Forty

I was six years old when the Reverend Canon Edgar F. Wells became a priest of the Church.  I can remember being six just a little.  I had finished kindergarten and was getting ready for first grade at Thoroughgood Elementary School in what is now called Virginia Beach, Virginia.  I no longer remember the name of my first grade teacher or my kindergarten teacher.  It was a long time ago. 

Common Sense

As much as I would dearly love for the congregation to process through Times Square during the Solemn Mass on August 15th, and even though I have announced we would do that, as I’ve stood on the corner of 46th Street and Seventh Avenue at 6:00 PM I have come to the conclusion that we should not attempt to process on this day at this time.  I really love the witness of this congregation showing its presence in this neighborhood.  Our public processions on Sundays have worked very well and have been a wonderful witness, a witness from which our

Compassion

Several years ago when I was serving in Michigan City, Indiana, some of the adults of the parish and I took the youth group of the parish to Washington, D.C.  We went to the Holocaust Museum the very first day.  If we had turned around and gone home at that point I would have considered the trip completely worth the effort.  It was a good weekend and we and the kids really did enjoy it.

From Father Shin: Rain Man Part II

Last month I wrote about my journey through New Jersey and the strange coincidence that every time I travel, it rains.  It rained again last week.  I traveled to Tampa, Florida last Thursday on what was actually a second attempt.  The first involved a cancelled flight to Tampa, a day in the Washington-Dulles airport and extremely bad weather in Florida.  So I tried my trip again.  After a delay (of course, at Washington-Dulles again), I made it to Florida.

Our Gifts for Ministry

Last Sunday when Richard Lawson and I entered the church to go to the Lady Chapel for the 9:00 AM Mass there was no one in the chapel.  We noticed about a dozen visitors sitting alone in the back of the nave of the main church.  Richard volunteered to go to see if they were here for the Mass.  I went to the chair in the chapel to wait. 

Formation

In the 1970s the parish in the Diocese of Chicago that sent me to seminary used the modern Roman Rite, something that was uncommon among Anglo-catholics in the United States at the time but not uncommon among many Anglo-catholics in England.  When I went to visit Nashotah House a student from my diocese, Randall Haycock, still a priest in Chicago, volunteered to show me around.  When we went through

Our Mission

For several months the Board of Trustees and others from the parish community have been in prayer and conversation about the future of Saint Mary's, in particular, future uses of our Mission House.  For the last nine years the space has been occupied by the Center for Families and Children, Inc., one of New York's oldest not-for-profit service agencies.  Their agreement will expire on May 31, 2001.

The "Tiffany" Chalice

Sean Cassidy and Pat Higgins bring many gifts to their service of the altar.  Recently they restored the carrying case for a chalice set that was made in Paris by the firm Poussielgue-Rusand and was purchased for the Father Founder from Tiffany & Co. on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of the parish.  It was used at the first service in the church in 1895 and is still used on great occasions of the church year.  The Rector asked Sean and Pat to write about their work.

From Father Shin: Spirit of Life

June is the month of deaconate ordinations.  As my mailbox gets filled with ordination invitations, I am reminded of my own ordination to the transitional deaconate.  I was ordained in the Diocese of Chicago four years ago on the feast of Evelyn Underhill, June 15.  So it seems fitting to ponder upon Charism, the gift of the Holy Spirit, around this time of the year, since we have also just celebrated the Day of Pentecost.

Spiritus Domini

The most memorable Pentecost I have celebrated was in Venice in 1997 while I was on sabbatical and traveling in Italy.  I attended the Solemn Mass at Saint Mark's Basilica.  The Patriarch of Venice was the celebrant.  The Mass was in Latin.  The lessons and sermon were in Italian.  I understood nothing and everything.  I know enough Latin to follow much of the Mass.  But it didn't matter.  I was right at home in so many ways.  A bell rang.  The choir started to sing the historic entrance song:

Clerical Restraint

Last Sunday I made a mess at the altar.  I got carried away during the censing of the gifts.  The thurible (censer) was full and the incense was billowing out.  The music was strong.  I offered incense over the gifts in the traditional way, moving the thurible in the form of a cross three times followed by three circles, two counterclockwise, one clockwise (I have no idea why that's the tradition but it is).  Again, the smoke was heavy.  When I finished censing the entire altar and returned to the center of the footpace (the top step where the altar stands), I realized that the corporal and everything on it was covered with ash.

From the Rector: The Members of Saint Mary's

In the Episcopal Church all laypersons are members of the congregation in which they were baptized, where their baptism was recorded or where their membership has been transferred.  All members are expected to be confirmed or received by a bishop and to receive the laying on of hands; but this is not a requirement for membership.  In addition there are minimum requirements about the reception of Holy Communion, corporate worship and for "working, praying and giving for the spread of the Kingdom of God."

From Father Shin:  Dong Kingman, 1911-2000

The priestly vocation has taken me through unexpected encounters and experiences.  Often such occasions involve invitations into significant moments in people’s lives – occasions which call for the rites of passage such as birth, baptism, marriage and death.  I always find it a privilege and an honor to be invited into people’s private lives on those occasions, for these moments call for a meaning larger than our private lives, a sense of connection with God.  Recently I was called to such an occasion and it was indeed an unexpected privilege.

Easter in the Ordinary

Easter this year was different for me.  There was something extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary routines of the Triduum and Easter Day.  Much of it has to do with the new catechumenate process, the Rite of Christian Initiation or Journey in Faith as we have named it.

Services

The first section of the Prayer Book is subtitled “Concerning the Service of the Church.” The text of the section begins:

The Holy Eucharist, the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day and other major Feasts, and Daily Morning and Evening Prayer, as set forth in this Book, are the regular services appointed for public worship in this Church.

Easter Immersion

Before the Great Vigil of Easter I had a few minutes with the Presiding Bishop in the church to discuss some ceremonial details.  One of the things I told him was that he would not be able to get the Paschal Candle into the baptismal font because of the cover.  He sized up the situation and smiled, saying nothing.  Those who were here may recall that he announced during the

Easter Mission

This weekly newsletter is dated using the date of Sunday, the first day of the Christian week.  Church calendrical calculations, however, are not simple.  In the center of the Christian year there is one Sunday that is different from all the others, one Sunday when the principal Mass of the day is the secondary liturgical celebration.  In the great tradition, the principal service of Easter Day is the Great Vigil.

Holy Week Notes

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday . . . The principal liturgy is at 11:00 AM.  We will be generous with the distribution of palms.  I encourage you to be willing to share them with persons we will pass in Times Square who ask for them.  There will be more palms in the church if you give all of yours away.  Despite the solemnity of the day, there is an element of purposeful joy in the procession.  Don't try to impose a sense of northern European order on Mediterranean devotions. 

Easter Triduum II

I know it was the Reverend Jeffrey Lee, now rector of Saint Christopher's Church, River Hills, Wisconsin, who got my attention one day when he said, "I wonder what it would be like if the people took the role of Jesus on Good Friday."  We had been at Nashotah House together.  I can no longer recall when the conversation took place, but it was before my first holy week as rector of Trinity Church, Michigan City, Indiana.  When I first had the chance as a rector to assign the role of Jesus in the Passion to the congregation I did.  There were complaints but they were of the kind that confirmed the insight of this decision.  The people take the part of Jesus on the Sunday of the Passion and on Good Friday.  The purpose of the Easter Triduum is for us to share in Jesus' death and resurrection and to help us live as members of his body.

Easter Triduum I

I begin to write newsletter articles this time of year about Holy Week.  In the past I have always begun at the beginning.  This year I want to say something first about the Easter Triduum, the three days at the heart of the year.  I write primarily with the local parish community in mind.  I want to try to tell you something of what I understand our Christian (and Catholic!) tradition to be.