FROM THE CURATE: PUTTING AMAZING BACK INTO GRACE

One can learn a lot in a monastery.  They almost always have fine libraries and there is plenty of time for reading.  There is time to think, too.  Not only that, but there is time to reflect on nature—time to “consider the lilies of the field how they neither toil nor spin” yet they are clothed more splendidly than Solomon.  When I was on retreat in November at Saint Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, I did a little of all these things.  I learned a lot about the cure of souls from reading, for the first time, Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care. (It won’t be the last!) 

Anglo-Catholic Vision

Saint Mary’s was founded by a priest and a group of laypersons who caught a particular vision of renewed Christian community that had sprung to life among Anglican Christians in the nineteenth century.  It was in part a revival of patterns of living and praying from the past but it was grounded in their present and future.  Saint Mary’s quickly became a center for a widespread revival that recalled the Episcopal Church to much of the most important parts of its heritage.  Since those days, a renewed consciousness of the Lord’s sacramental presence among us has marked the life of the Anglican Communion.

Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the congregation of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin will be held this Sunday following the Solemn Mass in Saint Joseph’s Hall.  For a number of years it has been customary to have a parish brunch on the Sunday of the annual meeting.  Because of the early date for Easter, our Carnival Sunday brunch – another tradition – falls on Sunday, February 10.  After consulting with the parish leadership I decided we should simply have a meeting and save our fellowship for two Sundays hence.

Evensong and Preaching

Yours truly is going to preach at Evensong for the first time in his life this Sunday.  At seminary it would have been possible for me to preach once at Evensong when I was a senior.  It was voluntary and I chose not to do so.  I have never served in a parish where Evensong & Sermon was a regular service.  In my former parish in Indiana, when we had Evensong & Benediction at different festivals through the year, I would almost always have preached already to the same congregation at Mass in the morning.

The Evening Sky

There was a beautiful sunset in New York City on Wednesday, January 9.  I didn’t see much of it.  I was in midtown.  But when I looked down the streets south and west I could see wonderful small clouds colored pink and orange.  Even if a million people and I were stuck in the caverns of the city, I knew that if I could get to the Battery or even to the Hudson River, the sky would open up for me.  I wasn’t able to stop my mind from thinking of the song from the musical Annie about the sun coming out tomorrow.  It wasn’t a Beethoven or Vaughan Williams moment, but it did bring a smile to my heart.

The Great Tradition

When I went to work after seminary, I encountered for the first time something called “The Feast of Lights.”  It is an Epiphany pageant, popular among southern Episcopalians.  (Does anyone know when or where it was invented?)  It’s usually a good way for Episcopalians who still care about the integrity of the Christmas Season,