All Saints’
The Weekly WWW.ALLSAINTSCARMEL.ORG
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost •August 18, 2013
God’s Extraordinary Hospitality in Community By The Rev. Rick Matters
Andrea and I enjoyed a wonderful and diverse vacation, which began with a family reunion on Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in honor of my mother’s eighty-fifth birthday. In contrast to this family gathering, we camped and hiked in Lassen Volcanic National Park, with its pristine beauty and awe-inspiring features. Whether singing Happy Birthday, jet skiing, photographing a moose and her calf, or hiking to the alpine Lake Crumbaugh, we were greeted by God. As God declares through the prophet Jeremiah, “Am I a God near by...and not a God far off?...Do I not fill heaven and earth?” The God who is always and everywhere present is the trinitarian God whose nature it is to donate self and receive the other two members of the Trinity. The hospitality of God in which we participate in our community today is
embodied in the risen body of Jesus. It is he who extends the welcome, “Come to me.”
Scripture Lessons Today Jeremiah 23:23-29 Psalm 82 Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Luke 12:49-56
Scripture Lessons for Next Week Isaiah 58:9b-14 Psalm 103:1-8 Hebrews 12:18-29 Luke 13:10-17
Recommendation:
Releasing the Power of Community By Greg Troxell
Kevin Phillips, who was a rector I served once, wrote a wonderful book explaining a model that helps individuals and communities grow together. The model is based on the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. In the book, Kevin asks, “What is happening to our community-building practices that were once common knowledge among our elders? Are we so caught is up in the next new thing that we are losing what we value most...” The book explores the Hebrew experience and proposes that the Decalogue holds great promise to an age when community is fading, You can order the book from his website: http://together-growing.com/resources/books/
All Saints’ • The Weekly
A God Nearby
Highlighted Events and Meetings
By Robin Denney
AUGUST 20
Finance Committee Meeting
“Am I a God nearby says the Lord and not a God far off?” When posed with this question we know the answer, we answer readily that God is in fact near to us. Yet do we accept this amazing gift of community with God? What does it mean to live in the extraordinary hospitality of being in community with God? That offer of closeness, that community that God welcomes us into is not something we can deserve, it is something we open ourselves to, it is something we must day by day commit ourselves to. It is a community that we are part of with all other believers and with God. It is a community of relationship that must be fed daily through prayer, through opening ourselves to the very nearby presence of our God who gives us the strength and love we need each moment. God is near to us, but it is up to each one of us to make God dear to us.
AUGUST 21
Friends of St. Benedict
AUGUST 23
I-HELP Dinner
AUGUST 28
Vestry Meeting
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For Love’s Sake By Greg Troxell
My own children, now grown, heard me say, “learn the lesson while the discipline is light.” My desire was that my children would hear wise counsel and then fashion their lives accordingly. If they wandered into wrong, I hoped that it would take only a loving embrace or gentle word to change their behavior or attitude, but if it took more, then I was willing to provide the discipline needed because I love my children. The history of humanity is much the same towards God — rebelling and disobeying his commands and resisting God’s love. Like some children, sometimes we resent divine discipline and rules, forgetting they were an expression of God’s concern, commitment and constant love. What might it take for us to learn to delight in God’s law, to treasure time with the Savior, to love God so much that we have the fortitude to resist that which proves to distance us from a joyful relationship with the Father? “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” — Heb 12:1a
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All Saints’ • The Weekly
The Hospitality of Peace By The Rev. Rick Matters
Jesus’s message in today’s Gospel seems to foretell such violence as we witnessed in Egypt this past week. The “day of rage” called for by the Muslim Brotherhood pits household against household. Before the Friday of rage began, there were already 638 dead. Is such division consistent with the mission of our Lord? What fire has the Prince of Peace brought to the earth? Are we comfortable with its immolation? The division that Jesus brings is between those who perpetuate the economy of violence we see tragically repeated in Egypt and those who follow the way of his cross. Perhaps our country’s best choice is prudent violence, in contrast to the tragic escalating violence in Egypt. Perhaps, but Jesus offers an alternative of peace. He encountered the economy of violence on the cross, and transformed it into a symbol of God’s self-giving peace, even if we are divided on whether or not to follow his lead.
God’s Extraordinary Joy By The Rev. Rick Matters
The epistle lesson today includes the following invitation: “Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” The phase that catches my imagination defines Jesus’s motivation for enduring the cross as “the joy that was set before him.” The joy set before Jesus was to serve as a portal through which God transforms life and death into joyful resurrection. Through his obedience to the higher order of self-emptying and lifegiving love, Jesus extends to us the joy and peace that pass all understanding. The Church becomes the community that not only shares the joy of new life, but becomes a portal through which this joy is made available to others. How might our experience of All Saints’ be transformed by participating in Jesus’s motivation of sharing with others the joy that is set before us?
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Announcements Wednesday: Bible study from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. in Grant Hall. Saturday: Women’s Retreat, Building a Sacred Space—Join Mother Cynthia this Saturday, August 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at our Santa Lucia campground. The $15 registration includes snacks and presentations; bring a bag lunch. RSVP to Mother Cynthia at thevicarofbigsur@gmail.com. Next Sunday: last chance for Summer Choir! Join Todd at 10:00 a.m. in the music room to learn a fun and easy anthem. All are welcome! Ministry Volunteers—There are several ministry teams that need more volunteers including: the church office, altar guild, greeters, hospitality, kitchen, and youth teams. The time commitment and talents for each varies. Please contact Greg Troxell for more information by sending an email to gtroxell@allsaintscarmel.org.
All Saints’ Episcopal Parish Ninth and Dolores PO Box 1296 Carmel, CA 93921 Phone: 831-624-3883 Fax: 831-624-1459 www.allsaintscarmel.org
Healthy Saints Hikes—Saturday, September 7, at Elkhorn Slough we’ll enjoy easy hiking from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. along a variety of trails. There is an admission fee of $4; no dogs are allowed. Bring a picnic lunch, camera, sunglasses, sunscreen, water, comfortable shoes, and a jacket. Carpools will leave from both Santa Lucia Mission at 8:30 a.m. or from All Saints’ at 9:00 a.m.. The following hike will be on Tuesday, September 24, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at Andrew Molera State Beach. Contact Mother Cynthia at thevicarofbigsur@ gmail.com if you plan to attend either of these hikes. Ministry of hospitality—You’re invited to open your home to a participant at the September 27-29 Festival of Christian Spirituality. All meals will be provided at the festival. If you have a spare room and would like to participate in this ministry, please contact Father Rick or the parish office.
Volunteers needed to “Raise the Barn”— Beginning September 16 to 20 and continuing for several weeks, we will build a multipurpose shed at Santa Lucia Mission, Big Sur. It will house a food pantry and washer/dryer, provide mission storage, and even give shelter for services during inclement weather. Helpers are needed to do carpentry and to donate, prepare, and/or serve lunch and snacks. A list of items needed is posted on our website: http://www. allsaintscarmel.org/2013/08/outreach-inbig-sur/. Please contact Mother Cynthia (thevicarofbigsur@gmail.com) if you can help support the Big Sur ministry in this way. So far, the average Sunday attendance is fourteen! Sunday handout deadline—To be included in next Sunday’s handout, your announcement must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. on the preceding Wednesday. Most special parish events are included in the announcements for three weeks before they occur. Contact Andrea Matters at andreamatters@gmail.com or 624-3090.