Trinity Sunday

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come."

Lessons for Trinity Sunday: June 3rd, 2007

Isaiah 6:1-8
Revelation 4:1-11
John 16:(5-11)12-15
Psalm 29
or Canticle 2 or 13

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

June 2nd - Rummage Sale and Bake Sale
June 3rd - Bishop's Committee Meeting

STEWARDSHIP

BTO: Diocesan Christian Education
2nd Sunday: Uganda Missionary Support
3rd Sunday: Vicar’s Discretionary Fund
4th Sunday: Family Outreach
5th Sunday: Laotian Missionary Support

Pentecost Sermon

The audio file for the sermon preached on Pentecost may be heard here:


Pentecost, 2007.mp3

Bishop Duncan Interview

Episcopal Church faces ‘significant pruning’ over doctrine, bishops says

By Mike Sullivan
5/24/2007

The following is an excerpt -

Our Sunday Visitor: How do you respond when people accuse you of dividing the church?

Bishop Robert Duncan: It’s rather like a father in a family who confronts a teenager who’s acting out. And what the other members of the family say is, “Dad, don’t be so hard, you’re dividing our family.” It’s a bizarre argument, but it appeals to the modern heart and mind because it gives the modern heart and mind precisely what it wants.

That is to say, “We ought to be able to do what we want to do.” And the modern Church has no doctrine of sin and no sense of boundaries. So, I divide the church by simply saying: “Well, sin is what human beings are wired to do and from which they’ve been delivered, and the father actually has boundaries, rules and a way he wants us to live because he’s designed and called us to live that way. It’s what’s best for us.”

The other criticism that gets made is that we’re just worked up over sex. That’s not it at all. We’re actually worked up over what scripture says, and in every regard. We’ve been lax about allowing remarriages after divorce. We’ve been lax on what scripture clearly says about human life and its sanctity. We take those positions in morality because of what the word says. Because of what the Lord said. And that’s the same thing that Catholics have always done.

Our Sunday Visitor: For Catholics, the church’s doctrines are clearly defined for the faithful by the church. We know the doctrines of the faith as they are handed on to us by the popes and the magisterium. Would you comment on the basis of the authority for those in the Episcopal Church?

Bishop Robert Duncan: For Anglicans, tradition helps us to understand Scripture, but scripture is the ultimate authority, and Anglicanism as a result of [the Council of] Trent also factored in human reason.

That is to say that God had given men and women the ability to think and understand, and that reason should also be applied to the plain sense of scripture and of how you coordinate scripture and tradition as you try to live it in the present.

That understanding – that scripture is the ultimate rule and standard, mediated by tradition and by human reason – has stood intact until the very recent sort of postmodern assault where truth and words mean what you want them to mean. In fact, in the Episcopal Church now, it would be said that reason and human experience is the trump. Not scripture or tradition. And so we’re in midst of this vast battle because the basis of authority has been so altered.

To read the entire interview, see: Episcopal Church faces ‘significant pruning’ over doctrine, bishops says

The Day of Pentecost

WHITSUNDAY

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

The Lessons for Sunday, May 27, 2007

Acts 2:1-11
1 Corinthians 12:4-13
John 20:19-23
Psalm 104:25-32

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

May 28th - Memorial Day
June 2nd - Bake sale and rummage sale
June 3rd - Trinity Sunday
June 3rd - Bishop's Committee Meeting

STEWARDSHIP

BTO: Diocesan Christian Education
2nd Sunday: Uganda Missionary Support
3rd Sunday: Vicar’s Discretionary Fund
4th Sunday: Family Outreach
5th Sunday: Laotian Missionary Support

LESSONS FOR TRINITY SUNDAY: June 3rd

Isaiah 6:1-8
Revelation 4:1-11
John 16:(5-11)12-15
Canticle 13

Insight from Archbishop Gomez

AUTONOMY OR COMMUNION?: Archbishop Gomez in Central Florida

Commentary

By Canon Gary L'Hommedieu
www.virtueonline.org
5/16/2007

"Does autonomy supersede communion? Or in the interests of a common mission are we willing to subsume autonomy?"

With this rhetorical question the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Primate of the West Indies, summarized the question before the member Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion at a clergy conference of the Diocese of Central Florida gathered at the diocesan retreat center in Oviedo, Florida, outside Orlando.

The question is not exactly rhetorical. The implied answer would appear to be, well of course, the purported autonomy of an individual Province (such as the United States) cannot supersede the common mission of a worldwide Communion. That would negate the notion of "church" as a "catholic" entity. And yet, as the mild Archbishop added, "In our present situation The Episcopal Church, through the actions of its Convention, places autonomy above mission."

The Archbishop is referring to the 2006 General Convention gathered in Columbus, Ohio, where The Episcopal Church failed to "give the assurances requested in the Windsor Report" issued by the Lambeth Commission on Communion in 2004. And he is referring to the more recent statements by the American House of Bishops in their response from Camp Allen this past March to the Primates' Communique, which, the Archbishop emphasized, had received UNANIMOUS consent and assent by the Primates meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this past February. The word "autonomy" became the official battle cry of an Episcopal hierarchy under fire, now with a September 30 deadline.

It would appear that now, in the name of autonomy, The Episcopal Church is poised to throw out the missional baby with the baptismal bathwater.

His Grace, The Most Rev. Drexel Wellington Gomez, Lord Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of the Church of the West Indies & Bishop of the Diocese Of Nassau & The Bahamas (Including the Turks & Caicos Islands), did not come to Central Florida on a bash TEC tour. He doesn't fit the stereotype of a political rabble rouser. He describes himself as a lifelong Anglican, and one who has remained an Anglican by conviction.

While he sees the future of the Communion as stormy - if not catastrophic - his overriding message is one of hope. "Historically Anglicanism has made an enormous contribution to worldwide Christianity." The future of the global Anglicanism, according to the Archbishop, is twofold: Windsor, and Covenant.

"There is no question that the future of the Anglican Communion will be Windsor driven. Every Province in the Communion will have to line up under the [Windsor] Covenant. Without something like the Covenant we will continue to drift. The time has come in Anglicanism for us to agree among ourselves that we need to have a way of ordering our affairs and of holding each other accountable. We don't have it at present, and to pretend we do is foolish, because it doesn't exist."

The Archbishop used the partisan terminology of Traditionalist and Revisionist to describe the rival factions within present day Anglicanism. He insisted that he meant nothing pejorative by the use of these expressions but was merely being descriptive of the two forces competing for ideological dominance within the Communion. He introduced his remarks with his professed belief that he was "among friends" in Central Florida, adding that such was not always the case for him. His candid admission met with enthusiastic applause by participants.

Archbishop Gomez had been invited by the Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, and the Clergy Events Committee of the Diocese "to do some teaching and to discuss the shaping of the Covenant and its anticipated role in the Communion." This he did in great detail, exceeding the expectations of participants.

He began his presentation with a short Bible study on the Parable of the Sower, which he said is more correctly titled "the parable of the four soils." He listed the four types of soil in the parable: first, the hardened footpath; second, the shallow soil; third, the mixed soil; and finally, good ground. The elucidated the types in clear detail.

"Each of us has each of the types in us. We need to repent of those aspects of the first three. All of us are called by God to become the person he wants us to become, to enact God's purpose. That is the mission of the church. It is not about us, but about God."

Hardly the fiery rhetoric of someone who goes around blowing smoke.

From there the Archbishop led participants through the Report of the Covenant Design Group section by section and paragraph by paragraph. The Report, or simply "the Covenant", awaits approval by the 38 Provinces next year.

He described the Covenant as "the way forward" for global Anglicanism."The main problem in Anglicanism is the breakdown of trust." He went on: "There are Anglicans who no longer see the face of Christ in their fellow Anglicans. Trust cannot be feigned or pretended. It must come from the heart. The commitment to travel together on a common track does not exist" at present.

In spite of recent complaints by Episcopalians that an Anglican Covenant is peculiarly un-Anglican, that it represents something imposed by a Romanesque curia, the Archbishop pointed to the text of the Covenant itself as clarifying its intention:

"What is to be offered in the Covenant is not the invention of a new way of being Anglican, but a fresh restatement and assertion of the faith which we as Anglicans have received, and a commitment to inter-dependent life such as always in theory at least been given recognition."

What is missing at present is a mechanism of mutual accountability. The recent life of the Communion has demonstrated the necessity for such a mechanism to be added in order for the historic character of the Communion to continue.

In Section 3 of the draft text the Archbishop highlighted two important paragraphs. One contained what he called "the basis for an orthodox hermeneutic" of the Bible. The term "hermeneutic" has received much attention since the Primates' Meeting in Dar es Salaam this past February.

"In seeking to be faithful to God in their various contexts, each Church commits itself to ensure that biblical texts are handled faithfully, respectfully, comprehensively and coherently, primarily through the teaching and initiative of bishops and synods, and building on our best scholarship, believing that scriptural revelation must continue to illuminate, challenge and transform cultures, structures and ways of thinking."

The Archbishop explained, "Scripture must continue to speak to what is prophetic," and not the dominant culture. This contrasts with the Revisionist hermeneutic of "love" which wants to "bless" whatever the culture approves. Archbishop Gomez commented, "Love as a hermeneutic is a delusion - a self-delusion."

Archbishop Gomez' presentation was hard-hitting and illuminating throughout. The audience of diocesan clergy and lay leaders was not accustomed to frankness that was not politically charged and manipulative, after the manner of American politicians, which seems to be mimicked by leaders in the church. His criticisms of recent American Primates, including the present Presiding Bishop, were withering, but without the scorn and sarcasm his audience was accustomed to -- or perhaps even had developed a taste for.

One moment in the morning session brought the house to a standstill. In a long series of illustrations of the principle that "Covenant is making promises and keeping promises", Archbishop Gomez related how TEC has earned the distrust of the rest of the Communion. He recalled how former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold had agreed that proceeding with the consecration of Gene Robinson would "tear the fabric of the Communion at the deepest level," then thirty minutes later told a press conference that the American Church had no intention of canceling its plans to proceed with the consecration a month later.

His next illustration was the real shock. He explained that at the recent Primates' Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the Archbishop of Canterbury had broken the usual precedent of decision by consensus and required each of the Primates to stand and declare whether or not he (or she) agreed to the text of a Communique that contained the Primates' shared commitments for the future. Each of the 34 Primates said "yes" to the Communique. The American Primate, The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, said "Yes, but I'll have trouble selling it" to her fellow American bishops.

The point is, as Archbishop Gomez stressed, she said "Yes." She could have, but did not, issue a minority report. When she returned, and when the House of Bishops Convened in March, Jefferts Schori claimed she had only consented to present the text of the Communique to her bishops. She took no responsibility for agreeing to it. One of the conference participants recalled she had claimed that "she never signed it." Archbishop Gomez cut in: "None of the Primates signed it." The Primates' Communiques are never signed. Their verbal responses are taken at face value. The Presiding Bishop's public statement that she hadn't signed it would appear to be a deliberate misrepresentation of the process.

One of the diocesan clergy stood in stunned amazement, and fluttering with emotion said he didn't realize the extent to which we had been lied to. Bishop Howe stood, and with equal emotion insisted that the Presiding Bishop may very well have believed that she was agreeing to deliver the message and not that she was agreeing to the content itself, and that we should be very careful not to infer that she was lying.

Archbishop Gomez interrupted the Bishop: "Sir, that was not the question she was asked by the Archbishop." Presumably the lady Primate had been quite convincing, so that the members of her house had the same picture as the rest of us as to how agreements were expressed in Dar es Salaam.

The clergy of Central Florida reacted as if they had heard about the Primates' Meeting for the first time. This tiny detail made the prior accounts of the Meeting seem like hearsay. A fog had lifted. The Archbishop's message about a breakdown of trust was not simply a political tactic, used to weaken the position of an adversary. It was shockingly real. It was not a "tasty morsel", the kind which titillates gossipers. The response was shock and grief.

The Archbishop had brought a clarity to Central Florida and to the American church that was shocking in that those who heard him had forgotten how long it had been since they had heard simple truth. Facts, even when they are sobering, can be inspiring and bracing. Hope at a way forward, even amongst unimaginable odds, seemed tangible and real. We realized that we have been awash in conflicting whirlpools of spin. Not everyone has been out to deceive us. But those who would help us parse out the truth have themselves been deceived - and have not known it.

The presence of one humble man, whose commitments are clear, whose assumptions about the truth are stated up front, whose love for something greater than himself or his own cause or faction, had an electrifying effect on a bewildered and discouraged clergy - many of whom shared his particular theological commitments at the outset.

The way forward will be long and hard. If the American church is "isolated" from the rest of the Anglican Communion (to use Gomez' term) after September 30, other Revisionist Provinces will follow - not as a unified body or a political block, but as fragments eroding off the main body. The impact upon the Anglican Communion as it is reconstituted will be devastating. God's mission will have been diminished, if not squandered. But a robust Anglicanism will redouble its strength. Those portions of the Communion that thrive on mission and evangelism will continue their present explosive growth. After all, they have a message of life to their communities and culture. Those portions that rest on the laurels of an earlier triumphalism will jump in at the head of the parade of the secular culture, without noticing that the culture itself is headed toward an abyss. They will be the dead left to bury the dead.

"The Episcopal Church has to decide whether or not it will go with the rest of the Communion or whether it will go by itself. There are Revisionists and Traditionalists. It is quite clear now that the Revisionists are in the majority. The Traditionalists have to decide, do we continue in this group or go another way," said Archbishop Gomez. "Global Anglicanism will not be led by Akinola. He only has a few years left to retirement." The question before Traditionalists, according to the Archbishop: "How do I maintain contact and structural alignment with global Anglicanism?" He did not answer that question.

American Traditionalists have been waiting for someone else to answer that question for them. If God is judging the Western Church and allowing it to disintegrate, perhaps he is also judging the orthodox for their passivity. Perhaps he is waiting to empower them to embrace, to rejoice in, the truth - what might otherwise be called, the strength of one's convictions.

To repeat Archbishop Gomez' refrain: "There is no question that the future of The Anglican Communion will be Windsor driven."

---The Rev. Canon J. Gary L'Hommedieu is Canon for Pastoral Care at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, Florida, and a regular columnist for VirtueOnline.

The Seventh Sunday of Easter

The Sunday After Ascension Day

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

The Lessons for Sunday, May 20, 2007

Acts 16:16-34
Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20
John 17:20-26
Psalm 47 [or 68:1-20]

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Announcements

• Dates to keep in mind:

May 20th - Celebration of Holy Baptism & a brief Bishop's Committee Meeting
May 27th - Pentecost
May 28th - Memorial Day
June 2nd - Bake sale and rummage sale
June 3rd - Trinity Sunday

Last Sunday's Sermon and notes may be seen and heard below:

Sermon from May 13, 2007

• Next Sunday’s lessons: Pentecost

Acts 2:1-11

1 Corinthians 12:4-13

John 20:19-23

Psalm 104:25-32

• Stewardship

BTO: Diocesan Christian Education
2nd Sunday: Uganda Missionary Support
3rd Sunday: Vicar’s Discretionary Fund
4th Sunday: Family Outreach
5th Sunday: Laotian Missionary Support

Statement from Fort Worth

The following statement from the Diocese of Fort Worth provides an excellent summary of recent events between The Episcopal Church and the Archbishops of the Anglican Communion:

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Statement of Fort Worth's Standing Committee & Executive Council

DIOCESE REAFFIRMS PURSUIT OF APO

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Executive Council of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth has adopted a statement of the diocesan Standing Committee calling for the diocese to move forward with its appeal for Alternative Primatial Oversight (APO).

The Bishop and Standing Committee of the diocese first appealed for APO at the General Convention in June 2006. That appeal was endorsed by the diocesan Executive Council in September 2006 and by the Diocesan Convention in November 2006. The Bishop and diocese remain firmly convinced of the need for alternative oversight; therefore, the Standing Committee, meeting Monday, May 14, adopted the following statement as an assessment of the current situation and a proposal to actively pursue all viable options. It was adopted by the Executive Council in its regular bimonthly meeting. The mood of the council was both thoughtful and sad, yet it was considered prudent to "explore the possibilities and count the costs." According to the Constitution of the diocese, the Executive Council "exercises the powers of the Convention between meetings thereof."

The text of the statement is as follows:

Where are we with the appeal for Alternative Primatial Oversight?

When the Diocese of Fort Worth first appealed for APO at the General Convention in June 2006, it was hoped that a special pastoral relationship could be established with an orthodox primate, in the interest of preserving unity and fostering mission, in the face of an impaired relationship with the newly elected Presiding Bishop. The original appeal was made in good faith and was directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates of the Communion and the Panel of Reference. (Subsequently, it was decided not to approach the Panel of Reference about this in light of other pressing cases already before it.)

As seven other dioceses made similar appeals during the course of the summer, it was agreed to combine them into one appeal, asking the Archbishop of Canterbury to appoint a commissary who would act on his behalf, providing a special primatial relationship with the appellant dioceses. He arranged a summit in New York in September with interested parties to discuss the matter in an attempt to come up with "an American solution to an American problem." This meeting failed to reach an agreement, with the PB-elect claiming that she has no primatial oversight of TEC dioceses and cannot therefore give to another what she does not have. Subsequently, representatives from the appellant dioceses met in November with the steering committee of the Global South Primates to present their requests for APO. This meeting ended with the assurance that they would respond with a plan to address the expressed needs of the appellant dioceses.

On November 18, 2006, the Fort Worth Diocesan Convention voted overwhelmingly in support of the APO request that the Bishop and Standing Committee had made in June. A second New York meeting was held later that month, but none of the appellant bishops attended because no proposal had been made for discussion. This meeting ended with the Presiding Bishop offering a plan for a Primatial Vicar, to be appointed by her and accountable to her. The appellant bishops rejected the proposal as unacceptable.

The APO requests were presented to the Primates' Meeting in Dar es Salaam in February 2007. At the conclusion of the meeting, a Communiqué was issued that proposed the establishment of a Pastoral Council, which would oversee the ministry of a Primatial Vicar, to be selected by the Windsor Bishops coalition and be accountable to the Council. This plan was rejected by the House of Bishops at their March meeting at Camp Allen even though their approval was not sought. Nothing further has been heard about this from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Every attempt to find "an American solution to an American problem" has failed. Following the two meetings in New York and the House of Bishops' rejection of the Primates' proposed Pastoral Council at their March meeting, it now seems clear that there is no desire on the part of the present TEC leadership to provide an acceptable form of Alternative Primatial Oversight within The Episcopal Church.

The Presiding Bishop of this church has refused to accept the key recommendations of the Windsor Report, has failed to seek implementation of the essential requests of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué, and has denied basic tenets of the teaching of the New Testament. By her statements and actions, the course she wishes to pursue is clear: to lead TEC to walk apart from the Anglican Communion. This is a course we cannot follow. For all these reasons and others, we do not wish to be affiliated with her, nor with anyone she may appoint or designate to act on her behalf.

So where does this leave the Diocese of Fort Worth's appeal for APO?

While we remain open to the possibility of negotiation and some form of acceptable settlement with TEC, it appears that our only option is to seek APO elsewhere. This may entail a cooperative effort with other appellant dioceses in consultation with Primates of the Anglican Communion, to form a new Anglican Province of the Communion in North America. A second possibility would be for the diocese to transfer to another existing Province of the Anglican Communion. A third possibility would be to seek the status of an extra-provincial diocese, under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as presently recognized in several other cases.

We believe that we must now explore these possibilities.

The Bishop and the Standing Committee

Sermon from May 13, 2007

This link will open an audio file:

6 Easter, 5-13-07 (Mother's Day).mp3


The following notes correspond to the sermon:

Revelation 21 and 22

The New Heaven and New Earth demonstrate:

1. [21.3] The Presence of God: dwelling with men

2. [21.4] The Comfort of God: no tears

3. [21.6] The Fullness of God: Alpha and Omega

4. [21.16] The Hospitality of God: New Jerusalem

5. [21.25] The Openness of God: Gates never shut

6. [21.27] The Righteousness of God: nothing false

7. [22.1] The Generosity of God: welling up to eternal life

8. [22.2] The Bounty of God: 12 months of fruitfulness

9. [22.2] The Healing of God: leaves for healing the nations

10. [22.3] The Purity of God: nothing accursed (contrast abomination of desolation)

11. [22.4] The Intimacy of God: we’ll see his face – his name on us

12. [22.5] The Safety & Certainty of God: No night lights

13. [22.6] The Trustworthiness of God: His words are true

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

The Lessons for Sunday, May 13, 2007
Acts 14:8-18
Revelation 21:22-22:5
John 14:23-29
Psalm 67

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Announcements

Happy Mother's Day!

• Dates to keep in mind:

May 17th - Ascension Day (no service)
May 19th - Michael & Nicole’s wedding
May 20th - Holy Baptism & Bishop's Committee Meeting
May 27th - Pentecost
May 28th - Memorial Day
June 2nd - Bake sale and rummage sale
June 3rd - Trinity Sunday

• Next Sunday’s lessons: 7 Easter

Acts 16:16-34
Revelation 22:12-14,16-17, 20
John 17:20-26
Psalm 47 – BCP 650

• Stewardship

BTO: Diocesan Christian Education
2nd Sunday: Uganda Missionary Support
3rd Sunday: Vicar’s Discretionary Fund
4th Sunday: Family Outreach
5th Sunday: Laotian Missionary Support

Sermon of May 6, 2007

The audio file for last Sunday's sermon may be heard at the link below. The primary text is Revelation 19, a portion of which may be read from the links in the previous posting for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, below.

5 Easter, 5-6-07.mp3

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

The Lessons for Sunday May 6, 2007

Acts 13:44-52
Revelation 19:1,4-9
John 13:31-35
Psalm 145 or 145:1-9

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

• Dates to keep in mind:

May 13th - Mothers' Day
May 17th - Ascension Day
May 19th - Michael & Nicole’s wedding
May 20th - Holy Baptism & Bishop's Committee Meeting
May 27th - Pentecost
May 28th - Memorial Day
June 2nd - Bake sale and rummage sale
June 3rd - Trinity Sunday

• Next Sunday’s lessons: 6 Easter

Acts 14:8-18
Revelation 21:22-22:5
John 14:23-29
Psalm 67 – BCP 675

• Stewardship

Please use envelopes to note special offerings.
BTO Diocesan Christian Education
2nd Sunday Uganda Missionary Support
3rd Sunday Vicar’s Discretionary Fund
4th Sunday Family Outreach
5th Sunday Laotian Missionary Support