Christ Church

“There came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind … and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire”

These are wonderful words which capture the Pentecostal experience. More importantly, they are wonderful words which carry us into the mystery of Pentecost itself and into its meaning. They are about something more, though surely not less, than what the experience suggests. The language here is that of metaphor in the form of simile, a sound “as of a rushing mighty wind,” things that appear and are seen, “cloven tongues, like as of fire.” Pentecost, is seems, is all theatre, son et lumière, sound and light. But what a show, what a spectacle!

The language is powerful and instructive. The Holy Spirit, of course, is not wind and fire. Plenty of that about, of course; Synod is over but a provincial election is still underway! And, of course, you may say, there are the usual Rector’s ramblings! All wind, no doubt.

Yet, wind and fire are signs that point us to the presence and truth of the spiritual reality of God. The most elusive things of the natural world, wind and fire, tangible and yet not so tangible – after all, who can see the wind, who can touch the fire? – are used to signify to us the transcendent reality of God precisely in the moment of God’s intimate engagement with our humanity.

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Monday, June 1st, Monday after Pentecost
10:30am Holy Communion

Tuesday, June 2nd, Tuesday after Pentecost
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:00pm Holy Communion

Wednesday, June 3rd, Ember Wednesday
7:00pm Holy Communion

Thursday, June 4th
1:30-3:00pm Seniors- Drop-In
7:30pm Annual General Meeting, West Hants Historical Society (at the Museum)

Friday, June 5th, Ember Friday
10:30am Holy Communion

Sunday, June 7th, Trinity Sunday
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion (with Interpreter for the Deaf)
2:30pm ‘Kirkin’ O the Tartans’ – Covenanters’ Church, Grand Pré (Fr. Curry preaching)

The collects for today, The Day of Pentecost, being the fiftieth day after Easter, commonly called Whit-Sunday, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

God, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon thy disciples in Jerusalem: Grant that we who celebrate before thee the Feast of Pentecost may continue thine for ever, and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit, until we come to thine eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Epistle: Acts 2:1-11
The Gospel: St John 14:15-27

Artwork: Titian (Tiziano Vecelli), The Descent of the Holy Ghost, c. 1545. Oil on canvas, Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice.

The Trinity 2009 issue of the parish newsletter, Christ Church Chronicles, can be downloaded here as a pdf document.  (Previous issues can be downloaded via this page.)

“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds”

These wonderful words signal the transformation that belongs to education. Through the various journeys that Omer and Ashley, Micah and Jenna, Beka and Bryn and Jared spoke about at the Church Parade, you are being transformed, changed in some sense “from glory unto glory.” You guys rock! And, yes, I know, it is not quite all over; there are still the exams.

Transformation. What a rich and powerful concept. It speaks directly to all of the journeys of this year, to all of the journeys of learning upon which we have embarked. The idea of transformation has been a recurring theme, especially in the light of such religious teachings as the Resurrection and the Ascension of Christ. For Judaism, Christianity and Islam, for Hinduism and Buddhism and Taoism, too, there is this general sense, however great the differences between them, that there is the possibility of our being changed by what we are given to see and behold.

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An Evening Service with the King’s-Edgehill Cadet Corps
Thursday in Ascensiontide

King’s-Edgehill Students, Omer Mullick – Head Boy, Ashley Snow – Head Girl, Bryn Bowen, Beka Boutin, Micha Cromwell, Jenna Vidito, and Jared Smith read the following “Reflections” at the Church Parade held on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at Christ Church. The Scripture readings were Exodus 33.7-14 and John 21. 15-19.

Reflections

I.

The Book of Exodus tells the story of a journey. Exodus means “going forth.” As students, we, too, are on a journey. It is the journey of learning.

This evening, too, we have been on a journey. The School as a Cadet Corps has marched through the Town of Windsor. Don’t worry, it is not an invasion! It is simply a parade.

But what kind of parade? Are we calling attention to ourselves? Or is about ourselves as a School in one of the aspects of the life of the School?

We meet in this “tent of meeting.” We meet together, sit together, stand and sing together, think and reflect together. It, too, is part of our journey.

We come from many different cultures, communities and religions but together we are a community united in our respect for one another and for our School and united in our quest to learn and in our desire to serve.
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The Rev’d David Curry, in his capacity as Chaplain, King’s-Edgehill School, preached these sermons on the occasions of Church Parade and Encaenia. Click on the links to download as pdf documents.

Church Parade Sermons

• 2008: “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord … for the Lord delights in you”
• 2007: “There was a certain rich man … and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus”
• 2006: “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory”
• 2005: “God has gone up with a merry noise”
• 2004: “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God”
• 2003: “Non nobis, Domine”, “Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy Name be the glory”
• 2002: “Know ye not this parable? How then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the word”
• 2001: “Jesus said to Peter, ‘Feed my sheep’”
• 2000: “Jesus said, ‘I am the good Shepherd’”
• 1999: “Lazarus, Come out!”

Encaenia Sermons

• 2008: “One thing is needful”
• 2007: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me empty”
• 2006: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”
• 2005: “Take with you words and return to the Lord”
• 2004: “I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord”
• 2003: “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”
• 2002: “Take with you words and return to the Lord”
• 2001: “I am the vine, ye are the branches…abide in my love”
• 2000: “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”
• 1999: “I am the vine, ye are the branches…abide in my love”

The collect for today, the Feast of The Venerable Bede (673-735), Monk, Historian, Doctor of the Church (source):

Almighty God, maker of all things,
whose Son Jesus Christ gave to thy servant Bede
grace to drink in with joy
the word which leadeth us to know thee and to love thee:
in thy goodness
grant that we also may come at length to thee,
the source of all wisdom,
and stand before thy face;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

For The Epistle: Wisdom 7:15-22
The Gospel: St Matthew 13:47-52

St Bede was born and, as far as we know, lived his entire life in the north of England, yet he became perhaps the most learned scholar in all of Europe. At the age of 7, he was sent to Wearmouth Abbey for his education; at age 11, he continued his education at the new monastery at Jarrow, eventually becoming a monk and remaining there until his death. He lived a routine and outwardly uneventful life of prayer, devotion, study, writing, and teaching.

Bede’s writings cover a very wide range of interests, including natural history, orthography, chronology, and biblical translation and exposition. He was the first to translate the Bible into Old English. He considered his 25 volumes of Scripture commentary to be his most important writings. His best-known book is Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. This work earned him the popular title “Father of English History”, and not just because it was the first attempt to write a history of England. His historical research was thorough and far-reaching. For example, he asked friends traveling to Rome to bring him copies of documents relevant to English history, and he made use of oral traditions when written materials were not available. The book provides much historical information that can be found in no other source.

His pupil Cuthbert, later Abbot of Jarrow, has left a moving eyewitness account of St Bede’s last hours. Bede fell ill shortly before Easter 735, when he was in the midst of translating the Gospel of John into the Anglo-Saxon language. Everyone realised that the end was near, but he was determined to complete the translation. Between Easter and Ascension Day, he persisted in the task while continuing to teach his students at his bedside.

After a restless night, he resumed dictating the translation on the morning before the Ascension. That afternoon he called the priests of the monastery to him to distribute his remaining earthly possessions. Seeing they were overcome with grief, he comforted them with these words:

“If it be the will of my Maker, the time has come when I shall be freed from the body and return to Him Who created me out of nothing when I had no being. I have had a long life, and the merciful Judge has ordered it graciously. The time of my departure is at hand, and my soul longs to see Christ my King in His beauty.”

The young man who had been writing down the translation said there was still one sentence remaining, and Bede dictated the final words.

After a short while the lad said, “Now it is finished.”

“You have spoken truly,” he replied. “It is well finished. Now raise my head in your hands, for it would give me great joy to sit facing the holy place where I used to pray, so that I may sit and call on my Father.”

And thus, on the floor of his cell, he chanted, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” to its ending, and breathed his last.

When he received word of the great scholar’s death, St Boniface, who had used Bede’s Bible commentaries, said, “The candle of the Church, lit by the Holy Spirit, has been extinguished”. Within a generation or two, St Bede was being called “Venerable”. His bones were translated from Jarrow to Durham Cathedral in the mid-11th century; in 1370 they were placed in the cathedral’s Galilee Chapel. (A photo of the tomb can be seen about halfway down this page).

These are the final words of the Ecclesiastical History:

I implore you, good Jesus, that as in your mercy you have given me to drink in with delight the words of your knowledge, so of your loving kindness you will also grant me one day to come to you, the fountain of all wisdom, and to stand for ever before your face.

St Bede is the only Englishman named in Dante’s Paradise. He is also the only English Doctor of the Church.

The collect for today, the Feast of St Augustine (d. c. 605), first Archbishop of Canterbury (source):

O Lord our God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst call thine apostles and send them forth to preach the Gospel to the nations: We bless thy holy name for thy servant Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose labors in propagating thy Church among the English people we commemorate today; and we pray that all whom thou dost call and send may do thy will, and bide thy time, and see thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 5:17-20a
The Gospel: St Luke 5:1-11

More on St Augustine of Canterbury here and here.

“The end of all things is at hand”

“It’s the end of the world as we know it and we feel fine,” or so Great Big Sea claims. But do we feel fine? Or are we fearful and afraid, worried and, like Martha, “anxious about a multitude of things”? St. Peter’s words sound either a note of foreboding or a note of rejoicing. Which is it? A note of impending judgment or a note of joy, indeed the fullness of joy? Everything depends on what we mean by “end”? Do we mean a sense of judgment and finality or the sense of accomplishment and purpose; in short, do we mean by “end”, death or life?

On The Sunday after Ascension Day, we celebrate two related but almost forgotten teachings – the Ascension and the Session of Christ. What do they signify?

The Ascension signifies the homecoming of the Son having finished his course, having accomplished the will of him who sent him, and now returning to the Father. The whole life of the incarnate Christ is about his going forth and returning to the Father in the power of the Spirit. The Session celebrates the rule of Christ with the Father in the bond of the Spirit over the whole of creation. He is King. “See the conqueror mounts in triumph,/ See the King in royal state,” as one of our hymns puts it. Why? Because in his going forth and return to the Father, he returns all things to their source and end, to the divine life which he shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

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