exceed ordinations, resulting in a projected 40 percent reduction in the number of priests serving in parish ministry.
• The costs of operating parishes and funding ministries are escalating rapidly, and parishes can gain economies of scale by collaborating with other parishes.
• The mission of the Church can be carried out more effectively by combining efforts and sharing resources.

But lest we throw up our hands, fearing that the Catholic Church’s influence is waning in America, I thought I’d cite Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).  In his 2009 book Faith and the Future, he first offers an ominous warning:

“The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning.
She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes…she will lose many of her social privileges…. As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members….
It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek…. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution—when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain….

So then, should we be discouraged?  Pope Benedict doesn’t think so:

…But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.

And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”
- Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), from his book Faith and the Future

St. John the Apostle Anglican Church

Clinton Township, MI:   
For the last 3 months Nathaniel, a Weblo in Pack 371, has been collecting returnable bottles and cans from members of Saint John the Apostle Anglican Church as part of a Community Service Project. Today he presented Fr. Terry a check for $155, benefiting Hope Center in Macomb Township.

Feast of Holy Innocents

Although the Feast of Holy Innocents is December 28, being mindful of yesterday's CN school tragedy, let us pray this prayer from now through that Holy Day: 

Holy Innocents, you died before you were old enough to know what life means, pray for all children who die young that God may gather them into His loving arms. 

Holy Innocents, you were killed because one man was filled with hatred, pray for those who hate that God may touch their hearts and fill them with love. 

Holy Innocents, you experienced a violent death, pray for all who are affected by violence that they may find peace and love. 

Holy Innocents, you were murdered at the hands of men who probably felt they were merely following orders, pray for all who act against their consciences that they may turn to God for strength to do what is right. 

Holy Innocents, your parents grieved for you with deep and lasting sorrow, pray for all parents who have lost young children that God may wrap a warm blanket of comfort around them. 

Holy Innocents, those around you certainly felt helpless to prevent your deaths, pray for all who feel helpless in their circumstances that they may cling to God for courage and hope. 

Holy Innocents, you did not know Jesus during your brief lives, but now you praise Him for all eternity, pray for all those who do not know Jesus that they may open their minds to His voice and their hearts to His love. 

Holy Innocents, you died as infants and toddlers, pray for those who are in danger of dying before they are even born through the horrors of abortion that their mothers may recognize the sanctity of all life, turn to God for help, and give their babies a chance to live. 

Holy Innocents, you who are now in Heaven, pray for all of us that one day we may join you there to bask in God's love forever. Amen.

Advent

    

This Sunday (December 2, 2012) is the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Church Year. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24).

The Meaning of "Advent"

    The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture readings for Advent  reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.

    In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individual and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live "between the times" and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people. So, as the church celebrates God’s in-breaking into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which "all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption", it also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to "love the Lord your God with all your heart" and to "love your neighbor as yourself."

The Spirit of Advent

    Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of those who have experienced the tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin, and yet who have hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves and brought deliverance!

    It is that hope, however faint at times, and that God, however distant He sometimes seems, which brings to the world the anticipation of a King who will rule with truth and justice and righteousness over His people and in His creation. It is that hope that once anticipated, and now anticipates anew, the reign of an Anointed One, a Messiah, who will bring peace and justice and righteousness to the world.

Part of the expectation also anticipates a judgment on sin and a calling of the world to accountability before God. We long for God to come and set the world right! Yet, as the prophet Amos warned, the expectation of a coming judgment at the "Day of the Lord" may not be the day of light that we might want, because the penetrating light of God’s judgment on sin will shine just as brightly on God’s people.