The text is by Joseph Hart , fromHymns Composed on Various Subjects, 1759. The tune is named Restoration and is from The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, by William Walker.
The version below is by Fernando Ortega with help from Amy Grant. Here are the words:
Come,
ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and pow’r.
Refrain:
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.
Come,
ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.
Come,
ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.
View
Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies;
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?
Lo!
th’ incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.
Let
not conscience make you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
Below is a very lovely meditation by Suzanne Guthrie
The Calling of Peter and Andrew by Duccio_di_Buoninsegna - 1255-1319
The Byzantine influence upon Duccio is unmistakable. I love Duccio and I love this painting. Jesus stands against an iconic mountain on the land, calling to the two disciples in the boat upon the water against a blank, golden sky. The fish alone seem animated - the viewer sees time suspended, a moment encoded with portents and possibility.
Reality is not like the painting. Seagulls swarm the boat, women and vendors wait impatiently on the shore. Old men watch, assessing everything from the fishermen's' bodily strength, to the weave of the nets, to the condition of the boat, to the catch. Children run around. Feral cats and stray dogs wait stealthily for scraps.
Duccio's scene, pared down like an icon, lacks only one thing; the viewer accepting the invitation to step in. The painting draws me into the scene, placing me in the boat between Jesus and Peter. I feel Andrew turning around. I'm caught between Peter's hard gaze and Jesus' outstretched hand.
Situated in this way, I hear the words of Jesus addressed not only to Andrew and Peter but to me. "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people."
Lord, give me I pray: A remembering heart for the things that have happened... An attentive heart to what I have learned A forgiving heart for what has hurt A grateful heart for what has blessed A brave heart for what may be required An open heart to all that may come A trusting heart to go forth with You A loving heart for You and all your creation A longing heart for the reconciliation of all things. A willing heart to say “Yes” to what You will.
On this, the Seventh Day of Christmas, we mark both the Feast of St. Sylvester -4th C. Pope, who died Dec. 31, 335 and New Year's Eve. Closely associated with the Emperor Constantine, Sylvester was a great builder of churches.
Sylvester is also known as "Father Time."
In one legend, the
Emperor Constantine was cured of leprosy by the virtue of the baptismal water
administered by Sylvester.The Emperor,
abjectly grateful, not only confirmed the bishop of Rome as the primate above all other bishops, he resigned his
imperial insignia and walked before Sylvester's horse holding the pope's bridle
as the papal groom. The generous pope, in return, offered the crown of his own
good will to Constantine, who abandoned Rome to the pope and took up residence
in Constantinople.
This evening also marks New Year's Eve and the conclusion of 2013. To mark the occasion, I've posted below a version of Auld Lang Syne - the poem by Robert Burns. The performance is by Dougie MacLean from the album Tribute. The dialect is Lowland Scots and the translation is included.
May you all drink from the cup of kindness in the coming year!
The sign in front of our local drug store read "Christmas 1/2 off." Momentarily, I wondered had happened to the other half. John suggested it might have flown away with Rudolph. We laughed, but the question lingered.
This day, Dec. 27th, is the Third Day of Christmas and, no, Virginia, Christmas is not halfway over-- we are just beginning. More and more, it seems that the idea of Christmas as a Season of Twelve Days is dwindling and giving way to the Two Christmas Scenario .
The first could be called the Cultural/commercial Christmas which features Santa, the elves, non-religious Christmas music, Holiday programs, and much buying and selling of gifts. The second could be called a Christ-centered or Christian Christmas and focuses on Christmas as the Birth of Christ - Jesus being the reason for the season.
Cultural Christmas starts gearing up somewhere around Halloween and, in some quarters, the beginning of October. Decorations appear, music starts, and people are put in mind of the necessity to BUY presents for those for whom they care. On Dec. 26th, Christmas trees are out in the street, the Christmas music and decorations are gone and people are pressing on to the next celebration - New Year's Eve and Day. Also, "Christmas 1/2 off" notices promptly appear.
Anticipation of the Christ-Centered Christmas begins in Advent - usually the last Sunday in November or the first in December. Four Sundays are marked and, in our readings, we encounter some of the Advent people: The prophets - Isaiah and John the Baptist; St. Nicholas of Myra (Dec. 6th); St. Joseph and St. Mary. The themes of Advent are reflection, quiet anticipation and spiritual "house-cleaning" in anticipation of the coming of the King - not only as a newborn in Bethlehem but as the Great Judge at the end of time.
One way of staying focused on a Christ-Centered Christmas is to keep the Twelve Days. Below are some suggestions. May you be blessed in Keeping Christmas this year.
Keeping
the Twelve Days of Christmas
How strange and hopeful it is to cry NOEL in the heart of
the winter darkness.“So we banish the
long nights with firelight and candles.We defy the winter by festooning summer’s green from our rafters.We spread our tables with the abundance of
the harvest, all signs of God’s graciousness, signs of the bounty of heaven
itself.We gather around the sparkling
tree of life and declare this place, no matter how humble, to be paradise.We celebrate a birth, not a birthday.Christmas is not Jesus’ birthday,It is not an anniversary of something that
happened long ago.Christmas is the
celebration of Christ, now, hodie, today.The word for “today” is a key for entering
into the mystery of Christmastide, for if Christ is born today that mean we can
see and touch and hold Christ.It also
means we must feed and clothe and protect Christ, now, hodie, today.
One of the hallmarks of genuine Christian celebration
is this combination of tremendous comfort and joy with tremendous
challenge.No wonder it takes so many
days to keep Christmastide!And no
wonder we keep Christmastide by
renewing our efforts to clothe the naked, to feed the
hungry, and to bring together neighbors and strangers alike to share in the
feast of Christ.Today Christ is
born.NOEL!Hodie
Christus natus est.Noel! “
The Twelve
Day of Christmas are a great time for continuing the celebration.Try saving some gifts for these days.Keep your decorations up.Play and sing Christmas carols.Invite friends over for Christmas
cookies.Be counter-cultural.Celebrate with gusto!
Dec. 25 - The First Day - Today Christ is Born!
Dec. 26 – St.
Stephen, deacon and first martyr.Take food to a shelter.Help the poor
in some concrete way today.
Dec. 27 – St. John,
apostle and evangelist.Celebrate
God’s love.“Love one another” was
John’s constant sermon.Toast those
named John or Joanna.
Dec. 28- Holy
Innocents. Turn off Christmas lights
for today and remember Herod’s innocent victims as well as all innocent victims
in our own time.
Dec. 29 – The Prince
of Peace.Pray for peace today.Mend a quarrel or write a letter to elected
officials.
Dec. 30 – Anna and
Simeon – These were two senior citizens who welcomed the baby Jesus to the Temple.Visit or phone some older people in your life
today.
Dec. 31 – Sylvester,
4th c. saint. New Year’s Eve. Sometimes known as “Father Time”.Have a party, blow horns, tell some favorite stories.
Jan 1. – The Holy
Name of Jesus.Eight days after
Jesus was born, his parents named him.Meditate
today on the many names of Jesus Christ.
Jan.2 – Basil and
Gregory – 4th c. bishops and
teachers.Remember to move your
kings closer today.
Jan. 3 – Praise to
God!Listen to Handel’s Messiah!
Jan. 4- Elizabeth Ann
Seton – was a teacher who started one of the first Sunday School in the US.On this day give thanks for our teachers –
past and present.
Jan 5 – The Twelfth Day -- God is love!Give hugs to all today! (Twelfth Night Parties!)
Jan 6- The Feast of the Epiphany –
This word means “to show forth” or revelation.Celebrate the many ways Jesus is revealed – to the Magi, to us.The star is the great symbol of Epiphany so
do some star gazing tonight while wearing a crown.
You and yours are invited to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ Christmas Eve - 6:30 PM Holy Communion, Homily, St. James Children and Youth Tell the Story of Christmas, Carols, Organ and Hammered Dulcimer
O Come, Let us Adore Him....the One who is the Light of the World!
Dear Friends,
It is my prayer and hope that during this Thanksgiving time that you will stop to give thanks for our lives and for the many blessings - large and small- with which we are surrounded. Consider, too, being converted to a live lived in thankfulness every single day - for the beauty of nature, for the blessing of family and friends, and for the deepening flow of life's experience. Below is a lovely meditation by Brother David Steindl-Rast. It is entitled "A Good Day." Have a look and be blessed.
This past Friday, we marked the commemoration of the life of C.S. Lewis,(1898-1963) novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. Here is a quote of his that speaks to hope -- spes!
Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a
continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people
think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a
Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present
world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did
most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The
Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the
great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished
the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds
were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think
of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven
and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you will get
neither.
--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book III, Chapter 10
Almighty and everlasting God, we give you most high praise and
Hearty thanks for the wonderful grace and virtue declared in all your saints,
who have been the chosen vessels of your grace, and the lights of the world in
their times: for Abraham, the father of believers, and Sarah his wife; for Moses
the lawgiver, and Aaron the priest; for Miriam and Joshua, Deborah and Gideon,
and Samuel with Hannah his mother, and for all the holy patriarchs; for Isaiah
and all the prophets; for the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ
our Lord and God; for Peter and Paul and all the
apostles; for Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene; for
Stephen, the first martyr, and for all the martyrs; and for all your other
righteous servants, known to us and unknown; and we beseech you that, rejoicing
in their fellowship, encouraged by their examples, and aided by their prayers,
we also may run with steadfastness the race that is set before us, and finish
our course in faith; and that at the day of the general resurrection, we, with
all those who are of the mystical body of your Son, may be set on his right
hand, and hear his most joyful voice: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Grant this, O
Father, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate.
The most well-known hymn associated with All Saints Day is For All the Saints -- here are two performances with the words below..
Lots of brass and congregational singing with this one..
1. For all the saints, who from their
labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world
confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
2. Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress
and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought
fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one
true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
3. O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true
and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of
old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of
gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
4. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are
Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
5. And when the strife is fierce, the
warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph
song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms
are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
6. The golden evening brightens in the
west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes
their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the
blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
7. But lo! there breaks a yet more
glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright
array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
8. From earth’s wide bounds, from
ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the
countless host,
The first is a traditional piece of music for the feast of All Saints...
The second is a little hard to explain. It's a video by Glen Scrivener, Church of England minister, poet and lover of the King James Version of the Bible. He has a wonderful web site called King's English. What's below is Halloween: Trick or Treat. This is a rhyming explanation of what Halloween is truly about . I find it wonderful and watched it twice through...Very nicely done..Have a look and see what you think!
De profundis (Out of the deep...)
Psalm 130 is a traditional offering for All Hallows Eve and here is a very beautiful version by the
choir of Kings College Cambridge, under the direction of Sir David Willcocks. This dark lament, a Penitential Psalm, is the De profundis used in liturgical prayers for the faithful departed in Western liturgical tradition. In deep sorrow the psalmist cries to God (1-2), asking for mercy (3-4). The psalmist's trust (5-6) becomes a model for the people (7-8).
Text:
130 De profundis
OUT of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord : Lord, hear my voice.
2. O let thine ears consider well : the voice of my complaint.
3. If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss : O Lord, who may abide it?
4. For there is mercy with thee : therefore shalt thou be feared.
5. I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for him : in his word is my trust.
6. My soul fleeth unto the Lord : before the morning watch, I say, before the morning watch.
7. O Israel, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy : and with him is plenteous redemption.
8. And he shall redeem Israel : from all his sins.
Here is a great interview with Suzy McCall - founder of LAMB..Read and be inspired. Suzy embodies freedom in Christ in a way that not many folks do...she truly does follow the Lamb wherever he goes...
Meet Suzy McCall, an American missionary in Honduras. The obedience of this one woman from South Carolina has radically changed the lives of thousands of people in Central America and the United States.
Suzy is the founder of The LAMB Institute, offering hope for new life – both spiritual and physical – in Flor del Campo, the slums of Tegucigalpa. LAMB serves up generous bowls of the Gospel of Christ, seasoned with unconditional love, to every soul passing through its doors. She lives out her ministry motto: follow the LAMB wherever he goes. Now, after only two decades of existence, LAMB operates a school, a children’s home, a safe house, a micro-loan program for cottage industries, and a teen outreach program for young boys on the streets.
The rest is here(This link will take you to Pringle Franklin's Blog Living on Jesus Street)
“Media vita in
morte sumus”
– In the midst of life we are in death –is the title and first line of a Latin antiphon
probably originating in France around 750 AD.Luther
made use of it as did our reformer, Thomas Cranmer, and it appears as an
antiphon in the Book of Common Prayer.It certainly expresses well the sense of sudden dislocation we feel when
someone we love has died.
In times of shock and grief, life and
time itself seem to go on pause.Quite
often this happens in a sudden way. In the silence, one
becomes aware of the way the light is falling or of the sound of birds singing
around us.Time has slowed.
Gradually, though, this gives way to the sense
that life has gone on after all – babies are still being born, the buzz of
classroom learning continues, factories still are producing and the mail is
still being delivered.At this point, we
find ourselves drawn back to life itself and the necessity of choosing to live.
The choice to re-embrace time and life
can be made more easily when our hope for the future is glimpsed.John Donne, English divine and writer (of “No
man is an island” fame) contemplated mortality and hope at length.Below is a
passage I have found especially helpful in these past weeks of grieving the
death of my father.It is from his
Mediation 27… (Emphasis mine)
“….all mankind is of one author and is one
volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but
translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated. God
employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by
sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every
translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that
library where every book shall lie open to one another.”
I look with hope to the day when all of the scattered pages are
gathered and for grace-filled eternity spent in that “library where every book shall lie open to
one another.” Until that blessed day, my prayer is that
we will love one another very, very well in the time we are given.
On this day, Sept. 21, in 1989 Hurricane Hugo paid a call to the Lowcountry. He was not a gentleman and left twenty-seven souls dead in South Carolina, nearly 100,000 homeless, and somewhere around $10 billion in damages. I remember as if it were yesterday and as one of the most frightening experiences of my life. The storm came on a Thursday and over the next few days we crawled out of homes to survey damages. We adapted to no electricity or running water. On Sunday, I gathered with members and friends of St. Paul's , Summerville where I was serving as an Assistant to the Rector. No electricity in the Church building but plenty of power abounded. We were thankful to have survived, in prayer for those who had suffered loss, and holding on to each other. Every year I am struck by the Collect of the Day which followed on Sunday the 24th of September. It reads
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This was not our home but the scene was similar. Trees down everywhere - snapped off about twenty feet up. The landscape and homes trashed. Two 90 pine trees came down into our house. Not as bad as McClellanville and environs where the big surge tide came through but bad enough to never forget!
May we never need a Hugo to remind us to love things heavenly and to hold fast to those that shall endure.
Egyptian authorities detained a stork
last week on suspicion of espionage, mistaking its migration tag for spying
equipment. In fact the stork was innocent - like a number of other animals
falsely accused over the years of undercover work, writes Mohamed Madi.
In 2011, Saudi authorities arrested a high-flying vulture on suspicion that
it was flying missions for Israel's famously ingenious Mossad agency. And a
spate of shark attacks near the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2010 was
blamed by one TV station on GPS-controlled predators planted by Israel in order
to harm the Egyptian tourism industry.
Iran has also felt threatened by animal agents. In 2007 the Iranian army
arrested a team of 14 "spy squirrels" found near a nuclear enrichment plant.
Officials said they succeeded in apprehending the suspects "before they were
able to take any action".
I am especially interested in the team of 14 "spy squirrels" - I am sure I have some at my house!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
The Blessing of the Backpacks and Education Sunday August 18, 2013 - 10:00 AM followed by an Ice Cream Party
Everyone is invited as we ask God to bless our students and teachers in the coming school year.
Please bring school supplies, paper goods (paper towels, tissue, toilet paper, napkins), drink boxes, and snacks. These will go to Windwood Farm and the After School Program of the South Santee Senior Citizens Center
What did seventy Village kids and forty adults do the second week in July? They visited Kingdom Rock where kids learn to STAND STRONG for God. Many wonderful moments....check out our Facebook page for some more photos.. Thank you one and ALL! See you next year!
...is upon us. This coming Sunday, we will celebrate one of the great Feasts of the Church - the giving of the Holy Spirit. Here is a contemporary rendition of one of the most well known hymns of Pentecost - Veni Creator Spiritus..(The English tranlation used below is found in our Hymnal - p.504)
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the annointed Spirit art, who dost thy seven-fold gifts impart.
Thy blessed unction from above is comfort, life and fire of love,
Enable with perpetual light the dullness of our blinded silght.
Annoint and cheer our soiled face with the abundance of thy grace.
Keep far our foes, give peace at home: where thou art guide, no ill can come.
Teach us to know the Father, Son and thee, of both, to be but One,
that through the ages all along, this may be our endless song:
Praise to thy eternal merit, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Ascension Day seems to be fading from view - which is a
significant theological loss. Always celebrated on the 40th day of Easter and
always on a Thursday. Here is a little inspiration...
From a longer poem- Meditation 20- by Edward Taylor- 1664-1729
God is Gone up with a triumphant shout:
The Lord with sounding Trumpets melodies:
Sing Praise, sing Praise, sing Praise, sing Praises out,
Unto our King sing praise seraphick-wise!
Lift up your Heads, ye lasting Doore, they sing,
And let the King of Glory Enter in.
Art thou ascended up on high, my Lord,
And must I be without thee here below?
Art thou the sweetest joy the Heavens afford?
Oh! that I with thee was! What shall I do?
Should I pluck Feathers from an Angells Wing,
They could not waft me up to thee my King.
Lend mee thy Wings, my Lord, I’st fly apace,
My Soules Arms stud with thy strong Quills, true Faith;
My Quills then Feather with thy Saving Grace,
My Wings will take the Winde thy Word displai’th.
Then I shall fly up to thy glorious Throne
With my strong Wings whose Feathers are thine own.
Here, too, are two images...the first from Giotto and the
second from Dali...what do you make of them?
And lastly,a performance from the choir of Wells Cathedral of Hail the Day that Sees Him Risewith text by Amos Bull and music by Charles Wesley.
Almost any Sunday could properly be named Good Shepherd Sunday, and, yet, the Sunday set aside for that special focus is the Fourth Sunday of EASTER. Marion Hatchett tells us that "in many of the ancient baptistries Jesus was depicted as the Good Shepherd." One can imagine many reasons this could be the case but that which comes most readily to mind right now is Paul's discussion about Baptism in Romans, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried there with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6.3-4)..Easter, and Easter Eve in particular, have long been "the" times for Holy Baptism.
Another place this imagery appears is in the catacombs and in other burial places. See this image
This appears in the center of the ceiling of the "Velatio" cubicle in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome.: the Good Shepherd (also sheep and doves with olive branches in trees). It dates from the second half of the 3rd century.
Here is a modern "shepherd" image that I love. It's by Jeremy Lundmark.
Birth and death are both times when it can help us to remember that the Good Shepherd leads us not only on the mountain of life, but also through the valley of the shadow of death. Below is a 2011 performance by the Wells Cathedral Choir, Somerset - under the direction of Matthew Owens- of Howard Goodall's very beautiful setting of the Twenty-Third Psalm. May you be blessed.
Everyone is cordially invited to attend our annual Brick Church service - 11:00 AM this Sunday. Service is followed by a covered dish picnic. We welcome the Rev. Richard I. H. Belser as our preacher this year.
Rick is a Columbia native who was baptized, confirmed and ordained at Trinity Cathedral. He was graduated from Washington and Lee Univ. (1964), served as a 1st Lt. US Army (1964-66); and trained for the ordained ministry at Virginia Theological Seminary (1969). Fr. Belser served as Vicar, St. Paul's, Fort Mill, SC (1969-73); Assistant, St. John's, Shandon, in Columbia, SC (1974); Rector, St. John's, Johns Island, SC (1974-85); and , Rector, St. Michael's, Charleston, SC (1986-2007). He is married to Anne Holcomb Belser. They have six children and fourteen grandchildren. Since retirement in 2007, Rick has served as interim at Episcopal, Lutheran, and Anglican churches; and taught pastoral care two semesters for the Alexandria School of Theology in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt.
