Folks,
The lessons for this Sunday include from Acts - a reading that gives one a deep sense of what is was like in the earliest days of the church, from the first epistle of John, commending a loving community, and the example of a Good Shepherd in John's gospel. While all of these are edifying (feed us) in a rather direct way, I was deeply struck by the first lesson from Acts, where we see Peter and fellow disciples gathered as "prisoners" in the midst of the "rulers, elders, and scribes". This lesson has the feel of being "pre-organised religion" (my phrase) but holding a strong faith in the midst of this trial, Thus Peter manages to speak boldly to the assembly - telling them in Jesus' words that "the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone". This notion of a cornerstone of faith appears many times in the scriptures, including Isaiah and Zechariah long before appearing in Acts and elsewhere in the New Testament, including Paul in some of his epistles. It seems to lead me rather naturally to ask the question of where I am finding a cornerstone to build an understanding of life. That search seems in turn a natural opening to meditation, an activity that seemed to me many years ago and still today to help with such searches and especially with the beginning of construction projects. Just recently Miss Ilene, the leader of Tony's daily meditation group (I try to join as much as possible) mentioned a quote about meditation (from Lahiri Mahasaya), saying "Solve all your problems with meditation. Attune yourself to the active inner guidance the divine source has the answer to every dilemma in life. Through man's ingenuity for getting himself into trouble appears to be endless, the Infinite Succor is no less resourceful." Perhaps this is hyperbole? And yet I can easily imagine that Peter and the others, almost dazed by all that they had witnessed, sat down for a while in quiet to consider all the tumultuous events they had seen and even participated in and think a bit about what all it means - ie, they meditated, both separately and together (as in the Upper Room). Note that even with Jesus appearing several times before Ascending, it gave these disciples some time before the building of the group of faith, the church, could begin, especially as recognised in the church calendar as Pentecost (a sort of starting point in the project of formally organising the faith community). That period of "watchful waiting" was very much needed before beginning the work of witnessing their truths to all the world. and if fell to Luke (who likely was not present at most of the Acts events) as a ,more educated person and the "patron of facts" and historical writing to write both a gospel and the Acts. Paul refers to Luke as the "beloved physician" who worked with Paul as a missionary, and tradition has it that he was a gentile (I like to speculate that this loving gentile was one of several co-workers who opened Paul's eyes to inclusion of all humanity in the construction project). While much of the Book of Acts sounds like eyewitness, it is unclear that Luke was present for any of the Book's events. Note that all of us, often having heard of intelligently loving groups of faith, need time to meditate before we begin building our own structures of faith. But this need for meditation, with and without guidance, is an ongoing need, as Paul referred to in nutritional terms (see I Corinthians 3:2) to build a strong body of loving faith. We pray that we all can find within ourselves that "Infinite Succor" to persevere in that building process, and take those first steps in the process by meditating, both separately and together! Our love to all, Bart (and Tony!) and for all of us at St Matthew Church in San Ardo! Events What a difference a week makes! While last Sunday we feared too greatly the drive across our creek crossing such that the others in San Ardo had Morning Prayer without us, this week as has brought perhaps the most idyllic weather so far this year! Therefore most of us from St Matthew Church will be gathered together at the chapel in San Ardo for Morning Prayer at customary 10am hour. Note that this Sunday we are expecting to have Raphael's father Andy and his newly-wedded wife Suri, both from Puerto Rico, with us. They have visited us before and now we hope to pray with them as they work to build their relationship. We hope as many as possible will join us and the family Barrios on this happy occasion! Our fellow mission St Luks parish in Jolon will be meeting also for Morning Prayer at 10am in Jolon, with our friend SuRay leading the service, and their Monthly Potluck and Vespers event will be on Wed Apr 24 with dinner at 6pm and Vespers in the chapel at 7pm. Other Events Our friends at St Benedict Church in Los Osos tell us they will be participating in the Community Dinner at the Los Osos Community Center, and helping with a meal with a Mexican flavour. At St Luke Church in Atascadero, the folks are preparing for their annual Plant Sale coming on May 17-18. And folks at St Luke are looking forward to celebrating with St James Church in Paso Robles at the dedication of their newly installed labyrinth and courtyard on Sun, Apr 28 from 5-7pm. Our friend Rev Rob Keim of St Barnabas Church in Arroyo Grande tells us he and the SLO Master Chorale will be performing Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil at the SLO Performing Arts Centre 3pm TODAY and will be in the cast of The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan on Father's Day weekend (more on that soon). Our sister Brandy said this week that she expects to be at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral for th, e ordination and consecration of the Diocese of California's new bishop Rev. Austin K. Rios on May 4 - for full info go to https://gracecathedral.org Gabriel Arregui, organist at St Paul Cathedral is leaving for another post (though remaining in the St Paul faith community), and so will be giving free performance on April 26 and May 3, and may be live-streamed - for full info go to www.stpaulcathedral.org From the Diocese A reminder of the Spring Renewal events to take place also on May 17-18, and telling us the featured speaker will be Rt Rev Michael Hunn of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, to be at Sherwood Hall in Salinas. Note that at the Renewal event there will be a special outreach to help the Navajoland Diocese get to the upcoming Episcopal General Convention. For more info on Spring Renewal go to https://www.realepiscopal.org/blog/spring-renewal-2024/
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