From the Rector: Who’s Coming to Dinner

Let me see if I have this right.  Rowan Williams has asked Frank Griswold not to come to dinner because if he shows up Peter Akinola and his friends won’t come.  Rowan Williams is the archbishop of Canterbury.  Frank Griswold is our presiding bishop.  Peter Akinola is the archbishop of the Church of Nigeria.  Akinola thinks Griswold does not belong at the archbishop’s table any more.  I wonder why Williams is letting Akinola get away with this.

From the Rector: Unlocking Holy Week

There’s a wonderful Saturday morning class on March 5 on Holy Week (read on in this issue for details).  Father Beddingfield, Robert McCormick and Robert McDermitt will be leading the class.  I commend it to you.  There will be a chance to learn about the great rites, to ask questions and to rehearse some of the chants that we only do once a year.

From the Rector: Who are these people?

This is not really an article about new members and new friends of Saint Mary’s, although the title may suggest just that.  It could be.  But it isn’t.  We’ve almost reached the point over the last year when people who think of themselves as regular members but who only are here once every other month have realized what some of us have known for a while.  Saint Mary’s is growing.  There are more people getting to know us and becoming part of our community all of the time.  It’s really exciting.

From the Rector: Lent at Saint Mary’s

Lent has begun.  There are no flowers in the church.  The liturgical color is purple.  You will hear the organ played only to sustain singing.  No lesser feasts are observed and the only major feasts that fall during Lent this calendar year are the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle, February 24, and the Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19.  On the Fourth Sunday in Lent, commonly known as Rose Sunday, this year March 6, there is relaxation of this discipline. 

From the Rector: Transitions

At its long-range planning retreat on Saturday, January 31, the parish’s Board of Trustees received a presentation from the Reverend Canon Hannah Anderson, canon for congregational development in the Diocese of New York, on the differences between a medium size congregation and a large congregation.  We are on the cusp of becoming a much larger parish community. 

From Father Beddingfield: The Power of Conversion

I’ve only met a few people who have experienced a real religious conversion.  I grew up mostly around other Christians.  I, and others, might have experienced changes in our spiritual lives.  We might even have had renewals or awakenings of some kind.  But very few have had what might be called a real, life changing, “the old is dead, the new has come,” conversion. 

From Father Beddingfield: Living Stones

Villanueva is a section of Tegucigalpa, Honduras that does not appear on official maps of the capital city.  It was formed as a squatter’s village on steep sides of the mountainous outskirts.  Some 200,000 people live there in quarters that range from shacks of tin and cardboard to small dwellings of cinderblock.  Some have electricity.  Few have plumbing.  The first working toilet in the area was installed last year in the Episcopal Church of San Juan Evangelista. 

Truth and Unity

The Rev. Paul James Francis Wattson, S.A., born Lewis Wattson, was still an Episcopal monk and priest, in 1908 when he suggested that the week between the January feasts of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (now known as the Confession of Saint Peter on January 18 and the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25) be observed as a “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.”  But Wattson by this time was on his way to Rome.  And in 1909 his Episcopal religious community, the Society of the Atonement, was received into the Roman Catholic Church.  He continued to work for reunion throughout his life.  He died in 1940.

From Father Beddingfield: Why Mission Matters

“Why should we do mission in far away places when there is so much need right here at home?”  The question was asked at a meeting with Canon Sylvia Vasquez, last March at Saint Mary’s, when we first began to think and pray about a mission trip to Honduras.  The person who asked the question went on to say, “I mean, there is hunger and homelessness and teenage pregnancy and drug abuse and poverty of all kinds right in our own neighborhoods.  Why are we talking about going to another part of the world?”  Canon Vasquez then said very gently to the person,

Suddenly and Unprepared

As we go to press on Wednesday, December 29, the death toll in South Asia from the tsunami that hit on Sunday continues to rise.  The number of deaths this morning is estimated to be about 70,000.  The enormity of the tragedy will unfold for several generations.