FROM THE RECTOR: HOLY WEEK 2013: PART III

Several years ago the short subtitle of an article in the liturgical journal Worship caught my attention. The article was by Patrick Regan, “Holy Thursday Reservation: From Confusion to Clarity,” (Worship 81 [March 2007] 98-120). The article is a really useful survey of the practices of Christians on Maundy Thursday in the cathedral and parish churches of Rome at the beginning of the Middle Ages. The subtitle has stayed with me as a point of reflection for many things. One example: How do we move from confusion to clarity in our lives?

FROM THE RECTOR: HOLY WEEK 2013: PART II

Patrick Regan is a senior liturgical scholar in the Roman Catholic Church. He is a Benedictine monk and served as abbot of Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Covington, Louisiana. Since his retirement he has taught at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm in Rome. I had the privilege of meeting him some years ago. For the last month I’ve been reading his book published last fall, Advent to Pentecost: Comparing the Seasons in the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite. It’s very much about his ecclesial community, but as we share a common heritage there’s a lot there for us.

FROM THE RECTOR: HOLY WEEK 2013: PART I

Let’s start with the big news first. The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold, XXV Presiding Bishop & Primate of the Episcopal Church, will be with us as celebrant and preacher for three of the principal services of the Easter Triduum: Maundy Thursday at 6:00 PM, Good Friday at 12:30 PM and the Great Vigil of Easter at 7:00 PM. (I will be the celebrant and preacher for the second service on Good Friday at 6:00 PM.)

FROM THE RECTOR: SICK AND TIRED

There are a couple of expressions I associate with my parents. My dad was fond of saying to me and my siblings when we were children, “Be aware of the world around you.” It made me think it was my job to be on top of things—not for other people to take care of me. Of course, they did. But it was the kind of statement that suggested I could do things for myself and didn’t have to wait for things to be done to me or for me.

FROM FATHER SMITH: FAITH & WORK

On three recent Sundays, the adult-education class heard presentations by six Saint Marians, who spoke about the relationship between faith and work in their lives, their professions, and their workplaces. We heard from a librarian and a newspaper editor; a human-resources professional and a pathologist; and from a high-school teacher and a psychiatrist. The presentations were uniformly good. Not surprisingly, some common themes emerged during the three-week series, but it was also very helpful to hear about individual experiences, problems, questions, and approaches.

FROM THE RECTOR: ISHMAEL AND ISAAC

Over the years we have altered the lessons we use at Daily Morning and Evening Prayer so that we omit none of the New Testament in our worship at Saint Mary’s. It makes a few services a little longer than usual, but I think it’s worth hearing it all. Occasionally I still hear things almost as if for the first time—and I can assure you I have read every word of the New Testament many, many times.

FROM THE RECTOR: LENT IS UPON US

The English word “Lent” derives from Old English lencten, that is, “lengthen”—in other words, the part of the year when the days are getting longer. We call it spring. The Latin name for this season is “Quadragesima,” that is, “forty.” Many may remember that in previous Prayer Books the three Sundays before Ash Wednesday were known as Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima for—

FROM THE RECTOR: EVANGELICAL WORSHIP

In 1789, the newly formed Protestant Episcopal Church adopted its first Prayer Book. By then, the church had been disestablished in every state in which it had been the established church before the revolution. At the time, it wasn’t at all clear that the Episcopal Church, or the United States itself, would find a new way forward. However, just like the country, the Episcopal Church did just that.

FROM THE RECTOR: COLD, BUT NOT BLEAK

Some of the parish’s friends in the wider community may not realize how unusually cold it has been in the city this week. It’s not been easy to get around with the wind whipping around corners while the temperatures are in the teens. But I know I’ve had a spring in my step. One big reason: on Saturday morning, February 2, the Right Reverend Andrew M.L. Dietsche will become the sixteenth bishop of New York when our fifteenth bishop, the Right Reverend Mark S. Sisk, passes him the crozier during the service of installation at the cathedral. It’s a big weekend for the diocese of New York.

FROM THE RECTOR: JUST A CUP

With the beginning of Advent 2011, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States began using a new translation of its Latin liturgy. The issue of how to translate the liturgy from Latin to English has been controversial within that community since Pope Paul VI revised the Roman Missal in 1969. I remember stopping into a Roman Catholic parish not so long after the recent changes took place.

FROM THE RECTOR: CHRIST’S BAPTISM

The 1928 Prayer Book introduced some, but not so very many, changes to the worship of the Episcopal Church. One of those changes is easy for me to remember: brides would no longer promise “to obey” their husbands. Another change: Episcopalians would now pray for the departed, “grant them continual growth in thy love and service.” Less remembered is the introduction of a gospel account of Jesus’ baptism to Sunday worship—on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. Anglicans other than Episcopalians—and as far as I know, Lutherans, and Roman Catholics—never heard an account of Jesus being baptized until the calendar reforms of the 1970s.

FROM THE RECTOR: MORE THAN WISE MEN

This year the Epiphany falls on Sunday. The celebration begins with Evening Prayer on Saturday night with psalms and lessons appointed for the feast. The celebration concludes with Sunday Evensong, again with appointed psalms, lessons and the traditional hymn sung at this service, “When Christ’s appearing was made known,” a fifth century text. The Right Reverend Charles E. Jenkins, X Bishop of Louisiana, will preside and preach at the Solemn Mass. I hope you will be able to join us for many reasons. Along with Easter and Pentecost, Epiphany is the third of the greatest feasts in the church’s tradition.