Michaelmas and the Celestial Chivalry

Today the Church commemorates the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels otherwise referred to as "Michaelmas."  Today we remember those other heralds of God the Father, the angels.  The Anglican tradition maintains the three main archangels:Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel.  Often there is the fourth, Uriel.  Especially in the Episcopal tradition, there seems to be a fear of discussing the angelic hand of God.  Michael is my middle name and I have always had a special place in my heart for the warrior of the Father.  While I do not count angelic theology as a particular interest of mine, I know that I do not know enough about angels in heavenly chorus.  I pray this day that I may come to a greater knowledge of angels and the celestial chivalry.

Hymn
Tibi, Christe, spledor Patris*

Thee, O Christ, the Father's splendour,
Life and virtue of the heart,
In the presence of the Angels
Sing we now with tuneful art;
Meetly in alternate chorus
Bearing our responsive part.

Thus we praise with veneration
All the armies of the sky;
Chiefly him, the warrior Primate
Of celestial chivalry,
Michael, who in princely virtue
Cast Abaddon from on high.

By whose watchful care repelling,
King of everlasting grace,
Every ghostly adversary,
All things evil, all things base,
Grant us of thine only goodness
In thy paradise a place.

Glory to the Father sing we
with resounding voices sweet,
Glory unto Christ our Saviour,
Glory to the Paraclete:
Standing forth, One God and Trinal,
Ere the ages; as is meet.
Amen.
________________

*The Monastic Diurnal (London:  Oxford University Press, 1963).

A Feast Day Collect

Everlasting God, who have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sermon Audio

Okay, I'm honestly not a self-promoter, but I thought this was actually a decent picture of me taken whilst preaching at St. Paul's.

Click on the link to hear my most recent sermon given at St. Paul's, Chattanooga.
http://stpaulschatt.homestead.com/Pentecost16_sermon.mp3

Morning Prayer Reflection

Proper 20,  Daily Office Year 1

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Chapel of the Apostles

Sewanee, Tennessee

2 Kings 5:19-27

1 Cor 5:1-8

___________________________________________

Lord David Hope, former Archbishop of York and yours truly

 outside of Halifax Parish Church, June 2009.

It was nearing the end of my time on placement from The College of the Resurrection at Halifax Parish Church in West Yorkshire.  The Parish was celebrating its patronal feast day, that of Saint John the Baptist.  It was a truly festive occasion, complete with a rare High mass set of vestments on loan from the Community of the Resurrection.  Our guest preacher that evening was Lord David Hope, the former Archbishop of York and Primate of England.  Following the peace, the Vicar invited me to stand next to him at the altar before the canon of the mass was to begin.  All ready the nerves were starting to kick in.  After the fraction and the clergy received the holy sacrament, Hilary—the vicar—handed a chalice of wine to the Archbishop and then turned to me and handed me the patten full of bread!  Now, I had several images racing in my head of a certain liturgics professor here having a mild stroke at this proposition, but I had to pull it together as the choir was in place and ready to receive.  Perhaps I was safe being a continent away!

Out came the hands.  So I did what I knew, I carefully took the wafer, made the sign of the cross and said, “the body of Christ, the bread of heaven.”  At that point, I had no earthly idea what Common Worship said about any of this, nor was I about to embarrass the vicar by asking Lord David his opinion on the matter.  Vicars in the Church of England have absolute, legal authority over their parishes.  So off I went.  One by one, I distributed the bread in the most reverent manner possible.  What struck me the most as I walked back and forth behind the altar rail was the image of one broken human being handing over the bread of wholeness to another.  The eyes, their eyes were very telling.  So much of the pain of life, the joy of life, and the hope for Christ was all bound together in their eyes.  It was palpable.      

During my hour-long bus ride back to Mirfield, I reflected on what had happened in the liturgy.  This bread, this bread of sincerity and truth was in our hands so that it could feed our souls.  Christ’s body taken, blessed, broken, and given to the world was somehow making me whole, giving me life to pursue the truth.  I, like most seminarians I’m sure, daydream of the time when as a celebrate at the table, I can proclaim to the people, “Alleluia, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us.”  And now I find myself in the very midst of unpacking those words.  To proclaim those words is to know deeply what Paul is describing in today’s epistle.

The unleavened bread, rises up, just as Our Lord rose from the tomb.  We are bound to strip away the old leaven, the leaven of sin that attempts to destroy our lives.  Just as the Corinthians read this exhortation from Paul, we hear this today as the invitation to strive for the narrow door, to remove from ourselves those things which pervert the Gospel and obscure the truth.  That way, we can say with all sincerity and truth, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20).

The bread of life was given for freedom to live a life of conversion as God’s beloved people.  Disorder, chaos, and sickness are the results of sin.  Wholeness and health are results of the truth.  Hear what the first letter of John says, “for if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”(1 John 1: 8-9).

So for today, seek the banquet of the lamb, the great festival of festivals, where we all have a welcomed seat ready for us.  But know this, there is no warning label attached to the Christian life, your pursuit of the truth may be dangerous, but ultimately the heavenly joy will shine down on your path as you rise up to meet Our Lord upon the road.  Therefore let us keep the feast.  Amen.

Deo Soli Gloria: An Appreciation

Icon of Saint Gregory the Great

The Brotherhood of Saint Gregory (BSG)

Deo Soli Gloria, or "to God alone the glory," is the motto of the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory the Great (BSG).  BSG is a religious order in The Episcopal Church and is celebrating this year the fortieth anniversary of their founding.  The following is from their website:

The Brotherhood of Saint Gregory is a Christian Community of the Episcopal Church, whose members follow a common rule and serve the church on parochial, diocesan, and national levels. Members--clergy and lay, without regard to marital status--live individually, in small groups, or with their families. They support themselves and the community through their secular or church-related work, making use of their God-given talents inthe world while not being of the world. The trust that all labor and life can be sanctified is summed up in the community's motto: Soli Deo Gloria, To God Alone the Glory.

The Brotherhood was founded on Holy Cross Day 1969, by Richard Thomas Biernacki, the present Minister General, after consultation with many Episcopal and Roman Catholic religious. Among the latter the Sisters of the Visitation were particularly helpful and encouraging. It was in their Riverdale, New York, monastery chapel that the first members made profession of vows to the Brotherhood's chaplain, the Rev Thomas F Pike.

Later that year, Bishop Horace W B Donegan of New York recognized the Brotherhood as a Religious Community of the Episcopal Church. Upon his retirement, his successor, Bishop Paul Moore jr, became Visitor to the brothers, whom he came to call the "Flexible Friars." He was succeeded by Bishop Walter D. Dennis, Suffragan of New York. The present Visitor is Bishop Rodney R. Michel, Suffragan of Long Island.

The icon is currently on display at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee where one brother, Br. Ron Fender, BSG worships.  He is something of a local saint, though he would tell you that he isn't!  He is deeply engaged with the work of the homeless in Chattanooga and he is supported by our parish.  We also are blessed to have a BSG brother here at the School of Theology this year as he completes his studies for ordination.

The icon is painted on a bread board worn down over the years by working hands (double-click on the icon to enlarge it).  It was written by the founder and Minister General of the Order.  Pope Gregory the Great is shown on his cathedra as a dove of the Holy Spirit flies near his right ear for inspiration consistent with the traditional accounts of these visits of the Spirit during Gregory's sermon-writing.  The four evangelist gospel writers are depicted by their animal metaphors in the corners.

I give thanks for the Brothers of Saint Gregory for their growing witness to our world and for their labor and prayers to further the Kingdom of God.