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A WORD FROM THE RECTOR
Greetings in the
Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
May you live in interesting times. The words
of the old Chinese curse have particularly resonated with me ever since I
stopped trying to run away from God, and decided to pursue a vocation to the
priesthood. I left my prior career and
started seminary at the same time of General Convention 2003, when the issues
presented by the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire caused the threat
of schism in the Anglican Communion to raise its head. I was ordained to the priesthood and entered
parish ministry at the time of General Convention 2006, when matters approached
closer to a brink, and now I find myself in the season following General
Convention 2009, amidst renewed rancor and threats to the unity of the
Church. (For greater detail on the
actions taken at General Convention go to www.dioms.org, or ask for a copy of
the relevant documents at the parish office.)
So you can perhaps forgive me
that on the first Sunday following General Convention this year, I found myself
in tears at verse 3 of our opening hymn, no. 525, The Church’s one
foundation. (I saw three of you in
tears.) Verse 3 reads:
Though
with a scornful wonder men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent
asunder, by heresies distressed;
yet saints their
watch are keeping, their cry goes up “How long?”
and soon the night
of weeping shall be the morn of song.
The fact is that we do see
distress in the wider Church, but in this let’s focus not on tears but on keeping
the watch which we are called to keep, as we await the “morn,” the “... the
day [which] shall dawn upon us ... to give light to those who sit in darkness
...” (Luke 1.78-79). Distress and
disagreement do not change the faith of each one of us as individuals, and as
those “... called to the one hope ... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all ...” (Eph. 4.4-6). So,
the question becomes: How do we keep
our watch?
In this parish we will
continue in the watch we have been keeping, placing an added emphasis on the
basics. To this end, we will not only
continue in worship as we have, in fellowship, outreach, and preaching and
education as we have, but add to what we are doing. All of us need to look closely at what we do,
and get even more serious about it. This
means that we need to focus more on understanding and living the content of the
faith. Examine your conscience and
decide how you can participate more fully in the mission of the Church:
1. In Service: How will you support Youth Ministry, and
relief in the community? Are you called
into a ministry of intercessory prayer (praying for others), not just for known
needs, but for people whom you know have not or will not pray for themselves?
2. In Worship: Are you called to add your voice to the
choir? Are you called to serve as a
lector or acolyte?
a. If you are active in any of these
ministries, how will you focus further on dedication to this ministry, through
timeliness, practice, attentiveness to worship?
b. Are
you willing to work with a children’s choir?
c. The
Great Litany will replace Morning Prayer each Friday. This is in recognition of the fact that in
all seasons of distress we are called first to penitence, and will also allow
us to focus on the role of the parish in intercessory prayer.
3. In Evangelism: How can you use controversies in the Church
and in society as an opportunity to testify to your faith in Jesus Christ, and
to call others into the knowledge, love and service of God? How will you show others that “... the work
of God [is] that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6.29)?
4. In Education: See the next paragraph.
5. In Pastoral Care: Are you called into a role in a visiting
ministry? Are you called to work with
the women’s group formed between this parish and the women of St. Paul U.M.C.
to provide care packages for newborns?
Education: Here is where we will see the greatest
increase in emphasis. Each of us needs
to be better-equipped to understand and testify to the content of the
faith. To this end, we will add:
1. A Sunday Adult Forum: Every Sunday at 9:15 a.m. (starting on 13
September), we’ll gather for coffee in the fellowship hall, to listen to and
discuss the lessons which will be used in the Sunday service. The format will follow the Bible study
outlines that are posted weekly on our parish website. In other words, we’ll examine the word and
put it in context, discuss any subtleties in language, and then hold an open
forum on how the message of the Scripture resonates in our lives today. Put another way, we’ll examine:
What the
Scripture meant when it was written (and how it came to be written), and
What the
Scripture means today. How does
it apply in our lives? How are we guided
in responding to issues in our lives by the message in the Word?
We will do this every week to
allow for longitudinal progression in knowledge and discussion. If you follow the lessons through the
lectionary cycle you will
start making connections between lessons, and between lessons and
life, without falling into the danger of either (i)
hearing the word but not making it as real as it must be in your life, or (ii)
“proof texting”: falling into the trap
of saying “Here is what the Bible teaches” about any issue, and then just
citing one text.
2. First Wednesday:
The first Wednesday of each month we’ll continue to have Holy Eucharist
with a healing service (at 6 p.m.), but after the service we’ll have a pot-luck
supper in the Fellowship Hall which will include informal discussion of The
Cross of Christ by John R. Stott.
Let’s equip ourselves to be able to testify how reconciliation between
human beings must begin with reconciliation between mankind and God, and that
this is effected through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We cannot remove the Cross from the
equation, and that’s what we’ll examine in further detail at these Wednesday
sessions.
What looks different here in our life as a
parish? What is different is an
increased seriousness. These are
“interesting times,” and we need to be equipped to live our faith in the manner
to which God calls each one of us when Jesus says, “Follow me.” We will not each follow in the same way, but
we each need to
know more about our faith, so that in deciding how to best follow we will
decide on an informed basis as well as a loving basis. Which brings us back to the
hymn I started with. We sing of
how “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,” and we end our
singing with v. 5:
Yet
she on earth hath union with God, the Three in One,
and mystic sweet
communion with those whose rest is won.
O
happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace
that we
like them, the meek
and lowly, on high may dwell with thee.
Grace Notes
Holy Days: The month
of August includes three major and a number of lesser feasts. 6 August is the Feast of the Transfiguration
(observance is transferred this year to Wednesday, 5 August),
commemorating the time when Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and
John; when His glory was revealed and God the Father commanded, “This is my
beloved Son ... listen to him” (Mt. 17.1-8; Mk. 9.2-8; Lk. 9.23-27). The
figure of the transfigured Jesus is a foreshadowing of the risen and ascended
Lord, of Jesus in His glory. Peter,
James and John see Him as He really is, and not with His glory veiled by His
earthly manifestation. This reminds us that
as we are created in the “image and likeness of God” (Gen 1.26-28), we too will rise one day in glory.
Transfiguration was not
adopted on the Western calendar until the very eve of the Reformation, and so
was not included in the Prayer Book calendar. In the 1892 revision to the American Book
of Common Prayer this feast was included, and from this revision the
observance has spread to all Anglican provinces.
On Wednesday the 12th we will
observe the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin (also called the Feast of the
Assumption, transferred from its calendar date of 15 August), when we
offer our devotion to the human being closest to our Lord, and the tradition
that at her death Mary was assumed into heaven.
On Wednesday the 19th we’ll
commemorate St. Bernard of Clairvaux (22 August), the
twelfth century Cistercian abbot.
Bernard is remembered for the ardor with which he preached love for God
“without measure,” and for how he translated this love for God into a zeal for
the reform of the Church, at a time when the Church was very much in need of
reform. His focus in reform was on
“mystery” rather than reason. This
sounds quite foreign to our modern ears, but the mystery Bernard focused on was
not mystery in the sense of something unknowable, but mystery in the sense of a
truth that must be experienced to be understood.
26 August will be observed as
the Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle (tr. from 24 August). We know very little about Bartholomew (“son
of Tolmai”).
He is always mentioned in connection with Philip, who brought him to
Jesus. Tradition teaches that he
preached and was martyred in
Lesser feasts in August are
many, including St. Joseph of Arimathea, Bl. John
Mason Neale, Sts. Dominic, Clare, Louis and Augustine of Hippo. But, let’s not forget Laurence (10 August), a
third century Roman deacon roasted alive on a gridiron, and so invoked by
modern wags as the patron saint of football!.
Music:
The anthem for 23 August, Let us talents and tongues employ, is
sung to a Jamaican folk tune, and reminds us both in words and rhythm that we
are called to joy in worship. In the
Baroque period, in particular, composers and theorists were very much concerned
with the “Doctrine of Affections,” under which specific musical content (in
harmonies, meters, and phrase progressions) were intended to evoke specific
emotions or feelings. Regardless of the
merits of this doctrine, we are each aware of how different music can evoke a
different response. (Who has not noticed
the shift into a minor key in a film score when a bad guy enters?)
The Scripture lessons in
August are focused very much on the gift of God in the Holy Eucharist, and so,
in this focus on “keeping the main thing the main thing” (in a season of
disquiet in the Church), the hymns in August do tend to fall within the
“affection” of affirmation of the strength, militancy, and zeal for mission in
the Church. Thus, we find hymns which
reflect the transforming glory of God, e.g., no. 522, Glorious things
of thee are spoken (sung to the tune “Austria,” by Franz Josef Haydn, and
better known as the melody of the German national anthem), and no. 423, Immortal,
invisible, God only wise. Hymns of
call-to-action include the old Baptist favorite (written, actually, by Presbyterian active in the Y.M.C.A.), no.
561, Stand up, stand up for Jesus, and no. 563, Go forward, Christian
soldier (by an English Congregationalist).
Hymns can speak of trust in
the person of God, as in the famous Abide with me (no. 662) and O
God, our help in ages past (no. 680), and trust in His guidance (as in the
communion hymns to be sung on 23 August, which both speak of trust in God’s
Word). This theme of trust inheres with
the idea of Christian hope, so let us not forget the twentieth century classic
(no. 665), All my hope on God is founded. The hymn includes the words of the English
poet laureate, Robert Seymour Bridges (a physician), and the music of the Oxonian giant of twentieth century church music, Hebert
Howells. Aptly, the hymn reminds us that
our hope is founded not on what we can do, what the Church can do, but on what
God does in calling us to Him. The bottom line: As always, pay attention to the words of the
hymns!
Men’s Fellowship: The Men’s
Fellowship will meet on Monday, 10 August, at 6:30 p.m., at the Rainey
residence. Beverages and side dishes are
provided for cost. Bring your own steak,
or something else to grill. Please
confirm attendance by Friday, 7 August.
E.Y.C. (Episcopal Youth Community)
Kick-off: On Sunday, 23 August, Alexandra Fowler will join
us as Youth Minister. In recognition of
the kick-off of our youth program, we are planning a day-long outing on
Saturday, 29 August, to include boating, fishing and swimming.
Attendance and Stewardship:
Year to date 2009: 1989 Year to date 2008: 1667 Trend: +19.3%
2009 pledges paid to date: 54.6
% of an expected 58%.
Vestry Highlights:
1. The Compensation Committee
recommended, and the Vestry approved, increases in the pay rates for the rector
and the parish secretary/treasurer.
Details are available in the Vestry minutes, which may be examined in
the parish office. (An annual
compensation review is mandated by Diocesan canon.)
2. Bids were reviewed for the
painting of the rectory. A painting
project was tabled for the balance of 2009, until we see what effect, if any,
developments in Church and parish life may have on 2010 pledging. Spot painting, and staining of the deck, will
be undertaken this year, to prevent further damage.