Seasonal Journal - Pentecost 2020 - Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs, CO - Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
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Seasonal Journal
Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs, CO
Pentecost 2020
1
On the cover: Pentecost Icon, c. 1497, Kirillo-Belozersk Monastery, Russia,
Table of Contents
The Liturgical Season 3
by Joan Klingel Ray
Is Pentecost the Birthday of the Church, or the Church’s Graduation? 5
by The Rev. John Drymon
Pentecost: “Tongues of ‘Us’ and Angels” 8
by The Rev. Sally Ziegler
The Politics of Pentecost: Embracing Diversity in a World of Conformity 10
by Gary Alan Taylor
Waiting in Hope with the Shamed and Rejected: A Sermon for the Feast of the Visitation 12
by The Rev. Dr. Judith Jones
Living our Baptism 15
by The Rev. Paul Lautenschlager
History of Our Prayer Book 18
by Mark Stewart Ross
The Holy Trinity 22
by The Rev. Kathleen Liles
The Feast of the Transfiguration: A Story of Revelation 25
by The Rev. Leslie Scoopmire
Change: A Sermon on Transfiguration 27
by The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
Henry Martyn: “The first great missionary of the Church after Boniface” 29
by Scott D. Ayler
George Herbert’s “Denial”: A Poem that Models a Spiritual Truth 32
by Joan Klingel Ray
Christ: The King of Costly Grace 36
by The Rev. Julie Wakelee
Editor: Joan Klingel Ray, PhD
Editorial Assistant: Susan Defosset
Layout and Design: Max Pearson
Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at Tejon and Monument Streets (Nave), 601 N. Tejon St. (Office), Colorado Springs,
CO 80903 Tel: (719) 328-1125 www.gssepiscopal.org
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson, Rector
The Rev. Claire Esler, Curate (beginning June 2020)
Pastor Jennifer Williamson, Youth Minister
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2
The Liturgical Season: This issue treats Pentecost (fifty days after Easter, the
Pentecost and Ordinary Time. During this seventh Sunday after Easter).
period, we will also celebrate the feast days
of Trinity Sunday, The Visitation, The Pentecost:
Transfiguration, and conclude with Christ Pentecost, derived from the Greek word,
the King Sunday. For many terms, see
pentecostē, meaning fiftieth, as in the fiftieth
[https://episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary
/all]. day, is a major feast day in the Episcopal
Liturgical Year. Marking the end of the
To Celebrate Religiously: Easter Season, Pentecost in 2020 falls on
hagag חגגThe Hebrew root-verb hagag May 31 and celebrates the outpouring of the
describes “a gathering of people in order to Holy Spirit on the Apostles, fifty days after
celebrate or hold a feast, specifically any of the resurrection of Christ, as told in Acts
the three main pilgrimage feasts that Israel 2:1. In the British Isles, Pentecost Sunday is
was to celebrate” (Exodus 23:14-16). called Whitsunday.
(Abarim’s Online Biblical Hebrew In Acts 1, we read that the Apostles,
Dictionary http://www.abarim- along with “certain women, including Mary,
publications.com/Dictionary/ht/ht-g- the mother of Jesus,” were gathered in a
g.html#.XI0SjxNKiGg Retrieved April 3, room, praying. The second chapter recounts
2020). When we celebrate in a religious how a sudden gust of wind filled the room,
sense, we are honoring a day with solemn and “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared
rites. In the Church, we celebrate feast days. among them, and a tongue rested on each of
them. All of them were filled with the Holy
Feast Days and Movable Feasts: Spirit and began to speak in other languages,
Feasts in the Church are days of celebration as the Spirit gave them the ability” (Acts
with solemn rites. “The seven principal 2:3-4). Some scholars interpret the speaking
feasts (Easter Day, Ascension Day, the Day in tongues as symbolic of the Church’s
of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, All Saints' worldwide reach. For this reason, Pentecost
Day, Christmas Day, and the Epiphany) take is frequently called the “birthday of the
precedence over any other day or Christian Church.” The BCP identifies
observance” (Book of Common Prayer, 15). Pentecost Sunday as “especially appropriate
Church Feasts are all Sundays, the fixed for baptism” (312).
dates of Christmas (December 25) and
Epiphany (January 6), and the “movable Liturgical Color:
feasts.” Movable feasts on the liturgical On Pentecost, the liturgical color for the
calendar are feast days that do not fall on the clergy’s vestments and the paraments
same date each year. Easter is a movable (hangings on the altar, lectern, pulpit) is red,
feast, as it falls anytime between March 22 symbolizing the tongues of fire as the Holy
and April 25. Easter’s date determines Ash Spirit descended.
Wednesday (forty weekdays before Easter),
Ascension Day (forty days after Easter), and
3Feast of the Visitation of Mary: season in the church year. We will see in our
This feast falls on May 31 and celebrates church bulletins that Sundays are named in
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth as recorded in relationship to Pentecost: for example, the
Luke 1. In this chapter, verses 46-55, Mary Second Sunday after Pentecost, the Seventh
recites the song of praise known as the Sunday after Pentecost, etc. “Ordinary” is
Magnificat. likely derived from the word ordinal,
meaning counted. Ordinary Time—the
Trinity Sunday: season that begins after Pentecost Sunday—
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after is the time of year when we are not
Pentecost: June 7, 2020. It is the only feast commemorating the major events in Jesus’
day in the church year that commemorates a life (his birth at Christmas; his death on
doctrine—the Trinity—rather than a person Good Friday; his resurrection on Easter).
or event. Trinity Sunday is the “Feast that Instead, we are reading Scripture about the
celebrates ‘the one and equal glory’ of life Jesus led during his time on earth in
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ‘in Trinity of terms of what he said and did.
Persons and in Unity of Being’” (Episcopal
Glossary, 528; BCP, 380). The Liturgical Color:
Green is the liturgical color after Pentecost
The Transfiguration of Our Lord: Sunday. Green is the color of living,
The Feast of the Transfiguration, when growing things, the color of hope and
Peter, James, and John accompany Jesus renewal as we celebrate the Holy Spirit in
upon a mountain and witness his face our lives. We are growing in our Christian
become radiant with glory and his lives as we learn about the life of Jesus
clothes turn dazzlingly bright, is celebrated Christ.
on August 6th. God’s voice then proclaims
from a cloud, “This is my Son, whom I Christ the King Sunday:
love.” We read about this miracle in Celebrating the rule of Christ over all
Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke creation, Christ the King Sunday is the final
9:28-26. 2 Peter 1:1-8 also refers to it. Sunday of the Liturgical Year: November
22, 2020. Pope Pius XI originally instituted
Ordinary Time: it in 1925 as a “celebration of the all-
The term “Ordinary Time” does not appear embracing authority of Christ, which will
in the Book of Common Prayer; however, it lead mankind to seek the ‘Peace of Christ’ in
is addressed in the Episcopal Glossary. The the ‘Kingdom of Christ’” (Oxford
term is used in the Roman Catholic Church Dictionary of the Christian Church). Christ
to describe that period after the Day of the King Sunday is the final Sunday before
Pentecost through the First Sunday of Advent, the first day of the new liturgical
Advent, which is the beginning of a new year, which will be Year B, on Sunday,
liturgical year. Ordinary Time, also known November 29, 2020.
as Early and Late Pentecost, is the longest
4The Reverend John Drymon began his ministry with Trinity Parish
in Findlay, Ohio on June 1, 2016. A native of Arkansas, he is a
graduate of Colgate University and the General Theological
Seminary in New York City. As a student, he traveled all over the
world, including to the Middle East, China, and Pakistan. After
graduating, he served as Deacon-in-Charge, and after his
ordination, as Priest-in-Charge of St. Paul’s in Batesville,
Arkansas, until being elected rector of the parish in 2010. John has
focused particularly on pastoral care and adult Christian education
during his tenure at both parishes. He has served as secretary of the
Diocese of Arkansas and dean of its Northeast Convocation and on
the Diocesan Council, the Commission on Constitution Canons,
and the Board of Examining Chaplains in the Diocese of Ohio. In his time off, John enjoys reading, fly-
fishing, exercising, and cooking. John is married to Annie Stricklin, who was born in Durham, North
Carolina, and grew up in Texas, New Orleans, and Arkansas. A graduate of Kenyon College, she has
since worked as a freelance editor and fact-checker for publishing houses and private clients, and for
libraries in Little Rock, Batesville, and Findlay. She, too, is an avid reader, a lover of the arts, and a
writer of fiction, non-fiction, and plays. John and Annie were married in the spring of 2013. They have
two nephews, a goddaughter, and four cats.
Is Pentecost the Birthday of the Church,
or the Church’s Graduation?
A Sermon Preached on Whitsunday,
June 10, 2019
by The Rev. John Drymon, Rector,
Trinity Episcopal Church, Findlay, Ohio
Acts 2:1-21
Romans 8:14-7
John 14:8-17 (25-27)
In the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I saw a meme online earlier this week We often refer to Pentecost as “the
that often gets shared around this time of birthday of the Church,” but why? There
year, showing a toddler in a tuxedo looking seem other likely candidates. Take
very insistent and saying, “If Pentecost is the Christmas: The Son of God is born in a
birthday of the church . . . I expect to see manger in Bethlehem. He’s surrounded by
some cake!” his Blessed Mother and her spouse, by
5shepherds and angels, and all are engaged in direction is still provided, but it’s likely to
reverent worship. That sounds like it might be to a different degree. A little more (or a
have been the first Christian worship lot more) independence is expected of the
service, the beginning of the church as we child and a little more (or a lot more) trust is
know it—the church’s birth. Or, for that required of the parent.
matter, what about Easter? Christ is risen
from the dead, and it is by his resurrection Christ ascended into heaven [May 21,
that the community of the disciples and all Ascension Day]. God is no longer
Christians who follow are given new life. experienced in quite the same way as when a
What’s more, it’s not only the faithful, but man named Jesus, who is God, was walking
all of creation that is profoundly changed, is around in ancient Palestine, and you could
radically re-created, by Christ’s conquest of touch him. The initial, natural response to
death and his victory over the grave. It such a reality is the response of the
seems like the church is born, at least in a disciples: feel abandoned, get frightened,
sense, fifty days prior to Pentecost, if not lock yourselves up in a room in Jerusalem
thirty-three years prior. just like when you thought Jesus was dead
forever. The good news of Pentecost is that
Perhaps something different from the God has not abandoned us at all. He is still
“birthday metaphor” might capture the present and active in our lives and in the life
essence of Pentecost more fully, or at least of the Church, albeit in a new and different
in a new and interesting way. Maybe it’s just way. He still supports us; the support is just
because it’s that time of year, but I wonder if a little different. Direction is still provided;
Pentecost might be more like the it’s just in a different way. A lot more
“graduation day of the church.” independence is expected, and a lot more
trust is required. You see, it’s a little like
Graduations have been on many of growing up—graduating and moving out
our minds of late. Several of our own have and the rest. God’s still here; it’s just
received degrees and diplomas in the last different, because we’ve grown up a little.
few weeks. Graduations tend to affect the
relationships between parent and child. We miss this if we take a purely
Often, it’s the immediate precursor functional view of the Holy Spirit. We’ll
to moving out, that bittersweet moment in explore this a little more next week, on
which a child goes off to college or moves Trinity Sunday, when we confront the truth
into a new apartment and gets a job or gets that the Trinity is not about division of
shipped off with the service or whatever. labor, but, rather, the nature of relationship.
For now, let’s just take the Holy Spirit as an
The relationship between parent and example. We miss the point of Pentecost and
child is changed. Hopefully, it remains a the Church’s life after it, if we think about
supportive relationship for the child, but it’s the Holy Spirit entirely in terms of what He
a very different kind of support. Hopefully,
6does. We can start to think about the Holy must, come back to church week-by-week
Spirit as some obscure agent who and feed on the goodness of God in the
accomplishes tasks. He’s kind of like the sacrament, but we don’t have the luxury of
universal translator in Star Trek (you know, staying put anymore. We don’t have the
the device that let the crew of the Enterprise luxury of hanging out in Galilee with Jesus
talk to Vulcans and Klingons and the like in all the time. We’ve got to get back into the
more-or-less proper English). That’s kind of mission field, beyond these walls, to get on
what he does on the first Pentecost. He’s with the work God has given us to do
also kind of like a prayer partner. Paul says
he cries, “Abba, Father” within us to bear The blessed assurance of God’s
witness that we are children of God continued presence, which is the Holy Spirit,
[Romans 8:14-17]. He’s also kind of like a rousted the apostles out of their fear and
counselor. That’s what the word Advocate their complacency. It got them to grow up,
(or Paraclete) from this morning’s Gospel to go out, and to spread the Gospel. That is
means. He comforts us when we’re in pain the promise and the challenge of Pentecost
(like a therapeutic counselor), and he for each of us and for the Church as a whole.
intercedes for us in the court of heaven We’ve got the freedom to do God’s work
(like legal counsel). and the promise of his presence. When
we’re dismissed from Church, we’re
But as I said, if we get bogged down dismissed with marching orders (pay
in tasks that we tend to attribute to the Holy attention at the end of the service). Let’s
Spirit, we miss the larger point. The actually make a point of “going in peace to
important truth about Pentecost is that God love and serve the Lord,” of “going forth in
is still with us, but not in the same way He the name of Christ” to do his will, of “going
used to be. The Father has given us a little out into the world, rejoicing in the power of
more line. God, the Holy Spirit, still directs the Spirit.” We may be assured that when
us, but we’ve grown up and we’ve got to get we do, God will not abandon us, but he will
on with the Christian life as adults. We can give us the room to do his work ourselves, if
come back home from college for Christmas we have the courage and conviction to try.
and sit at the dinner table for a while, but we
can’t linger forever anymore. We can, and Amen.
7Tongues of “Us” and Angels
“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1)
A Pentecost Sermon
by The Rev. Sally Ziegler, Deacon
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33; the battle began, David, speaking as a father, sent
Ephesians 4:25-5:2, out the word that his son was to be dealt with
Psalm 130 “gently.” Too late—the angry words had already
spread their virus and fueled the killing of
May the words of my mouth and the Absalom as he hung from the tree. And then the
meditation of our hearts be always acceptable to pain of regret as we hear David: “O my son,
you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. would I had died instead of you” [2 Samuel
Amen. [Psalm 19] 18:33]. A word spoken in haste can never be
Familiar words. All my life I have heard taken back
preachers pray for this blessing before their How many times have I—and probably
sermons. It is a gift that sometimes I have also many of you—regretted something spoken in a
prayed in everyday life because I tend to talk a moment of rage or because of our own hurt
lot, and we all know what power to hurt or heal feelings or to cover up some misdeed. How often
our words can have. And now we are living in a do we massage the truth a little? A classic
time when angry bitter words are thrown around example from my family happened years ago: We
with abandon. had two little boys aged three and five, hopefully
The gift of language is in itself a miracle so named for apostles. The younger was the
it’s no wonder that we so often misuse it. In the stubborn one, and he had no interest at all in
Book of Proverbs [25:11] there is this lovely being toilet trained. One day I saw that he had wet
verse: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold himself, and I said crossly, “Matthew, you wet
in pictures of silver.” The mental picture is your pants again.” He looked at me and said with
immediately calming—close your eyes, turn off assurance, “Not me—Andrew did it!” Recently a
whatever device you’ve got, and imagine this parishioner who had been part of a class we had
peaceful scene. Take a breath. And then we get on Christian child-rearing said that the best advice
more good directions in our reading from she ever had was my statement that all teen-agers
Ephesians [4:29]: “let no evil talk come out of lied most of the time. And now both she and I are
your mouth.” Does this mean no talk of hate, no thankful for the grown-up—well, really middle
dirty jokes, maybe no gossip that undermines aged—solid citizens who were those problems in
friendships? Maybe bringing up inflammatory the past.
politics? What can we say? Here’s what it says: Unlike the progress and development of
“no evil talk…but only what is useful for building most children and generally accepted customs of
up as there is a need so that your words may give language, nowadays in this time of mass and
grace to those who hear.” unending communication we seem to have come
As we continue the story in Samuel about to a time where language has become a weapon in
David and his son Absalom, we see the any disagreement, and the lies that are told seem
frightening power of language. Father and son shameless and often destructive. Think of
had been caught up in Absalom’s revolt against Absalom hanging in a tree as the result of past
his father, and now they are really at war. But as verbal attacks between father and son. How fitting
8to read these wise words in the Letter to the model of life that will strengthen us to “be kind to
Ephesians: “Putting away falsehood, let us all one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one
speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are another” as we have been forgiven [Ephesians
members of one another” [4:25]. And then these 4:32]. One way we can begin practicing this
commonsense words accepting our human nature: kindness is by listening to the other person, be it a
“Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go babbling toddler, a cashier at the store, a teen-ager
down on your anger” [4:26]. with a question. Listening is a rare gift in today’s
Some of us seem to collect and save up rushed tempo, so slowing down also gives us time
resentment of old hurts and insults—that’s what to hear the fullness of the other person’s thoughts.
led to Absalom’s death. Scripture realizes that as In Psalm 130 we hear another reason for the
flawed human beings we will be angry; we will importance of listening: “Out of the depths have I
tell falsehoods, but we are members of one called you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice; let your
another. If we hold on to our bad feelings, they ears consider well the voice of my supplication.”
will make room for the devil—that’s when we lie When Jesus promises us that he is the bread of
awake counting up our reasons to be mad, life let us hear that: if we listen, we will not
repeating our feelings of unfair treatment that lead hunger or thirst; if we can learn to stop
to the desire for retaliation. Is payback really a complaining among ourselves and remember that
healing act? How timely is today’s warning to we are members of one another.
put away these destructive feelings: “bitterness, We as Episcopalians are people of the Book
wrath, anger, wrangling and slander and malice” of Common Prayer that contains some of the most
[Ephesians 4:31]. The very air of our country beautiful English language in the world. Aside
seems polluted with name-calling. The headlines from enriching our worship, it keeps our history
every day are filled with this darkness. alive. If I may, here’s one more family story that
Sometimes the news reports on quotations illustrates the influence that listening to lovely
from our public figures that are totally language can have. About 30 years ago my
contradictory to what they said yesterday, while daughter called me to say she and her new friend
the personal degrading seems an accepted part of were going to get tattoos the next day. Back on
political life. How can we find models for our the east coast I was horrified and began to list all
young people to learn the art of respectful debates the dangers: hepatitis, infections, morning after
of differing points of view? Another story about regrets, what it would look like when she was 50.
our sons seems to me an example of many of Nothing changed her mind, and so finally I said,
today’s arguments. The boys were then about six “Oh, honey, I beseech you not to do this.” When
and eight, and I heard their voices getting louder we hung up, I thought she was still determined, so
and louder, so I went to referee and asked what I was amazed to hear later that she had backed
the matter was. Matthew, crying with rage, yelled, out. When her friend asked her why, she said,
“Andrew says it’s not Tuesday! I know it is “Because my mom beseeched me.” Thanks be to
Tuesday.” When I asked why that made him so God and to Thomas Cranmer’s wonderful
mad, he yelled, “He says it’s September!” All language in the Prayer Book.
that misguided energy seems very like today’s Now we will go out into a world filled with
debates except that nobody wants to admit that noise, disputes, crudeness and rudeness, and evil
there are sometimes two right answers. talk. And so, let us take with us time to listen to
While the world around us feels like it’s our neighbors and to speak with kindness as
soaked in destructive competitiveness and toxic beloved children of God and members of one
partisan divisions, we as Christians are given a another. Amen.
9Gary Alan Taylor grew up in Arkansas but has lived in Colorado since
2001. He, his wife Jennifer, and their three children are active members of
Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. Gary Alan graduated from
Milligan College, a Christian liberal arts institution in Tennessee, and
earned an M.A. in European History from East Tennessee State University.
He has served as Editor-in-Chief of The Culture Translator, a weekly online
tool to assist parents in navigating the pop-culture world of their teens, and
is currently Co-Founder of The Sophia Society, an organization seeking to
invite, inspire, and nurture individuals into deeper union with God by
embodying the radical love of Christ in and for the world.
The Politics of Pentecost: Embracing and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). A list of
Diversity in a World of Conformity every tribe from the Japhethites, Hamites,
by Gary Alan Taylor and Semites is mentioned along with their
corresponding languages. And yet, in
If there is one unifying, yet chapter 11 we read:
overlooked theme running from Genesis to
Revelation, it’s this: the people of God The whole world had one
almost always find themselves living in, yet language and a common
being at odds with, the empires of this speech. As people moved
world. From Egypt to Babylon, Persia to eastward, they found a plain in
Rome, the clash between the Kingdom of Shinar and settled there. They
God and the kingdoms of this world said to each other, “Come, let’s
provides the backdrop to the larger biblical make bricks and bake them
narrative. One could argue the Scriptural thoroughly”…Then they said,
witness is a divine manifesto against empire. “Come, let us build ourselves a
For our purposes, an empire is any city, with a tower that reaches
superpower that believes it has the manifest to the heavens, so that we may
destiny to conquer, control, and conform the make a name for ourselves”
world into its image. Where God has blessed (Genesis 11:1-4).
unity amid diversity, the empire forces unity
at the expense of diversity. In the Hebrew What happened to the multiplicity of
Scriptures Babylon becomes the prophetic, languages and tribal diversity? Why is the
iconic image of imperial ideology, but we “whole world” suddenly speaking one
find imperial origins back at Babel. common language? There seems to be more
to this short story than meets the eye. To
At the beginning of Genesis chapter start, ancient Near East towers or ziggurats
10, where we read of Noah’s numerous were generally built by enslaved
descendants, we learn Noah’s sons obeyed populations. George Orwell has even
God’s command “to be fruitful and multiply
10suggested empires are in essence, “nothing a beautiful blessing to be embraced. The
but mechanisms for exploiting cheap Holy Spirit still unites us amid our diversity,
colored labor.”1 And much like today, wedding believers worldwide to share in the
language was a tool of imperial coercion, one, living Body of Christ. Divisions that
forcing indigenous populations to abandon once caused fear and prejudice are overcome
their native tongue and speak the language by love. As theologian Stanley Hauerwas
of empire. Such forced assimilation, whether reminds us, “We are new people who have
in ancient Mesopotamia or on the plains of been gathered from the nations to remind the
the American West, seeks the same world that we are in fact one people.”2
endgame, the eradication of native identity,
replacing it with a totalizing imperial But from Brexit to border walls, the
identity. The sin of Babel was the arrogant empire is striking back. Harvard professor
imposition of human-made conformity in a Harvey Cox writes, “We don’t just live in
world divinely created for diversity. In this the empire, the empire lives in us,”3 forming
mythic tale of Babel, God comes down and domination systems and ways of life that
blesses the people by returning diversity to a exclude, oppress, and squash any dissenting
world forced into conformity. voice. Nationalism is on the rise. Fear of the
other and prejudice toward the stranger is
That’s why during this season of encouraging otherwise rational individuals
Pentecost we celebrate the gift of diversity, to believe race, religion, language, and
not only within the Episcopal Church, but national distinctions are worth killing for.
within the global Kingdom of God. In Acts As citizens in the Kingdom of God, who just
we read that the disciples were huddled happen to find ourselves living in a global
together in one place when suddenly the superpower, our task isn’t to make the
Holy Spirit descended upon them, sending empire great again, but rather to make the
them out to proclaim the Gospel. Church countercultural again. In the words
Miraculously, everyone from Parthia, of Old Testament scholar Walter
Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia all Brueggemann, we are called “to articulate
“heard in their own language” (Acts 2:6), the alternative world that God has promised,
subverting Rome’s use of and the dominant and that God is birthing before our very
language of Latin as the imperial linguistic eyes.”4
choice. Pentecost unifies people from every Like those 1st-century Apostles, the
tongue, tribe, nation, gender, sexual Holy Spirit continues to move us onward
orientation, and nation without forcing and outward in open embrace. As Pentecost
anyone to give up their distinctiveness. people living in the empire’s world, may we
continue to learn that viable unity must
As citizens in God’s global Kingdom, always find a way to include the very people
diversity isn’t a problem to be overcome, but we prefer to exclude. Amen.
11Endnotes
1
Ed. Note: The Collected Essays of George Orwell. Eds., Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus. Harcourt, Brace and World: 1968.
2
Stanley Hauerwas. In Good Company: The Church as Polis. University of Notre Dame Press: 1995.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/In_Good_Company/FV0FDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=We+are+new+people+who+have
+been+gathered+from+the+nations+to+remind+the+world+that+we+are+in+fact+one+people&pg=PT156&printsec=frontcover
Stanley Hauerwas (1940-), PhD, Yale, an American theologian, ethicist, and public intellectual, was a longtime professor at Duke
University, serving as the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at the
Duke University School of Law.
3
Ed. Note: Until retiring in 2009, Harvey Cox (1929-) was Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School.
4
Ed. Note: Walter Brueggemann (1933-), an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, has held the title of William Marcellus
McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA, since his retirement in 2003. A
prominent scholar of the Old Testament and prolific author, he argues that the Church must provide a counterweight to “The dominant
script in our society . . . of technological therapeutic military consumerism”: this is the third of his “19 Theses.” https://www.religion-
online.org/article/counterscript/ Retrieved April 29, 2020. See the transcript of his speech delivered at Sojourners in 2018 at sojo.net
where he states, “And the third task of prophetic imagination is to articulate the alternative world that God has promised, and that
God is birthing before our very eyes. If we have eyes to see it.” Accessed April 29, 2020.
The Rev. Dr. Judith Jones is vicar of both St. Luke’s by the Sea Episcopal
Church, Waldport, Oregon, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in
Newport, Oregon. She earned her M.Div. at Princeton Theological
Seminary and her Ph.D. in New Testament with secondary emphases in
Old Testament and in Preaching at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Judith sees the Divine in the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. She
enjoys hiking, camping, and kayaking, especially when joined by her
husband Brian, her daughter, her two grown sons and their wives, and her
grandson. As a pianist and singer, she worships and serves through music
as well as through preaching and tending to those in need. Born in India to
medical missionary parents, Judith grew up with a strong faith. During her
first nine years in India, she saw the reality of poverty and hunger in the
faces of the people around her. Some children had little to eat, while others
(including herself) had plenty. Her early experiences made her aware of social injustice and sparked a
desire to alleviate suffering through action and prayer. Before coming to Oregon, Judith was a
professor of religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, and priest-in-charge at the local Episcopal
Church. In addition to teaching classes in biblical studies and other religious topics, she took small
groups of students to Honduras, the Dominican Republic, or Costa Rica for a service-learning course
entitled “The Church in Latin America.” The course focused on the Church’s role in combatting
poverty and systemic social injustice (https://www.ststephenepiscopal.org/our-priest.htm)
Waiting in Hope with the Shamed and The intimate conversation that
Rejected, follows portrays Jesus as more important
A Sermon for the Feast of the Visitation than John. It also shows God already at
by the Rev. Dr. Judith Jones work to overturn the world’s structures and
Luke 1:39-45, (46-55): Having learned expectations. The spotlight shines on Mary
from the angel that she will give birth to and Elizabeth, two lowly and shamed ones
the Son of God, Mary hurries to visit her through whom God has chosen to begin the
pregnant relative Elizabeth in the hill transformation of the world.
country.
12Women—so often overlooked or Mary is blessed not only for her status
ignored both in society at large and in as the mother of the Lord, but also for her
biblical narratives—have the only speaking trust in God’s promise. Our English
roles in this vignette. Mary’s first words translations obscure the fact that Elizabeth
prompt an immediate, silent, response from uses more than one word for “blessed.”
Elizabeth’s unborn child. John leaps, When she pronounces Mary “blessed . . .
acknowledging both Mary’s presence and among women” and proclaims that the fruit
the significance of the child she carries in of Mary’s womb is blessed, she uses
her womb. John’s reaction to Mary’s voice eulogemene/o, a term emphasizing that both
fulfills Gabriel’s prophecy, “even before his present and future generations will praise
birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit” and speak well of her and her child.1 But
(Luke 1:15). Already John points to the when Elizabeth says, “Blessed is she who
coming one. believed that there would be a fulfillment of
what was spoken to her by the Lord” (v. 45),
Though Luke clearly signals that the
she uses the word makaria, the same term
unborn child’s leaping is prompted by the
that Jesus uses to bless people in the
Spirit, it is Elizabeth, John’s mother, who
Beatitudes.2 We might well translate
takes on the role of prophet by speaking the
Elizabeth’s words as “Happy is she who
prophetic words in this scene. She is filled
believed….” Mary is blessed because
with the Holy Spirit and proclaims what
despite all expectations, her social status has
Mary has not yet told her, and what is not
been reversed: she will be honored rather
yet visible to the eye: Mary is pregnant.
than shamed for bearing this child. But she
Furthermore, through the Spirit she knows
has also been blessed with divine joy—with
who Mary’s child will be, for she calls Mary
beatitude—because she has believed that
“the mother of my Lord.” Her prophecy will
God is able to do what God promises to do.
soon be fulfilled when her own son, John the
Baptist, prepares the way for the Lord. When Elizabeth says, “Blessed is she
who believed that there would be a
Elizabeth not only prophesies but
fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the
blesses. By declaring both Mary and the
Lord,” she implicitly contrasts Mary’s trust
fruit of Mary’s womb “blessed,” she begins
in God’s power and promise with her own
a series of blessings that weave through
husband Zechariah’s skeptical questioning.
Luke’s birth narrative and intensify its tone
Zechariah asked for proof that the angel’s
of joy, delight, and praise. Mary, Zechariah,
word was true. Mary asked for an
and Simeon will all add their blessings to the
explanation of what was going to happen to
chain, praising God for what God is doing at
her, and then gave her willing consent.
this moment in history and recognizing that
Zechariah, the religious professional,
those who are privileged to be instruments
doubted God, but Mary, the peasant girl,
of God’s saving work have been richly
believed, and her trust in God’s word
blessed.
13opened the door for God to bless her and to celebrates her, treating her as more
bless the whole world through her. Elizabeth honorable than herself. Thus, the pregnancy
celebrates Mary’s willingness to say “yes” that might have brought Mary shame brings
to God. joy and honor instead. When Elizabeth
welcomes Mary, she practices the same kind
By greeting Mary with honor,
of inclusive love that Jesus will show to
Elizabeth overturns social expectations.
prostitutes and sinners. She sees beyond the
Mary is an unmarried pregnant woman. She
shamefulness of Mary’s situation to the
might expect social judgment, shame, even
reality of God’s love at work even among
ostracism from her older kinswoman. Yet
those whom society rejects and excludes.
Elizabeth knows from her own experience
the cost of being shamed and excluded. In Elizabeth’s words and actions invite
her culture a woman’s primary purpose in us to reflect on our own openness to the
life was to bear children, so as an elderly ways that God chooses to act in our world.
infertile wife she had endured a lifetime of What is God doing through unexpected
being treated as a failure. Her response to people in our society today? Where is God
her miraculous pregnancy emphasizes that at work through people whom our neighbors
God’s grace has reversed her social status: and fellow church members often exclude or
“This is what the Lord has done for me treat as shameful? Will we listen to the
when he looked favorably on me and took Spirit’s prompting when the bearers of
away the disgrace I have endured among my God’s new reality show up on our doorstep?
people” (Luke 1:25). At long last, in her old
May we, like Elizabeth and Mary,
age, she is an honorable married woman,
trust that God is coming to save and free us.
pregnant with her husband’s son.
May we, like them, give thanks that God has
Elizabeth continues the pattern of taken away our shame and then respond to
social reversal by opening her arms and her God’s love by welcoming the shameful.
home to a relative whom her neighbors May we, like them, become a
would expect her to reject. Instead of community that supports each other as we
shaming Mary, she welcomes, blesses, and hope and wait
(This article was first published on WorkingPreacher at the following link: http://www.WorkingPreacher.org.
Thanks to Working Preaching for allowing us to publish it in our Seasonal Journal.)
Endnotes
1
In Elizabeth Nagel, SSL, SSD; Elaine Park, SSL, SSD; and Mary Pat Haley, Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and
Proclaimers of the Word. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2019, we read: “The Greek for ‘blessed,’ eulogemene,
expresses thanks to God for gifts given and promises kept. Elizabeth’s words echo those of Deuteronomy 28:2, 4, which
promise the blessing of fruit of the womb to those who obey the Lord” (233).
2
Nagel, Park, and Haley state, “A different Greek word, makaria, which appears in the Beatitudes, conveys Elizabeth’s
last blessing: ‘Blessed are you who believed…’ Makaria recognizes a state of righteousness before God that is
accompanied by the profound happiness that comes from sharing in divine life. Mary experiences this joy because she
believes the Lord’s word to her” (233-234)
14“Living Our Baptism” in church, and later that day put on white-
A Sermon Preached on January 12, 2020 hooded robes and burn crosses.4
by The Rev. Paul Lautenschlager, I do not believe Jesus came to give us a
Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church new theology. He came to save us from lives
bereft of lasting meaning and fulfillment. He
This Sunday in the church year provides
came so that we might find lasting fulfillment in
us with the opportunity to think about our own
following him. He came to not only show us the
baptism as it relates to the community of the
meaning of God’s kingdom, but to empower us
church, so I shall do so. As a springboard, I
to participate in the building of that kingdom.
share something from Bill Frey, former bishop
The baptized are first and foremost called to be
of this diocese.1 He wrote:
servants of the kingdom of God. This is the
I recently redecorated my office
road down which baptism, our primary identity,
and the first thing to come down
should take us. Like most every endeavor in
off the wall was my ordination
life, we invariably fall short without the help of
certificate. It’s not that I am
others. That is why we need the church. The
ashamed of it…It is rather that I
business of the church is making followers of
want to put things in their proper
Jesus, who, in turn, encourage others outside
perspective. Our primary identity
the church to follow in the Jesus way.
is our baptism, not our ordination
I just read something that is both jolting
or lack of it. When by God’s
and dismaying. The November issue of The
grace, I pass through the pearly
Living Church magazine reports on the
gates, I expect to remove both my
precipitous decline of the Anglican Church of
shoes and my miter. If they need
Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Church
clergy up there, I have misread
embarked on a survey dealing with both church
the story!
participation and church membership. If the
Our primary identity is our baptism. The
present trend continues, in just twenty years,
more I think about this statement, the more I
there will be no more members of the Anglican
wonder if both the clergy and laity of the church
Church in Canada! Now, you might be saying
have taken this to heart. The late Episcopal
something like this to yourself, “That’s Canada
biblical teacher, Verna Dozier,2 wrote a book
and not us.” If so, let me relieve you of your
called The Dream of God. In that book, she
delusion. The article went on to say that the
suggests that the most important question for
American Episcopal church (us) is not very far
Christian believing is not so much what
behind the Canadian church.5
someone believes, but what difference does it
The bottom line is certainly this: we get a
make that you believe.3 I think she is on to
failing grade when it comes to making disciples.
something there.
Now, I am very much aware that all churches
We can believe all the right things about
are rowing against the strong waves of
God, but if those beliefs do not form us into
secularism, which accounts for some of the
persons living for God and the things of God,
decline in the institutional church. But I am also
our believing is just cheap rhetoric. For
aware that some churches, including some
example, not too long ago, in certain parts of
Episcopal churches, are growing. “Why is
this country, men would spend Sunday morning
this?” you might legitimately ask. A sermon can
only scratch the surface. I start by saying that
15the common denominator of all thriving itself away in ministry in a world desperate to
churches is that they know they are in the know the healing power of the gospel.
business of making disciples of Jesus and are The cultural narcissism and spiritual
passionate about service and ministry beyond malaise of which I just spoke surely includes
their church walls. Furthermore, these churches our children. Psychoanalyst and therapist Erica
thrive because they value and encourage the Komisar says that she is often asked to explain
development of lay ministry and leadership. why depression and anxiety are so common in
Here, I return to that quotation from Bishop our children and adolescents. She points to
Frey about lay ministry. some recent studies indicating that children and
It wasn’t until the adoption of the current teens “who reported attending a religious
Prayer Book that our catechism even service at least once a week scored higher on
acknowledged the ministry of the laity. For psychological well-being measurements and
centuries, the catechism said there were only had lower risks of mental illness. Weekly
three orders of ministry: bishop, priest and attendance was associated with higher rates of
deacon. “The persons wearing the collars were volunteering, sense of mission, forgiveness, and
doing real ministry,” was the thinking. Lay lower probabilities of drug use…Nihilism is
members were just add-ons, helpers. We have fertilizer for anxiety and depression…The belief
paid a very heavy price for this mistaken, in God…is one of the best kinds of support for
unbiblical understanding of ministry, which still kids in an increasingly pessimistic world…[She
has a hold on us. Have you ever wondered why goes on:] I am frequently asked about how
the Mormons and the Jehovah’s witnesses are parents can instill gratitude and empathy in their
growing? I’ll tell you why: the spine of those children. These virtues are inherent in most all
groups is not clergy, but spiritually transformed religions…these are building blocks of strong
laity. What is needed now more than ever are character…Today the USA is a competitive,
spiritually transformed lay disciples of Jesus scary and stressful place that idealizes
who want to be a blessing in a nation that is perfectionism, materialism,
spiritually bankrupt in a multitude of ways. selfishness…Spiritual belief and practice
When asked the question, “Are we on the reinforce collective kindness, empathy,
right track or wrong track as a nation?” poll gratitude and real connection.”6
after poll says that we are on wrong track. I find much truth in what she says.
During the present economic boom and ever- In all of this, our churches are confronted
rising stock market [i.e., in January 2020], how with the sobering question, “Where have our
do we account for this? Here is how: I think this children gone?” All too many of our own
is a sign of our culture’s spiritual emptiness and children and grandchildren have abandoned the
malaise. There is a hunger for a way of life that church and are drifting in this tide of secular
is spiritually empowering, a way of life that humanism. Someone once said that a
runs counter to the profound narcissism and Christianity that does not change us in our
consumerism of the present culture. What an homes will never change the world.7 Christian
opportunity for the Church! However, all too discipleship must begin in the home. All too
often non-Christians have not seen this quality often it doesn’t, and this is another reason for
of living in the church. Instead, all too often the present decline of the church.
they see a church caught up with itself, turned So, there’s work to do, isn’t there? I
inward, rather than outward, unwilling to give believe that this work must turn us inward,
beginning with some honest soul-searching,
16acknowledging the truth of the present reality. That church circle reminds me of the
Prayer must surely undergird this process. In time I saw a ceramic table sculpture with about
the earliest days of the church, non-Christians ten or so people holding hands, forming a circle.
made this observation of Christians, “See how The circle had the people with their backs
they love one another.” Their love and way of toward each other, so they were facing/looking
life was so compelling that many became outside, beyond the circle. Is that not a powerful
curious, and many of the curious chose to metaphor of the church when it is being true to
become Christians. This is partly the reason for itself? I think so. The baptized, joined,
the phenomenal growth of the early church. The supporting each other, empowered/motivated by
story of God’s great love in Christ Jesus moved love to move into the world for which Jesus
from their heads and spiritually transformed died.
their hearts and wills. A Christianity that is Craddock’s baptism story is about God’s
confined to ideas/formularies—in other words, dream for this church and every church in this
our heads—has no power to change ourselves land—a dream about the church that has a
or this nation. passion to give itself away, serving, caring,
Fred Craddock8 tells about an experience loving in this broken nation and world. This
he had while serving a congregation in rural lovely, majestic building, the liturgy, the Prayer
Tennessee. The church had the tradition of Book, the Scriptures, the creeds that we affirm,
doing baptisms in a lake. After the baptisms, the hymns that we sing and prayers that we pray
they moved off the sandbar to the shore where exist primarily so that more and more we might
the rest of the congregation was gathered. The mirror the mind, heart, and will of Jesus. These
newly baptized gave their names and told are gifts given to us so that our life in Christ
something about themselves. Then the rest of Jesus becomes the lens by which we see
the congregation formed a circle around them. everything else. That is the goal of the Christian
Then each person in the circle would give her or life and that is why this place and the institution
his name, and say something like this: “My of the church exists.
name is…and if you ever need somebody to I am very pleased to be an associate
babysit, I would be happy to help. My name priest of this parish. Signs of growth,
is…and if you ever need anybody to help you faithfulness, and discipleship abound. Emphasis
rake your leaves, I would be happy to help. My on the Catechumenate, the ongoing process of
name is…and if you ever need a car to go to Visioning, and the Community of Hope lay
town…” Around the circle like that it went. pastoral care ministry come to mind. I think
Then they ate and fellowshipped together. At also of the fall reverse offering challenge, a
one of those baptisms Craddock remembers terrific effort to mobilize the power and energy
someone from the congregation saying to him, of lay ministry. Let this parish continue to raise
“Fred, folks don’t get any closer than this.” Fred the bar. The Baptismal Covenant [BCP: 304-05]
Craddock’s commentary on the story is this: In that we will affirm following this sermon
that little community, they have a name for that. encapsulates the heart of what is meant by
I’ve heard it in other communities too. In that discipleship. So much of what I have said this
community, their name for that is ‘church.’ morning flows from it.
They call that ‘church.’”9 My friends, I believe May God give each of us individually,
with all my heart, that the world is crying out and this church corporately, the holy desire to
for that kind of church. not only say the words of the Covenant but live
them.
17Endnotes
1
Ed. Note: William (Bill) Carl Frey (1930-), the 8th Bishop of Colorado, served in that position from 1973 to 1990. Bishop Frey
confirmed the editor of this journal, and I fondly recall his powerful sermons delivered in a resonant voice.
2
Ed. Note: Verna J. Dozier (1917-2006), a leading African American lay theologian, was born in Washington, D.C. Earning her B.A.
and M.A. from Howard University, she taught English in the Washington public schools for more than thirty years. Between 1968 and
1972, she served as the curriculum specialist for the Urban Teachers Corps. From 1972 until her retirement in 1975,
she was the assistant director of the English Department of the Washington public schools. A member of the vestry and senior warden
of St. Mark's Church, Washington (1970-1972), she was an adjunct instructor in New Testament at the Virginia Theological Seminary
and adjunct staff for the College of Preachers, located at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, more familiarly known as
Washington National Cathedral. A member of the Board of Examining Chaplains and the Board of the Alban Institute, Dozier was
also chairperson of the Commission on Ministry and a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Washington. She was a
freelance consultant in Bible study and the ministry of the laity. She was a popular retreat leader and made presentations in every state
in the United States. Among her books are Equipping the Saints: A Method of Self-Directed Bible Study for Lay Groups (1981); with
Celia A. Hahn, The Authority of the Laity (1982); The Calling of the Laity: Verna Dozier's Anthology (1988); and The Dream of God:
A Call to Return (1991) (Episcopal Glossary:154).
3
Ed. Note: Verna J. Dozier, The Dream of God: A Call to Return. NY, NY: Seabury Classics, a Division of Church Publishing, 2006:
79.
4
Ed. Note: The Southern Poverty Law Center presents a reliable account of the history of the Ku Klux Klan at
https://www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism#rrigins%20of%20the%20klan
5
Ed. Note: Mark Michael, “New Statistics Show Dramatic Decline for Canadian Anglicans,” The Living Church. November 22, 2019
https://livingchurch.org/2019/11/22/new-statistics-show-dramatic-decline-for-canadian-anglicans/ Father Mark Michael, editor of
The Living Church, is rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Potomac, Maryland. “Published by The Living Church Foundation, a
non-profit organization serving the Episcopal Church,” the non-profit The Living Church, founded in 1879, is based in Milwaukee,
WI. (Episcopal Glossary: 308-09)
6
Erica Komisar, “Don’t Believe in God? Lie to Your Children: The alternative is to tell them they’re simply going to die and turn to
dust.” The Wall Street Journal. 12.6.2019.
7
Ed. Note: This quotation is attributed to Howard E. Butt, Jr. See Sam Roberts, “Howard E. Butt, Jr., Grocery Empire Heir Who
Spread the Gospel, Dies at 89” in The New York Times. 9.17.2016 (Retrieved 4.2.20. Go to the following link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/business/howard-e-butt-jr-heir-to-a-texas-grocery-empire-dies-at-89.html)
8
Ed. Note: Fred Craddock (1928-2015), an ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ and Bandy Distinguished Professor of
Preaching and New Testament Emeritus in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, was known for his “folksy”
preaching style. His non-profit Craddock Center serves the Appalachian region.
9
Dr. Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories, Michael Graves and Richard Ward, eds. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2001:151
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Colorado, Mark Ross
received his B.A. in 2012 from the University of Colorado, Colorado
Springs, where he studied under such faculty as Professor Joan Ray. A
cradle Episcopalian (with some detours along the way), Mark, his wife
Katie, and their children Audrey, Milo, and Quincy have attended Grace
and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church since Advent of 2017. Mark serves
as a lector and an intercessor at the 8 am services.
On Saturday, June 13, 2020, the Episcopal Church remembers the
first Book of Common Prayer. Mark Ross writes about the history of
our Prayer Book.
History of Our Prayer Book in a familiar worship service. The Prayer
by Mark Stewart Ross Books that grace our pews contain the
prayers, psalms, devotions, readings, and
Episcopal church services, whether services that form the liturgy of the Protestant
simple or elaborate, follow those presented in Episcopal Church of the United States. This
The Book of Common Prayer. This is why an treasured book is the proverbial tie that binds
Episcopalian can enter any Episcopal—and Episcopalians with the wider Anglican
usually any Anglican—church and participate Communion. Because of its importance, we
18should be aware of how it came into being, elements. In England, laypeople would
which takes us back to the Protestant receive Holy Communion only one to four
Reformation in 16th-century Europe. times a year. But the 1549 Book of Common
Prayer encouraged priests to give
One of the great accomplishments of Communion to the congregation weekly and
the Reformation was the translation of the discouraged them from celebrating
Bible and the liturgy into the vernacular. Communion privately. Furthermore, the
Rather than a strict translation of the Latin sacrificial language surrounding Holy
Mass, the English Reformers saw the need for Communion was changed. This was not
a liturgy— “liturgy” meaning “the work of the because Cranmer did not believe the Eucharist
people”— that reflected the direction that they to be sacrificial, but because he believed it to
wanted the Church of England to take. be a sacrifice of thanks and praise that brought
Though there were earlier English liturgies, us closer to Christ.
the first complete liturgical book in English
was The Book of Common Prayer, published In creating The Book of Common
in 1549. This book was largely the work of Prayer, Cranmer also drew from Eastern
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury Orthodox sources. The epiclesis (Greek, “to
and a leading figure in the English invoke”) is one such example: this is the
Reformation. moment during Holy Communion when the
priest invokes the Holy Spirit to bless the
Take a look through the 1549 Book of elements of the Sacrament and those who take
Common Prayer, available online at it. An explicit epiclesis had fallen out of favor
[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1549/ in the Western Church but was incredibly
BCP_1549.htm], and you’ll see a number of important in the Eastern Church. In the 1549
influences. It takes much of its shape and edition of The Book of Common Prayer, an
language from the Medieval Latin rites, explicit epiclesis was added into the
including the use of the term “Mass” for the celebration of the Eucharist:
Eucharist and the incorporation of traditional
vestments, chanting, and reception of the Host Here us O merciful father we
on the tongue. Because of this, it was often beseech thee; and with thy holy
seen as too Catholic by the more radical of the spirite and worde, vouchesafe to
Reformers. Nevertheless, it also contains blesse and sanctifie these thy
thoroughly Protestant elements seen as gyftes, and creatures of bread
necessary to combat the perceived excesses of and wyne, that they maie be unto
the Medieval Roman Catholic Church. The us the body and blood of thy
saints, while still honored, were given less moste derely beloved sonne
emphasis, and individual confession to a Jesus Christe.
priest became optional rather than mandatory
for receiving Holy Communion. An explicit epiclesis was actually removed in
later editions of The Book of Common Prayer.
While medieval practices like elevation The Episcopal Church in the United States
of the elements and Eucharistic Adoration gets its epiclesis from the Scottish Prayer
were banned, the importance of Holy Book tradition.
Communion to the community was increased.
In the Medieval Western Church, priests Of course, though the Eucharist is the
would often be the only ones to take center of Christian worship, the Book of
Communion, while the laity would adore the Common Prayer concerns itself with more
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