Augustine of Hippo

Anglicans around the globe are celebrating the life and ministry of St. Augustine today.  You can read his biography here.

In recounting his conversion to the faith, Augustine recalls...

“I was carrying on so, crying acrid tears of ‘heart’s contrition,’ when I heard from a nearby house the voice of a boy – or perhaps a girl, I could not tell – chanting in repeated singsong: Lift! Look! My features relaxed immediately, while I studied as hard as I could whether children use such a chant in any of their games. But I could not remember every having heard it. No longer crying, I leaped up, not doubting that it was by divine prompting that I should open the book and read what first I hit on…I rushed back to where Alypius was sitting, since there I had left the book of the Apostle when I moved away from him. I grabbed, opened, read: ‘Give up indulgence and drunkenness, give up lust and obscenity, give up strife and rivalries, and clothe yourself in Jesus Christ the Lord, leaving no further allowance for fleshly desires.’ The very instant I finished that sentence, light was flooding my heart with assurance, and all my shadowy reluctance evanesced.”

Tuesday Reverie

Though our weather here in Virginia has been exceptionally mild and gentle this summer, it seems to have been one of those "long, hot summer's" when it's come to news and events.  We've watched apocalypse-like events unfolding in the Mideast, strife at home, an uncertain economy, and a widespread angst simmering just beneath the the collective surface.  Each one of us could benefit from hearing our Lord speak peace upon our angry seas.

 Every once in awhile, a song comes along that captures my heart and emotion.  "Oceans" by Hillsong United did just this on this past Sunday morning.  Close your eyes, quiet your mind, and the song to play out. Be blessed by the melody and lyric...

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise my soul will rest in your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and you won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your Name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine 
copyright 2013 Hillsong United

Remembering Bartholomew, Apostle to Africa

On August 24th the Anglican Calendar commemorates the life and ministry of Saint Bartholomew, predestined by the Father, commissioned by the Son, and empowered by the Spirit to be the Apostle to the peoples of The Levant.

"Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Amen.

A concise biography of St. Bartholomew may be read here.

For our Brothers and Sisters.

Praying this morning for the persecuted Church, in particular, the church in Syria and Iraq who are standing firm in the shadow of scalding persecution at the hands of the infidels of the Islamic State in the Levant.

"Heavenly Father, we bring before you today the people of the Middle East, especially those of Syria and Iraq, asking you to be their defender and help in this time of great need. Walk with them in their suffering and loss, and give them strength to face the days ahead. We pray for the release of those imprisoned or held hostage for their Christian faith. We pray for your intervention against the violence and evil directed toward your people. We pray for your grace and provision for the hungry, the homeless, and the bereaved. We beseech you to help your people who are called by your Name, as we pray in the matchless name of your only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen"

We have nothing in our sterile, western experience that even approaches what our brothers and sisters in the Levant are facing.  Even the most brutal slasher flick would pale in comparison.  This calls to mind the vision of St. John in the Apocalypse:  

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been."  Revelation 6:9-11

Continue in prayer.

A Deacon's "Hymn"

A New Thing...

Hi.  Though I've been blogging for a number of years, I've decided after some thought to launch a new blog that has a direct focus rather than being a potpourri of everything and anything.

A Heart to God, a Hand to Man will be a home for thoughts, reflections, insights, encouragements centered around my vocation as a non-transitionary Deacon within the Anglican Church in North America where I've been blessed to serve the saint's of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.