Still Christmas - Rector's Rambling for December 30, 2018

I hope that as you read this you are not all Christmassed out.  Today is the 6th day of the 12 days of Christmas, and we continue to celebrate with joy the birth of the Son of God.

Today’s readings reinforce our understanding of this marvelous act of God.  The accounts of the birth in St. Luke’s Gospel records for us that familiar story read on Christmas Eve of angels, shepherds, and the manger.  St. John’s Gospel is a theological explanation of WHY the Word of God became Flesh.  Today we hear St. Matthew’s account through the story of her betrothed, St. Joseph.  And of course St. Mark has no birth narrative – he starts with the public ministry of Jesus at age 30.

This past week several important feast days were also celebrated by the Church.  The day after Christmas we remembered St. Stephen, the first deacon and first martyr to be put to death for his faith in Jesus Christ.  On December 27, we commemorated the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple of Jesus, and namesake of our parish church.  In fact, that day was also the 160th anniversary of the incorporation of the parish in the home of our founder, Henry Porter Baldwin.  Then the next day the Church commemorated the Holy Innocents, those young children who were slaughtered by King Herod in his zeal to keep the throne from any usurping “King” as the wise men foretold in the appearing of the star.  Yesterday the church remembered St. Thomas Becket, an Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered at the command of the King of England for objecting to his unrighteousness.  That is a lot of celebration during the first five days of Christmas!

The celebration continues this week on January 1, being the Feast of the Holy Name, also known as the Feast of the Circumcision.  On the eight day of a Jewish male’s life, he becomes a member of the original Covenant between God and descendants of Abraham, the Hebrew people.  This covenant is sealed in the blood of circumcision, at which time the boy also officially receives his name.  Jesus is a Jew, and in order to fulfill the promise to the Jews to send a messiah, he is a member of that first Covenant.  And that day he also receives his name, the only one by which we are saved!

O come, o come Emmanuel - Rector's Rambling for December 16, 2018

Next Sunday we will sing the classic Advent hymn – O come, O come, Emmanuel, number 2 in the Hymnal 1940.  It sums up the hopes of the people of Israel that God would send a Saviour.  Each verse of the hymn is a paraphrase of a Latin antiphon to be said at Daily Evening Prayer before the first canticle, The Magnificat.  It is yet another wonderful way the Church is counting down to the Feast of the Nativity (Christmas).

Why am I writing about this hymn here?  Because the days assigned for each verse begin today, December 16.

Listed below are the antiphons for the proper days, with the verses in the hymn to which they correspond:

12/16 – O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence. (v.2)

12/17 – O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, who appearest in the bush to Moses in a flame of fire, and gavest him the law in Sianai: come and redeem us with an outstreached arm. (v.3)

12/18 – O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people, at whom kings shall shout their mouths, unto whom the Gentile shall seek: come and deliver us, and tarry not. (v.4)

12/19 – O Key of David, and Scepter of the House of Israel; that openest and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth: Come, and bring the prisoners out of the prison-house, them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death. (v.5)

12/20 – O Day-spring, Brightness of the Light everlasting, and Sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death. (v. 6)

12/21 – O King of Nations, and their Desire; the Cornerstone, who makest both one: Come and save mankind, whom thou formedst of clay. (v. 7)

12/22 – O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, and Desire of all nations and their Salvation: Come and save us, O Lord our God. (v.1)

12/23 – O Virgin of Virgins, how shall this be? For neither before thee was any seen like thee, nor shall there be after.  Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me?  The thing which ye behold is a divine mystery

Be sure to pray each of these verses every night, and perhaps sing the hymn version too.

End of a ministry - Rector's Rambling for December 9, 2018

A hard decision was recently made to end a 20-year ministry.  After multiple changes by the host institution, and glitches resulting from them, the Sunday Holy Communion Service at Independence Village in Plymouth has come to an end.

Over four years ago I was asked to become a part of this ministry.  The ministry was started by Fr. Patrick Lowery, at that time a priest of the Anglican Church of America.  It was his parish, with a weekly Mass on Sunday morning that was not only to the residents of the retirement community, but also a weekly traditional 1928 Communion Service to people in the larger Plymouth area.

When Fr. Lowery became a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church he had to end his affiliation with the ministry because of their rules forbidding the celebration of the Holy Communion outside of a consecrated church building.  Next, a priest from the Polish National Catholic Church led the services for a few years before his retirement and move to Florida.

It was at this point that Fr. Lowery (whom I have known for over 20 years) and Mr. David Sharpe contacted me about helping to keep the ministry going.  David and Janette Sharpe were among the founding members of that ministry, having come from the old Incarnation Church (originally Episcopal, then Orthodox).  Several of our current members here at St. John’s were members at Incarnation before it closed.  And the organist at the service was the great-aunt of our parishioner Dennis Lennox.

Because I am here on Sunday morning, we were able to move the service to 1:30 PM every other week, yet that put us in conflict with afternoon clean up and events.  But the 20 to 40 people showing up weekly were appreciative of the opportunity to pray, sing hymns, and most importantly, to receive the Blessed Sacrament.

I hope in the new year we will find another location to restart this ministry, perhaps closer to St. John’s.  Suggestions are welcome.

A New Year again - Rector's Rambling for December 2, 2018

Every year on January 1, we go over our list of New Year’s Resolutions – all those things that we are planning on doing for the coming year to improve our health and live a better life.  An example of this is how full the local gym is that first week or two of the new year.  However, by the third or fourth week of the year, the wait for your favorite calorie burning machine has shortened considerably.

Today the Liturgical New Year starts.  The four Sundays before the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity (Christmas) are the weeks when the Church prepares for the great Feast with a time of penitence and fasting, although not to the same extent as in Lent.  The new year starts today as we begin the year long cycle of the life of the Church and more importantly the life of our Lord.

For four weeks we will be in purple (the color of penitence –- a state of sorrow for sin) and will concentrate on preparing for the promise of the birth of the Saviour, as well as his return again to judge the world.

December 25 (actually at sundown on the 24th) we start the celebration of the 12 days of Christmas, and then on January 6 we celebrate the Magi (the wise men) visiting Jesus and begin the season of the Epiphany – the manifestation of Jesus as Saviour to the gentiles as well as the Jews.

This year Easter falls on April 21 which is based on a lunar calendar, so February 17 is the beginning of the pre-Lenten season called the Gesima Season for the names of the three Sundays before Lent.  This is a time of transition.  Then Ash Wednesday this year is March 6.  This is the time of deeper fasting and penitence in preparation for Holy Week and then the Resurrection.

Eastertide is also a season!  We spend 40 days in Lent and we also get 40 days of celebration in Easter, with 10 more between Jesus’ Ascension and the gift of the Holy Ghost (Pentecost or Whitsunday).  Then we take two Sundays to celebrate the Trinity and the Blessed Sacrament before starting Trinity Season all over again.

Of course, we preface looking forward by saying, “God willing”!