Dear Church of the Apostles,

One time each year we hold our Annual Parish Meeting. This year our meeting will be held on Sunday, February 17 following the morning service. An agenda for the meeting has been mailed to members of Apostles. 

To help you prepare for the annual meeting, the names and bios of the nominees to the Parish Council, proposed bylaw changes, financial materials, and minutes from last year’s meeting will be available beginning this Sunday on the greeter’s table outside the auditorium entrance. 

The Lord has done great things for us and has plans for our hope and future. I look forward to celebrating his kindness and generosity by reviewing our life together in 2018 as well as casting vision for 2019 during the morning service including updates and plans concerning property search, missions, and ministry.

Although voting is limited to covenant members all are encouraged to join us for the service and meeting.

It’s a big day! See you there. 

Peace and Hope,
Brian+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

This Sunday’s Gospel passage includes these words that Jesus read at his first sermon as recorded in Luke.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

We often read these words of Christ as spiritual truths. In other words, Christ will set our captive souls free and proclaim good news to those who are poor in spirit.

Our King is a both-and King; therefore, Jesus’s message definitely includes our souls and spirits, but he also definitely promises to bodily free those who are actually, bodily oppressed.

We’ll hear more about this both-and promise of freedom during the sermon this week as well as through two testimonies of how God is working in our community to free body, soul, and spirit.

We will hear from our brother Walter about how Christ has freed him through the listening and inner healing prayer ministry called Living Waters. (See more details about the upcoming Living Waters Intensive here.)

We will also hear from Maureen Fleming, a sister from Saint Luke’s Catholic Church in Westport, about the prayer and work that God is beginning in Fairfield County on behalf of those who are enslaved by human trafficking. (See details about an upcoming prayer and information meeting.)

I look forward to what God has in store for us at Apostles and the region.

See you Sunday!

Peace and Hope,
Brian+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

My life, ministry, and the churches that I have been privileged to pastor over the years have been blessed by a listening and inner healing prayer ministry called Living Waters. 

Living Waters is an in-depth, Christ-centered prayer ministry for people seeking wholeness in every area of life by addressing the reality that we are all broken in our ability to love others well and can be fully restored in our emotions, relationships, and sexuality through Jesus Christ. 

Church of the Apostles is offering a two-day (Friday evening and all-day Saturday) Living Waters intensive on February 8-9 at our church office space at 338 Commerce Drive in Fairfield.

The Living Waters intensive provides a safe, confidential environment for men and women to share honestly over two days through times of worship, teaching, and healing prayer offered in both large groups and gender-specific, small-group settings.

The intensive will be led by me and Tamara; our friend Garry, who shared his testimony with us last year during a morning service; and men and women form Apostles and other regional churches. All of us have been nationally trained and formally approved to lead. 

I would like to personally invite you attend the Living Waters intensive and to prayerfully consider men and women who you could extend an invitation to join us. I have also personally invited about 15 area churches to this special event.

The cost for this two-day intensive is $25 for Apostles members and $50 for those from area churches. The cost includes the registration and all materials. Space is limited for this intensive and registration closes on Sunday, February 3, 2019. 

You can find more information and an invitation to share with others here. 

Peace and Hope,
Brian+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

This Sunday begins the season of Epiphany on the Church Calendar.

During Epiphany we celebrate the events in Christ’s early life that revealed his divine nature to those around him. In a larger sense, this feast reminds us that the Incarnation involves the announcement of salvation to “all nations.” The Good News is not for a privileged group but for everyone everywhere.

One tradition for the Epiphany season is for families to gather and ask God’s blessing. It is an invitation for Jesus to be a daily guest in our home, our comings and goings, our conversations, our work and play, our joys and sorrows.

In addition to a house blessing many chalk the doorway to signify God’s blessing on all who visit and live in the home and to welcome everyone into the salvation God offers through the Incarnation of Jesus.

I would be honored to come and pray a house blessing throughout your home during the Epiphany Season (January 6 - March 5) and, if you like, chalk your doorway. Simply contact Jane Jackson at the church office and schedule a time, including evenings and weekends, for me to come enjoy this time with you. 

Peace and Hope,
Brian+

Church of the Apostles,

Some of my favorite Christmas memories are of singing - hymns at church, carols in school concerts, and family favorites around the piano in our living room. After reading Luke 2 on Christmas Eve, our family would sing 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' before opening the gifts under the tree. In recent years, other traditions have taken hold - Charlie Brown's Christmas, the Rob Mathes Christmas Concert, and the Apostles' Christmas Pageant.

Our pageant this year will be held during our 10am worship service on Sunday, December 23, so come and sing along with the children in our parish. And before that Sunday, we have 2 other chances to lift our voices in joyful praise. Join Amy Dominguez and D.C. Washington at The Source Coffeehouse for Candlelight Carols this Friday, December 14 (see details here). Then, on Sunday evening, December 16 join the Sarris family for a night of caroling through their neighborhood (details). 

 We will finish this Advent season with our Christmas Eve service, Monday December 24 at 5:00pm. You can be sure, there will be lots of singing of Christmas carols and hymns. I can't wait! 

Blessings!
Jan+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

We can practice longing and anticipation this Advent by engaging with the Scripture passages selected to coincide with the season. As we read and pray we will see how God is trustworthy to keep his promises and to cover the transgressions and imperfections of our humanness.

Here are four free resources that can help us engage with the Scripture this Advent season.

The Trinity Mission works to make ancient Christian formation more accessible to the modern believer by providing the Audio Daily Office and other prayer podcasts. Scripture is has been selected from the Trinity Mission’s Daily Readings for the Christian Year, which values using readings that follow the liturgical season with special readings for Holy Days. 

The Jesus Storybook Bible provides a journey of wonder for the whole family this Advent by tracing the beautiful story of God’s great love for us–from the very beginnings of the universe, to the birth of the baby who would rescue the whole world. 

A Sacramental Life, which is Tamara’s blog, has been a staple of my Advent prayer times for years. There is a unique devotional post for each day of Advent that includes a work of art, a song, daily Scripture passages from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, a short prayer, and a simple activity to help you practice the waiting days of Advent.

Pray as you go is a 10-12 minute daily prayer podcast, designed to go with you wherever you go. A new prayer session is produced every day of the working week and one session for the weekend. 

As I mentioned on Sunday, I will also be using Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas as a supplement to my regular Advent prayer rhythm using the resources above.

Praying for a meaningful Advent for us all.

Peace and Hope,
Brian+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

Advent is the season where we settle into our reality of being an “already” and “not yet” people of God. 

We are already living in the Kingdom of heaven through the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Incarnate God, Emmanuel, Jesus the Messiah. We are grateful for all of the generous abundance we have received from our generous King. 

At the same time the Kingdom of God is not yet in its fully consummated state. As the redeemed people of God living in in a world still under the struggles and sufferings of sin, we long for the Second Advent where the current work of making all things new will be completed by the victorious return of Christ. 

During the season of Advent we choose to pay attention to and live in the tension of our already, not yet reality. We celebrate and wait, rejoice and lament, rest and act, hope and yearn. 

We have several community gatherings to help us practice this tension together. Take special note of all of the plans for the season here, making special note of the two events coming up this weekend - Parish Quiet Day and Advent Family Table. I hope to see you at both.

Peace and Hope,
Brian+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

I pray that we all will enjoy rest, celebration, and gratitude for God’s generous blessings this week.

The General Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, 
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks 
for all your goodness and loving-kindness 
to us and to all whom you have made. 
We bless you for our creation, preservation, 
and all the blessings of this life; 
but above all for your immeasurable love 
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; 
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. 
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, 
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, 
not only with our lips, but in our lives, 
by giving up our selves to your service, 
and by walking before you 
in holiness and righteousness all our days; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord, 
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, 
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Brian+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

Vocation is the common call for those of us who are in Christ Jesus to live and work for the sake of God’s purpose and plan in and to all creation.

Callings are the the specific work, roles, talents, relationships, and gifts of the Spirit that God intends for each one to uniquely live out at different stages of our lives for the sake of God’s purpose and plan in and to creation.

Recently, Walter Wittwer posted a story about one of his callings at The Sacramental Life blog.

“The reason I love the work is because I love the people. The honesty, the simplicity of their love, and even their anger has taught me much about what’s important and how best to help people move through problems.”

“Humans have human problems and sometimes, or maybe most times, need humans to help them solve the problems and celebrate the solutions.”

Read Walter’s entire work story here.

Peace and Hope,
Brian+

Dear Church of the Apostles,

As a followup to Brian’s sermon on Calling and to our first conversations over lunch on God’s callings in our individual lives, I am attaching a few resources to help us all with the question: What is God calling me to in this time in my life? As Brian said on Sunday, this is just the beginning of our sharing and discovering together as a body of believers the different callings God has placed on each of us.

First, let me share 2 YouTube video links. The first reminds us that there is no age limit on our usefulness to the Lord. He will continue to call us into new things as we continue to seek His will and desire to serve His people. Meet Bettie here.

The second video introduces us to Sarah, a barista whose passion for communicating and connecting to people led her to follow God’s call to learn a new language. Click here to hear about it.

Next, let me point you to Tamara Murphy’s blog series “Work Stories”. In this Ordinary Time series, she has ‘invited some friends to share a one-day snapshot into their work life that will help us see what they know to be true right now about who they are made to be.’ Read Tamara's blog. 

We invite you to enter into this discovery of Calling and to go with us into deeper conversations to see what we ‘know to be true right now about who [we] are made to be.’

Blessings.
Jan+

p.s. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS IS NOVEMBER 4: SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK ONE HOUR!!