October 30, 24th Sunday after Pentecost
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 9:27AM Daily Scripture Readings; bookofcommonprayer.net/daily_office.php
See the different options. There is full morning and evening prayer. There is also the option of the readings only. There is also an app for receiving the daily readings by email, or on a mobile device
Sunday Scripture Readings: bookofcommonprayer.net/lectionary.php
Set it for 1979 Contemporary, and the Bible version used in Church is Revised Standard Version
All Saints Day and it’s surroundings
This year the Feast of All Saints and the other observances surrounding it falls on days of the week that make it strange to write about for By Way of Reminder. So, we’ll put articles about them in today as a way of our getting prepared for them.
October 31, Eve of All Hallows Halloween
All Hallows is the full name for Halloween. It means All Hallows Eve, the day before All Saints Day. The fun of Halloween is an expression of the Christian faith’s conviction that Christ has vanquished all the powers of evil through his death and resurrection. You can read references to this in St. Paul’s Letters to the Ephesians and Colossians. He talks about Christ conquering all the “principalities and powers” and subduing them to the rule of the Father. So things that used to frighten people to death, ghosts etc. have been reduced by Christ’s victory to clowns and playthings. Christians have nothing to be afraid of.
November 1, All Saints Day
From its earliest days, the Church has recognized as its foundation stones those heroes of the faith whose lives have excited others to holiness and have assumed a communion with the Church on earth and the Church in heaven. Celebrating the Feast of All Saints began in the fourth century. At first it was observed on the Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost; this was to link the disciples who received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the foundation of the Church, with those who were martyrs, giving their lives as witnesses for the faith. In the eighth century, a pope dedicated a chapel to All Saints in St. Peters at Rome on November 1 and within a century this day was being observed in England and Ireland as "All Saints Day."
November 2 All the Faithful Departed
All Souls' Day
The commemoration of all the faithful departed (commonly known as All Souls' Day) on the day following All Saints' Day began as a monastic custom at the great abbey of Cluny. Under the influence of Abbot Odilo, who in 998 ordered its observance in Cluniac houses, the custom gradually spread until by the 13th Century it was universal throughout the Western Church. The medieval rite contained the famous sequence Dies Irae. Althought the observance did not survive the liturgical changes of the Reformation, it was restored in the proposed English 1928 Book of Common Prayer, largely in response to the huge weight of grief following the First World War. In recent years it has become increasingly customary to hold a service (either this day or at this season) for all the bereaved. In a society that has largely abandoned traditional patterns of mourning, the opportunity to express grief continues to have a valued place in the ministry of the Church in order to acknowledge the hard and painful reality of death, but "in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." In the words of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission: "The believer's pilgrimage of faith is lived out with the mutual support of all the people of God. In Christ all the faithful, both living and departed are bound together in a communion of prayer.
Our custom at COA is to combine both All Saints and All Souls on the First Sunday of November when celebrate the Sunday of All Saints
All Saints Day Remembrance
On Sunday we will have out the sign up sheets for people to write the names of loved ones they would like to have remembered in the Eucharistic Prayer on the Sunday of All Saints. The Sunday of All Saints will be November 6. Feel free to put names on the sheets. There is one for each of our Sunday liturgies.
Coffee Hour: November and December Sign Up Sheet
The new sign up sheet for Coffee Hour for November and December will be out on the table this next Sunday.
For the Rest of October
Volunteers Needed: Sunday October 30, 10:15 Liturgy
Annual Giving Begins
Church of the Angels Annual Giving for 2017
Annual Giving for 2017 has begun. We ask everyone to make a pledge of financial support for our parish life for the year to come. .
Bill Wood’s Comments Last Sunday
As has become a TRADITION, TRADITION, TRADITION! TRADIONNNNNNNNNN
Bill Woods spoke to both the 7:45 and 10:15 congregations about the Church’s finances. He emphasized the good things that have happened this year, particularly in our relationship with Hillsides and how we’re ahead of where we are last year in movie income. Bill invited everyone to join in and help out in supporting our really good parish.
The Four Fields of Christian Giving: Annual Giving is one of the Four Fields of Christian Giving, the four different ways Christian people support the life and ministry of the Body of Christ, of which every baptized person is a vital and irreplaceable part
Annual Giving: A commitment of regular financial support that sustains the parish year by year.
Mission Giving: Making financial gifts beyond the parish for building the Kingdom of God through works of mercy and assistance to those in need through Episcopal Relief and Development, the Salvation Army, Hillsides Home, or other Church or secular organizations.
Capital Giving: Giving to improve, support, or expand the Church’s infrastructure.
Legacy Giving: Making a provision for the Church in one’s estate planning so that one’s giving extends beyond their life time. This is so those who come after us may have resources to continue the Church’s life and work, just as we have had resources from legacy gifts of those who came before us. (Church of the Angels is itself a Legacy Gift)
Preparing for Advent: Three Things
Advent will be upon us sooner than we think. So we have three things coming up to help us prepare.
Year of Grace Calendars.
The Year of Grace Calendars for the Christian Year which begins on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, will be available for purchase on Sunday. They come in three sizes: Laminated Poster, which is great for hanging on your refrigerator door, Laminated Notebook size which is 11 x 17, and Paper Notebook size. An envelope will be available for checks and cash.
Advent Event:
Following the 10:15 Liturgy on Sunday November 20
The First Sunday of Advent is November 27. To help us prepare for Advent we will have the Advent Event on the Sunday of Christ the King, November 20.
Advent Potluck, Advent Wreath Making
The Sign Up Sheet for the Potluck and Wreath Making will be on the table outside Church on Sunday.
Altar Flowers for 2017
This Sunday we’ll begin taking sign ups for Altar Flowers for 2017. See the Sign Up Sheet on the table outside Church on Sunday.
Das Boot: If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but if it is…..
Two things cropped up this week.
1. The Sprinkler System. At the end of the summer we had the sprinkler system repaired and modified to use less water but water the lawn more effectively. One part of the lawn that has always been difficult to keep is the section by the split rail fence next to Church Street. Tru-Green came in last week to aerate the lawns and over seed them with fescue. We had them especially seed all the bare areas and this large one as well. The sprinklers for this section have low pressure and so we’re trying to diagnose it and correct it. As we go to press, we haven’t solved the probem.
2. Outside Lights. One half of the new LED floods that illumine the front of the Church at night are not working. These fixtures are supposed to last 15-20 years, but it’s only been 2. So, we’ll get the installer back and see what’s going on.
Food For Thought
On the Food For Thought Table this Sunday an article from The New York Times Book Review, “Battle Hymns of the Republic.: This is a review of a new book entitled “Getting Religion: Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama” It was written by Kenneth Woodward who for 38 years was the Religion Editor of Newsweek. The book is made of many of the articles and columns he wrote during this time and it traces how American Christianity interacted with the surrounding forces in the culture from that time until now.
Emmaus Road: Monday October 31, 7:00 p.m.
We continue reading Fr. James Martin’s book Between Heaven and Mirth. Fr. Martin has been a favorite author for the Emmaus Road Group. We’ve read his books, The Jesuit Guide to Everything, Jesus, and My Life with the Saints. The book is available from Amazon. We will read the Introduction and Chapter 6 & 7. The discussion is wide ranging and not just about the book. Please join in, you might like it.