It’s that time of year again, when the temperatures dip, snow covers the ground, and the wind whips around corners catching one’s breath. Whatever the outside has in store for us, the inside can still radiate warmth. This warmth comes when we gather together as families, friends and acquaintances, especially during this holiday season. We can get sidetracked with the trappings of Christmas and lose the real meaning of why we celebrate Christ’s birth. Here at Christ The King Anglican Church in Lexington, Michigan, we have placed blue invitations on doorknobs all around area homes to welcome those who may not have a church home at the present time. This is our invitation for you to come visit us, and spend the holiday celebrating God’s Ultimate Gift to a weary world, as we gather to hear the message in word and song around the Lord’s Holy Table. Christmas Eve service starts at 6:00 p.m. Our service each Sunday is at 10 a.m. The chapel is located at 6513 Lakeshore Road behind Bush’s Restaurant. If you need further information, please call us at 810.359.5517.

A small gathering to be sure, but the range of topics !!!!!

…and we went over by almost fifteen minutes.

Psalm 95 forms most of the Venite…. a stalwart of Morning Prayer, but the additions and 'poetic licence' were cause for comment.

Ezekiel as required by the Lectionary seems straightforward, but when the preceeding ten verses of the thirty-fourth chapter are read, the reading brings up questions which can be directly related to our current  Anglican/Episcopal situation .

1 Corinthians lesson is typical of 'Pauline' tangentalism.  Matthew seemed to be an appropriate way to end the Church Year and act as a reminder to encourage sharing, especially as we approach the secular hybridisation of the season.

The Collect does what it is designed to do …bring it all together.

The Collect for this Sunday set the tone for our discussion this evening, in retrospect, kinda like a sandwich cookie.

We start and end with the same thing, (top and bottom), but all the good stuff is in the middle!

From Zephaniah's prophecies of doom and gloom, through Paul's admonitions to the Thessalonians to the parable of the three servants in the Gospel of Matthew, our widely ranging disseminations gave plenty of substance to 'inwardly digest' and to 'learn' from.  More importantly, to go out and ACT upon.

Complacency is not an option!

The beauty of a free-ranging discussion time around a very basic framework is the opportunity to go off at a tangent for a while, and to return to the topic at hand, refreshed.

This evenings ramble was to Article XXIV of the '39'; our feelings were that sometimes the language need not be "understanded" if the poetry and flow can be justified. Psalm 23 and the selection from the fourth chapter of Paul's Letter to the Philippians flowed well from King James Version and added nuances which were not evident in contemporary translations of the Bible.

A Wednesday evening study, without leaving the comfort of home, is something to be experienced!

Check out the link on the right of your screen.

Our discussion this evening squeezed all kinds of meaning from the readings scheduled for this Sunday.  Grapes and Vines figure predominately, apparently they were understood then in the same way we would relate to fast-food outlets today.

An hour goes past so quickly, and the anticipation for Sunday's review and hearing those same readings in the context of the worship service builds as the week winds down.

You have a standing invitation to call in on Wednesday evenings, to listen or to participate, from the comfort of your home.  Check the link on the right for the upcoming readings.

My grandparents came from Finland,  When they arrived at Ellis Island, they adopted this great country as their own. They cared for the land, nurtured it and farmed it.  I have lived through part of that generation and now live in this generation and I am appalled by our lack of stewardship of the land.

Two weeks ago Jo and I were traveling down highway 69, then on to highway 96.  Alongside the roadside we saw the M-Dot signs that signified which group kept the two mile stretch of highway clean.  Our own men from Christ The King have a designated two mile stretch between Sheridan Line and Burns Line Road.  Here we have people walking the roadside picking up other people’s trash.  What has America come to that we can treat God’s creation like a trash heap?  What does this say about us?  Do we do the same on our own property?  Do we throw our trash on our next door neighbors property? Probably not.. but  get us into a car, where we are incognito,  drink our beverage and fast food and then toss it out the window!  We seem to have adopted sloveniness. It is a disgrace to see what we have become. If we are careless about our trash, what other things in our life are we careless about. Perhaps we can liken carelessness akin to sloth. Sloth being  spiritual laziness and one of the seven deadly sins!                              JmP

Watch your habits for they become your character, develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Temperance is not a word we hear of much these days, but the meaning of it fully does not describes man today. Temperance: Moderation, self-control, self-discipline. Almost everything we do, we have to have bigger, faster, more powerful. We have too many phones (cell), too many gas stations, too many stores, too many choices. My first experience with choices came when I entered a Toys ‘R Us store many (eons) years ago. I was with our daughter at the time. I stood in utter amazement as I walked through row after row, shelf after shelf, of ‘stuff’ piled high to the ceiling to entertain our children. This store was bigger than the high school I went to. My brain could not register the enormity of 'things' produced just for children. I left buying nothing. The swapping of Christmas gifts has become a rat race that is not remotely related to the Blessed Advent. Easter is about bunnies. Our waste is incredible. Music of inappropriate melodies suffocate the ears. Books that delight every sensory desire. Our government has enough bureaus so that in the red tape of bureaucracy, bureau number one hundred is referred back to bureau number one. We are without a doubt a people out of control. The divinely implanted powers of God got out of hand and turned from their normal uses, to servants of the flesh and the devil. Perhaps we have reached the point of no return. The truth of the matter is that when mankind fell, the effect was the loss of control. Every sin is but a natural good perverted or carried to extremes. Self-respect has turned into pride, natural appetite becomes gluttony, love degenerates into lechery, pride sinks to flattery, determination hardens into obstinacy. Temperance brings harmony to the total personality into one accord with God’s plan for the whole person. In a life directed toward moderation, there can be no place for excess. Temperance is not automatic. It is listed among the fruit of the Spirit, but it requires prayer, Bible reading, cross-bearing, hard discipline, obedience, and self-denial before it can be a fixed part of our character. One who has achieved true self-control will expect to be out of step with the world. Those given to excess will not take kindly to the temperate soul living among them. One who practices temperance will have a hard time on terranean soil as they live landlocked in a landmine of excess. JmP

Saturday CANA 2008 Council - Photo by Fr. Dalton, originally uploaded by richarddalton14.

This is a picture of the gathering in Akron, Ohio of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). Believers from across the country and a good representation traveling from Nigeria gathered to worship and work together. - Father Richard Dalton, Lexington, MI

The Smallwood Family of Four, originally uploaded by richarddalton14.

Dennis and Mollie will be a while before coming home but they are heading now in the right direction and heading homeward.

“Nevertheless,”—As if, notwithstanding all the foolishness and ignorance which David had just been confessing to God, not one atom the less was it true and certain that David was saved and accepted, and that the blessing of being constantly in God’s presence was undoubtedly his. Fully conscious of his own lost estate, and of the deceitfulness and vileness of his nature, yet, by a glorious outburst of faith, he sings “nevertheless I am continually with thee.” Believer, you are forced to enter into Asaph’s confession and acknowledgment, endeavour in like spirit to say “nevertheless, since I belong to Christ I am continually with God!” By this is meant continually upon his mind, he is always thinking of me for my good. Continually before his eye;—the eye of the Lord never sleepeth, but is perpetually watching over my welfare. Continually in his hand, so that none shall be able to pluck me thence. Continually on his heart, worn there as a memorial, even as the high priest bore the names of the twelve tribes upon his heart forever. Thou always thinkest of me, O God. The bowels of thy love continually yearn towards me. Thou art always making providence work for my good. Thou hast set me as a signet upon thine arm; thy love is strong as death, many waters cannot quench it; neither can the floods drown it. Surprising grace! Thou seest me in Christ, and though in myself abhorred, thou beholdest me as wearing Christ’s garments, and washed in his blood, and thus I stand accepted in thy presence. I am thus continually in thy favour—“continually with thee.” Here is comfort for the tried and afflicted soul; vexed with the tempest within—look at the calm without. “Nevertheless”—O say it in thy heart, and take the peace it gives. “Nevertheless I am continually with thee.” - Charles H. Spurgeon