Welcome to the website of the Anglican Parish of Prince William, Dumfries, Queensbury, and Southampton. Thank you for taking the time to visit with us and discovering a little bit about our parish. The Parish of Prince William follows the Safe Church polices as outlined by the Dioceses. Father David Mercer, Priest in Charge 454-9998 dmercer98@bellaliant.net
To find out more about us, please click on the About us link. News & EventsService of Holy Eucharist Sunday, September 5, 2021 All Saint's Magaguadavic 29 Church Road 11 AM Sunday, September 12, 2021 St Clement's, Prince William 11 AM Sunday, September 19, 2021 St Luke's, Temperance Vale 11 AM We will be resuming our summer rotation between our three churches: St Luke's, Temperance Vale, All Saints, Magaguadavic and St Clement's, Prince William. Lunch And fellowship after the services All Are welcome! THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY after TRINITY In today’s Epistle Saint Paul draws a distinction between the flesh and the Spirit. He tells us that we as Christians are to be governed by the direction of the Spirit and that government by the rules of the flesh will destroy us. Can we draw from this declaration that we are to have nothing to do with the flesh? There are those who do just that. They believe that anything to do with the physical world and the natural desires is evil, that to follow these principles will destroy us and are instruments of the Devil. On the other hand, when we read the “Creation Story” in Genesis we see that at the end of each day God looks out over what he has created and “God saw that it was good”. So, which is it to be, is the desire that we live with as humans evil, or is it a part of what makes us what we are? Desire is an important part of who we are and motivates us to do things that are important for life and a happy existence. The problem arises when desire gets out of control. If we did not desire food we would not eat, if we did not desire, we could not love. So, when does desire become a problem? When it is out of control. How do we control it. The answer involves what we call freewill and reason. We know that we have to eat to live, and that food is necessary for life. At the same time, we know if we eat too much, we will be physically sick and if we keep it up, we will die. As a result, we eat moderately and we eat the right foods, we do this because reason tells us to do so. We do not have to do so, because we can choose not to do so, we can do this because, we have the ability to choose, as the result of free will. Free will gives us the ability to do what ever we want, because we have this gift no one can ever make us do what we do not want to do. Saint Paul sees that as a problem, because it means that we can act, in spite of what reason tells us to do. There is a cost for this kind of behavior because of the nature of free will. What ever we do we are responsible for the consequences of that action, and as a result there is some kind of punishment. Saint Paul argues that to follow the desire of the flesh in the end will lead to our destruction. The way out of the problem is the Grace of God. The Greeks argued that reason could solve the problem. The power of reason could control the desires that in the end would destroy us. That works as far as it goes, but Saint Paul points out that reason is not enough. Reason cannot by itself lead us to the power of the Spirit. Our Lord established the “Kingdom of the Spirit” and the entrance to this kingdom is Baptism. Saint Paul tells us that Baptism transforms us in that as a result of Baptism we are born again. He uses the term “regeneration”. (Titus 3, 4-8). What this does for us is open us to the Grace of God. Fr. Smith once said to me that Christ took the cross and with it burst open the floor of Heaven so that the Grace of God was poured on us. The Grace of God restores us, and this same Grace does not destroy but perfects. As a result of our Baptism, we live in the Kingdom of the Spirit. We now have a relationship with God through Baptism that we cannot have without it. Saint Peter tells us that Baptism saves us (1Peter 3, 18-22). Baptism is the gateway into the Kingdom of the Spirit, it affects what it symbolizes. In other words, it is not an empty gesture, it transforms us in that in Baptism we are “born again”. All of this results from our Lord’s work in the incarnation and all that follows. To live in the Kingdom of the Spirit does not destroy our freewill. As a result, we who are baptized are members of the new kingdom, but that does not mean that we have to live by the rules of this kingdom. We can choose to turn our backs on the Kingdom of the Spirit and live by the rules of the Kingdom of the Flesh. Saint Paul says at one point that he cannot understand why some have done so, for him it makes no sense. The Grace of God given to us in Baptism does not destroy the desires of the flesh, but it does put them in their proper place. They no longer rule us if we choose that they do not do so. Instead, they serve us in the Kingdom of the Spirit. Father David Mercer, Priest in Charge 454 9998 dmercer98@bellaliant.net Anglican Parish of Prince William |