Skidding slightly

         How did the vote go?  St. James-Santee voted to affiliate with The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TEC), which is presently led by The Rt. Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg.  To say that this has been a difficult time would be an understatement.   St. James has never been a particularly like-minded congregation when it comes to politics (Church or otherwise), so, there are members who feel very relieved about the decision and others who are pretty blue.  It is our prayer that the love we have for one another and the Lord Jesus will keep us bound together.  Right now things feel a little shaky - somewhat like a car which has lost some traction and is threatening to skid out of control.   God willing, we will be able to turn the wheel in the direction of the skid and regain our forward momentum.   We pray that the Holy Spirit will bind us together and refresh us in the coming season so that we might continue the work of the Gospel in this place. Finally, though, our confidence and hope for the future rests on God's promises.  One promise that has been especially sustaining these past few weeks is this - from Paul's letter to the Philippians - "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1.6).    May you and yours know God's mercy and love anew during this Holy Week.

 

Please Pray for Us

Portion of SJS Altar Window

Dear Friends of St. James-Santee Parish Episcopal Church,

 This coming Sunday, we will be voting on the question of affiliation.  Although we are a very small group, this is a large decision.  Please pray that we will be guided by the Holy Spirit and that we might earnestly seek the mind of Christ. Pray for a spirit of repentance for our participation in the breaking of the Body of Christ in our diocese.  We are grieved by the necessity of this decision.  Finally, we covet your prayers for our unity as a congregation.   

Blessings in Christ,

Jennie+
 

 

Lenten Humor

I. Ten Top Reasons Ash Wednesday is Waay Better Than Christmas....


10. No braving the malls looking for Lent gifts

9. No pressure to send "Merry Ash Wednesday" cards

8. No explaining why using chi-rho isn't "X-ing Jesus out" of Lent

7. No need to fight culture wars by putting "Jesus resisting temptation in the wilderness" displays on public property

6. No celebrity holiday albums

5. No Ash Wednesday sitcom specials

4. No saccharine email forwards about "the true meaning" of Ash Wednesday

3. No tacky Ash Wednesday sweaters

2. "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return" extremely difficult to use in consumer marketing strategies

1. Nobody ever says, "Ash Wednesday is really all about the children."

Source: Dave Barnhart

 II.  Contemporary Approaches to Ash Wednesday

(Adapted from Catholic Cartoon blog)

 III.  A Song of Lenten Anticipation
(sung to the tune of 'My Favorite Things')

Sackcloth and ashes and days without eating,
Mortification and wailing and weeping,
A hair shirt that scratches, a nettle that stings —
These are a few of my favorite things!
Penitence, flagellants, memento mori,
Spending nights sleeping on rocks in a quarry,
The sound of a cloaked solemn cantor who sings —
These are still more of my favorite things!
Tossing and turning and yearning, I’m spurning!
Passions aflame like an ember-day burning,
Corpus and carnis and wild drunken flings —
Forsaken are they for my favorite things!
When it’s Christmas,
When the tree’s lit,
When the cards are sent…
I simply remember my favorite things —
And then I can’t waaaaaaaaait ’til Lent!

Source:  Unknown.

Ash Wednesday is Almost Here

Every year it seems to creep up and catch me unaware!  By way of preparation, here is one of the most complete pieces of music for Ash Wednesday...it has meditative tones as well as sorrow and joy.  So very beautiful - it is a setting of Psalm 51 known as the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri.  Here is some information about it (including the text).  Here is a superb performance by the Choir of Claire College, Cambridge, Timothy Brown, Dir.

  May you be blessed in your listening and on Ash Wednesday.
                                                                
                                                                                Jennie

Such a Long Journey This Year

.....between the joy of Christmas, the increasing light of Epiphany and the struggle of the members of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina - now sadly, divided.  It would be tempting to start the naming, blaming, and projection that so often accompany the destruction of a relationship which usually sounds something like this:  If you had not done (fill in the blank), I would not have felt compelled to do what I did..and so on.

  I have heard the language of divorce used and wonder if we really understand its' profound pain.  Not many people capture this better than Pat Conroy whose 1988 essay, "Requiem for a Marriage," can be found Here.  Read it and think about what is unfolding now in our corner of the Church. 

Conroy writes "...Each  divorce is the death of a small civilization" and this is, I believe, what we are experiencing now.  In our case, it is 340 plus years of missionary work and a careful and costly building up of the Body of Christ in this place. 

What can we say?  I understand that as followers of the Risen Lord, we are never left without hope for new life ahead, and that is a settled conviction with me.  However, we cannot move forward properly until we understand the loss we have experienced, and this is where I and many brothers and sisters are at present - trying to come to terms with the loss we are just beginning to discover.  For some, it feels like an enormous relief to be done with those troublesome others, but, then, there are many things in this life that feel like a relief at the time  - the pain of which comes washing slowly back into one's consciousness over time.

At St. James Santee, I am so thankful for the way we are navigating this time: slowly and patiently; listening carefully to each; and, unwilling to suffer the loss of even one member. May our God bless us in our deliberations.  And, may God bless each of you .
Your sister in Christ,  Jennie+

Christmastide Blessings to You All!

  Are you keeping the Twelve Days of Christmas?  This can be a wonderful antidote to the enormous "crash" that comes right after the cultural celebration of Christmas.  For Christians, the twelve days are the bridge between two great feasts of the Church - the Nativity and the Revelation of the Christ (Theophany) at Epiphany.

Below is a link to the website of Holy Trinity German Catholic Church which has this nice set of pages on the customs of Christmas and Epiphany.  I especially thought the discussion of the Christmas Tree was interesting.  It, according to some sources, is not just a pagan practice but also represents the Paradise Tree found in the Garden of Eden and, I suppose, in the garden of the Heavenly Jerusalem.  Here are the comments...

The Christmas tree was traditionally put up only on Christmas Eve and taken down on Twelfth Night, the Vigil of the Epiphany. The reason for this is that contrary to popular belief, the Christmas tree was not a Christian "baptism" of pagan yule traditions, but an entirely Christian symbol. In the Eastern churches December 24 was the Feast of Adam and Eve, our first parents. Though this feast has never been  observed in the Latin calendar, church officials nevertheless allowed Roman Catholics to appropriate this Oriental custom. In the Middle Ages special mystery plays were held on this day which featured a Paradise Tree, a tree representing both the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as well as the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden. Thus the tree was decorated with apples (for the forbidden fruit) and sweets (for the Tree of Life). When the mystery plays were suppressed during the fifteenth century, the faithful moved the Paradise trees from the stage into their homes. The apples were later substituted for other round objects (such as shiny red balls), and lights and the Star of Bethlehem were added, but the symbolism remained essentially the same. Thus, our modern Christmas tree is actually the medieval Paradise tree, a reminder of the reason why God deemed it important to become man in the first place and a foretaste of the sweet Tree from which our Lord's birth would once again enable us to taste. The lights of the Christmas tree also form a glowing Jesse tree, with each light representing one of Christ's ancestors and the Star representing our Lord Himself.

Here is the link to the website   Holy Trinity German Catholic Church

 

 

Christmas Eve 2012

 

You and Yours are Most Warmly Invited

to a Commemoration of 

 

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ

 

6:30 pm December 24, 2012

 

Village Chapel of Ease

St. James Santee Parish Church

McClellanville, So. Carolina

 

Holy Communion, Sermon, Christmas Carols,

Organ and Classical Guitar