Episcopal Church | dual personalities

Yesterday was the day we Episcopalians remember Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley who were burned at the stake by Queen “Bloody” Mary in England in 1555. (Archbishop Thomas Cranmer is also remembered on October 16, but he was actually executed later.)

When Catholic Mary became Queen of England one of her first acts was to arrest Bishop Ridley, Bishop Latimer, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. She insisted that the best way to deal with heresy was to burn as many heretics as possible. In the course of a five-year reign, she lost all the English holdings on the continent of Europe, she lost the affection of her people, and she lost any chance of a peaceful religious settlement in England. Of the nearly three hundred persons burned by her orders, the most famous are the Oxford Martyrs, commemorated yesterday.

The scholar Nicholas Ridley had been a chaplain to King Henry VIII and was Bishop of London under his son Edward. He was a preacher beloved of his congregation. Hugh Latimer also became an influential preacher during King Edward’s reign. He was an earnest student of the Bible, and as Bishop of Worcester he encouraged the Scriptures be known in English by the people. His sermons emphasized that men should serve the Lord with a true heart and inward affection, not just with outward show.

When Ridley was asked if he believed the pope was heir to the authority of Peter as the foundation of the Church, he replied that the church was not built on any man but on the truth Peter confessed — that Christ was the Son of God. Ridley said he could not honor the pope in Rome since the papacy was seeking its own glory, not the glory of God. Neither Ridley nor Latimer could accept the Roman Catholic mass as a sacrifice of Christ. Latimer told the commissioners, “Christ made one oblation and sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and that a perfect sacrifice; neither needeth there to be, nor can there be, any other propitiatory sacrifice.”

For their heresy they were burned at the stake on October 16, 1555. As the flames rose around them, Latimer encouraged Ridley, “Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”

Martyrs’ monument in Oxford.

Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like thy servants Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, we may live in thy fear, die in thy favor, and rest in thy peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

I’m sorry I did not remember the Oxford Martyrs yesterday. Today is a good day to do so as well. Lest we forget.

“They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. But then they will have my dead body, but not my obedience.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

(Historical info from Christianity.com)

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October 7, 2013

Weekend update

by chuckofish

On Saturday my friends and I embarked on an autumn adventure. We ventured down to the Historic Shaw Art Fair. The Art Fair itself is not historic, but the neighborhood is. The idea for the last 20 years has been to showcase the beautiful neighborhood by providing a “high-caliber cultural event”. We are always up for one of those.

Because Carla was driving, we found the bomb spot and parked right outside the Missouri Botanical Garden. Awesome.

It was overcast, but pleasant. There were reputedly 135 artists from across the country.

Plus “entertainment”.

It was fun, but I always feel bad about not buying something from all the well-meaning and earnest artists. I usually prefer my artwork to be vintage. C’est la vie. Afterwards we went to Jilly’s for lunch. I did not have a cupcake, but the non-dessert food was yummy.

When I got home I went over to my favorite Pumpkin Patch at the Methodist Church and picked out a couple of pumpkins.

I love pumpkins, don’t you?

Here is how my front porch “vignette” looks:

We planted some grass a few weeks ago and had part of a bale of hay left.

I know you’re impressed.

I was the second lector at church yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised to read one of my favorite scripture passages from the second letter of Paul to Timothy. It includes my personal mantra:

For God did not give you a spirit of timidity, but one of power and love and self-control. (RSV)

Of course, it was the NRSV so it read a little differently: for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

The KJV says: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

In this instance I like the RSV best. It is so much more personal, speaking to “you”, which seems like what Paul would have been doing in his letter to Timothy.

How was your weekend?

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September 30, 2013

A sheep of thine own fold

by chuckofish

On Saturday I went to yet another funeral–this time for someone who we all felt would live forever. (Her mother died last year at 101.)

I had known Marian for years and years. She was an exceptional Churchwoman–chair of countless important diocesan committees, vestry member, head of the church school. Plus, you know, she was president of the Vassar Club and the Junior League. She was confident and organized and energetic–in a word: awesome. When I was chairman of the Musee de Noel (a monstrous fundraising effort organized by the Vassar, Smith and Bryn Mawr clubs for many years) and had no help from the hapless and helpless president of the Smith Club, Marian was my right-hand man.

She also changed my life. We were in a small prayer group together and she took me aside once and said (in so many words): “Katie, you can see the glass as half empty or see it as half full. It’s as simple as that. It’s your choice.” Really, it was one of those bolt-from-heaven-slap-in-the-face moments where you realize you have to pay attention and make a change.

And I did. I trained myself to see the glass as half full. It can be done. It is hard for us melancholy Scot types, but not impossible.

Anyway, I had to go back to my old church for her funeral, which is always a bit of a stressful undertaking.

The church was packed–picture a good turn-out on Easter–and the service, which the bulletin termed a “Requiem for the Repose of the Soul of MFC” let out all the stops. Usually the minister says the “I am the resurrection and the life saith the Lord” opening section of the “Order for the Burial of the Dead” as he processes down the aisle, but their “world-class” choir chanted it. They also sang the psalms, as well as anthems at the communion and the commendation, and so it all felt sort of like a performance. But oh well. If anyone deserved such a service, it was Marian. We got to sing three hymns and it was Rite One–always a treat nowadays.

The rector gave the homily and although I do not like him, I liked what he said. This is another reminder to pay ATTENTION, because you never know when or from whom you will hear something meaningful. What he said was quite puritan-like I thought: We are living in a botched creation. Heaven is the world as God wants it to be. But we will be raised, restored and finished. As Christians, Heaven is our destination. Alleluia.

I have to say it was good to be back at old Grace Church on Sunday. In contrast to the well-oiled machine that is my old church, it was business as usual. For example, the Intercessor prayed “For those who rest in China and for all the dead” instead of “those who rest in Christ.” Good grief–let’s remember to wear our glasses next time, honey. It made me chuckle.

Blessings to Marian who fought the good fight of faith and who rests in Christ.

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September 23, 2013

That old September feeling

by chuckofish

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

― George Eliot

How was your weekend? Mine was very low-key. The weather was lovely. I went estate sale-ing but actually found something at one of my favorite antique malls.

I have been looking for a small desk or work table for some time now. I found a nice old slant-top desk (and a chair) for a wonderful price and snatched them up. I had to go home and get our trusty Subaru to transport it and then asked the boy to come over and get it out of the Subaru and upstairs. He, as usual, was more than willing to do so. I sure do appreciate his man-strength and his good humor.

He also hung up a very large watercolor that I got at the Autumn Gallery Auction at our local auction house last week. It was their quarterly fancy auction as opposed to the monthly ones I usually go to. Sometimes I’ll just throw in a lowball silent bid to see what will happen and sometimes I win. Very exciting.

We moved some things around and that is always fun.

I went to church on Sunday (five weeks in a row!) and we celebrated St. Matthew’s Day and had our annual picnic. It was a beautiful sunny day–perfect for outdoor dining, bouncy houses and bar-b-que.

After doing some house cleaning and laundry, we wound down the day with these:

A perfect start to fall!

*The pictures from the church picnic are from the Grace church Facebook page.

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September 16, 2013

Weekend update

by chuckofish

Oh fall weekends! The heat finally broke here last Thursday and the temperatures plunged to where they really should be. Sweet relief.

On Saturday I decided to throw away my list of estate sales and instead I walked downtown to view our flyover town’s annual Greentree Parade. (Please forgive my iPhone pictures!)

Motorcycle cops ~~showing off~~ skillfully driving in circles opened up the parade.

They were followed by the High School band and cheerleaders,

motley groups of scouts,

local vendors,

Yes, that’s a giant bison he’s pulling!

bagpipers,

a giant motorized shopping cart,

and various groups of equestrians,

In addition, of course, the elementary schools and middle schools in town all had floats. A lot of churches also participated as well. The Methodist church always has the best entry and this year was no different with their own super-cool rockin’ Christian band blasting their live music.

Seriously, I always want to join their church after seeing them rock by. But my own Grace Church tries so hard—you have to love them despite the fact that they might as well hang a banner that says, “Yes, we’re Episcopalian nerds–join us!” We had music too, but we piped in hymns like “Let Us Gather at the River,” because we always stick to the yearly theme—this year it was “The Wild, wild West”. At least for our trouble we were awarded 1st place in the category of theme interpretation!

I took this picture on Sunday morning outside our church where it was proudly parked.

I did not take a picture of our float at the parade because I was so distracted by this friendly Episcopalian who was trotting around very much in character (“Howdy, Ma’am”).

(I found this better picture–with cacti–on our church website)

He handed out these invitations.

Real wooden crosses handmade in Bethlehem!

We may be a small congregation, but we are always classy! (No candy or dog treats for us.)

As if all this local excitement wasn’t enough, the boy and his bride invited us to go to the Cardinals game with them that evening.

Our seats were in the seventh row behind the home dugout–how perfect is that? Besides seeing the game at a great vantage point and the players up close and personal, we had many opportunities to see this guy.

Fred Bird never ceases to amuse and entertain me.

We may have lost the game, but the day was spectacular. God bless America!

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August 28, 2013

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine

by chuckofish

The collect today is for Augustine of Hippo:

Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you: Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Augustine was an early Christian and philosopher who served (396-430) as the bishop of Hippo. Through his autobiographical Confessions (397) and the City of God (413-426), he profoundly influenced Christianity and is considered to be one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace.

In the Anglican Church he is a saint and today is his feast day.

His mother Monica, however, is considered a saint only in the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, she is a prototypical Catholic woman–“venerated for her outstanding Christian virtues, particularly the suffering against the adultery of her husband, and a prayerful life dedicated to the reformation of her son.” (Wikipedia) She cried a lot and prayed a lot, and, we are led to believe, it paid off. Her sinful rake of a son turned out to be a prince of the church. Not that she lived to see much of the rewards of her prayer. Isn’t that always the way?

Anyway, I thought this was amusing:

This is code to all you sons out there: Call your mother!

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August 26, 2013

O blest communion, fellowship divine

by chuckofish

Daughter #2 went back east on Saturday, and after I dropped her off at the airport, I hurried back to Grace Church for a funeral. An 86-year old friend had died while we were in Wyoming and I wanted to pay my respects to him and to his lovely wife. (Also if I shed a few tears for daughter #2, no one would notice.)

As befitted the passing of a devout cradle Episcopalian, the service included KJV readings and the whole nine yards of communion–just the way I like it. There was a good crowd there to honor Brooke, a retired chemist with 30-something patents, including one to do with medical x-rays. He was also a devoted churchman–a dying breed I’m afraid. His three children all spoke movingly before the service about Brooke. I was impressed. But none of them seemed to know what to do during the service, which saddened me. Clearly none of his sons are devoted churchmen. Ah, well. So it goes.

Brooke once told me, after hearing the boy speak in church about his experience on the youth mission trip, that he thought my son was a “fine young man”. This meant a lot to me, and I can only hope that the boy will someday be as fine a man and churchman as Brooke was.

Speaking of Episcopalians, Ruby, our hostess in Wyoming, is the widow of a clergyman and the daughter-in-law of a bishop.

She took us to a service in the mountains at St. Alban’s Chapel which was officiated by the interim dean of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Laramie.

There were about 25 friendly souls and several dogs at the service.

An elderly chihuahua in a sweater who sat on a pew during the service.

Afterwards we all had a picnic at Lake Brooklyn nearby.

Daughter #2 made a friend.

Fortified with our healthy lunch, Ruby drove us around the Snowy Range 4-wheel drive trails in the Medicine Bow National Forest in her stick shift Subaru. We hiked some too, scrambling over rocks behind her.

Somehow we managed to keep up–not so easy for these flatlanders at 8200 ft.!

Ruby leaves our flyover state in May every year for her house in Wyoming and returns in late September when the weather turns cold. She is a hardy soul, hospitable, gracious and generous. This trip will go down in history as one of the best!

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August 5, 2013

Flyover road trip and weekend update

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? We had some (much-needed) rain on Friday night, but the rest of the weekend was lovely. Perfect, in fact, for a road trip–which I took with some friends over to Boonville to attend a wedding.

Yes, a destination wedding in Boonville, Missouri. And, yes, they spell it without an “e”. Don’t judge. The bride is from St. Louis and the groom hails from Steelville. No one seems to know why the wedding was in Boonville, but, hey, now I can say I’ve been there. Five hours in the car–well worth the effort.

Boonville is a town of about 8,000 in Cooper County on the Missouri River. Nothing much has happened there since a skirmish early in the Civil War when Union forces defeated a small and poorly equipped force of the Missouri State Guard in the first Battle of Boonville.

There are quite a few interesting buildings in town which are on the historic register, including the Thespian Hall, which is the oldest theater still in use west of the Alleghenies. Check out those brick columns!

The wedding took place in this lovely Episcopal Church.

I wish it had been held in the First Presbyterian Church in town, because–wow–I was dying to go inside this striking buff brick structure built in the Spanish Baroque style in 1903 with corner towers and a variety of classical motifs. What were those Boonville Presbyterians thinking?

As I have asserted before, the traditional Episcopal wedding service is hard to beat, but the organist played his instrument like a calliope and raced through the hymns. I’m not sure what the rush was–there wasn’t anything else going on in town. Perhaps he had a date at the local casino, but I digress…The bride was pretty and the groom smiled a lot, and that is always a good thing. (Don’t get me started on bridesmaids with tattoos.)

The reception was in the historic Hotel Frederick which had a nice vintage ambience.

The food was excellent as were the pear basil sipper cocktails, and there was cake.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, we continue to enjoy a cooler summer than we are used to. The flora continues to put forth bounty at a time when usually everything around here is burned up and nothing blooms but a few hardy roses. I really can’t believe this weather.

Carla’s lush front yard

I hung up some vintage curtains which I got on eBay in my laundry room and put two new shades in daughter #1/#2’s old bedroom with the help of my husband assisted by the boy.

The latter job took two weekends and the purchasing of a new tool. Things are never as simple as they look.

I am enjoying my current reading material.

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin is surprisingly well written and chock full of fascinating characters who are not of the cardboard variety. What are you reading this summer?

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August 1, 2013

A new month and a few things to keep in mind

by chuckofish

A new month, a new calendar page and the end of summer in sight. For those of us in this flyover state it has not been a bad summer weather-wise. Indeed, we have had lovely long stretches of Michigan-esque weather. By this time, usually, we are counting the days ’til fall, but not this year. I am in no hurry for school to be back in session full throttle. I plan to enjoy the dog days that are left of summer 2013.

The August TCM star of the month is old Humphrey Bogart, film idol and Episcopalian.

As I’ve mentioned before, my mother had a preference for Warner Brothers stars, such as Bogart and Errol Flynn, because she went to see all those movies at the Lewis J. Warner ’28 Memorial Theater at Worcester Academy (which I blogged about here). Like my mother, I feel that same thrill when the Warner Brothers logo appears and their rousing theme is played at the beginning of all their movies. TCM is not showing anything that I haven’t seen a million times and my favorite Bogart film, The Petrified Forest, is not on the line-up, but oh well. They are all still better than anything you’ll see on network television–reruns and commercials!

Tonight, however, they are showing my second-favorite Bogart film Key Largo, which is also one of my all-time favorite movies. I just saw it again recently and it really is fabulous. John Huston and Bogart were a good team and the star is at his best, ably supported by Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor and Lauren Bacall. So be sure to tune in or (at the very least) set your DVR.

August 1 is also the birthday of Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891), American writer and author, of course, of Moby-Dick.

This would be a great month to read the great book! You know you’ve been meaning to. Here’s a little something to get you in the mood.

“There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:– through infancy’s unconscious spell, boyhood’s thoughtless faith, adolescence’s doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood’s pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling’s father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it.”

August 1 is the birthday as well of Jerome Moross (August 1, 1913 – July 25, 1983) who composed works for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, soloists, musical theatre, and movies. He also orchestrated motion picture scores for other composers. His best known film score is that for the 1958 movie The Big Country, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score.

The winner that year in that category was The Old Man and the Sea, scored by Dimitri Tiomkin. Hold the phone! Are you kidding me? Jerome Moross was robbed! But why am I never surprised? Anyway, you might want to watch that movie–it’s a good one. It misses being a great western because of the annoying plot and the super annoying character played by Carol Baker. Nevertheless, it has some great people in it: Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Jean Simmons, and Burl Ives (who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). And the score is probably the best ever.

So here’s to a good August filled with great movies and great books! Let’s all have a good one.

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