St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

At St. Paul’s Parish today, Wednesday, August 20, 2008:

• Holy Communion at 6:30 p.m. (in the Worship Space or the Parish Hall);
• Midweek Discussion Group at 7:00 p.m. (in the Parish Hall);
• Overeaters Anonymous at 7:30 p.m. (in the Common Room).

The Summer issue of St. Paul’s Sword of the Spirit, our monthly newsletter, is available on line, as is the calendar of parish events for August 2008.

Today’s news in the Episcopal Church - Episcopal Life Online.

On the calendar tomorrow, August 21, 2008:

• There are no activities on the parish calendar tomorrow.

Today in the Episcopal Church we join with most of the church catholic in commemorating one of the great lights of monasticism, St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

The Church of England’s Exciting Holiness offers this brief biography of Bernard:

Bernard was born at Fontaines, near Dijon, in France in the year 1090. He entered the Benedictine abbey at Cîteaux in 1112, taking with him many of his young companions, some of whom were his own brothers. He was a leader of the reform within Benedictinism at this time and in 1115 was sent to establish a new monastery at a place he named Clairvaux, or valley of light. Though times were hard, he built up the community with his remarkable qualities of leadership. Bernard preached widely and powerfully and proved himself a theologian of renown. Literally hundreds of houses were founded on the Cîteaux or Cistercian system and Bernard’s influence on his own generation and beyond was immense. He died on this day in 1153.

The collect for today is from Lesser Feasts and Fasts:

O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard of Clairvaux, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.