Jacob Humerick

At 3:00 p.m., sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs.

 

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Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir, sermon by the Rev’d William Eakins.

Worship at Home:

Click here for the Service Bulletin; scroll to read full sermon text.

Due to a technical issue, the recordings of this service are unavailable.

Service Music:

Voluntary    Savior of the nations, come   Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Processional Hymn 640    Watchman, tell us of the night    Aberystwyth

Kyrie Eleison   from Litany of the Saints    adapt. Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Sequence Hymn 324    Let all mortal flesh keep silence    Picardy

Offertory Anthem    No small wonder   Paul Edwards (b. 1955)
Text: Paul Wigmore (b. 1925)

Small wonder the star, small wonder the light,
The angels in chorus, the shepherds in fright;
But stable and manger for God – no small wonder!

Small wonder the kings, small wonder they bore
The gold and the incense, the myrrh, to adore:
But God gives his life on a cross – no small wonder!

Small wonder the love, small wonder the grace,
The power, the glory, the light of his face;
But all to redeem my poor heart –  no small wonder!

Paul Edwards began his career as a young chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. His text writer, Paul Wigmore, relays the story of No small wonder, which eventually was included in the famous service of Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge: “One November morning in 1983 the young composer, Paul Edwards, gathered up his week’s bundle of laundry and was about to leave for the local launderette when he opened a letter from me. The letter ended with a new poem – a carol for Advent and Christmas, just three short verses. Paul Edwards had already set a number of my lyrics for choir and this was a new one. He slipped it into his pocket. It would be something to read while he waited for the machine to do the washing, he thought. In the launderette he loaded the machine and sat down, read the poem, grabbed a scrap of manuscript paper and began writing. Trying to imagine how any composer could write this profound music while surrounded by the noise of washing machines is practically impossible.” God at work!

Sanctus    from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Fraction Anthem    Agnus Dei   from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Communion Anthem     The Lamb    John Tavener (1944-2013)
Text: William Blake (1757-1827)

Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee

Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.

“The Lamb” is a setting of a poem by William Blake, depicting the innocence of the Christ child, the beautiful creation of God. Part of Blake’s collection “Songs of Innocence” of 1789. Although the original poems were meant to be sung, Blake’s original tunes are lost to the ages. Sir John Tavener set the poem to music, explaining, “ ‘The Lamb’ came to me fully grown and was written in an afternoon and dedicated to my nephew Simon for his 3rd birthday.”

Closing Hymn 72    Hark! the glad sound!    Richmond

Voluntary    Toccata    Scott Lamlein (2010)

Cantor: John Nowacki

 

Full Sermon Text:

Have you ever been disappointed?  Looked forward eagerly to something happening that never appeared beneath the tree, looked forward to a vacation or some occasion that failed miserably to live up to expectation?  Sometimes, we even get disappointed in God when we look at our lives and look at a world and see so much that is painfully broken.  Where are you, God, we wonder?  Have we trusted in you in vain?

 

Take, for example, John the Baptist in today’s Gospel reading.  He was once so confident about what God was up to.  God’s Promised One was about to break in upon the world to establish justice, separating the good folks from the bad like a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff.  “Repent and prepare the way of the Lord,” had been John’s ringing cry.  Furthermore John had been convinced that his cousin Jesus was the very one God had sent to carry out the divine judgment.  John had even heard a voice from heaven saying of Jesus, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

 

But now a short time later, John is not so sure he had heard aright.  In the prison cell where John has been locked up after getting himself in trouble with the authorities, John listens anxiously for news about what Jesus, God’s Chosen One, is doing.  And what John hears is not what he had expected.  Where is the promised Day of Judgment?  Where are the thunderbolts of divine intervention, the unquenchable fire of divine punishment?  Jesus isn’t denouncing the tax collectors, harlots, and other sinners; he is sitting down to have supper with them.  What’s going on here?  And so John starts to think: perhaps I was wrong about you, Jesus.  Maybe that voice I heard at your Baptism didn’t come from heaven after all but was merely the whistling of the wind.  So John sends messengers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come or must we wait for another?”

 

There’s a very good reason why we need to hear this story of John the Baptist’s bewilderment and discouragement as we head into the Christmas season.  Truth be told, we sometimes are very much like that puzzled, questioning servant of God of long ago.  We too know what it is like to feel disappointed, let down, and depressed even at this very time of the year when we are supposed to be full of Christmas cheer.

 

Christmas is a season of great expectations.  We know the Christmas angels proclaim peace on earth and good will among men and women.  We would dearly like to experience that peace and good will in our hearts and in our homes.  And we go to great lengths, cooking special foods, trimming trees, putting up wreaths, shopping for just the right presents for everybody on our list – all in hopes of having the best Christmas ever.  But our actual experience often falls short of what we had hoped for.  We get exhausted and irritable, the relatives and family get into squabbles, fuss over what they will eat and not eat; not everybody is grateful for what you have given them.  Then we turn on the news and hear about threatened government shutdowns, angry dissent over the recent election, wars and rumors of ears, political gridlock in Washington, crazy people shooting innocent people in bars.  And we start to wonder if Christmas and the Good News it proclaims is really all it’s cracked up to be.  “Are you the One we expected, Jesus, or should we look for someone else?”

 

Now when John the Baptist asks his question, the answer Jesus gives is simple.  He tells John to look at what was going on.  There are amazing things happening that John is not noticing: blind people are receiving sight, people who haven’t walked in years are skipping and running, deaf folks are swapping stories, untouchable lepers are hugging their children, and the poor are hearing sermons that make them smile.  It was all straight out of the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the promise of what happens when God’s power is stirred up and comes among us with great might.

 

In effect Jesus is saying to John:  Think again, my friend.  You don’t understand the big picture of what God is doing.  You, John have focused on a message of repentance, and repentance is necessary because it opens people’s hearts to recognize their need of God’s love and mercy.  And God’s love and mercy is just what I, Jesus, have come to bring.   As God’s Chosen One, I have come to fulfill God’s promises of old: I have come to give sight to the blind, to open deaf ears, to bring the dead to life, and to preach the Good News of God’s love to all who are poor in spirit.  So, John, the word of God is not as you supposed, “Repent, lest you be judged,” but “Repent and receive with joy God’s redeeming work.”  Could it be that we, and not just John the Baptist, need to grow in our understanding of the new order that Jesus Christ ushers in?

 

There are Christians who seem more ready to sound the note of God’s judgment than to herald the good news of God’s compassion and mercy.  Last month a man in the city of Decatur, Illinois, was refused permission to sing at his grandmother’s funeral because the priest had seen the man’s picture in the newspaper participating in a Gay Pride rally.  A few years ago, the parents in Newtown received letters from avowedly Christian people telling them that the children were shot as God’s punishment for the sins of their parents. Putting such extremists aside, however, we must all learn to appreciate more fully, as the old hymn reminds us, that “there’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea…. For the love of God is broader than the measure of [our] mind and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.”

 

Why does God allow war and injustice to continue?  Why does God allow innocent people to suffer and evildoers to prosper?  Perhaps it is because God is incredibly more patient with the creation than we can imagine.  Perhaps in divine forbearance, God’s timetable of redemption is slow but nonetheless sure.  And perhaps we would do better to focus more closely on the signs of God’s Kingdom breaking into our world than on the evidence of human sinfulness.

 

There are signs of God’s Kingdom all around us if we would open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts.

 

“Look,” Jesus tells John, “the poor have good news brought to them.”  Well the good news today is that the number of people living in extreme poverty is in steep decline.  So says a recent study published by the World Bank.  In 2013, less than 11% of the global population was living in extreme poverty, a dramatic decrease from 35% only 25 years ago.  Thanks to better education, better health care, improved rural infrastructure, especially roads and electrification, and employment opportunities brought on by the growth of the global economy, billions of the world’s poorest people have been given new life.

 

“Look,” says Jesus, the dead are raised.  Well, it happened over in Glastonbury just this week.  I read about it in the Hartford Courant.  Pastor Nancy Butler of the Riverfront Family Church, who for the past year has been dying of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, made a decision to go off her feeding tube and breathing vent and let herself die.  She did so trusting that God did not want her to suffer any longer and trusting that in dying, she would in her words, “go home to God.”  Last Wednesday, Nancy Butler passed away peacefully at home.  A note announcing Pastor Butler’s death posted on her church’s Facebook page reads, “We are deeply saddened by her loss but also share her joy in Christ, trusting that she is rejoicing in God’s presence and dancing with the saints.”

 

“Look,” says Jesus, “the lepers are cleansed.”  Well haven’t we seen this right here in West Hartford?  The Kattoubs, a refugee family from Syria, are in many ways modern-day lepers, exiled from their own country, homeless, and dependent on the charity of others.  And we at St. John’s, along with people from St. James’s Parish have welcomed them to our community and done everything we can to give them a fresh start in life in a new land and culture.  And thanks to the Max Restaurant Group, Mr. Kattoub, a former auto mechanic, now is earning a living making pizza on LaSalle Road.

 

“Do you hear what I hear?  Do you see what I see?”    These are questions from a Christmas song that, I imagine, we will hear many times in the days ahead.  They might serve to remind us to be alert, attentive, looking for the signs of God’s reign breaking into our world.  The song concludes, “the Child, the Child, sleeping in the night He will bring us goodness and light.”  Yes, there will be times when we will doubt whether that is true.  But as God promised long ago by the prophet Isaiah: “as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there until they have watered the earth making it bring forth and sprout, so shall my word be … it shall not return empty but it shall accomplish that for which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”  And isn’t that Good News!

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs, sermon by the Rev’d Hope Eakins.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary     Two settings of Es ist ein ‘Ros     Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927)

Processional Hymn 56 (st. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8)    O come, O come, Emmanuel    Veni, veni Emmanuel

The origins of “O come, O come, Emmanuel” date to medieval times. In the 800s, a series of Latin hymns were sung, called the “O” Antiphons. Over time, these were restructured, and the first draft of the beloved hymn we know came from Anglican priest John Mason Neale, in 1851. Born to a family of clergy, Neale wanted to become a parish minister, but his poor health prevented this. He instead became the director of Sackville College, a home for elderly men. This proved to be a good match, as Neale was compassionate with a great heart for the needy. A traditionalist, he was outspoken against the change that other hymn writers like Isaac Watts stood for, but today we find Neale and Watts side-by-side in our hymnals. We owe Neale our gratitude for this great hymn, as well as “Good King Wenceslas,” “Good Christian Men, Rejoice,” and “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.”

Kyrie Eleison   from Litany of the Saints    adapt. Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Sequence Hymn 597    O day of peace that dimly shines    Jerusalem

Offertory Anthem    Jesus Christ the apple tree    Elizabeth Poston (1905-1987)
Words from Divine Hymns of Spiritual Songs, compiled Joshua Smith, 1784

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne’er can tell
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I’m weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
I’m weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

Sanctus    from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Fraction Anthem    Agnus Dei   from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Communion Anthem    Lo, how a rose e’er blooming    Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), Hugo Distler (1908-1942)
Words: Hymn 81

Closing Hymn 616    Hail to the Lord’s anointed    Es flog kleins Waldvögelein

Voluntary    Fantasy on Veni, veni Emmanuel     Wilbur Held (1914-2015)

Cantor: Daaé Ransom

 

Full Sermon Text:

“The wolf shall lie down with the lamb,” says the prophet Isaiah, “and the leopard with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together.”  But this is not reasonable, we say.  We know that if you put a lamb in a wolf’s lair, all we have done is to provide lunch for the wolf.  A little child cannot lead wild animals without being in grave danger and probably soon dead.  And since we are all reasonable people, we interpret Isaiah’s words as unreasonable, as poetry, as a dream outside of reality.

 But the very reason we come to church is to hear the dreams of God, not just to sing wonderful hymns and see our friends.  The very reason we come to church is to hear prophets like Isaiah tell us that things don’t have to be the way they have always been, that God’s dream for us is bigger and better that a dog-eat-dog world.  We come here to see things from God’s point of view, a peculiar way of seeing that is anything but reasonable.

 If we believe that this world is designed for nothing more than the survival of the fittest, then the vision of lions and lambs lying down together is only a foolish imagination.  And yet Isaiah’s words have a certain ring to them; Edward Hicks painted over sixty versions of the Peaceable Kingdom of pacified wolves and child leaders.  So maybe Isaiah is pointing us to something important, to a bigger and better and holier reality than the one we’ve got.

 There shall be an abundance of peace, says the Psalmist, and the mountains shall bring prosperity to the people.  St. Paul tells us that Christ has come to confirm these promises of peace on earth, good will to all.  At the center of Christian belief is the conviction that there is an omnipotent God with whom all things are possible, who really can make wolves lie down with lambs.  And the way we live and the way we will die depend on whether or not we believe this.

 If we don’t believe that there can be peace on earth, if we continue to trust in the power of our guns and bombs more than we trust in the power of God, we will always be at war.  If we don’t believe that God can build the bridges that are too hard for us to build, we will continue our family feuds and vendettas against our neighbors and hostilities toward our boss.   If we don’t believe Jesus promise that sins can be forgiven we will keep our secrets and harbor shame.  If we don’t repent because we fear God’s harsh judgment, we will live with despair and anxiety and never feel the “God of hope filling us with all joy and peace in believing.”

 If we don’t believe in God’s possibilities we will be stuck with our own convictions and live like the two brothers who once owned Manganaro’s grocery store in New York City.  Let me tell you the story.  Their shop had been around for a hundred years or so until Sal and Jimmy dell’Orto had an argument and split the business in two.  Although they worked right next door to each other, they never again spoke to each other nor did their children speak to each other because the feud extended through three generations.  At issue in their battle was which shop had the right to take phone orders for Hero-Boy sandwiches.  Jimmy said “to have a reconciliation, one of the parties has to say ‘I’m sorry,’ and I won’t.  I don’t feel the need to apologize to him for anything and I don’t think he is going to apologize to me.” After years of court battles and petty retaliations, both shops closed.  Over a hundred years of family business died with him because a wolf couldn’t lie down with a lamb, because one dell’Orto couldn’t lie down with another.

But in Isaiah’s words, when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea,” then hope and justice and peace can flourish.  I have seen it happen.  I have seen a husband hurt a wife in a way that left her demeaned and embarrassed and so angry that she could barely stop shouting.  She wanted him to grovel and he was so afraid to admit his wrongdoings he couldn’t speak.  He wanted her to forgive him, and she was afraid that forgiveness would diminish the issue so that he would feel free to do it again.  Realistically, there was no hope.  But they were people of faith, these folks.  They remembered their wedding vows and prayed that God would rescue them.  And they waited in their shame and anger until the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, came upon them, and they began the long task of rebuilding trust and making love – and now, at least one wolf and lamb are lying down together.

I have known it to happen.  I have seen a man who embezzled from his business and got away with it.  He thought he was clever and he was.  He also had no self-respect because he knew he was a sinner.  He wasn’t caught by the law, but he was caught by his guilt. It took quite a while for him to figure out what he needed to do.  He started by making his confession to a priest and then realized that he had to give the money back and admit his wrongdoing.  And he did.  His partners didn’t condemn him and they commended his honesty and let him keep his job, and he now knows that “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea.” 

You have seen it happen in this world too.  In our country, slavery and civil war threatened to divide us and oppress us all, but we found a way to live as one people committed to liberty and justice for all.   In Germany, the Berlin Wall finally fell after thirty years of division and separation.

God sent Jesus to show us that dreams like these can be more than dreams, that we need not give up and live in tired resignation, that we are not limited to what WE can imagine because God’s dream for us is more than we can ask or imagine.  John the Baptist shouted it in the wilderness, proclaiming that if we turn and say we are sorry and admit that we are wrong, we will see the Kingdom of heaven staring us in the face.  Paul wrote it to the Romans, that we CAN live together in harmony, that walls can tumble down, that Gentiles and Jews and Christians and Muslims and Afghans and Americans can live together in love.

When I was ordained many years ago on a cold day in December, the Bishop gave me a charge.  He said, “Live up to your name, Hope, and be an Advent priest so that Christmas may come to pass in unlikely lives and unlikely seasons and unlikely places.”

If we open our hearts to God’s love and dream big, it just may be so.

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir, sermon by the Rev’d Susan Pinkerton.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary    Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Processional Hymn 57    Lo! He comes, with clouds descending    Helmsley

Kyrie Eleison   from Litany of the Saints    adapt. Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Sequence Hymn 61   “Sleepers, wake!” A voice astounds us    Wachet auf

Offertory Anthem    Let all mortal flesh keep silence    Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Text: Liturgy of St. James, found at Hymn 324

Gustav Holst is best known for his 1919 orchestral suite The Planets. But church musicians know that Holst wrote a large body of very effective music for choirs. He grew up idolizing Wagner, and in 1895 while a student at the Royal College of Music met Ralph Vaughan Williams where the two became good friends. His choral works are supremely crafted miniature masterworks with a profound sense of harmony and finely planned dramaticism. (Notes courtesy John W. Ehrlich)

Sanctus    from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Fraction Anthem    Agnus Dei   from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Communion Anthem    The blessed son of God     Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Text: Miles Coverdale, after Martin Luther

The blessed Son of God only in a crib full poor did lie;
With our poor flesh and our poor blood was clothed that everlasting good. Kyrie eleison.

The Lord Christ Jesu, God’s son dear, was a guest and a stranger here;
Us for to bring from misery, that we might live eternally. Kyrie eleison.

All this did he for us freely, for to declare his great mercy;
All Christendom be merry therefore, and give him thanks for evermore. Kyrie eleison.

The Communion Anthem is an a capella choral hymn from Vaughan Williams’ Oratorio, Hodie. Late in life, the composer had always wanted to write a large-scale Christmas work, and here he fused the religious spirit of the festival with British overtones, with associations to English countryside carols. Vaughan Williams used no specific folk tunes in this work, but by this point in his career he had so synthesized their character that his folk tune-like themes sound fully authentic.

Closing Hymn 68    Rejoice! rejoice, believers    Llangloffan

Voluntary    Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme    Paul Manz, 1987

 

Full Sermon Text:

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Holy Eucharist at 10:00 a.m. with hymns; sermon by the Rev’d Susan Pinkerton.

Worship at Home:

Click here for the Service Bulletin; scroll to read full sermon text.

Full Service Audio:

Sermon-only Audio:

Service Music:

Voluntary   All Things Bright and Beautiful    Scott Lamlein, 2014

Opening Hymn 397   Now thank we all our God   Nun danket

Sequence Hymn 433   We gather together   Kremser

Music at the Offertory    Great is thy faithfulness   William Runyan (1870-1957)
         Cleveland Williams, soloist

Closing Hymn 290   Come ye thankful people   St. George’s, Windsor

Voluntary   Nun Danket Alle Gott    Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)

 

Full Sermon Text:

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Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the St. John’s Schola, sermon by the Rev’d William Eakins.

Guest Organist: Kari Miller

Worship at Home:

Click here for the Service Bulletin; scroll to read full sermon text.

Full Service Audio:

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Service Music:

Voluntary    Prelude in G Major, BWV 541    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Processional Hymn 494    Crown him with many crowns    Diademata

Gloria in excelsis S278     William Mathias (1934-1992)

Sequence Hymn 441   In the cross of Christ I glory   Rathbun

Music at the Offertory    Meditation    Jacob Arcadelt (c.1505-1568)

Sanctus S128    William Mathias

Fraction Anthem S166   Agnus Dei     Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Communion Motet    Ave verum corpus   Stephanie Martin (b. 1962)

Communion Hymn 433   We gather together   Kremser

Closing Hymn 290    Come, ye thankful people, come    St. George’s, Windsor

Voluntary    Grand Chœur    Théodore Salomé (1834-1896)

 

Full Sermon Text:

 “The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are shaken…”

These words from today’s Psalm are an apt description of the current time.  Certainly the “kingdom” in which we live has been shaken severely by the recent presidential contest.  First there was a seemingly endless and exceedingly bitter election campaign with both parties and both candidates hurling invective at each other.  Then there was the election itself, which has revealed a deeply divided nation where one candidate won the popular vote while losing to the other in the all-important electoral vote.  The winning candidate ran on a platform promising to drain the political swamp in Washington and make widespread changes in the domestic and foreign policies of the outgoing president and his administration.  The political party of the new president-elect has won control of both houses of congress and potentially, at least, can enact whatever changes the president-elect wants to make.   Not only we Americans but the citizens of other nations are making “much ado” over the shaking up of our nation’s political order.  We are all left wondering what to expect in the months and years ahead.

Our current turmoil offers a powerful reminder of the Bible’s warning about the ultimate unreliability of human rulers.  “Put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them.”  The writer of those verses from Psalm 146 must have been well acquainted with political upheaval, with unexpected power changes, and with leaders who say one thing but do another.  The Bible teaches that though human leaders are to be respected as agents of justice and order, we must never forget that only God is entitled to our ultimate loyalty.  Human rulers can be misguided, ignorant, and sinful; they can also make mistakes and be evil.  And human rulers are transitory.  They come and go; they rise and fall.  Only God endures and can be trusted no matter what.

This last Sunday in the church year, the feast of Christ the King, is an annual reminder of where our ultimate loyalty and confidence need be placed.  Christ the King is a feast of comparatively modern origin, introduced by Pope Pius IX in 1925 as an antidote to the godlessness of contemporary culture and in particular to the rise of Fascism.  Benito Mussolini had been head of Italy for three years.  The Nazi Party and a rabble-rouser named Adolph Hitler were rapidly growing in popularity in Germany.  The new feast of Christ the King was a critique of the rise of 20^th century totalitarian dictatorships.   It remains a critique of earthly potentates to this day.

Christ the King is a powerful statement about who is really in charge of the world and who is deserving of our obedience and trust.  To some it may appear that there is no one in charge and that we live in a world of chaos, random accident, and anarchy.  To many it may seem that money and might make the world go round.  To others it may appear that the world in in the hands of evil forces and bent on destruction.  Over against these views, the Christian faith asserts that it is God who is in charge of the universe and that God is like the King Jesus we see in today’s Gospel reigning from a cross. 

Jesus hangs on the cross, naked and powerless, mocked, rejected, suffering, dying, and wearing a crown of thorns.  He has nothing that the powers of this world hold out to their devotees – comfort, success, popularity.  All Jesus has is his trust in God’s love and God’s power.  This trust refuses to give up; it becomes his dying prayer, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.”  By his steadfast trustfulness, by his refusal to serve any of the gods of this world in order to serve God alone, Jesus robs the gods of this world of their power to rule and proclaims the sovereignty of God.  Jesus’ trust in God alone is vindicated when on Easter morn God raises Jesus from the dead.   Jesus outstretched on the cross becomes the sign of God’s triumph and God’s rule.  If that Good News is true, if God really is in charge of this world, it makes a huge difference in the way we live.  This Gospel bids us live thankfully, responsibly and hopefully.

First.  Be thankful.  Thanksgiving is not just a day on November when we eat turkey.  Thanksgiving needs to be an attitude and a practice that is a part of our everyday lives.  Cultivate an awareness of how much God has blessed us, so that we do not begin to think that what we have and who we are are all our own doing.  Pausing when we awake and when we sit down to eat and when we go to bed to say “Thank you, God, for all that you have given me” keeps our lives centered on God and makes us conscious of how much we have,

Second.  Be responsible.  The more we are conscious of God’s gifts to us and God’s presence in our lives, the more we shall want to use what God has given us for Godly purposes.  God has given us the planet Earth not to have its resources selfishly exploited by one people or one generation but to have its resources treasured and shared by all the people of the earth, for generations to come.  Be a responsible steward of what God has given us.  That also means being a responsible citizen.

When the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1787, its proceedings were held in strict secrecy.  As a result anxious folks gathered outside Constitution Hall when the Convention ended in order to learn what had been decided.  A woman asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Dr. Franklin, what kind of government have you given us, a republic or a monarchy?”  Without hesitation Franklin responded, “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”

Franklin was right.  A republic like the United States only works if its citizens do their part, informing themselves about the issues of the day, engaging in civil conversation with their fellow citizens and expressing their opinion by voting.  A republic does not work if citizens abdicate these responsibilities out of apathy or a mistaken belief that political leaders can govern effectively without the vigilance and active participation of all citizens.  If we believe representative democracy is one of God’s gifts to us as a nation, we had better show our gratitude by being responsible Americans.

Finally, we must be hopeful.  If God is ultimately in charge of the world, if Christ is indeed King, then we can face the future with confidence.  The nations may make much ado and the kingdoms of this world may be shaken but God is still ruler over all and slowly but surely is restoring the creation to the way God has always intended it to be.  With this as our confidence, God expects us to labor on in good times and bad times, always seeking to do what is just and what is right, supporting Godly leadership ands speaking out when our leaders go astray.

Too often we Christians forget or fail to live up to the Good News that God reigns.  Confronted by daunting realities like political upheaval and uncertainty, we sit on our hands or pull up the bedcovers and hide in fear and despair.  If we really believe what we proclaim today, that it is God’s will to restore all things in Jesus Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then we must never give up doing our part to make God’s great dream come true.  And God whose power brought a universe into being put of nothing, God whose love raised Jesus from the dead, God will weave our lives and feeblest efforts into God’s unconquerable purpose.

 So be thankful.  Be responsible.  And always be hopeful.

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir, sermon by the Rev’d Susan Pinkerton.

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Voluntary     Variations on “Simple Gifts”    Noel Goemanne (1926-2010)

Processional Hymn 7    Christ, whose glory fills the skies    Ratisbon

Gloria in excelsis S278     William Mathias (1934-1992)

Sequence Hymn 635    If thou but trust in God to guide thee    Wer nur den lieben Gott

Offertory Anthem     Lead, kindly light    William Henry Harris (1883-1973)
Text: John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home, lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

Sanctus S128    William Mathias

Fraction Anthem S166   Agnus Dei     Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem     My Lord, what a morning      African-American Spiritual, arr. Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949)

My Lord, what a mornin’, when the stars begin to fall. Done quit all my worldly ways – join that heavenly band.

The arranger of this anthem was an influential black composer who was passionate about preserving the tradition of African American spirituals. Spirituals, said Burleigh, are hymns of soulful depth and rhythm that express the profound faith of slaves in the face of unspeakable injustice. The striking imagery of “My Lord, What a Morning” offers a glimpse of this faith. The hymn even carries a double name that is revealing – My Lord, What a Mourning/Morning. What is the meaning of this double name? The bitter tears of mourning that flow out of oppression and marginalization give way to a new morning in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. (Notes courtesy Jill Crainshaw)

Communion Hymn 679    Surely it is God who saves me    Thomas Merton

Closing Hymn 599   Lift every voice and sing   Lift Every Voice

Voluntary    Wer nur den lieben Gott    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

 

Full Sermon Text:

Check back soon.

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs, sermon by Michael Corey.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary    The Lost Chord    Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)

Sir Arthur Sullivan was an English composer best known for his operas, but is remembered mostly for this work, and his hymn “Onward soldiers.” Sullivan’s brother, Fred, an actor, was very dear to him, and when he fell ill, Arthur spent many hours by his bedside. During the final week of Fred’s illness, Arthur composed “The Lost Chord”, setting a poem by Adelaide Anne Procter. The piece went on to become the biggest commercial success of the 1870s and 80s in both Britain in America. The final verse reads: It may be that death’s bright angel / Will speak in that chord again, / It may be that only in Heav’n / I shall hear that grand Amen.

Processional Hymn 287 v. 1-4    For all the saints, who from their labors rest    Sine Nomine

Gloria in excelsis S278     William Mathias (1934-1992)

Sequence Hymn 620    Jerusalem, my happy home    Land of Rest

Offertory Anthem    Hark, I hear the harps eternal   Southern Harmony tune, arr. Alice Parker (b. 1925)
Text: Attributed to F. R. Warren

Hark, I hear the harps eternal ringing on the farther shore,
As I near those swollen waters with their deep and solemn roar.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, Hallelujah, praise the lamb!
Hallelujah, hallelujah, Glory to the great I AM!

And my soul, tho’ stain’d with sorrow, fading as the light of day,
Passes swiftly o’er those waters, to the city far away.

Souls have cross’d before me, saintly, to that land of perfect rest;
And I hear them singing faintly in the mansions of the blest.

Sanctus S128    William Mathias

Fraction Anthem S166   Agnus Dei     Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem     Souls of the righteous      T. Tertius Noble (1867-1953)
Text: Wisdom 3: 1-8

Souls of the righteous in the hand of God, no hurt, no torment, comes to them now. They rest in peace. They live in heavenly joy. To those who loved them they seemed to die, they are at peace, God is their life and light. On earth as children they were chastened by Love’s rod, As gold in furnace tried, so now in heaven, they shine like stars, they live in heavenly joy. Souls of the righteous in the hand of God.

Thomas Tertius Noble was organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas Church, New York, from 1913-1943), and founder of the choir school there, which is one of two such full-time day schools for young choristers still operating in our country (many such schools still exist in Britain). Two of our parishioners have connections with this choir school – one having been a chorister there under Gerry Hancock, another having a brother who sang with Noble in the very early years. “Souls of the righteous” has been described as “an old chestnut that proves its vitality again and again.” 

Communion Hymn 253   Give us the wings of faith to rise   San Rocco

Closing Hymn 293    I sing a song of the saints of God    Grand Isle

Voluntary     Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God     Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)

Full Sermon Text:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen

 

Good morning!

Many years ago I was at a historical reenactment, there was a vendor there selling various wares. One item he had was a medal of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of artillerymen. As I was looking at it the vendor said “Oh, it comes with a warranty!” What kind of warranty I asked. “If you get hit by an artillery shell I’ll replace it at no cost.”

 

With Barbara and many other saints in mind – Happy All Saints Sunday.

 

This is truly one of my favorite days in the Christian calendar. It is the day we remember the Holy Ones of God that have gone before us.

Earlier this week, during Evening Prayer, we had a moment to reflect on the Communion of Saints 1. I recalled when I was young I asked my Mom about “the communion of saints” in the Apostle’s Creed. Not a question she was expecting and it took some time to get an answer. In time she explained “when you go forward to take communion the communion of saints are all the people behind you praying for you, especially the ones you cannot see.” What she didn’t realize was that she had planted the seed in me for a fascination for all those holy women and men that have gone before, the saints, both official and….well….not so official.

On a cork board over my desk at work, amongst the various work related memos and maps, are several prayer cards featuring saints. My work day holy companions include Saint Patrick, Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres (Lord Holy Christ of the Miracles, a Portuguese devotion), Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Junipero Serra, and several cards sent to me from a friend who is an abbot at a monastery in northern Greece. Even in my wallet you will find a card for St. Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of finding things; and I find it reassuring that since picking up that particular card I have not lost my wallet once.

 

This morning I want share with you the stories of two saints, two of my favorites. Chances are you haven’t heard of either one of them, that’s OK. The first is one of our ancient saints and the second would never have considered himself to be saint worthy, both are Cornishmen; and both put God first, others second and themselves last2. Finally, and very important, they were sinners.

 

First is Piran, a 5th century abbot in Ireland3. He is from that time of legendary Celtic saints like Bridget and Patrick in Ireland, David in Wales, and Columba who was associated with Iona in Scotland, that form a large part of our Anglican tradition. Far lesser known than these, Piran is now held close to the hearts of Cornishmen everywhere as their patron saint.

Piran, Irish by birth, began his ministry in Ireland. Legend says that he was blessed with the gift of miracles and his ministry was marked by healing the sick and raising the dead as well as founding schools and churches and tending to the needs of poor. Tribal kings, fearful of his power and influence, seized Piran and, in what may be his first lesson to us today – that no good deed goes unpunished, they chained him to a millstone, took him to a cliff, and – as lightning, rain and thunder raged – threw him into the Irish Sea.

This was not to be the end of our good abbot though! The storm calmed as did the sea. And, as the millstone hit the water, the chains fell and Piran floated away from Ireland, the millstone became a raft, and he eventually landed in Cornwall in a place that now bears his name, Perranporth.

Piran built a small chapel on the sand dunes near his landing site. His first converts were a fox, a badger and a boar. Contrary to rumors this was not the first vestry in Cornwall. Locals quickly flocked to him as word of his preaching and miracles spread. And over time Piran became the driving spiritual force for the Cornish people and even an economic force as he has been given credit for rediscovering the richness of tin in Cornwall.

 

Now, going back to that cork board above my desk I mentioned, I want to introduce you to the second saint. Next to my daily Holy companions there is an old picture showing a gray haired man, smiling…waving, as he walks out of a hardware store; a stack of flooring tiles under his arm. He was not a priest, monk, martyr or angel; instead he was a sailor, an artist, a husband/father/grandfather, and a proud Cornishman. I would like to introduce you to Saint Fred. OK, Fred isn’t a recognized Saint in the church, so consider this in honor of All Souls Day which is the day after All Saints Day.

Fred was born in Torpoint, Cornwall in 1919 and was the son of a sailor. He moved many times with his family before settling in Indiana and starting a family following his service in World War 2. I don’t remember meeting him for the first time, I was rather young then. But I do remember, as I got older, looking up to and admiring this wise, humble, friendly man. He was my grandfather. He taught me many things – never quit learning, have plenty of hobbies, and always have a good book handy. I think in his life he mastered the philosophy of Saint Francis – Preach the gospel and when necessary use words. He had a quiet faith, a typical Anglican. He was eager to help others, including strangers and would do so anonymously if he could. His approach to church was simple “If you miss church once it’s too easy to miss is twice, so go to church – no matter what.” A unique look at dealing with the ups and downs of life “Always expect the worst and you’ll never be disappointed.” And he taught me about faith and how to pray as he stood next to an acolyte’s candle during the Gospel reading on Sunday mornings with his oxygen tank next to him.

Fred was a true blessing and gift to all who knew him. He went back to his heavenly home about a dozen years ago or so, but he left something special behind. You see, he genuinely understood how to be a wise steward of God’s gifts. He understood that in the time he was given he had to share the gifts God had given him – faithfulness, charity, wisdom, and love – so that it was said of him “Well done good and faithful servant”.

 

I tell you the story of these two saints for a reason; whether it’s a 5th century abbot or a 20th century grandfather, God calls us each not to goodness, but to holiness4. You and I have the same call to holiness that Piran and Fred did. One of the beautiful parts of our tradition is that we recognize and celebrate this. And even at this very moment the communion of saints, who have given us wonderful examples of faithfulness to God, are bound together with us through Christ in sacrament, prayer and praise5. But how are we called to Holiness? What are the qualities of a saint?

In the Billy Joel song, Only the Good Die Young, is the line “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints” This one line expresses very well a misconception we sometimes have about saints – that they are somehow not sinners. The first qualification of a saint is to be a sinner. We cannot move from one to the other, they are one and the same. The difference is that in seeking the holiness of being a saint of God we also seek harmony with God through reconciliation, through the price paid on the Cross, through Christ. The saints we met today understood this and were no less prone to sin than any one of us. The legend goes that Piran was rather fond of a drink and today in Cornwall one can be “as drunk as a Piranner”. My dear grandfather had a stubbornness that is now a secure part of our family’s history. And, a saint we will soon be seeing everywhere, Saint Nicholas, once struck a fellow bishop in the face in a fit of anger at the first council of Nicaea. The council that began the work that we now know as the Nicene Creed.

Second is to accept the vocation of holiness to which we’re all called. The essence of holiness can be found in Christ’s instruction to us “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”6 And it is spelled out for us so beautifully in today’s Gospel where Christ reminds us – don’t worry about the stuff – riches, being satisfied, or whether you’re a weeping saint or laughing sinner; it won’t be easy, in fact others will hate you for it; and despite it all love, pray, bless, give.

Give…aha! You thought I forgot about the stewardship campaign! Part of the vocation of holiness involves giving with a loving heart. It is far more than pledges, although pledges are quite important. It is knowing how God has gifted us and then passing on the gift, with Christ-like love to others. We are not really the recipient of God’s gifts, we are the packaging, the caretakers. The 19th century novelist George Eliot said “’Tis God gives skill, but not without men’s hand: He could not make Antonio Stadivarius’s violins without Antonio: Get thee to thy easel.”7 This gives us insight into the wise stewardship we must practice when we seek the vocation of holiness. Piran did not work miracles for his own benefit, Fred did not encourage faithfulness in worship for his gain, and we are not called to use the gifts of God solely for our own benefit as doing so will not get us one step closer to the vocation we are called. You are gifted with time – use it to pray for your enemy, to serve those in need, or to spend with someone who is sick. You are gifted with talent – use it to sing, preach, evangelize, and teach. You are gifted with treasure – use it to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless. God has given you the gift, you are its steward, now “Get thee to thy easel”!

 

You and I are called to the vocation of holiness. God has given you the gifts to live this vocation. And you are not alone in this journey. Look around you, look to your right and left, look behind you your sisters and brothers, the saints of God, along with Barbara, Piran, Fred and Nicholas, are praying for you every step of the way. Through the example and the prayers of the saints we too will reach the vocation to which God calls us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

1 – Wisdom 3:1-9

2, 4 – Sheridan, William C.R., “A Gathering of Homilies” An Account of Four of “Our” Special Saints (1997)

3 – St. Piran Trust, www.stpiran.org, (2016)

5 – The Book of Common Prayer p.862

6 – Luke 10:27

7 – Eliot, George, “God Needs Antonio”, Delphi Classics (2014)

Choral Evensong at 5:00 p.m. sung by the Youth & Adult Choirs.

Worship at Home:

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