| | Weekly Dispatch, September 16th, 2020 |
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| |  | | St. John's Schedule | | A Message from Fr. Bryan | You have probably heard it said that the mortality rate is 100%, and this is certainly true. There was a time when each of us was not yet living, and there will be a time when each of us passes from this life to the next. We must all get there by way of death.
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Some of us are naturally inclined to think and talk about our impending deaths, but for others, the subject is to be avoided. Indeed, our culture as a whole tends to avoid the subject and focus on youth and vitality and to greet each death as a great intrusion or injustice. As an undergraduate student, I read a book about this tendency to avoid the subject which was titled, The Denial of Death, by Ernst Becker.
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It is among only a few books that made a truly lasting impression on me, and I've always carried the conviction that Christians should spend much more time thinking about our mortality and about what it means to have "a good death," as our ancestors used to pursue.
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Dale Boston works as a hospice chaplain and has perhaps more experience with death than anyone in our congregation. He will preach on the subject this Sunday, with a focus on the following prayer, which you can find on pg. 265 of our Book of Common Prayer:
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| | | O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be numbered: Make us, we pray, deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of human life; and let your Holy Spirit lead us in holiness and righteousness all our days; that, when we shall have served you in our generation, we may be gathered to our ancestors, having the testimony of a good conscience; in the communion of the Catholic Church; in the confidence of a certain faith; in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope; in favor with you, our God; and in perfect charity with the world. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
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I hope you will join us on Sunday, as we explore this subject which is, most certainly, applicable to all.
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If you would like to support St. John's during this time, you can give online by clicking the button below. You may also send a check to the following address:
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PO BOX 36591, CANTON OH 44735
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| "The Blessing of Children" by Bryan Hollon |  | A message from the series "On Prayer." Fr. Bryan Hollon preaches another sermon in his series on prayer focusing on The Blessing of Children in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer as a means of meditating on how Christians ought to receive children as gifts, true to the witness of Mary, the mother of Jesus, at St. John's Anglican Church in North Canton Ohio.
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| | The Daily Office| Interested in a simple way to pray the daily office from the Book of Common Prayer? Follow this link for text and audio versions of morning, noon, and evening prayer. The site is hosted by our friend, Fr. Michael Jarrett. |
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Contact Us| If you have questions about the content contained in this email or want to learn more about St. John's Anglican Church or , please let us know. You can fill out a form at this link, and you will receive a response from Fr. Bryan. |
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