Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Service Bulletin for the Second Sunday after Pentecost

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Homily for Trinity Sunday - The Mystery of the Trinity

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8 or Canticle 2 or 13
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

Homily be Fr R Christopher Heying

Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and forever.  Amen.

Today is Trinity Sunday.  It is often said that more heresy is preached this Sunday than any other, but I confess that I have always enjoyed preaching on this Sunday.  I trust that such is the case not because of a heretical bent nor even because I think the dogma fascinating, as it is revealed in scripture and discerned and, to a degree defined, over the first four centuries of the church’s life.

Intellectual speculation on a dogma however interesting is of course nothing compared to the actual encounter of the living God, engagement with the immortal, invisible God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes, yet the very same God who reveals God’s self to us that we might share God’s life. 

That revelation comes in many ways of course, in creation, in scripture, the giving of the Law, prophetic voices, in Jesus Christ in whose face we see the love of God and in the coming of the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth.  Revelation of God comes even from within ourselves, for we are created in the image and likeness of God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit, a Trinity of Persons in Unity of Being.

Service Bulletin for Trinity Sunday

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Homily for the Day of Pentecost - Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
Romans 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21
John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Homily by Fr R Christopher Heying

When the Day of Pentecost had come, the disciples of Chatham were all together in one place for the Holy Spirit to come . . . to come and to seal Susan, to come and to mark her as Christ’s own forever.

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

From that first Pentecost—with its sound of rushing wind and appearance of divided tongues, as of fire—to the fact of the church’s very existence despite two thousand years of failings that would assuredly have shut the doors and turned off the lights on any purely human enterprise, the coming of the Holy Spirit has always been attended by signs and wonders, the most clear of which is the transformation of lives and of communities.

Yet at one level the baptism of Susan does not seem that amazing, for if we were to look for someone to give testimony about how he or she was a wretch until by God’s grace saved, you and I would probably not think of Susan! 

Service Bulletin for the Day of Pentecost

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Overflow Crowd Enjoys Mother's Day Brunch

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An overflow crowd of some 70 parishioners and friends gathered at Emmanuel on Mother's Day to enjoy a sumptuous Mother's Day brunch of fried chicken and barbeque with all the trimmings prepared and hosted by Charles Williams and Michael Rose.

Seventh Sunday of Easter

The Collect -

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Service Bulletin for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

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Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter - The peace of God it is no peace.

Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
John 14:23-29

Homily by Fr R Christopher Heying

“My peace I leave with you.  My peace I give you.  Not as the world gives peace give I unto you.”

I remember when I heard it—maybe not for the first time but for the first time really heard it—this hymn which we sung just before the gospel reading: “They cast their nets in Galilee” (Hymnal 661). 

It was at a vocations retreat in summer of 1994 to which Cindy and I had gone as part of the vetting process to become a priest.  The priest who gave the talk used the hymn as a guide to the challenges, which can be faced in priestly ministry, but he could just as well have used it as a talk to vet anyone who thought they might want to become a Christian.

The hymn begins with reference to “simple fisher folk” who were happy, contented, and peaceful just the way they were.  They no doubt had family, friends, a decent education, and a good job. Life was sweet enough, filled with value and meaning that most of us, if we are at all reflective, desire.

Then along comes this Galilean carpenter who calls out to us and invites us to follow him, to watch with amazement as he teaches with authority, casts out demons, heals the lame, proclaims the God’s favor, bestows peace.  

What was pretty darn good now seems to get even better.  It’s seems that it is much like Coca-Cola: everything goes better with Jesus.

Service Bulletin for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

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