In the upstairs hall of our church, there is a photograph of the Most Reverend and Right Honorable Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, with a handwritten note of greeting to our parish inscribed on it. This photograph from the Archbishop gives me hope, especially on bad days in the parish. It reminds me that my little bit of work in this place is in communion with the much larger work of Anglicans in places of infinite variety around the world, large and small.
I am glad that Rowan and Benedict, the Bishop of Rome, have become, to all appearances, personal friends, with a shared recognition of their task of Christian witness in an unbelieving world. I hold both of them in high regard, and wish them God's grace and blessings in all that they undertake.
In this light, the Pope's recent visit to Great Britain was for me a source of unalloyed joy, culminating in the Choral Evensong at Westminster Abbey on Friday. Here is the Order of Service; it is worthy of examination as a window into what must have been a splendid occasion.
Some impressions:
- One does not often have an Order of Procession like this (page 8), including the sixth-century illuminated Gospel book brought to Canterbury by its first Archbishop, and concluding with the Pope and Archbishop and their chaplains, all entering to "Christ is made the sure foundation" to the tune Westminster Abbey, in the building for which it was named and where its composer was Organist.
- I am glad that we Anglicans presented ourselves at our best: Choral Evensong in one of the great churches of the world. The service of Choral Evensong, with the musical repertoire that has developed for it, is the unique gift of the Anglican Communion to Christendom.
- The musical selections could not have been better, from the list of organ voluntaries before the service (page 4) and the anthems by Byrd, Stanford and Tallis (page 6-7) to the hymns and Psalm, and Stanford in A for the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, and Duruflé's Ubi caritas as the Anthem, topped off with Bach's Komm, heiliger Geist as the first of two concluding voluntaries. We have sung some of this music in our parish choir, and I have played some of the voluntaries; this music is thoroughly representative of our tradition.
- The Service was a reminder that the Choral Office is ecumenical in a way that the Holy Eucharist cannot be. We differ on many things, but we can pray together, and sing together.
- The address given by the Holy Father was an inspiration to me. Using the processional hymn as a springboard, he spoke of Christ as the source of all Christian unity:
"Our commitment to Christian unity is born of nothing less than our faith in Christ, in this Christ, risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father, who will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. It is the reality of Christ's person, his saving work and above all the historical fact of his resurrection, which is the content of the apostolic kerygma and those credal formulas which, beginning in the New Testament itself, have guaranteed the integrity of its transmission. The Church's unity, in a word, can never be other than a unity in the apostolic faith, in the faith entrusted to each new member of the Body of Christ during the rite of Baptism. It is this faith which unites us to the Lord, makes us sharers in his Holy Spirit, and thus, even now, sharers in the life of the Blessed Trinity, the model of the Church's koinonia here below. . . ."
"Fidelity to the word of God, precisely because it is a true word, demands of us an obedience which leads us together to a deeper understanding of the Lord's will, an obedience which must be free of intellectual conformism or facile accommodation to the spirit of the age. This is the word of encouragement which I wish to leave with you this evening, and I do so in fidelity to my ministry as the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Saint Peter, charged with a particular care for the unity of Christ's flock."
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In perusing the Holy Father's other speeches during his visit, I found this, in his address to the people of St. Peter's Residence, a home for the elderly in London:
"Those of us who live many years are given a marvellous chance to deepen our awareness of the mystery of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. . . . [O]ur physical capacities are often diminished; and yet these times may well be among the most spiritually fruitful years of our lives. These years are an opportunity to remember in affectionate prayer all those whom we have cherished in this life, and to place all that we have personally been and done before the mercy and tenderness of God. This will surely be a great spiritual comfort and enable us to discover anew his love and goodness all the days of our life."
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In our little parish church, far removed from Westminster Abbey in almost every possible respect, we had a good choral service this morning. The choir sang verses from Psalm 79 to Tone IV, capturing the dark intensity of these words:
O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance;
they have profaned your holy temple *
they have made Jerusalem a heap of rubble.
They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the air, *
and the flesh of your faithful ones to the beast of the field. . . .
They later sang "There is a balm in Gilead" in the fine arrangement by William Dawson, in a manner that was fully committed to this great Spiritual, communicating that being a Christian is something that demands everything from us, and is in turn our only refuge and help, the "balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole." In our own way, we gave testimony this morning to "our faith in Christ, in this Christ, risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father, who will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead."
It is as we worship and serve this our Lord Jesus Christ, looking to Him alone, that we are one. We must hold on to this.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
"Ha! Ha!" among the trumpets
[from a sermon by Martin H. Franzmann, preached at Zion Lutheran Church, St. Louis, June 4, 1956. A more complete text can be found in the book Come to the Feast, the collected hymns of Martin Franzmann, edited by Robin A. Leaver: MorningStar Music Publishers, 1994. It is an excellent little book, not least for the four sermons appended to the main text, from which the following quotation is drawn:]
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"Nowhere in that jubilant and exuberant book, the Old Testament, is there such an expression of joyful wonder at the creation of God as in the latter chapters of the Book of Job . . . . And in all these chapters, in all these pictures of beings fearfully and wonderfully made, there is nothing quite like the picture of the horse in his strength [Job 39:19-15], the horse whose neck is clothed with thunder, the glory of whose nostrils is terrible, who paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength, who mocketh at fear, who swalloweth the ground with fear and rage -- 'He saith among the trumpets, 'Ha! Ha!''
"God has made him a horse, a steed of war. He delights in being a horse; he is glad to work like a horse and to fight like a steed of war. He hears the trumpets of war, and he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet; that trumpet is God's call to him to be what God has made him. And he greets that call with an equine Alleluia! He snuffs the air, and stamps the ground, and 'saith among the trumpets, 'Ha! Ha!'"
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For several weeks at Matins, we have been reading the Book of Job. I have written of it elsewhere: Some thoughts on the Book of Job. Like Dr. Franzmann, I delight in the latter chapters of the Book, wherein the LORD answers Job "out of the whirlwind" (Job 38:1).
The whirlwind, or tornado as we would call it, is a Force of Nature of the most immense power. That is, possibly, why the author depicted the LORD as speaking from it, calling his listeners (which include us, all these thousands of years later) to account. "Gird up now thy loins like a man: for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." (Job 38:3-4)
When we are tempted to make God into a cosmic teddy bear, all love, cuddly warmth, and forgiveness, which we can set on a shelf to gather dust, bringing Him out when we are feeling lonely or sad, we should remember the LORD speaking out of the whirlwind. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (St. John 3:8).
No hand can thwart the Spirit's intention. That divine intention has, from the foundation of the world, had at its center a Cross, and we are part of it, we who are of the Body of Christ. In our participation in His death upon the Cross, we find the gate of life. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20).
Franzmann again:
"Perhaps you have decided to work like a horse in your ministry. Do so by all means. But do not work like a drudging nag under the lash, or a weary bag of bones under the yoke. We are not under the yoke in our ministry. The necessity which is laid upon us is not that of the yoke and the lash but that of the irresistible call of God's own trumpet."
The Collect for Holy Cross Day, September 14:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world unto himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
-------
"Nowhere in that jubilant and exuberant book, the Old Testament, is there such an expression of joyful wonder at the creation of God as in the latter chapters of the Book of Job . . . . And in all these chapters, in all these pictures of beings fearfully and wonderfully made, there is nothing quite like the picture of the horse in his strength [Job 39:19-15], the horse whose neck is clothed with thunder, the glory of whose nostrils is terrible, who paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength, who mocketh at fear, who swalloweth the ground with fear and rage -- 'He saith among the trumpets, 'Ha! Ha!''
"God has made him a horse, a steed of war. He delights in being a horse; he is glad to work like a horse and to fight like a steed of war. He hears the trumpets of war, and he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet; that trumpet is God's call to him to be what God has made him. And he greets that call with an equine Alleluia! He snuffs the air, and stamps the ground, and 'saith among the trumpets, 'Ha! Ha!'"
----------------------------
For several weeks at Matins, we have been reading the Book of Job. I have written of it elsewhere: Some thoughts on the Book of Job. Like Dr. Franzmann, I delight in the latter chapters of the Book, wherein the LORD answers Job "out of the whirlwind" (Job 38:1).
The whirlwind, or tornado as we would call it, is a Force of Nature of the most immense power. That is, possibly, why the author depicted the LORD as speaking from it, calling his listeners (which include us, all these thousands of years later) to account. "Gird up now thy loins like a man: for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." (Job 38:3-4)
When we are tempted to make God into a cosmic teddy bear, all love, cuddly warmth, and forgiveness, which we can set on a shelf to gather dust, bringing Him out when we are feeling lonely or sad, we should remember the LORD speaking out of the whirlwind. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (St. John 3:8).
No hand can thwart the Spirit's intention. That divine intention has, from the foundation of the world, had at its center a Cross, and we are part of it, we who are of the Body of Christ. In our participation in His death upon the Cross, we find the gate of life. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20).
Franzmann again:
"Perhaps you have decided to work like a horse in your ministry. Do so by all means. But do not work like a drudging nag under the lash, or a weary bag of bones under the yoke. We are not under the yoke in our ministry. The necessity which is laid upon us is not that of the yoke and the lash but that of the irresistible call of God's own trumpet."
The Collect for Holy Cross Day, September 14:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world unto himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Red Beans and Rice, Music Office Style
This has been a busy week, so I cannot write anything profound. Thus, a recipe:
Needed:
- small Rice Cooker
- Rice, either Brown or White: 1 "cup"(see note below)
- Dried Soup Vegetables: ½ cup
- Can of Red or Pinto Beans, or similar amount of leftover "home-cooked" beans
- Cajun Seasoning to taste (I use one or two Teaspoons)
- Water
- Cooking Oil: about 1 Tablespoon
By one "cup" of rice, I mean one Rice Cooker "cup," which is 6 ounces, or three-quarters of a standard U.S. measuring cup -- and, very conveniently, one good-sized serving. Such a measuring cup supposedly comes with a rice cooker when you purchase it; the three cookers I have owned are all from thrift stores, and did not have the cups. I take a regular measuring cup and fill it about three-quarters full. One need not be exact.
Dried Soup Vegetables are handy to keep around. They can be purchased in the bulk food section of our local natural foods cooperative. If not available where you live, you can order them from Frontier Natural Products, which is the source from which our cooperative gets them.
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Put the rice and dried vegetables in the rice cooker. Add the cooking oil. Add water as appropriate for your rice cooker, probably an inch or so above the level of the rice/vegetable mixture, a bit more if you are using brown rice. If you have time, you can let the rice and vegetables soak for a while before cooking; I prepared it to here before Matins this morning and left it to soak until after the late Eucharist.
Plug in the cooker, and cook the rice. Have ready the can of beans. When the rice cooker clicks off from "cook" to "warm," stir in the beans and cajun seasoning, stirring to the bottom of the cooker pan (with a wooden spoon to avoid scratching the cooker). Put the lid back on and let it set on "warm" for fifteen minutes or more. Unplug the cooker and serve.
Serves one hungry person (me, on a Sunday after church. I fixed it today in my office as I worked on next Sunday's bulletins).
Needed:
- small Rice Cooker
- Rice, either Brown or White: 1 "cup"(see note below)
- Dried Soup Vegetables: ½ cup
- Can of Red or Pinto Beans, or similar amount of leftover "home-cooked" beans
- Cajun Seasoning to taste (I use one or two Teaspoons)
- Water
- Cooking Oil: about 1 Tablespoon
By one "cup" of rice, I mean one Rice Cooker "cup," which is 6 ounces, or three-quarters of a standard U.S. measuring cup -- and, very conveniently, one good-sized serving. Such a measuring cup supposedly comes with a rice cooker when you purchase it; the three cookers I have owned are all from thrift stores, and did not have the cups. I take a regular measuring cup and fill it about three-quarters full. One need not be exact.
Dried Soup Vegetables are handy to keep around. They can be purchased in the bulk food section of our local natural foods cooperative. If not available where you live, you can order them from Frontier Natural Products, which is the source from which our cooperative gets them.
----------
Put the rice and dried vegetables in the rice cooker. Add the cooking oil. Add water as appropriate for your rice cooker, probably an inch or so above the level of the rice/vegetable mixture, a bit more if you are using brown rice. If you have time, you can let the rice and vegetables soak for a while before cooking; I prepared it to here before Matins this morning and left it to soak until after the late Eucharist.
Plug in the cooker, and cook the rice. Have ready the can of beans. When the rice cooker clicks off from "cook" to "warm," stir in the beans and cajun seasoning, stirring to the bottom of the cooker pan (with a wooden spoon to avoid scratching the cooker). Put the lid back on and let it set on "warm" for fifteen minutes or more. Unplug the cooker and serve.
Serves one hungry person (me, on a Sunday after church. I fixed it today in my office as I worked on next Sunday's bulletins).
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