MASS SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK OF EPIPHANY I (January 13, 2012)
14, Monday – Feria
15, Tuesday – Feria
16, Wednesday – William Laud, Bishop & Martyr
17, Thursday – St Anthony of Egypt (Pray for Somalia)
18, Friday – Feria
+ All Saints’ Men’s Group will meet January 15, 7:00 a.m. in the undercroft.
+ William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury 1633-1645, one of the most violent periods in the English Church and it culminated in the English Civil War. The Archbishop made enemies chiefly in three ways. (1) He punished those who attacked the Church, both those who vandalized and those who confined themselves to verbal abuse. (2) He upheld various customs in public worship (such as the wearing of the surplice) that were harmless in themselves, but which aroused the suspicion and fury of those who feared a return to power of Roman Catholicism. (3) He sought the financial independence of the clergy, so that a preacher was not dependent on what support the local squire was pleased to give him. An example is the surplice controversy. You may have encountered Christians who are opposed to celebrating Christmas on the grounds that (a) the Bible nowhere commands us to celebrate Christmas, and does not mention the 25th of December; and (b) the pagans had a festival in December at which they built fires and feasted and exchanged gifts, from which it follows that those who celebrate Christmas are participating in pagan rites. Of course no such thing follows, but such is Puritan logic. Similarly, in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s, there were Christians in England who objected to the garment called the surplice. When participating in the services of Morning and Evening Prayer in Church, clergy, including choir members, normally wore a cassock (a black, floor-length, fairly tight-fitting garment) covered by a surplice (a white and fairly loose garment with loose sleeves). The Puritans objected to the surplice (a) as not mentioned in the Bible, and (b) as something that the Roman Catholics had worn before the Reformation, which made it one of the props of idolatrous worship, and marked anyone who wore it as an idolater. Archbishop Laud regarded the custom as seemly and fitting St. Paul’s admonition “Let all things be done decently and in order.” The Puritans thought differently, and violently interrupted services at which the surplice was worn. Under English Law, it was part of Laud’s office as Archbishop to maintain order and to punish offences against the peace of the Church. He made it his practice to proceed not only against poor and obscure offenders, but also, perhaps especially, against rich and powerful ones. In 1640 as the English Civil War was on, Laud was arrested on a charge of high treason. He was kept in the Tower for four years, and tried in 1644, at the age of seventy-one. He was found guilty, not because there was any evidence of his guilt, but because the House of Commons was determined that he should die. On the scaffold he prayed: “The Lord receive my soul, and have mercy on me, and bless this kingdom with peace and charity, that there may not be this effusion of Christian blood amongst them.”
+ Our Winter Agape & Christian Education will meet next Wednesday, January 16 at 5:45 p.m. We have regular classes for the nursery and the children and youngsters, as well as adult education.
John Murphy is teaching a class on the sacramental imagination that began January 9 and will run through February 6:
SACRAMENTAL IMAGINATION: THE LITERATURE OF EPIPHANY
For the season of Epiphany, the season of The Word made flesh, our Wednesday School class will read some stories and poems in which God’s justice and grace are manifest – shown forth and made incarnate in the images of objects and events in our “ordinary” lives, which are charged in extraordinary ways with the sacred sense of Our Savior Jesus Christ. Though you may have missed a class here and there, they are all individually beneficial and you are encouraged to attend.
Our schedule of readings is as follows below:
For Wednesday, January 9:
The Prologue to The Gospel of John
Excerpts from “A Song to David” by Christopher Smart
Excerpts from “Jubilate Agno” by Christopher Smart
For Wednesday, January 16:
“God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
“Pied Beauty” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
“As Kingfishers Catch Fire” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
“That Nature is A Hereclitean Fire and Of The Comfort of The Resurrection” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
For Wednesday, January 23:
“The Hammer of God” by G. K. Chesterton
For Wednesday, January 30:
“Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor
For Wednesday, February 6:
“Parker’s Back” by Flannery O’Connor
The literature for the class is in the undercroft.
+ Monday Morning Bible Study – A new thirteen week study of the Old Testament prophet Daniel has begun meeting in the undercroft. The class is using the Precept Ministry resource “God’s Blueprint for Bible Prophecy: Daniel.” This class is not “for women only” and all who are able are welcome and encouraged to attend. For further information about obtaining the textbook or any other questions, please contact Priscilla King, kingplk@gmail.com, 540-456-6458.
+ All Saints parishioner may obtain a Mass card from the Church office. A Mass card is a greeting card given to someone to inform him or her that a deceased loved one or friend was remembered and prayed for at a weekly Mass. It is a specifically Christian way to express one’s love. Call Julie McDermott at the Church office (434-979-2842) and she will help you fill out the form. The celebrant will sign the card and we will mail it from the Church to the family of the loved one.
+ Daily Mass is celebrated at 12:15 p.m. You and your family members are all remembered by name at the Altar of God every week. Please take an All Saints parish prayer list home with you & remember your fellow parishioners in your prayers!