Category Archives: Uncategorized

THE CELESTIAL CHOIR

Christmastide 2018

We have waited patiently during Advent. Now, during Christmastide [the Twelve Days of Christmas], we will joyfully sing hymns about the Incarnation.  Many of these hymns will feature “angels.” However, ponder this:  Every Sunday in Worship, we sing with the angels – not merely about angels!

The Liturgy describes this Trinitarian and Sacramental Mystery:

The Holy Eucharist: [ACNA Renewed Ancient Text]

It is right, our duty and our joy, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth because you sent your beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life; that when he shall come again in power and great glory to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.

Therefore, we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

How is it possible to sing with the angels?

In Sacramental Theology, the Bread and Wine – the Body and Blood of Christ — are the very center and source of our communal life in Christ.

The Holy Trinity, in the Eucharistic Liturgy, collapses the constraints of time and space and opens up a portal between the spheres of heaven and earth.

Christ, through the Holy Spirit, unites Himself with the Church Militant [on earth] and the Church Triumphant [in heaven]. Together, we offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God the Father.

In this sense, every one of us is a member of a great “Celestial Choir” and we rehearse weekly, as we prepare for our ultimate vocation: to sing and worship God forever with the angels!

How do we prepare on Sundays to sing with the angels?

Enter the Nave in silence.

Dip your hand into the Baptismal Font. Remember your Baptismal vows.

Bow, as you face the Eucharistic Table and the Crucifix.

Kneel and pray in the pew. Sit silently.

Meditate upon the words in the Worship Leaflet: Scripture, Prayers, Creeds, and [especially] the Music.

Encourage your children to do the same.

In awe and reverence, we will sing with the angels, a Liturgical moment that is mysterious, glorious, majestic, and transcendent!

 

Dear Readers,

There was a season of my young life, when I was intensely lonely and alone.

I was in college, during this season, living as a boarder, upstairs in one room of a family home. I shared a bathroom with one other boarder.  We shared a refrigerator but we had no kitchen privileges.

I had no car — or even a bicycle — so I walked to the university, where I took classes and worked a part-time job. I think the walk was between one and two miles: good exercise, except for days when it thunderstormed!

I was a Junior and eager to finish my college degree program. Unfortunately, I discovered, too late, that I was totally unsuited for the field that I had chosen. With dread, I began to strongly suspect that I would never choose to work in that field.

I was a quiet, serious introvert, at a huge university, and, in three years, I had never found my place:  I had one or two friends but I had no church or community to which to belong.

I did have a boyfriend but he was attending the University of California at Berkeley.

I had no money to buy clothing. I paid for as many college expenses as I possibly could manage, out of my meager salary, for I tried to be as independent as possible.

One day, a plain cardboard box arrived to the door of my room:   It was from my sister, who lived in North Carolina and was recently married.  She was only four years older than I.

Inside the box were items of clothing that she had either sewn, especially for me, or was passing down to me.  [At that time, we were roughly the same size.] She had carefully packed the items, within tissue paper.

I was not a seamstress but I could easily imagine the hours of time that my sister invested in lovingly sewing those outfits for me:  She chose the pattern, the fabric, and the notions. Then, she found time to construct the outfits, in spite of the fact that she worked full-time.

I can remember the fabric and buttons of one of the outfits, now forty-five years later:  one set was a calico print top with a solid culotte skirt. They fit perfectly.

That was the day that I thought to myself, “Well, someone in the world is looking out for me, caring for me, loving me, and investing her time in me — and that person is my sister.”

I think that, of all the gifts I have received, this is the one for which I am most thankful.  I thank the Living God for my “big” sister, who has always looked out for me.

Coram Deo,

Margot

Latin:

Vexilla Regis prodeunt:

Fulget crucis mysterium,

Quo carne carnis Conditor

Suspensus est patibulo.

 

Impleta sunt quae concinit

David fidelis carmine,

Dicendo nationibus

Regnavit a lingo Deus.

 

Arbor decora et fulgida

Ornata Regis purpura,

Electa digno stipite

Tam sancta membra tangere.

 

O crux ave, spes unica

Hoc Passionis tempore,

Auge piis justiciam

Reisque dona veniam.

 

Te summa Deus Trinitas

Collaudet omnis spiritus:

Quos per crucis mysterium

Salvas, rege per saecula.  Amen.

 

[Venantius Fortunatus]

English:

The royal banners forward go;

The Cross shines forth in mystic glow;

Where he in flesh, our flesh who made,

Our sentence bore, our ransom paid.

 

Fulfilled in all that David told

In true prophetic song of old;

Amidst the nations, God, saith he,

Hath reigned and triumphed from the tree.

 

O Tree of beauty, Tree of light!

O Tree with royal purple dight!

Elect on whose triumphal breast

Those holy limbs should find their rest.

 

O Cross, our own reliance, hail!

So may the power with us avail

To give new virtue to the saint,

And pardon to the penitent.

 

To thee, eternal Three in One,

Let homage meet by all be done;

Whom by the Cross thou dost restore,

Preserve and govern evermore.  Amen.

 

[Translation by J. M. Neale]

 

 

St. Peter’s Anglican Church Concert

Friday, January 20 at 7:00 pm
Featuring musical artists from the parish of St. Peter’s including Joel Hastings, Lucy Church, Ann Dalton, Belinda Dudley, Christopher Garven, Will Nilson, and John Ossi.
Free!

For more details:  www.saint-peters.net