The Forbidden Fruit, c. 1832
“The Forbidden Fruit” as published in The Self Interpreting Bible with an Evangelical Commentary By the Late Revd. John Brown, Minister of the Gospel at Haddington, 1832.
The Forbidden Fruit
Category Archives: Latest News
Saint Mark’s Brings God’s Love To The Austin Street Shelter
The last Saturday of each month, Saint Mark’s volunteers gather at 8:30am to individually wrap 460 sweet rolls for Sunday breakfast at Dallas’ Austin Street Shelter. This Shelter accommodates over 400 homeless people from the streets of Dallas every night.
While the volunteers are separating and wrapping sweet rolls, one of our volunteers goes to Kroger to purchase 20 gallons of whole milk. Shown in the slide show below are some of the volunteers at work.
Saint Mark’s Austin Street Ministry began soon after Father Rowland arrived in 1974 and has continued each month since. Today’s average cost per month is $200.
The need is great. The Shelter employees, volunteers, and temporary residents are grateful for our ministry. If you would like to become a volunteer, please contact Bettye B. or the Church Office. Training is not necessary, and the fellowship is great.
Funds for this ministry are budgeted, but the cost has increased greatly over time. Cash donations help to offset the cost. If you are unable to volunteer and would rather contribute monetarily, please contact us or talk to Father Greg.
[nggallery id=5]Viginia R’s Beef Brisket
INGREDIENTS
1 large trimmed beef brisket
1 can beer
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
DIRECTIONS
Place brisket in roaster pan or 9×13 inch oven-safe casserole dish. Pour 1 can of beer over meat and cover with foil. Marinate in the fridge overnight.
Next day, discard marinade. Sprinkle brisket with garlic powder.
Pour 1 can cream of mushroom soup over meat, then sprinkle 1 package of Lipton onion soup mix over the meat and mushroom soup topping.
Cover pan/dish with foil and cook in 300 degree F oven for approximately 3 hours or until fork tender.
Recipe adapted from Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church Women’s Cookbook, 1996.
Contributed by Virginia R..
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Ten (10) Bean Soup
FIRST:
You will need 2 cups of any dry 10 bean mix. Purchase premixed or mix your own. Rinse bean mix well; cover beans with water and soak overnight. Drain; rinse well again.
Add 2 quarts of water. Add 2 or more ham hocks and simmer 1 1/2 hours.
THEN ADD:
1 large onion, diced
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper (or less)
1 bay leaf
1 large bell pepper, diced
3 to 4 ribs celery, chopped (include tops if desired)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 (10 ounce) can Ro-Tel tomatoes (undrained), chopped
TO FINISH:
Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, Add a bit of hot water (if desired).
Serve with hot corn bread.
Recipe adapted from Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church Women’s Cookbook, 1996.
Contributed by Lila B.
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Adventure Team Visits Ansel Adams Exhibit
Friday, July 23rd, Saint Mark’s Adventure Team traveled to Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum to view “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” including 40 landmark and lesser known works that captured the American West before tourism and development marked the land. Lunch at the Kimbell Museum followed the visit to the Amon Carter.
This is a wonderful exhibit. We highly recommend it. Learn more about the Amon Carter Museum and the museum’s collections here.
[nggallery id=4]Famous Last Words
Rev. Dudley A. Tyng
It is the antebellum period in American history. In the South, life goes on as it has for over a century. The “unpleasantness”, as the gentry would come to call it, has not yet fouled the honeysuckled air with the smoke and ash of war.
In the North, however, the air is thick with the fallout of the industrial revolution. Everyone and everything, it seems, must either change or be changed. Society is in an almost constant state of agitation. It is here that we meet the wealthy and powerful Tyng family: Stephen, an Episcopal priest, and one of his two priest sons, Dudley.
Father Stephen Tyng, rector of St. George’s in New York City, is one of the driving forces behind the emerging “low-church” movement in the Episcopal church. “Revivalism” is not yet old-time religion, it is the latest religious fad. Ministers are preaching a “social gospel”, exhorting their congregations to become more political and militant. Spiritual renewal and moral rearmament are popular sermon themes. Son Dudley is eager to carry the banner of this new reformation forward into his generation.
After graduating from seminary in Virginia, Dudley serves as priest-in-charge of several hinterland parishes before being called to the rectorship of Church of the Epiphany in Philadelphia. This parish thinks they know their new priest well: they had seen him grow-up while his father, Stephen, was their rector. Times have changed, though, and Dudley is a man of his of his time. He finds common ground with many of the dynamic and progressive young Protestant ministers in the city; but he seems unable to find common ground in his own parish.
His supporters praise him as “bold, fearless, and uncompromising” in the face of controversy. His foes condemn him as someone who just seems to seek out controversy. His style is tearing the parish apart. The vestry requests his resignation.
Some of Dudley’s parishioners leave with him and form a new parish, the Church of the Covenant. This parish will become famous in years to come as one of the “mother churches” of Reformed Episcopal Church when the Episcopal Church splits in 1874. In the meantime, Dudley and his fundamentalist clergy friends are busy planning an event billed as “A Mighty Act of God in Philadelphia”.
At this city-wide revival, Dudley achieves almost celebrity status. One evening, he preaches to a crowd of nearly 5000, and some 1000 respond to his altar-call. A few days later he retreats to his country estate for some rest and recreation.
Now, gentleman farmer Dudley has acquired the latest thing in agricultural equipment: an automated corn-shucking machine. Hands-on chap that he is, he has a go at operating it. In the process, he gets his sleeve caught in the works and his right arm is severed. A physician is summoned; but there is little he can do. Since antibiotics have not yet been discovered, infection sets in and Dudley lies dying. When asked if he has any parting words for his fans and admirers, he replies, “just tell them to stand up for Jesus”. With that, he dies.
The following Sunday, one of Dudley’s Presbyterian colleagues, Rev. George Duffield, closes his sermon with a poem he has just written, in tribute to Dudley, entitled “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus”. The local Baptist newspaper prints it the following week. Someone then gets the idea to start singing the poem to the tune of a popular song by George Webb, “Tis Dawn, the Lark is Singing”, and rest is history.
Caramel Brownies
INGREDIENTS
14 ounces individually wrapped caramel candies
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 box German chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1 cup pecans (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
Melt caramels in 1/3 cup evaporated milk.
Combine cake mix, melted butter or margarine, remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and pecans together.
Press 1/2 of this mixture into greased 13×9 inch pan.
Bake 6 minutes at 325 degrees F.
Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and pour caramel mixture over the top.
Press remaining dough on top and bake 15 to 20 minutes at 325 degrees F.
Recipe adapted from Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church Women’s Cookbook, 1996.
Contributed by Lisa M.
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Basic Butter Cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
DIRECTIONS
Cream butter until fluffy, adding sugar gradually. Add egg and vanilla. Beat well.
Sift flour, soda, salt, and cream of tartar. Blend into creamed mixture; mix well. Chill for 1 hour.
Roll out on floured surface and cut out cookies.
Bake in 400 degree F oven until light brown.
If your are going to use a cookie press, do not chill.
Recipe adapted from Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church Women’s Cookbook, 1996.
Contributed by Wende B.
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Aggression (Oatmeal) Cookies
INGREDIENTS
3 cups packed brown sugar
3 cups butter or 1/2 butter and 1/2 margarine
6 cups oatmeal (1 box)
1 tablespoon baking soda
3 cups sifted flour
DIRECTIONS
Mix with your hands until well blended. (This is where the aggression comes in. You will need to squeeze all the ingredients together to blend.)
Roll out small balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press each ball down with the bottom of a glass which has been buttered and dipped in granulated sugar. You may have to twist the glass slightly when lifting to avoid sticking to the flattened cookie dough.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Allow to cool slightly on the cookie sheet before removing. Makes 14 dozen. Freezes well.
Recipe adapted from Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church Women’s Cookbook, 1996.
Contributed by Jane G.
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On Being Stewards of the Light of Christ
Fr. Greg asks us to consider, what are the fruits of this congregation of St. Mark’s, Irving, in much the same manner as the Apostle Paul writes to ask that of the church in Colossae.
Our daily devotion for this date, Sunday, July 11th, (Forward Day By Day) was a meditation upon the scripture LUKE 10: 25-37, well known as the story of the Good Samaritan. In that reading, the Levite is one who in the Jewish tradition would be a teacher, or in other words, an expert in the law. Jesus is telling us this parable in response to a question asked of Him by an expert in the law (v. 25). Jesus has placed the person asking the question into His answer to that question! Have you ever found yourself in what you are reading in the Bible?
Jesus is telling the Levite that knowledge of the law is not enough. We are called to be doers of what we have learned. As many like to say, walk the walk; or WWJD? (what would Jesus do?). In the parable, the Levite also passes by on the other side, avoiding any involvement with the victim. In our flesh, it is so easy to do that, isn’t it? There but for the Grace of God go I. Do we here at St. Mark’s find ourselves in our Rector’s sermon? Take a moment and ask yourself, how often have I avoided getting involved in the ministries of our congregation?
Then we come to verse 33: “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.” Every Christian knows that the Samaritan will stop and get involved. The Samaritan cares for the victim in the love and compassion that all Christians are called to emulate in our lives. Yes, we Christians know this parable very well.
First we need to remember that to a Jew, a Samaritan was someone to avoid. Samaritans were from “the wrong side of the tracks.” Samaritans were stereotyped as bad people. Good Jews avoided them in the same way that our own flesh makes us judge people we meet in this present age on their appearance alone. Ask yourself, who do you judge on sight? African-Americans? Latinos? Hippies? Homeless people? Roman Catholics? Muslims? Asian Americans? Anyone driving a Lexus? Just to name a few stereotypes we know of in our society.
Against all the social and political standards of that time, the Samaritan tends to the victim – that robbed, naked and badly beaten half-dead Jew left there on the road to die – tends to him like he was his own brother! The Samaritan administers first aid, and then carries him to town on his own donkey; (That’s giving up his own comfort for the comfort of another!) checks him into the inn and stays there until he is sure that the victim will recover.
Then he pays the innkeeper and further tells the innkeeper to keep a tab running for any additional expense that there might be in caring for the victim until he is fully recovered. I know of no other example in the Bible that demonstrates so complete an obedience to the commandment to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’! Praise God for this lesson and this calling on our lives as Christians.
Woe be to those who know God’s law, and then fail to follow the law! James 1:22, But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
And what of the Priest and the Levite who passed by on the other side? Have you ever considered what might have happened to them? After all, where do you think the robbers went to? I think that they might have traveled down the road a bit further, to wait for the next unsuspecting victim to come along – and here comes the Priest! Then the Levite, too! Wow! Hey buddy; we hit the Jackpot on this road today, didn’t we!? We’ll have a good time in the old town tonight!
Do you allow others to comprehend the Grace of God when you meet them, or do you pass by on the other side? Are you providing the fruit of the Good Samaritan? If you are, your reward awaits in glory, for your reward is not of this world. We are stewards of the Word, passing it along to future generations. We are stewards of the Light of Christ – the Good News – called in the Great Commission to share that Light with all whom we meet.
What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment!