From the Rector: Notes on Hearing Confessions

As you might imagine I have more than a few Prayer Books from my years as a member of the clergy.  Frankly, I can’t keep up with all of them.  When I want a Prayer Book, I want a Prayer Book.  You can find them all over the rectory where I live.  There are at least a half-dozen copies in my office too – so at a meeting all who are present can have one in her or his hands.

From the Rector:  Our New Episcopal Church Calendar

At the Reformation, the calendar of the English Church was greatly simplified for theological reasons.  The church year became basically about Sundays and New Testament commemorations.  Until recently Prayer Book revision happened very gradually.  We basically have inherited the work of the reformers.

From the Rector: Permissions

Yesterday I came across the two-sided sheet entitled “Some Notes for Mass Practice” that Louis Weil handed out to us seniors during our last semester in seminary.  The first “general remark” was this, “The celebrant presides.  He must be sensitive to everything going on in the area of celebration.  He coordinates all ministries.”  Well, this past Sunday was the second time in the last nine months that I have found myself leaving the altar area during Solemn Mass to deal with an urgent issue.

From the Rector: Thinking about Bread

A copy of David Power’s book Sacrament: The Language of God’s Giving (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999) arrived in the mail this week.  He’s a Roman Catholic sacramental theologian, professor emeritus, Catholic University of America.  When I looked through the book for the first time, my eyes stopped on a section near the end entitled “Liturgical Practice.” 

From the Rector:  Godspeed, Father Mead

As many members of the parish community already know, the Church of the Good Shepherd, Granite Springs, New York, has called the Reverend Matthew Mead as their new rector.  His last Sunday with us will be Sunday, August 16.  He will be celebrant and preacher for the 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM Masses.  Following the 11:00 AM Mass there will be a reception in honor of him, his wife Nicole Mead, and their two sons Liam and Nicholas.  We are going to miss them so very much.

From the Rector: A Call and An Assumption

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Granite Springs, New York, has called the Reverend Matthew Hoxsie Mead to serve as their new rector.  The Bishop of New York has approved the appointment.  Father Mead has accepted the call.  His last Sunday at Saint Mary’s as curate will be August 16. 

From Father Smith: The Gift of Sabbath

“Time management” is something that has never been easy for me.  There is a picture of me in an old high-school yearbook that I rediscovered not long ago.  In the photo I am on the move, with tie askew, looking harried and harassed; and underneath the photo there is a caption that reads, “I can’t believe how much work I have to do.”  Saint Mary’s Business Manager, Aaron Koch, insists that I still say that, and do so with some regularity.  Some things never change, or perhaps they only change with difficulty.

From the Rector:  New Prayer Book Lectionary

At the 2006 General Convention, the Episcopal Church replaced the Sunday Lectionary that was adopted with the Prayer Book in 1979 with the “Revised Common Lectionary” – the “RCL.”  The resolution authorizing this change provided that the 1979 old lectionary could be used until Advent 2010.  The just concluded 2009 General Convention took no action to alter this change.  So, in Advent 2010 we will begin using this new lectionary.  The new pew edition Prayer Books for sale in our gift shop already include itthis new lectionary.

From the Rector:  Tradition of the Towel

I’m not entirely sure how I ended up on the mailing list of the “Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond,” but I’m on it and I read through many of their publications.  “BTSR” was founded in 1991 in the wake of the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention by a fundamentalist group that had begun in 1979.  The current issue of the school’s development office brochure caught my attention.

From the Rector: Salvation History

Some years ago, just before Ryan Lesh, then a member of this parish and now vicar, Christ Church, Red Hook, was ready to be ordained to the transitional diaconate, yours truly had a question about the celebration.  The service was to be held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Saint Joseph’s Day.  Members of the clergy were invited to vest and to wear red stoles for the service. 

From the Rector: Lift Every Voice Great Thanksgiving

In 1987, while serving at Saint Luke’s Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Reverend Curtis Sisco, the new rector of Saint Luke’s Church, New Orleans, asked me to serve as master of ceremonies for his service of institution.  It was a joyous occasion.  The bishop of Louisiana was celebrant.  I recall a lot of good food afterwards.  There was one part of that service that I’ve never forgotten.  After the ministration of Communion, the congregation and organ burst into a hymn I did not know, “Lift every voice and sing.” 

From the Rector: Ponder Anew Great Thanksgiving

Hymnody plays a huge role in the spiritual life and worship of Reading Sacrifice Unveiled: The True Meaning of Christian Sacrifice by Robert J. Daly, S.J. has sent me back to the books to look afresh at what I think I know about Eucharistic prayers.  In particular, one of his sentences got to me, “the primary focus, indeed the very purpose of the transformation of the bread and wine, is the transformation of the assembly” (page 18).  For some very good reasons, my gut focuses on other dimensions of the Eucharistic mystery.

From the Rector: Great Thanksgiving

Reading Sacrifice Unveiled: The True Meaning of Christian Sacrifice by Robert J. Daly, S.J. has sent me back to the books to look afresh at what I think I know about Eucharistic prayers.  In particular, one of his sentences got to me, “the primary focus, indeed the very purpose of the transformation of the bread and wine, is the transformation of the assembly” (page 18).  For some very good reasons, my gut focuses on other dimensions of the Eucharistic mystery.

From the Rector: One Body, One Cup

The first time I attended a service in an Episcopal parish church was sometime during my teenage years.  I was there with friends and, frankly, I don’t remember much.  But I do remember how everyone received communion.  They were drinking from the same cup.  In the Southern Baptist congregations in which I was brought up, we drank from individual cups.  In my paternal grandparents’ Roman Catholic Church,

From the Rector: New Schedule Beginning June 14

Beginning Sunday evening, June 14, there will be a new worship schedule here at Saint Mary’s.  There will be no evening Mass Monday through Friday, except on Holy Days, when an additional Mass will be offered.  Depending on the day, this will be a said Mass at 6:20 PM following Evening Prayer, a Sung Mass at 6:00 PM or a Solemn Mass at 6:00 PM.  Eves of principal parish feasts will continue to be observed with Solemn Evensong.

From the Rector: Seeking Spiritual Gifts

Yesterday at the local Food Emporium I stood behind a man who was about my age who was asked to provide proof he was over twenty-one.  I couldn’t help myself.  It was probably a good thing it was my day off and I was not in clericals.  “Did you just ask him for an ID?”  The clerk replied, “Company policy.”

From the Rector: Thirty Years at the Office

In May 1979 I was in Chicago when a priest I had come to know said to me, “When are you going to do something about your vocation to the priesthood?”  At that point I had been accepted to an M.B.A program.  After three years studying British Indian history at the University of Chicago I was looking forward to being back in Charlottesville, Virginia, where I had gone to college.

From the Rector: Recovering Easter

The phrase “radical welcome” is used by some to describe an invitation to join in the life of the Christian community without any requirement other than to be present.  In the Episcopal Church, many congregations invite all people to receive Holy Communion whether or not they have been baptized.  Frankly, there is something very compelling about that kind of invitation, that kind of grace.  I confess that, from time to time, I have found myself thinking: Jesus fed all who were hungry on the mountain.  Why shouldn’t we?

From the Rector: Living Members

I’ve been thinking about the phrase “living members” from the postcommunion prayer we use at the end of Mass and, in particular, about the words, “you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ” (Prayer Book, page 365).  I’m pretty sure I have taken it to refer to the Eucharist.  On reflection, it seems to me to be a baptismal reference.  It is at our baptism that we become “living members” of the Body of Christ.

From the Rector: Easter Agenda

I have an “Easter Agenda.”  Across the fifty days of the Easter Season, I use the permissions in the Prayer Book to keep the sense of the season as strong as possible.  This kind of agenda, if you will, comes naturally to the Church during the twelve days of Christmas or the forty days of Lent.  For many centuries, these seasons have had a pull on the hearts of Christians that Easter has just not had.  There are many reasons for this, but there is no reason to be stuck with a shallow Easter.  And it really isn’t very hard to do this.