St. Mary's Regina

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

September 8, 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

Back in 1979, Bob Dylan, famously wrote,

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

Bob Dylan’ lyric was a riff off today’s Gospel where Jesus gives a name to the devil that we invariably serve if we are not serving Christ: it is money or as the older translations have it, “Mammon. Unlike Christ, “whose service is perfect freedom”, service to Mammon is perfect slavery, filling us with anxiety in a never ending search for financial security. As an antidote and alternative to the anxiety stemming from the false worship of money,  Jesus invites to consider the birds and the flowers and in  so doing place our trust in God’s providence. In our Epistle reading, St. Paul shows us how, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,  “In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things, the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger and is at best the object of pity. The world will allow itself to be subdued only by success. It is not ideas or opinions which decide, but deeds. Success alone justifies wrongs done. . . . The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.”

Continue reading “Trinity 15 September 8, 2024 Bulletin”

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

September 1, 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

Our Epistle and Gospel lesson for today continue the theme of spiritual life which we have been exploring these last few weeks. The Gospel lesson tells the story of Christ’s healing of the 10 lepers, which is for us a picture and promise of the power of Christ to heal not only the seemingly incurable diseases of our bodies, but more importantly the diseases of our souls.  This is what is given to us to experience and receive by faith through our participation in the sacramental life of the Church. What kind of diseases are we talking about? In today’s Epistle reading St Paul describes the “leprous condition” of self-conceit, or vain-glory, and envy, which wrecks such havoc in our relationships, and is healed through the acquisition of humility and the practice of thanksgiving.  

THE LESSON : 5:25-26, 6:1-5

Continue reading “Trinity 14 September 1, 2024 Bulletin”

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

August 25 , 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

The long season of Trinity sets before us the goal and purpose of the Christian life, which is to share and participate in the Divine Nature ( 2 Peter 1.4), which  Christ has revealed as self-emptying love. (Philippians 2.7). In our Epistle reading for today from The Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul sets before us both the obstacles that stand in the way of reaching our goal, the satisfaction of self centered desires, and the means of attaining our goal: spiritual life. Our Gospel lesson is the Good Samaritan which not only sets before as picture of the human conditi0n, but also how it is that Christ has come among us in his mercy heal our souls and bodies of the wounds of sin, that we might truly embody God’s mercy and become a neighbor to those in need.

Continue reading “Trinity 13 August 25 2024 Bulletin”

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

August 18 , 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

Dejection or accidie, where we lose all hope and just give up, is a real killer in the spiritual life. What is the source of our hope in the impasses, box canyons , and seemingly hopeless situations of our lives? Our hope is in the power of God as demonstrated in today’s Gospel lesson from Mark 7 where Jesus opens the ears and looses the tongue of the deaf and dumb man. This is the Gospel of which we have become ministers, which  St. Paul describes as a ministry of spirit which gives life and makes us participants in the glory of God. 

THE LESSON : 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

Continue reading “Trinity 12 August 18 2024 Bulletin”

ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

August 11 , 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

How is it that The Book of Common Prayer understands sanctification, our becoming holy, as God is holy? Our Collect today points to the mercy and promises of Good whereby we run “the way of God’s commandments”, “obtain his promises,” and thus are “made partakers of God’s heavenly treasure.” In other words, justification is the means of our sanctification. In our Epistle reading for today from 1 Corinthians 15, St. Paul  reminds us of the Gospel message on which we take our stand and by which we are saved. In our Gospel reading for today Jesus tells the story of the publican, who for all his sin, trusted in God’s mercy , and was justified, in contrast to the Pharisee, who trusted rather in his religious and good works

THE LESSON : 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Continue reading “Trinity 11 August 11, 2024 Bulletin”