Regul Vite The Prish Mgzine of Sint Pul s Anglicn Church 7200 N. Wickhm Rd., Melbourne, FL 32940 vol. 1, issue 2 november 2018 To the Fithful of Sint Pul s Church, In This Issue As Advent quickly pproches, we should be prepring ourselves for the strt of the new Church yer. During Advent, we prepre ourselves for the coming of Our Lord. We do this in three wys: (1) We prepre for His birth s we nticipte the celebrtion of Christms (the Christ-Mss); (2) we prepre for His Second Coming to judge the quick nd the ded, s we confess in the Creed; nd (3) we prepre for His coming to us in the Euchristic Mystery by entering together into seson of gret devotion nd pryer. The liturgicl color for the Seson of Advent is Violet. This helps us to remember tht Advent is ment to be time of contrition nd repentnce; it is ment to be time to exmine our herts nd to prepre them for the Coming Lord. My God grnt us the grce to hve fruitful Seson of Advent so tht we my be prepred s good nd fithful servnts when Our Lord comes to us this Christms, in the unknown future s our Judge, nd t every Mss s our spritul food, the Bred from Heven. thnksgiving dinner The Lord be with you, Tyler W. Phss Vicr The Themes of the Lectionry p.2. The Liturgicl Yer p.4. Upcoming Events November 17th 4:30pm potluck luncheon December 2nd 11:15m christms dinner December Dte TBD
vol. 1, issue 2 november 2018 The Themes of the Lectionry The Rev d Tyler W. Phss O ne of the gretest ssets of the Church is the lectionry. This is not lwys self-evident, however. Dy fter dy nd week fter week, the Church reds ssigned portions of the Holy Scriptures known s lections. These lections cuse us to experience the life of Our Lord, since they re the inspired words of divine reveltion. They lso mke cler to us the dogms nd doctrines of Christ s most holy religion. Furthermore, the lectionry unites Christins one to nother in wy tht trnscends both time nd spce; it does so by plcing us in liner trdition of common pryer nd worship with the whole people of God. The trdition of using n estblished lectionry for the public reding of the Scriptures is very ncient prctice, one tht predtes even Christinity itself. When we red from the lectionry, we follow in the steps of our forefthers. The use of the lectionry is so ncient tht it even links us to the worship prctices of the fithful people of God who lived centuries before the Incrntion of Our Lord. From the texts of Holy Scripture, we lern tht the use of lectionry ws prcticed in the syngogue nd temple worship of the Jewish people. Jesus himself even red the Scriptures from lectionry, s we re told in Luke 4:17, 20-21: And there [in the syngogue] ws delivered unto him [Jesus] the book of the prophet Esis...And he closed the book, nd he gve it gin to the minister, nd st down. And the eyes of ll them tht were in the syngogue were fstened on him. And he begn to sy unto them, This dy is this scripture fulfilled in your ers. In the bove text from Sint Luke s Gospel, Jesus receives the ppointed text to be red on tht dy of worship, reds it, nd teches the people through preching on the sme. This pttern is still followed tody by our ministers who first discern which text is to be red from the lectionry, red the ssigned text in the presence of the people, nd then proceed to prech upon the techings of the sme. pge 2
The Themes of the Lectionry It is importnt to note tht the ppointed texts of the lectionry re not rndom or loosely relted to one nother, but rther, re crefully chosen so s to construct the mny themes tht together mke up the gretest theme of the Church: the Liturgicl Yer. Often times, when we pry the Dily Office or go to Mss, we miss out on the themtic rrngement of the lections tht re red. This is to our gret disdvntge. Even though it cn be difficult to discern t times, nd quite frnkly, requires bit of work on our prt, we ought to spend both time nd effort reflecting on the lectionry nd its themes. Some wys to go bout utilizing nd developing this beneficil prctice is to either think bout how the Gospel nd Epistle lessons relte to one nother ech Sundy or by thinking bout how the theme of ech Sundy reltes to the themes of the preceding nd following Sundys. As Members of the One Body of Christ, it is importnt for us to remember tht the Bible belongs to the Church s One Body, nd not just to individul members tht mke up body. We must never think tht the Bible belongs to us s individuls, so s to empower ech mn with the uthority of privte interprettion. As Sint Peter reminds us,...no prophecy of the scripture is of ny privte interprettion (2 Peter 1:20; KJV). Likewise, we must never think tht the Bible belongs only to some of the members of the Body, so s to neglect the importnce of ctholic consent within the One Body. We must lwys red, mrk, lern, nd inwrdly digest the Holy Scriptures in the One, Holy, Ctholic, nd Apostolic Church. Every dy, through the words of the Creed, we confess our belief in the Communion of Sints. Ech dy s we mke tht confession, my we reflect not only on how we re connected to the sints through the Scrments nd the Liturgy but lso through the themtic medition upon nd dogmtic interprettion of the Scriptures mde vilble to us through the Lectionry. pge 3
vol. 1, issue 2 november 2018 The Liturgicl Yer Theodore Stylinopoulos orthodoxchristin.info/pges/lit_yer.htm T he liturgicl yer is wy of discipline in pryer, pttern of worship, n nchor of support for the life of the Church. But it lso hs deeper significnce. The lte George Florovsky, n eminent Orthodox theologin of blessed memory, hs tught us tht worship is response to the cll of God who hs lredy mde known His redeeming love to us through decisive events culminting in the person nd ministry of Jesus Christ. Worship hs two mjor spects: remembrnce (nmnesis which mens not only historicl remembrnce but lso re-living the events commemorted) nd thnksgiving (including prise nd doxology). Thus the liturgicl yer, by bringing uncesingly before us God's mighty deeds of slvtion nd the relity of God's kingdom in our midst, is the snctifiction of time nd thereby the true fulfillment of both personl nd corporte spects of our lives s Christins. Fr from being simply clendr, the liturgicl yer in the life of the Church the life of Christins living in community s brothers nd sisters in wreness of God's kingdom, remembering the entire communion of Prophets, Apostles, Sints nd ll of God's people on erth nd in heven, being renewed by God's sving love, helping one nother, witnessing to Christ's good news, nd witing for the fullness of the coming kingdom ccording to God's timing. "If we live, we live to the Lord, nd if we die, we die to the Lord" (Rom. 14:8) Orthodox worship proclims the centrlity of Christ. The liturgicl yer celebrtes the presence of the mystery of Christ in the life of the Church nd seeks to mke the living Christ renewing lifesource for every Orthodox Christin. Do not the most importnt festdys of the yer celebrte the good news of the life nd work of Christ, the Annuncition, His Birth, Presenttion in the Temple, Bptism, Trnsfigurtion, Triumphl Entry, Pssion Week, Ester, Ascension nd His gift of the Spirit on Pentecost dy, pge 4
The Liturgicl Yer ll of which re bsed on the New Testment? Do we not remember nd relive His deth nd resurrection on ech Sundy (Kyrike, tht is, the Lord's Dy) nd in ech Liturgy? Do we not continuously her bout Jesus' techings, mircles nd encounters with men nd women from ll wlks of life? Even the Festdys of the Prophets, the Apostles, the Theotokos nd the Sints, properly understood, point to the centrlity of Christ, the Sviour nd Lord of ll. This is the essentil messge of the Orthodox fith: Christ lives nd desires to be one with us in union of holy love. He is the Leder of our life nd the Celebrnt of the scrments. He is the Good Shepherd who continues not only to seek out the lost but lso to feed those who re lredy in His flock. Are we prepred to her His cll? Are we willing to open our herts to Him? Do we seek Him s egerly s He seeks us? I would like to end this prefce with the imge of Christ the Pursuer from the conclusion of St. John Chrysostom's 15th Homily on 1 Timothy, pssge to which George Florovsky hs pointed. In the finl prt of this Homily, St. John Chrysostom medittes on Christ's love for us nd exhorts Christins to glorify Christ for His countless mteril nd spiritul gifts the sme Christ tht we often neglect nd perhps even secretly dislike for pursuing us nd seeking to chnge our lives. Then St. John hs Christ speking to us in these words: But wht shll I sy? It is not in this wy only tht I hve shown my love to you, but lso by wht I hve suffered. For you I ws spit upon, I ws scourged. I emptied myself of glory, I left my Fther nd cme to you, who hte me, nd turn from me, nd re loth to her my nme. I pursued you, I rn fter you, tht I might overtke you. I united nd joined you to myself, "et me, drink me," I sid. In heven bove I hold you, nd on erth below I embrce you. Is it not enough for you tht I hve your pledge of slvtion in heven? Does this not stisfy your desire? I gin descended on erth (through the Euchrist): I not only m mingled with you, I m entwined in you. I m eten, broken into tiny prticles, tht the fusion, intermingling, nd union my be more complete. Things united remin yet (sometimes) in their own limits, but I m interwoven with you. I would hve nothing seprting us. I will tht we both be one". pge 5
Sint Pul s Anglicn Church phss fmily wy on vction news nd nnouncements new lectionry for new yer This Advent Seson, s we celebrete the new Church yer, Sint Pul s will be trnsitioning from the Revised Common Lectionry to the Book of Common Pryer (1928). This mens tht ll lessons for Morning Pryer, Evening Pryer, nd Holy Communion will now be tken from the Pryer Book. Fther Phss nd his fmily will be wy on vction during the following dtes: Nov 10th, 12th-17th. thnksgiving dinner t sint pul s church This yer, Sint Pul s Church will be hosting Thnksgiving dinner. The dinner is scheduled to tke plce on November 17th with the following schedule: 4:30pm - 5:00pm; Drinks nd Fellowship 5:00pm - 6:00pm; Thnksgiving Dinner christms dinner nd decorting prty t sint pul s church This yer, Sint Pul s Church will be hosting Christms dinner & decorting prty! We re currently selecting dte (tenttively December 15th). Check our website for more informtion: www.sintpulsmelbourne.org Follow Us: Fcebook @sintpulsmelbourne Instgrm sintpulsnglicn Twitter @stpulmelbourne Reddit u/sintpulsmelbourne