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.   

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.

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.

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.

Wanted: Evangelists

Members of the parish community have heard me since my arrival as your rector speaking, preaching, writing and teaching about the need for us to be a community where people who have no community of faith can become Christians.  One expression I use is to say that I hope we will be worthy enough so that God will send us the unbaptized.  Perhaps instead of waiting for God to act, we ought to be asking ourselves if we have the capacity to learn how to bring people to faith.

Friends

As rector of Saint Mary's I am very aware of the unusual importance of our local parish community for members of the wider Episcopal Church.  I regularly receive letters that comment on our common life from people who either read parish publications or who occasionally attend worship here.  Sometimes these are letters of thanks; sometimes these are letters of judgment.