Saint James the Great Anglican Church Smiths Station, Alabama A Mission of the Anglican Province of America Fr John Klein can be reached at (334) 663-2985 / kleinjw@tigermail.auburn.edu Newsletter #22 - Lent 2018 Traditional, orthodox Anglicanism Catholic and Evangelical for modern people. Looking forward to Lent 2018. Shrove Tuesday is February 13 with Pancakes at church 6:00 PM (EST) Ash Wednesday is February 14 with Eucharist at church 6:00 PM (EST).
The Lenten Program this year will begin February 23rd and will feature Evening Prayer on Fridays of Lent at 6:00 PM (EST) with a simple poverty supper following. First we see over two weeks: The Letters: The Untold Story of Mother Teresa. Then we will see, over two weeks, a marvelous film about: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldier, Sinner, Saint. Lenten Teaching Mission featuring Fr. Paul Rivard of Saint George the Martyr, Simpsonville, SC on the subject of "Higher Criticism of Scripture." We begin on Saturday, March 17th Saturday with Eucharist at 10:00 AM, followed by coffee, lecture, Noonday Prayers, lunch, lecture, concluding with tea at 2:30 PM. Fr. Paul Rivard, the rector of The Anglican Church of St. George the Martyr, Simpsonville, SC came to the southern United States from Saskatchewan, Canada in the mid 1990 s. In the small town of Toccoa he met his wife Sarah, a native Georgian, and they were married in 2001. After living in northeast Georgia and Atlanta for several years, they have now happily settled in Greenville with their four children Jonas, Anna, Elise, and Sasha. Fr. Paul received his bachelor s degree in English from Toccoa Falls College and his Masters of Divinity from Erskine Seminary in Due West, SC. After being a
member of the Anglican Province of America since 2003, Fr. Paul was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Walter Grundorf in July 2010 at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Dunwoody, Georgia. Remember Lent is a time for fasting (especially on Wednesdays and Fridays - traditionally by giving up meat), for self-denial (often Anglicans will forego something they enjoy very much), and alms giving (Bishop Grundorf has designated our missions in India and we will have an alms collection for that purpose). In our traditional scheme - largely established by Saint Gregory the Great - we have three Sundays that warn us Lent is fast approaching. Thus, since the 6th and 7th centuries we have three Sundays preceding Ash Wednesday called Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, meaning respectively, the seventieth, sixtieth, and fiftieth days before Easter. The First Sunday of Lent is Quadragesima which is the beginning of the Lenten fast of forty days. Taking on some new discipline is a good idea. Morning Prayer and/or Evening Prayer would be ambitious. Perhaps praying the Our Father at the ancient hours of 9:00 AM, Noon, and 3:00 PM. What about naming five things to be thankful for every evening. Or walking with a friend while you both pray for those in need. Books are inportant for Lenten spiritual reading. I have thoroughly enjoyed a book Elsa Bisset gave me: Vigen Guroian, Inheriting Paradise: Meditaions on Gardening (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999) and by the same author: Vigen Guroian, Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). At Saint James' we are still reading: Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (NY: Sentinel, Penguin - Random House, 2017). At Saint Matthias, Dothan we are reading Frank Wilson's, Faith and Practice (New York: Morehouse-
Gorham Co., 1939), which is still a wonderful summary of the Faith. Another old but easily read classic is Bonnell Spencer, O.H.C., Ye Are the Body: A People's History of the Church (West Park, NY: Holy Cross Press, 1950). Still superb is: William Wantland's, Foundations of the Faith (Wilton, CT: Morehouse-Barlow, 1983). Dallas Williard's, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), as well as N. T. Wright's The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture (San Francisco: Harper, 2005) are both interesting reading for Lent. And you can always read Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ or anything by Archbishop Michael Ramsey. Ash Wednesday is really a time when all serious Anglicans come to church and most receive the Imposition of ashes. The ashes are simply the burned fronds of the past Palm Sunday. This mark of our mortality - "Remember, O man that dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return" - puts us into the proper trajectory of eternal life in Christ. This life is not the end; our "Citizendship" as St. Paul said, "is in heaven" (Philippians 3: 20). Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, W. 174, Missal of Eberhard von Greiffenklau, fol. 28r; initial D at beginning of prayer during the blessing of ashes on Ash Wednesday.
Saint James' parishioners will not want to miss our two featured movies on Fridays of Lent. The Letters about Mother Teresa of Calcutta is simply splended. If your life is not changed by seeing this film I will be surprised. Much the same can be said for the very different film on the life and witness of Ignatius of Loyola: Soldier, Sinner, Saint. These are two very different saints, both, however, present us with challenges to live "in Christ" and for Christ with greater intention and will. Please bring a friend too. This is a wonderful occasion for evangelism. Share the faith of Christ.
Sir Sydney Hugo Nicholson [1875-1947] Our choir has been learning "God be in my head, And in mine understanding" from the Sarum Primer, 1558. They are treating it as versicle and response with one solo voice on "God be in my head" and full choir on "And in my understanding." We are singing this to Sir Sydney Nicholson's [1875-1947] wonderful tune Lytlington found in The Hymnal 1940 at number 466. Nicholson studied under Charles Villiers Stanford, was Warden of the Royal School of Church Music, organist of Manchester Cathedral, and later Westminster Abbey. This is about as English as one can get. It is a very brief and simple anthem but wonderful for Baptisms, Confirmations, and retreats or quiet days at church. In the sixteenth century it was used as a private devotion before the Daily Office - Morning or Evening Prayer. Some may also know Sir Sydney's "Lift High the Cross," which retains its perennial popularity. We are immeasurably blessed by the ministry of church musicians. JWK+
Look at what Mary Beth Wagnon has Accomplished! Wow, way to go girl! This is fantastic. This acolade follows on her being chosen from Smiths Station High School for the All-State Choir last month. We are so proud of her and the excellent work she is doing. Her hope is to become a Veterinarian and we are sure she can do it. Congratulations from your church-family. JWK+
The Baptism of Christ Window Linda Wilkins Klein has found a beautiful leaded and stained glass window from an old church in Boston. It is antique, of uncertain provenance. There is a second window that is simply the same kind of glass without a scene from the Bible. It can be used for repair of this window by Alice who found our Palladian window. This window depicts the Baptism of Christ by St. John the Baptist. Our idea is to set it into the wall by the baptismal font and back-light it for more powerful affect. JWK+
King's College Chapel, Cambridge University
. Saint James, pray for us.. That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ. Saint James as Pilgrim by Juan de Juanes (Joan Macip Navarro) This painting comes from the Church of the Convent of the Corona in Valencia, the place for which it was commissioned in 1563. Dimensions: 70 x 56 cm. Oil on board. Renaissance (1560-1570). It is in the Museum of Pilgrimage in Santiago de Compostela.
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