446 N Seguin Ave, New Braunfels, Texas 78130
Catholic in Tradition, Biblical in Faith, Sacramental in Worship
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Your prayers, support and contributions will help us keep a faithful Anglican presence and traditional Anglican worship alive and kickin' here in the Texas Hill Country. We have a lot to do to bring our parish mission to this part of God's world: to be "Catholic in Tradition, Biblical in Faith and Sacramental in Worship." Your generous (and tax-deductible!) donations will help fund that mission and keep us movin'!
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This Sunday at St Joseph's: the Sunday after Ascension
This Sunday at St Joseph's: the Sunday after Ascension
Our Sunday Schedule is:
9.00 AM Morning Prayer
9.30 AM Holy Eucharist (sung with sermon)
10.45 AM Fun, Food and Fellowship
As much fun, food and fellowship as Anglicans allow themselves to have
11.15 AM Class (first, second, fourth and fifth Sundays; the parish Vestry meets on the third Sunday)
1.00 PM - Evening Prayer during the summer
4.00 PM - Evening Prayer rest of the year
4.00 PM - Evensong on the Second Sunday of each month
Our Sunday morning Liturgy (Morning Prayer followed by the Holy Eucharist) is live-streamed on our parish Facebook page beginning at 9.00 AM each Sunday morning. www.facebook.com/stjosephsnewbraunfels
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays
11:45 AM - Morning Prayer
12:00 noon - Mass
7.00 PM - Evening Prayer
Holy Days as above
For each week's schedule of Saint's Days & Holy Days, and the Epistoller's Schedule, see the schedule on our "About Us" page
Parish Dates to Note in May:
Vestry Meeting: Our Vestry usually meets on the third Sunday of each month at 11.15 AM; in May, that date is the 21st.
Parish Women’s (Healthy!) Breakfast: meets next on Saturday, May 6 at 10.30 AM (after Morning Prayer at 10.00 AM)
Parish Men's Not-So- Healthy Breakfast: Saturday, May 27 in David Hall at 10.30 AM (after Morning Prayer at 10.00 AM)
Bishop Peter Ng'ang'a will be with us on May 14th as celebrant and May 28th (Whitsunday) 30th as preacher.
This Sunday’s Liturgy:
Ascension Sunday
Ascensiontide is the ten days from Ascension Thursday till Whitsunday. In times past, less prosaic than our own, it was not part of Eastertide. Then, when the cycle of days and seasons were more than digital markers, they helped us live our lives in wider contexts: with the world around us, in the communities by which we identified ourselves and, in the context of our faith, they set our temporal lives in relation to eternity. Now, our calendars are less set by the created world and our communities, but by political and commercial banalities. Losing things like Rogationtide or Hallowtide or having the holy days of our saints all blended into Sundays misses much of the point of the church c(k)alendar [notice that, Bill?]. It’s holy days, feasts and fasts alike, are mean to sanctify the lives of Christians. We’re not supposed to be “religious” on Sundays and live our “real” lives the rest of the time.
Wee use the Paschal Greeting: “Christ is risen!” trough Eastertide. With the coming of the Ascension, we lay it aside. We may it because our Christian ancestors believed that somehow, for the forty days of Easter, they were living in different “time”, a Paschal time that was a foretaste of the eternal Day that was coming. To lose these customs is to lose more than a quaint reminder of “olden days.” It’s to loosen the place our faith plays in our daily lives. Those quaint antique behaviors help form our faith – to form Christ – in us. Here endeth the lesson.
The liturgy of Ascensiontide is essentially anticipatory. It looks forward to Whitsunday. The readings and prayers for most of Ascensiontide point to Pentecost, the great feast of the Holy Ghost. Most of them, but not all. The Prayer Book, preserving ancient tradition, recognized Ascensiontide in the Liturgy. The Ascension Day Collect is to be said through the Octave and the so are the Eucharistic readings. The Morning Office provides an Ascensiontide Invitatory on the Venite to be sued till Whitsunday. Ascensiontide points to Pentecost, but there’s more to it than that.
In Sunday’s Liturgy we’ll be marking the seasonal shift with an old ceremony: the procession of the Paschal candle from the sanctuary, where it’s been since Easter, to its customary place the rest of the year, next to the baptismal font. This ceremony “closes” the Eastertide cycle: the Deacon carried the Paschal Candle into church on Easter; he now processes with the Candle to its place beside the font. As he does this (at the end of Sunday Mass), the Cantor leads us in chanting Psalm verses that are part of the Ascension liturgy.
Ascension is more than an anticipatory observance. What is it then? Ah, beloved, that’s what Sunday’s sermon is about…
This Sunday at St Joseph's: the Sunday after Ascension
This Sunday at St Joseph's: the Sunday after Ascension
This Sunday at St Joseph's: the Sunday after Ascension
9.00 AM - Morning Prayer
9.30 AM - the Holy Eucharist (sung): Fr Wilcox, celebrant, Fr Wilcox & preacher
10.45 AM - Texas Treats in David Hall
11.30 AM - Vestry Meeting
4.00 PM - Evening Prayer
Bishop Ng’ang’a on Christmas Cows for Kenya
Last Sunday after Mass, Bishop Ng’ang’a spoke to us about his adventures with powers both governmental and ecclesiastical in supplying a couple of cows and goats to a few rural Anglican families in Kenya. It sounded like a ovel, but he persevered and in doing so, has established a pattern by which we can actually help people in need rather than bureaucrats in want. But be warned, the Bishop is a clever man as well as a genuinely good one, and I’m pretty sure there’s a “ ‘Christmas in July’ Cows for Kenya” collection a-planning. Tanya’s already designing the envelopes.
Our Parish Vestry Meets This Sunday May 21 at 11.30 AM
If this applies to you, please take note! Glen Goody is out of town – and soon to be out of the country, heading back to “Jolly Old” to fetch his mom here for a nice long visit – so all the rest of y’all note: one more gone and we have no quorum! Given the topics we have to address, it should be a scintillating meeting! (I think operating instructions for the washing machine are up for a prolonged discussion.)
Whitsunday Speaking in Tongues
Next Sunday, May 28this the Feast of Pentecost, commonly called Whitsunday. It’s the day flames danced on the heads of the Apostles as the Holy Ghost descended on the Church: Pentecost is sometimes called “the Church’s Birthday.” To celebrate, Fr Wilcox and Tanya will present the parish with a Happy 1,990th Birthday Cake. So set aside your red blouse or tie (or socks) to wear for the occasion (‘cause even though it’s called Whitsunday, the liturgical color of the feast is red – it’s one of those “mysteries of the Church” nobody can quite explain).
Whitsunday is our day for “speaking in tongues!” The Epistle for the day, from the Acts of the Apostles, tells how the Holy Ghost came down on the Apostles and they “began to speak with other tongues.” People from all parts of the world heard them speak about “the wonderful works of God,” each in his own language. On Pentecost we read the day’s Gospel in different languages: in the past, we’ve heard Spanish, French, German, Welsh and Russian, as well as Greek, Latin, Coptic, Kiswahili and Anglo-Saxon! So, dust off your linguistic skills and sign up to read. Tanya has the signup sheet and copies of the individual verses in different languages, so see her soon – the short verses always go fast!
Whitsun Parish Barbeque and Sing-Along (and maybe a bit of dancing, too)
Whitsunday is May 28th a big day on the Church’s calendar and a special day here at St Joseph’s every year. During the Whitsun Mass we speak in other tongues during the Liturgy, release 5,000 Ladybugges into the parish gardens after Mass and this year we’ll cap the day with a parish barbeque, sing-a-long (you know “Waltzing with Bears” will be among the songs) and maybe even a bit of dancing outside. Our Junior Warden Bill Hull will be in charge of the outdoor barbeque and Jan Bates will be the Mistress of the Kitchen for the day. So get out your dancing shoes, loosen up your tongue and be sure to wear red on Whitsunday!
Confirmation Class Meets Next on Sunday, June 4
Last Sunday we began our Confirmation Class for 2023. The class will meet the first and last Sunday of each month (except May, because of Whitsunday on May 28th) for 45 minutes, beginning at 12 noon. The class is open to all, confirmed or not. We’ll use the Prayer Book “Offices of Instruction,” Fr Moss’ Summary of the Faith and readings from Fr Carleton’s The King’s Highway. The course will conclude in November with Bishop Ng’ang’a doing Confirmation (dv) on the First Sunday in Advent (December 3rd).
Finally…
“Hearts that have been called to lift themselves up must not be dragged down by earthly affections. We who are called to things eternal must not be distracted by the things that perish; we who have entered on the way of Truth must not become entangled in the treacherous lies we will encounter along the road, and we who are the faithful people of Christ must so walk our path through these temporal snares as to remember that we are passing through this word as travelers. Though we be lured by some of the world’s attractions, they must not sinfully embrace them, but bravely pass through them, remembering, as St Peter writes, that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world…” – from a sermon on the Ascension of our Lord by Pope St Leo the Great in 455
See this week's Liturgical Schedule on our "About Us" page
Help Us Help Others
This Sunday at St Joseph's: the Sunday after Ascension
Help Us Help Others
Parish Food Closet
We collect non-perishable food items throughout the year and every two months we caravan the donations to the New Braunfels SOS Food Bank. Our current food collection is continuing till Sunday, September 5, so please remember to bring something for one of our collection baskets by then. We have one collection basket by the front entrance of David Hall, just ot the right of the door. The other basket is in the back of the church on the Gospel side. Thanks to your ongoing generosity, st Joseph's is one of the major contributors to our local food bank.
Options for Life
Throughout Lent we've been raising money for an annual gift to the New Braunfels "Options for Life" Program, supporting young, single mothers struggling to raise their children. The garishly-colored plastic baby bottles lined up on the narthex table are for you to take home and fill up as part of our common parish Lenten Alms program. We also have an OfL Collection Jar in our parish hall for through-the-year donations. We'll being collecting bottles on Easter Day and on Whitsunday present our check to the office of OfL.
Veterans' Charities
On Memorial Day and Veterans' Day we take up special collections for the "Wreaths Across America" program. At Christmastime, we participate in this by laying wreaths at the graves of veterans in New Braunfels and Comal County. For more information, contact Tanya Wilcox.
Most-Needed Items at Food Bank
The brochure for our local Food Bank lists the following items as their greatest needs: Canned meats, tuna, chicken or salmon; Meals in a can (soup, stew, chili); Low-sodium canned vegetables; Canned fruit in its own juice or water; Peanut butter; Olive or canola oil; Spices (cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, salt-free spice blends); Canned foods with pop-top lids; Low-sugar whole grain cereals; Healthy snacks (granola bars, nuts, dried fruit).
Their brochure goes on to say: “Please avoid items packed in glass. No candy or sugar-sweetened drinks. We request that you do not donate bulk quantities of rice, flour, or sugar. Although we appreciate and can utilize every donation we receive, the Food Bank does not have the repackaging facilities needed to properly distribute such items.”
Easter Greetings!
The customary greeting extended towards fellow Christians through the Easter Season is “Christ is risen!”
The ancient reply is “He is risen indeed, Alleluia”
The Easter Greeting in Greek is “Christos aneste!”
and the response is “Alethos aneste!”
In Kiswahili, the Easter Greeting is “Kristo Amefufukka!”
And the response is “Kweli Amefufukka!”
In Spanish, the Easter Greeting is “¡Cristo ha resucitado!”
and the response is “¡En verdad ha resucitado!”
In Latin – Christus resurrexit! And the response is
Resurrexit vere!
Summertime Food Bank Ingathering
Our Summertime SOS Food Bank Ingathering has begun and will continue until Labor Day weekend. Food donations should be of canned goods and nonperishable items. The Food Bank prepared a list of their special needs which is on a green sheet on our narthex table. We have wo stations for the Ingathering, the wicker basket in the back corner of the church (on the “Gospel Side”) and the large white basket in David Hall to the right of the front entrance as you come in the front door. Thank you for your ongoing generosity to this worthy cause.
Bishop Ng’ang’a’s Schedule
I am grateful to Bishop Ng’ang’a, who altered his schedule to be with us for the Sundays of Passiontide and Easter Day this year. It’s always a joy for us when anna joins him. Y’all will recall I asked you to go to him on Passion Sunday and sweet-talk him into coming for all three Sundays. Quite a few of you did. Thanks! He’ll be with us on the Third Sunday after Easter (April 30) to celebrate the success of our Christmas Cows for Kenya program (yes, we’ll be taking up another collection!). When he’s here, thank him again for spending those Sundays with us (don’t let on, but we’re buttering him up for something else!).
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