May 13, 2008
Why White?
For those of you who were not at Church
on Sunday and yet are curious as to why I asked everyone to wear white on
Pentecost, here is the explanation:
Pentecost Sunday is also known as
Whitsunday (literally White Sunday). Traditionally it was a time for Baptisms.
Thus, everyone who was to be baptized would be in their white gowns.
Furthermore, the other parishioners would wear white garments recalling their
own Baptism. Thus all the people of the Parish would be in white.
At the sametime,
all the vestments and liturgical colors on Pentecost are red. Remember red
represents blood and fire and is the color uniquely associated with the person
and work of the Holy Spirit. Why? The Spirit applies Christ blood to His people
(what the blood of Christ fulfilled for you the Holy Spirit now applies to
you). At the same time Scripture represents the Spirit as fire (the tongues of
fire over the Apostles, the cloud of fire that led God's people in the
wilderness, the burning bush, the thunder cloud atop Mt. Sinai, etc...). Remember fire purifies
and refines. It burns off the chaff. It refines gold.
So now let’s put this all together. On
Pentecost we come to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit who applies
Christ's work to us and refines us. Thus the church is all in red representing
the Spirit. Meanwhile, all God's people come in white as a reminder that we are
the ones that even now the Spirit is refining and preparing as beautiful bride
for Christ. Listen to Paul:
Ephesians 5:25 Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her; 26 that
He might sanctify her,
having cleansed her by the washing of water with the
word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should
be holy and blameless.
White Sunday is meant to be an
incredible visual display of the Gospel and a beautiful description of God's
work in each believer's life.
!!!New Feature!!!
Every week our Newsletter will include
those who are scheduled to serve or read for the upcoming Sunday. It will be
titled, Weekly Servers. This
feature will usually appear towards the bottom of the Newsletter.
Also, if those in charge of the
Nursery, Refreshments, Sunday School, and Children’s
church would like to have their weekly schedules added to this feature I will
be glad to do it. I will just need the info by noon Monday.
Weekly Servers (Trinity Sunday)
Lay Reader- Connie Burth
Acolytes-
Henry (C)
Peter (Ch)
Derrick (G)
Tyler (A)
Web Feature (www.allsaintsgreenville.org)
This week’s web feature is our All
Saints’ online Prayer Request
Form. If you have a prayer need and maybe you will not be in church on
Sunday or maybe you are one of our extended All Saints’ family members, who
receives our newsletter each week, regardless, we would love to join with you
in prayer. You can submit your request to Fr. Charlie online by using our
prayer request form. Also, please indicate in your request if you wish our
entire church family to pray for this need or if you prefer it to remain
confidential (i.e. only Fr. Charlie will see it).
To find the online prayer form, go to the All
Saints’ Home page(www.allsaintsgreenville.org), on the
left hand side of the page click the Newsoption on the menu. Scroll to the very bottom of
the News page and you will see the prayer form. Fill it out and hit submit and All Saints’ will gladly pray for
you. We look forward to
sharing in the vital ministry with you
Why Incense?
On major feast days (such as last
Sunday, Pentecost) and other special occasions All Saints’ uses incense in
worship. Why? Incense is a profound reminded of God’s great love for us and His
delight in the worship His people offer.
Throughout Scripture incense represent
the prayers of God’s people. Listen to the explanation given by both the Old
and New Testaments:
Psalm 141:2 May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee;
Revelation 5:8 And when He had taken
the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before
the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Notice then the incredible way that
this God given symbol proclaims the Gospel. The biblical use of incense in
worship is intended to be a constant reminder of God’s disposition towards your
prayers. Think about it. Far too often God’s people feel as if God is not
listening to them? They feel as if the heavens are brass. Other times they fear
that God is angry or that some failure or sin has caused God to turn away from
them. However, incense remind us that our prayers, be they prayers of
thanksgiving or prayers of repentance, are always a pleasing aroma to God. God
rejoices when His children come to Him with their needs, praises, and worries.
At the same time, God delights to forgive us our sins. Incense then proclaim
the Gospel to our very noses. They provide us with a tangible assurance that
our prayers are sweet to God.
Spread the Word about All Saints’
If All Saints’ has been a blessing to
you, invite someone you know to church!
How can we pray for you?
If you have any special prayer needs or praise reports that you
would like to share with the group, feel free to email them to me (or you can
call me if you prefer) and I will be glad to include them in our weekly
newsletter.
Prayer Requests
Tom and Joann Black who both have
cancer
St. Christopher’s Church in Spartanburg
Mrs. Shorey
who is recovering from sinus surgery
Jim Moseley who is suffering from a
liver condition
Laurie Moseley for her eyes and other
health issues
Pam Guthrie, who is suffering from a
malignant brain tumor
All those serving in our armed forces especially Tim’s nephew David Dyal