dual personalities

Tag: All Saints Sunday

November 3, 2014

Here in Missouri

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? The OM and I had an adventure–a roadtrip on Saturday over to Fulton in the rolling green hills of central Missouri to visit the Winston Churchill Memorial on the campus of Westminster College.

You will recall that in 1946 it was at Westminster College that Winston Churchill delivered one of the most significant speeches of his long and illustrious career–the “Iron Curtain” speech. In the 1960s Westminster College set out to mark what would be the 20th anniversary of Churchill’s visit. After due consideration of traditional modes of commemoration, Westminster College settled on the rather more ambitious notion of moving a Christopher Wren designed Church from London. This Church, St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury, had stood in London since 1677 when it replaced an earlier structure that had sat on the same site since the 12th century until it was destroyed in the great fire of 1666. This magnificent building, badly damaged during the London Blitz, was moved stone by stone to Westminster’s campus and rebuilt to Wren’s original specifications.

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What an incredible undertaking! I had not been there since 1969 when it was dedicated. It is breathtaking.

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It is a popular venue for weddings, as you can imagine, and there was one about to take place when we ducked in, so this postcard view will have to suffice. It is my favorite type of church, reflecting the puritan branch of the Anglican church. I love those clear glass windows and brass chandeliers and the Ten Commandments behind the altar.

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A needlepoint kneeler in the museum downstairs

The National Churchill Museum which opened in 2006 is downstairs under the church. I was quite impressed.

ANC III woud have approved

ANC III would have approved of these toy soldiers.

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Indeed, ANC would have liked the museum as it illustrates the life and career of W.C.

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Iron Curtain Speech sculpture

Iron Curtain Speech sculpture

Anyway, it is well-worth the trip to Fulton which is a nice college town, not unlike Greencastle, Indiana which we visited many times over the years when daughter #1 was a student at DePauw University. I like college towns and am always up for visiting one.

Sunday was All Saints Sunday and we had three baptisms in church. All three children, who ranged in age from infant to toddler, wailed for dear life. (Bill Baker who baptized daughter #1 and the boy always said that that was the devil leaving the child and not to worry.) Well, I always enjoy renouncing “Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God”, including “the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God”--especially a few days before an election.

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow!

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November 4, 2013

Who are these like stars appearing*

by chuckofish

Sunday was All Saints’ Sunday when we Episcopalians remember “all the saints” –and by saints I mean that “glorious band” of Christians who have gone before us, leading by example. Protestants generally regard all true Christian believers as saints.

William Farel, John Calvin, Théodore de Bèze, and John Knox in Reformation Park, Geneva

William Farel, John Calvin, Théodore de Bèze, and John Knox in Reformation Park, Geneva

We are reminded on All Saints” Sunday to think of those saints who have influenced our lives. We all have them, starting usually, if we are lucky, with our mothers. I believe in God–Father, Son and Holy Ghost–chiefly because she told me about Him. Furthermore, I followed her example and her advice to remember that “this is the day which the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Of course, there have been teachers, ministers, friends who throughout my life have supported and guided me. Some I’ve written about here, but their names wouldn’t mean anything to you, so I won’t make a list. (But a list is a good idea.)

Frederick Beuchner, however, is a saint you have probably heard of. I am happy to say that I have heard him preach and even shaken his hand. I brought my three children to hear him and they too have shaken his hand.

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I have also heard Archbishop Desmond Tutu preach and shaken his hand.

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I went to a Billy Graham “revival” and that, too, was an awesome experience. There were thousands of people present, so I did not get to shake his hand.

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All three men are saints in my book and their words–both spoken and written–have helped me along on my journey.

I feel that I need to include a woman here in my personal army of saints–how about Jan Karon? She has done what is nearly impossible: written popular fiction with a palatable Christian message that is not “Christian literature” per se. She has sold millions–you go, girl!

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It has never been an easy thing to be a saint out in the world. One might argue, today especially. They are not feeding us literally to the lions, but metaphorically, it happens every day.

What God says…is ‘The life you save is the life you lose.’ in other words, the life you clutch, hoard, guard, and play safe with is in the end a life worth little to anybody, including yourself, and only a life given away for love’s sake is a life worth living. To bring his point home, God shows us a man who gave his life away to the extent of dying a national disgrace without a penny in the bank or a friend to his name. In terms of human wisdom, he was a Perfect Fool. And if you think you can follow him without making something like the same kind of a fool yourself, you are laboring under not a cross but a delusion.

There are two kinds of fools in the world: damned fools, and what Saint Paul calls ‘fools for Christ’s sake’ (I Cor. 4:10).

–Frederick Buechner

Our dedication to Christ may sometimes make us look like fools, but I like the company.

*Hymn 286, The Hymnal, 1982

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