Greetings From St. Anne's Episcopal Church.
I write you on the Feast Day of St. Bartholomew. Bartholomew (called Nathaniel in John's Gospel) was the apostle "in whom there was no guile." Tradition tells us he became a missionary after the Ascension and that he traveled to Armenia and perhaps even India.
Canon Jeremy Davis of Salisbury Cathedral in England explains how a saint like Bartholomew, about whom little is known, can still be an inspiration to us (click here for full sermon):
"On this feast day we are left with very little: which might suggest to us – not that Bartholomew was an under-achiever – but on the contrary that holiness grows by grace within the ordinary and the unsung and the unrecorded. And that broadens my idea of holiness from a cult of the hero to a notion of the everyday and the possibility that you and I are called to be holy: that is to be saints. Our lives will not be recorded in the Church’s sanctorale, and the only miracle that is likely to attach to us is that God ever called us to his service in the first place. But Bartholomew gives us reason to think that, like Nathaniel under the fig tree, we have been recognised, called by name and bidden to follow with service."
WORSHIP
After our road trip to visit our friends in Myrtle Beach last Sunday, we are back home a Lackey Chapel this Sunday at 10am. Click here for a map.
We've learned a bit about how worship works best in the chapel, so here's a small note:
Typically in an Episcopal church, the collection basket is passed during the anthem (thus the nickname of the anthem as "The Money Song.") But at Lackey Chapel, it works better for the congregation to experience the anthem, and then pass the basket after the anthem is over, as the choir returns to their seats. This will prevent some traffic jams around the altar -- Suade returning to the organ, the celebrant headed to the altar, the choir members headed toward their seats. Episcopalians don't do slapstick.
So after the anthem ends, we need not leap to our feet anticipating the sanctus ("Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."). Instead, after the anthem Suade will play an instrumental piece on piano while the baskets circulate. When the ushers are ready to present the gifts, we stand.
By the way, since I mentioned collection baskets, this message constitutes the entirety of our stewardship campaign.
MINISTRIES
Speaking of money, checks written to St. Anne's go into the bank to help pay for clergy, chapel rent, and worship incidentals. "Loose offerings" (what the youngsters call "straight cash money") always go to ares of need beyond St. Anne's. Most of the time, our loose offerings are sent to Churches Assisting People, but this Sunday loose offerings will go to the Episcopal Church in Haiti. If you know of a worthy ministry that we should add to our support list, let a member of the mission committee know.
Our college ministry is in the midst of formation. The CCU students are back on campus, and we'll be calling an interest meeting to let students know that there are not only welcome at our 10am services, but that we would like to offer them an opportunity for fellowship and worship on Sunday evenings. Stay tuned and keep those recipes ready.
VISION
If you're curious about the legal developments regarding The Episcopal Church, you may keep up via the diocesan website. At last week's mission committee meeting we discussed how St. Anne's origins and character would help all of us avoid much of the hard feelings and poor witness that comes when churches sue each other. We're a new church, not a "continuing parish," not a "worship group" and certainly not in some kind of "congregation-in-exile." We're right where we're supposed to be, and neither our identity nor our future depends on the outcomes of secular legal skirmishing. We have this clarity because you have chosen to come together and build in His name.
Can't go wrong praying, but rather than pray for particular outcomes in particular cases, turning God into some cosmic Johnnie Cochran who is going to choose our side, it might be worthwhile to pray for anyone whose life, livelihood, and spiritual well-being depends on the effectiveness of legal counsel. That's a tough place to be.
See you Sunday,
Dan Ennis
Senior Warden
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