Teen Suicide Prevention / Bullying Awareness

The North Augusta Hartzog Center of the Department of Mental Health will be sponsoring a Community forum on the “Silent Epidemic” of youth suicide.  The presentation will touch on related topics such as building coping skills among young people in the often challenging social environment in our schools, teen suicide awareness and prevention, bullying, peer pressure, anger management, self-esteem issues and other related behavioral topics.

The forum will be Wednesday, April 4,  11:00 am to 1:00 pm at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Sweetwater Center, 160 Merovan Drive, North Augusta, 29860 (Merovan Dr. is O.6 miles north of I-20 exit 5 on Edgefield Rd [Hwy 25] on the right).  A map is available at www.holytrinityna.org.  For further information you can call Ms. Karen Johnson at (803) 278-0880.

Walking through Your Personal Wilderness

Wilderness is a very prominent theme found throughout the Bible.  For God’s people, times of wandering in arid, desert places are times of transition and preparation.  The “far side” of wilderness brings new life, new purpose, new calling.

The Exodus, of course, is the archetypal wilderness experience in Scripture.  The Children of Israel are led from slavery to freedom, from hopelessness to hopefulness, but the journey involves 40 years in the wilderness.  Their 40 years in the Sinai wilderness was a time of purification, preparation and submission to God’s will, plan and purposes. 

There are many other Old Testament examples of wilderness experiences.  We all know the story of Moses discovering his destiny and calling in the Wilderness of Midian.  Moses hits a rough patch with Pharaoh, is exiled, and settles for tending his father-in-laws sheep in his own literal and figurative, self-prescribed wilderness.  One day, however, on the “far side” of his wilderness, as Scripture tells us, Moses encounters an insistent God with a better plan.

One of my favorite wilderness stories is Elijah at Mt. Horeb because it is descriptive of the wildernesses in which so many of us are stuck.  Life brings its traumas (for Elijah it was no small thing … Jezebel wanting to kill him).  His wilderness involves fear, anxiety, rejection, self-piety and hopelessness.  He hides in a cave on the same mountain from which God spoke to Moses (not a good choice of a place to hide from God).  In what St. John of the Cross would call Elijah’s “dark night of the soul,” God comes to him and whispers, “Elijah, what are you doing here.”  Again, God has a better plan, a better life and abetter use for the life He has given Elijah.

Even Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness.  He is driven into the Judean wilderness by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus’ wilderness experience is one of wrestling with questions of his identity, calling and fidelity to the Father.  But Jesus emerges on the far side of His wilderness resolutely aligned to God’s will, thus representing, as St. Paul puts it, the “New Adam,”  a model for a new humanity who is tempted, but unlike the old Adam, does not sin.  Jesus’ wilderness wandering set the stage for the transformation of the whole of humanity and our relationship with God.

The problem with wilderness experiences is that they can be uncomfortable, stretching, painful; it was even that for Jesus.  Wilderness times may also be full of fear and confusion, or riddled with anxiety and uncertainty.  Wilderness wanderings are often triggered by trauma, rejection, loss, un-forgiveness, poor health, clinical depression … you name it.  As we all know, wildernesses are spiritually arid places. 

The good news is that God changes us through our wilderness experiences.  Life is full arid places that turn out to be opportunities to be changed and transformed.  Scripture is full of wilderness stories because God is in the transformation business.  Our wilderness experiences, however we encounter them, whether large or small, God can use to take us out of the old and lead us into the new.  After all, that’s what God does.  We meet Him in the wilderness: Moses did; the Children of Israel did; Elijah did; Jesus did.

What, then, does all of this tell us? 

• First, it tells us that we can expect to spend time in the wilderness.  That’s life.
• Secondly, we can expect to grow and be transformed because of these times.  We do not exit our wilderness in the same place we went in.  Change should be what wilderness time is all about. 
• Lastly, we should expect to be more aligned with God’s will for our lives when we emerge on the “far side.”  

What about your wilderness?  Is it a place of challenge and change, or are you stuck there?  Is it a place of transition, or is it where you live?  Is the far side of your wilderness not in sight, or have you quit looking?  

Lent

What does it mean to have a HOLY Lent?  The word “holy” means ‘set apart’.  So how will this season of Lent be ‘set apart’ by you?
 

I just read The Sword, the Anglican Diocese of the South’s Newsletter.  Bishop Foley is asking us to fast each Tuesday night at 6pm until Wednesday night at 6pm.  He has written an excellent article about it that I commend to you.  In it, he said something that really struck my heart:

 

“During your fast, read your Bible and pray about the issues in your personal life, your church, your community, and our nation. Ask God to reveal to you your sin. Ask God to grant you His wisdom.  Ask God to pour out His power on specific situations.  Let us use Lent to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

I was struck by, “Ask God to reveal to you your sin.”  This is what we want during Lent, to see our sin. We can be blind to those things we have seen in distorted ways and used to rationalize our behavior all year.  We want to be ‘right’ or do not want to have to forgive others, etc.  But during Lent, we are encouraged to address those

things that are out of line with God’s ways.  We need Him to open our eyes and to give us the courage to address them.

 

Will you ask God to reveal to you your sin?

Then I let it all out;
I said, "I'll make a clean breast

of my failures to God."

Suddenly the pressure was gone—
my guilt dissolved,
my sin disappeared.  

(Psalm 32:5 The Message Bible)

Pastor Nancy

Holy Trinity at the Mere Anglicanism Conference

In January a number of us attended the Mere Anglicanism Conference in Charleston.  Along on this pilgrimage were Bill and Brenda Bargeloh, Twyla Tuten, Monte Steedley, Nancy Hartley and Fr. Rob.   It took place at the beautiful and historic St. Phillips Church.  Brenda Bargeloh said walking into St. Phillip’s was like walking into a wedding cake.   

The speakers were from throughout the Anglican Communion: The Rt. Hon. Richard Chartres, Bishop of London; The Rev. Dr. Richard Turnbull, Principle, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford; Dr. John McCardell, Vice Chancellor, The University of the South (Fr. Dan’s Seminary); The Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, retired bishop of Rochester, England; The Very Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, Dean, Trinity School for Ministry (Rev. Nancy’s and Fr. Rob’s Seminary); the Most Rev Dr. Ben Kwashi, Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Nigeria; and, of course, The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, Bishop of SC… a most impressive and fascinating lineup of speakers.  Here are some memorable gleanings to share with you:

 

Dr. Turnbull

… Commenting on the Anglican inclination toward church structure, he says, "Church Order is to enhance proper doctrine.  Order without doctrine [and by “doctrine” he is referring to our biblical and apostolic heritage] is not classic Anglicanism.”

Dr. Chartes

… The Book of Common Prayer has been at the center of the theological and spiritual identity of Anglicanism since it was first written during the Protestant Reformation.  It is a mosaic of Scripture aimed at lifting the human heart up to God. 

 

Bishop Nazir-Ali

… What do we as a church need to be doing today?  …Zealously proclaiming the uniqueness of Christ which speaks to His universality in all times and to all people.

 

Bishop Lawrence

... Whatever else we know or say about the church and its current state, we know that Christ loves it and has purified it such that it is without “spot or blemish.”

 

Dr. Terry

… “We re-order our lives to conform to a distorted world, but the Church calls us to live right-side-up in an up-side-down world.

 ...Our mission as Anglicans is to turn the world right-side-up, beginning with the re-ordering of our own lives according to God.” 

…Many people don’t perceive the binary systems in the Bible; Sheep and goats for example.  There are no goatish sheep or sheepish goats.  To see things in shades of gray is today considered indicative of one’s sophistication.

… “Our scientific thinking is describing a fallen world.”

…  Quoting George MacDonald:  “We want to be fed out of silos; God wants to feed us by hand.”

 

Archbishop Kwashi…

... Quoting Evelyn Underhill, “The man whose life is colored with prayer will win souls.”

…The three priorities in Bp Kwashi’s ministry are prayer, preaching (teaching), and mission (evangelism).

... Authentic teaching will lead to wholistic life-change.

...“We face the same devil as the apostles did: false teachers.”

…“We have left young people to the mercies of the world: video games, TV, etc.”

 

During the Conference we also immersed ourselves in inspiring worship… a Choral Evensong, The Daily Office each morning, and a Festal Eucharist at the conclusion of the conference. 

 

This conference sent me home with a joyful heart and a renewed zeal to do my part in growing the Kingdom of God in this corner of our hugely challenging world.  Fr. Rob 

Three Challenges for the New Year

I have three challenges to offer to The Church of the Holy Trinity, North Augusta:

1.      That all our activities and programs as a church family this year be intentional about bringing others into a life-changing relationship with Jesus and growing us all in Christ-like character.

2.      That this church family continue to be a place where we (and others yet outside this fellowship) learn to fully submit to the good and perfect will of God for our lives.  Until we lay before God the brokenness in our lives that has come upon us simply by living in this world, until we confess the weakness of our own flesh to cling to our brokenness and dysfunction, until we renounce the things in our lives that are clearly under the influence of the Evil One, our transformation into Christ-likeness and appropriation of the Christian virtues are going to be hindered. 

3.      That we live ever more fully into the blessings that are to be found in our communion with God and with each other.

Father Rob

Epiphany

        The church celebrates seven principle ‘feasts’ throughout the year.  One of them occurs this month known as The Feast of the Epiphany (Jan. 6).  Being part of a Church that is 2000 years old, we have inherited a lot of older language, such as the word ‘feast.’  Today we would perhaps use a word like ‘celebration,’ to designate these special and meaningful observances.  The word ‘Epiphany’ means ‘manifestation’ or ‘appearance.’  Epiphany is celebrated at the close of the 12 days of Christmas and celebrates the arrival of the Magi (The Three Wise Men) at Bethlehem.  Since it is a feast that normally does not occur on a Sunday, we tend to include the coming of the Magi in with our Christmas celebration.
         The Feast of the Epiphany also ushers in The Season of Epiphany.  This season provides us a bridge from the Advent-Christmas Season to the Lent-Easter Season.  During Epiphany, we explore scripturally and liturgically the theme of Christ being made ‘manifest’ to the world.

Annual Parish Meeting

Great meeting! May to God be the glory!