In the parlance of the Episcopal Church, A.S.A. means Average Sunday Attendance.  That’s the number that we (clergy) tend to look at as a barometer of a church’s health and growth.  Once upon a time we looked at total membership and we quickly learned that official members can be scattered across the country and the ones that are local may have been absent for years, even decades.  Furthermore there are some in many churches who may not be ‘official members’ but are very active.   They are lost in the …

If we’re honest, isn’t that what we long for?  To know there is something bigger, something larger than anything we’ve imagined?  What would it feel like to completely and honestly give yourself over to something that is larger than our imagination?  Come and see.  Worship at St Timothy’s this Sunday.  Come at 7:30 for a contemplative service in the chapel.  Kneel in a space built by the first members of St Timothy’s and pray in a language that is as old as our unique Anglican heritage.  Or come at 9:00 …

“The worship of God in which they joined was, by the violent contrast to all else in their lives, at once a vindication of the other-worldliness of their faith and an implicit condemnation of the filthy environment amid which the social sin of an acquisitive and complacent ruling class had condemned them to live.”
Maurice Reckitt on liturgy in the slums

Why chant?
Ask my family and they will roll their eyes with stories of their father and husband chanting even the most mundane of household conversations.  I’ve chanted “What are we having for dinner?” all the way down to “Will you please pass the salt?”  That being said (or chanted), this is not why chant is used at 11am. In antiquity, if you wanted to communicate something sacred, you either sung it or whispered it.  Think about the things you whisper.  Also think about the times when saying something …

I have had at least three distinct questions about elements of the Solemn High Mass (11am).  I have addressed these questions once or twice over the past couple of years, but it’s always good to revisit some very good question.  I’ll address one each day:
1.  Why does Father Bob wear a deacon’s stole at 11am?
This is a good question and kudos for great observational skill.  Fr. Bob does wear his stole as a deacon either under or other his dalmatic, another diaconal vestment.  Don’t worry, he has not been demoted!  In …

Last night’s Interfaith service went well.  Highland Presbyterian was essentially packed.  Lots of food items were delivered for Crisis Control and there were many faith communities represented.  On almost every level, it was a success.
There were some humorous moments – at least to me – that speak to a larger issue about interfaith worship services and whether or not is is possible or even a good idea to have an interfaith worship service.  I’m not saying at all that interfaith gatherings are bad and shouldn’t happen – but from a …

I’m pooped.  That’s all there is to it.  I want all my parishioners to know that if you think the 10:30 service is long – y’all ain’t seen nothin’!  8am was Morning Prayer.  11:00am was a Solemn High Eucharist.  5:30pm was Evening Prayer.  If your knees hurt while kneeling at St Tim’s, I’ve spent quite a long time on much less comfortable kneelers.  Truth be told, they don’t have kneelers, they have vinyl pads that hang on a hook on the back of the cathedral chairs.  But it’s wonderful.  It’s …

I know to God full of might,
And to his mother Mary maiden bright,
And to all souls here,
And to the father ghostly,
I have sinned largely,
In many serious sins,
In thought, in speech and in delight,
In word, in work, I deserve to be punished,
And worthy I am to blame,
Therefore I pray Saint Mary and all holy souls,
Here in God’s name,
And the priest to pray for me,
That God have mercy and pity,
For his manhood,
Of my wretched sinfulness,
And give me grace and forgiveness
Of all my misdeeds.

Last week I stumbled upon Lancelot Andrewes Press and their Orthodox (Big O) version of the Book of Common Prayer.  I’m a collector of prayer books (little p) and one that is according Orthodox Catholic usage looked interesting.  It came in the mail Thursday and I’m impressed.  The Mass is a combo of traditional Anglo-Catholic elements (asperges, last Gospel) and the 1928 anaphora.  There are a couple of additions in the canon but by and large it is very familiar to those celebrating according to Rite One at least once …