WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

Pope Benedict restores the Latin Mass

 I remember Fr. Ralston years ago coming home from a Prayerbook Society meeting, mentioning how someone had told the story about how the Roman Catholic Cardinal of one of our great northeastern metropolises was approached by a young priest after Vatican II (1962-1965), the priest rejoicing that the Church would now have to find someone to translate the Latin Mass into English.  (One of the outcomes of Vatican II was the Roman Catholic Church's decision to translate the old Tridentine Mass from the Latin into the vernacular.)  This particular cardinal is said to have replied, "Not so my son.  The Anglicans did that for us several centuries ago."

Of course the RC Church went ahead and made its own vernacular translation in rather pedestrian English, much of which was used by our Episcopal Church in the creation of what we know as Rite II in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, as well as the order of the Eucharist in Rite I -- that order being somewhat different from that in the 1928 BCP.

Since the late sixties, the Latin Mass (the Tridentine Mass) has continued to be used very sparingly in just a few portions of the United States.  In situations where the laity have asked the clergy to use it here and there on occasion, the response has generally been something like:  "The Church has moved way beyond that, and we could not possibly go back," a response not unlike what many Episcopalians have heard from their own clergy when they have asked for a service from the 1928 BCP.  At All Saints we can give thanks that our Bishop and his predecessors have always been willing to see that the traditional liturgy be available to those who desire it.

Bishop Louttit in addressing our Diocesan Convention several years ago, stated that one of the overriding desires of churchmen these days both young and old, is to experience a sense of the "numinous" (holy and transcendent) in worship.  We have found Bishop Louttit's remark to be more than true here at All Saints as we continue to add young families to our parish register.  I would imagine that on a per capita basis, we are one of the youngest parishes demographically in our diocese today.

The point of this introduction is simply to comment on Pope Benedict's July promulgation to restore the Latin Mass.  Interestingly, whereas a bishop formerly had to give his permission to a priest to use this rite, again a permission which was rarely forthcoming, the Pope has directed any priest to use the Mass at the request of the laity.  In other words, the Mass is not to be denied but offered to those who would desire it.  What the general reaction of the bishops and other clergy will be remains to be seen.

What does not remain to be seen are the reasons Pope Benedict made this decision.  Apart from the Tridentine Mass' inherent more traditional theology, the fact is that the laity, in this case young adults, parents, college students, etc. are the ones who seem to be the most interested in experiencing this magnificent part of their Church's liturgical heritage.  According to an article in the May 28 Dallas Morning News, a thirty four year old lady has  been attending a Latin Mass in Rome for the last ten years, finding it to be "much more of a transcendent experience than the modern services, which were more like going to a 'nightclub' because of the music and showmanship--like role of the priest.  The New Order became a social celebration rather than a religious celebration." 

The July 8 edition of the Washington Times quoted a District of Columbia Monsignor who said that "the difference between the two Masses is a question of spirituality and aesthetics.  The former (the Latin) is beautiful, rich in symbolism, and there is a great deal of sung beauty and solemnity to it.  Some Catholics are hungry for that."  How interesting, not to mention extremely encouraging, that many Roman Catholics want to return essentially to how traditional Anglicans have been worshipping and praying all along.  Further, the Pope's decision certainly gives the question mark -- if not the lie -- to what has undergirded so much of what has been touted as liturgical renewal for the last fifty years in the Roman and Anglican Communions:  the insulting and patronizing idea that young people cannot appreciate Elizabethan language (or Latin), and that the only way they will be attracted to church is through media such as mega -- churches with their guitars, sound systems, projected  7-11 hymns (seven words repeated eleven times), three minute homilies, all led by clergy who have cast themselves in the role of Ed McMahon introducing the latest version of "The Tonight Show".  This is precisely what the Roman Catholic Church was offering up the street from my dormitory at the University of Virginia in 1970 and beyond.

I've said or written more than once that for most of us at All Saints, the primary "issue" in our congregation is and has always been the Prayerbook.  It is the reason that our founding fathers and mothers" made the effort to establish our parish.  While many clergy my age and older have and will continue to say that aesthetics and symbolism don't mean that much, our experience, as well as the experience of many of our Roman brothers and sisters continues to prove otherwise.  We sing about the "beauty of holiness", but there is something very real about the holiness of beauty -- and as Keats understood, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty.  That is all we know on earth, and all we need to know."    FAB

YOU TOO CAN HELP WITH SUNDAY SCHOOL!

As we begin our final preparations for the Fall Christian Education Program, we can always use additional help.  This is not simply a plea for more teachers.  However, if you feel that you are being called to teach at any grade level, you are needed so please let me know. 

One of the ways that we can use assistance is in the purchasing of supplies.  If you are making a trip to Wal-Mart, Target, or any other store of the like, (All Saints' does not endorse or sanction any particular store!) would you mind picking up some supplies while you are there?  Many within the parish can contribute this way to Christian Ed. if teaching at this time is not right for you.  We are preparing lists of our needs now.  If you can help in this capacity, please let Nikki or me know. 

Many thanks,
Will

ST. CECILIA AND ST. DAVID CHOIRS

Wednesday, September 5 will be the first rehearsal day for both choirs.  Members of the St. Cecilia choir are kindergarten (or 5 in the Fall/Winter) through 2nd Grade.  They rehearse each Wednesday from 4:00 -- 4:45 p.m.  St. David Choir, 3rd through 8th Grades, rehearses 5:00 -- 6:00 p.m.

Both choirs will sing Sunday, October 7.  There will be more choir news and information in the September newsletter.  Let's fill the choir loft!

ECW BOOK CLUB

The book club meeting this month will be August 15, lunch will be served -- and the ECW wants everyone to feel comfortable about coming -- even if you haven't read the book or don't want to read the book.  Please contact the chair person for that month with any questions and to allow us to get a count for lunch.

The ECW Book Club schedule follows:
 
   August 15 Handling Sin   (Fr. Buechner)
   September 12  The Faith Club  (Nancy McCollum)
   October 10 Eat, Pray and Love (Debbie Beeson)
   November 14 Love in the Time of Cholera (Henri Walter)
   December   No book club meeting

Other books on the agenda include Les Miserables (an abbreviated version!) and Anna Karenina.  Please join us.

Lee Mitchell and Lee Chubb

FROM THE SENIOR WARDEN

As most of you know, Fr. Buechner was unable to take his vacation as scheduled in July.  He has attempted to reschedule it in August.  As such he will be away August 19, 26 and September 2.  Because of the shortage of supply clergy for our area (virtually none), on August 19 we will change our usual 3rd Sunday schedule.  That is, we will have Morning Prayer at 10:30 a.m. and Holy Communion at 6:00 p.m.  We are fortunate to have The Rev. Gary Wilde (rector of St. John's, Moultrie) celebrate the evening Eucharist on August 19 and 26, as well as the Tuesday Holy Communion services August 21, 28 and September 4.  On the morning of September 2, one of the clergy from St. John's Savannah will be our guest celebrant and preacher.

David Grooms

CURATE'S CORNER

"Welcome to Thomasville!"  Robyn and I have heard that phrase many times over in the past few weeks since our arrival in June, and we simply love hearing it!  We are so excited to be here with you at All Saints', and look forward to joining with you in ministry for many years to come.  The outpouring of generous support through meals, phone calls, and drop-by visits has made our transition so much easier, and we are sincerely grateful for your warm welcome into this faith community. 

I know I have told several people this, but it bears repeating to the wider church audience.  As you know I started seminary in August 2004.  That year marked the 25th anniversary of the 1979 prayer book.  As you would expect, lovers of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer were few and far between in this day and age, but my love grew stronger over my three years at Sewanee.  As a graduate in 2007, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I would never in a million years have guessed that my first sermon, preached in front of my first cure would have ever happened within the context of Morning Prayer; vested in cassock, surplice, and tippet; and taking place in a 1928 Prayer Book congregation.  However, it happened, and for that fact, I am grateful beyond words.

We are slowly but surely settling in our home.  As most of you know, Robyn’s mother, Grace Ford lives with us, and we have had a bit of renovation work taking place over the past several weeks.  She is looking forward to having her own space, and getting to know many of you as well.

Again, please accept our sincerest thanks and appreciation for everything that you have done thus far.  I do look forward to many, many years of service amongst you all, and my door is always open.  Please let me know how I can serve you as a pastor, and minister of the Good News of Jesus Christ our Lord!

Blessings,
Will

ACOLYTE APPEAL

The Acolyte program is a very important ministry in our church.  The program is open to any one 9½ years or older.  If you are interested in becoming an acolyte please call Father Buechner, Will, or myself. 

We will schedule a training session very soon to organize and measure for robes for the Fall. 

Ramsey Singletary
Acolyte Master

USHERS FOR AUGUST

August 6     
Don Bruhn    
John Daniel   

August 13
Charles Deal
Jim Funk

August 20 
John Glenn
Ben Grace 

August 27
C.B. Grubbs
Paul Gurley

TRANSITIONS:

Happy Birthday in the month of August to:

Chadwick Kelly   8-1-93
Parker Hayden McCollum  8-7-04
Catherine Campbell   8-17-86
Jacob A. Bruhn    8-21-96
Haven Shea    8-26-88
Lily Bradford Jackson   8-30-02

Happy Birthday in the month of September to:

Richard Lyons    9-4-88
Mary Eleanor Hand   9-5-95
Melissa Funk    9-6-90
William Buechner   9-9-84
Preston Young    9-11-99
Parker Watt    9-13-00
Riley Harper    9-16-05
William McQueen IV   9-16-03
Sara Jo Grooms    9-17-88

Requiescat in Pace:

Mary Bouton Harper departed this life June 23, 2007
Robert Page Crozer departed this life July 22, 2007
May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.  Amen.

Deo Gratias

       Mr. and Mrs. Amos McMullian announce the safe deliver of a grandson,
                 Andrew Raney McMullian to Mr. and Mrs. Ryals McMullian.


THE SABBATH DAY-- DOES IT HAVE ANY APPLICATION FOR MODERN CHRISTIANS, EXPECIALLY EPISCOPALIANS/ANGLICANS?

This is not to finger point, but simply to re-express a frustration which many of the parish have already voiced to me.  FAB
 
It seems to be the case that for most Christians in the West today Sunday is just like any other day, except that in the morning an effort is made to go to a church service. For the rest of the day the rules for any none-go-to-work-day seem to apply-- gardening, recreation, home improvements, going to restaurants, dressing casually, shopping at the mall and the supermarket, watching TV shows and sport, traveling by air and car, paid employment, and so on.
 
This approach to Sunday -- better "the Lord's Day," the festival of the Resurrection -- is relatively new. One has only to read the Catechisms of   Anglicans, Protestants and Roman Catholics from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and look through the older Lutheran, Methodist and Anglican Hymn Books  to find that Christians are taught and urged to treat the Lord's Day as belonging very specifically to the Lord, and therefore to use it for corporate worship, family togetherness and prayers and an opportunity for meditation and contemplation of the things of God. And, of course, it was the common custom to go to corporate worship both in the morning and the evening -- with Sunday School or catechetical instruction added.
 
While some groups have come close to a Christian Sabbatarianism, setting over strict rules for what was permissible in this day, the majority -- until recent times -- simply deduced from the name "Lord's Day" that it was unique in the seven days, and thus ought to be observed with appropriate consecration, commitment and reverence to the Lord.
 
What seems to have happened is that an exaggerated sense of "Christian freedom," developed in the context of modern secular ideas of freedoms and rights, has caused many of us to think that Sunday is the day on which we, out of our busy lives and because of our appreciation of God, give to God an hour or two, and then spend the rest of the day as we will.   And, further, that couple of hours we donate to God,  is taken back by us if something "important" comes along to claim our attention and time. (Theologically this is a bad kind of Pelagianism!)
 
The virtual removing of the Lord's Day is not a phenomenon that is simply what the laity do, it is also what the clerical and lay leadership do whether they are "liberal progressives" or "biblically orthodox."   An example from the month of July 2007 of the what the "orthodox" do is provided by the arrangements for the Annual Meeting of the leadership of the Anglican Communion Network in Bedford , Texas. The Meeting begins in the evening of a Sunday ("the Lord's Day") and this means that the vast majority of attendees have to travel there by plane, setting off on the Sunday morning, thereby probably having to miss Christian worship and also using the Lord's Day to travel across the country as if they were committed secularists. (Of course they may travel on the Saturday and spend an extra night in a hotel and maybe some will do so.)
 
For Episcopalians and Anglicans, the diminution of the Lord's Day into merely "Sunday" has not only deeply affected   Anglican Liturgy (note how Evensong, the most beautiful of Anglican services, is now virtually extinct -- along with Matins, and how people attend worship dressed as though they were out for recreation); but has also   has deeply affected the potential for learning by good habit and teaching, by fellowship and common prayer, the content of the Christian Faith and its application to day to day living. And the general secularizing of the day has become as a poison to affect all aspects of doctrine, morality, style and ethos -- as the state of Episcopalianism in the USA reveals.
 
Certainly the glorious Christian hope includes the Sabbath Rest of the people of God (see the teaching in the Epistle to the Hebrews) as the final fulfillment of what the Sabbath is all about, but at the same time, the Lordship of Jesus extends very much over his day -- the first day of the week, or the eighth day -- in this world, now and here, when his people celebrate his Resurrection together as the Lord's people, hearing his Word, being fed at his Table, and being empowered by his Spirit. Unless there are emergencies or necessities to require our attention, the best mind of the Church over the centuries is that Lord's Day is a Day that is to be different to the other six because it is devoted wholly to the Lord.
 
Is there a way back for American Christians to such doctrine and discipline?
 
The Reverend Dr. Peter Toon, President of the Prayerbook Society