Church of the Atonement

07/28/2024

Germany Mission Update – Today (Sunday 7/28) our DSE Bishop Hill preached the sermon at the morning worship service in the Chapel of the Knuell Camp and Conference Center, near Schwarzenborn, Germany. Here’s a link to a YouTube video of his message being translated into German - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKXUQnlTIvo

07/14/2024

A Prayer For Our Country
ALMIGHTY God, you have given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor.
Bless us with industry, prosperity, learning, and purity of life. Save us from discord and violence, and from pride and arrogancy. Preserve us from public calamities, pestilence, and famine; from war, private conspiracies, and rebellion; and especially from national sins and corruption. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought here out of many nations and tongues.
Endue with wisdom those in authority, that justice and peace may prevail. Make us strong and great in the fear of God, and in the love of righteousness, that, blessed by you, O God, we may be a blessing to all people. In prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in trouble do not let our trust in you fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer For the Coming of Christ’s Kingdom and Universal Peace
O ALMIGHTY Father, you are the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God our Savior; Hasten, we implore you, the coming on earth of the kingdom of your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and draw the whole world of mankind into willing obedience to his blessed reign. Overcome all his enemies, and bring low every power that is exalted against him.
Cast out all the evil things which cause wars and fightings among us, and let your Spirit rule the hearts of men in righteousness and love. Repair the desolations of former days; rejoice the wilderness with beauty; and make glad the city with your law.
Establish every work that is founded on truth and equity, and fulfill all the good hopes and desires of your people. Manifest your will, Almighty Father, in the brotherhood of man, and bring in universal peace; through the victory of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

06/19/2024

HONDURAS MISSION TEAM ARRIVES. Yesterday, June 18, several members of the Diocese of the SE (REC/ACNA) started on a short term (one week) Mission Trip to Roatan, Honduras, to engage in spreading the Gospel and bring some medical aid/help to the people on that island. PLEASE PRAY that the group will have safe travel and have God’s blessing as they do His work there. The group is being led by Medical Doctor Deloris Gibbs. Others on the Mission are Postulants Christian Heyward of Mt. Olivet Church and Sadell Suckiel of Nazareth Church; Rebecca Pettigrew of Calvary Church; Nannette Gibbs of New Bethel Church; Cicely Bland of Redeemer Church; Joe Clemens, Amanda Rudloff (and her 7 year old daughter, Grace), Dick and Judith Smith, all of First Baptist Church, Moncks Corner. We have just heard (Wed., 6/19) that all of the Mission Team members have arrived safely in Honduras, PTL. (Note: Not all Team Members are pictured)

05/27/2024

IN MEMORIAM 2024

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

By Major John McCray, M.D.
May 1915, The Great War
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm

03/29/2024

GOOD FRIDAY – The Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross:

1. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (St. Luke 23:33-34)

2. “Truly, I say to you, Today you will be with me in paradise.” (St. Luke 23:39-43)

3. “Women, behold thy son! . . . Behold thy mother!” (St. John 19:25-27)

4. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (St. Matthew 27:45-46, St. Mark 15:33-34; Jesus from memory saying Psalm 22. Read Psalm 22 in its entirety; note especially verses 1, 7-8, 13-18)

5. “I thirst” (St. John 22:28-29; fulfillment of Psalm 22:15 and Psalm 69:21)

6 “It is finished” (St. John 19:30)

7. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (St. Luke 23:44-47; fulfillment of Psalm 31:5)

03/16/2024

Happy and Blessed Easter to all:

02/29/2024

From the Babylon Bee – 10 Great Things you can do with your Babies instead of Aborting Them!!! I especially like #6 and #9, don’t really like #7!!! Read it here:

https://babylonbee.com/news/10-great-things-you-can-do-with-babies-instead-of-aborting-them

02/20/2024

ANGLICAN CHURCH HISTORY – 1530 - “the birth of the Anglican Church” according to a Roman Church Archbishop!

Vatican “Secret” Archives reveal Henry VIII’s 1530 letter to Pope Clement VII requesting an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Bolyn, says retiring Vatican Secret Keeper Archbishop Sergio Pagano About this letter, Pagano says, “. . . here we are at the birth of the Anglican Church.”

Amazingly, a few years prior to this, in 1521, Pope Leo X named Henry “Fidei Defensor,” “Defender of the Faith,” for Henry’s published repudiation of Martin Luther in Henry’s book, “Defense of the Seven Sacraments.” The English Monarchs, including Charles III, still carry this title.

Read about the Vatican “Secret” Archives here: https://apnews.com/article/vatican-archive-secrets-pius-xii-pope-c0c31a8e0b7e8d0827467367dd94779f

At the end of the interview, Pagano proudly showed visitors one of the archive’s prized possessions, which he keeps in an otherwise nondescript wooden armoire near the entrance of his office. There, behind plate glass and illuminated with special lights, is the original 1530 letter from British nobles urging Pope Clement VII to grant King Henry VIII an annulment so he could marry Anne Boleyn.
As is well known, the pope refused and the king went ahead and got married, breaking with Rome.

“You can say that here we are at the birth of the Anglican Church,” Pagano says as he holds up a light-tipped pointer to show off the red wax seals of some of the signatories.

Pagano delights in revealing how the document survived: When Napoleon Bonaparte famously seized the Vatican archives in 1810 and carted them off to Paris, Pagano’s predecessor as chief archivist rolled up the 1530 letter and hid it inside a secret drawer in a chair in the archive antechamber.

“The French never found it,” Pagano says proudly, keenly aware that an archivist’s main job is to preserve the archive.

Read King Henry’s letter here: https://www.facsimiles.com/facsimiles/the-1530-letter-to-pope-clement-vii

02/17/2024

This Day – February 16, 1977 – in Anglican Church History – Archbishop Janani Luwum of Uganda utters his last words, “I can see the hand of the Lord in this,” before he was martyred by Dictator Idi Amin. Read about him here: https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?e=a3ffa63401&u=8afcbca846220ea5008858654&id=dcd826d8f4

Pictured is the statue of Archbishop Luwum, unveiled in 1998, above the west door of Westminster Abbey.

For more about the Ugandan ordeal see the free video “Uganda: Ready to Forgive” on Redeem TV here: https://watch.redeemtv.com/show-details/uganda-ready-to-forgive

02/13/2024

This will be a busy week in the life of our parish. Briefly speaking: Tuesday, 13 February: Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at 6pm Wednesday, 14 February: Ash Wednesday said Evening Prayer, Litany, P…

02/06/2024

Next week we will mark the beginning of Lent with the observance of Ash Wednesday on 14 February, the first time that it has fallen on that date since 1934. That presents a dilemma for how to keep …

02/01/2024