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A WORD FROM THE RECTOR
Greetings in the
Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
In the rule of Anglicanism
lex orandi, lex credendi (“The law of
prayer is the law of belief.”) In
the absence of a lot of detail in the definition of Anglican doctrine, what we
pray in the words of the Book of Common Prayer defines very much what we
believe and profess. In the current
debates in the Church it seems that a lot of people have paid little attention
to what it is that we say, and therefore to what we have defined already as
belief. For example, debates are current
in the wider Church over the unique divinity of Jesus Christ; whether He is
fact the way, the truth, and the life, or just one
manifestation of how we can come to know God.
Quite apart from what our own Catechism (BCP pp. 845–862)
teaches about the unique divinity of Jesus, each week we recite the Creed in
which we say that “We believe [that Jesus Christ is] the only Son of God
...” We profess this belief after we
have prayed the Gloria in excelsis, in which
we pray: “For you alone are the
Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ ...” In other words, why is
there any debate?
This Lent we are going to
focus on how our prayer book embodies how we live out our faith as Christians
who also call themselves Episcopalians; as Christians who pray in a specific
way and participate in a specific sacramental life. Ash Wednesday falls on 25 February this
year. We will observe this beginning of
Lent with the imposition of ashes, beginning at 6 p.m. that day. In Lent we will call to mind how we have
strayed and how we must depend on God, beginning our liturgical observance of
the Sundays in Lent with the Great Litany (BCP 148) at the start of the
service of Holy Eucharist on 1 March.
Lent is a time of penitence, but it is also a time of reflection on our
faith, on all that God has done for us.
On Wednesdays, starting on 4 March, we’ll follow a schedule which will
begin with Holy Eucharist at 5:45 p.m. (moved up 15 minutes) and proceed into a
Lenten supper at 6:30, to be concluded with a teaching session from 7:15 until
8 p.m. Come for Eucharist,
supper and learning or any combination of the three. Children are welcome, and nursery care will
be available.
We pray in a specific way (for example in using
the Gloria in excelsis and Creed), and the
prayer book mandates that Holy Eucharist is “... the principal act of Christian
worship on the Lord’s day ...” (BCP 13).
So one of the things we observe right away is that our prayer life
involves participating in the sacraments of the Church. In our Lenten program we’ll examine issues in
how we participate in the sacramental life of the Church in Baptism, Holy
Eucharist, Marriage and Burial of the Dead.
Baptism and Holy Eucharist are the two sacraments connected directly to
Jesus (the “dominical” sacraments).
Marriage (Holy Matrimony) can be defined variously as a sacrament or a
“sacramental rite”(BCP 860), and Burial of the Dead involves how we
commend a soul sanctified in the Lord to His keeping, recognizing that when we
do so our Lord is present with us, just as His grace is present in all
sacramental life. In other words, our
whole life in Christ is defined with reference to how we live a sacramental
life and a life of prayer and worship which follows a trajectory (in this
world) of new birth in Christ to final joy in Christ.
To take one example, we’ll explore how
Christian life is baptismal life, involving the forgiveness of sins, new birth
into new life in Christ, and a new exodus from captivity into freedom (in which
we renounce all that is not from God and reach out to all that is of God). We’ll explore how this new life in Christ is
something that we do together, promising to live out our baptism in
“real” life both as individuals and as members of a common Christian
community. We’ll “take apart” a eucharistic life in a similar way,
and explore crucial milestones like matrimony (which is a commitment made both
to our spouse and to God) and death (which calls for us to testify that
the Christian life is a life of hope).
Handouts outlining the discussion material will be available, but the
emphasis will be on discussion rather than on lecture.
Those of you who grew up using
the 1928 Book of Common Prayer remember a church life in which Holy
Eucharist was not celebrated every Sunday in many parishes, and in which
baptisms were generally private. Right
away, you can see, therefore, that in the current prayer book different
emphases obtain in our common sacramental life.
As Anglicans we testify that faith is informed by Scripture, Reason and
Tradition (the so-called “three-legged stool”).
This Lent we’re going to explore how the prayer book embodies Reason
(what of God can be demonstrated from the order of creation) and Tradition (the
teachings of the Church as agreed in universal council). But, far more important than learning about
the prayer book, we’re going to explore
how we live the Christian life that is reflected in Scripture and in the prayer
book, so that as we continue with our lenten journey
and with our life-long pilgrimage our focus can be not on what we say but on
what we do, how we live, how we testify to the mercy of God and call all others
into His saving grace. Come prepared to
think, to be challenged, to share, and to journey onward together.
Yours
in Christ Jesus,
Lenten Booklet:
Please sign up as soon as possible to provide a lenten devotional reflection. (The sign-up sheet is on the hallway bulletin
board.) For each day in Lent you will
find a sheet that has the Gospel lesson and Collect for that day. On the reverse of each sheet are instructions. When we have received your reflections (which
can be submitted anonymously) back, these will be combined with those of your
fellow parishioners into one booklet to be distributed on Ash Wednesday. In the booklet we’ll be able to share
together in a lenten
spiritual journey. The deadline for your
submission is 9 February, and it will be very helpful is
you can submit your document electronically.
Lenten Discipline:
We often think of Lent as a time of renunciation; a time to give
something up to allow us to focus on our need for God. It can also be a time to take something on,
an additional duty assumed in God’s Name.
One opportunity to do this is presented in the Daily Office of Morning
Prayer and Evening Prayer. Morning
Prayer is offered at the church Tuesday through Friday, at 7:45 a.m., and is
completed by 8:00. During Lent we
will also offer Evening Prayer at 5:15 p.m.
Reconciliation of a Penitent: At Holy Eucharist every Sunday we
offer the Confession of Sin (e.g., at BCP 360). Saying the confession prayer is not the
same as confessing sin; that’s why we maintain a period of silence before
saying the prayer, to allow time to call to mind what it is that which we
specifically repent.
In addition to the general
confession the Church provides a specific prayer office, The Reconciliation
of a Penitent (BCP 447), in which confession is made to and
absolution received from a priest. The
classic Anglican rule about confession is “All may; none must; some
should”. Individual “auricular” (said)
confession can be helpful. The content
of a confession is absolutely confidential, with the
priest liable to deposition and excommunication should the seal of confession
ever be broken. Fortunately for the
priest, a special grace obtains that means that what is heard is very quickly
forgotten.
If you believe individual
confession would be helpful as part of your lenten journey, please contact the parish office to
make an appointment.
Change in Office Hours: In order
to allow Fr. Karl and Elizabeth to share a day off (
Monday: 9:00 a.m. until noon.
Tuesday–Friday: 8:00 a.m. until noon; 1:00 until 5:00
p.m.
Debbie’s office hours are Monday and Wednesday mornings, and Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons.
Morning Prayer will be offered Tuesday–Friday, at 7:45 a.m. During Lent we will also offer Evening
Prayer at 5:15 p.m.
Vestry Highlights
Fr. Karl thanked Bill Sugg, Keith Mooney,
Debbie Chandler and
There is a balance of $18,199.10 in the operating account
and $11,514.46 in the capital
A resolution setting rector’s compensation for
2009 was passed as submitted by the Budget committee.
A resolution approving the Parochial Report was
passed.
A resolution to transfer $5,000.00 from the
operating account to debt reduction on the rectory was passed.
The Vestry began a review of church mission
descriptions which include Service, Worship, Education, Evangelism and Pastoral
Care. It was decided a smaller committee
consisting of Bill Sugg, Carolyn Jane Hay and
Grace Notes
The
Season: Two important feasts (as classified under the
rules of the Calendar of the Church Year (BCP pp. 15–33) fall in
February. The first is the Feast of the
Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the
The second important feast is
that of St. Matthias the Apostle (24 February).
When the apostles met and prayed in the nine days between Jesus’
ascension and the day of Pentecost, St. Matthias was selected to replace Judas
Iscariot. This story is found at Acts
1.21-22, which tells us nothing more about Matthias. Traditionally, Matthias is remembered as an
example to Christians of one whose faithful companionship with Jesus qualifies
him to be a suitable witness to the resurrection of our Lord, and one whose
service is unheralded and unsung.
Another Anglo-Saxon day that
has become associated with a Christian saint is 14 February, St. Valentine’s
day (which is not on the Church Calendar). St. Valentine was a third century martyr in
Lesser feasts we’ll observe in
February include: Bl. Absalom Jones (13 February, transferred to the 11th),
the first African-American ordained (1802) a priest in the Episcopal Church;
and Simeon of Jerusalem, whose words, as found at Luke 2.29-32 are prayed in
the Nunc dimittis
(e.g., at BCP 66).
Music: The hymns
for the month can best be described as eclectic, ranging from the Charles
Wesley favorite, O for a thousand tongues to sing (493) through the
traditional (and very old) Irish hymn Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart (488),
and the African-American spiritual In Christ there is no East or West. The Music Committee will meet on Wednesday,
11 February, at 7:15 p.m. in the choir room.
We’ll introduce two hymns this
month that not all will be familiar with, although both have been sung here
before. These are both twentieth century
hymns, 347, Go forth for God, and 381, Thy strong word did cleave the
darkness, sung to the classic Welsh tune “Ton-y-Botel”. Another classic Welsh tune appears in 423, Immortal, invisible, God only wise. Finally, on 22 February we’ll sing O
wondrous type! O vision fair (137),
a fifteenth century Latin hymn which sings of the glories of the
Transfiguration of our Lord, which is described in the Gospel lesson always
reserved for the Last Sunday after Epiphany.
This hymn may not be familiar to you, but the tune “
On the First Sunday in Lent (1
March) there will be no processional hymn.
This is replaced by the Great Litany (BCP pp. 148-155),
which also replaces the Prayers of the People that day. The Great Litany (a specifically
Anglican practice) was written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1544 (and thus
predates the earliest version of our prayer book) at the express order of Henry
VIII, to invoke God’s mercy following setbacks suffered by