Please mark your calendars now! We hope you will be able to join us for this time of fellowship.

More information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.

Open submission for general discussion agenda items will begin on March 15.

Clare Adele Lyons is baptized by Bishop Chuck Huckaby during the first worship service held by Saint Boniface Church in Johnson County, Indiana.

After six months of preparations, a new congregation of the Reformed Evangelical Synod of America held its first worship service on January 1, 2010, with Bishop Chuck Huckaby present to preach the Gospel, celebrate the Holy Supper, and baptize the child of the congregation’s pastor.

The new congregation, Saint Boniface Church, is focused on ministry on the south side of Indianapolis, and in the towns of Greenwood, Franklin, and Bargersville, Indiana. While the congregation is now worshipping on Sunday mornings at 10:30, it has plans to begin reaching out to the community with a series of informational meetings. The first of these meetings will be held on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at the White River Branch of the Johnson County Public Library.

Please pray for Father Lyons and his family as they seek to establish a new congregation for Christ’s Church in the midst of their community.

Olympias of Constantinople, born about 361, came to be considered a model of widows and deaconesses. Orphaned, but an heiress through her father, she married Nebridius, prefect of Constantinople. The marriage was good, but Nebridius died before very long; and Olympias, though perhaps not yet twenty years old, was left a widow. Naturally, a number of suitors were interested in marrying such a wealthy young woman. In fact, Emperor Theodosius pressed her to accept a kinsman of his own. However, Olympias declared to one and all that she intended not to remarry: “Had God wished me to remain a wife,” she said, “He would not have taken Nebridius away.” Theodosius was angry about this, and put her and her property under the guardianship of the city prefect until she was thirty. The widow then wrote to Theodosius suggesting that he go farther, and distribute her estate to the Church and the poor. That frank letter struck Theodosius. He saw that he was dealing with no ordinary young widow, but with a strongly spiritual character, so in 361 he restored her property to her.

Olympias then asked the bishop of Constantinople, Nectarius, to consecrate her as a deaconess. He did, and she established a large home where she invited other young women to reside who wished to serve God in a special way. Her community thus became in many ways like what a religious order would be in later centuries. It was a center of prayer and charity. An orphanage and a hospital were subsequently added. Olympias became admired and praised throughout the Near East for her charities: “a wonderful woman … like a precious vase filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Olympias had to suffer much along the way, however, especially because of her loyalty to John Chrysostom. John had succeeded Nectarius as bishop of Constantinople, but in 404 he was exiled by the Emperor for political reasons. Because Olympias refused to acknowledge Chrysostom’s imperially-sponsored replacement she was exiled and her house of charity was padlocked. Nonetheless, she continued to act as an agent of the absent Chrysostom, who held her in the highest admiration. She died in the year 408.

COLLECT
God of all compassion, you moved your servant Olympias to surrender herself to your service after the death of her husband, giving all that she had to minister to Christ in those whom she met. Raise up, we pray, in our own day deaconesses and widows like her, so that the needs of the less fortunate may be ministered to with compassion and love. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gustav Dore - The Nativity

Here are Christmas Prayers and readings to help you observe the Holiday Season!

Christmas Prayers & Readings

The Incarnate Word

December 18

God most high, your only-begotten Son embraced the weakness of our flesh to give us the power to become your sons and daughters; your Eternal Word chose to dwell among us so that we might live in your presence. Grant us a spirit of wisdom to comprehend the richness of the glory you have offered to us, and how great the hope is to which we are called in Jesus Christ, your Word made flesh, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ICEL)

Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a or Proverbs 8:1 – 9:12 or Jeremiah 31: 7-14

Psalm 147

1 John 1: 1-10

John 1: 1-18

The Annunciation of Saint John the Forerunner

December 19

Father, according to your plan your prophet John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of your Son, the promised Messiah.  Through your Spirit free us from doubt and despair, and help us to imitate Zechariah and Elizabeth in following your will to the glory of your name.  We make our prayer through your Incarnate Word, Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Isaiah 52: 7-10

Psalm 85

Revelation 11: 1-14

Luke 1: 5-25

The Annunciation of our Lord

to the Blessed Virgin Mary

December 20

God most high, you extended your gracious mercy to the whole human race through your Son when he took upon himself our flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. You gave him to the world as your servant, whose delight was found in doing your will. Keep the Church, his body, faithful to your purpose, that all the ends of the earth may know your saving power. Amen.

Exodus 40: 1-38 or Isaiah 7: 10-14

Psalm 40 or 45

Hebrews 10: 4-10 or Galatians 4: 4-7

Luke 1: 26-38

The Visitation of the

Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Elizabeth

December 21

Lord God, who are we that you should come to us? Yet you have visited your people and redeemed us through your Son. As we prepare to celebrate his birth, make our hearts leap for joy at the sound of your Word, and move us by your Spirit to bless your wonderful works. We make our prayer through him whose coming is certain, whose day draws near, your Son, our Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ICEL)

1 Samuel 2: 1-10 or Zephaniah 3:14-18a or Zechariah 2: 10-13

Psalm 113

Romans 12: 9-16b

Luke 1: 39-57

The Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner

December 22

God of wisdom and truth, you raise up prophets in every age. Let your Spirit, who filled John from his mother’s womb, fill us with joy as we commemorate his birth. May the example of his life, the urgency of his preaching, and the power of his prayers make us ready to receive the one he announced. We make our prayer through him whose coming is certain, whose day draws near, your Son, our Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ICEL)

Isaiah 40: 1-11

Psalm 141

Acts 13: 14b-26

Luke 1: 57-80

The Ancestors of our Lord

December 23

God of glory and mystery, here in our midst you disclose the secret hidden for countless generations. For you we wait; for you we listen. Upon hearing your voice, fill us with a spirit that is willing to follow and to embrace your will so that we may rejoice in your visitation and exalt in our redemption. We make our prayer through him whose coming is certain, whose day draws near, your Son, our Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ICEL)

Genesis 4: 1-16

Psalm 90

Hebrews 11:1 – 12:2

Matthew 1: 1-17 or Luke 3: 23b-38

The Annunciation of our Lord to Saint Joseph

December 24

Eternal God, in the psalms of David, in the words of the prophets, and in the dream of Joseph your promise is spoken. At last, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, your Word takes flesh. Teach us to welcome Jesus, the promised Emmanuel, and to preach the good news of his coming that every age may know him as the source of salvation, redemption, and grace. We make our prayer through him whose coming is certain, whose day draws near, your Son, our Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ICEL)

Micah 5: 2-5a

Psalm 89

Romans 4: 13-18

Matthew 1: 18-24

The Nativity of our Lord

December 25

Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon himself, and to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Or:

God of Abraham and Sarah, of David and his descendants, unwearied is your love for us and steadfast is your covenant; wonderful beyond words is the gift of the Savior, born of the Virgin Mary. Count us among the people in whom you delight, and by this night’s marriage of heaven and earth draw all generations into the embrace of your love. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, your Word made flesh, who lives and reigns in the splendor of eternal light with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ICEL)

Genesis 2: 4b-3:24 or Isaiah 9: 2-7

Psalm 96

Hebrews 1: 1-14 or Titus 2: 11-14

Luke 2: 1-15

Ambrose, one of the greatest leaders of the Western Church, was the son of a civil leader in Gaul. He became a lawyer and, eventually, the governor of Aemilia-Liguria, with his seat in Milan. When the city’s bishop died, the people demanded that he succeed him, even though he was still preparing for baptism. He agreed, however, and was baptized, ordained, and consecrated as bishop on December 7, 374. He was a famous preacher, a staunch defender of orthodoxy (to the extent of opposing the state to maintain freedom of the catholic faith), and skilled both at linguistics and the composition of music. He was partly responsible for the conversion of Augustine, and introduced Eastern theology to the West. He died on Holy Saturday in the year 397.

COLLECT
O God, you gave your servant Ambrose grace eloquently to proclaim your righteousness in the great congregation, and fearlessly to bear reproach for the honor of your Name. Mercifully grant to all bishops and pastors such excellence in preaching and faithfulness in ministering your Word, that your people may be partakers with them of the glory that shall be revealed. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor. He was a man of deep faith, compassionate to all, and deeply concerned with the welfare of his people. Nicholas was well known for rescuing victims of shipwreck and advocating for the safety of young children, but it is his generosity that has –for good or for ill- gained the most notoriety, particularly in modern western culture.

Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast.

In the English-speaking countries, Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.

COLLECT
Almighty God, in your love you gave your servant Nicholas of Myra a perpetual name for deeds of kindness both on land and sea. Grant, we pray, that your Church may never cease to work for the happiness of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor, and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Clement, a native of Athens, was converted to Christianity by Pantaenus, founder of the Catechetical School at Alexandria, and succeeded his teacher as head of the School about 180. For over 20 years he labored effectively as an apologist for the faith and catechist of the faithful. He regarded the science and philosophy of the Greeks as being, like the Torah of the Hebrews, a preparation for the Gospel, and the curriculum of his School undertook to give his students both a knowledge the Gospel of Christ and a sound liberal education. His speculative theology, his scholarly defense of the faith and his willingness to meet non-Christian scholars on their own grounds, helped to establish the good reputation of Christianity in the world of learning.

COLLECT
O God of unsearchable wisdom, you gave your servant Clement of Alexandria the grace to understand and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, the source of all truth. Grant to your church the same grace to discern your Word wherever truth is found. We ask this through Jesus Christ our unfailing light, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Nicholas Ferrar

After Nicholas had been ordained as a deacon, he and his family and a few friends retired to Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, England, to devote themselves to a life of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. They restored the abandoned church building, and became responsible for regular services there. They taught the neighborhood children, and looked after the health and well-being of the people of the district. They read the regular daily offices of the Book of Common Prayer, including the recital every day of the complete Psalter. (Day and night, there was always at least one member of the community kneeling in prayer before the altar, that they might keep the word, “Pray without ceasing.”) They wrote books and stories dealing with various aspects of Christian faith and practice. They fasted with great rigor, and in other ways embraced voluntary poverty, so that they might have as much money as possible for the relief of the poor.

The community was founded when Nicholas was 34. He died in 1637 (aged 45), and in 1646 the community was forcibly broken up by the Puritans of Cromwell’s army. The memory of the community survived to inspire and influence later undertakings in Christian communal living in England and beyond.

Lord God, make us worthy of your perfect love; that, with your deacon Nicholas Ferrar and his household, we may rule ourselves according to your Word, and serve you with our whole heart. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Andrew was Peter’s brother, and was called with him. John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. Little else is said about Andrew in the Gospels. Before the multiplication of the loaves, it was Andrew who spoke up about the boy who had the loaves and fishes. When the Gentiles went to see Jesus, they came to Philip, but Philip then had recourse to Andrew. Legend has it that Andrew preached in what is now Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras.

COLLECT
Almighty God, you gave such grace to your apostle Andrew that he readily obeyed the call of your Son, and brought his brother with him. Give us, who are called by your holy Word, grace to follow him without delay, and to bring those near to us into the gracious presence of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Ezekiel 3: 16-21
Psalm 19a
Romans 10: 10-18
John 1: 35-42

East Face - Cross of Muiredach

Scripture Texts:

Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16
Hebrews 10: 11-25
Mark 13:1-13

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!  Ransom – or liberate – captive Israel!  We’ve sung this song for years during Advent.  It is the mournful song of a people needing divine deliverance. But what is the liberation these people seek? What is the “big deal”?

What turns a man so zealous for Judaism that he would kill and imprison anyone who called Jesus the “Messiah” into someone who risks his life time and again and suffers beatings, whippings, starvation, and imprisonment to proclaim this same Messiah Jesus of Nazareth?

What is such Good News that overcomes our own desire to seek our own well being and seek the glory of Jesus Christ? Why do we build our lives and our calendars around the coming of Christ? It pays to know… you and I will face the Day of Judgment together and its outcome will depend on whether we have entrusted ourselves to this same Messiah! It pays to know what it’s all about! Perhaps it will even inspire you and I to give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ in gratitude for His Mercy! Wouldn’t that be amazing!

But Paul sees Jesus Christ as not just a wandering prophet from Galilee, not just as an enlightened Teacher or even a Prophet as Islam wants to say.

No Paul sees in Jesus God in the flesh, the fullness of God in human form (Col 2:9). Jesus is the One in whom all God’s promises for Israel and the world are coming true as guaranteed by Jesus’ Resurrection (2 Cor 1:20; Rom 1:3,4)

Consider the scriptures  we have read today in this light –

The prophet Daniel foretold a day of resurrection when some will rise to eternal joy and others to eternal shame. This word of prophecy came to a people enslaved… they had fallen under Gods’ Curse and send from their “Promised Land” as Deuteronomy 28 had warned them.

How can a people who were once blessed, people who received the Word of God , and now a people who were condemned to slavery and whose history is one fall from grace after another ever hope to rise to eternal joy?

It seemed as if God had given Israel a second chance – the nation was set free from exile – the Temple had been rebuilt and the sacrifices had returned to the Temple!

But something was missing.

There was still no real hope.

As Jesus walks that land, outwardly the people are blessed, but inwardly they are a people filled with hypocrisy, plagued by demons, and sick with sin.  The never ending stream of blood from the sacrifices may have made people technically “clean” to enter the Temple, but inwardly the pollution of sin remained untouched, uncleansed, not only under bondage to  the Romans, but in a spiritual bondage and slavery.

Jesus tells his disciples in Mark 13, that judgement is coming again. The Temple they consider as eternal as the world itself will be torn down to the ground (John 2:19-22). God’s true Temple – the Resurrected Christ – will become the focus of those who worship the God of the Bible “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). Their hopes will be directed to Jesus not to the Temple.

In Jesus, the liberation that set sinners free, that cast out demons, that forgave sins, is now sealed once and for all by our Lord’s death and resurrection. In that act, Jesus seals the salvation of His people and as the judgment He promises Jerusalem comes – He encourages them to keep trusting, those who persevere to the end shall be saved.

As Hebrews says:

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

“This is the new covenant I will make

with my people on that day, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he says,

“I will never again remember

their sins and lawless deeds.”

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

This is what St. Paul was willing to die for! Because in meeting the Resurrected Jesus on the Damascus Road it was evident God’s promises really were coming true in Jesus.

Suddenly God’s covenant promises in the past from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob had taken on a reality in the Risen Jesus that made all the other promises of God an inevitable certainty because death itself had been conquered in Jesus Resurrection!

Our inability to find peace with God while locked in our own sins and incapable of living by God’s Law in our own strength are finally no longer a threat to you and a threat to me because the One who HAS been faithful to God in all things has become the mercy seat, the location of God’s forgiveness infallibly achieved, for all the world who come to Him in faith!

Yes, Paul saw, Christ was the goal for which those who lived under the Law yearned! He is the One whose saving crucifixion and death defying resurrection now brings every good and perfect gift promised by God and makes it available to all who entrust themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ!

Even more- the power of death is broken and Jesus  in His ascension is reigning and He is delivering His trusting, dependent people safe to the end.

Because the promises of God have been secured, because sin’s power, pollution, and penalty are conquered in Christ for all who entrust themselves to Him, because the alienation caused by sin between Jew and Gentile can finally be healed, because all humankind can, in Christ, be transformed, there is hope for all the world… a hope for peace in Christ before the Inheriting King comes in judgment not only in Jerusalem in AD 70  but in all the world at His Second Coming (Acts 17:30-31).

Because this is true, because it is such Good News, the Apostles and Martyrs declared it without regard for their safety.  On the Celtic Cross of Muiredach,  Christ as standing as He was in Stephen’s vision (Acts 7) because they considered themselves ALL MARTYRS, to the cause of Christ in one way or another, whether the red martyrdom of those who shed their blood, or the white martyrdom of those who daily offered themselves as living sacrifices unto God (Romans 12:1,2).

When we finally understand why the Good News is called the Good News, we are free to risk trusting Jesus Christ with our lives! We can trust Him and give our lives to him because  He is the one who has conquered death and will conquer all our enemies, even death itself! While we fear giving our lives up to His Lordship,  it’s His resurrection, His forgiveness, His promise of eternal salvation that enables us to finally be free to serve Him in joy and gratitude.

What is the least that we can do in light of this Good News? The author of the Book of Hebrews has no problems speaking to people who risked becoming outcasts in their own communities – Jews living in pagan environments whose only economic lifeline is the local synagogue – and tells them this:

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

In light of Jesus’ coming, the people who cried O Come, O Come Emmanuel found the One who finally set them free to hope in God  and free to live as God’s Children by Divine Adoption (John 1:12-13;Gal 4:4-7).

His Coming guaranteed that the covenant keeping God had drawn near in His grace…but not just for His ancient people Israel but for all who would draw near to God through Him!

What does the coming of Christ into the world mean to you? Why was it important?

Most importantly, how is the Christ who fulfilled the Law of God and who fulfills all the promises of God the answer to your deepest longings?