Getting It

Some months ago I heard a leadership presentation on a Confederate general, who isn’t thought of too highly in the American South because after the Civil War he went over to the Yankee side.  The speaker followed the general’s career and talked how decisions during and after the war affected others and how he himself was affected.  During the presentation I found myself thinking about something else, slavery.  That general had been wrong about the single greatest moral issue of his day. 

From Father Beddingfield: Worshiping with our Eyes

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.”  Just before he speaks these words in Matthew 13, Jesus quotes Isaiah’s prophecy regarding those who don’t perceive the things of God.  Their hearts are dull, their ears heavy and their eyes are closed.  “But blessed are your eyes, for they see.”  Jesus encourages his disciples to keep looking that they might see more deeply.   They will see still greater things.  They will see God.

Singing God’s Praises

I have been working on and off for the past two weeks to draft a list of hymns for the rest of the Church year for our music director to review and make suggestions about.  I begin my work with the lectionary, and in particular with the gospel lesson for a given Sunday.  The most useful reference work I have, in addition to the lists of what we sang on a given Sunday in recent years, is A Liturgical Index to The Hymnal 1982 by Marion J. Hatchett. 

Rich Fare

The Solemn Mass last Sunday was pretty extraordinary at several points, perhaps most remarkably during the singing of the Te Deum following the ministration of Holy Communion, as is our custom on Trinity Sunday, in place of the usual postcommunion hymn.  The choir sang Benjamin Britten’s (1913-1976) Festival Te Deum, Op. 32, the assembly standing, the clergy at the foot of the altar.  Two thurifers stood inside the altar rail swinging in rhythm.  The Lord’s house was filled with smoke.  The music, the setting, the Mass, the worship – all were glorious.

Trinity

Christians had many heated arguments and even fisticuffs during the first millennium about how to speak correctly and believe correctly about God’s revelation of himself to humankind as one God in Three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The subject is huge.  Most members of the clergy have reference books on their shelves to follow the centuries-long debates. 

From Father Beddingfield: Praying for Peace

Over the last few months several people have asked me if we could pray for peace.  Could we include something special in the liturgy, have particular prayers for peace, or perhaps have a “peace candle” and invite people to pray near it?  While I think I’ve understood what each person meant in asking the question, these questions have helped me to realize just how deeply we are praying for peace. 

For Everyone

From time to time I hear people remark that Saint Mary’s is not for everyone.  I’m always interested in that remark because from my perspective the breadth of the parish community is tremendous.  Everyone is not only welcome, in some real sense everyone is already here.

Ascension

The Prayer Book, following the account of the Acts of the Apostles, has a very strong focus on Ascension Day as a single event that happened forty days after the resurrection.  Yet, the Ascension as one event that happened on the fortieth day is not recalled this way in any of the four gospels.  In Mark, Luke and John Jesus ascended to the Father on Easter Day.  Matthew concludes his gospel with the commissioning of the disciples and the promise that he is with them always until the close of the age.

A Place of Worship

Almost always when I speak with people who are new to Saint Mary’s or just learning about Saint Mary’s I am asked about Saint Mary’s mission.  And almost always a puzzled look follows when I respond, “Worship.”  Of all the things Christian churches can do or be, the idea that a church is primarily a place of worship is too often surprising in our day.  My guess is that any layperson who tries to answer the same question in the same would also receive a similar puzzling look.

From Father Beddingfield: Regina coeli

Sometimes after celebrating the midday Mass, I stop in a nearby deli and I see the same man.  He usually asks me something like, “So, Father, when are you going to get those bells fixed at the church?  They still don’t ring correctly on the hour.”   He laughs and I explain one more time that we ring the tower bell during the Angelus and during the Eucharistic Prayer, but he likes to continue the joke, wondering why the bell never rings twelve times at noon. 

Easter Spirit

Jesus’ resurrection gift to his disciples was the Holy Spirit.  In the presence of the risen Lord the disciples are able to accept this gift and to let it transform their lives.  In Luke’s gospel it is a gift that has always been present, almost always unclaimed, with people all their lives.  In John’s gospel it is a gift given from the cross and on the evening of the first Easter Day.  There is a unity of Easter and the gift of the Spirit that is like the unity of Jesus’ death and resurrection. 

Easter at Saint Mary’s

Sometimes I have trouble explaining to people what makes Saint Mary’s so special.  To say that the liturgical rites of the Church are prayed and lived out with enormous integrity would not be the most helpful way of introducing us.  Yet that is who we are.  We are a place where our lives our shaped by the message of the gospel and celebration of liturgy.  In our midst people are reborn to eternal life and Jesus Christ still rises from the dead.

Holy Week II

Easter

One service of the year proclaims the Christian Gospel as no other, the Great Vigil of Easter.  This service is celebrated at Saint Mary’s on Saturday, April 10, beginning at 7:00 PM.  This newsletter is going to be dedicated to some details about the other services of Holy Week and Easter, but I want to begin with some remarks about the principal service of the year. 

Holy Week I

Christianity was a persecuted religion in the world of the Roman Empire until the emperor Constantine promulgated the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313.  Before this edict the Church generally gathered only on Sundays for worship.  After this edict, more was possible.  The original Sunday pattern for Christian worship continues to shape our lives.  Yet Sunday is much more than a morning, especially the greatest Sunday of all, Easter Day.

Living Lent

When the catholic movement within Anglicanism really began to rediscover its heritage in the nineteenth century there was a lot of religious excitement.  Intellectually and emotionally the catholic tradition seemed to have an ability to renew Christian understanding and Christian living.  And like so many new things, there was a certain power and a certain joy that seemed sure signs of the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Truth

More and more people I know have now seen Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ.  A friend and his wife who took their fifteen year-old daughter to see the movie regretted it.  He said, “It isn’t an ‘R’ movie; it’s an ‘NC-17’.”  I asked someone whether the movie shows the crucified Jesus naked or wearing a loincloth.  I was told that in the movie he is shown with a loincloth, as he almost always is in art. 

Language of Lent

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent but it doesn’t feel that way to me.  There is an energy here in the city bound up with the desire of people to receive the imposition of ashes.  It makes the day unique in its spirituality.  For me, the language of Lent really kicks in on the First Sunday in Lent.  Again, it’s not that Lent is unobserved here on Ash Wednesday!  But one is too preoccupied to notice. 

Beginnings

I haven’t seen Mel Gibson’s new movie.  It’s hard to avoid knowing something about it.  I don’t plan to see it anytime soon.  I don’t like to watch gore, especially after seeing the photograph in the New York Times of Jesus on the cross, I think this movie will have to much. 

Ending and Beginning

The Last Sunday after the Epiphany has been observed with special music at the Solemn Mass at Saint Mary’s for a number of years.  Our former music director McNeil Robinson introduced the custom of singing Missa Luba, arranged by Guido Haazen, on this date.  It’s a setting based on themes from African music. 

From Father Beddingfield: Thinking about Membership

When anyone is newly come ... let him not be granted an easy entrance; but, as the Apostle says, “Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”  If the newcomer, therefore, perseveres in his knocking, and if it is seen after four or five days that he bears patiently the harsh treatment offered him and the difficulty of admission, and that he persists in his petition, then let entrance be granted him....

From the Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 58