Anglicans Aweigh

2009-05-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

New Directions
This blog will be undergoing a transition, as I go from being a parish priest in Woodinville, WA, to being a chaplain in the US Navy! I'll be trying to think of a new name for my blog other than 'Anglican Parish Priest' : any suggestions would be welcome! Please comment if you have an idea.

I fondly wish the folks of Saint Bartholomew's well as they go forward and search for my successor as Rector. I have made many wonderful friends at Saint Bartholomew's, not to mention the godparents of my two daughters who I baptized there. Some of my professional dreams as a parish priest also came to fruition for the first time at Saint Bartholomew's, such as: the reading of Morning and Evening Prayer in the Church as a daily public worship Service; an ongoing Scripture Study utilizing patristic commentary and Anglican divines; an annual Parish Retreat; a Parish Newsletter; a seasonal Supper/Evensong/Educational Series; an Acolyte program. My special contribution to Saint Bartholomew's (and the most fun!) was an afterschool program for vested Choir. This had been the subject of my doctoral dissertation at the University of California (Santa Barbara), and I was able to implement it to some degree at Saint Bartholomew's, where my wife and I worked with 15 boy and girl choristers over almost 4 years. We had an annual Choir Camp each Summer, and regular rehearsals throughout the school year, utilizing the RSCM training scheme. The Choir's performances included a monthly Service of Choral Holy Communion, and a Choral Evensong about once a quarter. The kids learned a lot of repertoire during that time, and hopefully learned choral singing skills that will bring them joy for a lifetime. For a small parish that was spread out over a large geographical area, that was all we could manage, but I am thankful for some very supportive parents who helped make the endeavor possible.

For my family and I, the road ahead definitely looks exciting. I am presently at Naval Station Newport, R. I., where I will undergo 5 weeks of training at Officer Development School followed by 7 weeks at Navy Chaplain School. Newport is a beautiful spot! My wife and family are staying with the grandparents, getting to know them better over the Summer. When we are reunited as a family, it will be at our ultimate duty station, at Camp Pendleton in North San Diego County. We look forward to serving our country in the Navy and Marine Corps.

What I am going to call this blog now is an open question : once again, any suggestions would be appreciated. I hope to keep blogging. Many Thanks, and Joy in Christ to all, Fr. Daniel McGrath

2009-02-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

All shall be well

When I learned that I was going on our Province's Lenten Retreat at St. Dorothy's Rest, and that we would be reading the Showings of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich, I felt inspired to bring this great English mystic "home" to our parish as well.

Hence, the Parish Lenten Reading I have selected for this year is A 40-Day Journey with Julian of Norwich, edited and arranged by Lisa Dahill. This book consists of material from Julian's Showings, as well as passages of scripture to meditate upon and prayers to be said, for each day [of Lent].

I really look forward to going on our Retreat, and hearing what Canon David Rodier has to say on Julian of Norwich. I think I might know a couple of reasons why she was selected for us to read at this time. She recieved her revelations of Divine Love while looking at the crucifix. Thus, the focal point of Showings of Divine Love is our Lord's Passion, and that is great for us to mediate on during these weeks leading up to Easter. There is another reason it is appropriate to read Julian right now, and that is that she lived, as we do, during a time of social upheaval, plague, war, economic recession, and...(you guessed it!)...climate change. Northern Europe had a spell of very cold winters and very short, rainy Summers in the mid-1300's. This devastated the agrarian economy, caused widespread malnuitrition, and paved the way for the Black Death, which subsequently destroyed anywhere from 30%-60% of the population of Europe.

Given these grim statistics, it is amazing that our Lord's revelations to Julian consisted of such words of hope and comfort for her, for her contemporaries: the revelations can basically be summarized as "Behold, how much I love you", and "All shall be well".

Here is a brief statement from Julian's Showings, a passage made famous by T. S. Elliot in his Four Quartets. I think it is a 'Showing' if you will, of the deep Love of the Most Holy Trinity, and that it is much needed in a society which is wracked with sickness, division and anxiety:

All shall be well,

and all shall be well,

and all manner of thing shall be well.

2009-02-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

The Proverbs
During Epiphany Season, our Scripture Study class is studying The Proverbs from the Holy Bible: a collection of aphorisms by Solomon and others.

I encouraged the class to do some Bible Memory work. Here's mine (if I can do it from memory) from the 3rd Chapter:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him; and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy winepresses shall burst out with new wine.

Ok, I had a little trouble with the "navel" part, because that's a little different. Otherwise, learning Proverbs is really easy because of the parallel structure of each verse. Try it?

2008-12-26T11:03:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

Rejoice in Christ's Birth Throughout the Twelve Days, December 25 - January 6. Here are some scenes from Saint Bartholomew's, taken over the past week.

I finally had the driveway and parking lot plowed on Dec. 27, and the snow is melting. It's wonderful to hear the sound of dripping!

2008-12-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

Snow

The weather sure can change everything here. In one week, I went from a teaching/preaching/visiting/choir-training/administrative-task-completing, parish priest, to ... [quite simply] ... a snow-shoveling parish priest. Each successive snow storm has come through and blasted our area, adding new layers. The snow shovel and I have become very well acquainted. I shovel the snow for the sakes of whomever might show up at Church, first of all so they can get up the driveway, and secondly so they don't have to tramp through snow drifts from the car to the Church. As it turns out, there have been very few, hardy souls, to take advantage of my new line of work. We just don't deal with snow that well here in Seattle, and most people stay home except for pressing emergencies. On a positive note, we did not get the horrendous windstorm that was being forecast last evening. Had the storm come to fruition, there would have been days & days of no power, lights or heat, as the Fir Trees toppled onto power lines everywhere throughout the region.

Would someone please "upload me" to Hawaii, right now?

2008-12-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Family Photo

This photo was part of an Advent project undertaken by Bill and Nancy. They have been working to take shots of every household during Coffee Hour, and to put them up on the "Our Parish Family" Bulletin Board in the Narthex. The photos we did have were out of date. Hopefully these new photos will help newcomers get to know names/faces in our Parish more readily. What you see here is (left to right) myself, Mary Eve & Danny (standing on the piano bench), and Josephine holding Gloria Christi. (...and, uh, Gloria reaching out for Mary.) I think these are going to be made available to the families, as prints.

2008-12-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

Noel
It gets very dark in the Pacific NW during Winter! By this time of year, it starts getting dark around 4pm and stays dark until around 7am: that's 15 hours of darkness, and 9 hours of wan, horizontal sunlight, each day. Most days the little sunlight we receive has to pierce a cloud layer, and then penetrate the long shadows of the Douglas Firs and Cedars. It is beautiful here, don't get me wrong, but the darkness can get to you, especially if you've lived in California for 5 years before moving here, as I did!
This year, however, I gained a new appreciation for the dark : it is absolutely perfect for Christmas lighting displays! The lights look so beautiful and cheerful, glowing in the inky blackness. I felt inspired to go to Target and purchase some lights for our family. It was a big source of excitement for the children that day, and it still as, as we plug in the lights each evening.
One house in my neighborhood is particularly brilliant and well-covered with lights and displays of various kinds. I look forward to driving by every evening, and getting inspired by the Season. By the way, I've learned in the course of my studies that the word "NOEL" is an old French word (not a modern French word, but an old French word) meaning "news". The "news" is of course the "good news" that the angels sang over the hills of Bethlehem (You know, as in the carol, "The first nowell, the angel did say..."). So, NOEL is actually a synonym to GOSPEL, for both refer to the Good News of Christ's Incarnation.

2008-12-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

Advent Series
Each Advent Season, I select a book for parishioners to read as they prepare to celebrate Christmas. This year it is Advent and Christmas Wisdom from G. K. Chesterton. This book is published by The Center for the Study of C. S. Lewis and Friends. It is divided into a course of daily readings and prayers for Advent and Christmastide. Each day the reader is provided with a quotation from Chesterton, a corresponding verse of Scripture, a prayer written for the day, and an "Advent Action" (which is something to do or to think about).

On Wednesday evenings we meet at Church for 6:30 Evensong, Supper and a Discussion of the daily readings. I typically begin the discussion with a short presentation. The first was on Chesterton himself and the second on his close associate, Hillaire Belloc. For the second year in a row, N. J. has prepared a delicious soup & salad supper : the supper alone makes it worth being there! It has been very gratifying to have a good group of parishioners participate. Even though they have full days during this busy holiday season, they have graciously made time to gather at the Church for these Advent evenings. I hope the whole experience will be of value in helping prepare them for Christmas, and to deepen their faith!

2008-11-28T21:21:00.001-08:00

P. K.

My 10-month-old daughter Gloria Christi got marooned at Church with me this evening, which means she got to attend Evensong, practice her stair-climbing techniques going from the Parish Hall to the Nave, chomp on cookies left over from the Holiday Bazaar, visit the Nursery, investigate lots of nooks and crannies here and there, and observe me doing the endless parish admin work. It worked pretty well (she is the most patient child I have ever seen) but it was good when Mom, Danny & Mary Eve came back from shopping. Poor little preacher's kid: usually she's at home, cozy and snug.

2008-11-28T19:45:00.000-08:00

Eve of Thanksgiving - Choral Evensong, and Visitor Gift Bags

It was almost like being in an English Cathedral in one sense : a well-trained, vested choir, singing Evensong to a mostly empty nave! (The idea of Thanksgiving is still catching on here.)

But no matter : we had such a good time doing the Service. It was an altogether beautiful evening because of all the love that was poured into it by the Choir and dedicated volunteers from the Parish. It was a real sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, offered to Almighty God on the Eve of Thanksgiving.
The music performed was the Evening Service (Mag & Nunc) in E-flat, by Sir Edward Bairstow; Psalm 98 to a double Anglican Chant setting of G. M. Garrett; the Responses were plainsong; the Anthem was "A Gaelic Blessing" by John Rutter; the Hymns included "The day thou gavest...", "O Brightness of the immortal Father's face..." (Office Hymn for the lighting of the candles), and "All people that on earth do dwell...". On the last verse of the last hymn, which is to the tune Old Hundredth, Dr. Josephine played a grand alternate organ accompaniment by Bairstow.

Deirdre, Kathy and Claire collaborated on putting together some gift bags for visitors: each bag contained a card, some things to read, and a fresh-baked loaf of Hallah bread (baked by Kathy). Another nice touch was that Claire provided some authentic, spiced cider in the Narthex to warm our hearts after Service. I've never had anything like this at an English Cathedral!

Then, at Matins & Communion, Thanksgiving Day, Drew preached an altogether fine sermon. It was a real treat - we're going to hear more from him, I am sure.

2008-10-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

Service High and Anthems Clear

On Sunday, our congregation sang The Litany from the Book of Common Prayer, an act of solemn prayer for our nation and for the world in a time of crisis. As is our manner on such occasions, the Ministers and Choir sang The Litany in procession, with the congregation joining in on the responses from their places in the pews. While singing, the Ministers and Choir perambulated once around the nave and then down the central aisle into the sanctuary. For a small parish, we managed to muster quite a good procession, 13 in number: crucifer, light bearers, banner bearer, choir, deacon and priest.

This day was also the birthday of R. Vaughn Williams (here pictured). Williams was musical editor of the English Hymnal and the first Oxford Book of Carols. These two items probably rank rather small among his many other great achievements, but the music of the Church is so enriched by these two volumes that we have to mention them with deep gratitude and admiration. Our commemoration at Saint Bartholomew's consisted of several hymn tunes written, arranged or harmonized by Williams, selected from our Hymnal, 1940. Those included Monk's Gate, Down Ampney, Kingsfold, King's Lynn, and King's Weston. At Communion time, our head chorister shone brightly in a solo performance of The Call, from Williams' Five Mystical Songs. The text of The Call is a poem by the Jacobean priest, poet and divine, George Herbert. The performance was beautiful and even electrifying: one wonders, how can such a young person sing with such understanding and depth? All in all, I think our Sunday Service might have been worthy of a much larger parish, if not a small cathedral. We are blessed.

2008-10-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Natural Fire

The predominant color of the Puget Sound flora is definitely green, underscored by brown. Yet, here and there one finds a splash of color, as with the Autumn display of the cherry tree outside our Church. The leaves are a muted red, and the color is enhanced further by the shiny red cherries. As you can see, it provides a beautiful contrast within the understory of our Douglas Firs. Sitting in the pews of our Church, one can easily be beguiled by wonderful views of nature through the large windows!

Benedicite, omnia opera Domini.

2008-09-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Patronal Festival

Our Patronal Festival was more significant than usual this year, because it was also our 30th Anniversary as a parish. (Not that this is such a milestone -one of my local colleagues has been a minister for 35 years...two of my parishioners have been married for 60 years- nevertheless, for us, it was significant.) We conducted our celebration in two installments: a Cookout & Musical Soiree (midweek), and then a Choral Holy Communion Service & Potluck Luncheon (on Sunday, August 24, Saint Bartholomew's Day).

The midweek Cookout & Musical Soiree was a mix of rain and sunshine (we are in the Puget Sound region, afterall). At least we had an outdoor Pavilion. The kids enjoyed jumping around in the Bouncy Castle, also sheltered by its own roof. Drew & Deirdre provided a Rib Roast, hot dogs & burgers, and other people brought salads and beverages. A birthday cake was provided for "Bob, Drew & Saint Bartholomew" (3 birthdays happened that week!) My neighbor's organic farm provided some extraordinarily vibrant Gladiolas. Bob & Diane put out a colorful array of balloons and table decorations. After dinner, some of the musical talent of our parish was featured: Claire (flute), Ruby (cello) and Josephine (piano). We are blessed!

The Choral Service on Saint Bartholomew's Day featured some of the new repertoire learned by our Choir at Choir Camp this year (see next post, below): The Service was Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, and the Introit was O Praise God in His Holiness (Psalm 150) set by C. V. Stanford. It's so great to have such a good group of choir kids and acolytes at our parish, who are both willing and gifted, and who are backed up by good parents. As for the potluck after the Service: it was, well, normal (which for us means, bountiful and delicious)!

All in all, a wonderful week for Saint Bartholomew's Anglican Church, Woodinville, WA!

2008-09-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Choir Camp

This year Josephine and I offered our annual 3-day Choir Camp, August 12-14. That happened to be over my birthday, and it was a fine birthday gift: what better way to spend this time than with bright and talented young choristers!

Anyway, the mainstay of Choir Camp is, of course, the Repertoire. And, the mainstay of our Repertoire this year was the Communion Service in D by Healy Willan. The name Willan gave to this Service was Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, named thus for the Toronto parish where he served as organist for many years. This Communion Service is found in The Hymnal, 1940, where it is called the SECOND COMMUNION SERVICE (the first being that of Merbecke). Many Anglican parishes already know how to sing the Willan Service, but for some reason (the changes and chances of this mortal life), our parish here had never heard of it. So that is the reason I started introducing it by way of the Choir. By the way, this means that our congregation now has 3 possible Communion Services in its repertoire: Merbecke, Willan AND Sowerby (Sowerby=FIFTH COMMUNION SERVICE, in back of The Hymnal - gorgeous!)

Some Other Repertoire from Choir Camp: "Hail, Gladdening Light", one of our great English translations of the ancient hymn of the evening Phos hilaron set to irregular Anglican Chant by Sir John Stainer; "O Praise God in His Holiness" (Psalm 150), music by the Irishman, Charles Villiers Stanford; also by C. V. Stanford, a setting of "St. Patrick's Breastplate"; and "O Taste and See" a lovely communion Anthem by R. Vaughn Williams. Each day we sang Matins and Evensong, using Chant settings of the Canticles from The Hymnal, 1940. For a change of pace we previewed a couple of carols for Christmas (just a bit early perhaps? a bit of Christmas in August?)

The Choir got to perform some of these works on our Patronal Festival, St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24th, which this year conveniently fell on a Sunday.

Another treat this year, a first, was visits from 3 instrumental players to demonstrate their instruments. We had a cellist (who is also our very talented Head Chorister), Classical Guitarist, and Flautist. It's interesting to see how some conceptual (and even technical) issues relate from instrumental playing to singing.

2008-08-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Cross

Recently I came across this prayer, which has become a welcome addition to my daily prayers. I don't know who it is written by (any tips would be appreciated), but it is printed on a beautful card that comes from "the National Shrine of St. Odilia". It reminds me of the hymn Beneath the cross of Jesus...

Praise be to thee, O Christ
for the gift of thy Glorious Cross!
Through the Power of thy Death and
Resurrection, be our Champion over
the evil which afflicts us
the sickness of our bodies,
the errors of our minds,
the confusion of our feelings,
the guilt of our consciences,
the brokenness of our relationships,
and the weakness of our faith.
Make good our hope in thee,
and bring us now and forever to glory in thee,
O Crucified and Risen Lord.
Amen.

2008-03-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

3 Jobs

The priest in a small parish with no staff does his best to do what is essentially 3 Jobs: administrative, custodial and pastoral. Sometimes these jobs overlap, but it helps me to see them separately at least in concept.

Administrative work is all of the behind-the-scenes work of running a small organization. It involves everything on the business side, from processing the mail to chairing the Vestry, to publishing the weekly email bulletin.

Custodial work involves the care of 2 buildings, sidewalks, driveway, parking lot, rural property along a busy road, etc... it ranges from changing lightbulbs in exit signs to mopping the floor in the Parish Hall.

Pastoral work is the job that I imagine the priests of large parishes have the luxury of focusing on for 40 hours or so a week. This involves everything you might naturally associate with the priesthood, such as: calling on parishioners, preparing Bible study, writing sermons, celebrating the Lord's Supper.

As if the above three jobs aren't enough, I have an area of special interest. I am a choirmaster by training, and thus I have the responsibility of administering, recruiting, teaching and rehearsing our young choristers.

Add it all up ... toss in family life ... and I'm always busy! Fortunately I have a good group of friends and parish members who sacrificially give of their time to help in all of these areas. I am learning how to delegate! When I first came here, I used to vainly try and do everything, which it took more than 60 hours a week.

The reason I can attempt any of these jobs is because they are for the Church, which I love. I couldn't bring myself to be much of an administrator, if it wasn't the Lord's Business; I couldn't be a very enthusiastic custodian, if the building wasn't the Lord's House; I couldn't do pastoral work, if the people were not the People of God; I couldn't be a choirmaster, if my choir didn't sing the music of Heaven. All of these jobs could be boring and lack meaning if they weren't tinged with eternal purpose.

2008-02-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

Mary Eve, and Gloria Christi

two sisters together

Baby Gloria was born on Wednesday morning, early. What a beautiful, healthy baby! Our family is adjusting to her arrival. (Danny doesn't appear in this photo, because he was more interested in checking out the hospital room equipment.)

2008-01-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

Genesis

"Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread". -Alexander Pope. Thus, fool that I am, I will boldly "rush in" and introduce Genesis to our regular Scripture Study class, beginning Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the Parish Hall. It will no doubt be an exciting journey. Deception, rebellion, human sexuality, betrayal, fratricide, murder...and that's just the first four chapters of human history! Who really needs tabloids, when we have Genesis?!

Seriously though, our approach to Scripture Study will be informed by patristic commentators, courtesy of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series. What a wonderful series it is. If I merely had to present my own opinions, I would be hard pressed to do so, nor would I want to. I also am going to be able to draw upon some resources I received at Seminary, where we were presented with various, complimentary approaches to Scripture (ranging from patristic to modern/critical) and given tools to navigate some parts that have turned out to be controversial. I recently looked through the large 3-ring binder from the semester when I learned about the Penteteuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), and I was struck by an expression used then by my teacher: "geopolitics". The Penteteuch is geopolitical for it is largely taken up with the formation of a nation (Israel) in its land. Genesis is the introductory chapter to the Penteteuch and is crucial in setting the stage for God's action in history for his people.

Many people try to inject controversy into Chapter 1 of Genesis. Some line up on the side of a literal interpretation of the 6-days, and others try to reconcile it with evolution theory. This controversy is far from new, and people thought about these issues in patristic times. It is really not necessary to try and read Genesis like a biology textbook. St. Jerome noted that Moses describes Creation "as a poet" would describe it. Nemesius of Emesa hits the nail on the head when he writes, "Even if it is granted that the God of all things followed an order [in the creation], he is shown to be God and Creator and to have brought all things into being out of nothing."

This is the crux of the matter for us. No Anglican Christian is required to take up a firm position on exactly how long it took for God to create the universe, nor to be able to describe how he did it in technical terms. I myself am content to say that ultimately I don't know how long it took. However, every Anglican Christian must believe that God did create the universe, that he created out of nothing, and that he is separate from his creation. This of course is set forth in our creeds: the Apostles and the Nicene.

That there is a God, and that he did create the universe and all its life-forms, is basic to the Christian faith. He designed all things and brought them into being. I think it was probably achieved partly outside of time, in the sense that we know time (with sunrise and sunset and revolutions of Earth around the Sun). I remain skeptical about the 6-Day account being interpreted as a scientific description, if only because Chapters 1 & 2 seem to set forth contradictory accounts of the order and timing of events. With St. Jerome, I see it as poetical, like an epic poem. On the other hand, I confess that I am equally skeptical of Evolution theory, because it seems to me that there are so many gaps and problems there, with scientists saying in essense, "just trust us, it's true."

There. I have now positively offended everyone on both sides of the issue.

Fortunately we won't need to have a brawl over creation or evolution in our Scripture Study, because none of us are scientists. (with the notable exception of Deacon Ed, who has a Ph. D. in physics, and who has published scientific papers) We'll just have to be content with familiarity with the text, for that is exciting enough!

2007-12-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

2007-12-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

2PM Mary

This is one of the busiest weeks of the Church Year, as it leads up to Christmas. My calendar right now includes everything from meetings with parishioners to choir rehearsals. There is a 'ton' of admin work to do. Then there is also a special feast day tomorrow for St. Thomas, Apostle (Dec. 21, which also happens to be Winter Solstice). We'll celebrate that with Solemn Evensong this evening and Matins & Holy Communion tomorrow morning.

Yesterday afternoon my calendar contained the entry, "2PM Mary". This was written in by my wife because she had a doctor appointment to go to, and she was going to drop off my 18 month old daughter Mary Eve (here pictured) to hang out with me at Church. As it turned out, I went home instead and stayed with both Danny (my son, 3 years old) and Mary Eve. Most of that time they were down for their afternoon naps.

I don't know how Roman priests can stand being single, because I sure think that family life is the way it was meant to be for most men. That may be because my family is really great (am I just a little biased here?). Not every family situation is a happy one, but I am thoroughly blessed. One neat thing that Josephine and the kids do each day is gather at the top of the stairs to greet me when I return home from work, and I get to hug and smooch each of them. They wait for the signal which is the garage door opening, and the sound of my car driving in. : ) Spending our evenings together, as well as some times here-and-there during the day is so nice (even if I have to pencil it into my calendar) because they are usually still asleep when I leave home in the morning.

2007-12-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

"Fr. Sparky?"

The other day while helping to repair some outdoor lighting at the Church, the fact emerged that I spent a couple of years working for an electrician when I was a teenager.

Soon, the electrical puns and electrician jokes were flying! "Isn't it nice to have a priest who is also an electrician?", it was asked. "Because:
He is well-'grounded',
He doesn't 'shock' anyone,
He knows how to avoid 'polarizing' the congregation,
He patiently works to identify and correct our 'faults',
He 'lights-up' the Church,
He knows how to hook us up to the 'power'."

I guess the electrical field is pretty well-suited for puns, because I remembered at least one or two myself from my two year stint, such as "sooner or later every electrician meets a 'shocking end'." (That's one that I can repeat!)

2007-12-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

Advent Hymns (I)

Here is a hymn that I am using at Church as an Office Hymn for Matins during Advent. Although it is written in a style similar to the hymns of Saint Ambrose, the earliest known manuscript of this hymn dates from the 10th century.

hymnal 8, Verbum supernum

O WORD, that goest forth on high
From God's own depths eternally,
And in these latter days wast born
For succor to a world forlorn;

Pour light upon us from above,
And fire our hearts with ardent love,
That, as we hear thy truth today,
All wrong desires may burn away;

And when, as judge thou drawest nigh
The secrets of our hearts to try,
To recompense each hidden sin
And bid the saints their reign begin;

O let us not, weak sinful men,
Be driven from thy presence then,
But with thy saints for ever stand
In perfect love at thy right hand.

To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, ever one,
Praise, honor, might, and glory be
From age to age eternally. Amen.

Latin, 10th century

2007-12-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Advent Hymns (II)

Here is a hymn that I am using at Church as an office Hymn for Evensong during Advent. It dates back to a 9th century manuscript of Bern and is also found in the Canterbury Hymnal of the 10th century. The Doxology serves as a proclaimation of God's praise, together with an affirmation of his infinity. This English translation of John Mason Neale first appeared in the Hymnal Noted, 1851.

hymnal 6, Conditor alme

CREATOR of the stars of night,

Thy people's everlasting light,

O Christ, thou Saviour of us all,

We pray thee, hear us when we call.

To thee the travail deep was known

That made the whole creation groan

Till thou, Redeemer, shouldest free

Thine own in glorious liberty.

When the old world drew on toward night,

Thou camest not in splendour bright

As monarch, but the humble child

Of Mary, blameless mother mild.

At thy great name of Jesus, now

All knees must bend, all hearts must bow:

And things celestial thee shall own,

And things terrestrial, Lord alone.

Come in thy holy might, we pray;

Redeem us for eternal day

From every power of darkness, when

Thou judgest all the sons of men.

To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, Three in One,

Laud, honor, might, and glory be

From age to age eternally. Amen.

Latin, 9th century

2007-10-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

Misrepresenting the Bible
A brief review of the latest conspiracy theory book for agnostics, "Misquoting Jesus: the story behind who changed the Bible and Why", by Bart Ehrman

This week I permitted myself a rare luxury, a visit to Borders Books & Music during which I actually purchased a few items. These included a CD Recording of The Psalms of David, Vol. 1, by the Choir of King's College Cambridge (for our Parish Library); two copies of C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce (to give to young people in our parish), and Misquoting Jesus: the story behind who changed the Bible and Why (to see why a book about the Bible ended up on the New York Time's Bestseller List).

My original suspiscion was that Misquoting Jesus would turn out to be yet another book on the New Testament manuscript tradition by yet another agnostic contraversialist, yet again in the mold of the Jesus Seminar's Marcus Borg. When will these guys learn?

It turns out I was only partly right. Misquoting Jesus is written by an agnostic controversialist, and it is a survey of the NT manuscript tradition, but the author is not of the same mold as Marcus Borg. Dr. Bart Ehrman writes with poignant honesty about his own loss of faith, and the steps he went through to get where he is today. He places his own personal story front-and-center in the Introduction to the book, and thus shapes the context for the rest of the book as part personal reflection/part survey of the New Testament manuscript tradition. The personal reflection was to me the most interesting part of the book, because the details of the biblical manuscript tradition are pretty well-known. Ehrman presents the issues very clearly, but his often gloomy portrayal is shaped by his own apparent depression over problems in the historical transmission of the New Testament.

In a nutshell, there are a number of small discrepancies and variances (gasp!) among the 5,000+ Greek manuscripts and papyrii of the N.T., from its nearly 2,000 year history, a history which involves dozens of human authors, thousands of very human copyists and a journey of translation encompassing several languages.

Why should this surpise anyone?!

The plot thickens, and we find out why this was surprising to Dr. Ehrman. It turns out that Ehrman was once a hard-core fundamentalist Christian, trained at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. There he was taught to think of the Bible as possessing "plenary verbal inerrancy". Now "verbal inerrancy" can mean different things to different people, but commonly it is taken to mean that the text of the Bible (the words on the page themselves) are fully free of any error or mistake whatsoever, large or small.

As time went on, Ehrman discovered for himself what most of Christendom has known all along - namely that the Bible has a history. The Bible didn't fall out of the sky in the New International Version, with Fundamentalist Study Notes. It was not even written in English, originally. So, if the words are supposed to be inerrant, then we have to ask 'which words': the English, Latin, Greek or Hebrew? Also which manuscript among the many manuscripts with small variations contains the original, inerrant words?

Ehrman's reaction to his discovery was unfortunate, but it was predictable. In essence he was unable to refrain from thrusting out his lower lip, kicking the wall and pouting, "If it's not verbally inerrant down to the crossing of every 't' and the dotting of every 'i', and if every existing manuscript isn't in complete agreement, then WHY SHOULD WE BELIEVE ANY OF IT?!" It is difficult to imagine a more clear-cut case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Never mind that the biblical manuscript tradition is still the best and most consistent for any ancient document, even with the variances; never mind that Ehrman himself admits that most of the variances are of little consequence. The few exceptional cases, such as the Johanine Comma, the Markan epilogue, the ending statement of the Lord's Prayer, a sentence in the Beatitudes -which might give some cause for alarm- end up not being faith shattering at all. At least they need not be, unless your religion is based upon the "plenary verbal inerrancy" of Scripture. Every seminarian knows about the important variances, and is interested in them for their own sake, but even with such variances as these the Bible loses nothing essential that can't be read in other places. In fact, as Bruce Metzger would point out, there is no point of Christian belief that would change because of variances amongst the manuscript tradition. This in spite of hundreds of years of textual criticism.

So, was Ehrman's belief in God fatally traumatized by his experience of Christian fundamentalism? Is he unable to recover? Does he still continue to hope that the original, inerrant manuscript exists somewhere, and that his powerful experience as a young man at Moody Bible Institute will turn out to be correct, afterall?

Surprisingly, no. It turns out that Ehrman's study of New Testament manuscripts is not itself the reason for his personal apostasy. There is no big deal there. Nothing faith-shattering. Rather, "I no longer believe in God, because of all the suffering in the world", Ehrman whines, from his very comfortable ivory tower at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Never mind the billion or more devout Christian believers who live with poverty and suffering, yet cheerfully accept and believe in God.

Now I admit that it is unbecoming to be overly scornful of Dr. Ehrman, so let me offer him an apology:

"Dear Dr. Ehrman, I am sorry that you were misinformed by well-meaning people at the Moody Bible Institute in the late 1960's, about the plenary, verbal inerrancy of the Bible."

There ... do you feel better, now? Will you stop blaming God, and get on with Life? Better yet, out of your new-found riches as an agnostic controversialist, kindly make a donation to my Parish Libary to cover the cost of your book - I've heard the same tragic story too many times before.

2007-10-08T21:34:00.001-07:00

Thoughts on "This I Believe"
The popular NPR segment on personal values

Tonight I listened to the history of This I Believe on KUOW (one of Seattle's two NPR stations). This I Believe is a series of essays about personal beliefs and values, written by ordinary Americans and read out over the radio. It is part of the legacy of Edward R. Murrow, who created and ran the series in the early 1950's. Famous Americans such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Hellen Keller, Harry Truman and Abert Einstein wrote essays for the program. Fifty years later, in 2001, the program was revived by Jay Allison. Once again it was intended as a public exercise in personal introspection, but this time it was open from the beginning to all Americans, famous and nonfamous. Over 30,000 essays have been submitted thus far. This I Believe is often heard during NPR's Morning Edition or during All Things Considered.

The title of the show is obviously inspired by the first words of the great Christian Creeds (Apostles', and Nicene) which begin with pisteuo (in greek), credo (in latin), or the words "I believe" in English. These creeds set forth a summary of the historic faith of the Church based upon the contents of Holy Scripture. The Nicene Creed orginally began, "We [the bishops] believe..." It was a message to the World from the bishops of the Church, assembled in council. However, it has long been used as the basis of pre-baptismal instruction for converts to the Christian Faith, and when it becomes the creed of each individual believer it begins, "I believe".

There is a big difference between the NPR show This I Believe, and the "I believe" of the Church. NPR's This I Believe is a quasi-philosophical exercise in personal introspection. Contributors to the show are expected to journey inward and then to let us know what keeps them going or what makes them successful in this world. From within their own feelings and subjectivity they bring forth and air their opinions to the NPR audience. Often the essays take the form of platitudes ("I believe in the power of love"); they are often intriguing and humorous ("I believe in the freedom offered by semi-permanent hair dye"), but rarely are they very profound, in fact, many times they sound rather vain and pompous.

The point of this public dialogue about personal values is for everyone to keep listening to other personal points of view - sometimes to feel affirmed by them and other times to feel outraged - but never to stop the listening, and [presumably] never to reach a conclusion. It is described as a "public dialogue", but as a Christian listener I find myself wondering whether or not it is actually a monologue, the parameters of which have been clearly predetermined by agnostic/atheistical radio producers. Edward R. Murrow was determined, for example, that no religious dogma should ever enter the sphere of this dialogue, (as though religious dogma could never be a legitimate part of a person's values).

Now for the "I believe" of each baptized person of Christendom. This is the expression of a living faith that comes from outside of us. It is not based upon our subjectivity or personal opinions, but transcends both our feelings and our times. It is based upon Holy Scripture, which is a record of God's dealings with mankind, a record which has been tested and found to be authoritative and reliable by God's People throughout history. The "I believe" of Christendom brings each of us into fellowship with something beyond ourselves; in accepting the creeds of the Church, we are invited to journey outward to contemplate God and to find ourselves united in Spirit with Christians of every time, every generation, every race and every land.

The Creed's of the Church will likely never be heard on the NPR show This I believe. Thanks to the Internet, however, I can set forth the following, the most basic creed of Christendom, called "The Apostles' Creed". Engage with it and be changed by it: he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty: From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost: The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints: The Forgiveness of sins: The Resurrection of the body: And the Life everlasting. Amen.