America's Independence

On July 4^th we will be celebrating our nation’s 236^th birthday.  We won’t be celebrating our independence on July 2^nd when the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to approve the resolution proposed by Patrick Henry Lee of the Virginia colony to declare our independence from the tyrannical ruling hand of Great Britain.  We won’t celebrate our independence on July 8^th when the public was first made aware that it too was party in this grand treasonous plan.  We won’t celebrate our independence on August 2^nd when the final ratifying signature was added to the Declaration of Independence making it finally true.  We won't be celebrating our independence on some mid-November date when King George III may (or may not) have finally received notice from those rebel colonists, rendering us well and truly independent of British rule.  (Two copies were transmitted to England by Vice Admiral Lord Richard Howe who departed Staten Island on August 11 and would not even arrive in England until mid-November.  So technically, the colonies were still British subjects until the King recognized their independence. No one even knows if the king ever did see the document.  Could be this explains why many Brits still refer to America as “the colonies.”  But since two of the remaining 25 original Dunlap broadsides are housed in the British Archives, it's safe to assume that some reigning monarch has read it.)

We will be celebrating our nation’s 236^th birthday on July 4^th because that is the date that the clerk wrote on the original document to be copied into broadsides.  While the unanimous vote was made on July 2^nd, making our nation’s independence official from that day forward, there was still a considerable amount of debate over the document before the written declaration would finally be approved.  And that happened on July 4^th.  So in essence, what we are really celebrating on July 4^th is the final edit of a written document.  Still, if that were the true case, the document meant nothing until all the signatures were included.  Consider the consequences if one of the voters changed his mind and refused to sign!  Would the letter with the declaration have ever been sent to King George?

If you ever get the chance to visit Philadelphia on July 8^th, go to Independence Hall and listen to the town crier read The Declaration of Independence and imagine being a colonist hearing those words for the first time.  Imagine, too, being that colonist who understands him or herself to be a subject of the King of England and citizen of the greatest empire on the planet (at that time).  It’s not hard to understand why churches were packed in the days and weeks following the announcement—and it wasn’t just because going to church was expected!  God’s role in America’s independence was and is a matter of great philosophical debate.  But that those people at that time desperately needed to believe in God and that God was with them cannot be denied.

This Independence Day, read the famous words of The Declaration of Independence and take time to consider how much faith and trust was required by the colonists to simply move forward.  Take the time to consider how much faith and trust we exhibit everyday as we move forward in our own lives and in our own times of political upheaval.  God may or may not approve of our actions, and God may or may not have a hand in our destiny.  But believe with all your heart and faith and trust that God is with us.

First Communion

This Sunday, June 24, we will help a small group of youngsters at Trinity Church celebrate their First Communion.  For the past four weeks or so, the First Communion Class has been learning about the significance of Holy Eucharist and what it means to share communion with one another.  The celebration this Sunday offers each of us the opportunity to really consider what it is we do as we take Holy Communion each Sunday.

As mentioned in a recent blog about renewal of marriage vows, Holy Eucharist is one of the two great sacraments celebrated in the Anglican tradition.  As such, it is deserving of, if not reverence, then certainly periodic thoughtful consideration. The Anglican tradition refers to the terms “Holy Communion” and “Holy Eucharist” interchangeably.   But as with any synonym, while the terms are similar, there are significant enough differences to cast divergent interpretations.  Beginning with the word “Holy,” both terms indicate the sacramental element.  That is, the ritual is imbued with the presence of God.

Both the American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary define communion generally as an act of sharing or an intimate fellowship and rapport with others.  Communion is specifically defined as a body of Christians with a common faith and discipline (like the Anglican communion).  So Holy Communion, spelled with a capital C, is a rite in which we share with one another and with God.  When God is present, our intimate relationship with one another develops a deeper connection, a more spiritual affinity.   In fact, one might consider the entire worship service as Holy Communion.  One might even argue that any instance in which two or more are gathered together with God, there is Holy Communion.  However, we tend to regard the giving and receiving of the sacramental elements of bread and wine as the act of Holy Communion.  Communion with a capital C and without “Holy” preceding it is indeed a spiritual sharing of souls with God, but the “Holy” connotes the consecrated elements, which brings us to an examination of the term “Holy Eucharist.”  The word eucharist is a Greek word formed with the prefix eu- (meaning  “well, good, true”) and the root/stem charis (meaning “favor, grace, gratitude).  [Incidentally, the same root charis is also the root for the word chairein, meaning “rejoice.”]  So during Holy Eucharist, God gifts us with true grace.  The sacramental elements, through the Great Mystery of consecration, are blessed with the Holy Spirit.  As we receive the sacramental elements, we tangibly join in the Communion.  

First Communion is a rite of passage in which we acknowledge that a child has reached the age of reason—the reason necessary to comprehend the significance of being in communion with one another and God.  It is a ritual that can easily be overwhelm by traditions (fine suits and white dresses with veils, gifts and parties, etc.) that can separate us from the awesome significance of our own responsibility—that is, to welcome anew these fresh communicants into our fellowship with God.

Father's Day

Did you know that the tradition of Father's Day in our country developed within religious faith contexts? To be sure, this should come as no surprise since God has commanded that we honor our father and mother. But here in the US, it takes an act of the Presidency to make it so! Here's how Father's Day came to be:

In the early years of the twentieth century, Sonora Smart Dodd sat in her pew at church, listening to a sermon one Mother's Day.  She and her five brothers and sisters were raised by their single-parent father, and she regretted that he was not similarly honored in the sermon.  She felt it important to recognize and celebrate the selfless and loving sacrifices that fathers make every day.  The nurturing contributions a father makes to a family are too easily overlooked in simplifying a father’s role as merely the family provider.  On June 19, 1910, her efforts to establish a day for fathers were finally rewarded in Washington State as they celebrated the first ever state holiday for Father’s Day. Yet this nation’s desire to honor fathers was rooted even earlier.  The earliest recorded event celebrating and honoring fathers occurred on July 5, 1908. A memorial service specific to the honor of fathers was held in Monongah, West Virginia in direct response to the greatest tragedy in American coal mining history.  In December of 1907, the No. 8 and No. 6 mines at the Fairmont Coal Company in Monongah exploded killing nearly 400 men—250 of them fathers. Since then, individual states gradually began instituting their won Father’s Day.

But the idea of a national day for fathers took a lot longer to catch on, partly because fathers are not seen to have the same domesticated and sentimental draw as mothers, and partly because men themselves derided the idea.  Men argued that a Father’s Day was just another commercial gimmick to sell cards and gifts that they’d be the ones paying for in the end.  It wasn’t until President Nixon’s proclamation in 1972 that the third Sunday of June would be designated to the honor of our fathers.  It is estimated that nearly 200,000 fathers in America will be stay-at-home dads, providing the lion’s share of discipline and nurturing.  As Mrs. Dodd maintained, this is indeed worthy of a day of honor.

This Sunday at Trinity Church, while we will not be having a special brunch for Father’s Day (much to the chagrin and disappointment of certain people in our congregation), we will certainly offer prayers of thanksgiving for our fathers, thus maintaining the American tradition of Father’s Day in the context of religious faith.

Renewal of Marriage Vows

This Sunday, June 10, 2012 will be a special day at Trinity Church, for on this day, married couples will be invited to step forward (or at least, stand together) to renew the vows they made to one another before God on the day they were married.

Perhaps to truly understand the wondrous beauty of a marriage, it would behoove one to examine the various definitions and interpretations of sacrament and matrimony.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines sacrament (as used for our meaning here) as a ceremony to confer sanctifying grace.  The Orthodox traditions don't even bother trying to define sacrament, having decided that a definition is too complicated and leaves it at "it's a sacred mystery."  The Roman Catholic Church defines a sacrament as "an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church by which divine life is dispensed to us."  Those of us who grew up in the Episcopal tradition have learned that a sacrament is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given by Christ as a sure and certain means by which we receive that grace."  You begin to see why the Orthodox traditions went the "easy" way.  The Roman Catholic definition and the Episcopal definition are not that far removed from one another (the RC definition safeguards the power of the institution of the Church). 

Matrimony is the legal or religious term used in reference to marriage. The word stems from Latin roots mater meaning "mother" and the Latin suffix -monium referring to an "action, state or condition."  An Old French word seems to be the basis of our modern English word: matremoine.  The word defines the condition required of being a mother.  In that culture, motherhood was legitimized only within the state of marriage.  (Interestingly, the similarly rooted word patrimony refers to estate or property that is inherited from the father.  Quite a contrast in sense implication. Where matrimony implies a sense of binding-uniting in marriage, patrimony implies a sense of unbinding-distribution of estate through inheritance).


The beauty lies in the sacred mystery.  That God, being invited to be a part of this memorable moment in a couple's life together, transforms that union with divine grace.  Certain Christian faiths refer to the sacrament of Holy Matrimony as a "lay sacrament" because the vows exchanged by the couple are the vehicle by which the grace of God is conferred, and the priest merely acts as witness to the sacrament. This 17th century painting by Nicholas Poussin The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony depicts the couple's exchange being unified and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Note the rays emanating from the dove to embrace the couple.)

 The Episcopal Church believes and teaches the two great sacraments: Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist.  But our faith also recognizes other sacramental rites as important moments or markers along our journey of faith, including the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. In the catechism (which can be found toward the end of The Book of Common Prayer), Holy Matrimony is described as a rite in which a couple enters into a life-long union before God and the church.  What makes this a "sacrament" rather than just a celebration is the gift of grace from God to help the couple fulfill the vows they made.  So really, the vows are not made just between the couple, but also between the couple God. Thus, those who are bound to one another and God through Holy Matrimony shall no one "put asunder."

Trinity Sunday

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday--the naming day of our church.  In the Anglican tradition, it was Thomas Beckett, consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, who made it his first act to ordain the day of his consecration (the Sunday after Whitsunday) as a festival day celebrating the mystery of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as one--the Holy Trinity. 


The icon pictured here was painted by the medieval Russian iconist Andrei Rublev in the early 15th century.  The scene actually depicts the three angels who visit Abraham when he camps by the great oak tree of Mamre.  He serves them a meal of roasted lamb, and as conversation progresses, it becomes more evident that the angels are in fact representations of God, the three in one. It is the only Orthodox Russian icon of the Trinity that depicts the three beings of God as equal to one another.

The image shows the Father on the left, wearing robes of indeterminate, nearly transparent colors that imply the invisible characteristic of the Father. Circling to the center, sits the Son robed in colors of earth and sky symbolizing the corporeal being of God as being of earth.  Continuing in the circle  is the Holy Spirit in robes the colors of Heaven and all life as it is the Spirit that gives life. Each figure has wings of gold, gold implying the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven.  They have halos of purest white, or rather, purest light as it is only God who provides the purest light.  Each figure carries a staff.  The staff denotes the journey, and that each aspect of the Holy Trinity walks with us on our own journey.  The angle of their heads may be seen as recognition of weariness brought on as we travel through life, but their eyes focus upward in perpetual hope as they rest their feet and share a meal. The artist implies the viewer as the "fourth" person at the table. The viewer gives credence to the Holy Trinity, thereby closing the circle.

While viewing the heavenly figures in a clockwise manner--the direction of heavenly order--the artist encourages us, using the pointing direction of the images, to read the background symbolism in a counter-clockwise movement as our lives often run counter to God's divine plan.  The hill behind the Holy Spirit represents our upward journey towards God.  It is rocky and craggy which makes the journey difficult. It is our individual path on which the Holy Spirit directs us. The tree behind the Son represents the tree upon which he was crucified.  The tree is fully alive because his resurrection attains eternal life. The life of the tree is rooted in the lamb (the Son as well the lamb in the chalice--Holy Eucharist) and provides the comfort and security of shade to the weary traveler.  The path's direction points and leads us to the house which represents our ultimate goal, our Father's House--the mansion with many rooms, one of which has been readied just for us. You may notice that the door and window stand open.  The door remains always open in a gesture of welcome to the traveler.  And from the open window, high in the tower for the best view, God watches for the return of the prodigal. The table represents the sacrificial altar.  Remember that Abraham, the unseen focal of this image, was ordered to sacrifice his only son.  The great foreshadowing of God's own sacrifice fulfilled.  The chalice in the center of the table contains the meat of the lamb that Abraham served his visitors. The viewer is invited to the table to partake of the meal, because the open space at the table is on our side. Throughout the icon are suggestions of three, that none of the three are possible without the others--you can't build a house without wood from the tree, which cannot grow without the earth of the hill, which has no purpose without the person viewing, who needs the comfort and security of the house.  But also you will note the drawn in frame surrounding the whole image stating "the three are in one."

On this Trinity Sunday as we sing the words of St. Patrick's breastplate, consider the powerful imagery of this most famous icon. Consider this great mystery of our faith.  Recall that by the symbolism within the icon, you are invited to partake of the meal of the Holy Trinity, thereby creating a unity between you and God.