The Angelus: Our Newsletter
Volume 3, Number 28
Hymns
The Hymnal 1940 was arranged beginning with the first season of the church year, Advent. The first hymn in that hymnal was “Come, thou long expected Jesus born to set thy people free.” It was a good way to begin a hymnal. Last Sunday during the procession I noticed a person in the back sitting by the aisle, struggling with her hymnal, looking for the hymn and not finding it. She was confused by the “S” numbers at the beginning. I tried to be helpful even as I also tried to put
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 27
Raymond Lee Duncan, 1947 -2001
Raymond Duncan died unexpectedly on Thursday, May 24, 2001. He was fifty-three years old and had officially joined the parish on July 10, 1984. He was buried from Saint Mary’s at a Requiem Mass on Tuesday, May 29. We were especially pleased that the Presiding Bishop, the Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold, Ray’s colleague at the
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 26
Calendar, Liturgy and Meaning
I didn’t know that Palm Sunday was the original Good Friday until I went to seminary. If I had read this before going or heard it in a class it did not register. Of course, once I learned this it made a lot of sense of what I had experienced on Palm Sunday – and it explained in some sense why the Prayer Book gives the day the title, “The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.”
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 25
More than a Drill
The priest who sent me to seminary used to insist that I read Morning and Evening Prayer. If I missed Morning Prayer in the morning I would read it later in the day, sometimes along with Evening Prayer. This approach to the Daily Office was actually pretty standard practice for hundreds of years in the Western Church. In retrospect, as preparation for seminary and my life as a member of the clergy it was excellent training.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 24
From the Rector: Father Shin to Oxford
I am honored to be able to tell you that the Reverend Allen Shin has been accepted as a doctoral student in patristic theology at Oxford University. Father will be with us until early September when he and his wife, Clara Mun, will move to England. I am happy and excited for them. I know you will join me in being very sad that they will be leaving us. He will be at Oxford for at least three years.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 23
From the Rector: Clergy & Staff Notes & Other Things
Saint Mary’s has a long history of associations with members of the clergy for whom this particular community of faith has mattered a great deal. The influence of the parish on the formation of priests and many future bishops is a matter of record and a powerful witness about the importance of mission of this parish church. I know that most likely while I am rector of Saint Mary’s many priests will assist here. I want
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 22
From the Curate: Speaking The Truth In Love
Wednesday, April 25 is the Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist. Wednesday also happens to be the day we regularly hold Christian Formation classes. Having just celebrated the Feast of a saint and an evangelist whose Gospel begins by proclaiming “The Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” it was all the more poignant for me to enter into our new series, In Dialogue with Judaism. Often in
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 21
Easter at Saint Mary’s
There are always things to celebrate after Holy Week. I want to give thanks for the spirit of joy that was so evident in all areas of our common life from the beginning of the week to the end. It was easy for so many to work so hard and to give so much of themselves when every time one looked in any direction, someone had joy on his or her face. I’m not making this up. This isn’t fluff. This is the character of this Christian community.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 20
Easter Letter
Dear Friends,
I write to you on the morning of Maundy Thursday. We have already celebrated the last service of Lent, Morning Prayer for today. The altar of repose is being prepared. The great silver sanctuary lamp is being polished. MCs will begin to arrive shortly. The church staff is making final preparations for the Triduum. The music of a hauntingly beautiful Tenebrae still seems to hang in the air, especially the lovely treble voice of the Allegri Miserere mei.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 18
Reconciliation
There are many surprising graces to a first confession. At least there were for me and I still feel the power of that first confession twenty-five years later. Having grown up in a community of faith where this sacrament was not formally celebrated, it was for me at age twenty-two an act which helped define who I was going to be as an adult: I was going to put my trust in God and in the institutional Church.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 17
Laetare: Rejoice
This Sunday is the Lenten "refreshment" Sunday. Its name "Laetare" comes from the first word in Latin of the traditional entrance song for the day. The text is beautiful in Latin and in English:
Laetare Ierusalem: et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae. Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sung mihi: in domum Domini ibimus.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 16
Music Search Report
Next week five persons will be at Saint Mary's to audition and to be interviewed by me and the Music Search Committee for the position of organist and music director. The five come to us from the search process that was initiated to find the best possible candidate in North America and Britain. I am looking forward to meeting the candidates.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 15
Welcome and Service
From time to time I see clear signs that this parish community has entered a new phase of its common life. Every generation of a community like ours has its own focus and mission. It is the mission of our generation at Saint Mary's to share what we have, to extend the love of Christ and to grow the size of the parish. On Ash Wednesday it was clear to me that the ministry of welcome, one of the most significant ways we begin to invite others into our community, is being shared broadly by members of the parish community. I like it a lot.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 14
Liturgy in Lent
Some things about Lent are simple. There are no flowers on the altar except on two occasions, the Fourth Sunday and the Feast of the Annunciation. Other than Saint Joseph's Day and the Annunciation no other commemorations interrupt the cycle of Lenten Weekdays. The weekday Mass propers for Lent are especially well done. And here at Saint Mary's, as in other liturgical parishes, a sense of preparation and restraint are reflected in all areas of our common life.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 13
Lent
In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd young children are introduced to the liturgical year through the use of color. Three year-olds like special words like "Pentecost" and "Epiphany." They aren't too interested in the meaning of the word at this point in their development; yet the words help them begin to develop a vocabulary they will use to express their wonder at the gift of life and the history of salvation.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 12
Fruit in Due Season
On February 13 the Episcopal Church commemorates the life of Absalom Jones (1746-1818), first African-American priest in the Episcopal Church. This year the Daily Office Lectionary provided for the second reading at Evening Prayer to be Mark's account of the Cursing of the Fig Tree:
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 11
From the Curate: Why do we do what we do?
Liturgy is important in the Episcopal Church. Instead of the 300-page catechism or Biblical fundamentalism we have the Book of Common Prayer and the liturgy contained in it to keep us bound together and well behaved. Not much can be tinkered with in the 18-page catechism or with the Bible. So for Episcopalians, especially the clergy, liturgy becomes the venue for their creative expression.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 10
About the Mass: The Liturgy of the Word (Part I)
Early Christians gathered to listen to the story of salvation, to pray and to break the Bread. This is still what we do. Today we call it the Mass. Things haven't changed essentially from the days when the Apostles gathered with each other in amazement at the presence of the Lord.
Read MoreVolume 3, Number 9
About the Annual Meeting
In the Episcopal Church an annual meeting of the congregation is held every year. It is the occasion for the members of the congregation to receive reports from the rector and vestry on the temporal affairs of the community and to hold parish elections. It is also a time when the parish leadership reports to the community about its work in the past year and plans for the new year.
Read MoreVOLUME 3, NUMBER 8
About the Liturgy: Entrance Rite
I get questions from time to time about the shape of the Entrance Rite in the Mass. This is the first part of the Eucharistic celebration, from the opening chant through the collect of the day. In the Prayer Book tradition this part of the service is not really separated from what is usually called "the Liturgy of the Word" - the first Lesson through the Peace. Yet the Entrance Rite evolves as a separate and later element to what we might call the original shape of the Eucharist.
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