Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with
one accord to make our common supplication to you; and
you have promised through your well-beloved Son that
when two or three are gathered together in his Name you
will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our
desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in
this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come
life everlasting. Amen

Page 102 Book of Common Prayer

Dear friends,

Do you know this prayer? It comes at the conclusion of Morning Prayer from the Daily Office in our Book of Common Prayer. For many of us who were regulars in the Episcopal Church before 1979 we would hear this prayer every Sunday when Morning Prayer instead of the Holy Eucharist was our weekly liturgy.

As a child I was always struck by this phrase, “you will be in the midst of them.” It made me think that we could summon the presence of God séance style. This had to be around the time I was attending lots of slumber parties and turning out the lights and listening for sounds from the “other world” was very popular. As I recall we also loved to try to levitate some poor girl, too. I felt as a child and through much of my life I would love to have a more visceral sense of God being in the room. Though I knew there was a weakness in my theology somewhere, I liked the idea we could summon God to be more present.

This past Sunday we heard again the wonderful story of Jacob's ladder.
“Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it......Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place-- and I did not know it!" And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Genesis 28)

I understand in my head and the best parts of my heart that God is always present, always trying to connect with us. That ladder is always there, we just don't always see it. But I have often envied those people who could tell about very dramatic experiences where they could just feel the presence of the Lord in their midst in a powerful, palpable way. I have a couple of those stories in my own life, but they seem few and far between.

Which brings me back to this past Sunday. After the exchange of the peace, during the announcements, it became clear that one of our members was having some sort of medical emergency. As various healers of various sorts came to her side, our congregation calmly and powerfully pulled ourselves into one body united in song and prayer. For some very long minutes, “our eyes were watching God” as Zola Neal Hurston once put it. We were powerless yet we fully and faithfully surrendered Dorothy to the healing power of God.

AND, many of us (I heard it from person after person later) could feel the presence of God in a way that we rarely if ever had experienced it. That is not to say that God is not present at all times, or that we are just less mindful or sincere at other times. It is just to say that on that morning, in that way, there was an especially obvious convergence of God and God's people. The ladder was revealed and those angels were present as they brought healing and renewal to Dorothy and to us all.

As the EMS folks took Dorothy to the hospital we were relieved to see the color back in her face and hear her speaking with gratitude. I am sure I was not the only one to think “"How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
Peace,

The Reverend Anne E. Hodges-Copple


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Recent events at St. Luke's

The Ordination of Deacons occurred on Saturday, June 28th. More details and pictures are on our St. Luke's special events web page.

Upcoming Events at St. Luke's

RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE: FAITH, SCIENCE AND ACTION

Open to all who believe care for the Earth and all her creatures is a sacred trust

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Here at St. Luke's
See this document for more information , [PDF], and this document for registration information [PDF].

Flower Bulbs for Outreach

Spring flowers sale to benefit St. Luke's Outreach is coming. Look for more information on this flyer, and please see this order form.