MARK THE EVANGELIST

Mark may have been the youth who fled the scene

Where scribes and elders seized our precious Lord;

Whose mother's house was where Jesus had been

Last supping with Apostles of His word.

Nephew of Barnabas, Mark served with Paul

And then as Peter's right hand man in Rome.

From what he gleaned of Peter's words to all,

At Rome's request, he scribed his sacred tome.

"Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God"

Were Mark's beginning words with which he led

Us clearly past all doctrine vainly trod

To know God's truth in Christ as done and said.

A martyr who by heathens bound and tied,

Dragged praying over rocky roads, Mark died.

Collect: O ALMIGHTY God, who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of thy Evangelist Saint Mark; Give us grace that, being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect: O ALMIGHTY God, whom truly to know is everlasting life; Grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life; that, following the steps of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may steadfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. . Amen.

PHILIP THE APOSTLE

When Jesus said to Philip "Follow me,"

He joined the first our Savior did enlist.

When Philip told his friend to "Come and see,"

He proved to be Christ's first evangelist.

Philip was there when Jesus fed the crowd

Five barley loaves, two fishes. At the Last

Supper to Philip's query Jesus vowed

Indwelling Fatherhood of God recast.

In legend Philip witnessed far and wide;

Purged Turkish pagans' serpents, healed their bites

Yet, doomed by pagan chiefs, was crucified

Inverted. Then a quake shook all with frights.

As buildings crumbled, people cried for aid.

For their safe rescue, dying Philip prayed.

JAMES OF ALPHEUS, APOSTLE

Believed to be related to our Lord,

James ranked among The Twelve summoned by Him

Although the Scriptures offer not a word

Of what he did or said. Nor does this dim

His silent service in our Savior's ranks.

Said to have sown in Syria the truth

Of our Lord's blessed teachings, his phalanx

Made him first bishop there. He seemed, In sooth,

So faithful and obedient to his charge

As Christ's evangelist that naught is known

Of his own fervent preaching to enlarge

Christ's message to the masses to atone.

Condemned to martyrdom, this James, 'tis said,

Was stoned to death and sawed apart when dead.

Collect: O LORD God Almighty, who didst endue thy holy Apostle Barnabas with singular gifts of the Holy Ghost; Leave us not, we beseech thee, destitute of thy manifold gifts, nor yet of grace to use them alway to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

BARNABAS, "A GOOD MAN"

Luke's Acts says that of him, and with much cause.

A Cypriot of Hellenistic Jews,

He was an early convert from the Laws

To Christ's uplifting word of the Good News.

He trusted Paul's conversion to The Way,

Convincing the apostles to believe him.

When sent to Antioch to save the day,

He called on Paul at Taurus to relieve him.

Then forged this team its missionary lock

On preaching to the Gentiles Asia-wide

As Christians (first so called at Antioch)

And, quarrels mended, to Paul's end allied.

At last to Cyprus Barnabas returned.

He died, 'tis said, a martyr choked and burned.

Collect: ALMIGHTY God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour by preaching repentance; Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE NATIVITY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

While yet in mother's womb, John gave a leap

At Mary's visit, glad she'd bear our Lord,

He knew his role: prepare His way and keep

The prophecy of wise Isaiah's word.

Thus did this zealous herald serve as link

Of prophecy from old times to the new,

A voice from wilderness that bade us think

Of end times and our Savior's path to hew.

He baptized sinless Jesus; saw God's dove

Alight on Him, proclaimed as blessed Son.

He preached repentance due our God above

And truth and honor 'til our days are done.

While saving souls he baptized without rest.

John's "Lamb of God" praised him as mortals' best.

Collect: O ALMIGHTY God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock; Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect: ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified thee by their martyrdom: Grant that thy Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by thy Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

PAUL, GREATEST OF MISSIONARIES

Lowered in basket from a windowed wall

Around a riled Damascus, thence to flee,

Was first of many escapades that Paul

Would cope with in his arduous ministry.

Imprisonments and lashings, stoned near death,

Three times shipwrecked, adrift a day in deep,

Acutely hungered, thirsting, gasping breath,

In peril from all sides, deprived of sleep,

And yet Paul left a corpus vast of mind;

Thirteen canonic letters bear his name

That teach us greatest truths known to mankind

And shape religious thinking brought aflame!

Paul ran his course and kept the faith, his word,

And died a martyr's death by Roman sword.

PETER, FOREMOST OF APOSTLES

Unschooled, impulsive, and so often swayed,

Peter was but a fisherman at heart,

Yet he became the follower who stayed

Most close to Jesus, always being part

Of every major happening on His Way

Of miracles: restoring lives anew;

Feeding the throngs, transfiguration day.

He thrice confirmed his love of Jesus, due

Repentance for denying Him that night.

He'd earlier been named by Christ his "rock,"

And now the risen Lord, there in plain sight,

Three times directed Peter, "Feed my flock,"

As shepherd in His stead. Peter's last crown:

A martyr's crucifixion upside down.