Saint Brendan Anglican Church
Announcements
Holy Week
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
Holy Week
- Palm Sunday - Liturgy of the Palms & Holy Eucharist - March 16, 10 am - On Palm Sunday we re-enact Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the waving of palm branches. The Gospel takes us through the events leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion and we end in a somber tone as we enter Holy Week
- Maundy Thursday - Holy Eucharist with Footwashing - March 20, 7 pm - The name Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word mandatum (mandate) and refers to John 13:34: “a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.” The liturgy commemorates the Last Supper. Two distinct features of the liturgy are 1) the shared ministry of foot washing, recalling the ministry of Jesus to his disciples on the eve of his death, and 2) the ceremonial stripping of the altar, preparing for the barrenness of Good Friday. It is our tradition at St. Brendan’s to share our bounty with others who are suffering during Holy Week. The Maundy Thursday plate income and designated checks will go to Hands on Housing.
- Prayer Vigil - follows Maundy Thursday service. The Maundy Thursday “watch” is a tradition of prayer based on the story in which Jesus, having asked his disciples to “stay awake with me” in the Garden of Gethsemane, finds them sleeping. In Matthew’s gospel, we are told that after finding them, “Jesus said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’” Our watch extends from the end of the Maundy Thursday service until the Good Friday service for any who wish to share in this opportunity for prayer and reflection. Sign up is not necessary; the chapel will be open for you to keep watch for an hour.
- Good Friday - Good Friday Liturgy - March 21, 7 pm - This Liturgy is a continuation of Maundy Thursday, continuing the commemoration as we re-enact and participate in the drama, culminating in death, which Christ endured in Jerusalem. The mood of the Church during this time is somber, repentant, and desolate.
- Easter Sunday - A festive Eucharist celebrates the Resurrection on March 23 at Sunrise - 6 am
Hands on Housing Project - April 26
Monday, March 10th, 2008
On April 26, the members of St. Brendan’s will minister to the needy by our participation in the renovation of another home here in greater Austin.
Smaller mission parishes have something in common, and that something is often a feeling of not being big enough, not having enough resources to make a difference in ministry to a community. We have found a way to overcome that sense (or excuse) of being too small to make a difference.
In Austin, the Hands on Housing ministry is overseen by Austin Area Interreligious Ministries. Hands on Housing is dedicated to providing essential volunteer-based home repair services to the marginalized in our society - the elderly, the poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled. This ministry is the largest volunteer home repair effort in Austin. We repair and revitalize homes for homeowners that cannot afford to do needed repairs and thus enable them to remain in their own homes.
The typical client served is over 70 years old living on less than $10,000 per year in a home he/she owns and loves but cannot maintain. The clients are often approached to sell their homes but they do not want to leave the home they love and have lived in for often well over 20 years. Our repair efforts enable them to remain in their homes in safety and dignity.
While making such repairs, we help build relationships across social and geographic boundaries. Working with others, we help our neighbors in need. It is wonderfully satisfying to be united with other faith communities to foster respect, partnership and transformation in service of the common good. We, the small, are called to be, and can be instruments of His transforming love.
An Holy Week and Easter Blessing
Monday, March 10th, 2008
May you find in Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, a companion for your journey, a sure ground for your hopes, the peace that passes understanding and the joy that life is eternal.
Christ-Centered Fiction - Worth the read!
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
At the prompting of a Missionary Society of Saint John brother Priest, I went against my mind’s poor image of all Christian fiction and recently completed The Shack. My apprehension was a carry-over from the “Left Behind” series and my presumption that Christian fiction could never be done well.
This new Christian novel was suggested with many warnings - those of the “this is not the typical Christian fiction you are used to” type. Here is what is on the back cover of William P. Young’s novel:
Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness. Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.
Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.
In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
I too, want you to read this book. Finally, Christian fiction worthy of the title. It challenges your thoughts, it gets you “out of your box” and draws you to your ultimate center - Jesus Christ.
Eugene Peterson said this about The Shack, “When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!”
Michael W. Smith said, The Shack is the most absorbing work of fiction I’ve read in many years. My wife and I laughed, cried and repented of our own lack of faith along the way. The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God.”
Theologically this book is challenging; there are times where the author sounds almost universal in regards to religion, but I assure you something in this book will grip your soul and twist it. Something in this book will make you rethink your walk and evaluate your faith. It makes you ask questions, search scripture, and begin to trench the depths of your core beliefs - what I believe a true “Christian novel” should do. Along with facing your fears and the tragedies of this life, you may find yourself reluctantly not wanting to put this book down. This is more than a quick read, a light devotional, this book has the potential to take you to new places in your faith.
Go out and buy a copy today and then share one with a friend.
