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St. Philip, the Joy Giver
P.O. Box 29240 -- Austin, Texas 78755
Meeting at St. Andrews High School Cafeteria
(512) 748-8723, (512) 748-8724 -- kcirc@aol.com or mc_morrison@msn.com


Directions   Traveling South on Loop 1 (MoPac), go past Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway). Exit MoPac onto Southwest Parkway (SW Pky), turn right onto SW Pky, go 1.6 miles to the entrance of St. Andrews H.S. on the left (South) side of SW Pky. The entrance to St. Andrews H.S. is across SW Pky from The Preserve Apartments. Follow signs to the entrence and cafeteria.
              
Service Times  
Sunday: 10:30 AM   Come early for fresh coffee and cake at 10:15am.
              
Staff   Rev. Rick Conrad, Pastor - church planter
Carrie Morrison, Worship Ministries
Maria Harvey, Administrator & Childrens Ministries
Carter Bierly, Home Group Ministries
John Porter, Bishop's Warden
Eric Flanders, Youth Ministries
Glen Harvey, Treasurer
              
Denomination   Episcopal
              
   
Why JOY?

In the Gospel of John, Jesus sums up pretty much everything by saying, "These things I have spoken to you, that my JOY may be in you, and that your JOY may be full" (John 15:11). He said this at the supper that he knew would be his last. But his words continued to live on long after He left to be with His Father. They were to have a special impact on the life of a man named Philip. Philip was appointed by the first apostles to serve the poor and spread the incredible sense of JOY he knew because of Jesus. Philip knew that JOY was not found in things, but in us as we offer ourselves to Jesus and his mission...and that is what Philip did. He set off on a mission filled with adventure as God's special agent of JOY. Arriving in the town of Samaria, he was able to amaze the residents with the wonderful power of the living God. The Bible records "...and there was great JOY in the city." Later, he was directed by an angel "to go south toward the city of Gaza." There he met the secretary of the Treasury under Queen Candace of Ethiopia. This unnamed eunuch had been cruising along in his chariot reading out loud to himself from the book of Isaiah when Philip happened to overhear him, and asked if he understood what the words were all about. The eunuch said he could use some help on one passage in particular, and this was the passage:

As a sheep led to the slaughter Or a lamb before its shearers is dumb So he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth. (Acts 8:32-33, compare Isaiah 53:7-8)

Who in the world was Isaiah talking about? The eunuch wanted to know, and Philip said it was Jesus. Jesus was the one who was as gentle as a sheep and as innocent as a lamb. He was the one who had been unjustly humiliated and slaughtered and hadn't let out so much as a peep to save himself. As for describing his generation, it could be said that he belonged to all time and every generation because his life wasn't bound to the earth any more. His life was everywhere, and anybody who made that choice could live it for himself, or let it live itself in him as easily as a fish circulates around in the water and the water circulates around the fish. As it happened, a pond turned up by the side of the road as they traveled along, and the eunuch thought he would give the thing a try then and there, and let Philip baptize him. So Philip baptized him, and when he bobbed back to the surface, he was so carried away he couldn't even speak. The sounds of his JOY that day could be heard even to God's heavenly court.

Philip is not mentioned again in the pages of Scripture, but you can be sure that he continued proclaiming the JOY of God wherever he found himself. Mark Twain once said, "Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a JOY you must have somebody to divide it with." I believe Philip would have changed one word in Twain's observation. He would have rather said, ..."But to get the full value of a JOY you must have someone to multiply it with."

The folks here at St. Philip the JOY-Giver are committed to continue the adventure that Philip started in the pages of Acts -- to multiply the JOY of Jesus Christ when and wherever we can. So if you find yourself dragging around or just want to be lifted higher, come and experience the JOY Jesus spoke of so that your "JOY might be full."

(a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas)


For more information, visit the official St. Philip, the Joy Giver web site.

 


 




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