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Folks,
The lessons appointed for this coming Sunday include from Isaiah the familiar passage beginning "In the year that King Uzziah died..." wherein a seraph using tongs removes the prophet's sin with a hot coal (not sure I'd be "up" for that!) but including in the prophecy section death and new life, and then the gospel lesson on Lake Gennesaret where Jesus suggests a better location for the nets which yielded a huge catch, including of people (it was there that Simon Peter fell down before Jesus, recognising his "Lord", after which he and his partners James and John left nets and boat and followed Jesus in his ministry). In the NT lesson Paul in I Corinthians recounts Jesus's appearances after his death. Paul shows his own humanity too by noting that he worked harder than any of the apostles even though he begins by saying he was the "least of the apostles" - recall that we are keen on both a reasonable humility and a reasonable pride (Paul seems to have both here as well as showing "teamwork" with the others, even by lots of letter writing, noting in the recounting that "most of them are still alive"). It is that facet of Paul's ministry that I find most appealing. When writing thoughts down, one gets a chance to visit with the self - something most of us need more of (a great line from Abba goes "I've never been to paradise but I've never been to me"). But Paul's writing was part of a community effort, with correspondence back and forth - he writes of his knowledge of some of the goings on in the early Christian communities with suggestions for improvements, etc. Yet today there seems to me no knowledge of the exact content of the letters written to Paul. I consider Paul an outstanding example of loving hard work - but in this regard he and his followers seem to have erred since the result is "top-down" spiritual community. But as was made clear in Paul's own "conversion" story, the Truth of God can appear to anyone, even those who might not be in the church's early (or even today's) hierarchy. May we all find "community" in our spiritual lives in person (including FaceTimes and Zooms and phone calls) but also by our letters and emails, etc. And in the latter (following Socrates and Shakespeare's dicta) we might get to know ourselves Our love to all, Bart (and Tony!) Events St Matthew Parish will meet this Sunday at the chapel in San Ardo for Morning Prayer. Fellow mission St Luke Parish in Lockwood area will be doing the same at the chapel in Jolon. Note that we see our big brother/sister neighbour parish St James in Paso Robles is suggesting using electronic devices instead of handing out lots of paper (but likely still offering them to those unable to use the former). This of course to be be more environmentally friendly, but also a good idea. Thus we encourage all to visit the lectionary lessons (go to https://www.lectionarypage.net/ and locate the correct lessons for the Sunday in question, then click on it. It will bring up the lessons along with the Collect appointed for that Sunday, and the Psalm. Note that sometimes there are multiple choices for a given Sunday. More about that in future News editions, but we recommend pre-locating the lessons and reading them so you can be better prepared to read,etc, at the service you attend. For now I have to get this out (we have travelling for work again) before it actually IS Sunday. Other Events St James (see above) service are at 8am in person and 10am online and in person at http://www.saintjamesspr.org/ We hear from Good Shepherd parish in Salinas that in 2024 Good Shepherd ran a book drive to collect funds for books for children in Ukraine. This was donated before Christmas which allowed them to tie the donation of books to Christmas as well. The primary issue is that the constant bombing in these villages has destroyed most of the libraries, leaving the children without full access to books. ! Good going, Good Shepherd! Over at St Benedict Church in Los Osos the Spiritual Conversation group will be focusing on The Book of Acts. Join on Zoom at https://stbenslososos.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=56003b92c20a0cad0f96f87b4&id=1c2168d980&e=c7a1548f0f The Group meets at 10:30 am Tuesday mornings. The Taize Music group led by folks from St Luke Parish in Atascadero meets via Zoom Sundays at7pm. The link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87454433792?pwd=M01rNThaRUpBVmJxVW9DcHJnY2FWdz09 with Meeting ID 874 5443 3792 and Passcode: 783520 St Peter Parish in Morro Bay is forming a visiting group which will visit the homebound. This iss great news given that the congregation are currently without a full-time rector, though our friend Rev Caro Hall is filling in Our friends at St Barnabas Parish, Arroyo Grande will meet to watch the Superbowl at 3pm in their Forum Room. Bring food and/or beverage to share. At St. Barnabas, our friend Sigrid Long has offered chair yoga, senior fitness, and yoga. Classes are donation based which is usually $5-10. Wednesdays at 12:15 pm - Chair Yoga / Senior Fitness Thursdays at 9:30 am - Yoga Fridays at 12:15 pm - Chair Yoga / Senior Fitness In February they are also offering additional Barre Sculpt classes. Join Heidy for a FANTASTIC Barre Sculpt class every Monday and Friday at 10:30am in our St. Barnabas Church parish hall. Barre Sculpt is a mix of Pilates, Yoga, and functional weight and resistance training. This is a low-impact workout that works hard on our muscles, but is kind to our joints. The moves are choreographed and set to great, motivating music. Each energizing, targeted song sculpts, slims, and stretches your entire body.
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