photo by Robin Croft, St. Michael’s Victory over the Devil, sculpture by Jacob Epstein, on the outside of the new Coventry Cathedral
Pax MICHAELMAS 2012
photo by sean birch
photo by randy murray, communications officer, anglican diocese of new westminster
The Beauty Which Perfects | Fr. Mark Greenaway-Robbins
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iscovering the beauty of holiness in our lives and neighbourhood, by leading a Christ-centred sacramental life rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.” This edition of PAX invites its contributors and readers to reflect on the first half of this vision statement of St. James’. “To experience the beauty of holiness is to be in relationship with the source of all beauty and holiness, the very life of the Holy Trinity… this is a beauty which perfects, it is the work of grace”— this interpretation of our vision statement is given in the column Ask Bear. So here follows some of the ways in which I have discovered the beauty of holiness with the people of St. James’. (Names and details have been modified to protect the identity of individuals.) At the giving of Holy Communion during Sunday High Mass, I make my way along the altar rail. A mother, with her five-year-old daughter, reverently receives a blessing—they are being prepared for baptism—their faces are full of awe and wonder. Next to them, I see bounding towards the altar rail a threeyear-old parishioner. She dances her way forward with joy to receive the Sacrament. Kneeling, she, having been baptized, gracefully and expectantly thrusts her hands forward to receive the Bread of Life. Her exuberance, like the wonder of those beside her, speaks of a participation in the Life of the Trinity. In my neighbourhood, which happens to be that of the Church, my family and I have come to know many of our neighbours, by face and by name. Some, whom I meet regularly with our hounds Bear and Dido, live with severe mental health conditions. I’m aware of George whom I greet a few times each week. After four years, for the first time, he steals a glance into my eyes and returns my greeting. For me, this moment was overwhelming. For whatever reason, he was in a place to reciprocate and chose to do so. It was a moment of beauty and poignancy. I experience on the streets around the Rectory where I live and work an openness of spirit, generosity
and readiness to engage among many of my fellow neighbours which is often disarming, formative and frequently grace-filled. Oftentimes it’s somehow in the way we look at each other: a knowing, a recognition of mutual respect and affection, and not infrequently among the most unlikely characters, among whom I include myself. Then there are those certain conversations which one is so privileged to experience as a priest and pastor. When in a pastoral conversation, I am invited alongside parishioners, or visitors, who want to share the height, depth and breadth of the mystery of their life and faith journey. At such times I feel a kinship with Moses at the burning bush. I know I’m on holy ground, for it is the very ground of another’s life in all its wonder and woundedness. Here, barefoot as it were, I’m invited to gaze, with them, upon the fire of holiness—and by that light, to seek insight and direction. As I reflect upon my own life, time and time again I can see the mystery of grace at work. Often missed in the moment, it is the perspective afforded by time which helps me to recognize Divine providence at work in decisions I made and even what seemed to have been errors of judgment and recollection. I suppose it becomes easier to see the beauty of holiness as we embrace our belovedness in the One who is the source of holiness and beauty. Space does not permit me to ruminate on each Nuptial Mass when the husband and wife seem like Adam and Eve restored on the threshold of paradise as they walk from the chancel step to the altar rail. Here is beauty regained. Or of giving extreme unction, when at the bedside of the dying the last movement of her mortal body is to make the sign of the cross—after so many years of Christian discipleship—a simple action of eternal significance. O God, grant us the grace to behold the beauty which perfects.
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The Sound of Sanctity | Christine Hatfull
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the Panama Canal and arrived at the Ballantyne Pier in November of 1937. It was stipulated that, once installed, the bells could not be rung until the remaining debt on the building was paid off. Fortunately the bills were paid and the bells were installed in time for a 1937 Christmas Eve ringing. Fr. Harker believed that it would be difficult to find adequate bell-ringers on these “remote” shores, so he had the eight bells made into an instrument called a chime. The 42-hundredweight ring of eight is set into an iron framework box, each bell equipped with a clapper attached to a wire cable which in turn runs down a rope and pulley system to the console in the corridor behind the high altar. It has a diatonic scale from C to C with inner tuning that allows for fully harmonized music. Our console specialists, Lesley and David Evans, have written that “although this ring of bells cannot be ‘rung’ in the true sense (that is by circle ringing), they can be played by a carilloneur, by a roll mechanism or by playing the eight white notes on the ‘piano’ keyboard.” The sound I hear daily is of the largest bell, the covering C, the tenor, weighing over 2,000 kg and with a diameter of 60 ½ inches. It has an extra clapper attached to a rope that leads down to the church where it is rung for Angelus, Sanctus and tolled for the death and last departure of parishioners (possibly the last church in Vancouver to do so). Its inscription reads SOUND SOUND THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL TO THE PRAISE OF GOD AND TO THE HONOUR OF ALL WHOSE WORDS AND DEEDS PROCLAIMED IT IN THESE PARTS 1881-1936. It offers the sound of sanctity to this neighbourhood and gives me solace amidst the frequent chaos. Editor’s note: The console referred to above has recently been removed for restoration and repair—at substantial cost, which is being partially borne by one anonymous donor, with the hope that others will offer help. The bells and clappers in the tower are also being refurbished—obviously in situ.
photo by christine hatfull
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y neighbourhood is noisy, as it is located on a busy artery in downtown Vancouver with its almost constant traffic, rants, fights, sirens and shrieking gulls. Still, my home is comfortable and attractive and my neighbours are simply engaged in ordinary living. But there is one notable sound that lingers purposefully and contemplatively, and it is made by the bell in the tower of St. James’ Anglican Church at Gore Avenue and East Cordova Street. Three times daily I have the opportunity to pause and listen with an open heart. I am transfixed in the moment as the traffic sounds fall away and the dysfunction ceases momentarily. Of course the scene soon returns to ‘normal,’ but there is always another ringing promised, another respite. The bells were given to the church by the Reverend Fr. Robert Grange Harker, Fifth Rector of St. James’ from 1920-1921, twelve years after his return to England. He was instrumental in the long-distance planning, financing, designing and building of the third church of St. James’ (with the determined assistance of the indomitable Reverend Canon Fr. Wilberforce Cooper who managed and drove the project on site). By securing both the services of talented architect Adrian Gilbert Scott, and the matching funds necessary for the construction of the building, their vision was realized by 1935 although it would take another ten years to complete the work fully. Fr. Harker’s gift of the bells was meant to be anonymous, but it was a poorly kept secret. He was said to be delighted with the inscription written by Fr. Whitehead and concealed on the small treble bell, very much like the medieval custom of punning inscriptions. It reads: GOD BLESS THE MUSIC OF THESE BELLS AND TREBLY BLESS THE HARKER. Bells have been associated with religious rituals since the early Middle Ages in Northern Europe where the earliest bell-founders were probably monks. Foundries have since sprung up wherever the founders have lived, and one of the oldest surviving sites is Taylor’s of Loughborough in Leicestershire, England. Here the bells of St. James’ were cast in 1936, shipped through
Holy Sweeping in the Rivendell Dining Room | Jane Turner When my eyes are peeled for beauty, I see it everywhere: in the soft gray wings of the moth nestled in the brown bamboo boards of the floor in the flakes of pastry and chocolate crumbs on the deep dark colours of the table cloth in the weary feet, the stumbling feet the weeping feet, the resting and restive feet all sinking quietly into Your deepening and brooding silence all caught up as one in Your holy embrace all leaning into tentative trials of surrender to Your tender entreaties of love. With each sweep I raise our hearts to You on the wings of Hildegard’s song: O sweet fire of the Paraclete enkindle us, anoint us heal us, enfold us as we praise Your name— Sound of all praises and Source of all beauty, Alleluia. July 12th, 2012
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Allan Duncan
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he highest elected office in the Parish of St. James’ is that of People’s Warden, a position held for the past six years by distinguished literary historian, essayist, and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Paul Stanwood. Paul has been a member of St. James’ since moving to Vancouver with his wife Dorothy, from Boston, Massachusetts, in 1965.
Paul’s studies focused on the literature, letters, and theology of the golden age of Anglicanism in England. They had met and been married at the renowned Anglo-Catholic Church of the Advent in Beacon Hill, having met at coffee hour after High Mass. Dorothy was a cradle Anglican from Quebec, while Paul had grown
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up in Iowa, influenced largely by a Christian Scientist mother. From his earliest days, Paul aspired to be a teacher. Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1955-1961) led to a degree and post-graduate work in English Language and Literature. During this time he was also baptized and confirmed in the Anglican faith at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor. Paul’s studies focused on the literature, letters and theology of the golden age of Anglicanism in England. He believes his research and teaching of this seventeenth-century scholarly era has been informed by his faith, and in a sense has been a calling for him. Paul has taught at six universities including Cambridge, edited nine books and authored over 100 articles, reviews and critical studies. He has recently returned from co-chairing an international conference in Montreal sponsored by the McGill Centre for Research on Religion—“Paul’s Cross and the Culture of Persuasion in England 1520-1640.”
photo by S. Stanwood
A Portrait of St. James’ Warden, Paul Stanwood
Beyond his academic life, Paul, who is both a father and a grandfather, has spent 25 years in the Scouting movement, serving as Assistant Provincial Commissioner for B.C. and Yukon and re-writing the national handbook for Venturers. He also belongs to the Liberal Party of Canada, having been a delegate at both the Dion and Ignatieff leadership conventions; his lifelong avocation is music, especially opera and more especially Mozart, Wagner, and Strauss. Here at St. James’, Paul’s contribution to the life of the Parish has been impressive. He served as Rector’s Warden for two years in the 1970s, was a delegate to Diocesan Synod six times, served two terms on Diocesan Council and was a delegate to Provincial Synod and an alternate to National Synod. As well Paul worked in the Communication Unit at the Synod Office, acting as an assistant editor of Topic with Lyndon Grove. He was a member of the Canonical Committee that named Fr. Mark as the eleventh Rector of the Parish and has served as People’s Warden since 2007. Paul oversees the Readers’ Guild, is a member of the Editorial Panel of PAX, and is an acolyte and server at the altar. He belongs to the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament and is an associate of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For Paul, both the Anglican Church and St. James’ Parish offer elements which are essential and unique to Christianity and to our local Diocese. Anglicanism is in a sense both reformed and yet unreformed: still sacramental, intertwined with the Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions through apostolic succession and the orders of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, yet accommodating, open to intellectual growth and discussion, often providing an umbrella for reasoned enquiry. St. James’ itself pre-dates the City of Vancouver and it is therefore hard for Paul to imagine the Parish somehow disappearing, not being here to offer this particular style of dedicated sacramental life.
In his years as Warden, he has witnessed great changes in the face and presence of the parish. “We have changed liturgically and the congregation is much younger, more cheerful and friendly.” Paul detects a palpable concern for one another, a growing commitment to pastoral care, an enriching of the fabric of interrelationships that comprise who we are. Referring to our Vision Statement, Paul feels that all we see and do is holy and there is beauty in that holiness—the transcendent love of Christ which is total and empowering. Everyone that we meet and know can remind us and make us grateful for this Incarnate love of God. Showing that gratitude is a call to action.
all we see and do is holy and there is beauty in that holiness Rigorous, reasoned intellectuality, and traditional sacramental theology are beautifully intertwined in the life and work of Paul Stanwood. The hallmark and uniqueness of his spirituality is humility. He at once stands tall and yet is bowed. In 1958, having cycled from Cambridge to the chapel church at Little Gidding he found a small plaque which offers the following extract from T.S. Eliot’s poem of the same name: .... You are not here to verify, Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity Or carry report. You are here to kneel Where prayer has been valid.... Paul feels that Eliot’s statement is true of this space we call St. James’. He understands our place in the long line of history. And he is grateful.
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A Strange Beauty | Mother Jessica Schaap
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hat is the beauty that we may discover in our lives and neighbourhood? How does our participation in the life and worship of St. James’ help us in this
discovery? The beauty that we hope to discover is the beauty of God. The beauty that we discover is not what the dominant society labels beautiful. It is a strange beauty. Beauty is a fundamental attribute of God: an aspect of God’s nature just as significant as God’s goodness and God’s truth. Yet many of us feel awkward or lacking the ability to talk of or grasp God’s beauty, myself included. Why is this? One way to answer is to highlight the paradox about beauty. In the entry on “beauty” in the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, the contributor writes, “So beauty is and is not something aesthetic.” To explore this paradox, let me use High Mass at St. James’ as an example. Through our worship, with its sensual richness, music, its ordering, and its use of fine materials and well-crafted things, we express our commitment to aesthetic beauty. By aesthetic beauty, I refer to those things in whose appearance most of us take pleasure. This is most often how parishioners and visitors speak of the beauty discovered at St. James.’ This commitment to aesthetic beauty can have great value and I have witnessed how many of you can and do express this commitment in your lives and neighbourhood. The things I find particularly moving about the commitment to aesthetic beauty in worship at St. James’ are these: it is regularly and publicly offered for free to anyone who wishes to take part; it represents a sacrifice of significant time in terms of its preparation and offering; it is not owned or directed by any one individual—it is corporately owned and offered; it is not a static, permanent tableau, as in a museum, but is a dynamic, repeated action, more like a dance; it values craft and durability over cheapness and disposability; it honours the body through the five senses. All of this is to say that underlying St. James’ commitment to beauty is a core belief that aesthetic beauty requires something 6 | PAX: MICHAELMAS 2012
more to be truly beautiful. It requires an ethic. It requires transcendence. We would say it requires holiness. This is the beauty that is not aesthetic.
Aesthetic beauty requires something more to be truly beautiful. It requires an ethic. It requires transcendence. So holiness has two aspects: the ethical and the transcendent. In the Hebrew Bible, when the psalmist sings of the “beauty of holiness,” holiness refers to the apartness and the transcendence of God—but it also refers to the people who walk in the ways of God, who keep God’s commandments. Beautiful people are holy people. Holy people are people who follow in God’s ways. And the central commandment of God’s way is to love God and to love neighbour. This is an ethical command, and yet as people who worship God come to know, this command is only fulfilled by the transcendent grace of God. The commandment to love God and to love neighbour is also a relational commandment. Thus, beauty, in its participation in holiness, is fundamentally relational. True beauty connects people to themselves, to others, and to God in right relationship.
True beauty connects people to themselves, to others, and to God in right relationship. The apprehension of the close relationship between the aesthetic and the ethical—or beauty and justice—is, I believe, one of the hot coals that fires the Anglo-Catholic tradition. The aesthetic beauty of worship is not meant to paper over the cracks and ugliness we perceive in our lives and neighbourhood; it’s not meant to pretend they are not there, to hide them, or be ashamed or repulsed. The commitment to aesthetic beauty is meant to be an expression of ethical and relational commitment, an honouring of the other: God and the neighbour.
photo by elisha walker
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photo by sean birch
photo by sean birch
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photo by sean birch
photo by sean birch
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photo by tracy russell
Leaving Alexandria | Tim Firth
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e like to read about others, their successes and failures, their difficulties and demons. In identifying to some degree with another’s story, we may glimpse the universal in at least some of their particulars. Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and author of over two dozen books, has bravely and with an unflinchingly critical and self-critical eye illuminated and revealed much of both faith and doubt in his own— and perhaps our common—experience. In 1948, at the age of fourteen, he left his hometown of Alexandria in Scotland to be educated in England for the priesthood. Early on, a theme emerges with his comment that he lacked the required qualities and characteristics to perform the roles for which he was being prepared. Sorrow at not being able to become what he imagined he had been called to be, gave way to a deep sense of disappointment. He had disappointed God and he had disappointed himself. As a child, he had spent long hours with his mother in the cinema where the thrillers and Westerns encouraged an identification with the solitary stranger hero. Holloway repeatedly reflects on the fate of these who enthralled him so: they saved others but themselves they could not save. Nor could they experience contentment or fulfillment. In his training and experience it wasn’t the actual church that appealed to him but rather “what it pointed towards. It was a place that suggested elsewhere.” (43) Throughout his life he longed for the presence of God but he found, to his once again considerable disappointment, only absence. Just as in the movies, the search for that home, that good place (that place of presence), eludes the hero who must disappear discontentedly over the horizon. It was in the Anglo-Catholic tradition that his preparation and ministry experience as a priest in the Glasgow slums and elsewhere, as well as his role of bishop, were all shaped and lived. Lovingly and movingly he writes 10 | PAX: MICHAELMAS 2012
of living within the passage and progression of the Church’s Year and of the important work undertaken in his parishes. However, the church as institution came to assume for him a menacing and destructive form. A series of faith crises merged with the knowledge that, as it has been said, the institution—the Church—was getting in the way of God. Jesus’ saying that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath “fixes the status of all institutional roles as useful but never absolute.” (144) Institutions tend to move from a period of an initial burning passion or zeal and uncertainty towards a self-satisfied contentment and rigidity. All truth has been revealed and the institution acts as gatekeeper, judge and jury. Under such conditions, he writes, “doubt, like pity, erodes certainty.” (186) The era of his memoir coincides with many profound and divisive developments in world and religious affairs: the AIDS crisis, ordination of women, blessing of same sex partnerships, and so on. Holloway was in the thick of the fray in each case, and one cannot help but be moved and enlightened by his accounts and analysis. This is, as the title suggests and the story reveals, a book of leavings. In spite of all the intense activity, the light and the darkness, the author “had the psychology of a visitor not a settler.” (255) While this, and his parting from the Church, may occasion sadness on our part, we do perhaps derive some real benefit from the particularly acute observations of one so situated. Richard Holloway Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt Edinburgh: Canongate, 2012 Editor’s note: Tim Firth welcomes suggestions from parishioners about books to review.
ASK ! BEAR There is an asceticism which is determined by the enemy and his disciples practice it. So how are we to distinguish between the divine and royal asceticism and the demonic tyranny? Clearly through its quality of balance. Always use a single rule of fasting. Do not fast four or five days and break it the following day with any amount of food. In truth, lack of proportion always corrupts. While you are young and healthy, fast, for old age with its weakness will come. As long as you can, lay up treasure, so that when you cannot, you will be at peace. — Amma Syncletica
4th Century AD, Egypt
Dear Bear, Please would you help me understand the meaning of the first half of our Parish vision statement? (“Discovering the beauty of holiness in our lives and neighbourhood…”) — Eleanor Beckett Dear Eleanor, Discovering: reminds us that being a Christian is a way of life. We are on a journey of discovery. Sacramentally speaking, this journey begins with baptism through which we are incorporated into the body and risen life of Christ. From the baptismal font, we are like the disciples at the empty tomb, for we have embarked upon the adventure of faith. The beauty of holiness: beauty and holiness are synonymous with God. I overheard a visitor who recently remarked to my master that his essential impression of St. James’ was an experience of the “beauty of holiness.” He described this beauty as “perfecting.” That is to say, to experience the beauty of holiness is to be in relationship with the source of all beauty and holiness, the very life of the Holy Trinity. So every Liturgy at St. James’ is profoundly evangelical—that is to say, invitational. The beauty of holiness is an invitation to grow into the full stature of Christ—this is a beauty which perfects; it is the work of grace. In our lives and neighbourhood: whatever our age and stage in life, whatever our living circumstances, by faith we are called to recognize the beauty of God present in our lives, our circumstances, and those whom we meet. The Holy Spirit enthralls our hearts and minds with the beauty of our baptismal dignity. — Bear Bear is the first resident canine at St. James’ Rectory. As a member of the Greenaway-Robbins and parish family, he is privy to many and varied meetings, conversations, and gatherings. Though usually silent, in this column he offers his perspective on parish life.
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Returning to the Source | Mary Brown
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when she asked if she had omitted anyone, one hand went up. “Oh welcome X, double welcome, forgive me.” A ‘suit’ read the lesson. Afterwards I had the opportunity to ask him if he was one of the lawyers, who we’d been told this family had produced. He told me he was a truck driver. What a mark of respect that he had given to the family. At the reception May’s long-time assistant, Cathy, told me that she recognized the many young people, as they used to come by the Society after school. It struck me that from May’s example of loving our neighbour had come this return to the source, of these people who had been loved and had worked in our neighbourhood over many years. For me it was a privilege to have shared this time with them.
photo by sean birch
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was asked to help with the reception after a Requiem Mass for Judy Gulbranson at St. James’ a few weeks ago. I thought that the name sounded familiar, and then realized that this was the family who had been an early part of May Gutteridge’s ministry in what was to become the St. James’ Community Service Society. The matriarch taught weaving in the workshop, and helped in the store. Her daughters Judy and Lorena began working for the Society as they grew older. Judy expressed a wish to be buried from St. James’, that her burial service should be at St. James’, when she realized that her life was coming to an end. At the service the congregation was made up of mostly First Nations people, and I was struck again by how respectful and caring they are to each other. A family friend introduced family members, and
photo by sean birch
Dollars & $ense | Angela Van Luven
photo: tracy russell
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ow can one use the word “money” and “beauty” in the same sentence? Not quite in the same sentence, but in the same paragraph/article—I believe I can. Money, or the love or desire for lots of it, is the root of all evil (loosely translated from 1 Timothy 6), and yet Jesus understood its necessity in the world and that we should be good stewards of it as much as for other parts of God’s creation. Beauty to me is something that inspires the senses and brings out the holiness in His works, enriching our lives and neighbourhood. For example, music inspires the aural sense and can bring tears to the eyes; the wonderful liturgy performed daily here at St. James’ (but particularly the High Mass on Sundays and Feast Days) inspires the visual sense as well as the inner spiritual sense. The awesome buildings of St. James’, including the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, Lady Chapel, and Columbarium, also are beautiful in my eyes. I feel the incense offered up in prayer to God inspires the sense of smell in a wonderful and
mystical way. To touch the holy water in the stoup at the entrance of the church, to feel the wafer (being the body of Christ) in the palm of my hand and to touch the cup (the blood) to my lips, and to taste them both—I classify all this as being part of the beauty of holiness. Finally, there is beauty in our neighbours— those also kneeling with us at the altar rail. Here we are one with each other—each broken in his or her own way, yet whole in Christ. How utterly beautiful is that! Which brings me back to money. If we are to be good stewards of these resources, then we owe to Him and ourselves the obligation of spending that treasure in discovering the beauty of holiness in our lives and neighbourhood. This is what we try to do— from the upkeep of the buildings, to sponsoring a wonderful music ministry, to ensuring the vestments are in great shape and there are lovely flowers on the altar—in fact, discovering the beauty of holiness is part of everything we do and stand for here at St. James’. PAX: MICHAELMAS 2012 | 13
photo by chris loh and elisha walker
Review of Mercyland Album | Tim Firth
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ashville musician and producer Phil Madeira found himself wondering: “Why are the voices of religion so mean? Why is there no positive dialogue? What if it just comes down to ‘God is love’?” From initially setting out to write a song about outcasts, this project emerged. The songs are mostly recent compositions and cowritten by Madeira, and were recorded for this release. Once American musical legend Emmylou Harris agreed to take part, he said, everyone wanted to be on the record. The Civil Wars, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Shawn Mullins, and John Scofield are among those who contributed tracks. You won’t find twang turned up to ten, or one-dimensional cardboard Christianity here. Elements of blues, gospel, and folk 14 | PAX: MICHAELMAS 2012
may also be heard alongside country. This music will appeal to those who think lyrics matter, but there are one or two moments when some listeners may have to stretch out a little and relax into allowing voices to speak in authentic ways, even if with words we might not all choose. There are some nice grooves and several very poignant moments. This album is satisfying, melodic, and toe-tapping— nothing strident or in-your-face. In light of the recent debate on religion in the modern world, especially in the United States, it is a case of sunlight pouring through the cracks. Mercyland: Hymns For The Rest of Us, Mercyland Records, 2012. Available from download sites; search by Phil Madeira, or the album title.
To St. Michael in Time of Peace | G. K. Chesterton (1929) Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning, Michael of the Army of the Lord, Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael, Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael, Under the fullness of the white robes falling, Gird us with the secret of the sword. When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven, Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky, Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest, Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High: Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn: Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return. Down through the universe the vast night falling (Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!) Far down the universe the deep calms calling (Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!) Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness, In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and the fretfulness In the huge holy sempiternal silence In the beginning was the Word. When from the deeps of dying God astounded Angels and devils who do all but die Seeing Him fallen where thou couldst not follow, Seeing Him mounted where thou couldst not fly,
Hand on the hilt, thou hast halted all thy legions Waiting the Tetelestai and the acclaim, Swords that salute Him dead and everlasting God beyond God and greater than His Name. Round us and over us the cold thoughts creeping (Michael, Michael: Michael of the battle-cry!) Round us and under us the thronged world sleeping (Michael, Michael: Michael of the Charge!) Guard us the Word; the trysting and the trusting Edge upon the honour and the blade unrusting Fine as the hair and tauter than the harpstring Ready as when it rang upon the targe. He that giveth peace unto us; not as the world giveth: He that giveth law unto us; not as the scribes: Shall he be softened for the softening of the cities Patient in usury; delicate in bribes? They that come to quiet us, saying the sword is broken, Break man with famine, fetter them with gold, Sell them as sheep; and He shall know the selling For He was more than murdered. He was sold. Michael, Michael: Michael of the Mustering, Michael of the marching on the mountains of the Lord, Marshal the world and purge of rot and riot Rule through the world till all the world be quiet: Only establish when the world is broken What is unbroken is the word.
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Did You Know? Parish Life at St. James’ IN THANKSGIVING On September 14, the Feast of Holy Cross, Father Mark GreenawayRobbins celebrated the beginning of his seventh year as our Rector. We are grateful to him for his leadership, and offer our joyful prayers for him and his family for their continued prosperity in the life of St. James’. HOLY MATRIMONY We offer our congratulations to two couples who were married at St. James’ recently. Rachel Busby and Wendelin Jordan were married on August 4, and Amelia Payne and Sean Birch were married on September 28. Congratulations and blessings upon your marriages! MAY THEY REST IN PEACE We give thanks for the lives of Betty Tickell and Shaunnie Rebecca Payne, whose Requiems were celebrated at St. James’ on September 22 and September 30, respectively. May all the faithful departed rest in peace and rise in glory. VISIT FROM MTR. EMILIE SMITH On July 29 and August 2, Mother Emilie Smith visited St. James’ and spoke about the transitions at Peace House, a theology of genocide that she is exploring and writing about, the impact of Canadian mining ventures on Guatemala, and about her work as co-president of the International Christian Network in Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America. She brought with her many products for sale from the Guatemalan women’s cooperatives
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and wonderful pictures and stories from her time there. We wish her continued happiness in her work and in her relationships with the people of Latin America. CALL FOR VIDEO RECORDING ASSISTANCE How wonderful it is to have video recordings of our Sunday sermons on the St. James’ website! In order to continue offering them, we need a few volunteers to assist with doing the recordings at Low Mass on Sundays. It’s very simple, and all training is provided (most of it is simply where to set up the camera). If you can offer your help, please contact Mother Jessica at assistant@ stjames.bc.ca. If we have a roster of people, then the job can be shared and we will always have someone available. A NEW SEASON OF CHRISTIAN FORMATION This fall, our Education and Formation sessions, which take place at 9:30 am on Sunday in the Bishops’ Room, offered a four-part series on a selection of the Church Fathers and Mothers. Presentations were given on St. Irenaeus, the Desert Fathers and Mothers, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Augustine of Hippo. The series continues in October with presentations on prayer in the three great faith traditions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity; and in November there will be sessions on mystic literature. In Advent, plans are being made for a very special series on music, liturgy, and prophecy.
LITURGY ACADEMY St. James’ offered a Liturgy Academy for children ages 4 to 12. It began on September 7, and is a six-week program to deepen children’s understanding of the Mass. HARVEST THANKSGIVING This year the Feast of Dedication falls on October 7th—the Sunday upon which we would normally celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving. Therefore the readings from the Bible at Mass were those of the Feast of Dedication, but we also celebrated Harvest Thanksgiving by bringing donations of non-perishable food which will be redistributed to our local community through various organizations. In gratitude to God for our many blessings, we have added to our offering of bread and wine those things that will help extend God’s love and care to those around us. UPDATE ON THE ARCHDEACON JOHN DAVID RETTER MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP St. James’ established a bursary at the Vancouver School of Theology to honour the late Fr. David Retter, who served first as Assistant Priest and then as Rector of St. James’, from 1977 to 2004. The bursary is used to help First Nations students in the Native Ministries Program at VST who are enrolled in the Master of Divinity program with the intention of seeking Ordination. Amelia McComber was the recipient for the 2011-2012 Academic year. For more information, contact VST at 604-8226315, or by email: agata@vst.edu.
photo: tracy russell
photo: tracy russell
Special Music at the Annual Church Picnic, July 22, 2012. Chloe, Mercy, Marlaina, Maya, Elisha photo: elaine jan
photo: elaine jan
Marriage of Rachel Busby and Wendelin Jordan, August 4, 2012.
photo: sean birch
August 27, 2012.
St. James’ Day, July 22, 2012. Blessing of New Members Louisa, August 27, 2012.
photo: sean birch
photo: elaine jan
Mother Emilie Smith’s visit, July 29, 2012. Mother Emilie and Christine Hatfull
photo: sean birch
Baby Shower for A.J. Bustin, September 23, 2012. Mavis, Alice, Mercy, Maya, Chloe, A.J.
Annual Church Picnic, July 22, 2012. Roberto Du Bruc, Bob Gauthier, Helen Tataren, Elizabeth Brandson
303 East Cordova Street, Vancouver, BC, v6a 1l4 Telephone: 604 685 2532 Fax: 604 685 7605 Email: office@stjames.bc.ca
www.stjames.bc.ca our vision: Discovering the beauty of holiness in our lives and neighbourhood, by living a Christ-centred sacramental life rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.
PAX is free, but voluntary subscriptions of $10/year are welcome. PAX aims to be financially self-sustaining and therefore donations to support this ministry are greatly appreciated, and may be offered through your envelope (clearly marked PAX), mailed to the church office, or submitted on the church website with a credit card. The material printed in PAX is produced by members and friends of St. James’ Church in Vancouver, Canada. A theme-based call for submissions is issued two to six weeks prior to each edition in the Sunday church bulletins. All submissions to PAX will receive acknowledgement of reception and be reviewed and edited by an editorial panel made up of the managing editor of PAX, a Warden, a member of the clergy, and one additional parishioner. Submissions are reviewed to the extent that they fit the mandate of PAX. All submissions may be edited for length, the maximum being 500 words unless otherwise specified.
august 27, 2012. photo by sean birch
PAX no. 16 © 2012 St. James’ Anglican Church Editorial Panel: Jen Amundgaard (on leave), Paul Stanwood, Tracy Russell, Mother Jessica Schaap Designer & Art Director: Jen Amundgaard Writers: Fr. Mark Greenaway-Robbins, Christine Hatfull, Jane Turner, Allan Duncan, Mother Jessica Schaap, Tim Firth, Bear, Mary Brown, Angela Van Luven Photography: Robin Croft, Sean Birch, Christine Hatfull, S. Stanwood, Elisha Walker, Tracy Russell, Elaine Jan Distribution: Mary Brown Archivist: Jane Turner