SUMMER A.D.

2018

VOL. 60 NO. 2

Cathedral Church of the Advent

Birmingham, Alabama

Member of the Parish Partner Plan

 Published quarterly by the Society for Promoting and Encouraging
Arts and Knowledge of the Church (SPEAK, Inc.).

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHARLESTON D. WILSON
VICE CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHRISTOPHER COLBY

SECRETARY/TREASURER
DR. E. MITCHELL SINGLETON
THE RT. REV. JOHN C. BAUERSCHMIDT,
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY J. BURTON,
THE REV. DR. C. BRYAN OWEN,

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY F. M. CLAVIER,
CATHERINE S. SALMON

INQUIRIES AND CORRESPONDENCE

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do not necessarily represent those of the Board of Trustees.

ISSN 0003-3278 VOL. 60, NO. 2

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2 anglicandigest.org
 4 A Letter from the Chairman of the Board
5 A Community of Mercy
12 Book Review – Lost Letters of Pergamum
15 The Episcopal Church’s Teaching on
Holy Scripture
17 Revealing Christ’s Love
20 Something So Strong
22 A Few Thoughts On Reading the Bible
24 Bishop Ed Salmon
25 Favorite Collects
27 Christ and the Scriptures
33 Vintage Tad
Northern Lights
35 Martyrs of Memphis
39 “Keep Watch Over Us”
40 Jenny
41 The Feast of the Transfiguration August 6
43 “. . . They Come Looking for Something . . .”!
44 St. Mary and St. Martha of Bethany
49 What Is A Collect
53 The Gate of Heaven
56 Do You Work Sundays?
57 Hillspeaking
59 The “Mrs Miniver Hymn”
61 Necrology

on the covers
Credit for the photographs of the Cathedral of the Advent
to Michael Hawkins and for the photograph of the Episco-
pal School Choral Ensemble to E. T. Brown.
summer 2018 3
 A Letter from the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Dear Friends,
I think the whole world recently watched Barbara Bush’s funer-
al at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston! I certainly did.
Fr. Russ Levenson, the Rector, has contributed to the Digest on
more than one occasion. Mrs. Bush’s vibrant faith in our living
Lord was abundantly evident to all who knew her, especially to
her parish community and family.
When a larger than life figure like Mrs. Bush enters the near-
er presence of God, I think we all are reminded of our own
mortality. I tend to think this is a good thing, actually. In a
world obsessed with anti-aging serums, I often remind fellow
Christians, “We’re all going to make the trip.” Yes, all of us who
believe and are baptized are on an eternal trip — a journey to
that city “where pain and sorrow are no more, neither sighing,
but life everlasting.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 482).
In this issue, we have invited some new contributors, and some
old friends, to share with us their own appreciation of the Holy
Scriptures. As you will discover, they have given us a great gift
in these pages. Because we continue to celebrate our 60th an-
niversary, we are also sharing some “Vintage TAD” with you. It
is nice to look back, even as we look forward.
I invite you, as always, to read, pray and partner.
Yours in Christ,
The Reverend Charleston David Wilson
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

4 anglicandigest.org
gathering
“A Community
of Mercy”
Fr. Richard Wineland,
Nashville, Tennessee
God dwells eternally in com-
munity, as Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, and he created us
to do the same. “It is not good
for man to be alone” declared
the Creator, and woman was
formed in God’s image as
well. And since the fall, it has
been God’s intention primar-
ily through relationships to
restore that which has been
broken by the presence of sin,
disobedience, and discord.
And so, God began his work
of rebuilding community,
of reconciliation and resto-
ration, by calling a people,
through the patriarchs Abra-
ham and Sarah, to be his own:
‘Now the LORD said to
Abram, “Go from your own
country and your kindred
and your father’s house to
the land that I will show you.
telling
I will make of you a great na-
tion, and I will bless you, and
I will make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless
you, and the one who curses
you I will curse; and in you all
the families of the earth will
be blessed.”’ (Genesis 12:1-3,
NRSV)
“...and in you all the
families of the earth
will be blessed.”
Jesus himself continued the
work of God in forming a
beloved community when he
proclaimed at the synagogue
in Nazareth that “The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me, because
he has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of
sight to the blind, to proclaim
the year of the Lord’s favor.”
(Luke 4:18-19, NRSV) Jesus
embodied, incarnated, this
kingdom community, and
passed on that mandate to his
followers. lt is a kingdom like
summer 2018 5
connecting
no other, a dynamic, radical
vision that echoes the prophe-
cy of his Blessed Mother: “His
mercy is for those who fear
him from generation to gener-
ation. He has shown strength
with his arm; he has scattered
the proud in the thoughts of
their hearts. He has brought
down the powerful from their
thrones, and lifted up the low-
ly; he has filled the hungry
with good things, and sent the
rich away empty...according
to the promise he made to our
ancestors, to Abraham and his
descendants forever.” (Luke
1:50-55, NRSV) God’s dream
of calling forth a people who
would bless the world, which
began with Abraham, now
continues through Mary and
in Jesus and his Church. And
“the year of the Lord’s fa-
vor?” It is the hesed of which
the Hebrew scriptures often
speak: God’s mercy. I contend
that the primary evidence of
this new community is that
it is ultimately characterized
by the quality of mercy. Mer-
6 anglicandigest.org
cy beyond all reason. Mercy
overflowing. And mercy was
a quality that was in short
supply in the world in which
the nascent church was born.
With the exception of the
Gospels, the entire New Tes-
tament was written to Chris-
tians who lived in a brutal,
secular world. The subject is
addressed again and again.
In his brief letter, composed
about 100 C.E., to the second
or third-generation commu-
nity of believers in Ephesus,
St. John warned:
“Do not love the world or the
things in the world. The love of
the Father is not in those who
love the world; for all that is in
the world — the desire of the
flesh, the desire of the eyes, the
pride in riches — comes not
from the Father but from the
world. And the world and its
desires are passing away, but
those who do the will of God
live forever.” (1 John 2:15-17
NRSV)
gathering
It’s important for us to be clear
about what sort of “world”
the apostle was critiquing.
It was not the people (gente)
of the world, its inhabitants,
each of whom are created in
the image of God. The Greek
word used here for ‘world’ is
kosmos, which would have
carried the sense of a cor-
rupt ‘system’, a god-less, often
mercy-less society in which
sin, pride, and the pursuit of
wealth and power was preem-
inent. Until the fourth cen-
tury, the prevailing culture
was hostile to the Christian
faith. In our era, by contrast,
the secular world is increas-
ingly unaware of the church.
Might we take our cues from
this “first apostolic era,” as
we seek to live as followers of
Jesus in this new world? The
church of this period was a
tightly-knit community, “held
all things in common” (Acts
2:42) and was characterized
by love and concern for the
outcast and the vulnerable. It
was, ultimately, a culture and
telling
community whose hallmark
and witness was mercy.
In her recent book, Hallelu-
iah, Anyway, Anne Lamott
commented:
“I’m not sure I even recognize
the ever-presence of mercy
anymore, the divine and the
human; the messy, crippling,
transforming, heartbreaking,
lovely, devastating presence
of mercy. But I have come to
believe that I am starving to
death for it, and my world is,
too.”
The story goes that one of the
most formidable theologians
of the twentieth century, Karl
Barth, was once invited to a
conference focused on iden-
tifying the difference between
Christianity and other world
religions. When asked his
opinion as to the most im-
portant Christian distinctive,
Barth replied, “that’s easy, it’s
grace.” God offers his grace,
his ‘radical kindness’, his he-
sed/mercy to us, and we in
summer 2018 7
connecting
turn are commanded to go
and pour it out into the lives
of the poor, the stranger, the
prisoner, the powerless.
Understood this way, the
Church might be thought of
as an extension, or a continu-
ation of the original dream of
God for a beloved commu-
nity, rather than as a sort of
“plan B’ because of the failure
of ‘plan A’ — i.e., the Temple
cult and sacrificial system
of the Hebrews. God’s mis-
sion in the New Testament is
the creation of an ekklesia, a
throng, an assembly, a gath-
ering, a web of relationships
that embody God’s vision to
unite all people.
This paradigm is not primar-
ily a concern for atonement
(“fixing what is wrong or bro-
ken”), but for the renewal and
the restoration of what was
lost. It is a subtle yet import-
ant theological shift. In a sec-
ular world which is increas-
ingly grace-less, this is our
8 anglicandigest.org
calling as followers of Jesus; to
renew and restore shattered
lives, welcoming them into
the kingdom community and
ultimately affirming their val-
ue and their goodness as the
crown of God’s creation. It is
this divine quality of mercy, of
grace, of blessing, of welcome
which we must proclaim, and
more importantly, incarnate.
Embracing this message also
allows room for us, as has
been the tradition in Angli-
canism, to recognize what is
beautiful and worthwhile in
the surrounding popular cul-
ture. Just like Abraham and
Sarah, we as a Church have
been blessed in order to be-
come a blessing. Anglicans
have always maintained a
special theological emphasis
on incarnation; we must con-
tinue to be about following
close behind the feet of Jesus
and imitating his life of mer-
ciful acts and humble service
to the least, to the vulnerable;
blessing those whom the kos-
mos has left behind.
gathering
My Mennonite friends rou-
tinely refer to this ekklesia as
“the upside-down kingdom.”
The Rev. Stephanie Spellers,
the Episcopal Church’s Canon
for Mission and Reconcilia-
tion observes: “The record of
Scripture is filled with imag-
es of a God who turns things
upside-down in order to get
them rightside-up, and cre-
ates something from what
would seem to be nothing.”
This is, indeed, the gospel
which Jesus proclaimed, and
of which Mary his mother
prophesied. It is a message of
unconditional mercy for the
stranger, the poor, the weak,
the addicted, the Other. Sara
Miles, an avowed ‘secularist’
and ‘other’, who, at the age of
42 was converted to faith in
Jesus simply by participating
in the Eucharist, affirms the
power of this message:
“What I heard, and continue
to hear, is a voice (a message)
that can crack religious and
political convictions open,
telling
that advocates for the least
qualified, least official, least
likely; that upsets the estab-
lished order and laughs at
certainty. It proclaims against
reason that the hungry will
be fed, that those cast down
will be raised up, and that all
things, including my own fail-
ures, are being made new. It
offers food without exception
to the worthy and unworthy,
the screwed-up and the pious,
and then commands every-
one to do the same. It doesn’t
promise to solve or erase suf-
fering but to transform it,
pledging that by loving one
another, even through pain,
we will find more life. And it
insists that by opening our-
selves to strangers, the de-
spised or frightening or un-
intelligible other, we will see
more and more of the holy,
since, without exception, all
people are one body: God’s.”
This is not the time to ‘circle
the wagons’, to shore up the
walls of ‘fortress Church.’ We
summer 2018 9
connecting
are a people who have been
commissioned by our Sav-
ior to go (just as Abram and
Sarah left their familiar sur-
roundings) and, despite the
challenges, to proclaim the
message of God’s radical, un-
reasonable, mercy and love to
a distracted and disordered
secular culture. Catholic his-
torian Christopher Dawson,
reminds us that “the root
word culture comes from
the Latin term cultus, which
means worship.” Frankly, the
very notion of a strictly ‘sec-
ular society’ may be in fact a
myth; those who have not yet
found faith in Jesus are none-
theless still people of faith; it
is just ‘faith misplaced’; a wor-
ship of the gods of self, mon-
ey, power, entertainment, and
comfort. As songwriter and
prophet Bob Dylan once wry-
ly declared: “You gotta serve
somebody...” Our call as peo-
ple on the Way is to welcome
all into the ultimate reality
and truth that is our Savior
and his community.
10 anglicandigest.org
Several months ago I attend-
ed, at Indiana University, the
commencement ceremony of
my oldest son. The speaker,
a student, issued an impas-
sioned call for his fellow grad-
uates to pursue truth, and to
seek to change the world as
a consequence of discover-
ing that truth. This is a noble
challenge; one I too would
affirm. As the Anglican/Epis-
copal branch of the Jesus
movement, we must contin-
ue to have faith and confi-
dence that the subversive, up-
side-down truth of the gospel
is so compelling and intuitive
that it will indeed draw in
truthseekers from all sorts of
communities. As we pilgrims
make our way through an in-
creasingly secularized world
we must endeavor to pro-
claim (and live) the life and
message of the incarnated
Jesus; the “friend of sinners”
who walked the dusty streets
of Jerusalem and Galilee; the
one who sat at table with tax
collectors and other outcasts,
gathering
calling them not servants but
friends, and offering them
the mercy and forgiveness of
God. It is this Christ, and this
finite, flawed “community of
the shipwrecked,” (as Francis-
can priest Richard Rohr often
refers to the Church), who
have the power to restore in-
dividual lives and transform
the surrounding secular cul-
ture.
We now live in a ‘new apostol-
ic era,’ and the world needs our
mercy and our grace; not our
judgment, or political power,
and probably not our beloved
institutions. Let’s create a true
and authentic Christian coun-
terculture, an alternative one
of compassion and welcome
and blessing. As Anglicans
our dogma and our creeds
and our theological formulae
are a valuable and necessary
part of our tradition, but let’s
put them in their proper place,
second to the “radical kind-
ness” (Lamott) of grace, mer-
cy, and a heart for those who
telling
live on the margins, where
our Savior himself made his
home. Stories have the pow-
er to shape who we are, and
who we are to become. This
is the story which we must
embrace, proclaim, and most
importantly, live. Missiologist
Alex Roxburgh refers to this
as “God’s Dream.”
The Presiding Bishop of the
Episcopal Church, Michael
Curry, understands the inher-
ent power of God’s ‘big story’
and recently issued this chal-
lenge:
“Being a Christian is not
necessarily about joining a
church or being a nice per-
son, but about following in
the footsteps of Jesus, taking
his teachings seriously, letting
the Spirit take the lead in our
lives, and in so doing helping
to change the world from our
nightmare into God’s dream.”
A beloved community of rad-
ical mercy.
God’s Dream!
summer 2018 11
connecting
Book Review -
Lost letters of
Pergamum
“Behold, I am sending you
out as sheep in the midst of
wolves, so be wise as serpents
and innocent as doves” (Mat-
thew 10:16 ESV). The Lost
Letters of Pergamum (TLLP)
illustrate the three Gospel ac-
counts of the sending of the
twelve better than anything
else I have read. (TLLP) Not
only reveals the situation of
the earliest Christian’s strug-
gles and triumphs, but also,
the struggle of, and the real-
ity of what biblical evange-
lism is. TLLP is thoughtful,
thought-provoking, and so
applicable to contemporary
society that I cannot think of
a better way to begin a discus-
sion in a parish about biblical
evangelism. I commend this
book to all who are navigat-
ing this time of struggle and
divisiveness that currently has
a firm grip on our secular and
Christian society.
12 anglicandigest.org
This book offers its readers
a biblical understanding of
Christian evangelism. Con-
temporary society’s greatest
weakness is the need for im-
mediate gratification and the
over-emphasis on results. An
example of this, is the way
our educators are evaluated
in public schools. Because
they are judged on the per-
formance of their students’
ability to take tests, teachers
are forced to teach how to
take the tests, and not teach
their students how to think,
reason, and discern. This way
of thinking has not only crept
into The Church but has be-
come pervasive. The idea that
if we invite a friend to church
they will come and have a Da-
mascus road experience, and
then continue to come week
after week, is not only absurd
but damaging to the body of
Christ. To allow parishioners
to believe that biblical evan-
gelism is as easy as inviting
someone to church is a crime.
This is only one example of a
gathering
widespread evangelism myth
whose foundation is based on
the idea that we invite, and
God does the work. God does
do the work, but most often
He does it through us. TLLP
informs us that evangelism is
hard work, and most impor-
tantly patient work. In the
book, as Luke interacts with
Antipas, Luke never calls An-
tipas to the mat over his view
of the Roman gods or great
love of the emperor and em-
pire. Anytime Luke defends
Christianity or chides Anti-
pas, it is done with love and
gentleness. If Luke was out for
an immediate conversion, An-
tipas would have been lost to
him from the start. This book
gives an accurate account of
the struggle we take on as
Christians and as evangelists
for Christ’s Church. People
most often are not converted
through argument or one-
time encounters, but through
relationships with Christians,
relationships that must be pa-
tient, loving, thoughtful, and
telling
honest. That is the biblical
model.
Finally, this book offers a sol-
id pedagogy on how to deal
with those with whom we dis-
agree. We live in an increas-
ingly polarized society where
the ability to see grey is being
lost by not only those in pow-
er, but by the general popula-
tion as well. The Church has
a great opportunity to stand
out and show people how
to live in love with those we
disagree with. The story of
Antipas slowly entering into
relationship with Jesus Christ
is not just a story of the sal-
vation of one man and the
great sacrifice he makes, but
the story of those who came
alongside him, guiding him
through their actions, not
only towards him, but to-
wards others and each other.
There is currently great trepi-
dation around religion in our
society, and that trepidation is
only strengthened when peo-
ple see religious people treat-
summer 2018 13
connecting
ing each other with contempt
and arguing much like our
politicians do. Luke and the
Christians in Antonius’ house
church are not of the same
mind as Antipas, however
they never tell him how to be,
act, or think; they show him.
Their actions, their friend-
ship, their affection, are what
converts him. Most power-
fully the love for a small child
whose love for Christ is con-
tagious is what causes Antip-
as to give up himself for an-
other. Can you imagine what
the Christian Church can do
if we came alongside those
with whom we disagree, not
as combatants but as brothers
and sisters, in love, and with-
out prejudice.
Longenecker’s book is a great
resource, and his style re-
minds me very much of that
of C. S. Lewis. If we want pa-
rishioners to go out into this
world as sheep in the midst of
wolves, we must enable them
to be wise as serpents and in-
14 anglicandigest.org
nocent as doves. This book
gives an excellent account of
how to do just that. I plan on
using this book next year as a
resource for the parents of the
2018-2019 confirmation class
at Church of the Redeem-
er, Sarasota Florida, to teach
them about how the first cen-
tury evangelism encountered
in this book can help change
our society much as the ear-
ly Christians transformed
theirs.
Submitted by
The Rev. Christian M Wood
Priest Associate for
Christian Formation
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
This book is not available
through The Anglican Book-
store but is on the web from a
number of sites such as Ama-
zon and Barnes and Noble.
QQQ
Why we need community
At a recent meeting, our lead-
er suggested,“None of us is as
smart as all of us.” Words to
live by, I think.
– Don Ratzlaff
gathering
The Episcopal
Church’s
Teaching on
Holy Scripture
To know for certain what The
Episcopal Church teaches
about Holy Scripture means
to consult what may be called
the Church’s title deeds, i.e.,
those teachings established by
The Episcopal Church’s con-
stitution in its Book of Com-
mon Prayer. The teachings
set down in the Catechism
on pages 853-854 are helpful.
But more specific are Articles
VI, VII, VIII, XIX and XX of
the Articles of Religion, pages
867-876, which are Histori-
cal Documents of the Church
linking The Episcopal Church
to its sister churches of the
worldwide Anglican Com-
munion. There, two grand
principles are spelled out –
the sufficiency of Holy Scrip-
ture and, relating to that suf-
ficiency, the authority of the
Church.
telling
The Sufficiency of
Holy Scripture
Holy Scripture is sufficient.
It “containeth all things nec-
essary for salvation, so that
whatsoever is not read there-
in, nor may be proved there-
by, is not to be required of
any man, that it should be
believed as an article of the
Faith, or be thought to be req-
uisite or necessary to salva-
tion.” (Article VI)
Holy Scripture’s fulfillment is
the Incarnation and Life, Pas-
sion and Death, Resurrection
and Ascension of the Word
who was made flesh and dwelt
among us: the Gospel of Jesus
Christ the Son of God. The
way the Church reads Holy
Scripture year by year, at the
Holy Eucharist and in the
Daily Offices, testifies to this
Jesus-centeredness as we fol-
low the cycle from Advent to
Pentecost and then the time
following until, once again,
the cycle resumes.
summer 2018 15
connecting
The heart of the matter in
pointing to Jesus Christ is
clear. “The Old Testament is
not contrary to the New: for
both in the Old and New Tes-
tament everlasting life is of-
fered to Mankind by Christ,
who is the only Mediator be-
tween God and Man, being
both God and Man. Where-
fore they are not to be heard,
which feign that the old Fa-
thers [of the OT] did look
only for transitory promises.”
(Article VII). In Jesus’s own
words, Moses “wrote of me,”
(John 5:46) and Abraham
“saw my day.” (John 8:56)
Anglicans have never had a
theory of the inspiration of
Holy Scripture. The canon-
ical Scriptures, those books
“of whose authority was nev-
er any doubt in the Church,”
(Article VI), are simply as-
serted to be “God’s Word
written,” (Article XX), which
both undergird and limit the
Church’s teaching authority.
16 anglicandigest.org
The Church’s Authority
The Church, which may err
and has in various times and
places erred, (Article XIX),
nonetheless has authority “to
decree Rites and Ceremo-
nies,” and as well “authority in
controversies of faith.” Yet “it
is not lawful for the Church to
ordain any thing that is con-
trary to God’s Word written,
neither may it so expound
one place of Holy Scripture
that it be repugnant to anoth-
er.” (Article XX) This com-
pleteness of the Word written
reflects the completeness of
the revelation of the Word In-
carnate in Jesus Christ.
The Creeds have authority
because they have “most cer-
tain warrants of Holy Scrip-
ture.” (Article VIII) Thus the
Nicene Creed, which adds
the term “of one Being” or “of
one substance” to describe the
co-equality and co-eternity of
the Father and the Son, does
so to keep the Church’s Gos-
pel-proclamation free from
gathering
defective interpretations of
the divine Sonship of the
Word who became flesh for
our salvation.
The Church is the “witness
and keeper” of the Scriptures.
(Article XX) She received
them for the very purpose of
placing herself under their
authority as God’s Word writ-
ten. In so doing, The Episco-
pal Church has provided her
members with security from
false teaching and freedom
from both ecclesiastical over-
reach and deficiency.
The Rev’d Andrew C. Mead
Saint Thomas Church
New York City, New York
THE ORDER OF ST. ANDREW
A Religious Order of men and
women, both married and single,
not living in community.
For information contact:
The Father or Mother General
The Order of Saint Andrew
2 Creighton Lane
Scarborough, NY 10510
(914) 941-1265; 762-0398
http://www.osa-anglican.org
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telling
revealing
Christ’s Love
The Rev. Sarah Bronos
Church of the Good Shepherd
Maitland, Florida
“You search the Scriptures
because you think that in
them you have eternal life;
and it is they that bear
witness about me” John 5:39
CS Lewis begins The Voyage
of the Dawn Treader with
this introduction: “There was
a boy called Eustace Clar-
ence Scrubb, and he almost
deserved it.” Eustace, we are
told, “liked books if they were
books of information and
had pictures of grain eleva-
tors or of fat foreign children
doing exercises in modern
schools.”1 Even when he is
drawn into Narnia with his
cousins Edmund and Lucy
his lack of imagination pre-
vents him from appreciating
1
CS Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, (New
York: Scholastic Inc., 1995), 3
summer 2018 17
connecting

the adventure into which he proof text.” The religious sec-

has fallen. He is “the prod- tion of bookstores abound-
uct (and victim) of an ed- ed in books on biblical word
ucational philosophy that studies, thematic studies, and
devalues imagination and concordances. Thankfully, as
emotion —debunking both Fleming Rutledge notes, “In
the inner life and any belief recent decades we have seen
in transcendence but placing a turn toward a more literary
uncritical faith in informa- style of interpretation that
tion … he is a critic at heart. gives greater prominence to
He stands far enough back the text as it stands, and to the
from the people and events canon of Scripture as a whole,
around him that he can crit- becoming more responsive to
icize without getting person- the ‘plain meaning’ of the text
ally involved in any of it.”2 as well as its metaphorical and
rhetorical qualities.”3 In this
That which Lewis decried as regard I believe we owe a huge
“modern” education had its debt of gratitude to Gordon
effect on how we have ap- D. Fee and Douglas Stuart for
proached Holy Scripture. The their book How to Read the
historical-critical method of Bible for All its Worth.
biblical interpretation, al-
though bringing some won-
derful insights along the way,
also created the environment 2Jonathan Rogers, The World According
in which texts were atomized, to Narnia, Christian Meaning in C.S.
Lewis’s Beloved Chronicles, (Nashville,
and mined for information. TN: Rabbit Room Press, 2014), 48, 50.
This form of biblical criticism 3Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion,
at its worst became a vehicle Understanding the Death of Jesus
Christ, (Grand Rapids: William B.
whereby “a text without a con- Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2017),
text, [became] a pretext for a 22-23.

18 anglicandigest.org
gathering
The Bible is perhaps the only
book where it is necessary to
read the last portion before
the beginning. The Scrip-
tures, Jesus says, bear witness
to him. We are called to an
encounter with a person who
is both man and God before
we can recognize him and al-
low him to interpret for us the
things concerning himself in
Moses, the Prophets, and all
the Scriptures.4 For this holy
book is not a catalogue of in-
formation, it is a living Word
that draws us into an adven-
ture of incomparable gran-
deur. Again, in the words of
Fleming Rutledge, “contrary
to the story line in many ‘spir-
itual’ journals, the biblical
narrative does not tell of our
journey toward God; it is the
other way around.”5
We approach these holy writ-
ings by setting “aside our own
presuppositions, insofar as
we are able, coming before
the text to hear it speaking
to us, rather than the other
telling
way around. Wonders occur
in groups that study the Bible
together, because the Word
has power to create a commu-
nity of discovery that is much
more than the mere sum of its
individual parts.”6
Eustace eventually entered
fully into the adventure in
Narnia with Edmund, Lucy,
Caspian and Reepicheep af-
ter Aslan un-dragoned him
and gave him a new identity.
The Living Word, the Lion
of Judah, Jesus the Messiah
steps out of the pages of his
book into our lives, promis-
ing to “tell us great and hid-
den things that we have not
known.”7
4
Luke 24:25-27
5
Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion,
Understanding the Death of Jesus
Christ, (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2017),
20.
6
Ibid.
7
Jeremiah 33:3
summer 2018 19
connecting
“Something So
Strong”
The Rev’d Thomas W. Allen
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
Abingdon, Maryland
The Daily Office readings for
Easter 2 affirms a powerful
keystone in our belief in the
Resurrection as Christians:
“That which was from the
beginning…the life was
made manifest” (1 John 1:
1-2). Stop and think about
this for a moment before
reading on.
John is on to something in-
credibly authoritative con-
cerning Jesus of Nazareth. He
has realized the story which
he has been a part of was en-
dorsed by the Sender (John
15:27), the fact that many are
witnesses (Luke 24:48), and
the apostles testimony was
as unique as the absolutely
once-for-all events to which
they bore witness. There is
a story here which is out-
side of them, outside of their
own choosing, and the motif
20 anglicandigest.org
is richer than simply being a
Greek or a Jew merely with
earthly heritage. Roots are far
deeper in the story of Jesus’
Resurrection than our lin-
eage and life’s challenges. The
Resurrection demonstrates a
power which bursts through
the gloom of life, bifurcated
as it may be, toggling between
life and death, joy and sor-
row. We can’t avoid this. Take
time to look over the depth
and uniqueness of our Burial
Rite in the Book of Common
Prayer; we’re immediately
confronted with the reali-
ty to which John is alluding:
Whether in life or death, we
are the Lords. Simply, we’re
not left alone. Resurrection
is not only a spiritual dispo-
sition, but a way to live even
if we’re tossed into the fur-
nace (Daniel 3). As where we
walk, Jesus has already tread-
ed and blazed the trail for us
if we simply open our eyes to
the Holy Spirit. This familiar
hymn aides in not only com-
forting us but encouraging us
gathering telling

to keep walking and trusting: Crowded House, penned

“Crown Him the Son of God, these words approximately
before the worlds began, And thirty years ago: “Love can
ye who tread where He hath make you weep, Can make
trod, crown Him the Son of you run for cover, Roots that
Man; Who every grief hath spread so deep, Bring life to
known that wrings the human frozen ground, Something so
breast, And takes and bears strong could carry us away,
them for His own, that all in Something so strong could
Him may rest.” We face life carry us today.”
by trusting and walking with
Christ our Lord. It’s by active-
This is the God we serve:
ly being disciples that we see
From the beginning and made
something so strong bearing manifest into the reality of the
witness in and through our world we live today. Power
baptized life. from walking long before us
and power made manifest to
Neil Finn, singer/song writ- walk well ahead of us. Let us
er for the Australian group declare this power today.

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or call 716-652-6616
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summer 2018 21
connecting
a few thoughts
on reading
the bible
Fr. Christopher Colby
Vice Chairman,
THE ANGLICAN DIGEST
Biloxi, Mississippi
In 2006, Eugene Peterson
published a small book enti-
tled Eat This Book, subtitled
A Conversation in the art of
spiritual reading. In less than
200 pages, Dr. Peterson says a
number of disturbing things.
On page 71, he says, “the most
important question we ask of
this text is not, “What does
it mean?” But “What can I
obey?” This is quite consistent
with his warning in the pref-
ace on page xii, “In order to
read the Scriptures adequately
and accurately, it is necessary
at the same time to live them.”
Oh my! Dr. Peterson again
and again makes it clear that
the Bible is not, absolute-
ly not, sometimes tame. It is
a living thing that will grab
22 anglicandigest.org
hold of you and change you
and form you into something
that God can use. It will make
you into a disciple and change
your perception of all that is.
No wonder there are people
who want to see it banned.
Dr. Peterson takes time to
explain many things, but at
the practical level his expla-
nation of the Bible and its re-
lationship to the liturgy and
the worshiping community is
where he excels. On page 72,
he writes “the Bible must be
read liturgically.” He contin-
ues on page 73,“Liturgy is the
means that the church uses to
keep baptized Christians in
living touch with the entire
living holy community as it
participates formationally in
Holy Scripture.” It consists
of two movements. “First it
gets us into the sanctuary, the
place of adoration and atten-
tion, listening and receiving
and believing before God.
... Then it gets us out of the
sanctuary into the world into
gathering
places of obeying and loving,
ordering our lives as living
sacrifices in the world to the
glory of God. ... There are no
nonparticipants. No one is
standing around watching.”
Forty-one years ago
when I graduated from
Seabury-Western, I didn’t
realize how many people
would be wondering ‘HOW
do I read the Bible???’ This is
the book that points the way.
You take it into your life, and
it transforms all that you are
and all that you will be.
In 2006, The Rev. Eugene Pe-
terson wrote, “I have been at
this business of reading the
Bible ever since I was a young
boy. Twenty years after I first
started reading it I became a
pastor and a professor; for over
fifty years now I have been vo-
cationally involved in getting
the Christian Scriptures into
the minds and hearts, arms
and legs, ears and mouths of
men and women. And I haven’t
found it easy. Why isn’t it easy?
telling
Simply this. The challenge —
never negligible — regarding
the Christian Scriptures is get-
ting them read, but read on
their own terms... In this busi-
ness of living the Christian life,
ranking high among the most
neglected aspects is one hav-
ing to do with the reading of
the Christian Scriptures. Not
that Christians don’t own and
read their Bibles. And not that
Christians don’t believe that
their Bibles are the word of
God. What is neglected is read-
ing the Scriptures formatively,
reading in order to live.”
There is a study guide which
accompanies this book. There
is also a brief appendix with a
list of books to help each stu-
dent of the word.
EAT THIS BOOK (Item #E1276)
as well as the Study Guide (Item
# E1277) are each available
through The Anglican Book
Store. This book is $18.00, and
the Study Guide is $6.00. There
is a $4.50 shipping and handling
fee. See page 32 to order.
summer 2018 23
connecting

bishop ed salmon of-

The Reverend Charleston

David Wilson
Chairman of the
Board of Trustees

Mrs. Bush’s death made me

think about other larger than
life figures in my own life and
in the life of our beloved Di-
gest. All of us at Hillspeak
will remember, on June 29,
the second anniversary of Bp.
Ed Salmon’s death. No single
person has given more life to
the Digest over time than Bp.
Ed. He was Chairman of the
Board for 41 years! As he en-
joys renewed life in the nearer often quoted them to me —
presence of God, his life-giv- not in an admonishing or
ing presence is still with us, authoritarian way, but in a
and this issue is a public re- manner that gave me comfort,
newal of our thanks for his hope and restoration. May we
life and ministry among us. all use Holy Scripture with
such tender affection and
One of the things I remem- love. Interestingly, he always
ber most about Bp. Ed was quoted from the King James
his love for the Holy Scrip- Version. Why does it sound
tures. He truly had “inwardly so much better in Elizabethan
digested them,” as the Prayer prose (that’s for another is-
Book collect puts it, and he sue!)?

24 anglicandigest.org
gathering
favorite collects the night. I am bombarded
The Rev. Alex Andujar
St. Vincent’s Episcopal Church
St. Petersburg, FL
One of my Favorite collects
from the Book of Common
Prayer perfectly describes the
relationship that Christians,
and especially those in the
Anglican tradition, should
have with the Sacred Scrip-
tures.
“Blessed Lord, who caused
all holy Scriptures to be writ-
ten for our learning: Grant us
so to hear them, read, mark,
learn, and inwardly digest
them, that we may embrace
and ever hold fast the blessed
hope of everlasting life, which
you have given us in our Sav-
ior Jesus Christ; who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.” BCP 236
Every morning I open Face-
book and receive a flood of
news and notifications that
have accumulated throughout
telling
with the latest news from all
over the world, what people
are thinking and feeling as
they experience life, and of
course a plethora of commen-
tary. It is a buffet of informa-
tion and I choose to sample a
dish here and there. My rela-
tionship to God’s holy word
must be completely different.
God does not call me a mere
consumer of his word. He
calls me to be an active par-
ticipant in the transformation
and sanctification that comes
from reading, praying, and
studying Holy Scripture. A
single verse of Holy Scrip-
ture has the power to pierce
the hardest heart and illumi-
nate the darkest mind. But
we must turn our hearts and
minds to God’s Word.
The beauty of the Angli-
can tradition is that if we so
choose our daily lives may be
immersed in the Bible. The
Daily Offices of Morning and
summer 2018 25
connecting
Evening Prayer, and the
celebration of the Holy Eu-
charist give us access points
to the life of the Church being
lived all throughout the world
as Christians everywhere
raise their minds and hearts
to God’s by the inspiration of
his word. We read together,
hear scripture and preaching
together. We participate in
a liturgy flush with scripture.
In the quiet of our homes and
offices we also use the words
of scripture prayer with God.
That is why we cannot be con-
tent with small samples of
God’s word. We must build
the habits of study and prayer
that push us to so deeply in-
ternalize scripture that we
not only memorize it but
that living it becomes second
nature. God’s word must be
so cleaved to our hearts that
when we see the hungry we
hear “I was hungry and you
gave me to eat” and when we
are confronted by someone
we loathe we hear “love your
26 anglicandigest.org
enemies”.
Grant Lord God that our
minds and hearts may be lift-
ed to you through our reading
of your holy and sacred scrip-
tures. All this we ask through
Jesus our Lord. Amen.
QQQ
God’s harmonious voice
I lay it down as a foundation
principle, which no one can
gainsay, that of course [God’s]
voice will always be in har-
mony with itself, no matter in
how many different ways He
may speak. The voices may
be many, the message can be
but one. If God tells me in one
voice to do or to leave undone
anything, He cannot possibly
tell me the opposite in an-
other voice. If there is a con-
tradiction in the voices, the
speakers cannot be the same.
Therefore my rule for dis-
tinguishing the voice of God
would be to bring it to the test
of this harmony.
– Hannah Whitall Smith
gathering
Christ and the
Scriptures
The Very Rev Dr. Leander
Harding, All Saints’ Cathedral
Albany, NY
An arresting feature of a num-
ber of the Resurrection ap-
pearances is that the disciples
do not immediately recognize
the risen Lord. In John 20:14
Mary Magdalene thinks He is
the gardener until He says her
name. The disciples in Luke
24, on the road to Emmaus
walk with him miles and do
not recognize Him until after
he has opened the scriptures
to them so that they under-
stand that the whole of what
we call the Old Testament
points to the passion and
resurrection of the Messiah.
It is central to the preach-
ing of the Apostles that Jesus
died for our sins and rose
again according to the scrip-
tures. St. Paul says in 1 Cor-
inthians 15:3, “For I deliv-
ered unto you first of all that
telling
which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures
and that He was buried, and
that He rose again on the
third day in accordance with
the scriptures.”
It is important to recognize
the scriptures that the Risen
Lord opens to the disciples
and the scriptures to which
St. Paul refers are indeed the
Old Testament. It is the cru-
cified and risen one who
is the key to the whole of
scripture. It is with the light
of the Resurrection upon it
that Old Testament becomes
for us holy scripture because
it becomes for us the words
that reveal the eternal Word
who became one of us in
Jesus Christ the Lord. Like-
wise, we turn to these words
which God gave to Israel to
find out who the crucified
and risen one really is. So, St.
John tells us about the Word
who was with God in the be-
ginning and that this Word
summer 2018 27
connecting
has become flesh and dwelt
among us and has given His
life as a ransom for many and
that He is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the
world. We shall have no idea
what this means if we do not
know about the lamb in Gen-
esis 22, that God provided
to Abraham in the place of
his son, Isaac. We shall not
know what this means if
we do not know about the
paschal lamb in Exodus 12
or the lamb who is led to the
slaughter in Isaiah 53. Like-
wise, we shall not know what
he means when He tells us
He is the Good Shepherd
in John 10 unless we know
about the wicked shepherds
in Ezekiel 34 or God’s promise
in Ezekiel that He will Him-
self become the shepherd to
his people. The crucified and
risen Lord is the new Moses
and the new Joshua. He is the
perfect King, the perfect
Prophet, the Perfect Priest.
We simply shall not know
the depth and intimacy that
28 anglicandigest.org
he desires if we do not know
what a king or a prophet or a
priest in Israel is according to
the scriptures.
In John 12, some Greeks
come to Philip and say, “Sir,
we would see Jesus.” How
can we see Him more clear-
ly? How can we have an in
depth understanding of who
He is that leads to a life-giv-
ing encounter with Him? The
answer is given by Jesus Him-
self as He explains His death
and resurrection according
to the scriptures. The Bible
will not come alive to us until
we are searching the Old Tes-
tament with the light of the
resurrection in our hand. The
preaching and teaching of the
church requires a vigorous
proclamation of the passion
and resurrection of the Lord
and careful, patient and com-
prehensive commentary of
everything in Moses and the
Prophets concerning Him.
gathering telling

The Anglican Bookstore

BILLY GRAHAM
An Ordinary Man and His Extraordinary God
By Lon Allison
Lon Allison, an evangelist himself, and pop-
ular evangelical pastor in Wheaton, Illinois,
has learned much from Billy Graham. Allison
retells the highlights of what has been, by any
objective account, a fascinating life, and tells it
is a way that resonates with the Graham leg-
acy of serving God and seeking to spread the
Good News. What was his legacy? What was
his message and how might it still be relevant
for today.
Item L0168 (hardcover, $22.00)

GRACE: On the Journey to God

By Michael Casey, OCSO
The benevolence of God expresses itself in
many different ways as the journey unfolds,
and this beautiful book is a guide. Gradu-
ally, we come to realize that everything that
happens in our lives is somehow the gift of
our loving Father. This is sometimes appar-
ent in the present moment, but most often it
happens in retrospect when the elements of
wisdom are beginning to find a place in our
hearts. This is why the word “grace” is both
the book’s title and appears in each of the chapter titles.
Item L0170 (paperback, $17.00)

summer 2018 29
connecting

MERTON’S PALACE OF NOWHERE

By James Finley
For forty years, James Finley’s Merton’s Palace
of Nowhere has been the standard text for ex-
ploring, reflecting on, and understanding the
rich vein of Thomas Merton’s thought. Spiri-
tual identity is the quest to know who we are,
to find meaning, to overcome that sense of “Is
this all there is?” Merton’s message cuts to the
heart of the universal quest, and Finley illumi-
nates that message as no one else can.
Item V0116 (paperback, 160 pages, $17.00)

JONATHAN EDWARDS
An Introduction to His Thoughts
By Kyle C. Strobel and Oliver D. Crisp
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) has long been
recognized as one of the preeminent thinkers
in the early Enlightenment and a major figure
in the history of American Christianity.
In this accessible one-volume text, leading Ed-
wards experts Oliver Crisp and Kyle Strobel
introduce readers to the formidable mind of
Jonathan Edwards as they survey key theolog-
ical and philosophical themes in his thought,
including his doctrine of the Trinity, his philosophical theology
of God and creation, and his understanding of the atonement and
salvation.
Item E1275 (paperback, 244 pages, $28.00)
30 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

FOR YOUNG READERS

PRAYERS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
By Barbara Nascimbeni and Martina Steinkuehler
A collection of prayers for every occasion
It’s easy to reach out to God when you want
something, but what about when you’re hap-
py, lonely, or afraid — what do you say then?
This thoughtful collection of prayers offers
children ways of approaching God in a variety
of circumstances. The prayers, each rooted in a bible story, de-
scribe different situations that readers will easily relate to, from
life-changing events like moving to a new city to everyday oc-
currences like winning a game or not being able to sleep.
Item E1274 (80 pages, Ages 5 to 9, $17.00)

MY HEAVEN BOOK
By Clare Simpson, Illustrated by Maria Angelina
This delightful keepsake may be the gift of
choice for children as a profound but simple
way to remind them that faith — and life — are
everlasting. My Heaven Book includes prayers
that are easy to commit to memory and to say
throughout the day, along with very simple
expressed statements of Christian belief that
are appropriate for the youngest of children.
Item L0169 (Ages 0-8. $14.00)

Please use the order form on page 32

summer 2018 31
connecting

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32 anglicandigest.org
gathering
vintage tad
NORTHERN
LIGHTS
by The Rt. Rev. Anthony Burton
Bishop of Saskatchewan
WHEN THE FLOOR col-
lapsed a few years ago in the
middle of Holy Communion,
and the congregation sudden-
ly dropped five feet, nobody
panicked. After a moment of
silence, everyone burst out
laughing. It was, after all, Pel-
ican Narrows Indian Reserve,
and Cree people rarely lose
their composure.
Last Sunday when I arrived
there panting, muddied, and
ten minutes late for morning
worship, it cut little ice when I
explained on the church steps
that I had lost control of my
Jeep and had ended up in the
ditch. “So did I,” came the re-
ply. “Me, too,” said somebody
telling
else. The dirt track leading
to Pelican is notorious in the
Spring.
The surpliced priests and lay
readers were all lined up and
ready to process. I threw on
rochet and chimere, and was
astonished at what I saw as
I came up the aisle. The new
church was vast and splendid,
with a roof of spruce and win-
dows with bright panes of co-
loured glass, beautiful in their
simplicity.
In the sermon I waxed elo-
quent: “It is the cathedral of
the North!” My translator,
a blind Cree Archdeacon,
hesitated at “cathedral” for
which there is no word. “It
is like a big church in Prince
Albert,” came the transla-
tion. I stopped trying to be so
clever.
summer 2018 33
connecting
The church at Pelican Nar-
rows is one of the many suc-
cess stories of the Anglican
Church in Northern Canada.
It was built and mostly paid
for by local people, despite
80% unemployment and
widespread poverty.
More than half of native peo-
ple living on reserves are
without running water. The
suicide rate among native
teenagers is five times the na-
tional average. Even so, there
is a spiritual revival taking
place in the North, partly be-
cause native people are finally
being permitted to run their
own affairs.
That evening I inducted a
young priest into another re-
serve parish. The church was
heated with a barrel wood
stove, and the warden pa-
trolled the aisle during the
sermon, brandishing a white
stick with which to discipline
fidgeting children. It was dif-
ficult not to feel guilty as I
34 anglicandigest.org
accorded the young incum-
bent the “rights, privileges,
and emoluments” of the par-
ish. Emoluments? He lives on
welfare as do all but two of the
Cree priests not on old-age
pensions.
Serving in the North, I am
quickly discovering who min-
isters to whom. I thank God
daily for the witness of these
Cree Anglicans. Little by little,
they are teaching me how to
be Christian.
Bishop Burton is the Digest’s
Canadian correspondent. He
was educated at Trinity College
in Toronto, Dalhousie Univer-
sity and Oxford. He was conse-
crated Bishop of Saskatchewan
in October, 1993, after having
been a priest five years. He is
the youngest Bishop in the An-
glican Church of Canada.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1994
gathering
MARTYRS OF
MEMPHIS
Anne C. Pugh, CSM
in The Communicant
Diocese of North Carolina
ON A COLD February day in
1865 at St. Michael’s Church
in New York, five women took
vows as Anglican nuns. They
followed in the footsteps of
Anne Ayres, who in 1845 be-
come the first nun in the An-
glican tradition since the Ref-
ormation.
From the beginning, the Sis-
ters of St. Mary faced hostil-
ity and opposition. Inherited
from the Reformation was a
mistrust of monasticism. Be-
sides the controversy that em-
broiled evangelical and high
church Episcopalians, many
felt threatened by the fact that
increasing numbers of Irish
immigrants were swelling the
ranks of the Roman Catholic
Church. Not a few clergy and
lay persons were “going over
to the Romans”; among these
were Bishop Levi Ives of North
telling
Carolina and John Henry
Newman, who had been ac-
tive in the Oxford Movement.
In 1870, Charles Todd Quin-
tard, second Bishop of Ten-
nessee, invited the Sisters to
come to Memphis to establish
a boarding and day school for
girls that would draw pupils
from throughout Tennessee,
and to take charge of the
Church Home, thus paving
the way for them to make a
foundation in the South. Four
Sisters went to Memphis:
Sister Constance, serving as
Sister Superior, who had been
raised as a Unitarian; and three
others, Sister Thecla, who had
worked with the poor in Man-
hattan, and Sister Amelia and
Sister Hughetta, who would
help with the school.
St. Mary’s School was almost
ready to open when the Sis-
ters found themselves in the
midst of a raging yellow fever
epidemic. Infected sailors, ar-
riving at the port of Memphis
on the Mississippi River from
summer 2018 35
connecting
New Orleans, were bitten by
house-loving mosquitoes,
which transmitted the virus
to the city’s inhabitants. The
onset of the disease was usu-
ally sudden, with backache,
headache, and high fever. The
vomiting of blood and jaun-
dice that characterized the
disease followed within a day
or two.
Everyone who could afford it
left Memphis, leaving only “a
few thousand people . . . those
mostly poor & dying at the
rate of from fifty to seventy a
day. Persons with yellow fe-
ver must be fed on hot liquid
food & many have no one to
prepare it for them. Others
who are convalescent require
many things but have not a
cent to buy with. They can get
no work to do, even if they
are strong enough to do it for
there is nothing to be done in
a deserted city. The suffering is
very great.”
Bewildered city officials did
not know how to stop the
36 anglicandigest.org
spread of the fever. The Board
of Health ignored the bayou,
in places an open sewer, that
ran through Memphis. In-
stead, they shot cannons and
burned kegs of pine tar to pu-
rify the air. When the city was
organized into nursing dis-
tricts, despite their lack of
training, the Sisters began
their work of mercy, not as
teachers, but as nurses.
Late in 1873, St. Mary’s School
finally opened, and the insti-
tution flourished. But during
the ensuing years, Memphis’
sanitation did not improve
measurably. On August 17,
1878, a telegram from Mem-
phis came to Peekskill where
the Sisters had gone on retreat,
advising that yellow fever was
again spreading over the city,
urging the Sisters’ immediate
return. Sister Constance and
Sister Thecla left that night.
On arrival, Sr. Constance
found conditions in Mem-
phis to be “much worse than
the facts allowed to be pub-
gathering
lished. The fever is in its most
malignant form — stores shut
— scarcely any provisions
or fresh meat to be had —
and the city is deserted.” The
first thing they saw was “the
old familiar whiteness of the
streets, covered with lime —
the next, a wagon heaped with
the rough boxes, used for cof-
fins.” Later she wrote, “They
are carrying the town poor off
by force to the camp [located
outside the city] — it makes a
great disturbance — the peo-
ple are violently opposed to
it, & the city regiments are on
guard there.” Two weeks later,
Sister Ruth was called out of
retreat in response to another
telegram. She left the next day.
“There are fewer cases than in
‘73,” wrote Sister Constance,
“but they are all so sudden and
so severe — less than two days
will usually bring the end. Five
physicians have left the city —
the rest are working bravely.”
And from another letter, “I
found two families — all down
telling
with the fever, — who had
been without a nurse — one
for two days — one for three
— they had crawled about in
their misery, and helped each
other. . . . The hearses go by
constantly without a sin-
gle mourner — the poor are
thrown into pine boxes, and
buried by dozens — carried
away in express wagons with-
out a prayer . . . ’73 was play-
work to this — it is more like
a plague than an epidemic . . .”
Exhausted and depressed, the
Sisters pinned smalI squares
of linen soaked in carbolic
acid to their clothing to ward
off infection and went out ev-
ery day after the celebration
of Holy Communion to help
the fever victims, returning
only for the evening meal and
talks with Dean Harris of the
Cathedral. Often they didn’t
realize what day of the week it
was. “Oh, it’s Sunday!” some-
one once exclaimed when the
fever was at its height. “Every
day is the Lord’s day now,”
came the answer.
summer 2018 37
connecting
This time the Sisters did not
escape the fever. Sister Fran-
ces, who had come to help
with the orphanage for surviv-
ing children of fever victims,
became ill first, but seemed to
recover. On September 7, Sis-
ter Ruth wrote to the Sisters
in New York that both Sister
Constance and Sister Thecla
were ill. “Dr. Armstrong [the
Sisters’ physician] told us this
morning that he has no hope
for either one. We are helpless
and do not know what we can
do or how help can come.”
The Rev. Charles C. Parsons,
the Sisters’ priest, died after
reading for himself the com-
mendatory prayer. Sister Con-
stance died on September 9.
On September 12, Sister The-
cla died, followed by the death
of Dr. Armstrong on Septem-
ber 14. On September 16,
their faithful Associate Mrs.
Nannie Bullock succumbed;
on the 17th the Rev. Louis
Schuyler, who had come to
Memphis from New Jersey to
help and had been in the city
38 anglicandigest.org
only two weeks, became a vic-
tim of the fever. A few hours
later, Sister Ruth died. And on
October 4, Sister Frances, who
had become ill again, died.
When it was over, over 5,000
of Memphis’ inhabitants were
dead, and the city eventually
became bankrupt and lost its
charter.
With the deaths of Sister Con-
stance and her companions,
wrote Dr. G. H. Houghton,
rector of the Church of the
Transfiguration in New York,
“died and was buried — never
to return again — the preju-
dice against Sisterhoods. The
Sisters of St. Mary are now ev-
erywhere loved and honored.”
Many others gave their lives
during the yellow fever epi-
demic. But it was Constance,
Nun, and her Companions
who became known as the
Martyrs of Memphis and
whose feast day is celebrated
on September 9.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1994
gathering
“KEEP WATCH
OVER US”
The Rev. William A. Kolb
Calvary Church, Memphis, TN
THERE is a beautiful evening
prayer which has been re-
stored to the American Prayer
Book for the ancient service
said at the end of the day:
“Keep watch, dear Lord, with
those who work, or watch,
or weep this night, and give
thine angels charge over those
who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord
Christ; give rest to the weary,
bless the dying, soothe the
suffering, pity the afflicted,
shield the joyous; and all for
thy love’s sake. Amen”
God does keep watch over us.
Ours is a God of compassion
for “all sorts and conditions”
of humankind: those who
“work or watch or weep this
night.” God sends angels to
watch over those who sleep
and are trusting and defense-
less.
telling
God tends, ministers to and
heals the sick. God gives rest
to the weary by refreshing the
spirit of those who seek their
relief in God. God blesses the
dying, because death is a time
of transition from one part of
God’s Kingdom to another.
When we die we are as sure-
ly in God’s loving hands as at
any other time in life; perhaps
more.
God soothes the suffering and
pities the afflicted, because
God adores all of Creation
and is always ready to ease
our earthly burdens if we will
open ourselves to that nurture
and balm.
God shields the joyous. Even
in joy, we need God, to be en-
abled to treasure our times of
joy rather than take them for
granted. We need God’s an-
gels to cushion us from pre-
cipitous falls from joy. And we
need God to help us remain
sensitively and caringly aware
of the suffering of others, even
when we are in a time of joy.
summer 2018 39
connecting
What a great prayer, handed
down through the centuries
by all those earlier genera-
tions of God’s people who
have prayed it throughout
their lives.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1994
QQQ
JENNY
The Very Rev. Walter H. Taylor,
Dean, Christ Church
Cathedral Houston, TX
ONE OF THE CHERISHED
memories of my first years
as a priest is that of a woman
named Jenny. She was well
into her eighties when I first
met her. Never married, she
lived alone in a small apart-
ment that was modest by any-
one’s standards. Although she
was still alert and full of life,
she had difficulty walking, so
generally she stayed close to
home where she entertained a
group of friends whose num-
ber grew smaller each year.
The first time I visited Jenny I
had at my fingertips, so I be-
40 anglicandigest.org
lieved, all the pastoral insights
and techniques I would ever
need. We had a pleasant vis-
it and shared some coffee at
her kitchen table, and when
I got up to leave, I asked her
whether she would like to
have a prayer together. With-
out a moment’s hesitation she
was cheerfully kneeling on
the linoleum floor, and before
I could say a word, she start-
ed to pray. I don’t remember
her exact words, but it was a
simple prayer offered for the
young clergyman kneeling
beside her.
Almost thirty years later, I still
feel warmed by the memo-
ry of Jenny and her prayer. I
remember feeling surprised
initially that she was the one
praying. After all, every-
one knows that it is the cler-
gy who are supposed to do
that! I was also touched that
this dear, old woman with so
many problems of her own
was more concerned about
me than about herself.
gathering
That afternoon Jenny taught
me some important lessons.
By her example she under-
scored that we are all called
— clergy and laity alike — to
minister to one another. Cler-
gy do not have a corner on the
faith and tranquility market.
In fact, we very much need
the prayers and caring sup-
port of lay persons day by day.
As someone once pointed out,
beware of those clergy who
always seem to have life and
limb joyfully and seamlessly
together, because they are the
ones who usually don’t.
Perhaps even more impor-
tantly, Jenny demonstrated
profoundly but simply that
when we become more con-
cerned about others than we
are about ourselves, somehow
the frustrations and burdens
of life are easier to bear or, as
in Jenny’s case, seem to
exist not at all.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1994
telling
THE FEAST OF THE
TRANSFIGURATION
AUGUST 6
Sister Sarah Anne
Community of St. Mary
All Saints’ Cathedral
Milwaukee, WI
ON THE FEAST of the
Transfiguration we celebrate
the revelation of Christ’s di-
vine nature. The feasts of Our
Lord throughout the year
commemorate specific events
in Christ’s earthly life — birth,
death, resurrection and as-
cension. Jesus, as the son of
Mary, was truly human. God
was His Father and He had a
divine nature as well. This di-
vine nature is brought to our
attention at the Baptism of our
Lord when a voice was heard
from heaven, “This is my be-
loved Son.” John the Baptist
was the sole witness to this.
Three disciples were present
when the voice is again heard,
“This is my beloved Son.”
On the way to Jerusalem, Je-
sus goes onto a mountaintop
summer 2018 41
connecting
with a small group of disci-
ples — Peter, James and John.
There Jesus’ appearance is
greatly changed; the divine
glory breaks forth. Two Old
Testament figures appear with
Jesus — Moses represents
the law of the Old Testament
and Elijah, the Old Testament
prophets. Then they disap-
pear. Jesus has fulfilled the
law and the prophets.
The Eastern Church observed
this feast as early as the fourth
century. Although it had been
observed in some western
monastic houses as early as
the ninth century, it was not
declared a universal feast un-
til 1497. Thus the feast made
its way into a late Sarum Mis-
sal, but not into early Prayer
Books.
We may use the expression
“red letter day” without much
thought to the origin of the
words. The most important
feasts of the Church were
written in the calendar in red
42 anglicandigest.org
ink, the lesser ones in black.
In 1561 the feast was restored,
but as a black letter day. In
the 1892 American Book of
Common Prayer the feast was
again ranked as a “red letter
day,” thanks to the efforts of
William Reed Huntington
who wrote the collect which
is still used, though slightly
revised.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1994
The Collect
O GOD, WHO ON the holy
mount didst reveal to chosen
witnesses thy well-beloved
Son, wonderfully transfig-
ured, in raiment white and-
glistening: Mercifully grant
that we, being delivered from
the disquietude of this world,
may by faith behold the King
in his beauty; who with thee,
O Father, and thee, O Holy
Ghost, liveth and reigneth,
one God, world without end.
Amen.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1994
gathering telling

“. . . they come significant matter — very few

looking for
something . . .”
The Rev. Virginia Brown,
Rector, St. Thomas a Becket
Church, Roswell, New Mexico
in The Rio Grande Episcopalian
. . . AS SCHOOL STARTS
again, we’ll have guests,
friends and family from out
of town who are visiting with
the members, and “strangers”
who may be passing through
town, are new to our commu-
nity, or for some other reason
are worshiping with us for
the first time. Surely none of
these people’s visits is an in-
people today just happen to
show up at church because
they have nothing else to do.
They come looking for some-
thing, hoping for something,
and bringing something pre-
cious. They come because, in
one way or another, God has
brought them. God accom-
panies our guests through the
door. God is waiting to meet
them when they get there,
through us — our comunity,
our worship, our interest in
them — and God is waiting to
meet us through them.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1994

remember tad in your will

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summer 2018 43
connecting

st. mary and Bethany, and in both of them

st. martha the two sisters display the
of bethany same different temperament
that we have already seen. In
The Rev. Lawrence N. Crumb in
a sermon at Sisters, Oregon the first, it is Martha who goes
Originally published in out to meet Jesus at some dis-
The Living Church tance from the house, while
IN ST. LUKE, CHAPTER 10, Mary stays at home, deep in
we meet two sisters, Mary mourning. In the second, we
and Martha of Bethany, those read that “Martha served, but
friends of Jesus who, togeth- Lazarus was one of those at
er with their brother Lazarus, table with him. Mary took a
provided Him with hospitality pound of costly ointment of
on many occasions. It is this pure nard and anointed the
passage which has made Mary feet of Jesus and wiped His feet
and Martha household names, with her hair and the house
and the traditional designa- was filled with the fragrance of
tions for the two distinct tem- the ointment.(12:2-4).
peraments which they em-
body. But what are we to make of
all this? It is unfortunate that
We meet them again in St. most people approach the two
John’s Gospel, first in the ac- sisters of Bethany with a built-
count of the raising of their in predisposition to sympa-
brother Lazarus (11:1-44) and thize with one or the other,
again in the description of the depending upon one’s own
supper at which Jesus’ feet are temperament. It is apparent,
anointed with a precious oint- however, that Jesus not only
ment ( 12:1-8). In both of these accepted but valued and loved
episodes, the anonymous vil- each of the sisters for what she
lage of St. Luke is identified as was. But before we can enter

44 anglicandigest.org
gathering
more deeply into Jesus’ appre-
ciation of the two sisters, it is
necessary to clear away some
possible misconceptions.
First, the relationship between
Mary and Martha is not one of
sibling rivalry, such as we see
in the Old Testament broth-
ers Jacob and Esau. The home
at Bethany appears to be one
where Jesus was a frequent
guest, one whose hospitality
He particularly enjoyed. We
know that no one enjoys be-
ing a guest in a home marked
by constant bickering, and we
may assume that the outburst
of Martha, recorded by Luke,
was uncharacteristic; that the
household was, basically, one
of peace and harmony. The
two sisters, with their differ-
ing temperaments, had as-
sumed complementary roles,
and the arrangement worked.
Part of the difference in roles
may have been dictated by a
difference of age; Martha is
always mentioned first (with
one exception, where Mary is
telling
identified in relation to anoth-
er episode) and the house is
described as being hers. The
implication is that Martha is
the older of the two sisters,
perhaps by several years, a sit-
uation which would make her
the logical “head of the house-
hold,” including its kitchen. In
any case, she was the manager
and both were content with
that arrangement. Jesus could
enjoy His visits there, because
the physical amenities were
provided for thanks to Mar-
tha; and the social amenities
were also present, thanks to
Mary.
Second, in our attempt to ap-
preciate Mary and Martha
as representatives of virtues
which complement each oth-
er, we should not over-simpli-
fy the distinction between the
two into a set of false oppo-
sites, such as material versus
spiritual, or practical versus
intellectual, as if Martha were
the worldly one and Mary just
happened to “go in for reli-
summer 2018 45
connecting
gion.” The three stories, taken
together and read carefully,
suggest that both women were
intelligent and devout. And
yet, because of their differing
personalities, these shared
characteristics were expressed
in different ways.
In the story of the raising of
Lazarus, both sisters go out to
meet Jesus, both grieving for
their dead brother Lazarus,
both believing in Jesus the
Messiah. Martha express-
es grief and belief in words:
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have
died. And even now I know
that whatever you ask from
God, God will give you.” And
Jesus, seeing that she is in con-
trol of herself, enters into a dis-
cussion with her, saying, “Your
brother will rise again.” Mar-
tha, sharing the widespread
Jewish belief in a general res-
urrection in the distant future,
but not perceiving what that
has to do with the immediate
situation, replies, “I know that
46 anglicandigest.org
he will rise again in the resur-
rection at the last day.” And Je-
sus, who embodies and makes
present all the divine promises,
replies with the words of hope
which have opened the Angli-
can burial office for over 400
years: “I am the resurrection
and the life; he who believes
in me, though he die, yet shall
he live, and whoever lives and
believes in me shall never die.”
And when Jesus adds, “Do you
believe this?”, Martha’s answer
is straightforward and direct.
“Yes, Lord; I believe that you
are the Christ, the Son of God,
he who is coming into the
world.”
Mary, on the other hand, ex-
presses her grief and her belief
through her actions. She falls
at Jesus’ feet and, after utter-
ing a few words, breaks down
weeping. And Jesus, realizing
not only that she is overcome
with grief goes directly to the
heart of things, does not en-
gage her in discussion, but
proceeds directly to action.
gathering
Here the sisters of Bethany
disappear from the pages of
Scripture, and we cannot say
with any certainty what be-
came of them. In the nearby
cathedral of Tarascon near
Marsailles, home of Daudet’s
fictional hero, Tartarin, there
hangs a huge oil painting of
St. Martha, preaching Christ
to the pagans of Provence.
Perhaps it was easy for her to
witness to the risen Christ,
having seen it prefigured in
the raising of her own broth-
er. In any event, the two sisters
are still very much in charac-
ter; Martha the theologian,
sharing her knowledge of Je-
sus through verbal discourse;
and Mary the mystic, who
had sat at the feet of Jesus and
now serves as companion to
His mother, sharing with her a
memory of the man they both
knew and loved, and doing so
with an intuitive manner that
needs no words to express it-
self. I looked at the painting
of St. Martha the preacher, I
could not help being amused
telling
to think that here in Tarascon,
less than twenty miles from the
great papal palace in Avignon,
the church bears witness to the
inclusion of a woman within
apostolic ministry sharing in
the work of those who saw the
risen Lord and followed His
commission to “go and make
disciples of all nations.”
Reprint from Transfiguration 1996
QQQ
communication
The Bishop of London
in Anglican World.
“The Church should be true
communication. She should
not just engage in the busi-
ness of ‘getting our message
across’. The Christian Gospel
is not just another ideology or
a problem-solving package, it
is a communication of the life
of God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ must be lifted up
as St. John’s Gospel says, that
whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish but have ev-
erlasting life.”
Reprint from Transfiguration 1996
summer 2018 47
connecting
example
G. K. Chesterton
Autobiography
A SOLEMN FRIEND OF my
Grandfather used to go for
walks on Sunday, carrying a
prayerbook, without the least
intention of going to church.
And he calmly defended it by
saying,with uplifted hand, “I
do it, Chessie, as an example
to others.” The man who did
that was obviously a Dick-
ens character. And I am dis-
posed to think that, in being
a Dickens character, he was in
many ways rather preferable
to many modern characters.
Few modern men, howev-
er false, would dare to be so
brazen. And I am not sure he
was not really a more genu-
ine fellow than the modern
man who says vaguely that he
has doubts or hates sermons,
when he only wants to go and
play golf. Hypocrisy itself was
more sincere. Anyway, it was
more courageous.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1996 tions of love is Hell.
48 anglicandigest.org
love
C. S. Lewis
The Four Loves via
The Church of the Redeemer
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
THERE IS NO safe invest-
ment. To love at all is to be
vulnerable. Love anything,
and your heart will certainly
be wrung and possibly bro-
ken. If you want to make sure
of keeping it intact, you must
give your heart to no one, not
even an animal. Wrap it care-
fully round with hobbies and
little luxuries; avoid all entan-
glements, lock it up safe in the
casket or coffin of your self-
ishness. But in that casket —
safe, dark, motionless, airless
— it will change. It will not
be broken, it will become un-
breakable, impenetrable, irre-
deemable. The alternative to
tragedy, or to the risk of trag-
edy, is damnation. The only
place outside Heaven where
you can be perfectly safe from
all the dangers and perturba-
gathering
I believe that the most lawless
and inordinate loves are less
contrary to God’s will than a
self-invited and self-protective
lovelessness . . . We shall draw
nearer to God, not by trying
to avoid the sufferings inher-
ent in all loves, but by accept-
ing them and offering them to
Him, throwing away all defen-
sive armour. If our hearts need
to be broken, and if He choos-
es this as a way in which they
should break, so be it.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1996
QQQ
Doing, not just praying
I am often, I believe, praying
for others when I should be
doing things for them. It’s so
much easier to pray for a bore
than to go and see him.
— C.S. Lewis
QQQ
Life’s cycle
Keep us, Lord, so awake in
the duties of our calling that
we may sleep in thy peace and
wake in thy glory.
— John Donne
telling
“what is a
collect?”
L.E.H. Stephens-Hodge
1961 in The Collects
Editor’s note: for Purposes of
reference, specific collects are
those in the Book of Com-
mon Prayer 1549-1928. Mod-
ern revisions continue the
principle of the Collects of the
Church year.
TO STAND IN the nave of a
vast cathedral like Durham or
St. Alban’s to go down into the
eleventh-century crypt of the
little church of Lastingham in
Yorkshire, to gaze upon the
ruins of St. Joseph’s Chapel
in Glastonbury is to be trans-
ported back to the earliest
centuries of our era and to
realize a sense of continuity
with the past. The gospel of
Jesus Christ which thrills our
hearts today with its message
of reconciliation and peace, is
the same gospel which calmed
the fears and enlightened the
summer 2018 49
connecting

eyes of men and women who pattern.”1 As an art-form it

lived and toiled long ago. is comparable to the sonnet.
Thoughts, instead of words,
But perhaps the church in are made to rhyme in definite
which we happen to worship trophe-patterns, and it has
Sunday by Sunday has been underlying principles of prose
erected in the nineteenth cen- rhythm.
tury or even more recently.
The structure of a collect is
The emphasis may be on its
simple. Usually, though not
modernity and its suitability
invariably, the collect has five
to the needs and aspirations
parts: the invocation, the ac-
of today. Nevertheless we
knowledgment, the petition,
can still be made conscious
the aspiration and the plea.
of the rich heritage of past
days by our use of the Book (i) The Invocation. The Deity
of Common Prayer. Here, in is addressed, either by a sim-
the Church’s liturgy, is mate- ple apostrophe, or with the
rial drawn from all the ages of addition of an adjective or
faith. adjectives describing his pow-
er or mercy. Thus: “O God”
J. W. Suter has pointed out occurs thirteen times and
that what constitutes a collect “O Lord” twenty-one times;
is not so much its content or “Almighty God” is specially
its length as its literary pat- characteristic of the collects
tern; “a listener accustomed before and after Easter. In the
to the collect-form can usu- collect of Trinity VII, God is
ally tell, after he has heard addressed as “Lord of all pow-
the opening words, approx- er and might,” in the collect
imately how the prayer will for Grace at Morning Prayer
continue; not anticipating the we cry: “O Lord our Heavenly
actual words, but sensing the Father.”

50 anglicandigest.org
gathering
In line with our Lord’s words
to His disciples in John 16:23
(“in that day ye shall ask me
nothing . . . whatsoever ye
shall ask the Father in my
name, he will give it to you”),
prayer is normally offered
directly to the Father, Christ
Himself is invoked in the col-
lects of Advent III, Lent I and
St. Stephen’s Day and all three
persons of the sacred trinity
are addressed in the collect of
Epiphany VI. On Trinity Sun-
day, God is approached with-
out any distinction of person
as the “Almighty and everlast-
ing God” who lives and reigns
“one God, world without end”.
(ii) The Acknowledgment. This
is really an additional part of
the introductory address and,
as Dean Goulburn pointed
out,2 gives us the foundation
of doctrine upon which our
prayer is based. Instead of an
adjective or noun in apposi-
tion, we have a clause intro-
duced by a relative pronoun,
“who,” “whose,” or “whom.”
telling
The statements inside the
relative clause will be found
to have special significance
in view of the petition which
follows. Many examples could
be given, but the reader is re-
ferred especially to the col-
lects of Epiphany II, IV, Whit-
sunday, and Trinity II, VIII
and XII.
Sometimes, instead of an ac-
knowledgment of God’s pow-
er and grace, we plead our
own weakness and unworthi-
ness, as in the collect of Trin-
ity XV; “because the frailty of
man without thee cannot but
fall, keep us ever by thy help
. . .”
(iii) The Petition. This is the ac-
tual prayer. Occasionally it is
couched in the very words of
Scripture, as on Ash Wednes-
day where we pray, “Create
and make in us new and con-
trite hearts”; a direct echo of
Psalm 51:10. A study of these
petitions will show that they
cover most of the basic needs
of the human heart, not only
summer 2018 51
connecting
the need for cleansing but
also for protection, guidance,
power for service, comfort in
adversity, holiness and love.
(iv) The Aspiration. This oc-
curs in a few collects and is
introduced by the conjunc-
tion “that”. A good example is
in the collect of Trinity XXI:
“Grant . . . to thy faithful peo-
ple pardon and peace, that
they may be cleansed from all
their sins, and serve thee with a
quiet mind.” The actual things
asked for in the petition are
pardon and peace. But these
things are not ends in them-
selves. They are sought in
order that we may be better
fitted for God’s service. God
gives that we may give, give
ourselves to Him without
fear and without distraction.
Thus the petition is drawn to
a higher level. We ask, not for
our own selfish enjoyment,
but for God’s glory and the
extension of His kingdom.
(v) The Plea. Our approach to
God was encouraged at the
52 anglicandigest.org
collect’s beginning by some
aspects of His divine charac-
ter, His almighty power, His
providential government of
the world, or by His partic-
ular acts of mercy and grace
shown to saints of old. But
our strongest encouragement
is always to be found in Je-
sus Christ, whose life, death
and resurrection constitute
the fullest revelation of the
Father’s love, and who is our
only Mediator and Advocate.
Through Him alone can we
draw near to God.
Thus almost every collect ends
with the words “through Jesus
Christ our Lord”. He is the Re-
deemer through whose sac-
rifice we have been cleansed
and reinstated in the fami-
ly of God; His Spirit within
our hearts prompts us to say
“Abba, Father.” So we pray “in
His Name”.
1
The Book of English Collects (Harp-
er and Bros.) 1940, p. 29.
2
The Collects, 1880, vol. 1, ch. 3.
3
John 14:13 f.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1996
gathering
The Gate
of Heaven
(Genesis 28:17)
submitted by
The Rev. Patrick Gahan
St. Stephen’s Church
Beaumont, TX
THE CHURCH HOUSE was
always dark when I would ar-
rive at 5:30 a.m. I would walk
down the long, red-carpeted
aisle with respectful fear of
what I might find there.
These were the last days of
unlocked sanctuaries in the
city. It was my job to turn on
the lights, sweep the entrance
and the sidewalks, and turn
on the large coffee urn before
the early service at All Saints’
Church, Birmingham, Ala-
bama. From time to time I
had company, yet the visitors
would leave as the sleepy-
eyed communicants slipped
silently into their familiar
pews and onto their knees in
preparation for the 7:30 ser-
vice of Holy Communion.
telling
I was 13, and that unlit, long,
carpeted aisle is my first teen-
aged memory of the church.
In truth, I feared the hobos,
dogs and birds less than I did
the God who inhabited that
still, dark sanctuary.
Later on Sunday mornings, as
I was setting up the Sunday
school rooms in the under-
croft, I would hear the cus-
tomary canticles of Morning
Prayer rolling disturbingly
down the stairs to me.
For the Lord is a great God
and a great King
above all gods.
In his hand are all the comers
of the earth, and the heights
of the hills are his also.
O come let us worship and
fall down and kneel before
the Lord our Maker . . .
And the “Benedictus” would
echo, close at the heels of the
“Venite.”
summer 2018 53
connecting
Blessed are thou that beholdest
the depths,
and dwellest between the
Cherubim;
praised and exalted above all
forever.
This Episcopal God was no
casual chum. To fall into his
grasp was serious business.
My feelings of awe for this
God were only confirmed
when I was sent to St. An-
drew’s School at age 14. There
amongst the mountains of
the Cumberland Plateau in
Tennessee, the monks of the
Order of the Holy Cross car-
ried a Bible in one hand and
a board in the other, and felt
that the time boys spent on
their knees was never wast-
ed. Our daily retreat into that
musty, stuccoed chapel, dom-
inated by the wood-hewed,
life-sized crucifix centered on
the north wall, was a sojourn
into the other world. Eliza-
bethan English mingled with
medieval Latin, incense so
thick the altar appeared to be
54 anglicandigest.org
floating, and the crisp ring of
the Sanctus bells reverberated
through our ears, disturbing
our adolescent apathy with
something more akin to quix-
otic urgency.
Holy holy, holy, Lord God
of Hosts:
Heaven and earth are full of
thy glory.
Glory be to thee, O Lord
Most High.
I would have scoffed at the
suggestion that I was “reli-
gious” during my teenaged
years. I can only remember
electively praying before bas-
ketball games, trigonometry
tests and dateless Saturday
nights. But I was not quaran-
tined from the spiritual world.
What is more, I was spared
pietistic notions of a god who
was fashioned more like a
kindly great-uncle than the
One who dwells between the
winged cherubim and holds
the corners of the earth in his
hand. I learned he was a “jeal-
ous” God, a “consuming fire,”
gathering
that he wanted all or nothing,
and that the yellowing, tor-
mented Christ on the chapel’s
north wall was testimony to
just how serious God was.
Those Anglican canticles, Gre-
gorian chants, papery wafers,
and sweet port wine remained
with me long after I exited the
gates of St. Andrew’s School.
So did the adult personalities
who stood beside and knelt be-
side me in those padless pews.
When I heard the call of God
myself, I knew the gravity of
the summons. I could remem-
ber what a Christ-centered life
looked like — like those teach-
ers, monks, nuns, coaches, and
priests who worked for next
to nothing so that we boys
might become something; like
those men and women silent-
ly sliding onto the kneelers at
All Saints’ Church on Sunday
morning, ignoring any notion
that Sundays were solely for
sleeping in, fishing or for just
lingering long over the funny
papers.
telling
The seeds of my conversion
were planted deep by that
throng of faithful Christians
in my past, and that soil has
been tended by the rhymes
of the Episcopal Church’s
prayers and services, so that
my roots have grown stronger
in the Lord. I cannot boast of
my decision to follow Christ.
Ultimately he was fearfully ir-
resistible. Yet I can say I love
this church, for it is a place
where the immanence of God
is courageously tethered to his
transcendence, and the confi-
dence we have in Christ Jesus
dwells alongside the mystery
we encounter in his presence.
Reprint from Transfiguration 1996
QQQ
Did you know?
The Church of the Transfig-
uration, New York City, was
the first to be dedicated to the
mystery of Our Lord’s Trans-
figuration? The Feast entered
the Prayer Book in 1892
summer 2018 55
connecting

do you work way we have practiced our

on sundays? Christian faith. But there has
never beeen a time when ded-
St. John’s Church,
Vernon, Connecticut icated Christians could not
find a way to remain faithful
You may feel angry, cheated, in a faithless age, even one
perhaps embarrassed, or de- that made the Sabbath day
feated. Today, there are thou- of worship and rest a day of
sands of Americans kept away work and commercialism.
from the Sunday worship of
the Christian community by Reprint from Transfiguration 1997
the economic necessity that QQQ
may require their labor on the
Needed connection
Sabbath.
A person’s spiritual life is al-
One’s exile from Sunday wor- ways dwarfed when cut apart
ship should never extinguish from history. Mysticism is
the human desire to offer empty unless it is enriched by
praise and thanks to God. outward and historical revela-
Thus, the Episcopal Church tion. The supreme education
has a long tradition of mid- of the soul comes through an
week worship. More impor- intimate acquaintance with
tantly, our Book of Common Jesus Christ of history.
Prayer, from its inception in
—Rufus M. Jones in
1549, gives us the treasures of
The Double Search
Morning and Evening Prayer.
These can be prayed by any- QQQ
one, on any day, including a WHATSOEVER
time on Sunday. YE DO
There is much about our cul- DO ALL TO THE
ture today that challenges the GLORY OF GOD
56 anglicandigest.org
gathering
One of my favorite sum-
mertime sitting and observ-
ing places is a swing under
our old apple trees. Nobody
knows how old those trees
are. The wonder is not that
they continue to bear but
that they even stand. Both
have been savaged by snow
and ice and winter winds
and summer thunderstorms.
They are gnarled and twisted
and growing at an angle that
gives evidence of the prevail-
ing winds from the south up
Deer Valley. Nevertheless,
year in and year out, they give
us a crop of Rome Beautys —
good for pies, applesauce, sal-
ads and just plain eatin’.
The swing is set at an angle
and framing my view are two
magnificent oaks. One is at
the corner of the Farm House
next to the oak from which
hangs the bird feeder that
provides the occupant of the
telling
HILLSPEAKING
Bishops’ Room an ongoing
feast to the eyes from early
light until dark. The other, to
the left front as I sit here, must
be more than a hundred years
old and is the first in a line of
oak and black walnut trees
that extends to the tractor
shed. Each is sixty feet high
(or more) with a commensu-
rate spread.
Dead ahead of me at a little
distance is one of four mar-
tin houses. Hereabouts the
martins arrive on or about St.
Joseph’s Day (local folklore
which has them arriving ex-
actly on time to the contrary).
First came the scouts (when
the folks in what our Found-
ing Father called “these love-
ly parts,” say “The scouts are
here,” we know they are not
referring to Boy, Girl, or base-
ball scouts). Once the martins
take up residence they be-
come very territorial and I am
summer 2018 57
connecting

scolded in no uncertain terms okra (an odd combination but

when I attempt to deadhead it seems to work). From late
the peonies that are planted June until mid-August or so
around the poles that support those four little beds will pro-
their houses (and Gray Cat is vide the Farm House (and the
even less welcome than I am). deer) with salad material (yes,
even the okra — delicious raw
Slightly to the left of this par- when picked young and ten-
ticular martin house is one of der and fresh).
four birdbaths on the Morn-
ingside of Hillspeak. They are So this is my summer seat.
as popular as any Roman bath You are welcome to join me.
ever was on these hot summer Just sit quietly — and observe.
days. The Trustees’ Warden
in Summertidings
To my left is a split-rail fence Reprint from Transfiguration 1997
that runs down to the line of
trees and a rose garden. Oft-
times in the summer a rob-
in perches on the end-post.
We keep a coiled garden
hose there for convenience
so doubtless he is keeping a
watchful eye out lest it come
to life.

To my right are four narrow

raised beds. In the farther-
most are three zucchini plants,
then bell peppers, then toma- “The rector never lets us stand
toes, and then cucumbers and over the air conditioning vent!”

58 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy

The “mrs miniver hymn”

The Rev. Canon Peter Harvey in
Glory, Laud, and Honour;

In my twenties, I regarded Mrs. Miniver as one of the best

movies I had ever seen and I expect there are many others who
will remember this wartime film with as much affection as I
do. The film tells the story of a lady (Mrs. Miniver) whose only
son is killed as a pilot in the Battle of Britain. The parish church
is destroyed in an air raid and the whole village is involved.
What I did not know then was that the author of the best-sell-
ing novel (on which the film was based) would also be the au-
thor of one of my best-loved modern hymns. It was called the
‘All-day hymn’ and was often sung at school assembly and the
like. Now I am glad to say it has found its way into general use
in churches of all denominations everywhere: Lord of all hope-
fulness, Lord of all joy.

The author used the pen-name Jan Struther — her family name
was Anstruther and she was born in London and then went to
live at Playden, near Rye. At one time she was on the Editori-
al Board of The Times. A great friend of Dr. Percy Dearmer,
responsible for the creation of the hymnal Songs of Praise
(1931), she composed this lovely hymn deliberately at his re-
quest to fit the old Irish folk tune ‘Slane’, to which it is sung uni-
versally. She married a Polish airman and became Mrs. Joyce
Placzek.

summer 2018 59
connecting

Another of her hymns, When Mary brought her treasure, is a

very lovely one for Candlemas Day, and, very appropriately,
is still sung every year at the Rye Deanery Candlemas Service.

No eye of man could measure,

The joy upon her face.
He was but six weeks old,
Her plaything and her pleasure,
Her silver and her gold.

When the child grew to become the carpenter of Nazareth, our

author again has just the right words:

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,

Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,
Be there at our labours, and give us, we pray,
Your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

And Jan Struther needed all the strength she could get, for
cancer struck her down in early middle age. Indeed, she was
only 52 when she died in America in 1953. In the light of this,
the closing lines of her ‘All-day hymn’ take on an added poi-
gnancy:

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,

Whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,
Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,
Your peace in our hearts, Lord at the end of the day.

Reprint from Transfiguration 1997

60 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

NECROLOGY
The Rev. Alvin P. Lafon, Redden Thaddeus An-
90, in Albany, Oregon. He dress, II, 85, in Minden,
served in the Navy during Louisiana. A graduate of the
WWII and was a graduate of University of the South and
Boston University and Berke- Harvard University. He was
ley Divinity School. He served a lifelong member of Saint
parishes in Utah, Massachu- John’s Church in Minden. He
setts and California. was very active in civic and
church affairs and served in
The Rev. Canon Colin positions in the Diocese of
Craston, 94, in Horwich, En- Western Louisiana and was
gland. A graduate of Bristol a deputy to eight consecutive
University and a Bachelor of General Conventions.
Divinity from London Uni-
versity as well as a Lambeth The Rt. Rev. D. Bruce
Doctorate in Divinity. He re- MacPherson, 77, in Edmond,
ceived commendations for Oklahoma. A graduate of Cy-
his service as a telegraphist in press College and Bloy House.
the Royal Navy during World He served as a hospital chap-
War II. He served Saint Paul’s, lain in Los Angeles, Canon to
Bolton for nearly 40 years, was the Ordinary in Los Angeles,
an honorary canon of Man- Canon to the Ordinary in the
chester Cathedral, honorary Diocese of Dallas as well as
chaplain to the Queen, mem- Suffragan Bishop in Dallas.
ber of the Anglican Consulta- He was then elected Bishop
tive Council for 15 years, serv- of the Diocese of Western
ing 6 of them as Chair.. Louisiana.
summer 2018 61
connecting
The Rev. Halsey Stevens,
III, 78, of Bloomfield, Con-
necticut. He was a graduate of
Nasson College and Berkeley
Divinity School at Yale. He
served parishes in Connecti-
cut, Maryland and Rhode
Island.
The Rev. Anne F. C.
Richards, 67, in New York
City. A graduate of Smith
College, New York Universi-
ty and General Theological
Seminary. She served a num-
ber of roles in parishes in New
York as well as in the Diocese
of New York.
The Rev. Cathy B. Hort-
on, Esq., 55, in Cleveland,
Ohio. Attended the Univer-
sity of Michigan, received a
law degree from Ohio State
and attended The University
of Kent Canterbury and was
ordained priest in England.
She served several churches
in England as an advisor to
Tony Blair on his Technology
Innovation Committee.
62 anglicandigest.org
The Rev. Addison K.
Groff, 98, in Los Angeles,
California. A graduate of
Franklin & Marshall College,
Lancaster Theological Semi-
nary and General Theological
Seminary. He served parishes
in East Orange, Rochelle Park
and West Orange, New Jersey
and was chaplain of the East
Orange and Rochelle Park fire
departments.
The Rev. Thomas C.
Davis, 88, in Anderson,
South Carolina. He attended
Washington and Lee Univer-
sity and graduated from Drew
University with a Master of
Divinity Degree. He was or-
dained in the Methodist
Church and was later received
into the Episcopal Church.
He served parishes in Penn-
sylvania, Massachusetts, and
South Carolina and as a U.S.
Army Chaplain in Vietnam.
May they rest in peace,
and rise in glory.
 gathering

summer 2018
Advent Episcopal School Choral Ensemble members are selected by audition each year from
rising fourth through eighth grade students. The group performs at school and Civic functions
throughout the year and weekly at the school’s Chapel Service.

63
telling
 Cathedral Church of the Advent
Birmingham, Alabama

Member of the Parish Partner Plan