I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. Continuing with “Greatest Hits – July”, I present “Sound of Your Voice” by Third Day. Cut: “Sound of Your Voice” Artist: Third Day CD/Album: Move I ran away from Your love… You waited for me…yes You waited for me.
And then I heard Your song singing over me…singing over me. Now that I hear you Lord I wanna know You more…I wanna know You more. Sing Your song to me, oh there’s no greater thing than to listen to the sound of Your voice. When I hear Your song, I wanna sing along…and listen to the sound of Your voice, The sound of Your voice. Oh I am calling Your name and I’m waiting for You…yes I’m waiting for You. So won’t You show me Your ways and I will follow You…yes I will follow You. Now that I hear you Lord I wanna know You more…I wanna know You more. Sing Your song to me, oh there’s no greater thing than to listen to the sound of Your voice. When I hear Your song, I wanna sing along…and listen to the sound of Your voice, Sing over me bringing peace and mercy with a song that never ends. Sing over me momma listen for me, Lord I want to hear Your song again! Sing Your song to me, oh there’s no greater thing than to listen to the sound of Your voice. When I hear Your song, I wanna sing along…and I listen to the sound of Your voice, The sound of Your voice. I want to hear Your song…I want to hear Your voice. I ran away from Your love but You waited for me…yes You waited for me.
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There came a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; The same came to Jesus by night and said unto Him, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.” Jesus answered and said unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus saith unto Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? …” Jesus answered, “ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” For the next couple of months, I am presenting “Greatest Hits” per our Christian Education teenagers. During July, I will start with “Third Day”. Third Day formed in 1993. They briefly retired in 2022 and have recently reunited. They are an internationally acclaimed Christian Music group lead by Mac Powell, whose genuine commitment to Christ and distinctive baritone voice have contributed to the group’s popularity. They have sold 7 million albums, with 28 #1 hits; garnered four Grammys and 24 Gospel Music Awards. Third Day was awarded the 2008 American Music Award for “Favorite Contemporary Inspirational Artist”. Grace Memorial’s Christian Formation group heard Third Day in concert in Baton Rouge (April, 2015). Their music was a frequent subject of our Sunday contemplation. “Born Again” is one of Third Day’s signature cuts. It is about birth as a spiritually inspired Christian, evidenced by physical baptism and the effects on one’s soul. Cut: “Born Again” Artist: Third Day CD/Album: Revelation Lyrics:
Today I found myself, After searching all these years, And the man that I saw, he wasn't at all who I'd thought he'd be. I was lost when You found me here, And I was broken beyond repair, Then You came along and You sang Your song over me. It feels like I'm born again…It feels like I'm living…For the very first time…For the very first time, In my life. Make a promise to me now, Reassure my heart somehow, That the love that I feel, is so much more real than anything. I've a feeling in my soul, And I pray that I'm not wrong, That the life I have now, It is only the beginning. It feels like I'm born again…It feels like I'm living…For the very first time…For the very first time It feels like I'm breathing…It feels like I'm moving…For the very first time…For the very first time Wasn't looking for something that was more, Than what I had yesterday, Then You came to me, Then You gave to me, Life and a love that I've never known, That I've never felt before It feels like I'm born again…It feels like I'm living…For the very first time…I'm living for the first time It feels like I'm breathing…It feels like I'm moving…For the very first time I'm living for the first time, In my life.
Prayer was a fundamentally important part of Jesus’ life and ministry, and he encouraged his followers to pray. Early Christians took the words of Jesus, Paul for example, and his followers to heart and continued the Jewish practice of regular prayer at certain hours of the day and night. This led to the tradition of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours; a set of seven liturgies spaced throughout the day so that prayers were offered day and night. By the 5th century, monks and nuns were dedicating their lives to praying the Divine Office. This tradition of prayer continues today at religious communities offering nearly constant prayer. Thomas Cranmer, the author of the first Book of Common Prayer, did not believe that continual or even daily prayer was the purview of the “professionally religious.” So, he simplified the monks’ prayer cycle into two Daily Offices, morning prayer and evening prayer. The Episcopal Church later added Noonday Prayer and Compline. The Divine Office of the 5th century, prayers every three hours throughout the day, now has four services of prayer: Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline. The liturgy of the Daily Offices can be offered daily for private and public prayer. We can gather for Daily Office at Grace Memorial or in our homes as part of our personal prayer discipline. The Daily Office is set apart from rites like Holy Baptism and the Holy eucharist because they are used on a daily basis. I don’t know if you remember, but we suspended Evening Prayer at Grace during the Covid Pandemic. The Church published by email each week the readings for Tuesday and Thursday Evening Prayer. At the appointed hour of 4:30 pm, I would conduct Evening Prayer at home with the hope that members of Grace were doing the same during this time of crisis. I have no idea how many parishioners conducting Evening Prayer in this manner. However, I did recall one parishioner and her husband telling me they were conducting Evening Prayer in this fashion. You will find in the Book of Common Prayer two versions: Rite I and Rite II. The versions are the same except that Rite I is more traditional with the use of “thee” and “thy.” Rite II is more contemporary and is the most common usage in Episcopal churches. You may chose either rite according to your preference. All of the offices have a similar structure. Each has prayers and features suited for the time of day. Each office includes; opening sentences, psalms, readings from the Bible, and canticles, and prayers which include the Lord’s Prayer and series of additional prayers. The office closes with a dismissal, and there is usually a concluding sentence of scripture. The Book of Common Prayer uses two different lectionaries to determine which scripture passages are read. One is the lectionary for Sundays which is arranged in a three-year cycle. The Daily Office lectionary is arranged in a two-year cycle which allows us to go deeper in our study of the Bible. The lessons are divided up among the day, so that we have readings for every office. We usually read the Old Testament and epistle readings during Morning Prayer and save the gospel for Evening Prayer. Evensong is not found in the Book of Common Prayer, but it is another name for Evening Prayer. It differs in that all or most of the prayers are sung either by a choir or by the congregation. This is a long standing Anglican tradition. I have experienced Evensong only once at Christ Church Cathedral and at an Episcopal Church during one of my many travels. The services were extraordinary, and I would urge you to experience Evensong. You may pray the Daily Office at Forward Movement’s website (prayer.forwardmovement.org) or the Forward Day by Day app which includes the Daily Office with the prayers automatically filled in for the day and time you are praying. You may also use the Daily Office Book: Two Volume Set published by Church Publishing, which includes the liturgies of the Daily Office and the full readings for each day in a portable set. The Daily Office is not the only way to pray using the Book of Common Prayer. The Book offers numerous prayers for daily devotion for individuals and families, grace at meals, prayers and thanksgivings, and prayers for the sick. Every two weeks when I bring communion to the Phoenix Nursing Home, I pray with a resident for his departed daughter using a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. Prayer is not a once-a-week action that we do only in church on Sundays. It is meant to be a daily discipline to be done frequently and regularly. Daily prayer is more meaningful when done with others. Don’t forget Evening Prayer is available at Grace at 4:30 pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and Morning Prayer at 7:30 am on Wednesday. It can be offered more often and at different hours and days. You need only ask.
 William White, (1748 - 1836-07-17), Bishop, Episcopal Church, USA, Oil Painting at the bequest of William White. Public Domain. Source: https://anglicanhistory.org/usa/wwhite/ Changes in the social and cultural circumstances of post-revolutionary America required religious groups that had been closely linked to Great Britain to become denominations capable of self-government in a new nation. Anglicans were especially involved in a process of institutional reorganization. The American Revolution had brought their denominations to near total collapse. Thousands had fled to Canada and England, and patriots who were ashamed of the loyalist taint left the church. The remaining church leaders were forced to preserve their distinctive theological and liturgical Anglican features and still shed those features that closely tied them to the Church of England. William White, the rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, who had worked with many of the “founding fathers” like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin emulated their political skills within the councils of the church. He published in 1782 The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States which set forth ideas on how the Anglican Church might reconstitute itself. He proposed a three-tiered system of church government. Conventions would be composed of clergy and laity making decisions at each level: local, regional, and national. All three levels would operate their powers in a democratic fashion. He proposed retaining the historic orders of bishop, priest, and deacon. In 1783, Anglican conventions in Maryland and Pennsylvania accepted White’s principles and the concept of the “Protestant Episcopal Church” which was to conform as closely as possible to the Church of England. Delegates in New York and New Jersey passed similar resolutions. The delegates then agreed to the calling of the church’s “general convention” in Philadelphia in September 1785. The establishment of a bishop was still controversial because of its association with the monarchy. Two former colonists went to London for ordination, but they could not be ordained because of their inability to swear allegiance to the crown. White proposed having three priests laying hands upon American ordinands because earliest Christian communities recognized this procedure as valid.  Samuel Seabury by Ralph Earl 1785 - Public Domain. Source: https://npg.si.edu It was a high church Anglican like Samuel Seabury, a former missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) in New York, to argue strongly that the episcopate was to be the foundation of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He strongly stressed that bishops were successors of the apostles and represented one of the fundamental links to the first-century church. As a result, a small group of Connecticut priests met secretly in Woodbury, Connecticut in March 1783 to reorganize the church in Connecticut. In addition, they chose two priests as candidates for the episcopate: Jeremiah Leaming and Samuel Seabury. When Leaming refused his selection, Seabury quickly accepted it and set sail for London in search of three bishops—the minimum required by canon law to consecrate him as a bishop for America.
Since Seabury could not take an oath of allegiance, he could not be consecrated as a bishop. After a year of unproductive negotiations with the Church of England, Seabury, determined to be consecrated as a bishop, traveled northward to meet with bishops of the Episcopal Church of Scotland. Since Presbyterianism, not Anglicanism, was the legally established faith in Scotland, the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church agreed to consecrate Seabury. He had to sign an agreement to make every effort to have the liturgical practices and beliefs of the Episcopal Church of Scotland adopted by the American Episcopal Church. Seabury’s consecration took place in Aberdeen, Scotland on November 14, 1784. He returned to the United States in the spring of 1785 and immediately summoned a convocation of the clergy in Connecticut and ordained four deacons. Many prospective ordinands sought ordination from Seabury, but the Episcopal Church of America was divided between followers of Seabury and his high church practices and White and his low church members who wanted more lay participation in the governance of the church. Church matters were complicated by the fact that the Church of England disapproved of Seabury’s consecration by schismatic bishops in Scotland. In late September and early October of 1785, the lay clerical representatives from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia met at Christ Church in Philadelphia for the first General Convention of the Episcopal Church. The churches in North Carolina and Georgia were too small to attend. No one attended from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island because Bishop Seabury was not allowed to preside. In a 10-day meeting the convention under the leadership of William White and William Smith accomplished the following:
The General Convention met again in two sessions in 1786. The consecration of Seabury continued to divide the Episcopalians. His episcopal orders were recognized, but he was prevented from exercising ecclesiastical authority outside of Connecticut. Finally, Parliament passed legislation that allowed the archbishops of Canterbury and York to consecrate candidates for the episcopate who were not British citizens. The convention then sent Samuel Provoost, the rector of Trinity Church in New York and White to travel to London to be consecrated by four English bishops on February 4, 1787. To avoid Episcopalians from splitting into two denominations, White and Seabury reached a compromise. At the next General Convention in 1789 in Philadelphia the convention recognized the legitimacy of Seabury’s Scottish consecration. Another compromise at the 1789 convention was the creation of a separate “House of Bishops,” which would have a partial veto over the House of Deputies which included the clerical and lay delegates at a convention. This move gave the bishops powers similar to those of Anglican prelates and had the support of followers of White and Seabury. According to historians, this process was similar to the drafting of the United States Constitution because it was designed to reflect republican political ideas and balanced the competing interests of various political ideas. In September 1789, the second session of the convention made further concessions to Seabury and his followers. It increased the bishops’ veto power over the House of Deputies, and it gave the bishops the right to originate and to reject legislation. Delegates from all the states formally approved both the church’s constitution and canons. It also adopted a final version of the American Book of Common Prayer and made its use obligatory. When the General Convention adjourned in October 1789, the various state churches finally achieved a measure of organizational unity. |
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