From the Rector
The Most Powerful Week of the Year

My dear parishioners and friends of St. Paul’s,

The very first day of April is the very first day of Holy Week. Holy Week is the most important and potentially the most powerful week of the Christian year. As I mentioned last month, I believe that nowhere is this more powerful than here in our own parish church.

Events in Holy Week

Let me just outline the main events of that week and encourage your full participation. Sunday, April 1, is Palm Sunday, the Sunday of the Passion. Please notice that the first two Masses that day are 15 minutes earlier than usual. The first is at 7:30 am. At 8:45 am, we shall gather as usual, weather permitting, at Washington Circle for the Blessing of the Palms and then the procession down the street into the church for the sung Mass of the Passion. Exactly the same sequence is repeated at 11:15 am for the Solemn Mass.

In a sense, it is jumping the gun a bit to have the Sunday of the Passion before we have Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Nonetheless, the Mass of the Passion puts our week in context. The celebration of the Palms, the blessing of the procession, marks the triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem. And as we enter the church itself, so that sacred space becomes our “Jerusalem” for the week. I am always struck by the contrast in the mood that passes between the rather upbeat and sometimes even chaotic Procession of the Palms and the stark simplicity of the Mass of the Passion. On that evening, being a Sunday, there will as usual be Solemn Evensong and Benediction.

While I would encourage your attendance at Mass every day of Holy Week, more, I would ask that you make an absolute commitment for you, your family, your households, your neighbors, your colleagues, and any others you can find to the three evening liturgies on Maundy Thursday, April 5, Good Friday, April 6, at 6:30 pm, and on Holy Saturday for the Great Vigil of Easter at 9:00 pm.

As I say every year, so I say again, I believe it is important that we recognize that these three services actually represent one liturgy. I am always fond of pointing out that there is no dismissal at the end of the Mass on Maundy Thursday or on Good Friday. This doesn’t occur until after the First Mass of Easter on Holy Saturday night!

The Solemn Mass on Maundy Thursday is dramatic and powerful. It begins with all the glories of a Solemn Mass, including the recitation of the Gloria. After the enactment of the “Mandatum,” that is, the washing of the feet (the name of the day, Maundy, comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means commandment: “a new commandment I give you”). The liturgy and the ritual and its accompaniments are simplified as the mood changes from one of joyful celebration of the institution of the Eucharist to a realization of the events that are to follow.

At the end of the Mass, a procession is formed, and it moves slowly through the church into the Angel Chapel, which becomes a chapel for the repose of the Sacrament overnight and our equivalent of the Garden of Gethsemane. Please note that there is an opportunity for you to sign up for an hour’s vigil during the watch from the end of the Maundy Thursday liturgy and through the day on Good Friday—“Could you not watch with me one hour?” Many people find this a most powerful time of silent reflection and contemplation. We like to have two people signed up through the night, and we do have a security guard on duty throughout the night, just in case. Many places only maintain a watch until midnight. We are very peculiar in maintaining a watch not only through the night but also through the entirety of the next day. Chronologically, of course, this makes no sense, since from noon to 3:00 pm on Good Friday is the time of the crucifixion, but I think we can be allowed some poetic license as we schedule our observations to be able to include as many people as possible.

The Liturgy of Good Friday is stark and again startlingly powerful. The liturgy begins as the sacred ministers prostrate themselves in silence before the altar. At the heart of the Liturgy of the Word is the solemn chanting of the entire Passion story from the Gospel according to St. John. These chants are ancient. Take a look at the dates of the words and the music of what we use in these days, and we find that Christians have sung these words to these chants on these days for 1,500 years. The Church prays for the needs of the Church in the world in the ancient solemn collects, and at the heart of the liturgy is the veneration of the cross, where the entire congregation is invited to come forward, two by two, to place themselves literally at the foot of the cross and bring with them their sins, their need for repentance, so that we may be saved.

The liturgies of Holy Week are “physical” liturgies. The liturgies address all our senses and we use our bodies as fully as possible in our worship.

After the veneration of the cross we receive communion from the sacrament that has been reserved at the Altar of Repose.

Easter

The Great Vigil of Easter on Holy Saturday, April 7, at 9:00 pm is the most important and the defining liturgy of the year. All other liturgies in which we participate on a daily basis find their origins in this one liturgy. On this day we all gather—I hope we all do!—to celebrate the Christian Passover. This year we are particularly blessed once more to have a bishop with us, and this with the express permission of the Bishop of Washington, the Right Rev’d John Chane. I am thrilled that our old friend Bishop James Montgomery will be with us on that night to preside at the Vigil and to administer the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, as well as to receive the Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows from members of our catechumenate.

The liturgy begins in total darkness, and a brand new fire is lit from a brand new spark from a flint. From that fire is lit the great paschal candle as the symbol of the risen Christ. As the fire dies down and the flame of the paschal candle comes to life, the darkness of the tomb, which the church had been the previous day, is dispelled, and the coldness of death, which we experienced in the liturgy of the crucifixion, is dispelled by the glorious warmth of the fire and light of the resurrection. It is no accident that the three stations proclaiming the “the light of Christ” occur at the same place the cross was unveiled the previous evening, thus the place of death has become the place of life. With that proclamation, the light of Christ spreads through the congregation as our candles are lit, and we stand for that wonderful, ancient hymn of the resurrection, the Exsultet.

And then, returning to darkness except for the light needed to read the lessons, we hear the ancient story of God’s salvation among his ancient people. These readings remind us of the overall cycle of salvation and redemption in God’s dealing with his people. At the heart of this, of course, is the story of the Passover as well as other signs of God’s covenant and this saving power in scripture.

The liturgy continues then with the presentation of the candidates for baptism, confirmation, and reaffirmation before the bishop, and then there is a great procession by the longest possible route of all the candidates with the bishop as we recite the Litany of the Saints on our journey to the font. And, like the ancient Israelites, we, too, are led by the “pillar of fire,” the paschal candle, so that we may pass through the waters from slavery into the promised land with Jesus. Those who are to be baptized and confirmed and those who reaffirm their baptismal vows remind us all about our own renewal each year in this liturgy in the paschal Mystery, which is the Christian Passover: “Alleluia! Christ, Our Passover is sacrificed for us!” Following confirmations and reaffirmation of baptismal vows, we then enter into the First Mass of Easter, when the church is suddenly transformed into a place of blazing glory with trumpets blasting and voices raised high in praise of Jesus’ resurrection.

As always, I would suggest to you that if you participate fully in these three liturgies with an open heart and mind, you will be changed and renewed Christian people at the end of that experience. And then, too, I would ask you to invite your friends and neighbors who do not belong to a community of faith to join you for these three days. Nowhere is the central belief of the Christian faith more powerfully experienced than in these liturgies.

As always, you will be hearing much more from me about all of this, and I use this as an overture to encourage your full, enthusiastic participation in it all.

On Easter Day, the usual Mass schedule obtains in the morning. We have an incongruous Low Mass at 7:45 am—always seemingly to me a contradiction in terms—“Low” Mass on the day of the Resurrection?! But this Mass is scheduled to accommodate the very faithful early Mass congregation and that is important. At 9:00 am there will be a Procession and Sung Mass and at 11:15 am a Procession and Solemn Mass with all the glory we can muster! In place of Solemn Evensong and Benediction, at 6:00 pm, there will be said Evening Prayer followed by Simple Benediction.

Again, at the risk of repetition, I might remind you that our very special preacher for the Triduum Sacrum, Maundy Thursday through the Great Vigil of Easter, will be the Rev’d Martin Warner, Canon Pastor of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. My invitation to him stemmed from our enthusiastic reception and study of his book, Known to the Senses, which we studied in the rector’s forum last Lent. This will not be Canon Warner’s first visit to St. Paul’s. Many of you will remember him from his visit to us on All Saints’ Day some years ago, when he dedicated the Walsingham tryptych. In addition to being an author, former Administrator at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, and a residentiary cannon at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Fr. Warner was last year elected to be the Master of the Guardians of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Fr. Warner is bright and articulate and he will be a great and inspiring addition to our observation of these most important days.

Walsingham pilgrimage

Speaking of Walsingham, I shall be leading another parish pilgrimage to Walsingham. There are some 22 of us, and we shall be leaving Washington on Monday, April 16, and we shall be away until Tuesday, May 1. This is now the fourth parish pilgrimage that I have led to Walsingham, and I am amazed that some of you have been able to be with us on all four pilgrimages! This year, we will be beginning the pilgrimage in France, specifically in Normandy, where we shall be based at Bayeux. En route to Bayeux we shall stop very briefly at St. Denys, the home of the great royal church of the French Monarchy and perhaps more importantly the first Gothic church built in Europe. We shall trace the Gothic as we visit later that day the great medieval masterpiece of the Cathedral at Chartres.

Normandy is also the place of burial of William the Conqueror, and it was from Normandy that he invaded England in 1066, an event that changed the course of English history. One of the great masterpieces commemorating this is, of course, the tapestry that was embroidered shortly after the conquest of England, and that will certainly be part of our visit in Bayeux. We will also spend a day at the Normandy beaches, always a moving place in which to remember those who joined another invasion of occupied ground and secured for us and all those who come after us the liberties that we now enjoy. We shall also have a brief visit to the extraordinary monastery of Mont St. Michel.

All that is going to prepare us for our own pilgrimage across the English Channel in the footsteps of William the Conqueror, and we shall see first hand the influences of France and the Gothic on the English Church. We shall spend a few days over a weekend within the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral, itself a great Gothic masterpiece, whose stones actually were brought from Caen, in Normandy, the burial place of William the Conqueror. Archbishops Lanfranc and Anselm also came from France, and the Abbey of Bec, to Canterbury.

While in Canterbury, we shall also be visiting some very ancient churches in Kent and so have a look at the pre-Norman church. After that, we shall spend a few days in London, and I am very grateful to our friends at our sister parish of St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, in London, who will be greeting us on our arrival with a tour of their beautiful church and a Mass and hosting us very kindly at a church supper that first night in London.

We shall make a journey to the East End of London to see some of the sites of the early Oxford Movement parishes, and I also pay a visit to Westminster Abbey, where of course William the Conqueror had himself crowned King of England on Christmas Day in 1066. Westminster Abbey is also, like St. Denys in Paris, the final resting place of so many of the British sovereigns. It is the first Romanesque church to be built in England.

The high point of our trip will, of course, be to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Since before the Norman Conquest this has been a place of pilgrimage, prayer, and a celebration of the Incarnation. On my many, many visits there, I have never ceased to be renewed and encouraged in my faith and renewed in a deep commitment to continue my own journey into Christ.

On that pilgrimage—which is a pilgrimage rather than a “trip”!—we shall, of course, carry the needs and joys of our own parish community as we carry you in prayer to these holy places and pray for renewal, healing, and our own call to be also a place of the Incarnation in this city.

Ascension Day

By way of advance notice, I call your attention to Thursday, May 10, which is Ascension Day, and there will be a Procession and Solemn Mass at 6:30 pm. I draw your attention to this at this time in the light of our very interesting study of the Ascension in the rector’s forum during the Sundays of Lent.

Lay Eucharistic Visitors

I am delighted that a new ministry at St. Paul’s will begin on Sunday, April 1. Ten parishioners will by then have been commissioned as Lay Eucharistic Visitors. These people will be commissioned to carry the Blessed Sacrament to the homebound of our parish following the 9:00 am and/or 11:15 am Masses. You will see the Lay Eucharistic Visitors presenting themselves at the altar rail at the end of communions to receive the pyxes, and then you will hear them commissioned in the name of the congregation to proceed to those members of our Christian community who could not physically be present at that celebration. They will then leave immediately to carry the Blessed Sacrament to those people. This will mean that our homebound parishioners will receive not only the monthly visit from the clergy to bring them communion, but also by a visit from a lay Eucharistic visitor as well as one other visit of a more pastoral or social nature from one of our visitation team.

Our goal in the Long-Range Plan is to have a visit to each of our homebound parishioners four times during the course of a month, so we are nearly there. If anyone is interested in the ministry of a Lay Eucharistic Visitor, or in the lay visitation ministry, please speak to me or to Fr. Humphrey, and we can put you in touch with those responsible for the ministry of these visits.

The gift of silence

You will already have noticed a small innovation at Low Masses here at St. Paul’s. Our study of Rowan Williams’ book on the spirituality of the desert fathers and mothers on Wednesdays in Lent has brought us to a real appreciation of the importance of the gift of silence in our prayer life both corporately and individually. Each Wednesday evening, we have ended by gathering in the church in silent prayer for 15 minutes. Many of you have spoken of the power of this experience.

While there are brief silences in our liturgy here—for example after the breaking of the bread before the fraction anthem, I thought that perhaps we should have a further, as it were, institutionalization of silence in our corporate liturgical rites. To that end, you will now notice that at Low Masses the celebrant, following the ablutions, will return to the sedilia for a period of silent reflection. I hope that this is something that will prove helpful and fruitful. The other places for corporate silence are of course our quiet days in Advent and Lent as well as the all-night vigil before the Blessed Sacrament from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, which I have already mentioned above.

Annual Meeting

Also by way of advance notice, please note that the Annual Meeting of the parish will be held on Saturday, May 19. There will be, as usual, a Mass at 9:30 am. At 10:00 am, there will be coffee and refreshments in the dining hall, and the meeting will be called to order in the dining hall at 10:30 am. At that time, we shall be electing new members of the vestry, and we shall be receiving a full report of the progress that has been made on our building project. Various items will be sent to you in the mail and posted on the bulletin board and in parish notices at times in accordance with the complex parish by-laws. Please note the revision that was made in the by-laws regarding a “qualified voter.” The hope was to make the publication of the voters’ lists a more pastoral and irenic affair!

As I look at the months ahead, I am aware of what a busy parish we are. While that is not necessarily always a good thing, I am also aware of the richness and depth of our corporate life together, and for that I am profoundly thankful. You will read elsewhere in this Epistle a letter from Fr. Anthony Moore from St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, regarding his experiences here among us in January. (See below.) I commend that to your reading and commend you for your commitment to support in every possible way the life, work, witness, and mission that is our Lord’s in and of this place of which he makes generous and deserved mention. Without all of you, honestly, we would be nothing, and we would be poor indeed!

I think our community really is at its best in the days of Holy Week. I am a great believer in the fact that commitment converts. Nowhere is that more true than in Holy Week itself, and nowhere is that more true and evident than in this parish church.

For that I am truly grateful.

Wishing you all the blessings of a holy Lent and Holy Week and all the joys of the Resurrection life and with my love in the crucified and risen Lord.
Andrew Sloane +

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Good for the Soul

I have a confession to make.

Actually, I mean that literally. It’s been several months since my last confession, and I need to schedule and prepare for my next confession. This will be my fourth time going to confession. I’m neither proud of that number, based on my age, nor disappointed in the number, based on my time in the faith. It’s simply my experience level with the sacrament. I’m certainly far from an expert and yet at least somewhat familiar with the process. What’s inspired me to set finger to keyboard is the number of conversations I have had over the past year in which people have asked either, “Why go to confession?” or “What difference does it really make?”

To answer these questions, I need to refer to the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Having gone off to party with his friends, the Prodigal Son realizes that while there may be no limit to the fun he could have, there was a limit on his credit. Waking up with the pigs prompted him to reassess his priorities, and after swallowing his pride and several corn husks, he heads for home. Here’s where it gets good. When he meets his father on the road home, he confesses his sin and receives his father’s forgiveness. His father had long since forgiven him. But because the son came home and admitted his error, the father was able to welcome him back with love signified by his forgiveness.

We have the same need. When we stray from the love of our heavenly Father, we need to return and ask for, and receive, his forgiveness. This reconciliation enables us to receive this sacrament. Through an outward and visible sign (the act of confessing) we are able to receive the inward and spiritual grace of being welcomed home, which makes all the difference in the world.

If you’re like me, once you make it over the hurdle of understanding why you should go to confession, you will immediately come up with a number to truly good reasons not to go. Most of these will have to do with your particular brand of sin: those things for which you may be most ashamed because you knew they were sinful when you did them. To say that everyone who has made a confession has been in your place would be an understatement. Almost everyone believes that the sins she or he has committed are the worst and that the priest will be shocked to hear what kind of person has been hiding in his congregation. It may startle you to know where you actually fall on the worst-stories-ever-heard continuum. Many people have heard me joke about going to confession: About the encyclopedia of sins I have to carry in or, my personal favorite, how I always have to ask my confessor to stop pounding his head on the rail and screaming “you’re kidding” during my confession because I find it distracting. (Neither of the above has ever happened, just in case you were wondering.)

I joke about it, because it’s not an easy thing to do. But it’s an important part of Christian and personal growth. In recovery programs they say that you are “only as sick as your secrets.” The harder you work to hide things, the more energy those things begin to take to keep them hidden. In my case, I was receiving a lot of positive feedback on being an acolyte, all the while trying to hide the fact that I was struggling with a drug problem. What started out as easy to hide got harder and harder. It was only through the Sacrament of Reconciliation that I was able to come to terms with the need for recovery. Confession spiritually, and quite literally, saved my life.

If you have not made a confession in a long while, or if you have never made a confession, the first thing you should do is meet with a member of the clergy. This will give you an opportunity to talk about the process and what you can expect. The form for the Reconciliation of a Penitent can be found on page 447 of the Book of Common Prayer. I was amazed to find that the rite is only two pages long. We have excellent resources, paper, and people, within St. Paul’s for preparing for confession. And finally, you must go to confession. Currently confessions are heard on Wednesdays at 5:00 pm and Saturdays at 10:00 am or by appointment. The clergy can hear your confession in their office or in the Angel Chapel. If I may share my humble opinion here, go for the Angel Chapel. There is a serenity to be found there, and kneeling before God’s altar evokes the very spirit of the story of the prodigal.

Let’s go back to the story of the Prodigal Son. The Gospel of Luke tells us that, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” God is waiting for us all to come home and to ask his forgiveness, to receive the love that he is ready to pour out on us. [JC]

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Archbishop’s Address to the General Synod

Fr. Sloane and Fr. Humphrey commend to you the following address given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to the Church of England’s General Synod (their functional equivalent of our General Convention). Your clergy believe it articulates well a frame of reference for the current debate without foreclosing it. In it, the archbishop calls for the sort of costly discernment that is necessary in order to be faithful disciples of Christ in the midst of conflict. The address is reprinted with permission. Copyright 2007 by Rowan Williams.

After the debates at the American General Convention last summer, I wrote directly to all the primates of the Communion to ask about their reaction and the likely reaction of their provinces as to whether the resolutions of Convention had met the proposals of the Windsor Report for restoring something like normal relations between the Episcopal Church and others in the Communion. The answers were instructive. About eleven provinces were fairly satisfied; about eleven were totally dissatisfied. The rest displayed varying levels of optimism or pessimism, but were not eager to see this as a life and death issue for the Communion. Of those who took one or the other of the more pronounced view, several on both sides nonetheless expressed real exasperation that this question and the affairs of one province should be taking up energy to the near-exclusion of other matters.

The public perception, as we’ve been reminded by several commentators in the last week or so, is that we are a Church obsessed with sex. The responses I received to my letter to Primates suggests that this is what many within the Church feel as well—and I’d be surprised if many in this chamber did not echo that. It feels as though we are caught in a battle very few really want to be fighting; like soldiers in the trenches somewhere around 1916, trying to remember just what were the decisions that got everyone to a point where hardly anyone was owning the conflict, just enduring it (we don’t of course have to go as far back as 1916).

So it is natural to want to say, “This is a war no-one chose; there must be a simple way of halting the conflict and getting the troops home.” That simple protest has been forcefully expressed, in the media and within the Church, in terms of giving up on the Communion and concentrating on the independent health and integrity of each local church. Unhappily, though, the truth is that when conflicts have passed a certain point, simple solutions are unlikely to work, to the extent that they deliberately ignore the things that bred the conflict in the first place—and that have never been properly addressed. This is a recipe for the whole thing to start up again as soon as possible.

But I’d remind you too of something I said in this Synod last year. It is folly to think that a decision to “go our separate ways” in the Communion would leave us with a neat and morally satisfying break between two groups of provinces, orthodox and heretics or humane liberals and bigots (depending on where you stand). Every province could break in several different directions. And if you look at parts of this week’s agenda, can you honestly say that our debates and their outcomes would be simpler if we didn’t have the Communion’s challenges as part of the background?

In my remarks today, I want to try and identify some of the factors which, if not addressed, will lead us into more of the same unedifying divisions—if not on this, then on other questions. And I want to outline why the final communiqué from Dar es Salaam might possibly leave open some constructive possibilities. But may I take the opportunity of thanking publicly the countless people who wrote to assure us of their prayers in the last fortnight? We were very deeply supported during our meeting, and that was a palpable blessing.

Two significant factors to start with. The debate triggered by certain decisions in the Episcopal Church is not just about a single matter of sexual ethics. It is about decision making in the Church and it is about the interpretation and authority of Scripture. It has raised, first of all, the painfully difficult question of how far Anglican provinces should feel bound to make decisions in a wholly consultative and corporate way. In other words, it has forced us to ask what we mean by speaking and thinking about ourselves as a global communion. When “gentlemen’s agreements” fail, what should we do about it? Now there is a case for drawing back from doing anything much, for accepting that we are no more than a cluster of historically linked local or national bodies. But to accept this case—and especially to accept it because the alternatives look too difficult—would be to unravel quite a lot of what both internal theological reflection and ecumenical agreement have assumed and worked with for most of the last century. For those of us who still believe that the Communion is a Catholic body, not just an agglomeration of national ones, a body attempting to live in more than one cultural and intellectual setting and committed to addressing major problems in a global way, the case for “drawing back” is not attractive. But my real point is that we have never really had this discussion properly. It surfaced a bit in our debates over women’s ordination, but for a variety of reasons tended to slip out of focus. But we were bound to have to think it through sooner or later.

And it has arisen now in connection with same-sex relationships largely because this has been seen as a test-case for fidelity to Scripture, and so for our Reformed integrity. Rather more than with some other contentious matters (usury, pacifism, divorce), there was and is a prima facie challenge in a scriptural witness that appears to be universally negative about physical same-sex relations.

Now in the last ten years particularly, there have been numerous very substantial studies of the scriptural and traditional material which make it difficult to say that there is simply no debate to be had. Even a solidly conservative New Testament scholar like Richard Hays, to take one example out of many, would admit that work is needed to fill out and defend the traditional position, and to understand more deeply where the challenges to this position come from.

But it is easier to go for one or the other of the less labour-intensive options. There is a virtual fundamentalism which simply declines to reflect at all about principles of interpretation and implicitly denies that every reader of Scripture unconsciously or consciously uses principles of some kind. And there is a chronological or cultural snobbery content to say that we have outgrown biblical categories. These positions do not admit real theological debate. Neither is compatible with the position of a Church that both seeks to be biblically obedient and to read its Scriptures in the light of the best spiritual and intellectual perspectives available in the fellowship of believers. And the possibility of real theological exchange is made still more remote by one group forging ahead with change in discipline and practice and other insistently treating the question as the sole definitive marker of orthodoxy.

Whatever happened, we might ask, to persuasion? To the frustrating business of conducting recognisable arguments in a shared language? It is frustrating because people are so aware of the cost of a long argumentative process. It is intolerable that injustice and bigotry are tolerated by the Church; it is intolerable that souls are put in peril by doubtful teaching and dishonest practice. Yet one of the distinctive things about the Christian Church as biblically defined is surely the presumption (Acts 15) that the default position when faced with conflict is reasoning in council and the search for a shared discernment—so that the truth does not appear as just the imposed settlement of the winners in a battle.

So we should have done more on what it means to be a Catholic church; we should have done more on the use of Scripture. And, mindful of the full text of Lambeth 1.10, [that is, the resolution on human sexuality of the 1998 Lambeth Conference—ed.] we should have done more about offering safe space to homosexual people—including those who have in costly ways lived in entire faithfulness to the traditional biblical ethic—to talk about what it is like to be endlessly discussed and dissected in their absence, patronised or demonised. Again and again we have used the language of respect for their human dignity; again and again we have failed to show it effectively, convertingly and convertedly. This is not just about our fear or prejudice. It is also because we live in an environment that knows nothing of proper reticence in the public exposure and discussion of certain vulnerable places in our humanity. And what then happens is that every attempt to “listen to the experience of homosexual people” is easily seen as political, an exercise in winning battles rather than winning understanding. Remember that in different ways this is an issue for our engagement with any and every minority group—how to secure patience and privacy and the space to be honest without foreclosing the outcomes of discussion.

It’s in this light that I ask you to think about what emerged from the Primates’ Meeting. Essentially, what was proposed had four elements. First: what has been called the “Listening Process,” which has gone forward in a very large number of provinces, including some of the most conservative African ones, continues to seek at least to provide the safety and honesty I’ve just been talking about. It has not been straightforward, but has won a high level of ownership in the Communion, and does so because it has retained its integrity as precisely what it set out to be—a process of resourcing discussion, not of gathering ammunition.

Second, the proposal has been made—partly stimulated by the very successful international consultations held at Coventry Cathedral in the last twelve months—of a serious and sustained piece of work for the Communion on hermeneutics, the theory and practice of biblical interpretation. Combined with the ongoing and very creative programme of the working group on Theological Education in the Communion, it has the potential to take us beyond what I called the non-labour-intensive theologies we see too much of at the moment.

Third, the group that has been working on a draft Covenant for the Communion has made far more progress than anyone expected, and was able to submit a draft for discussion to the Primates which will now be circulated for further comment from Provinces. This tries to outline what a “wholly consultative” approach to deciding contentious matters might look like—with some of the inevitable consequences spelled out if this is not followed. This is not, I must stress, threatening penalties, but stating what will unavoidably flow from more assertions of unqualified autonomy. To repeat a point I’ve made many times—you may feel imperatively called to prophetic action, but must not then be surprised if the response is incomprehension, non-acceptance or at least a conviction that time is needed for discernment.

And so to the fourth element, addressed to the Episcopal Church. We have asked for more clarity as to whether a moratorium has indeed been agreed on the election of bishops in active sexual partnerships outside marriage; and we have suggested a similar voluntary moratorium by the bishops on licensing any kind of liturgical order for same-sex blessings (the understanding of the Meeting was certainly that this should be a comprehensive abstention from any public rites), at least for the period during which the wider discussion of the Covenant goes forward. And to try and encourage an internal North American solution to the bitter disputes now raging, we suggested a structure for some kind of supplementary oversight, and an agreement on both sides to back away from litigation—the explicit hope being that this would remove what some see as the need for interventions from other provinces, and would begin to do away with what all agree is the anomaly of diversity of foreign jurisdictions in the U.S.A.

Much here depends upon goodwill and patience. The Presiding Bishop rightly won praise for her careful and sympathetic engagement with these proposals and other matters, in the course of what was undoubtedly a very testing meeting. Likewise the readiness of many of the “intervening” primates to consider negotiating a new position was welcome and impressive.

So in short, I am commending the Primates’ communiqué, for all its inevitable imperfections, as representing a serious attempt to go beyond the surface problems and to give us some space to look at the underlying and neglected theological factors. I’m well aware of the way in which the imminence of the Lambeth Conference focuses some of the risks and choices. But I’m also aware of the continuing obstinate will to make the Communion work, and to work as some sort of properly Catholic and Reformed unity. I’d be sad if that will were so much eroded in this country that we felt no investment in the sort of processes envisaged in Dar es Salaam.

But let me finish with two brief reflections which may be pertinent, given some of the comment on the Tanzanian meeting. Much has been made of the relative nobility of a “Here I stand” position as compared with the painful brokering and compromising needed for unity’s sake. It’s impossible not to feel the force of this. Yet—to speak personally for a moment—the persistence of the Communion as an organically international and intercultural unity whose aim is to glorify Jesus Christ and to work for his Kingdom is for me and others just as much a matter of deep personal and theological conviction as any other principle. About this, I am entirely prepared to say “Here I stand and I cannot do otherwise.” And I believe the Primates have said the same.

But lastly—I shall be returning next week to Africa; first for a consultation in Johannesburg involving the great majority of Anglican provinces across the world and dealing with our contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. It will be surveying our strategy, exploring what’s needed for better co-ordination in the development resources of the Communion, discussing with our new representative at the UN—an outstandingly competent and charismatic Ugandan woman—how we become more accountable for what we’re doing. After this, I go for a few days to one of the youngest and most vulnerable of our Anglican churches, the new diocese of Angola, engaged both in active development work and in a fast expanding programme of primary evangelisation.

I don’t imagine that the agenda of this visit to Southern Africa will feel much like that of the Tanzanian meeting; and it’s an obvious point that this is the work that the overwhelming majority of Anglicans are actually doing for the overwhelming bulk of the time, especially in Africa. But I need to say something more. Like it or not, this work will be harder and more poorly resourced if the structures of the Communion are loosened, destroyed or so localised that they cannot work flexibly on the global scene. The agenda of Tanzania has something to do with the more obviously attractive, perhaps for some more obviously gospel-related work of Johannesburg and Angola. The entire complicated business of building the trust necessary for co-operation—ultimately the trust that Christ is at work in the other person, the other group, the other province—needs work, including the kind of work done in Tanzania. In the diverse economy of Christ’s Body, Primates’ Meetings too have their charism and their place, however much we may yearn for deck-clearing, ground-breaking clarities. But then, you have after all been elected to a Synod, and I suspect you already know that even obscure and time-consuming labours may yet be part of the Kingdom’s demands.

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A Letter from Fr. Moore

The following letter was sent to Fr. Sloane by Fr. Anthony Moore, curate of our sister parish, St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, after his extended visit to St. Paul’s in January.

I do hope that you had as enjoyable a vacation on the high seas as I did at St Paul’s K Street and latterly in Marrakech?

Firstly, I must thank you personally for generously allowing me the use of your home while you were away. My stay was extremely comfortable and as well as participating in the life of the parish I was able to enjoy the cultural delights of your city, with plenty of time to explore the monuments, galleries and National Cathedral. My first visit, some fifteen years ago, is a very hazy memory so it was good to be able to reacquaint myself with the treasure houses of Washington, D.C.

Secondly, I must tell you of the warmth of welcome that I received from Fr. Nathan and from your people. I knew that I was going to be impressed by the working of the parish, simply from what I learned from Fr. Gyle and from your superb website, but the reality of the experience was quite overwhelming. The beauty and discipline of the liturgical worship of St. Paul’s is enviable, the commitment to teaching, learning and growth in fellowship inspiring and the generosity of welcome and hospitality shown to me personally was a humbling sign of some wonderful Christian people who truly know what it means to live rooted in the traditions of community and creative, loving stewardship. Members of the parish showered me with invitations to lunch and supper, some of which, sadly, lack of time prevented me from accepting but those that I was able to enjoy provided, as well as new friendships in the Gospel, the chance for me to learn “from the Nave” of some of the exciting challenges and developments in the life of the parish.

I left Washington firmly convinced that our parishes have much to share with each other and the deepening of our relationship can only be a positive development; we should seek every opportunity to build on what is emerging as a dynamic partnership in mission and spiritual friendship.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming your pilgrimage group to your sister parish on 24 April and to you preaching for us on the Feast of Pentecost, if that is still convenient to you.

With every blessing,
Yours sincerely in Christ
Fr. Anthony Moore

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Stevens Students and Staff Thank St. Paul’s

“It's fun! I learn better! I spend time with my best friend (my tutor). We help one another. We like to play games. My tutor likes my handwriting and I like my tutor's smile. The most important thing: I like my tutor, she is sweet to me, and I am sweet to her. And I like when she talks about me and says that I have a nice smile and I am sweet.” Brittney—Fourth grade student

“I love my tutor! She comes every Tuesday and always helps me do my homework before we play a reading game. Tutoring is so cool! My reading is better this year. I really miss her if she can’t come.” Melvin—First grade student

The students and staff at Stevens Elementary School extend a very special thank you to all St. Paul’s parishioners for their continued support of the educational and music programs at Stevens Elementary School. Students and staff would especially like to thank volunteer tutors Jackie Lemire, Sara Sterner (first semester), Grace Terpstra, Norrene Vogt, Marcia Wilson, Helen Zughaib, Jane Stephenson, and music teacher Eileen Johnson, who come to the school every week for tutoring sessions and music classes.

Also the school wants to thank those individuals who have made specific donations or contributions this school year: Marie Barnes, Pattie Kindsvater, Father Kirby, Mary Kohler, Deb Loucks, Peg Northen-Cole, Gay and Phil Merrill, Jo Stelzig, Father Sloane, Ed Stephenson, Anne Stone, Bob Vogt, and the St. Paul’s Commission on Mission.

Thank you St. Paul’s Parish! [JS]

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Did You Know?

Full minutes of each vestry meeting are posted on the bulletin board in the hallway in Pillsbury House and are also available online at www.stpauls-kst.com/vestry.htm.

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Pilgrims’ Progress

Since, Lord, thou dost defend us with thy spirit,
we know we at the end shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away; I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.
              —John Bunyan, The Hymnal 1982, #564, 565

On February 25 at the 9:00 am Mass, the candidates for Confirmation and for Reaffirmation of Baptismal vows signed their names in the Book of the Elect as an indication of their desire to continue their journey in Christ, and the congregation agreed to support them on their way. Thus we began Part Three of this year’s Pilgrims in Christ program: the Illumination Period. As in the ancient Church, Lent was the time of intensive preparation for Baptism on Easter Eve, so our candidates have been preparing to be presented to the bishop at the Great Vigil of Easter. Having done the intellectual work, during Lent all members of the Pilgrims class—candidates, sponsors, and companions—have been encouraged to open their hearts to direct experience of God and thus begin true formation. 

The themes of this period are found in the “Year A” Lenten Gospels.  They include temptation; being reborn from above; healing, wholeness, and forgiveness; spiritual blindness and attachments; and the freedom of new life in Christ.

Finding and practicing a regular prayer life is a focus throughout the Pilgrims in Christ year; but in Lent we explore an array of prayer methods and aids to assist the spiritual exercises of the season—indeed, throughout out lives.

On March 24, we will have our second retreat day, this one at All Saints’ Convent in Catonsville, Maryland. Away from our workaday routine, we take time to learn about what qualities characterize a person whose willing soul in submission to Christ is open to the work of the Holy Spirit: the Fruit of the Spirit.

As you read this, we are readying ourselves for Holy Week. There will be no classes during this time in order to allow all Pilgrims to attend the round of Holy Week liturgies, especially on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter, during which we look forward to welcoming the newly baptized and to enjoying the presence and support of the entire congregation as our candidates are presented to Bishop Montgomery for Confirmation and the Reaffirmation of Baptismal vows.

And there is still more! Watch this space for one more peek into the pilgrimage process as the newly confirmed and newly inspired are welcomed into and find their places within the life of the parish. [JS]

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Grate Patrol in the News

Check out the big story about Grate Patrol in the March 2007 issue of the Washington Window, the diocesan newspaper. The four-page article follows several St. Paul’s parishioners on patrol and features many photographs. (Click here to read the story online.)

And the KidsPost section of the Washington Post on Thursday, March 8, featured parishioner Kevwe Ajueyitsi, who helps prepare food for Grate Patrol, and who recently was awarded a 2007 Prudential Spirit of Community Award as one of D.C.’s top two youth volunteers.

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Holy Week and Easter Schedule

Palm Sunday
April 1, 2007
7:15 am       Morning Prayer
7:30 am       Blessing of Palms and Low Mass
8:45 am       Blessing of Palms, Procession from Washington Circle,
                  and Sung Mass
11:15 am     Blessing of Palms, Procession from Washington Circle,
                  and Solemn Mass
6:00 pm       Solemn Evensong and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Wednesday in Holy Week
April 4, 2007
8:00 pm Tenebrae

Maundy Thursday
April 5, 2007
9:00 am       Morning Prayer
5:00 pm       Confessions, Fr. Sloane and Canon Warner
5:45 pm       Evening Prayer
6:30 pm       Solemn Mass and Procession to the Altar of Repose
      All-Night Vigil Before the Most Blessed Sacrament in the Garden of Repose

Good Friday
April 6, 2007
9:00 am       Morning Prayer
Noon           Stations of the Cross
         Confessions immediately following, Fr. Humphrey
5:00 pm       Confessions, Fr. Sloane and Canon Warner
6:30 pm       Solemn Liturgy of the Day

Holy Saturday
April 7, 2007
9:15 am       Morning Prayer
9:30 am       Liturgy of the Day
5:00 pm       Confessions, Fr. Sloane and Canon Warner
5:45 pm       Evening Prayer
9:00 pm      The Great Vigil of Easter, Pontifical Mass,
                 The Right Rev’d James Montgomery, celebrant
      Reception following in the Dining Hall

The Sunday of the Resurrection
April 8, 2007
7:30 am       Morning Prayer
7:45 am       Low Mass
9:00 am       Procession and Sung Mass
11:15 am     Procession and Solemn Mass
6:00 pm       Evening Prayer and Simple Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Also in April:

Saint Mark, the Evangelist
Wednesday, April 25
6:45 am        Angelus and Morning Prayer
7:00 am        Low Mass
5:00 pm        Confessions, Fr. Sloane, Angel Chapel
5:30 pm        Devotions at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
5:45 pm        Angelus and Evening Prayer
6:00 pm        Low Mass

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Parish Notes

April Birthdays

1        Ann Korky; Michael Welch; Frederick Sherrer; Nolan Peters
2        Ruth Kriz
3        Robert Berrien
4        Marie Barnes; Theresa Hollingsworth; Patricia Robl
5        Peter Laugesen; Lydia Bakke
6        Calvert Whitehurst, III; Kyle Bruin
7        Michael Robinson; Colin Tooze; Matthew Maddox
8        Kenwin Benn
9        Tracey Burnette; Olivia Berrien
10      Merlin Packard
11      Barbara Hollinshead
12      Paul Winick; Chika Okwesa
13      Douglas Colmery; Mark Pierzchala
14      James Melton; Sara Lee Menzer
16      Patrick Kalk
18      Walter Rhinehart, Jr.; Dylan Molineaux; Laura Dame
19      R. Clarke Cooper
20      Charles Zakaib, III; Gary Morris
22      Bruce Lawrence
23      David Sheppard
24      Stephen Patrick; David Yoder
25      Fr. Joshua Aalan; Jeffrey Coulter
26      Paul Darmstadter
27      Anne Reamer; Fr. Andrew Sloane; Dirk Heron
28      Elaine Kelley
29      James Kiefer; Lynne Walker

If you have an April birthday that was not included, or if there are any mistakes, please contact the parish office. [MW]

Parish Statistics

Death:  Shirley Ross Pyke (February 10, 2007)

Mission Calendar—2007

Hunger/Homeless

Grate Patrol—every weekend
    Preparation—Fridays, 3:00‑5:00 pm
    Delivery—Saturday and Sunday mornings

Salvation Army dinner preparation—First Friday of each month, 5:00-7:00 pm

Annual Plant Sale

The third annual parish plant sale to benefit Honduras will be held at the church on April 28 and 29.

Saturday, April 28, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Sunday, April 29, 8:00 am to 2:00 pm

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The Epistle
A monthly publication of St. Paul's Parish
K Street — Washington, D.C.

Editor Alistair M. Nevius
Assistant Editor Allison Freeman
Desktop Publisher John Walker
Designer David McGaw
Contributors Jeff Coulter, Anthony Moore, Andrew Sloane, Jeanne Smith, Jane Stephenson, Rowan Williams, Melva Willis

Submissions Invited
We welcome the submission of articles, comments, and suggestions. Manuscripts and correspondence can be dropped off at the church office or e-mailed to the editors at nevius@erols.com. Electronic manuscripts are preferred. Articles accepted for the Epistle are subject to editorial revision.

SAINT PAUL'S PARISH
Washington, DC 20037-1797
phone 202-337-2020
fax 202-337-7418
e-mail info@StPauls-Kst.com
Web www.StPauls-Kst.com

Parish Staff
The Rev'd Andrew Sloane, Rector
The Rev'd Nathan Humphrey, Curate
Mark Dwyer, Music Director
Scott Dettra, Assistant Music Director
Melva Willis, Parish Administrator
Frederick Murdock, III, Maintenance Manager

The Vestry
The Rev'd Andrew Sloane, Rector
Linda Wilkinson, Senior Warden
David Schnorrenberg, Junior Warden
Greg Capaldini, Secretary
Polly Peckham, Treasurer
Lucky Ajueyitsi, Rhoda Geasland, Matthew S. Leddicote, Lynne V. Walker; Alistair Nevius, Geoffrey Peckham; Roy Byrd, Catherine Eikel, Brian Hoyle, Ann Korky 

Our Mission
St. Paul's Parish seeks to restore all people to God and to each other, through Sacramental Worship and Christlike lives.

Deadline for next issue
Monday, March 26

© 2007 St. Paul’s Parish, K Street