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"Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." Joel 2:13

The Church was established in England shortly following our Lord's Ascension into heaven. The Council of Arles (317 A.D.) records the presence of three English Bishops and their entourage. When Pope Gregory I sent St. Augustine in 597 A.D. to evangelize the British Isles, he reported back that the Church was already functioning there in its fulness. At the time of the Great Schism in AD 1054, the Church in the British Isles remained Orthodox, which led to the papal sanctioned Norman invasion in 1066 to bring the "erring" (read Orthodox) English Church under Roman authority. All but one of the English bishops were imprisioned and replaced by the Norman usurpers and the Church had an uneasy and often stormy relationship with Rome lasting nearly five centuries. The English Reformation which began in AD 1534 was led by bishops to restore the Faith and Order of the Undivided Church. It is evident that the Church must "continue stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42) Therefore we stand today in the glorious Tradition of the English (Anglican) Church, believing what the Church has always believed at all times and in every place (Catholic). You will find nothing new here!

LENTEN-TIDE

The word Lent comes rom the Anglo-Saxon word meaning "lengthen." It speaks to the lengthening time of daylight as the Spring Season approaches. Spring is traditionally a time for cleaning. We cleanse our homes from the accumulated clutter of Winter. Spiritual speaking, Lent is a time for cleansing ourselves of the clutter that has come into our lives that separates us from the Lord.

Jesus teaches spiritual housecleaning must consist of doing more than simply throwing out the clutter of sin. In speaking of the Unclean Spirit (St. Luke 11:24), He cautions that the vacuum of evil must be filled with good, lest "seven other spirits more wicked than the first, enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first." That which is cast off must be replaced with spiritual qualites to fortify us in the battle against spiritual wickedness.

The Lenten Seasonal Collect beseeches the Lord to "create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of His mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness." Lent is a time for the renewal of the heart after a Godly manner. As the heart is cleansed from sin, we come to the awareness of our unworthiness, and as we seek the Lord we come to understand it is He who is seeking us.

The Prophet Jeremiah says the heart is desperately wicked. Our Lord teaches (St. Matthew 15:19), "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man." It is not enough to cleanse the outside of the cup; the inward man must be cleansed and renewed to enable us to become the person the Lord intends us to be. It is necessary for us to grow spiritually in order to become Christ-like. He is the goal to which we aspire.

The Church provides for our spiritual growth by providing additional opportunities for prayer and reflection, such as The Way of the Cross and the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. To these extra devotions are added the spiritual exercises of abstinence and fasting. Our prayer is that our fast may be acceptable unto the Lord, and profitable unto us for the healing of our souls. The Prophet Joel (2:13) exhorts us to "Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil."

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Pray with the Church

Who is the Church of the Incarnation?

The Church of the Incarnation is a faith community dedicated to lifting up Jesus Christ and to being Christ to our world. "Incarnation" means "in the flesh" and comes from the opening Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, "And the Word (the Second Person of the Holy Trinity) became flesh and dwelt among us."  We lift up Jesus by being His hands and feet, heart and voice to our neighbors.  In this way, we are Jesus "in the flesh" to our world. We are a neighborhood church and if you live close to us, we are praying for you and your family. Our bells ring daily at noon as the reminder that Jesus is God who has come to us in the flesh. His Name is Emmuel - God with us.
Perhaps you have no church to call your home.  Or you have given up on church because you have been burnt by church people.  Do you have a vision or dream of how God can use a little neighborhood church?  We invite you to dream with us and join us in walking with and following Jesus.
We are a family size congregation who come from a wide variety of backgrounds -- Moravians, Baptists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians. Our Pastor is The Most Rev'd Thomas J. Kleppinger, OHI.
The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, affectionately remembered as the Black Book, acknowledged in its Preface that it drew from The Book of Common Prayer, 1549. The affinity is both denominations used the term "Common" in the description of their respective liturgical practice which has many similarities reflecting their common source.
We are part of the glorious Anglican Tradition within the Christian Church, a Church deeply rooted in the lands now known as the United Kingdom and of Ireland and other remote islands. Emerging from the British or Celtic Church, known best for St. Patrick of Ireland, the Anglican Tradition became well-organized by missionaries from Rome. At the time of the Vikings, the land of the Anglo-Saxons (known as Angle-land or England) then became the staging ground for key missionaries to Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Ours is a tradition that is well-known to you, even if you have never heard of it. It is the tradition that raised William Shakespeare and Jane Austen and produced the King James Bible. Its pastors and preachers wrote hymns like “Amazing Grace” and “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Statesmen like George Washington and 31 signers of the Declaration of Independence knew God as their Sovereign due to its teachings. Theologians like John Wesley, C.S. Lewis and J.I. Packer have become household names in Bible-believing homes and are great Christians associated with the Anglican tradition. Its heart for outreach and compassion has recently been dramatized in “Call the Midwife”. We are glad to know Jesus our Savior and would be glad to know you too!

We invite you to our Divine Services! 
     
The Traditional English Liturgy                                                                         

Sundays:  Divine Liturgy  10:30 a.m.

Prayers for Healing and Anointing are available upon request.
LiveStreaming: https://zoom.us/j/89735400971 Passcode: Jesus

Holy Days as Announced

                                                                                                  

  


 

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Look for the church with the golden cross in the middle of the neighborhood.
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Bringing Christ to our Neighborhood with a Timeless Faith in a Faithless Time
The Church of the Incarnation
44 South Eighth Street | Quakertown, PA 18951 | PH: (215) 538-3787