Author Archives: djgrieser

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About djgrieser

I have been Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, WI since 2009. I'm passionate about Jesus Christ and about connecting our faith and tradition with 21st century culture. I'm also very active in advocating for our homeless neighbors.

Candlemas

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Today, February 2, is the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple. It is one of the most ancient commemorations in the church calendar, and has undergone significant transformation over the centuries. It honors the story in Luke 2 in which Joseph and Mary bring the infant Jesus to the temple. This was a practice in Judaism of the day when a mother would come to temple on the 40th day after birth, to offer sacrifices and be ritually purified. In the Luke story, Mary brings two turtledoves, the sacrifice specified for poor women. One of the focal points of the story is the song of Simeon, which he sings after seeing Jesus. Known as the Nunc Dimmitis, it begins “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation….”

In earlier centuries, this feast day was known as Candlemas. It was the day when the priest blessed the beeswax candles that would be used in the church in the coming year, and laypeople could bring their candles for blessing as well. Mary’s coming to the temple on the fortieth day after giving birth in keeping with Jewish observance had an a significant impact on medieval religious practice. In most of western Christianity, a similar rite “The Churching of Women” was observed on the 40th day. It remained in the prayer book until the 1979 revision. In the sixteenth century, when continental Protestants attempted to do away with it as “popish superstition” they met strong resistance from women, for the celebration had become an important rite of passage and reintegration into the community after childbirth.

Candlemas is a feast day rarely observed by contemporary Episcopalians—we don’t often even use beeswax candles any more. At St. James, most of our candles use oil rather than wax but it had cultural as well as religious significance. One of the legends in England said that a wintry Candlemas would make for a late spring, which is probably the origin of the idea of Groundhog Day.

Perhaps the most important part of the gospel story is Simeon’s song of praise, which is regularly used in the liturgy, especially in the daily office, at evensong or compline. The prayerbook version reads:

Lord, you now have set your servant free

To go in peace as you have promised

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,

Whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

A Light to enlighten the nations,

And the glory of your people Israel.

Reflections on "Meditation"

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Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever had as busy a Christmas as this year was. In addition to the usual press of the holiday season, the staff of St. James bid our Interim Rector, Fr. Tom Davis good-bye on Christmas Eve, and then we had to make preparations for the arrival of our new Rector, Fr. Geoff Taylor. But it wasn’t all work. Corrie and I celebrated her birthday by seeing the Met’s performance of Massenet’s Thais on December 20, and we ended the holiday season at the Peace Center last Thursday for a performance by violinist Joshua Bell. For his encore, Bell played the Meditation from Thais. So our Christmas began and ended with that lovely and profound violin piece.

Thais is the story of an Egyptian monk from the early centuries of Christianity who takes it upon himself to attempt the conversion of Thais, the most famous and beautiful courtesan in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria. Of course he falls in love with her, and of course she converts to Christianity. In fact the Meditation is the moment in the opera when she converts. Thomas Hampson and Renee Fleming were superb in their roles, but David Chang, concertmaster of the Met Orchestra was amazing in his interpretation of the Meditation (I won’t even try to use words to describe Bell’s performance).

What I love most about the live HD Met broadcasts in movie theaters are the intermissions. The performers are often interviewed just as they come off stage and you get to watch amazing scene changes. Chang was charming in the interview. He connected his playing with his Christian faith, and humbly but forthrightly spoke of what the piece meant to him.

The gift of music was one of my greatest joys these past few weeks–the organ and choir of St. James, but also performances I was barely able to hear, before services for example. I was stopped cold more than once, in the midst of last-minute preparations, by the beautiful sounds of the violin playing of St. James’ parishioners. I hope to hear more of it in the new year!

Theodora’s robe

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In my sermon yesterday, I mentioned a mosaic in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna. The two mosaics to which I alluded show the Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora bringing forward the elements for communion. Here is Theodora:

theodora1

Here is Justinian:

justinian1

Here’s an image from an early Christian (4th century?) sarcophagus (tomb), showing them wearing Phrygian caps

800px-early_christian_magi1

Advent Rest

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The gospel for Wednesday in the second week of Advent was Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The lesson from the Hebrew Bible was taken from Isaiah 40 and included these familiar words: “but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

These lessons remind us that one of the themes in Messianic expectation in the Judaism of Jesus’ day was the image of the Sabbath rest. The idea of the Sabbath is one of the great gifts of the Hebrew people to human culture. The fact that we get weekends off, that we even have the notion of a week, is the product of Judaism. In Genesis, God’s creation ends with the creation of the Sabbath; indeed it is correct to say that the Sabbath completes or perfects creation.

The notion of the Sabbath rest permeates Biblical tradition. It wasn’t just for humans. The commandment to keep the Sabbath holy mentioned livestock, slaves and aliens. Sabbath rest extended to the land as well: every seventh year all of the land was to lie fallow, to rest and recover.

While we have retained the notion of days off on the weekend, there is very little in the contemporary weekend that has anything to do with Sabbath rest. Indeed, Advent may be the least restful season of the year. Not just because of the swirl of holiday activity. The scriptural lessons are full of warnings about staying awake and being watchful.

Still, the notion of rest is important this season and for our understanding of the Christian life. Perhaps Augustine said it best, “My heart was restless until it found its rest in you.”

Happenings in Anglicanland

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Once again, the world of Anglicanism has made it into the mainstream media. Finally all of the talk about a new province for North America has moved from the drawing board into the construction phase. You can read about it in all of the usual places. Remember as you read that things move very slowly (if at all) in the Anglican Communion and it is clear that there is little interest from the Archbishop of Canterbury to expedite matters.

Given the deep divisions among those who ware trying to create this new province, one wonders whether they will be able to pull it off. To name only one matter of deep disagreement: the ordination of women.

Meanwhile, we will continue to do the work of the church.

Advent

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We had quite an exciting morning on the first Sunday of Advent yesterday. As I arrived to prepare for the 9:00 service, I noticed one bank of lights in the sanctuary was out. I did a little investigation and discovered that there were power outages all over the building. We learned that there was a downed power line and prepared for a less than brightly illuminated service. Just after the completion of the reading from the Hebrew Bible, all of the lights went out. The church remained in darkness for the rest of the service.

As we worshipped, my eyes were drawn to the only artificial light in the sanctuary–the altar candles and the advent wreath. One of the themes of Advent is darkness and light. Tom spoke of that in his sermon, about the symbolism of lighting another candle each week as the days grow shorter. The flames from the candles were a reminder of the audacity of our faith and our longing for the coming of the Incarnation.

“A despiser of sorry persons”

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The internet is wonderful! I mentioned in service this morning one of my favorite epitaphs in a Boston graveyard. But I got several of the details wrong. First, it was in the Copps Hill burial ground. Second, the phrase I remembered was not the end of the epitaph. But you get the idea. Here’s the whole of it:

Here lyes the mortal part of William Clark, Esq. An Eminent Merchant of this Town and an Honourable Counsellor for this Province Who Distinguished Himself as a Faithful and Affectionate Friend a Fair and generous Trader Loyal to his Prince Yet always zealous for the Freedom of his Country A Despiser of Sorry Persons and little Actions, An Enemy to Priestcraft and Enthusiasm, Ready to relieve and Help the Wretched, A Lover of Good Men of Various Denominations, and a Reverent Worshipper of the Deity.

I didn’t do more research than that. I know it’s eighteenth century, and from the details, it probably derives from the colonial period (“loyal to his prince” suggests pre-revolutionary). But it does provide some interesting religious info: an enemy to Priestcraft suggests he wasn’t Anglican/Episcopalian, the mention of Enthusiasm implies he rejected the Great Awakening (i.e., Methodism), and “a Reverent Worshipper of the Deity” implies that he was moving toward Unitarianism, or at least Deism, as were many in the eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson, for example.

Collar encounters, updated

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I think I’ve written about what it’s like to wear a clerical collar around town. Veteran priests have warned me that a collar could cause difficulty in certain situations. I’m sure it does, but I’ve yet to experience that. Instead, wearing a collar has opened doors and led to fascinating conversations. Early this summer, for example, I was in the Home Depot buying something on my way home from the church and an employee came up to me and asked me to pray for him. We spent a few minutes talking about the things that were troubling him, and then, right there in the parking lot, we prayed.

Last night, we went to a restaurant downtown after the service. I was starved, so I didn’t take the time to change clothes. We had a lovely meal and a great time. Our server treated us like royalty and we chatted about the wine, pork belly, and all sorts of things. Eventually the conversation turned to church. I identified myself as an Episcopal priest and our server shared with us his story. As a teen he was an active member of a small parish in our diocese and he spoke with great emotion and affection for that experience. That church was open and loving, and the rector’s door was always open to a teenager who was trying to figure things out. Most memorable of all was the youth group’s outing to an AC/DC concert. He’s not a member of an Episcopal church now. Of course I invited him to our services. Perhaps we will see him one day.

We came away from that encounter curiously reassured about what we do in the church. Oh, I know, all of the church growth gurus and consultants would label this man “unchurched” but from what he shared of his life last night, he’s pretty together. I’m guessing when he’s ready to look for a church he will look first at an Episcopal parish. My prayer is that when he does, he will find one as open and loving as the one he holds in his memory. In the meantime if he approaches all of his tables with the grace and sensitivity that he did ours last night, he is already a witness to the love of Christ.

Garden Update

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In spite of getting started late (around Memorial Day) and being in the midst of drought, our garden is remarkably productive. As of last week (July 21) we had shared over 200 pounds of produce with the Hispanic Ministry at St. Francis. That’s amazing. So far, the harvest has been squash, beans, peppers, but the tomatoes are beginning to ripen. More than ten people are involved in caring for the garden and harvesting. What a wonderful gift to St. James, and to the community.

I’ll share a couple of photos of the produce

This was taken early in the season

This was taken early in the season

This picture shows last week’s haul