From Father Shin:  Can we talk?

Unity through corporate worship is the ideal of the Book of Common Prayer and is also the purpose and the hopeful result of liturgy.  This unity is achieved not by a democratic process of majority rule, but by transcendence into the holiness of our common life in the presence of God.  Probably to the surprise of many the liturgy here at SMV from daily offices to solemn masses is quite faithful to the BCP.  The challenge is how to transcend ourselves and live into the mystery of God's presence, the beauty of holiness.  It doesn't happen automatically or magically.  It happens through intentional prayer, common prayer.

Pillars

At the Noonday Office for the past few months we have been taking the meditation from the Roman Catholic Office of Readings.  These are a series of daily readings from the Church Fathers and other writers.  Before that we had been using an Episcopal version of these writings; but the parish had been through them several times and trying another version seemed like a good thing.  The next version we tried was one from the Church of England.  That too had its limitations.

Vision and Commitment

I don't know very much yet about the life and work of the founding rector of this parish, the Reverend Thomas McKee Brown; but I know I want to know more.  I do know quite a bit about the history of the parish where I served before coming here.  That congregation built a new church in 1889, not unlike the photographs I've seen of the first Saint Mary's, which was located where Shuberts Alley is today.  Of course, there were more statues and lights in Saint Mary's.  There was an altar cross and candles in Michigan City - such adornment was generally considered quite advanced, liturgically speaking.  There just wasn't anything like Saint Mary's, except perhaps in one or two other pioneering Anglo-catholic parishe

Forward

Four years ago I was hospitalized for what turned out to be a bacterial brain abscess.  I feel extraordinarily thankful for the healing and the care so many gave to me when I was so very ill that I could do nothing for myself.  An MRI showed the abscess the first day I was in the hospital.  It took some days and several tests to determine I didn't have meningitis or something else wrong with me.

A Hidden Light

Some Scripture to Begin:

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.  Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16

Sixth Sense

I don't see a lot of movies but I have seen another one, "The Sixth Sense."  I liked the movie and was taken in by its surprise.  The performance of the boy in the leading role was astonishing.  If you see the movie I am sure you will marvel at the casting and the ability of the director to get an extraordinary performance out of him.  There were many compelling moments in the movie.  One of the most compelling was when Bruce Willis, who plays a psychologist, asks the boy, "What do you want?"  The boy responds, "I don't want to be afraid anymore."

Liturgicalville

The Leadership in Ministry conference I attend twice each year is held at Lost River Retreat Center in Lost River, West Virginia.  Over the years the course has been going on, people bring movies to watch that have something to do with how family or church systems work.  My all time favorite is an English movie called, "Cold Comfort Farm."  This past session I saw another movie that will go on my systems list, "Pleasantville."

Dedication

Until recent decades the weekly service bulletins of SMV were bound.  Some of the bound volumes are in my office, some in the rectory parlor and some in the archive room underneath the church.  I discovered through reading one volume in the parlor that the Reverend Granville Mercer Williams, S.S.J.E., had canceled the midnight Mass his first year for fear of irreverent communions.  That experiment did not last; so popular was the Christmas Midnight Mass that tickets were required

A Brief Reflection

At the end of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is with his eleven disciples and them alone.  Before giving them the Great Commission Matthew says the eleven worshipped Jesus, "but some doubted."  Here Matthew is speaking of the eleven, the apostles who were the great witnesses and missionaries of Jesus' resurrection.  Of them Matthew says, "but some doubted."

Staff Transition

Transitions occur with new rectors in parishes like ours and not just for the reason that there is a new rector.  Almost always the transition to a new rectorate begins with a fresh look at the history of a parish community and fresh thinking about how God is calling the community to move into the future.  Since the beginning of my work at Saint Mary's I have been thinking and praying about the future.  Music is an area where I think we need to have new leadership, leadership that I have chosen.

Different

Saint Mary's is different from many, many Christian communities.  Some might identify what is unique about our community with our physical space; others might remark on the emphasis we give to the place of worship in our common life.  What seems most important to me about Saint Mary's are not the particulars of our physical space or of our worship but our desire for the liturgical act, that is, the desire for there to be an epiphany of the Body of Christ when we gather.

Reputation

I'm spending a fair amount of time and energy, but not as much as I would like, meeting new people, trying to see if they sense they are being called to be a part of this community and to see how you and I can help them respond a call to be here.  Almost every Sunday someone asks me about how he or she can join the parish.  Almost every week now someone asks to join.  I'm learning a lot about Saint Mary's by listening to the stories of the people who are coming here.

To Introduce Our Assistant

I have asked the Reverend Thomas Edward Breidenthal, professor of ethics at the General Theological Seminary, to join our staff as "assistant."  I want to express to you my personal delight that he has accepted and I look forward to seeing your delight when you have met him.  It was easy for me to come to the decision that I should ask the Board of Trustees to make it possible for us to have the very best clergy staff that we can.

Looking into the Future

Recent guests at the rectory have endured me showing some of the historical materials that are in the parlor library.  Among them are some bound volumes of service programs from the first few decades of this century and lists of music sung in the church in the nineteenth century. 

The Invitation

The phrase "Christian education" is widely used and in general usage brings to mind something of the common classroom experience that is inflicted on most American children.  Indeed, most members of the Episcopal Church have sat through classes at some point in time that went into great detail about the names of objects in Christian churches, the sequence of colors for seasonal church decoration and the proper way to address members of the clergy. 

From Father Shin: Asian Youth conference
Every summer for five days they gather together to worship, meet new and old friends, and develop leadership skills for youth and young adult ministry.  Sponsored every year by the Office of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, the Asian Youth & Young Adult Leadership Training Conference brings together 70 to 100 young people in the teens and 20’s.  They come from all corners of the country – from Los Angeles to Seattle

Parish Profile

The Board of Trustees and the Search Committee published a very attractive booklet called "Parish Profile" to send to persons like me who had shown an interest or who might show an interest in serving this parish as rector.  I understand that the booklets were for sale in the bookstore and that many people purchased them.  I believe some are still for sale at a modest cost.  I have read and reread the booklet because it continues to seem to me to be a very useful "snapshot" of Saint Mary's as the parish began to look for a new rector.

Summer at Saint Mary's

Twenty-seven people signed the guest book last Sunday at Saint Mary's.  Church attendance was only 142, and that includes counting the clergy several times and adding the attendance at Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.  Eleven of the twenty-seven are potential members geographically.

Community Prayer

There are quite a few parishes with daily services of Morning Prayer, the Holy Eucharist and Evening Prayer.  One of the characteristics of Anglo-catholic parishes has been that the members of the clergy of the parish ordinarily worship together at these services along with at least some other members of the parish community.

Repeating History

Last week I watched a segment on Dateline NBC about scams being run these days in New York City  by "psychics."  What fascinated me was not the con but how the schemes being run these days are almost identical to ones described by the late Joseph Mitchell that were going on fifty years ago.