From Deacon Ron Reno:
O LORD, we beseech thee favorably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offenses, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen. Collect for Septuagesima Sunday
Septuagesima is Latin for seventieth. The period is sometimes called pre- 
Lent. It is really an ancient pre-lenten tradition Septuagesima is the beginning of our shortest liturgical season. It helps ease us from the joy of Christmas to the seriousness of Lent. It takes a more somber tone without being as strict as the Lenten fast. The season is seventeen days long and it includes the three Sundays before Ash Wednesday. The length never changes but the start date is dependent the movable date of Easter.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of David Sherwood who has passed. May the perpetual light shine upon him. Pray for God’s armor and protection for Nick who has been dealt a heavy load of grief over the last 6 months. Deacon
Presentation in the Temple and Mary’s purification closes out our Christmastide and another 40 days to the glory of God. While we do celebrate our Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany this next week, we continue our love of being our part of the body of Christ. Our discipleship never ends and we are looking forward to our Gesima Season (pre-Lent) and prepare for our Lenten season. The pre-lent season became part of our first Book of Common Prayer and came to us by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1549. We will discuss our ancient “Sarum Missal” prayers and readings more in our upcoming emails.
O GOD, who knowest us to be in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen. Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany collect.
We are closing in on the Third Sunday after the Epiphany with some upbeat warmer weather coming this weekend. God willing we are hopeful for mid 30’s. The windchill in Omaha on Tuesday was -28 degrees below O and it was brutal early.
rise up to the challenge as Jesus did from His comfortable life in Nazareth, to be the savior of mankind and our chance to know God.
Josh, his children and Nick’s Godchildren join us. Mom and Dad were there too. Our coffee hour has some very interesting conversations going on and the sound of children make it special.
“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel.” Joseph listened to the angel of the Lord in his dream while still in Egypt. Our homily goes on to speak of Joseph on how little we know of him. Take time to read this homily from Father Ponec written in 2016 and learn what we do know of him.
Christmastide. The twelve days of Christmas really starts on December 25; the secular world would object. The Church gave us the Twelve Days of Christmas to celebrate between Christmas and Epiphany to deepen our love of God and the real meaning of Christmas. The twelve days is much more serious than the “12 Days of Christmas” children’s song. Each day celebrates the birth of Christ, honors a saint or references to a feast to be honored. This is a wonderful time to deepen our sense of holiness and learn about Saint Stephen, the Apostle John, Thomas Becket and maybe we should study about Saint Basil the Great. Remember the season of Christmastide is an older tradition and must not be allowed to fade, in this more secular world.
Christmas gifts for the children of the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota in South Dakota. Our church and others have helped with this project. If you can help, contact our Nick Behrens about possible donations. According to Nick this reservation is one of the poorest so even bedding, toilet paper, paper towels etc would be welcome. Jesus wants us to help the poor, so please do what you can to help for this project.
Our service last weekend included the Litany. This was the first officially sanctioned liturgy into English in the English Church during the time of Henry VIII. It came about with the English Reformation following the break from Rome. This work was done by Archbishop Cranmer and is mostly from the Latin Sarum Rite. Influences for this litany came from Cranmer himself, influences from Martin Luther and from early church father John Chrysostom. We at Saint John’s sing the Litany at the first service in any calendar month for its historical, ancient penitential and intercessory nature.
We celebrated Saturday with Sung Morning Prayer and Communion of the Presanctified Gifts, with an emphasis on All Saint’s Day in our music and our homily. Who doesn’t love to sing music we know such as “For All the Saints” and “I Sing a Song of the Saints.” The choral postlude “The Souls of the Righteous” was especially moving. We are so blessed to have a joyous group and sing music honoring God and His Saints. Our homily gets into the reason why we 
celebrated this day. Our observance goes back to the early centuries of the Christian Church when we celebrated the many martyrs on the anniversaries of their death. In the fourth century the Church established a common day to honor all martyrs. Both All Saints and All Souls Day have special prayers. We Anglicans believe in the power of prayer and sometimes ask for these Saints to have a spiritual connection to us and pray for those who have passed. By the way those martyrs have eternal life with Jesus. Our purpose on this earth is to do our best to have eternal life with Jesus too.
What a blessing it is to hear the noise of children in our midst. We have new people with children. God loves it when His children make joyful noise. That definitely includes all of us with our choir, Nick, Lynda, Julia and the rest of us singing out of the 1940 Hymnal. We are all God’s children. We use the 1940 with its supplements because it is simply one of the best hymnals ever printed. Our hymnal is a nice worship resource and can be used at home as well at the church. Our hymnal, along with the 1928 BCP, is very orthodox in its following of scripture, the seasons of the church, Saints days and it follows our one year lectionary. Some of our hymns are ancient and go back to the late 1500’s. I especially appreciate that its text is dark, easy to read and feels like a history book companion to me.
