You Are On Your Own, But Not Alone by Bishop Jon Bruno, Los Angeles Diocese. Sunday May 16, 2010 at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, San Juan Capistrano, CA.

Listen to the Sermon by pressing on the play button below:

Mother Teresa

In conjunction with Welcome INN and a consortium of churches who provide daily meals to those in need in the community, on Saturday mornings volunteers from St. Margaret’s meet in the parking lot of the El Patio restaurant on Doheny Park Road in Capistrano Beach and provide a simple sack lunch to low-income residents, workers and homeless people who are in the local neighborhood.

The sack lunches typically include non-perishable, individual serving-size items such as

breakfast/granola bars, fruit, trail mix, pudding, peanut butter or cheese crackers,

and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, etc.

Hot oatmeal in coffee cups with lids is always a welcome treat.

It’s not a full-course meal, but it provides sustenance for those moments during the day when they otherwise would have nothing.

We also participate with a team of churches to provide a simple “Sack Dinner” in the afternoon once every three Saturdays.  We usually meet at 3:45 PM here at the church to assemble the sack lunches and to prepare a warm sandwich or burrito or soup.

We are looking to build our team of volunteers to help prepare and distribute the sack meals on a Saturday afternoon rotation.

Anyone interested in assisting with either of these outreach efforts is welcome to join in!

Anyone interested in learning more about the meal outreach program is welcome to attend an Outreach meeting on Monday, May 24 at 6:30 PM at St. Timothy’s Catholic Church (29102 Crown Valley Parkway, Laguna Niguel).

For more information, please contact Linda Morales (661-0110 or linda.morales@stmarg.org).

Health and Church Attendance

A recent article joked that “Health enthusiasts may be tempted

to put away their running shoes and granola and search for the family Bible.”

What they were talking about was a new survey that showed that church-attenders live longer, in fact up to 14 years longer.

The study provided further evidence that religious belief and church attendance are key indicators of health, social behavior, political leanings, lifestyles, and morality.

The study was done by Robert Hummer of the Population Research Center

at the University of Texas. The study is significant not only for its findings

but because the nation’s two largest surveys(the U.S. Census and the semi-annual Current Population Survey) don’t ask about religion.

It appears from this latest survey and other similar surveys that religion is very significant.

Mr. Hummer’s team studied 21,000 adult Americans over nine years, looking at their religious behavior and other factors. Even taking other factors into account, non-church attendershad a 50 percent higher risk of mortality than those who attend church frequently.

They also found that some causes of death appeared more frequently among non-attenders. “Those who never attend are about four times as likely to die from respiratory disease, diabetes or infectious diseases.”

…So from spiritual health to physical health,

we’re in a great place here at St. Margaret’s!

“The Battle of the Mind”

Everyone has to fight the battle that goes on in the mind. Our thought life determines where we are in the things of God. When people meditate on what is wrong or the negative side of a situation, they become blinded by the problem and never see the escape available to them. Our Heavenly Father has given us a way to bring forth light, and that is through diligent study and meditation of the Word of God. In Hosea 4:6 God tells us, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

As Christians we are going to have to learn how to apply Bible knowledge to our lives, if we want to win the battles of life. God instructs the Believer on how to control their thought life by utilizing His whole armor. Ephesians 6:10-17 says:

“Finally, my brethren,

be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armor of God,

that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God,

that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,

and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth,

having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

above all,

taking the shield of faith with which you will be able

to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

And take the helmet of salvation,

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;”

The Apostle Paul uses armor, the battle dress of the first-century Roman soldier, as a metaphor for God’s spiritual armor. Clearly, the military metaphor is intended to show that we are engaged in an active battle. Therefore, Believers must recognize that they are in warfare everyday, and that the battlefield is our minds. The whole armor of God has been provided to help us guard against the enemy of our mind–Satan. Satan’s only weapon against us is through the mind. If he can put thoughts, ideas and suggestions in our minds, then he can control our actions. We must come to understand that ignorance of the Word and victory over life’s battles are impossible roommates.

If we desire the overcoming life of Jesus then we will need to “take up the whole armor of God.” We are not to focus in on only part of the armor to the neglect of the other combat coverings, if we do so we will find ourselves defeated. It is the whole armor-knowledge of the Word of God-that gives us the victory. We need to take each piece of the armor as illustrated by Paul and apply them to our life so that we can benefit from its protection.

Family, it is critical that we acknowledge that the warfare is not against physical forces but against powers that have authority in the spirit realm. Paul not only warns the Believer of a clearly defined demonic structure, but also instructs us to take up the whole armor of God in order to maintain a battle stance against these unseen forces.

Satan’s mode of operation has not changed. He continues to use the same mind game that he used on Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1). We are going to have to recognize his deceptive ways and stand against them with the Word of God.

Our battle is clearly spiritual. Satan launches assaults on the mind in order to affect the spiritual aspect of our lives. The mind is like the door through which the enemy has access. If Satan can influence our thoughts, he can control every aspect of our lives. Therefore, we must examine every thought that comes to our minds. Are they the fiery darts, the evil day and or the wiles of the devil? Every thought has either a life or death component attached to it. Once a thought is allowed to have access in our lives, it begins its subtle work.

This is the reason God tells us in Romans 12:1-2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Dr. Frederick K.C. Price