Year: 2022

KES Chapel Weekly Reflections

KES Chapel Reflection, Week of 22 September

Dust

Genesis 2 complements rather than contradicts Genesis 1 but in an altogether different register. It offers a kind of check upon any notion of presumption about our humanity. In short, it humbles us by recalling us precisely to the dust of the ground and thus to our place within the order of creation. As such it complements, too, the efforts of the Indigenous peoples of Canada to recall our connection to creation and to honour and respect it rather than to presume to dominate and destroy it.

‘Adam, as yet not a proper name, refers to our humanity generically speaking. “The Lord God,” Genesis 2 tells us, “formed the ‘Adam of dust from the ground.” We are dust. Yet we are the dust into which God breathes his spirit and only so did “‘Adam became a living being.” Such is the dignified dust of our humanity, a complement to our being made in the image of God.

The passage read in Chapel this week serves as a further commentary on the question about who we are as human beings and about an educational programme which emphasizes character. ‘Adam is placed in a garden, the proverbial Garden of Eden, later known as paradise, drawing upon an ancient Persian word for a pleasure garden. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it”. This garden in Genesis 2 is the source of four rivers Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. But the commentary tradition from very early on sees the rivers as symbolic of the classical virtues that belong to human perfection and character, the virtues of temperance, courage, prudence and courage. This connects the Genesis accounts of creation to the poetic and philosophical teachings of ancient Greece and contributes to the idea of the education of the whole person and to the primacy of the ethical.

Genesis 2 introduces us to two important concepts by way of the imagery of trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Living and knowing are somehow closely connected with respect to what it means to be rational and spiritual creatures. Importantly and in relation to our being made in the image of God, ‘Adam is given a commandment in the garden not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil “for in the day that you eat of it you shall die”. Bearing in mind that creation in its parts and as a whole is good, indeed very good, then this commandment has to be taken as good for us as well. The underlying question is about how we come to the knowledge of good and evil. That will be the story of the Fall.

Why are things so bad if everything is so good? The problem can’t be with the world or with God in this view of things. It has more to do with the form of our relationship to God. This will launch us into the long, long story of human redemption understood in its different modalities, not the least of which is learning through suffering and hardship, learning about the good even in and through our separation from it in the experience of sin and death.

(Rev’d) David Curry
Chaplain, Head of English & ToK teacher
Chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy

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King's-Edgehill School Sermons

Honouring Queen Elizabeth II

Honouring Queen Elizabeth II

On Monday, September 19th, a short memorial service to honour the passing of Queen Elizabeth II was held in the Chapel, as was fitting for a School whose history and life is grounded in the principles of constitutional monarchy which she so graciously embodied. That sensibility is captured in the School’s mottoes: Deo Legi Regi Gregi and Fideliter, For God, for the Law, for the King, for the People, and, Faithfulness, the latter being the motto brought to King’s-Edgehill School by Edgehill at the time of the amalgamation of the Schools in 1976. Faithfulness to her Office as Sovereign was one of the outstanding features of Elizabeth’s life and reign.

The service drew upon the spiritual riches of the Book of Common Prayer, especially from the Burial Office, used at the official services held at Westminster Abbey in London and at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, England. Her long reign of seventy years was distinguished by her strong commitment to the Office of Sovereign and never about herself, by her Christian faith and devotion to duty and service in the divided and tumultuous times in which she reigned, and by the way in which she was a symbol of unity not only for England and for the nations of the Commonwealth but for the world.

One of the prayers, which is perhaps better known in England than in Canada, is taken from A Sermon Preached at White-hall, February 29, 1628 by the poet-preacher John Donne (1572-1631) as revised and edited by Dean Eric Milner-White (1884-1964). Milner-White was also largely responsible for the shaping and promotion of the great Advent Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge in December 1918 which offered hope and peace to a world devastated by the First World War. Donne’s words as shaped into prayer speak to the deeper spiritual truths of the human condition and to our prayers for Queen Elizabeth II.

Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening
Into the house and gate of heaven.
To enter that gate and dwell in that house,
Where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
No noise nor silence, but one equal music;
No fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
No ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity;
In the habitation of thy glory and dominion,
World without end, Amen.

Governments come and go but the Sovereign as Head of State remains now with her son, Charles III, our King and Governor. Long live the King.

(Rev’d) David Curry
School Chaplain, Head of English, ToK Teacher

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Matthew the Apostle

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Matthew, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY God, who by thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and Evangelist: Grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
The Gospel: St. Matthew 9:9-13

Juan de Pareja, The Calling of St. MatthewArtwork: Juan de Pareja, The Calling of St. Matthew, 1661. Oil on canvas, Prado, Madrid.

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Prayers and liturgy

John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop and Martyr

The collect for today, the commemoration of John Coleridge Patteson (1827-71), Missionary, First Bishop of Melanesia, Martyr (source):

O God of all tribes and peoples and tongues,
who didst call thy servant John Coleridge Patteson
to witness in life and death to the gospel of Christ
amongst the peoples of Melanesia:
grant us to hear thy call to service
and to respond with trust and joy
to Jesus Christ our redeemer,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Mark 8:34-38

John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop of MelanesiaJohn Coleridge Patteson was a curate in Devon when Bishop of New Zealand George A. Selwyn persuaded him to go out to the South Pacific as a missionary. In 1856 he journeyed to Melanesia. He encouraged boys to study at a school Selwyn had founded in New Zealand and later set up a school in Melanesia. He was very proficient in languages and eventually learned twenty-three different languages and dialects spoken in Melanesia and Polynesia.

In 1861 Patteson was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia; he travelled across his diocese constantly, preaching, teaching, baptising, confirming, building churches, and living among the people. On the main island of Mota most of the population were converted.

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Prayers and liturgy

Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Theodore of Tarsus (602-690), Archbishop of Canterbury (source):

St. Theodore of TarsusAlmighty God, who didst call thy servant Theodore of Tarsus from Rome to the see of Canterbury, and didst give him gifts of grace and wisdom to establish unity where there had been division, and order where there had been chaos: Create in thy Church, we pray thee, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, such godly union and concord that it may proclaim, both by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 2:1-5,10
The Gospel: St. Matthew 8:23-27

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Prayers and liturgy

Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

“One turned back, … giving him thanks”

This Sunday marks a spiritual turn in the progress of the Trinity season, a turn towards thanksgiving as a profound spiritual activity with respect to our life in Christ. This quintessential thanksgiving gospel teaches us that in turning back and giving thanks we are made whole. It is read as we enter explicitly into the second half of the Trinity season which can be as long as twenty-six Sundays or as few as twenty-two depending on the date of Easter which determines the relative length of the Epiphany and Trinity Seasons. And this year the spiritual turn coincides with the autumnal equinox this week, the official beginning of Fall. We have already felt that turn, of course, in the changes of temperature!

This Gospel is also one of the propers appointed to be used “For National Occasions” such as “The Accession of the Reigning Sovereign. The Birthday of the Sovereign. Dominion Day and other occasions of National Thanksgiving” (BCP, p. 616).Thus it serves, perhaps, as a welcome prelude to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II tomorrow as well as a segue to our thanksgivings to God for the accession of King Charles III.

Such things remind us of the web of interconnections that belong to our lives together in community in terms of the interplay of things sacred and things secular. They all belong under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty and its meaning for us in our lives. But the turn towards thanksgiving is particularly significant and suggestive and acts as a spiritual counter to some of our anxieties about the physical and material world.

Voltaire, the greatest wit of the 18th century Enlightenment, in his satirical novel “Candide”, provides a most concise illustration of the defining themes of the European Enlightenment as well as a compelling critique of its assumptions. The novel takes us more or less literally around the world, “around the world in eighty pages”, as the literary critic, Italo Calvino, nicely notes. At once euro-centric and euro-critical, it reflects something of the nature of the interchange of cultures. The only thing in the entire novel that is not European are humming-birds about which Voltaire has a kind of fascination. They are unique to the Americas and unknown in Europe.

In the novel, the character Candide at one point finds himself in Eldorado, the land of gold, fictionally located in South America. It is an Utopia – an ideal state that is at once a good place and no place. The point is that all utopias in literature and political philosophy function as criticisms of existing political communities. They highlight what should be in the face of what is which is less than satisfactory. Satire is a powerful literary device that points out the injustices and incompleteness of the status quo, of those in power; it calls our attention to problems about which we should not be indifferent while signalling ideas and principles that are greatly valued.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 19 – 25 September

Sunday, September 25th, Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion

Upcoming Event:

Tuesday, September 27th
7:00pm Christ Church Book Club: The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray (2019) and The Madness of Crowds (2021) by Louise Penny.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity

The collect for today, the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Galatians 5:25-6:5
The Gospel: St. Luke 17:11-19

Gebhard Fugel, Christ and the LepersArtwork: Gebhard Fugel, Christ and the Lepers, 1920, Diocesan Museum of Freising, Germany.

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Prayers and liturgy

Ninian, Missionary and Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Ninian (c. 360 – c. 432), Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts (source):

Almighty and everlasting God,
who didst call thy servant Ninian to preach the gospel
to the people of northern Britain:
raise up, we beseech thee, in this and every land,
heralds and evangelists of thy kingdom,
that thy Church may make known the immeasurable riches
of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Isaiah 49:1-6
The Gospel: St. Matthew 28:16-20

Saint Margaret’s Chapel, Saint Ninian windowNinian was the first apostle of Christianity in Scotland. Born in Cumbria to Christian parents, he went to Rome for his education. After being ordained a priest and then a bishop, Ninian was commissioned by Pope Siricus to return to Britain to preach the Christian faith.

Tradition holds that Ninian’s mission to Scotland began in 397, when he landed at Whithorn on Solway Firth. The stone church he built there was known as Candida Casa (“White House”). Recent archaeological excavations in that area have found white masonry from what could be an ancient church.

Saint Ninian’s ministry was centred in the Whithorn and Galloway areas of Scotland, but he is also remembered for bringing the gospel to the “southern Picts”—people living in the areas now known as Perth, Fife, Stirling, Dundee, and Forfar.

As early as the 7th century, Christians were making pilgrimages to St. Ninian’s shrine. By the 12th century, a large cathedral had been built at Whithorn, but it fell into ruins after the Reformation. Yet today, pilgrims still travel there to visit St Ninian’s Cave, where the saint would go when he needed to pray in solitude.

During his 2010 visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Scotland on Saint Ninian’s Day.

Saint Ninian’s Cathedral, Antigonish, Nova Scotia (“New Scotland”), is the Episcopal Seat for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish.

Artwork: Saint Ninian, stained glass, Saint Margaret’s Chapel, Edinburgh Castle. Photograph taken by admin, 24 July 2004.

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