Of Innovative Determination in Bellows Falls

Immanuel Episcopal Church, Bellows Falls, Vermont

Downtown Bellows Falls, VT is situated on two levels—the river level and the bluff level. Immanuel Episcopal Church is on the upper level, just a little bit closer to God.  And one can easily see the fine hand of the Almighty Spirit stirring things up atop the bluff!  The congregation is a small one of only about twenty-five or so on any given Sunday, but those folks have an innovative bent to their thinking and a determination to see an idea through!  They know their gifts and are willing to share.  They share through their food programs, through their thrift shop, and most recently through their newly founded Retreat Center.

One of Immanuel’s longest running missions is the

collage of Immanuel's professional kitchen

Community Dinner which they host every Monday evening.  The dinner has been a part of the parish’s outreach mission for more than twenty-seven years.  The under croft in turned into a welcoming dining room, and guests are treated to the comforting smells and tastes produced by the capable cooks and hosts.  Not only is dinner served each week, but folks who are unable to get out and have difficulty acquiring nourishing food may call the Church to be added to their food delivery program.  Three times a week, food is donated by the local Shaw's and dedicated members of the congregation pick up and distribute the food.

collage of Immanuel's thrift shop

Another more recent project established at Immanuel Church is their Community Closet thrift shop.  The shop was begun in response to the considerable need of the underprivileged community of Bellows Falls and the surrounding area.  The shop was open in January of this year and is entirely supplied by donations.  The very reasonable prices ensure that even the most destitute are able to afford “new” clothes when needed.  The shop is open twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays and usually enjoys a steady flow of customers whenever the shop is open.  It is a tidy and quaint shop full of inviting color that sells clothing, shoes, some baby items and various accessories like handbags and costume jewelry. Both the thrift shop and Immanuel’s food programs accommodate a specific demographic and serve to address pressing needs of that community.  But the newest gem in Immanuel’s crown of ministry caters to an altogether different clientele. This demographic has been virtually ignored in the region, perhaps because they are not perceived as “being in need”, or perhaps because of erroneous conviction that the need can be met elsewhere. But Immanuel’s research has shown that indeed there is a need in the area for a place of retreat and rejuvenation. Welcome to Immanuel Retreat Center!

Immanuel Retreat Center

It wasn't too long ago that the congregation at Immanuel Church was faced with a significant problem.  What to do about the old rectory?  They were too small and too impecunious to afford a full-time rector who would live in the building.  And standing empty the building was rapidly deteriorating. The church also owns the adjacent property which is used by The Boys and Girls Club and also has an occupied apartment.  Plus, the building has historical significance, having been built in 1847, so selling the property or demolishing the building was rather distasteful. Well, it turns out that while the congregation may be tightening its belt financially, it is wealthy, healthy and wise when it comes to talent and innovative thinking! This is a congregation that endeavors to live the baptismal covenant to the best of their ability.  They looked around at one another and saw a gathering of thoughtful and talented individuals aching to share their gifts. Here was a woman who loves to cook; there sat a gentleman who knows how to market an idea.  Yonder were some folks willing to put in some hard labor.  Over there was someone who could organize and manage.  As they looked at one another, they recognized that they had everything needed to implement a creative and innovative purpose for the old rectory building. Ultimately, the decision was made to renovate the rectory and convert it into a retreat facility.  Part of the consideration for developing the retreat center was the acknowledgment of the changes in society and in the ways in which people seek God.  Immanuel Retreat Center offers an alternative method for being in communion with one another and God, and yet still allows for the congregation to survive in a traditional way as well.  There is still work to be done, and eventually the center will need a board of directors.  But in the meantime, the center offers nearly a dozen retreat opportunities in the areas of Spirituality and the Arts.  Other congregations and organizations are also invited to create their own retreats at the center. To learn more about Immanuel Retreat Center, just click on the hyperlink.

images of Immanuel Episcopal Church

In all the works, projects and ministries undertaken at Immanuel Church, the foundation of their mission is “to serve guests as we would the Christ…” On Sunday, June 2 at 5:00 pm, Immanuel Church will celebrate Immanuel Retreat Center and the Community Closet thrift shop with a dedication and blessing. You are cordially invited to attend, and if you do so, you can expect to be treated as welcome a guest as Christ himself!

The Holystic Community

 This Sunday is Trinity Sunday wherein we celebrate the holy mystery of the union of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  We also celebrate our church’s naming day. But ours isn’t the only Trinity Church in our diocese.  So for this issue, we will celebrate with Trinity Church in Shelburne.  Happy Naming Day, Trinity Church!

 

Trinity Episcopal Church in Shelburne, VT

Trinity Episcopal Church in Shelburne, Vermont embodies its namesake in its foundation, its ministries and its calling. If one interprets (read that as saying “limits”) God the Father as the creator and master builder, then Trinity’s buildings and grounds and rich history represent those elements of the Father.  If the Son is the teacher who prepares his disciples to live a life manifesting the two greatest commandments—to love God and to love one’s neighbor, then Trinity exemplifies those characteristics by its worship and ministries.  If the Holy Spirit is the fire and light that call people to God’s purpose, then Trinity’s deep conviction of “community” reflects that Spirit.

Recently, Trinity built a new parish hall.  That building was designed to be unique to the church, but in keeping with the history and spirit of the parish.  Where the church presents an elegant, dignified space for worship of God, the parish house is where the Spirit rolls up her sleeves and cheerfully sets to work. It is here that the fulfillment of the calling of community takes place.  The juxtaposition of the parish hall and the worship space of the church creates an outdoors safe harbor with a sensation of being gently and comfortingly wrapped in loving arms.  It is in this space that the Meditation and Memorial Garden offers

collage of Meditation and Memorial Garden

peace and tranquility.  Trinity has a dedicated group of parishioners who tend and lovingly maintain this sacred place, and as I walked through the church, the garden and the parish hall, I was moved by the sensation that in this parish, the calling of “community” is a holistic one: it includes those past, present and future with a very slim measure of liminal space separating these members. Trinity’s ancestral history and founding members are as defining of its community as its current members are, and its future members are so integral to the whole corpus of the community that they direct the ways in which current projects and plans will be fulfilled, as is apparent in the thoughtful consideration that went into the new building.

collage of Tiffany stained glass window images

As you look at the beautiful Tiffany stained glass windows at the altar and in lieu of a Rose window, the depictions of Jesus are representations of him still teaching his disciples—the disciples of today.  At the altar, Jesus is portrayed as The Way. In the nave, Jesus is our master role model, teaching of the significance of baptism and communion. The communion of Trinity Church looks upon these windows every Sunday and is reminded of is Spiritual calling.  The Spirit enables further learning opportunities, not only in the capable preaching of Rev. Craig Smith during worship, but in a special program they call “Space for Grace.”  Each week between services, folks gather together to learn about issues of our time and discuss in what manner our baptismal covenant requires us respond. 

Like most churches and other sacred places, Trinity opens its doors to a variety of groups and organizations throughout the week.  But I got the feeling that at Trinity in Shelburne, those groups are welcomed as additional members of the Trinity Community—not as outsiders who make use available space. As part of a regular schedule, Trinity Church members gather together to prepare a mass meal that they take to Salvation Army in Burlington that helps to feed the many homeless and impoverished of that city.  They also offer “senior” lunches a number of times each year to remind those who cannot come to church regularly that they are still important and beloved members of the Trinity Communion.

I learned while I visited Trinity Church that it is not so much what one does to fulfill God’s purpose that is important, but that it is fulfilled together in community.  I learned that community defined in a broader, holistic understanding of the word results in the kind of grace that is Trinity Episcopal Church, Shelburne. I would venture to say that the community of Trinity, Shelburne is stirred not merely by the Spirit, but by the Trinity.

A Fire Alights Upon Us

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—(John 14:16, New International Version)

In the story from which this verse is taken, it is the first time Jesus refers to the time when he will be gone from his disciples. He assures his disciples that he will intercede with God on their behalf and that they will not be left alone. This “advocate” (in other versions, “comforter,” “helper,” “paraclete”) will teach and guide them along their journeys. But it’s not just Jesus’ intercession that’s important to note here.  Consider the implications of this advocate who will “be with you forever.” Was Jesus speaking about his immediate disciples, and forever being defined by the duration of their lifespan?  Or when he said “forever,” did he mean for all disciples in perpetuity? Or does this “advocate” move from teacher to pupil, sort of like a contagious plague? Looking at this remark from another angle, one can infer that the Holy Spirit was not and had not been with the disciples at all up to the point until fire danced on their heads and they spoke in many languages. Of course, one might further presume the Holy Spirit was unnecessary when you have God in the Son right there with you.  (Imagine God being redundant…)

For the purposes of this blog entry, let us interpret the promise universally.  That is, Jesus intended the Holy Spirit for all of his followers through all time, for this is what we gain through baptism and recite in our creed. This Whitsunday, we will remember the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire, and we will redirect the focus of our spiritual guidance upon the Holy Spirit who moves within our own selves.  But, too, we must remember that we are each part of the larger corpus.  When we take Holy Communion together, we reinforce that bond with one another and God.  Therefore, while we examine the Spirit’s call in us individually, we must do the same with the larger body.  And that, my friends, brings the topic around to our new theme for the coming months.

Last autumn, Diocesan Convention passed a resolution to embark on a three-year mission to explore ways in which the Spirit is working through us in the Diocese of Vermont. Stirrings of the Spirit explores what it means to follow Jesus in today’s changing world. The concept of Stirrings of the Spirit is to not only discern the direction God is pointing us in, but to actually take those steps and follow His calling.  Stirrings is about innovation, creation, collaboration.  It’s about taking risks, having faith, trying new things. Stirrings of the Spirit offers parishes and the diocese support and tacit permission to “go for it!” and see what happens.  The word “stirrings” suggests both grand actions and tentative movements.  “Of the Spirit” acknowledges that nothing we done, either individually or collectively, is without God and God’s direction. Stirrings of the Spirit is the closest we are likely to come to someone saying, “Dream big, make it happen; we, with God, are right there with you!”

There are 48 parishes in the Diocese of Vermont.  Every single one of them is profoundly touched by God through the Spirit.  It is my hope to share through this blog just what kind of stirring the Holy Spirit has manifested in each one of these parishes and other diocesan holdings.  Some entries will necessarily include surveys of several parishes, while other entries may focus on a single parish.  This is not to minimize or discount the power of the Spirit moving in these parishes, but speaks to my own ability to learn and communicate.  I guess we’ll just have to see how the Spirit stirs within this blogger!

The Ascension Soundtrack

When I look at artwork depicting the ascension of Christ, I can’t help but feel something is not quite right

Ascension of Christ by Il Garafalo

about it.  Typically, Jesus stands on a cloud, looking suitably Godly with divine light illuminating his wind-tossed clothing and curiously still hair.  Some of them even show the holes in his hands and feet (one supposes to distinguish the event as the ascension and not the transfiguration). The witnesses on the ground below him portray expressions of awe, reverence and inevitability (you can almost hear the surfer accent as they cry, “Whoa, dude!”). There are hundreds of paintings and relief sculptures like this.

a relief sculpture in ivory circa 400 a.d.

What leaves me baffled—besides the event itself—is the reaction of the witnesses. Imagine yourself as Jesus’ BFF.  Imagine you spent years traveling with this amazing man. You learned from him and maybe even taught him something.  You laughed, cried, raged, and implored with him. You ate, slept, and prayed with him. You witnessed all the miracles he performed. You witnessed all the miracles conferred upon him: his baptism, his transfiguration, his crucifixion, his resurrection.  Even if you weren’t there for all of these events, you would have wanted to be, right?  In short, you would have become an intimate friend and developed a deep bond of friendship and love with this man.  Would you really resign yourself to the inevitable and simply watch with reverence as he rises into the air?  Or would you cry and cling like a child to his parent’s leg on the first day of school?  I imagine deep in my heart, I am broken.  AGAIN! This would be the second time in forty days that my best friend is adamant about leaving me.  I think I’d feel disinclined to blithely stand by and watch it happen and be more inclined to doing some ranting and railing.

But Jesus did warn his friends and followers that while he must leave, he won’t leave them alone (John 14:18). He knew his beloved friends would feel his loss keenly, for don’t you think he felt the loss as well? He promised he would see them soon, and until then, he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them.  The Greek word, ορφνος (phonetically “orphanos”), is translated differently in various versions of the Bible, sometimes “like orphans,” or “disconsolate,” “desolate,” “all alone,” or more commonly “comfortless.”  In 1934, American composer Everett Titcomb composed a motet called I Will Not Leave You Comfortless that uses this text from John 14:18.  This motet was the first ever by an American composer selected for the 1936 English Church Music Festival in London, where 4,000 voices sang the piece.  The music of the anthem is somewhat haunting and expressive of the sense of imminent loss.  In contrast, the renowned English Renaissance composer William Byrd composed his anthem using the same text, but with a more sweetly cheerful expression. 

While these anthems are sometimes used for Ascension Sunday, the text tends to be used more at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirits descends.  Psalm 47, instead is more often the text used for Ascension anthems.  Because of the nature of psalms and anthems, usually only a verse or two is used in a setting.  So it gives composers a variety of text from which to choose to create a fitting musical accompaniment to the glory of Christ's Ascension into heaven.  Generally, anthems using the psalm text for Ascension Day are much more upbeat and joyful—Christ’s ascension into heaven is a miracle, after all.  “O clap your hands all you people” is a text used by many composers: Orlando Gibbons, William Mathias, John Rutter, and many more.  “God has ascended with shouts of joy” is another popular text from the psalm used by such composers as Gerald Finzi, Charles Villiers Stanford (“Coelos Ascendit Hodie”), Jacobus Gallus (“Ascendit Deus”), Spanish Renaissance composer Cristóbal Galán (“Ascendo ad Patrem meum”).  As with the paintings, sculptures and other artwork depicting the Ascension, the variety of anthem picks for Ascension Day are myriad!  This Ascension Sunday at Trinity Church, we will sing an anthem appropriate for the day, an Hallelujah by Georg Philip Telemann.

Re-valuing the Lost Message of Rogation Days

From the very beginning of faith and worship, people have offered thanks, praise and prayers of request and intercession for the fruits of the earth. Celebrations and rituals were established to recall us to our dependence upon the bounties of the earth.  These celebrations remind us of our duties as stewards and caretakers of God’s creation and caution against willful negligence and careless destruction of our only source of sustenance. Our celebration of Rogation Days is one such rite and begins this Sunday, the sixth after Easter. The word “ Rogation” is from the same Latin root as “interrogate” and means “to ask.” Rogation Days—the four days before Ascension Day—are days to ask God to bless the fruits of the earth by which we subsist. (In the autumn, Rogation Days of planting and sowing are mirrored by the Ember Days of harvesting and reaping.)

Beating the bounds on Rogation Days, blessing the earth, the fields, the farms

While Rogation Days rituals are among the oldest in our tradition, hearkening back to the Sarum Rite of the 5^th century, they are merely given a passing nod in today’s worship. As society moved from an agrarian one to becoming more and more industrialized, the rituals pertaining to localized farming and plantations grew less and less pertinent. By the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, Rogation Days rites and lectionary had been relegated to “occasional services” to be used at the discretion of the parish priest.  To be fair, the developers of our current prayer book have included many more prayers and thanksgivings for the natural order that speak to our more global understanding of God’s creation and our roles as stewards.

In fact, the ancient lectionary for Rogation Sunday had evolved out of the instruction for the newly baptized. The Epistle of James focuses on the correct disposition one needs to hear the Word and the expectation of doing the works of God. It was the collect which connected the care and preservation of the fruits of the earth to the expected behaviors of the newly baptized: “O Lord, from whom all good things do come; grant to us, your humble servants that by your Holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by your merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” The Gospel from John is one that Jesus forewarns of his departure and that the Holy Spirit will come upon them.  So ultimately the message of the lectionary is that now that we have received the learning, we are to listen, think and do. Through us, God is working His purpose out.

We no longer use the ancient lectionary for Rogation Sunday. Neither do we use the Rogation Days lectionary during the daily offices.  But vestiges of the ancient rite remain in some of the hymns we use that are designated for those four days. Hymn 534 in The Hymnal 1982 is called “Purpose” and is the setting for the text by Arthur Ainger.  The text was written for the boys of Eton College, where Ainger was a popular schoolmaster, and subtly connects the ancient Rogation lectionary of becoming messengers of God to the even more ancient rites of asking for God’s blessings of earthly produce. This is especially evident in the last stanza:

All we can do is nothing worth,

Unless God blesses the deed;

Vainly we hope for the harvest-tide,

Till God gives life to the seed;

Yet nearer and nearer draws the time,

The time that shall surely be,

When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God

As the waters cover the sea.

A hymn text by Edward White Benson set to the Vaughan Williams adaptation of the folk tune “Kingsfold” is another hymn specifically denoted for Rogation Days.  The first stanza of hymn paraphrases the preamble of the collect: "thou reignest and by thee come down henceforth the gifts of God."  Yet this hymn addresses more specifically the spirit of “ Rogation” in petitioning God for a bountiful crop—the better to do God’s work!

As you progress through the days to Ascension Day next Thursday, take a moment or two to remember the past traditions of Rogation Days and consider the future and our roles in the husbandry of God’s bountiful creation with the following collects:

MONDAY--Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray that your gracious providence may give and preserve to our use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper all who labor to gather them, that we, who are constantly receiving good things from your hand, may always give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

TUESDAY--Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

WEDNESDAY--O Merciful Creator, whose hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.