Who We Are

September 2010 Epistle

Download this issue of our newsletter: The Epistle, September 2010

Inside this issue:

• Making the Old Ever New... by Wallace+
• Reflection from Mwitikira by Kate+
• Getting to Know Our New Minister of Music by David Sinden
• Parish-Wide Invitation to Make Music by David Sinden
• Investing in Hope by Jenny Bliley
  
• A Midday Oasis: Noonday Prayers & Communion by Roger+
• St. Paul's & MCV Update by CPE Student Joshua Trautmann

and much, much more! Download the PDF to read the full issue.

On the Cover:

Making the Old Ever New and Keeping It So: Right Here on Grace Street

My Dear People,

These words were spoken by the saintly William Porcher DuBose, whose feast day we, in the Episcopal Church, celebrated just last month, as we do every August. DuBose was the founder of the School of Theology at Sewanee, and he is recognized as one of the most original and important theologians in the history of the Episcopal Church. He preached these words a century ago in Sewanee, at All Saints' Chapel. His words are, however, as relevant today as they were then, and as relevant to St. Paul's as to Sewanee.

Making the old ever new and keeping it so. That is our mission, as we live out the same faith lived out by our forebears in the faith, the faith of Paul himself, the faith of the founders of St. Paul's Church, the faith of all those who have gone before us. We live out the same faith, the same "old" faith, if you want to put it that way; and yet we live it out in new ways--or, to put it still more aptly: we live out that same old faith in renewed ways, in refreshed ways. The old ever made ever new, by the ever-creative power of the ever-present Spirit of God.

And Jesus teaches us this over and over; and nowhere more vividly than in the fifth chapter of the Sermon on the Mount, where he says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished." Then Jesus turns right around and says five times over, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times...," in each instance citing an explicit teaching from the ancient Jewish tradition, and then, in each instance, he immediately says, "But...," and then calls his followers to go still further than what Torah requires.

He says, for instance, "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven..."

The New of Renewal

Jesus was not abolishing what had come before, as he said; he was fulfilling what had come before. And so are we. We do not want change for change's sake. We do not want the new simply for the sake of newness. That is empty, as the consumer culture around us demonstrates to us daily.

We want the new of renewal, as in the old made new, as in our faith and our life and our parish church renewed by the presence of the very same Spirit that descended on Jesus at his baptism, and which descended on us in our baptism: the very same Spirit that guided Jesus in all that he did and taught, as he called his immediate followers, and us as well, always into a new day.

It is indeed a new day here at St. Paul's Church. Like our forebears before us, we live into our own new day, in which the Spirit makes the old ever new. And so a new Minister of Music has come. And so our mission in Tanzania grows. And so pastoral care grows, and small group ministry grows. And so we grow closer and closer to one another, and still closer to our God, as those relationships are deepened and renewed.

The old ever made new, right here on Grace Street. Every day, by the power of the Spirit of God.

Your brother in Christ,

Wallace+

Reflection from Mwitikira: "The Sweep of a Hand"

by The Rev. Kate Jenkins, Associate Rector

Father Erasto and I had walked a little over a mile in the noonday sun to an "out church" as he called it - a very small mud church where Steve, the lay catechist, leads services on Sunday mornings for the people of Mwitikira who live a little too far to walk to St. Andrew's (the main Anglican church in Mwitikira) every Sunday. The walk had been eventful enough -- we had shared the path with a herd of goats that were averse to walking into the brush and so we bobbed and weaved our way through them. We stopped to talk with a group of women who were beating millet with large sticks, and finally, a "welcoming" committee of children met us on the path and insisted on carrying my alb, stole, prayer book, Bible, and water bottle the last quarter of a mile.

"What text will you be using?" Erasto asked as we arrived at the entrance to the church. "Pardon me?" "What text will you be preaching on?" he asked. Preaching... I must have missed that conversation. "You preach and baptize today," Erasto repeated. I found my Bible and settled on passages from Ephesians and John less than a minute before we started the procession. The church was packed - children sat on the dirt floor in the front, women and men sat on low (knee-achingly low) hand-hewn wooden benches -- on different sides of the church, and the overflow stood in the back and out the door. As the procession started, I was so busy taking it all in that I forgot to watch where I was walking and smacked my head on a low beam, which elicited peals of laughter from the congregation.

About an hour and a half into the service, we finished the ministry of the word (and the improvised sermon) and moved to the back of the church for the baptisms. A hauntingly beautiful chorus of "Alleluias" accompanied us to the back of the church where a small metal mixing bowl sat on the ground. The candidates for baptism and their families gathered around the "font" and we poured water into the bowl and blessed it. There were ten candidates that day, a few were infants but most were toddlers and small children who did not wish to be picked up so I knelt on the ground next to them. "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" -- three handfuls of water sprinkled on each beautiful head. Little droplets clung to their eyelashes and trickled down their faces.

Water, as the prayer book says, is the "outward and visible sign" of baptism -- and water, when it mixes with dirt, creates mud. As I knelt on the dirt floor of the church for the baptisms, water - life-giving, wonderful, and precious water -- was leaving my hands, washing over the candidates and then creating mud puddles on the ground -- the ground upon which I was kneeling. I had not noticed that my alb was flecked with splatters of mud until the small hand brushed my robe, trying to remove the dirt. I gently caught his hand, smiled and shook my head, "it's OK," I tried to convey as I kissed his hand.

From Dust to Dust

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," we say during the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. We are of the earth, we are from the earth, and our mortal bodies shall return to the earth one day. The name "Adam" comes from the Hebrew adamah, or "of the ground." We are of the ground -- and yet we have been washed in the waters of baptism and redeemed. We are a part of creation -- and yet we are also a new creation.

The mud washed away from my alb with a little scrubbing, but the image of the tiny hand trying to wipe it away is one that can not be as easily removed. Nor should it be. Life and new life, creation and re-creation, past, present and future.

Sometimes the veil separating one life from the next is very thin - and sometimes a tiny little hand can sweep it aside in the blink of an eye.

Pictured: Bethany Gordon and Caroline Kasper help distribute school supplies to the Carpenter's Kids. Each year, thanks to the ongoing support of the parish, St. Paul's provides school uniforms, shoes and basic school materials, as well as breakfast, on school days for 136 children in Mwitikira who lost their parents to AIDS.

Getting to Know our New Minister of Music

Personal Profile by David Sinden

Double Violin Concerto - J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

I have been making music for as long as I can remember. My first serious musical pursuit was not the organ, but the violin. I also sang in the children's choir at the church my family attended. There was something about church music, and the organ in particular, that fascinated me. Though I was too young to take lessons (my feet couldn't yet reach the organ pedals) I spent hours at my parents' piano playing hymns.

In middle school I jumped at the chance to take lessons. I practiced both violin and organ daily. One of my fondest memories is playing Bach's Double Violin Concerto during a church service with my father, who also played violin. Music, especially church music, was an increasingly important part of my life.

Praeludium in E minor - Nikolaus Bruhns (1637-1718)

I studied the organ and the violin simultaneously in high school, but eventually, I decided to focus on the organ. Many people ask if it was the organ's complexity or its sheer volume of sound that drew me to the instrument (and the organ is certainly a noisy instrument!) What ultimately helped me decide, however, was the organ's essential role in church music.

The German organist and composer Nikolaus Bruhns was rumored to have played the violin while seated on the organ bench so that he could accompany himself with the organ pedals. There are hints of this technique in his Praeludium in E minor. Because of my training on the violin, I was able to attempt playing the organ and violin simultaneously like Bruhns might have done. I also began to realize that my violin training could serve me well in church music.

Master Tallis's Testament - Herbert Howells (1892-1983)

Having decided to study organ and church music seriously, I auditioned at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. At Oberlin, I practiced, studied and performed on a remarkable collection of organs. I also sang in a choir that specialized in early music. One semester, the choir director stood me next to a young woman, Anne Timberlake, who was a great singer and recorder player. I didn't know it at the time, but four years later she would become my wife.

The musical training and experiences I had at Oberlin were remarkably varied. I could be singing music by the 16th-century English composer Thomas Tallis one moment, and performing a 20th-century organ piece influenced by his music the next.

"All glory, laud and honor"

During my last two years at Oberlin I was the Assistant Organist & Choirmaster at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lakewood, Ohio. St. Peter's was hoping to develop a children's choir and wanted me to help establish the group. After establishing a choir of fifteen young singers and rehearsing for several months, the St. Peter's Choristers sang their first service on Palm Sunday, 2003. Working regularly with these young people was challenging and inspirational. It instilled in me a deep love for this important ministry.

Ave Maria - Franz Biebl (1906-2001)

While in graduate school at Indiana University, I continued to hone my organ skills. In the summers, I would work as a camp counselor and choir director at Lake Delaware Boys' Camp in the Catskill Mountains of New York. In that rustic setting, with an organ still pumped by hand, we worked to make beautiful music in daily worship services in the camp chapel. I will never forget singing Biebl's Ave Maria at one of our Sunday Evensongs, a performance that involved the youngest campers and the oldest counselors singing together in sweeping harmony.

Improvisations on a theme

After graduate school, I began work at Christ Church, the Episcopal cathedral in Indianapolis. I had come to feel a very real call to church music, and I was delighted to go to work. There were young choristers to be trained, Eucharists and Evensongs to be sung, and concerts to be given.

I find church music to be an incredibly rich field in which to work. The music that we sing and hear is a treasure which aids our prayer and worship in remarkable ways. Here at St. Paul's, I am thrilled to continue this ministry, one I find best summarized in the Royal School of Church Music's prayer for choristers:

Pictured: David Sinden at the St. Paul's organ. Photo by Jeanne LeFever on August 15.

Sing the Fauré Requiem

A Parish-Wide Invitation to Make Music

The St. Paul's Choirs extend an open invitation to anyone who would like to be a part of a performance of the Requiem by French composer Gabriel Fauré.

If you've never sung the Fauré Requiem, or you've sung it dozens of times, you are welcome to be a part of this special event. If you are interested in singing, but haven't sung with a choir before, this opportunity is for you. If you enjoy singing, but cannot commit to year-round rehearsals, this is for you. If you've been thinking about joining the St. Paul's Choirs, this is a great opportunity to take us for a "test drive."

The Requiem will be sung during the 11:15 a.m. Eucharist on Sunday, October 31. This beloved choral masterwork gains a new and deeper meaning when it is sung as part of a service of worship.

Rehearsals are Thursdays beginning September 30 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, October 30 from 10 a.m. to noon. Alternative rehearsal times are available for those who have a scheduling conflict on Thursdays.

For more information please contact David Sinden, Minister of Music, at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 545-5406.

Investing in Hope

by Jenny Bliley, St. Paul's Social Worker

Each month, St. Paul's Social Worker works with individuals in need in various ways, including counseling, referrals, assistance with social services agencies, and the food pantry. Through our transformational grants ministry, she is also able to provide financial assistance to some clients to help prevent them from becoming homeless. Below Jenny shares the story of a recent recipient.

I walked downstairs from my office and was greeted by a very tall, strong man who was on the verge of tears. He explained that he had lost his job the month before and was in need of assistance with his rent. He had never been homeless and was paralyzed with fear about this happening. Mr. G had been actively looking for work every day and had been walking all over the city applying for jobs. He went to a local public library every week where there was a volunteer who could help him on the computer.

All Mr. G wanted to do was work. I could tell that he was trying everything in his power to find a job. So, St. Paul's helped that first month with his rent. He was moved to tears and asked that I would pray with him and repeatedly asked me to trust him and believe in him because he was a good person and he was going to find work. Mr. G was holding onto a very thin line of hope and needed to know that someone else believed in him and trusted that he was working hard.

Over the next several months he continued his job search and we assisted him a couple more times. I also referred him to ACTS for assistance. As each month passed this very humble man became more and more depressed and struggled to hold onto that hope that he would find a job. I tried to encourage him and let him know that St. Paul's was there to support him. I did have to tell him that I would only be able to help him one more time financially because we could not become his sole means of financial support. He understood and left that day feeling very overwhelmed by his situation.

He called me the next morning and he had gotten a job!!! He was going to work for Walmart and started the next day. I was very proud of his diligence and it was a great outcome for Mr. G. Investing in his life and providing him with the support and hope that he needed was truly transformative for Mr. G.

"Life sends rain. Hope dances in the puddles until the sun comes out again." - Holley Gerth

Transformational Grants

St. Paul's budgets $58,000 for our transformational grants ministry, $7,500 of which is given to Area Congregations Together in Service, which also provides direct assistance to those in need and accepts referrals from St. Paul's.

• Grants given in July 2010: 6
• Amount of assistance provided to those six clients: $2385.23
• Types of Assistance: Rent (4) and Utilities (2)

The need for assistance has increased dramatically. The 2-1-1 call center for those seeking services has seen a 53% increase in call volume for services in the last year. Out of 20,000 calls, over half were for financial assistance.

Pictured: Parishioners Suzanne Spooner-Munch and Michelle Whitehurst-Cook at the Homeward Point-in-Time Count (a survey of those who are homeless with a service fair) at St. Paul’s on July 29, 2010. 

A Mid-day Oasis: Noonday Prayers & Communion

by The Rev. Roger Robillard, St. Paul's Priest-in-Residence
Monday Celebrant, 12:05 Service

The 12:05 service in St Paul's chapel provides a midday calm in the downtown sea of the weekday rush. This island of calm and spiritual refreshment helps to refocus our minds on the essential and eternal. This ongoing ministry welcomes business persons from the many surrounding offices both commercial and governmental. In the last few month we have had a number of refreshing changes with a major refurbishment of the space. In addition we have added an Icon, some prayer candles and some fresh greenery to provide a meditative atmosphere. Below, our usual celebrants tell me why the noonday service is important to them. For me, this ministry is a natural outgrowth of my availability to the community in thanksgiving for ongoing ministry.

Gene Moritz, who celebrates most Tuesdays, said: "I think that this is an important ministry to the downtown community and visitors. As a retired priest, it is a privilege for me to be able to celebrate the Holy Eucharist on a regular basis."

Our Wednesday service includes special prayers for healing. Kate Jenkins, who celebrates on that day, said, "It provides a moment of silence and an opportunity to ground ourselves in God in the middle of the day."

Fletcher Lowe has introduced a Celtic service as part of the Thursday celebration. He said, "It is a witness to the downtown community that all those who work and live downtown are offered in prayer, and I am a Celtic Christian at heart and having the opportunity to express that on Thursday liturgically is a grace-filled moment for me."

Our Rector, Wallace Adams-Riley, occasional celebrant, said, "It helps me to remember not to be swept up by the busy-ness of a day, and allows me to choose to live consciously. It also helps me to remember the presence of God in the midst of the workday."

Ben Campbell rounds out the week with Friday celebrations. He says it is meaningful that each day of the week prayers are offered in the heart of the city.

If you are downtown at midday please join us and tell your friends that they are always welcome.

Service of Prayer for Peace

On Friday, September 10, our noonday prayer service will take place in the church as our Rector and The Rev. Ben Campbell lead a service to remember 9/11/2001 and pray for peace.

In Church, at the Office & Over Lunch

by Joshua Trautmann, CPE Student, VCU/MCV

For the four of us in the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University (MCV), this summer has been one filled with excitement, learning, long days, and many memories. The experience changed us all, and St. Paul's has been instrumental in this process. As we look back over the past ten weeks, we can see the ways in which our ministries came together and ways we were ministered to by this community. For all of these connections, we are extremely and forever blessed.

Thursdays became especially important to our class. We were afforded the opportunity to work with the Thursday mission ministry that serves lunch to the Emmaus guests. We could talk with and get to know the guests. As we were spending time in the hospital learning to minister to the needs of the patients and staff, this opportunity showed us how those skills were also appropriate in ministry to the marginalized of our city. The interaction with the guests became formative to our pastoral identities.

Meeting with parishioners several times over the summer was another unique aspect of our time with St. Paul's. Some of these meetings took place at their workplace where we could see how faith and profession meet. These meetings also informed our pastoral identity in that they modeled one way we could, in our own future ministries, meet with parishioners in places few ministers dare to tread.

Each of us also had two opportunities to participate in the daily worship of the congregation through preaching at the 12:05 service. In one situation, the student even served the Eucharist. We enjoyed our time preaching and the wonderful ways we were able to interact with the church staff and clergy as the interactions provided invaluable ministry to all of us!

How could we ever thank you enough for these learning and formative opportunities and the other help and care you gave to us this summer? We are fortunate to learn in this expanded classroom setting, an experience only a precious few CPE students have as of now, and for this we sincerely and truly thank all of you! St. Paul's has become for us a shining example of what "church" is really all about. Special thanks to The Rev. Fletcher Lowe for your example and to Cindy Wofford and the church for the reception on our last Sunday here, August 8.

Pictured (left to right): Herbert Jones, Katie Boykin, Wendi Steinberg, Sheryl Johnson, and Joshua Trautmann on a segway tour of Richmond, August 11 

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