Paula and Eustochium

Join us today, Wednesday, September 28, at St. Thomas' on the Bayou for Noonday Prayer at 12:10 p.m., or tonight for Evening Prayer to learn more about Paula and Eustochium of Rome, Monastics and Scholars. 

Zoom Evening Prayer & Study - 5:30 p.m. with Father Whit+

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86781577595?pwd=VjNnZTZnUFFadkJPc3VOVTh3K21Idz09

Meeting ID: 867 8157 7595

Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 or +1 346 248 779

Passcode: 530

Paula and Eustochium of Rome, Monastics and Scholars, 404 and c. 419

The Collect:

Compel us, O God, to attend diligently to your Word, as did your faithful servants Paula and Eustochium; that, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we may find it profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; and that thereby we may be made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Paula of Rome (AD 347–404) was an ancient Roman saint and early Desert Mother.

A member of one of the richest senatorial families, Paula was the daughter of Blesilla and Rogatus. In her mid teens, Paula was married to the nobleman Toxotius, with whom she had four daughters and a boy.

At the age of 32, Paula was widowed. She continued to dedicate herself to her family, but became more interested in religion as time went on. Through the influence of Saint Marcella and her group, Paula became an enthusiastic member of this semi-monastic group of women. In 382, she met Saint Jerome, who had come to Rome.

A year after the death of her husband, Paula pursued a pilgrimage to tour all of the holy sights traveling with large entourages of both men and women including her daughter Eustochium and Jerome himself. In conclusion to her journey, Paula decided to remain in Bethlehem to develop a monastery and spiritual retreat with Jerome. Once settling in Bethlehem, Paula and Jerome built a double monastery including one for Paula and her nuns and another for Jerome and his monks. The addition of a roadside hostel was also constructed to serve as an economic source to fund the monasteries. Once completed, the monastery segregated each gender from one another during manual labor and meals, but practiced prayer in the same locale. During its functioning, Jerome and Paula's retreat attracted large crowds of visitors both from Christian backgrounds and general travelers from a variety of regions including Ethiopia, Persia, and India. Along with this, aristocratic refugees were also drawn to the locale due to Jerome's extensive network of followers.

Paula is noted as maintaining her ascetic devotion through intensive studies of the Old and New Testaments, often under the guidance of Jerome. With this, she also practiced a strict fasting regimen, abstinence, and pursued a destitute lifestyle “to preserve a singular attachment to God” as stated by Jerome. While practicing this life of isolation, Paula still continued to interact with local clergy and bishops and maintained devout attention to teaching the nuns under her sovereignty. Paula, through these practices, became a recognized figure in the Christian community. Upon her death on January 26 404 AD, her funeral was noted as having a significant portion of the Palestine population arrive in her honor. A year after her passing, Paula obtained the title of Saint recognized by the Latin Church.

Eustochium (c. 368 – September 28, 419 or 420), was Paula's daughter and is also venerated as a saint and was an early Desert Mother.

Eustochium spoke Latin and Classical Greek with equal ease and was able to read the scriptures in the Hebrew text. Many of Jerome's Biblical commentaries owe their existence to her influence and to her he dedicated his commentaries on the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel.

The letters which Jerome wrote for her instruction and spiritual advancement are, according to his own testimony, very numerous. After the death of Paula in 404, Eustochium assumed the direction of the nunneries. Her task was a difficult one on account of the impoverished condition of the temporal affairs which was brought about by the lavish almsgiving of Paula.

* Wikipedia, via The Lectionary - 

http://satucket.com/lectionary/paula&eustochium.html 

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Sunday, September 25, 2022 

Join us at church or “virtually” for worship this Sunday, September 25, 2022, The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 21, at St. Alban’s, St. Thomas’, St. Patrick’s, and Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas. 

Holy Eucharist, Rite Two
St. Alban’s  - 10:30 a.m. only* - Followed by Fall Kickoff & BBQ with 
    Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas
St. Thomas' on the Bayou - 10:00 a.m.* 
St. Patrick’s – 11:00 a.m.*

* These liturgies will be Live-Streamed on Facebook for those who choose to remain at home. Download a pdf of the leaflet to print or to use on your phone or tablet with this link -  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vgqp1_HMRSncws-6IhuC2now_YpWp7TC/view?usp=sharing                  

Zoom Compline - Does not meet this week… 

Sunday -  8:00 p.m. - Resumes next Sunday!

We hope to see you all on Sunday!

Dawnell+, Rita+, Rob+ and Whit+

Art from Clip Art, Steve Erspamer, Liturgy Training Publications – ltp.org

Holy Cross Day

Join us today, Wednesday, September 14, at St. Thomas' on the Bayou for Noonday Prayer at 12:10 p.m. to celebrate Holy Cross Day. 

Zoom Evening Prayer and class resume next week!

Holy Cross Day

The Collect:

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

And from The Book of Occasional Services, The Way of the Cross, Ninth Station.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: 

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

Sunday

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Join us at church or “virtually” for worship this Sunday, September 11, 2022, The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 18, at St. Alban’s, St. Thomas’, St. Patrick’s, and Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas.

Holy Eucharist, Rite Two
St. Alban’s - 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.*
St. Thomas' on the Bayou - 10:00 a.m.*
St. Patrick’s – 11:00 a.m.*
Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas - 5:00 p.m.* (Spanish)

* These liturgies will be Live-Streamed on Facebook for those who choose to remain at home. Download a pdf of the leaflet to print or to use on your phone or tablet with this link - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TpsZ91jywcoZP0KfuQyjl7Idb-hObdFI/view?usp=sharing

Zoom Compline - All Welcome
Sunday - 8:00 p.m.

Join Zoom Compline
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83861688528?pwd=WFdBcndxV3hzbUpETDNTSFFzc3Z0QT09
Meeting ID: 838 6168 8528
Passcode: 800
or dial in at +1 312 626 6799 or +1 346 248 7799

We hope to see you all on Sunday!

Dawnell+, Rita+, Rob+ and Whit+

Art from Clip Art, Steve Erspamer, Liturgy Training Publications – ltp.org

Alexander Crummell

Alexander Crummell, Priest, 1898

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Alexander Crummell, whom you called to preach the gospel to those who were far off and to those who were near: Raise up, in this and every land, evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Alexander Crummell was born in New York City in 1819, and wished to study for the priesthood, but received many rebuffs because he was black. He was ordained in the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1844, when he was 25 years old, but was excluded from a meeting of priests of the diocese, and decided to go to England. After graduating from Cambridge, he went to Liberia, an African country founded under American auspices for the repatriation of freed slaves. Crummell hoped to see established in Liberia a black Christian republic, combining the best of European and African culture, and led by a Western-educated black bishop. He visited the United States and urged blacks to join him in Liberia and swell the ranks of the  church there. His work in Liberia ran into opposition and indifference, and he returned to the United States, where he undertook the founding and strengthening of urban black congregations that would provide worship, education, and social services for their communities. When some bishops proposed a separate missionary district for black parishes, he organized a  group, now known as the Union of Black Episcopalians, to fight the proposal.*

*The Lectionary,  James Kiefer, http://satucket.com/lectionary/Alex_Crummell.htm

The Martyrs of Memphis

The Martyrs of Memphis: Constance, Thecla, Ruth, Frances, Charles Parsons, and Louis Schuyler, 1878

It is always amazing how the Church’s calendar of remembrances is ever relevant! We pray today also for all those caring for others in the pandemic.

The Collect:

We give you thanks and praise, O God of compassion, for the heroic witness of the Martyrs of Memphis, who, in a time of plague and pestilence, were steadfast in their care for the sick and dying, and loved not their own lives, even unto death; Inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In 1878 the American city of Memphis on the Mississippi River was struck by an epidemic of yellow fever, which so depopulated the area that the city lost its charter and was not reorganized for fourteen years. Almost everyone who could afford to do so left the city and fled to higher ground away from the river. (It was not yet known that the disease was mosquito-borne, but it was observed that high and dry areas were safe.) There were in the city several communities of nuns, Anglican or Roman Catholic, who had the opportunity of leaving, but chose to stay and nurse the sick. Most of them, thirty-eight in all, were themselves killed by the fever. One of the first to die (on 9 September 1878) was Constance, head of the (Anglican) Community of St Mary.* 

*The Lectionary, James Kiefer, http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Constance.htm

Today

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Collect:

Father in heaven, by your grace the virgin mother of your incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping your word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The modern canon of scripture does not record Mary's birth. The earliest known account of Mary's birth is found in the Protoevangelium of James (5:2), an apocryphal text from the late second century, with her parents known as Anne and Joachim. The Protoevangelium of James describes Mary's father Joachim as a wealthy member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He and his wife Anne were deeply grieved by their childlessness.

Pious accounts place the birthplace of the Virgin Mary in Sepphoris, Israel, near Nazareth, where a 5th-century basilica is excavated at the site. Some accounts speak of Nazareth and others say it was in a house near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. It is possible that a wealthy man such as Joachim had a home in both Judea and Galilee.

The earliest document commemorating this feast comes from a hymn written in the sixth century. The feast may have originated somewhere in Syria or Palestine in the beginning of the sixth century, when after the Council of Ephesus, the cult of the Mother of God was greatly intensified, especially in Syria.

The first liturgical commemoration is connected with the sixth century dedication of the Basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now called the Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem. The original church built, in the fifth century, was a Marian basilica erected on the spot known as the shepherd's pool and thought to have been the home of Mary's parents. In the seventh century, the feast was celebrated by the Byzantines as the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since the story of Mary's Nativity is known only from apocryphal sources, the Latin Church was slower in adopting this festival. At Rome the Feast began to be kept toward the end of the 7th century, brought there by Eastern monks.*

*The Lectionary, via Wikipedia, http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/nativity_Mary.html

Kassiani, Poet and Hymnographer

Join us today, Wednesday, September 7, at St. Thomas' on the Bayou for Noonday Prayer at 12:10 p.m., or tonight for Evening Prayer to learn more about Kassiani, Poet and Hymnographer. 

Zoom Evening Prayer & Study - 5:30 p.m. with Father Whit+

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86781577595?pwd=VjNnZTZnUFFadkJPc3VOVTh3K21Idz09

Meeting ID: 867 8157 7595

Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 or +1 346 248 779

Passcode: 530

Kassiani, Poet and Hymnographer, 865

The Collect:

O God of boundless mercy, whose handmaiden Kassiani brought forth poetry and song: Inspire in your church a new song, that following her most excellent example, we may boldly proclaim the truth of your Word, even Jesus Christ, our Savior and Deliverer. Amen.

Kassia or Kassiani (Greek: Κασσιανή; 805/810 - before 865) was an Eastern Roman abbess, poet, composer, and hymnographer. She is one of the first medieval composers whose scores are both extant and able to be interpreted by modern scholars and musicians. Approximately fifty of her hymns are extant and twenty-three are included in Orthodox Church liturgical books. The exact number is difficult to assess, as many hymns are ascribed to different authors in different manuscripts and are often identified as anonymous.

Additionally, some 789 of her non-liturgical verses survive. Many are epigrams or aphorisms called "gnomic verse", for example, "I hate the rich man moaning as if he were poor."

Kassia is notable as one of only two Eastern Roman women known to have written in their own names during the Middle Ages, the other being Anna Comnena.

Kassia was born between 805 and 810 in Constantinople into a wealthy family and grew to be exceptionally beautiful and intelligent. Three Byzantine chroniclers claim that she was a participant in the "bride show" (the means by which Byzantine princes/emperors sometimes chose a bride, by giving a golden apple to his choice) organized for the young bachelor Theophilos by his stepmother, the Empress Dowager Euphrosyne.

When next we hear of Kassia in 843 she had founded a convent in the west of Constantinople, near the Constantinian Walls, and became its first abbess. It had a close relationship with the nearby monastery of Stoudios, which was to play a central role in re-editing the Byzantine liturgical books in the 9th and 10th centuries, thus ensuring the survival of her work.

The Emperor Theophilos was a fierce iconoclast, and any residual feelings he may have had for Kassia did not preserve her from the imperial policy of persecution for her defense of the veneration of icons. Among other things, she was subjected to scourging with a lash. In spite of this, she remained outspoken in defense of the Orthodox Faith, at one point saying, "I hate silence, when it is time to speak."

Kassia eventually settled on the Greek Island of Kasos where she died sometime between 867 and 890 CE. *

* The Lectionary, via Wikipedia

More Information Here

Hannah More, Religious Writer and Philanthropist, 1833

The Collect:

Almighty God, whose only-begotten Son led captivity captive: Multiply among us faithful witnesses like your servant Hannah More, who will fight for all who are oppressed or held in bondage; and bring us all, we pray, into the glorious liberty that you have promised to all your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Hannah More (2 February 1745 – 7 September 1833) was an English religious writer and philanthropist, remembered as a poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, as a writer on moral and religious subjects, and as a practical philanthropist. Born in Bristol, she taught at a school established there by her father and began writing plays. Her plays and poetry became more evangelical and she joined a group campaigning against the slave trade. In the 1790s she wrote several Cheap Repository Tracts on moral, religious and political topics, for distribution to the literate poor.

Born in 1745 near Bristol, Hannah More was the fourth of five daughters of Jacob More (1700-1783), a schoolmaster. In 1758 Jacob established his own girls' boarding school in Bristol for the elder sisters, Mary and Elizabeth to run. Hannah More became a pupil when she was twelve years old, and taught at the school in her early adulthood.

Hannah More's first literary efforts were pastoral plays, written while she was teaching at the school and suitable for young ladies to act, the first being written in 1762 under the title of The Search after Happiness. By the mid-1780s over 10,000 copies of this had been sold. In 1767 More gave up her share in the school which freed her for literary pursuits, and in the winter of 1773–74 she went to London in the company of her sisters, Sarah and Martha – the first of many such trips she made at yearly intervals. In London, More attempted to associate herself with the literary elite, including Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds and Edmund Burke.

In the 1780s Hannah More became a friend of James Oglethorpe, who had long been concerned with slavery as a moral issue. More published Sacred Dramas in 1782 and it rapidly ran through nineteen editions. These and the poems Bas-Bleu and Florio (1786) mark her gradual transition to more serious views of life. By this point she was intimate with William Wilberforce and Zachary Macaulay, with whose evangelical views she was in sympathy. She published a poem on Slavery in 1788, and was drawn into the group of prominent campaigners against the slave trade such as Wilberforce.

In the late 1780s, Hannah and Martha More did philanthropic work in the Mendip area, following encouragement by Wilberforce, who saw the poor conditions of the local people when he visited Cheddar in 1789. She was instrumental in setting up twelve schools by 1800, where reading, the Bible and the catechism were taught to local children. More also donated money to Bishop Philander Chase for the founding of Kenyon College, and a portrait of her hangs there in Peirce Hall.

The More sisters met with a good deal of opposition in their works: the farmers thought that education, even to the limited extent of learning to read, would be fatal to agriculture, and the clergy, whose neglect she was making good, accused her of Methodist tendencies. In her old age, philanthropists from all parts made pilgrimages to see the bright and amiable old lady, and she retained all her faculties until within two years of her death. *

* The Lectionary, via Wikipedia

Labor Day 2022

Labor Day

Happy Labor Day! Some of the most beautiful  prayers in The Book of Common Prayer are about labor, vocation, and our dependence on one another.

For example:

The Collect for Labor Day, BCP 261

Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

And this one from An Order for Compline, BCP 134 (bed-time prayers):

O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live: Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other's toil; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Work becomes “vocation” when it is done with a sense of higher purpose. Work isn’t simply toil when it is done from the heart - when it is done with love. We call such meaningful work “a labor of love.” A job done with love becomes a vocation, and a true labor of love!

Join Us Sunday!

Sunday, September 4, 2022

Join us at church or “virtually” for worship this Sunday, September 4, 2022, The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 18, and Labor Day Weekend, at St. Alban’s, St. Thomas’, St. Patrick’s, and Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas.

 
Holy Eucharist, Rite Two
St. Alban’s - 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.*
St. Thomas' on the Bayou - 10:00 a.m.*
St. Patrick’s – 11:00 a.m.*

* These liturgies will be Live-Streamed on Facebook for those who choose to remain at home. Download a pdf of the leaflet to print or to use on your phone or tablet with this link - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SiIrX99hzPsmXPHS81OMXH4r68eDJnur/view?usp=sharing

Zoom Compline - All Welcome
Sunday - 8:00 p.m.
Join Zoom Compline
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83861688528?pwd=WFdBcndxV3hzbUpETDNTSFFzc3Z0QT09
Meeting ID: 838 6168 8528
Passcode: 800
or dial in at +1 312 626 6799 or +1 346 248 7799

We hope to see you all on Sunday!

Rita+, Rob+ and Whit+

Art from Clip Art, Steve Erspamer, Liturgy Training Publications – ltp.org

Phoebe

Phoebe, Deacon

The Collect:

Eternal God, who raised up Phoebe as a deacon in your church and minister of your Gospel; Grant us that same grace that, assisted by her prayers and example, we too may take the Gospel to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Phoebe (the name means "bright" or "radiant": Apollo and Diana, the god and goddess of the sun and moon respectively, were often referred to as "Phoebos" and "Phoebe"), was a DIAKONOS of the Church at Chenchreae, the eastern seaport of the city of Corinth. (Corinth was on a narrow isthmus that connected southern Greece (the Peleponessus) with northern Greece and the mainland of Europe. Attempts had been made to dig a canal through the isthmus in order to shorten shipping routes, but no attempt was successful till modern times. Accordingly many ships were simply dragged out of the water, put on rollers, and moved across the isthmus and into the water on the other side. Naturally, the crew got shore leave. Naturally, Corinth became famous as a port that accommodated sailors with shore leave. (This may account for the fact that Paul has a great deal more to say about sexual matters when writing to the Corinthians than he does in other connections.) When Paul mentions Phoebe, she has left the vicinity of Corinth and is in Rome, so that Paul commends her to the Church there. *

* The Lectionary, James Kiefer, http://satucket.com/lectionary/phoebe.html

The Martyrs of New Guinea

The Martyrs of New Guinea, 1942

The Collect:

Almighty God, we remember before you this day the blessed martyrs of New Guinea, who, following the example of their Savior, laid down their lives for their friends, and we pray that we who honor their memory may imitate their loyalty and faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

New Guinea, the second largest island in the world, is still one of the main frontiers of Christian mission, because of its difficult terrain and the cultural diversity of its peoples, who speak some 500 distinct languages. Christian missionaries first began work there in the 1860s and 1870s, with only limited success. The Anglican mission began in 1891, and the first bishop was consecrated in 1898.

During World War II, the suffering of missionaries and of native people was severe. One historian reckons the total number of martyrs from all Christian denominations during this period at around 330. This feast day, observed in the Diocese of New Guinea and in many dioceses of the Church of Australia, marks the witness of nine Australian missionaries and two Papuan martyrs who died while serving those who needed them.

The missionaries were determined to stay with their flocks during the Japanese invasion, and to continue their work of healing, teaching, and evangelism. Once the invasion occurred, they realized that their presence was a danger to the local people with whom they stayed; any people of European descent were considered enemy combatants and villages harboring them were severely punished. Two of the missionaries, one Australian and one Papuan, were evacuating with the villagers with whom they ministered when their boat was strafed and sunk by sea-planes. The remaining missionaries were captured in the bush. Some were executed by soldiers, others by locals who feared retribution for their presence. One of the Papuan martyrs, Lucian Tapiedi, is among one of the ten

20th century martyrs honored with a statue above the west door of Westminster Abbey in London. While accompanying his Australian companions as a guide, he was separated from the group and killed by a local Orokaiva named Hivijapa. After the war, Hivijapa converted to Christianity, was baptized as Hivijapa Lucian, and built a church at Embi in memory of the evangelist he had slain.*

* A Great Cloud of Witnesses, Copyright © 2016 by The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/19349 

Women of the Church

 

David Pendleton Oakerhater

David Pendleton Oakerhater, Deacon, 1931

The Collect:

O God of unsearchable wisdom and mercy; Liberate us from bondage to self, and empower us to serve you and our neighbors, that like your servant David Oakerhater, we might bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; through Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

David P. Oakerhater (born around 1850) was a warrior and leader of the Cheyenne Indians of Oklahoma, and led a corps of fighters against the United States government in a dispute over Indian land rights. In 1875 he and 27 other military leaders were taken prisoner by the U S Army and sent to a military post in Florida. There, thanks to the efforts of a concerned Army captain, they learned English, were encouraged to earn money by giving art and archery lessons to visitors, and encountered the Christian faith. David and three others were moved to become Christians and to go north to study for the ministry. David was baptized in Syracuse, New York, in 1878, and ordained to the diaconate in 1881. He returned to Oklahoma and there founded schools and missions, and continued to work among his people until his death on 31 August 1931. When he first returned to Oklahoma in 1881, he said: “You all know me. You remember when I led you out to war I went first, and what I told you was true. Now I have been away to the East and I have learned about another captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is my leader. He goes first, and all He tells me is true. I come back to my people to tell you to go with me now in this new road, a war that makes all for peace.”*

*The Lectionary,  James Kiefer, http://thelectionary.org/DPOakerhater.htm