Chapel of the Apostles

Nothing, perhaps, causes more angst among seminarians than settling in to their new worshipping space. At The School of Theology, the Chapel of the Apostles (affectionately known simply as "COTA") is the rather awkward worship space for the seminary.  Consecrated in 2001, COTA is a wonderful place for meditative prayer and reflection.  Liturgically, it can be a challenging space.  It's also a challenge to take photographs inside...

About a year and half ago, we moved the space to be oriented in a "collegiate" style, with the congregation facing inwards with the altar and ambo on a direct plane--which actually goes baptismal font, ambo, and then altar.  Any hints as to where we stand with the proposition of an open table?  Alas, the seminary does not see itself as the laboratory for defying the canons of the Church.

Once inside, the narthex is centered around a large copper baptismal font.  And as a Sacristan of the Chapel, I can assure that this water gets changed religiously--pun intended (corny I know).

I am willing to go out on a limb and say that Sewanee and most likely Nashotah House are the only Episcopal Seminaries with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady.  Here we have what I believe to be Our Lady of Guadeloupe, given the horns on the base.  It is in the Lady Chapel where we reserve the Sacrament and have a side reconciliation room as well.  We do boast the world's smallest seminary sacristy, getting vested in there with all the altar party can be a challenge too!

So call me nostalgic, I just wanted to have some posts of the places where I've been worshipping and building community lo these past three years.

All Saints' Chapel

All Saints' Chapel stands in the very heart of the University of the South, a.k.a. "Sewanee."  Located high atop the Cumberland Plateau in Sewanee, Tennessee, the University of the South is home to The School of Theology, a seminary of The Episcopal Church.  It's also been home to me for the past two years.  The University claims ownership by the Episcopal Church, and its board is comprised of twenty-eight southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, with each bishop serving along with clergy and laity.

All Saints' is the University Chapel, where all our major festivities take place, complete with all the pomp and circumstance.  It's a great place to attend a well executed Rite II service.

All Saints' is something of a "royal peculiar" of sorts, an ecclesiological phenomenon.  The University sits in the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and in the bounds of Otey Parish--the local Episcopal parish in Sewanee.  Yet, the Chancellor of the University is a bishop of one of the owning dioceses.  The newly elected Chancellor is the Bishop of Atlanta (formerly the liturgy professor at The School of Theology).  The Chaplain of All Saints' is thus canonically resident in the Diocese of Tennessee and is answerable to the bishop of said diocese, but also has the Chancellor of the University as a boss!  Moreover, all sacramental acts of baptism and confirmation are recorded at Otey Parish because the University Chapel is not a regular worshipping parish.  To add more confusion, the Dean of the School of Theology acts as the Ordinary of the seminary chapel, but is somewhat under the Chaplain of the University.  Sadly, there are too many restrictions in order to have a child baptized in the seminary chapel and weddings in either chapel are even more complicated.

The University Choir hosts monthly services of Evensong and sing at the main 11:00 a.m. Sunday liturgy.  During the first weekend in December, the Chapel celebrates a locally famous Advent service of Lessons and Carols which can sometimes be standing room only (an Advent service because all the students have gone home during the Christmas break).

The font in the Chapel is amazing.  Complete with eight sides, carved statues of saints, and "living" water flowing, it harkens any liturgist back to the early days of Hippolytus.  My son was baptized here during the Easter Vigil in 2008 by the retired Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi.  Around the ambulatories, banners with the seals of the twenty-eight owning dioceses hang.

The High Altar is equally stunning.  Only used for Rite I services, sadly, the altar boasts statues of both historically Anglican saints as well as some peculiar to Sewanee, such as William Porcher DuBose.  The windows surrounding the Chapel can keep your eyes busy for hours.  I plan to take some photos of those windows soon.  The window above the High Altar depicts Christ the King, in all his kingly and imperial splendor.  Flanking the altar in this space are carved stalls for each owning bishop of the University, with carved seals of those dioceses atop each chair.

Always open for private prayer or simply a space for quiet reflection, All Saints' is a very special place for thousands of Sewanee Alumni and friends.  If you are ever in the area, stop in for a few minutes, it is well worth the pilgrimage.

Matthean Judgment and Elizabeth, Princess of Hungry

Feast Day of Elizabeth, Princess of Hungry

November 19, 2009

Chapel of the Apostles

Sewanee, Tennessee

Tobit 12:6b-9

Matthew 25:31-40

  

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these 
my brothers and sisters, you did it to me....”

       Her name was Sara, and this is her story.[1]  I met Sara while working during Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Saint Matt’s, a homeless shelter specializing in recovery programs for drug addiction and alcoholism.  St. Matt’s was founded on this very text from our Gospel this evening.  Now Sara was about 49 years old and she was recently released from prison.  She was homeless, in recovery for her crack addiction, and she was a prostitute.  Her face was rough, worn down by years of smoking and falling upon the hard knocks of street life.  In order to get money for her addiction, she would steal her mother’s jewelry and pawn it for crack.  One day she came to visit with me and told me that she still had some of her mother’s jewelry and did not know what to do with it, for she did not want it as it just lingered as a constant reminder of her past.  She had virtually no money to her name and each client of St. Matt’s was required to pay $25 a week to the shelter, demonstrating their commitment towards recovery.  I asked her what she thought would a good act of charity.  We then discovered that the ideal thing to do would be to sell the jewelry and anonymously pay the weekly fees for some families in the shelter that were struggling mightily.

      

I did not see her for a few days on the property and one afternoon she popped in with a huge smile.  She had done just what she said she was going to do.  Not only did this act of love help her to feel good about herself, it made her feel empowered as a human being who is a beloved child of God.  I saw in Sara the beginnings of her process of breaking free from the bonds of sin that enslaved her.  At the end of my time at the shelter, she brought me a gift, a National Geographic magazine featuring the history of the Vatican.  She paid 50 cents for it, and she was well on her way towards a holistic recovery.   

  

Our Gospel this evening from Matthew is a scene of judgment—the separating of the sheep from the goats.  To establish the context for this passage, it is preceded by three parables about preparing for the coming of the Son of Man, demanding constant watchfulness from the Matthean community of Jewish Christians.  The interpretation is that there is a separate judgment upon the Jews and the Gentiles by the Messiah—which is consistent with the Jewish ideas about the judgment of Gentiles.  The background for our text this evening is the judgment of Gentiles based on their treatment of Israel.[2]  The departure for Matthew is how these new Jewish Christians of Matthew’s community accept the presence of non-Jews who were not Christian while explaining how and why they can become part of the Kingdom of God.[3]  This gets at the difficulty of interpreting these offensive texts as anti-Semitic, as Dr. Holloway suggests in his recent sermon on this very same passage.[4] 

       

So if we hold to this idea that when the Son of Man sits upon his throne in final judgment looking at the non-believing Gentiles and separating out who has done works of charity and mercy directed towards us, then we diminish millions of other people who are to be sent off to eternal damnation.  Holloway reminds us that this is form of “Christian absolutism” at its very core.[5]  Is this the good news that we hunger for?  Was St. Matt’s shelter founded upon the direct exclusion of others?  No and no.  But we must acknowledge that this is in our tradition and we must repent of it.

       

So the preaching task, then, is how to apply this Gospel text in our everyday lives, teasing out the Good News.  We choose the side of hospitality, to recognize God’s likeness and image in all persons, receiving every person as though we are receiving Christ himself—something that is so old in our tradition as well and can be found in St. Benedict’s Rule.  We choose to place at the center of my life the “Fount of all Being,” and nourish that presence daily with prayer, scripture, and the Eucharist.  Being consumed by Christ, acts of mercy, love, and charity become our natural response.  Being consumed by Christ, we do not stand for the disfigurement of poverty, hunger, and discrimination which prevails in our time and circumstance.  Being consumed by Christ, we serve as the hands of the King of Kings here and now—not because it wins us points in the big book, but because we become transfigured beings by those whom we purport to help.  This is what I think Jesus means when he says later in Matthew, “for you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”[6]

       

The 50 cents that Sara spent for the National Geographic was an act that transformed me—I had seen that issue before, but this time it became something very powerful, something Christ-like. 

       

There is no coincidence that our text today falls on the feast of Elizabeth, Princess of Hungry, who modeled Christian charity and gave up her wealth to further the common good of the people of Hungry.     

       

In this Kingdom season, which reaches its climax this Sunday being Christ the King, my prayer for us all is that we stand in our truth and acknowledge those texts in Holy Scripture that divide and pass judgment on others.  The truth does indeed set us free, free to worship God without fear, holy and righteous in God’s sight, all the days of our life.  Amen.    

---

[1] The name has been changed to protect confidentiality.

[2] See Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., The Gospel of Matthew, in Sacra Pagina.  (Minnesota:  The Liturgical Press, 1991), 358-359.

[3] Ibid., 359.

[4] Dr. Paul A. Holloway in a sermon delivered in the Chapel of the Apostles (Sewanee, TN) on November 11, 2009.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Matt 26:11, NRSV

St. Hugh of Lincoln

Today on the Church's Kalendar, we remember Hugh of Lincoln, Bishop and Confessor.  Hugh is a favorite of mine and I want to share with you my journey to his shrine.

I made my way on pilgrimage to Lincoln Cathedral this summer so that I may venerate Hugh's relics housed there at the cathedral.  The cathedral itself is massive, plainly understating its historic beauty which towers above the city of Lincoln.  I think, I cannot recall, that I had to pay to get inside the cathedral.  Against my own aversion to such practices, I was willing to pay whatever, since the trip down to Lincoln from Mirfield was already costing me more than I had imagined for such an expedition.  Plus, with two small children in tow, I was going to see the inside of this cathedral!

Hugh met my expectations.  The shrine is housed in the far eastern end of the cathedral, behind the high altar and surrounded by several small chapels.  I was simply humbled to be in the midst of this great saint, bishop, and confessor of the catholic faith.

I first learned about Hugh early in my seminary formation and my interest grew even more thanks to a BBC series on the cathedrals of England which devoted an entire episode to Lincoln Cathedral.

Double-click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see more detail.

The western facade, currently undergoing renovation.

Inside the nave, facing eastwards.

The Shrine itself.  There is a rather hideous modern structure towering above it, a good try but rather odd and out of place.

Now you can see the spire of sorts.  Why?!?

The reliquary of St. Hugh.

The cathedra of the Bishop of Lincoln.

Painting of Hugh with his swan next to the Shrine.

My family braving the uphill expedition to the Cathedral.  I owed them big time.

The Icon of Hugh that I wrote in 2008 with words from the

American Collect on the scroll.

I put him in his Chartusian monastic habit.

Here is a Collect for Hugh, Bishop and Confessor from my newly acquired altar missal, The English Missal, Third Edition. (London: W. Knott and Sons, 1934).  More on the English Missal later.

O God, who didst wonderously adorn blessed Hugh, thy Confessor and Bishop, with pre-eminent merits and glorious miracles:  mercifully grant; that we may be stirred up by his example and enlightened by his virtues.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

But, I may add that it does not even hold a candle to Hugh's Collect found in The Episcopal Church's Lesser Feasts and Fasts:

O holy God, you endowed your servant and bishop Hugh of Lincoln with wise and cheerful boldness, and taught him to commend the discipline of holy life to kings and princes: Grant that we also, rejoicing in the Good News of your mercy, and fearing nothing but the loss of you, may be bold to speak the truth in love, in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

May we all be inspired by Hugh's example and so be led to work with cheerfulness and boldness for the Kingdom of God.  Remember and keep St. Hugh in your prayers today.