The Cold Springer - Week of October 21st, 2018

Sunday, October 14, 2018 - Holy Eucharist

Signs of Success

“Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Who among us does not want to set their children up for success? It’s why we want to live in good school districts, why we enroll them in extracurricular activities, why we provide for them tutors, and generally, why we try to make every opportunity available to them. We want them to succeed - we want them to be great and we want them to feel good about themselves.

But as people of faith, as Christians, we have a particular understanding of self: it can only be fully realized when it is connected and selfless. To be truly successful (spiritually and otherwise) we must come to understand that we are united to God and to the world around us; that everything we do and say has an impact. We’ve got to think about others, as well, not just ourselves. In fact, not merely think about others, we need to serve others.

In this week’s gospel lesson, Jesus’ disciples, James and John, have been scrambling for position - again. In the Kingdom of God they want the seats of honor: one at Jesus’ right hand and one at his left. A sure sign of their success. But Jesus tells them, “You don’t have to compete for a place at the table - your place is already set, the dinner is served, the wine is poured.”

Jesus’ message for his disciples (parents and kids) is that importance is not found in where we sit and who we sit next to, but in giving up our seat for others; success is not found in being served first, but in first serving: one another and our communities.

Encouraging our children to be successful in all their pursuits is a worthwhile endeavor. But in order for us to fully realize the image and likeness of God into which we were created, we must model humility and service to others… we must model Christ Jesus.

Yours in Christ!
The Reverend Jesse Lebus

Children’s Chapel

This week’s Godly Play story is The Great Family. In this story, we continue seeking the elusive presence of God. God was present at creation, blessing all that was made. Noah walked with God and was led by God’s presence to build the ark that preserved life. And then?

The people living around Abraham and Sarah believed that there were many gods embedded in nature. This meant that gods had to be ‘here’ or ‘there.’ Abraham and his family believed that God was everywhere, but was that really true? What if they were to go into an unknown place or experience, would God be there? They were not sure of this, but they put their faith in God’s promises and found them to be true.

Elements of Faith

This week our students will continue learning about what’s happening on Sunday morning during Holy Communion. We will use a Godly Play story (The Circle of the Holy Eucharist) to understand how the sacraments of the church use ritual and symbol to make meaning.

We’ll revisit what we’ve learned over the past couple of weeks in a quiz game. Our hope is that these lessons will form a spiritual curriculum that enables children to move into adolescence with an inner working knowledge of the classical Christian language system to sustain them all their lives.

Family Friday

Halloween Parade

St. John’s Memorial Cemetery
October 26th
6pm - 8pm

Join us at the St. John's Memorial Cemetery (one mile west of the church on 25A) for our annual stroll. Children of all ages can show off their costumes, watch a skit from St. John's Grave Diggers and meet some really nice ghosts... plus have a slice of pizza and (of course) get some candy.

Though it may seem a bit sacrilegious, our Halloween traditions do have some Christian connection. Halloween precedes and is closely linked to two consecutive days on our Christian Calendar: All Saints Day on November 1st and All Souls Day on the 2nd. We remember our beloved deceased - those who came before us - on those days.

Our parade is a good natured and imaginative front line defense against the ghoulies and bad spirits that are pestering those righteous souls interred in our beloved cemetery. For more information on the history of trick-or-treating, read this brief article from the Smithsonian Magazine's website.