The AOC Sunday report can be downloaded RIGHT HERE.
We have excellent sermons today from Bishops Jerry, Yves and Jack, as well as Rev Bryan. Each of them is really good, interesting and different. They are all very easy reads, each is well worth your time. We also have last week’s sermon from Rev Cooper in audio form.
Plus, Bishop Jerry is starting a series on the Thirty-Nine Articles. As members of the Anglican Orthodox Church Worldwide Communion, Scripture is our primary reference. But, what positions do we take based on that Scripture? We have adopted The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. They were not intended as a complete statement of the Christian faith, but of the position of the Anglican Church in relation to the Roman Catholic Church and other Protestant churches.
It is critical you understand the Articles. Bishop Jerry has embarked on a series to cover them starting with an introduction. It is just under 9 minutes, you should take the time to listen to this. This series is written so you can understand what we believe and why. It is something that everyone, clergy and laity, must grasp to appreciate why we are who we are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc6cR06ildA
Please take the time to listen and understand.
Bishop Jack’s sermon can be viewed on video HERE -> https://youtu.be/aXPWZoFF6DI The sermon looks at the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine how they share a common message of action as we continue to celebrate Jesus’ delivery of the promise of life eternal with Him in our life to come. As we near the Ascension and thus Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Ghost, we ask for God’s “holy inspiration we may think those things that are good.” The collect is pointing out that we are in sore need of help from the Holy Ghost to direct our souls to the things we cannot see as good without His Help. Like many concepts found in Christianity, backing up our faith with actions will be very difficult sometimes, but it must be done. . We need help. We pray for help. Pray for help that we might act, and that is how we keep on the straight, narrow and uphill path. So, what about prayer? Let’s start with to whom do we pray? Jesus is pretty clear. Don’t pray to Him, pray to God. It all comes together.
As always, we have a lot of people who desire your prayers. I know that seems to never change, that is because the need is always there.
Today we ask if you have someone on the prayer list and their needs have changed, please let us know. We’d like to update our prayers to reflect the need and most important to give thanks! The list seems to be quite a bit out of date. We will remove everyone from the list whose prayer needs are not affirmed this week in an effort to get the list under control.
Once again today we ask you start with the Richards family; Rachel Richards is still in very serious condition after a very bad car accident. They are the wife and daughter of Rev Joshua Richards. Rachel’s injuries are severe. More details in the report.
As we witness the miracle of our Lord’s return, are we following up with action on our part. We all need to see if we are really opening our heart to God’s guidance in the form of the Holy Ghost. If we’re not, and I doubt any of us really are as much as we could, we need to try harder and harder to do that. It is very difficult to follow God’s instructions if you don’t listen to them.
May you set your course on the constant North Star of our Lord.
Godspeed,
Hap Arnold
Bishop Coadjutor
Anglican Orthodox Church Worldwide
