A Site Map...

I thought you might like to know where things are...

There are four sections in this blogsite:

1. “Saint Joseph-behind-the-Walls” – including everything from our gathering hymns to our Scripture lessons to my homily to the blessing. (By the way, the Fellowship of Saint Joseph-behind-the-Walls is the little fellowship of Anglican believers behind these walls, to which I am Vicar).

2. “Prayers-behind-the-Walls” – including the prayers updated and used each week by the Brothers (Inmates) of The Fellowship of Saint Joseph-behind-the-Walls.

3. “My Ministry-behind-the-Walls” – my personal reflections (as I attempt to be of use to Inmates, Staff, and Volunteers) on what it means to be a prison chaplain.

4. “My Memories-behind-the-Walls” – the Archive of all that I’ve written and posted on this blogsite.

Please feel free to e-mail me at fr.todd4you@yahoo.com with any comments or questions you may have. May God bless you as you read and as you pray with us!




A Word about Sunday’s Mass...

The Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 9, 2010

(Will be updated shortly...)

Father Todd Boyce, Vicar
The Fellowship of Saint Joseph
Sunday, May 9, 2010

Our Gathering Hymns...

“Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna!”
Christ is risen! Shout Hosanna! Celebrate this day of days!
Christ is risen! Hush in wonder: All creation is amazed.
In the desert all surrounding, see, a spreading tree has grown.
Healing leaves of grace abounding bring a taste of love unknown.

Christ is risen! Raise your spirits from the caverns of despair.
Walk with gladness in the morning. See what love can do and dare.
Drink the wine of resurrection; not a servant, but a friend. Jesus is our strong companion. Joy and peace shall never end.

Christ is risen! Earth and heaven nevermore shall be the same.
Break the bread of new creation where the world is still in pain.
Tell its grim, demonic chorus: “Christ is risen! Get you gone!”
God the First and Last is with us. Sing Hosanna, every one!


“Hosanna”
Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!
Lord, we lift up your Name, with hearts full of praise!
Be exalted, O Lord our God! Hosanna in the highest!

Glory! Glory! Glory to the risen King!
Glory! Glory! Glory to the risen King!
Lord, we lift up your Name, with hearts full of praise!
Be exalted, O Lord our God! Glory to the risen King!


“Gloria in excelsis Deo”
Glory to God! Glory to God in the highest!
Glory to God; peace on his earth; good will to men!
Praises and blessing, worship and glory, be unto you,
O Lord our God, our heavenly King, Father Almighty!
Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God on high!

Only-begotten Son of the Father, the Lamb of God,
You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!
You take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer!
You sit at God the Father’s right hand, have mercy on us!
Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God on high!

Glory to God! Glory to God in the highest!
Glory to God; peace on his earth; good will to men!
Holy are you! Alone you are Lord, with th’Holy Spirit!
+ You are most high in the Father’s glory! Amen! Amen!
Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God on high!

Lessons from Sacred Scripture...

A Lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures
‘21Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! 22Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield. 23Be glad, O sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. 24The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten; the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter; my great army, which I sent among you. 26You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the Name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 27You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.’ Joel 2:21-27 RSV


Worshiping God with a Psalm: Psalm Sixty-seven
(musical refrain in italics: “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy”)
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea; there’s a kindness in his justice, which is more than liberty.

May God be merciful to us and bless us, show us the light of his countenance and come to us. Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.

There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good; there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his Blood.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth.

For the love of God is broader than the measure of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. The earth has brought forth her increase; may God, our own God, give us his blessing. May God give us his blessing, and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.

If our love were but more simple, we should take him at his Word; and our lives would be all sunshine in the sweetness of our Lord.


A Lesson from the Epistles
‘10And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. 14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 22And I saw no Temple in the city, for its Temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, 25and its gates shall never be shut by day – and there shall be no night there; 26they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 22:1Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; 4they shall see his face, and his Name shall be on their foreheads. 5And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.’ Revelation 21:10-12, 14, 22-22:5 RSV


A Lesson from the Gospels
‘18[Jesus said,] “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28You heard me say to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe.”’ St. John 14:18-29 RSV

The Vicar’s Homily...

“The Journey to a Place called Joy: Where Joy has Withered, Love can Sprout Surprises”

Given the Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 9, 2010

(Will be updated shortly...)

Father Todd Boyce, Vicar
The Fellowship of Saint Joseph
Sunday, May 9, 2010

Our Communion Hymns...

“Open My Eyes, That I May See”
Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God thy will to see;
open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wave-notes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God thy will to see;
open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my mouth, and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God thy will to see;
open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!

The Blessing and Dismissal...

The Blessing
May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the Blood of the eternal covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; and the blessing of God Almighty, the + Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you now and for ever. Amen.


The Dismissal
Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia.


“Sometimes a Light Surprises”
Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings;
it is the Lord who rises with healing in His wings.
When comforts are declining, he grants the soul again
a season of clear shining to cheer it after rain.

In holy contemplation we sweetly then pursue
the theme of God’s salvation and find it ever new.
Set free from present sorrow we cheerfully can say:
Let the unknown tomorrow bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing but he will bear us through;
who gives the lilies clothing will clothe his people, too.
Beneath the spreading heavens no creature but is fed;
and he who feeds the ravens will give his children bread.

Though vine nor fig tree neither their wonted fruit should bear;
though all the field should wither, nor flocks nor herds be there;
yet God the same abiding, his praise shall tune my voice;
for while in him confiding I cannot but rejoice.




Unfairly Tainted?

I sat in an office today, having a conversation with co-workers. We were laughing, exchanging the kind of news more often shared among neighbors than co-workers, and I cracked a joke that turned the mood in the room to unease. I made reference to my clerical collar, and, with a grin on my face, asked if it were possible to get into trouble while wearing such an outfit (because people so often stiffen and stifle any sense of humor around a priest, I often use self-deprecating humor to set them at ease).

As I did this today, a man I very much respect (one of our Officers) looked at me and asked a simple question, “Have you seen the news lately?” The smiles turned to gaping mouths. The laughter ceased, and the mood changed instantly. Of course, he was making reference to the irreparable harm done to so many children by certain Roman Catholic priests.

I immediately disavowed any connection with the Roman Church and stated my long-held belief that, while Rome gets many things right, celibacy for all priests is a violation of clear Biblical doctrine – a violation that has been visited upon countless children. I explained that I’m an Anglican or Anglo-Catholic priest, and that I am a very happily married man.

I shared with those present that, from time to time, when I go into public while wearing my clerics I do get the occasional “dirty look” from a passerby. It makes me want to wear a sign stating: “I’m not Roman Catholic, don’t blame me.” We all laughed a nervous laugh, and I left the room to attend to my duties.

Yet, as I passed through three gates to find my way back to the Chapel Library, my mind settled on something I hadn’t thought about. Nearly one third of all Inmates in American prisons are serving time for sexual crimes – including the Inmate population in Kentucky. These are men to whom I minister. These are men who, like all human beings, are grasping for hope and some form of redemption. And these are men who, again, like all human beings, are capable of great wrongs and have given proof of that capability.

Is my collar – my outward identity as a priest in God’s Church – unfairly tainted by its sad association with such a great evil? Should I writhe in indignation when I catch sight of that mistrustful glance? Should I point the finger of blame at brothers who clearly need help, or at the bishops who failed to get them the help they needed? (Please understand that I in no way seek to absolve of responsibility these or any other men judged guilty of sexual abuse – I mean only to ask the less obvious question: “Am I without sin?”)

My Lord was unfairly accused – he who knew no sin. When he hung upon the cross did he point at me and say, “There’s the culprit, now leave me alone”? Of course not. Yet, he also said that any man who leads one of his little ones astray will suffer untold agonies. I wonder if those agonies might not come in the form of feeling the effects of what they have wrought, just as Jesus felt it upon the cross? I wonder whether the mercy shown them in their contrition and repentance – if there be any – will involve the healing of the sexual abuse that so many abusers themselves have suffered.

Unfortunately, in the course of my duties, I often have to access information I would rather not see. Thus far, the Lord has given me the graces I need to not let it affect my work of helping, counseling, and walking with the men in my care. This much I know: I have read about the torments of hell and I have been placed among the demons to help sift out and save the souls of men created in God’s Image.

So, am I tainted – am I, along with my collar and my identity as a priest, tainted by association? Yes. Can I let it bother me? No. I work and pray and worship in a place where demons and angels contend continually and openly for the souls of men. I don’t have time to let it bother me. After all, the collar I wear is an outward and visible sign that I am a prisoner for Christ.

Please pray for the healing, restoration, salvation, and sanctification of all victims of sexual abuse – many have left Jesus because of what has happened to them. Please pray for the healing, restoration, salvation, and sanctification of all sexual abusers – many are unrepentant and many are trying to cling to Jesus without allowing him to transform them.

Father Todd Boyce, Vicar
The Fellowship of Saint Joseph
Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Father-heart of God...in Me?

I don’t know what it is that God is wanting from me. I’m being stretched in places that I never would have guessed at, and pushed in places that – until now – I would have left alone. While I know that God has a purpose for everything he puts us through, I’ve had a difficult time swallowing some of the things I’ve gone through recently.

Before the call to full-time prison chaplaincy came into my life – and let’s face it, it wasn’t my choice – I thought I was doing just fine as a pastor. In fact, after eleven years of building a congregation from three people to eighteen families with moderate to high involvement in the parish, I thought I knew something about parish ministry – so much so that I was ready to plant a new Anglican parish in Mt. Sterling.

Ha!!! “Pride goeth before the fall!” From the moment that Emily informed me of Chaplain Stilson’s impending retirement – and from the moment her flock lovingly encouraged me to look into the possibilities – I knew my dreams were dead. Grudgingly – even angrily – I submitted my resume and filled out the lengthy application. With a sickness in my heart, I went to the interview. And with a feeling that can only be described as grief, I heard the words, “You’ve got the job!” My plans had completely vanished.

After having gone through the first part of training and orientation, my first full week of being on duty in the prison came during Christmas of 2008 – I spent Christmas Eve and Day, as well as New Year’s Eve and Day at the prison. And while there is no earthly reason for it, I couldn’t wait to get out of bed and go to work! As I came to understand my remit from the Department of Corrections, I began to see challenges and opportunities that were previously invisible to me.

Having been a church member who was put to work – as a candidate for ordained ministry – in two large congregations – one with more than 900 members and another with more than 2,200 – I saw first-hand what a senior pastor does and what he has to juggle. I’ve said, over and over again, that I never want to be in that position. Surprise!!! I’m one of two Chaplains overseeing the spiritual care of 1,751 Inmates and 372 Officers and Staff. I’m one of two Chaplains overseeing a Volunteer Program that numbers 63 Certified Volunteers and 912 Non-Certified Volunteers. I’m one of two Chaplains overseeing 7 major religious events each year in our prison. I’m one of two Chaplains handling the day-to-day needs of the Inmates – death notices, emergency notices, and counseling. And, in a few months, I’ll be the only Chaplain doing this – due to the impending retirement of my lone colleague.

The challenges were nice – for a while. The rapid pace was nice – for a while. Rising to the challenge was nice – for a while. The amazing support from the administration for my celebrating the Mass and engaging in some of the Inmates in discipleship was wonderful – for a while. Even my supervisor’s amazingly generous assertion – he’ not a Chaplain, by the way – that it’s a God-thing for me to be a prison Chaplain was wonderful – for a while. But I still needed to see the whole picture.

You see, if we look at each of those nice/wonderful things as a mountaintop experience, there must needs be a corresponding valley experience. Over the past year and a half, I’ve had plenty of both. In addition to that, I volunteered to take on more and more of the administrative and pastoral duties, knowing that my colleague will be retiring. I had no other choice. I needed to know what I’m made of while he’s still there to help me. And in the process I discovered something that every man deeply wants to know about himself, and something he deeply fears.

I discovered that I’m up to the challenge. I’ve run the course in a couple of practice laps, and discovered that I can to do it. I can juggle the meetings, the grievances, the requests, the need for patient teaching – applied to both Inmates and Volunteers, the oddball situations, the shocking occurrences – I’ve been both mooned and flashed, the heart-breaking situations – telling a man that his little son has died and he can’t go to the funeral, the implementation of massive new programs – the Kosher program gave me the title of Rabbi Todd, planning and publishing on a weekly basis my own worship/discipleship material for the Fellowship of Saint Joseph, and much more.

The frightening thing has been something small, by comparison. Nevertheless, it shook me to the core over the past couple of months. It was this simple, little question: “Do I want to do this for the next twenty years?” It was all coming to a head one morning on my way into work. As I crested the hill to turn into the prison driveway, I looked up at the prison. There’s a ten story tower that dominates the facility – it’s amazing what you can see from up there! In an instant I realized that I had to see everything I’m doing from God’s perspective – looking down, if you will, from above.

Up to that point, I thought I knew – quite well, actually – the theological underpinnings of my priestly ministry. In that moment, however, I came to realize that I knew nothing if I did not understand the Father-heart of God at work within my ministry. If a priest is called “father” because he’s the head of a local family in Christ – not because he’s trying to be God – then hadn’t I better take that title seriously?!?

Up to that point, I had been looking at all the jumble of duties as – at worst – distractions from my real purpose for being in prison and – at best – the price to pay for ministry there. The fact is, those are the duties of a father in Christ. A true father tends to the needs of his family – however odd-ball or sorely needed. My preaching and disciple-making must flow out of my family-tending. My celebration of the Sacred Mysteries in the holy Mass is meaningless if I have neglected the needs of the family to whom I am ministering. In fact, such celebrations actually mock God’s redeeming purpose if I find myself ignoring the daily needs of his children placed in my care.

As I drove up the long hill to Post One, to enter the parking lot, the breath was taken out of me. I knew what I had to do. I had to make the choice to see my work in that prison as an integrated whole. Only then could I serve, as “Father Todd”, the men and women in my care; only then could we receive the wholeness God has in mind for us. Please pray for us!

Father Todd Boyce, Vicar
The Fellowship of Saint Joseph
Saturday, April 17, 2010




Monday, January 18, 2010

Archived Homily: “Why? Because the Need Is so Great!”

Brothers, we’ve made it through another Christmas; we’ve witnessed the birth of our Savior, the coming of the Magi, and, today, we witness the Baptism of our Lord. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired. Yet, even in the midst of that tiredness, I’m excited about today because – like the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity and the Feast of the Epiphany (the coming of the Magi) – there is a great truth to be shared in the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. My soul thrills at the thought of recounting not only the circumstances of our Lord’s baptism, but the reason for it. Mankind’s desperate need – our need for redemption, which is the restoration of hope, joy, love, and peace – is the sole reason that Jesus came to earth, born in human flesh, to suffer and die for us. And, if we pay attention closely, we can see him putting together the final pieces of his plan to meet our needs – we can actually watch as thousands of years of preparation come to completion in the birth and manifestation (revealing) of our Messiah. What we’re witnessing in Scripture today is not some isolated incident. It’s actually one more piece of the puzzle being placed in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. We readily understand the how the birth of Messiah plays into God’s plan of salvation; we easily grasp where the cross fits in and how the empty tomb punctuates the Good News. But we tend to forget – or gloss over – puzzling pieces like our Lord’s baptism. It’s almost easier to say, “Isn’t it nice that he did that? He took some time out of his busy schedule to show us what we ought to do when we join the Church.” But it’s so much more than that. It’s much more than a vague symbol or an indication of Church protocol and etiquette. It’s more than a grand, theatrical introduction of Jesus to the world. And it’s more than Jesus being obedient an obedient Son. There’s also something it’s not: It’s NOT Jesus – the sinless Lamb of God – seeking forgiveness for some secret sins. No, it’s the putting into place of a vital and necessary piece of God’s plan to meet mankind’s deepest needs. Because Jesus did what he did – by allowing John to baptize him – baptism itself became much more than a symbol of our sins being washed away. Because of our Lord’s baptism, our baptism became a REAL washing away of sins, a REAL lifting of burdens, and a REAL indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan there would be no way for us to die with Christ, and so be raised with him. Our Lord’s baptism anticipates his death and resurrection, and it applies the power of the cross and the empty tomb to the lives of those who are covered in that holy flood. So what, exactly, happened in Jesus’ baptism? If he didn’t need to have sins forgiven, then why was he baptized? The answer is both simple and profound: In the same way that Jesus took the Seder/Passover meal and fulfilled it’s meaning by feeding us his precious Body and Blood, so he took the waters of baptism and fulfilled them by imbuing them with his innocence and purity. In other words, because Jesus stepped into the Jordan and was baptized, he made the waters of baptism (the waters set aside or consecrated for use in baptism) for ever capable of washing away our sins. I’m so thankful that our Lord opened this door of grace for us. I’m so grateful that he took ordinary water and still makes it do something extraordinary. But I’m especially thankful that he saw our hurts and our longings and gave us a way to have our deepest needs met. You see, the baptism of John – before Jesus entered the Jordan – was just a symbol. John was preaching that God’s people needed to repent of their sins and be baptized as a way of showing their repentance – as a symbol of their repentance. The people who heard John preach were indeed convicted of their sins, but the door of God’s grace was still shut – that is, until Jesus showed up. People were asking themselves whether John might not be the Messiah, the Anointed One. John emphatically denied this and pointed to the Messiah who was coming – whose baptism would be not only with water, but with Holy Spirit and fire. But why the Holy Spirit and fire? Because fire refines and consumes, because fire represents the passionate desire of God to save his children and because fire is itself a symbol of the Holy Spirit who breathes new life into each believer during baptism. This combination of consecrated water, the flame of God’s love, and the Presence of the Holy Spirit is the grace of God that brings about forgiveness and new life in each believer. The crowds listening to John wanted – like so many today – to be freed from their past: From addictions, from condemnation, from bitterness, and a host of other things. But until Jesus put in place the missing puzzle piece, they were bound in oppression. Can’t you just see the picture? A crowd of people – a growing crowd wanting redemption; wanting hope and joy and love and peace – gathering round to hear this prophet of the Lord. And into their midst – as into our midst – walks Jesus. He already knows each of them by name and can recite everything about them. He looks at them – as he looks at us – and has compassion on them and allows himself to be baptized. Why? “To fulfill all righteousness.” What’s the righteousness that Jesus is talking about? Well, it’s the right ordering of human lives according to God’s plan. Among other things, it’s the free-flowing of his purity, love, and innocence into our hearts. It’s the filling of our deepest needs. It’s the healing of our souls. Over the past few weeks I’ve witnessed and heard more than I care to say. I’ve been asked to pray with and for a couple whose marriage is ending; I’ve been asked to tell people that a loved one has died; I’ve seen that horrible look of loneliness on the face of one who’s surrounded by people; I’ve seen the toll that a child’s illness is taking on his parents; and I’ve seen, again and again – as you do – that lost look on the faces of so many. These are the people for whom – if you will, the reasons why – Jesus did what he did. These are the people who need the hope, the joy, the love, and the peace that can only be found in Jesus – the same Jesus who applies the gift of salvation to our lives through his baptism. I know how they feel – these people who feel lost, alone, and desperate – maybe you do, too. I know that there’s only one way to meet their needs and ease their pain. It’s the same way my pain is eased and my needs are met: In Jesus. I thank him that the flood of his hope, joy, love, and peace overflow within me. I see him at work within me each day. I feel his proddings; I see his hints; I feel, from time to time, his rebuke. I want to rise up and shout the Good News. I want to do something to reach out to those who are in need. But this begs a question, doesn’t it? Since we are called to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” we surely have a role in the ongoing work of Jesus. If we’ve gained forgiveness and new life because of the Spirit’s work in our baptism; if our needs have been so splendidly met by our Lord, then what’s to keep us from sharing in his work? In a word: Ourselves. We get tied up in navel-gazing. We forget that it’s not always about us. We forget that – as baptized believers – we share in the ministry of Jesus. You see, Jesus also did what he did – allowing himself to be baptized – because he knew that his Spirit coming to live in each baptized believer would multiply his Presence in this world. Are we not the Body of Christ? Are we not his hands, his feet, his love, his tools of grace? If so, then it’s time we take much more seriously the meaning of our baptism into Christ. Because we’ve been made one with him, Jesus desires – even needs and expects – us to be in deep fellowship with him. That means prayer – especially the kind of prayer that focuses on listening to him. That means worship – the placing of our emphasis on him rather than us. And that means self-giving service to others – the kind of love in action that seeks out those who are in need and puts the priority on helping them. Dear Brothers, how is it with you today? Are you living out the truth of your baptism – the truth of your re-gained purity in Christ and your unity with him – in a way that gratefully demonstrates its full meaning to him and to his world? Are you progressing along the road of self-denial and genuine love? Are you increasingly aware of the needs of God’s children and how he wants you to join him in meeting those needs? Most importantly, are you growing in intimacy with our Lord? May God grant you the strength to ask and answer these questions, and to live in the blessing of your baptism. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father Todd Boyce, Vicar The Fellowship of Saint Joseph Sunday, January 10, 2010 The Feast of the Baptism of our Lord