Thursday, October 31, 2013

All Saints' Day

All Saints' Icon from www.liturgies.net

This Sunday, November 3, St. Alban’s will celebrate All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ falls on November 1 each year (the evening before is All Hallow’s Eve or Halloween!) All Saints’ Day is one of the rare days on the Church’s calendar that can be transferred to the next Sunday.

One of the hymns that we will sing this Sunday is “For all the saints,” A friend of mine posted this interesting tidbit from The Hymnal 1982 Companion.

Hymn 287, “For all the saints,” Music: Sine Nomine
There is probably no question that this tune, written by Ralph Vaughan Williams for use with this text, stands as one of the finest hymn tunes produced in this century. It was included with this name with three other tunes by Vaughn Williams in the English Hymnal, which he edited. Sine Nomine, which means "without a name", may be a reference to the many saints whose names are known only to God.
Join us this Sunday as we give thanks for all the saints…

Fall Back!


Daylight Saving Time ends early Sunday morning on November 3. Remember to set you clocks back one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night. See you at Church on Sunday for our All Saints' Day celebration and Holy Eucharist!

Church Porch Treat Night Party


Join us this Halloween Evening, October 31 on the front porch of the Church to hand out treats to neighborhood trick-or-treaters, have hotdogs and generally have a good time. Hope to see you there!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Sr. EYC

Another great service of Compline, milk and cookies with the Sr. EYC at Grace...

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Saturday...


It is a beautiful day for a wedding. Please pray for Debbie and Ernest today and join us tomorrow, Sunday, October 27, 2013, for Holy Eucharist at 8:30 or 10:30 a.m.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Jericho Road Project

Our Beautiful Garden


I took this photo of our beautiful garden this afternoon when I arrived for our Wednesday evening Holy Eucharist. The flowers were blooming and the weather was perfect and the sound of the fountain was so soothing!

Come visit some time...

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Happy Birthday Arlyne!

Today is our administrative assistant's and world's best parish secretary's birthday!

Happy Birthday Arlyne!

Playful God, Playful Church

This is Bishop Jake's sermon from the convention Eucharist. Enjoy!

See if you can remember when and where you first heard these phrases: 
“Ready or not, here I come.”
“You’re it!”
“Red Rover, Red Rover, send Boudreaux right over.”
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Many of us first heard these phrases as children.  We were playing outside. 
Kick the can, tag, Red Rover, and hide and seek.  At the end of long summer days our parents would call us back into the house as the sun was slipping below the horizon.
Sometimes that call sounded something like, “Jacob Wayne, don’t make me call you in here one more time!” We were having too much fun to stop.  That’s what it’s like to play.
God created us in his image.  And we most closely resemble God when we’re at play.  That’s because God is playful.
That may sound odd.  Play just doesn’t sound serious enough for God.  It’s so, well, unproductive.  It seems almost frivolous.  And yet, our God is exactly that.  Playful to his very core.
And here’s the kicker for the Church, that is, for you and for me and for our congregations.  God bends down to touch the earth through his Church.  God intends for his Church to be the means by which heaven infiltrates our very ordinary lives.  
So if we are going to be the conduit through which God makes his presence felt and known, then we will do well to get our head around God’s playfulness.  Because only a playful Church can make the playful God known.
Let me explain what I mean by addressing a couple of questions:
How is God playful?
What does having a playful God mean for us as the Church?
Read more »

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Social Media

Our own Archdeacon Bette J. Kauffman giving a presentation at convention on social media and the church!

She did a wonderful job and there were lots of questions and oohs and ahhs when see visited St. Alban's weblog and Facebook page!




Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Office Closed on Friday


St. Alban's office will be closed on Friday, October 18. Please pray for those traveling to 34th Convention of the Diocese of Western Louisiana. We will see you Sunday for church!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Healing


"When we pray for healing, we often want something completely miraculous to happen. We want our medical problems to go away, our careers to skyrocket, and our churches’ financial problems to go away when that sympathetic wealthy donor writes the check. And, sometimes, such miracles do happen. But, usually, God heals us and sends us salvation through completely ordinary things: slow rehabilitation, hard work, and the faithful efforts of those who believe. We want a flashy leader to come on a white horse and save us; instead we get an infant seeking shelter in a barn, a transient riding a donkey, a dissident hanging from a cross. We want grand signs of God’s presence; instead we get water, bread and wine. Our expectations, as reasonable as they are, are shattered by that which is ordinary." - Jennifer Fair

Note: This came via a Facebook post from Fr. Frank Hughes, Rector of St. John's, Minden

Learning the Lesson of Seeing Lazarus

Learning the lesson of seeing Lazarus, an article in the Shreveport Times by Bishop Jake is available here.
"Not one single person is invisible to God. But those who are hungry, sick and lonely can feel out of sight and out of mind. God calls you and me to see with his eyes. To see his beloved as beloved, and to help them know themselves as beloved right here in Louisiana."

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Friday, October 11, 2013

Seeing St. Alban's as Our Neighbors Do

One of our neighbors dropped off these beautiful photos of St. Alban's. They were taken by her children who are trying to learn photography. I'd say that they are very talented! Wouldn't you?







A Collect for Fridays

A Collect for Fridays

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Stewardship


From the Church Pension Group 2013 Calendar - October

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Convention is Coming!

 A word from our Bishop about convention...

In just a few days we'll be gathering for the 34th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Western Louisiana. This year we will be meeting in Lafayette.

Our theme is "Playful God, Playful Church," but you'll have to wait for my opening sermon and my Convention Address to see what this focus means. The only hint I'll give is that we are taking up our focus on congregational vitality and moving some steps forward.


Once again we will be seated at round tables with people from different congregations. Visitors will be seated at tables as well. Even though only delegates have voice and vote, visitors can participate fully in workshops, hearings, and table discussions as well as worship and fellowship. I encourage delegations to bring interested visitors along!


Please look at our agenda carefully. The order for this year departs from previous years. Convention opens with business on Friday at 11:00 a.m. The opening Eucharist will be at 4:30 p.m. that same day at Ascension, Lafayette.


Notice also that there will be not only workshops (as detailed in last month's ALIVE!), but we have set time aside for hearings. In order to facilitate more detailed discussion and in order to expedite the proceedings of our plenary session, budget and resolution discussions will take place principally in hearings.


On our first day, I will introduce all those standing for election to our General Convention Deputation. If you wish to have discussion with them, please approach them individually. The next General Convention will be focused on the massive work of restructuring the Episcopal Church. This is exciting and challenging work, and it would perhaps be fruitful to discuss this matter with the various candidates.

Convention is more than a business meeting. It is a gathering of our spiritual family. We make new friends. Renew long-standing relationships. And refresh our common focus on God's mission. I can't wait to see you all there!

Bishop Jake on Love - Part Six

Monday, October 7, 2013

Blessing of the Animals

Who says cats don't like water?
St. Alban's had its Annual Blessing of the Animals on Wednesday, October 2, 2013. Here are a few photos!

Thanks Bette Jo!
Wonder if his Dad knows whose blessing him?

The Adam's family...
Blessing in a box!


What is this pup thinking?

Faith and Powerlessness

Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost from Bishop Jake Owensby:


Let’s face it, some of the things we ask of Jesus must lead him to think, “Really!?!
When we ask for a convenient parking space because we’ve over-scheduled ourselves, or we plead with him to pass a test for which we’ve scarcely studied, or promise to do better if we just get away with a repeated stupidity this last time, a little frustration from Jesus seems completely understandable.
But asking for more faith seems like a really Jesus-y request.  That’s why Jesus’ response to his disciples in today’s Gospel can leave us a little puzzled.  (Luke 17:5-10)

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3toczc78ClIn4mlwXiQsWjWG8BMgAbw01ddYaVJwVzXcCqDSkY1RY9N5Nt_pilDVmFpwPlgznSyHooH6vbIT68CU-jyKFdL-2vUy6C7QDasS_eoUdRHgDYa3ubtdv8t1SFmng0-8bKnid/s1600/Rene+Magritte's+"Good+Faith".jpg
Rene Magritte's "Good Faith"
Instead of giving them the faith he wants them to have in the first place, he tells them what even a nanogram of faith could do, if they actually had a nanogram of it..
As if that weren’t bad enough, Jesus goes on to tell a parable whose point initially appears to be something like this: Don’t get all puffed up about the good you do.  You’ve only done what God expects.  There’s no extra credit for that.
Jesus has a radical lesson for his disciples--for us--in all of this.  The life of faith is apparently not what we often think it is.  Let’s take a closer look at the life of faith by exploring three questions:
First, what is faith?
Second, how does faith shape our behavior?
Finally, why does faith lead to a life of service?
Read more »

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

St. Alban's Alphabet

Today's letter is "O." Can you find me?

Hint: You walk past me (or my siblings) every time you come into the church.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

St. Alban's Shows Up for St. Thomas' B.B.Q.


St. Thomas’ “Back to the Bayou" B.B.Q. on September 28 – Just part of the St. Alban’s crowd that showed up for the B.B.Q.  From left to right – Charles, Georgia, Katherine, Pat, Louise, and Jim on a beautiful fall afternoon. Episcopalians love to eat!