CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION AND SAINT AGNES
  • Welcome
    • Newcomers >
      • Letter to Inquirers
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • How to Find Us
    • Childcare
  • Who We Are
    • Our Beliefs >
      • Statements of Mission, Vision, Beliefs & Value
      • What is an Anglo-Catholic?
      • Apolitical or Supra Political?
    • Our History
    • Our Leadership >
      • Parish Staff
      • Vestry
  • Worship
    • About our Worship >
      • Attending Mass
      • Music
  • Formation
    • About Formation
    • Adult Formation >
      • Adult Theology Upcoming
      • Adult Theology Archive >
        • Knowing Christ
    • Sermons
  • Connect
    • Contact us
    • Rector's Weekly Letter
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Pastoral Offices >
        • Reconciliation (Confession)
      • Prayer Requests
    • Stewardship >
      • Stewardship Letter
      • Givelify Instructions
      • Planned Giving
      • Endowment Fund
  • Calendar
  • Baptism
  • Outreach
  • Feasibility Study

dare to hope

Philippians

10/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Our reading for this Sunday is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Though it is not, perhaps, as well-known as his Letters to the Romans and the Corinthians, it is an unusual letter. And it’s well worth spending time on.
This Letter is the only one to a congregation that contains no censures, either stated or implied. In this letter, Paul is unreservedly joyous. The tone throughout is affectionate and warm.  The Philippians readily acknowledged Paul as an Apostle; he returns their favor heartily.
Above all, it’s a letter of love.
Written, probably, about 49 CE, it is, like many of Paul’s Letters, addressed to congregations that he founded. Some strife and contention surrounded the founding of the faith community at Philippi. But, by the time of the Letter, Paul is rejoicing in the faith community there. He discounts his own sufferings, and the ups and downs of his life. Though Paul was in prison, probably in Ephesus, at the time he wrote it, his faith and love are undiminished. And he praises the community they’ve built.  He commends them for their fidelity to Jesus Christ, the Gospel, their humility and their loving kindness to one another. He exhorts them to meditation on the favors God confers. And he praises them for their fidelity to each other, and most of all, to Christ Jesus. There’s no trace of the admonishments, scoldings and impatience Paul shows in his letters to other congregations.  
In the passage that we’ll hear on Sunday, he says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ.” Let us, too, press on for the goal of the heavenly prize.
Thanks be to God.

​Mary McCue
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    RSS Feed

    authors

    The Rev. Charles Hoffacker is a retired priest of the Diocese of Washington
    who lives in Greenbelt, Maryland. He and his wife Helena Mirtova are members of Ascension and St. Agnes.

    The Rev. Mary McCue, is a vocational deacon and currently ministers at Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes.
    ​
    The Rev. Dominique Peridans is the Rector of Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes. 

    Molly Jane Layton is a seminarian intern at Ascension and St. Agnes. 

    Zach Baker Rodes is a seminarian intern at Ascension and St. Agnes.

✜ Contact ✜
Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes
1215 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Parish Office:
1219 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,
​Washington, DC 20005
(202) 347-8161
Email
​​✜ Social Media ✜
​Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

Newsletter
​

✜ Resources ✜
About Us
Directions
Giving

  • Welcome
    • Newcomers >
      • Letter to Inquirers
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • How to Find Us
    • Childcare
  • Who We Are
    • Our Beliefs >
      • Statements of Mission, Vision, Beliefs & Value
      • What is an Anglo-Catholic?
      • Apolitical or Supra Political?
    • Our History
    • Our Leadership >
      • Parish Staff
      • Vestry
  • Worship
    • About our Worship >
      • Attending Mass
      • Music
  • Formation
    • About Formation
    • Adult Formation >
      • Adult Theology Upcoming
      • Adult Theology Archive >
        • Knowing Christ
    • Sermons
  • Connect
    • Contact us
    • Rector's Weekly Letter
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Pastoral Offices >
        • Reconciliation (Confession)
      • Prayer Requests
    • Stewardship >
      • Stewardship Letter
      • Givelify Instructions
      • Planned Giving
      • Endowment Fund
  • Calendar
  • Baptism
  • Outreach
  • Feasibility Study