A LESSON FROM MARGO (Part 1)

During the last few weeks of Margo Bindhardt’s life, it would come as no surprise that part of our time would involve the subject of music.  Her advice to me one afternoon, after having expressed my frustration with the music of Benjamin Britten:  “Rick, you’re a priest of the Church, so you really need to get to know Billy Budd.”  I had heard of the opera but knew very little about it, so I went to work and, hence this offering.

With a libretto by novelist E.M. Forrester, Billy Budd is a relatively short opera based on a novella of the same name by Hermann Melville.  Suggested by W. H. Auden to Britten, as literature Billy Budd rates an even higher stature than Moby Dick.  The story revolves around life on an English frigate at the end of the 18th century.  The main characters consist of Billy, a young sailor who is the proverbial Christ figure:  all beauty, truth, goodness and innocence.  He runs afoul of the Master-at-Arms John Claggert, who is one of the most horrid and despicable characters in all literature – a virtual “Iago” absolutely consumed with envy – of which I’ll write next month.  The other main character is the ship’s Captain Vere.

Would that Wagner’s operas had such a simple plot:  Vere in an opening monologue, reminisces upon his life aboard ship and the horrible thing he has allowed to happen.  That is, Claggert, consumed with envy over Billy’s beauty, falsely accuses him of mutiny in front of the Captain.  Billy in retaliation, lashes out a fist at Claggert and accidentally kills him.  Vere, totally convinced of Billy’s innocence and not believing his Master at Arms for a moment, allows Billy nevertheless to be hanged from the yardarm – even as Billy forgives and blesses Vere the moment before his execution.  The story then reverts to Vere’s attempts to fathom his absence of guilt as he sings a final monologue.

I can’t help but think that what Margo wanted me to learn from this opera, is most likely something she learned long before, and that is that we can never find perfection in this life; that goodness always exacts a price; and that the only thing we can be sure of in this life – other than death and taxes – is God’s love and forgiveness.  I quote Forrester’s majestic words from the Prologue:

“I am an old man who has experienced much.  I have been a man of action and have fought for my King and country at sea.  I have also read books and studied and pondered and tried to fathom eternal truth.  Much good has been shown me and much evil and the good has never been perfect.  There is always some flaw in it, some defect, some imperfection in the divine image, some fault in the angelic song, some stammer in the divine speech.  So that the devil still has something to do with every human consignment to this planet of earth.  Oh what have I done?  Confusion, so much is confusion!  I have tried to guide others, but I have been lost on the infinite sea.”

Such is the predicament of every man and woman without Christ.  To Vere’s credit however, he not only knows what he has done wrong, he also knows that in Christ, God has forgiven him.  From the opera’s epilogue – and could this not be Pontius Pilate?

“I could have saved him; I could have saved him.  He knew it, even his shipmates knew it, though earthly laws silenced them.  Oh what have I done?  But he saved me, and blessed me, and the love that passes understanding has come to me.  I was lost on the infinite sea, but I’ve sighted a sail in the storm, the far-shining sail, and I’m content.  I’ve seen where she’s bound for.  There’s a land where she’ll anchor for ever.  I am an old man now, and my mind can go back in peace to that far-away summer of seventeen hundred and ninety-seven…”

May we all know what Captain Vere and Margo knew:  that in the midst of all the chaos and horror of this world, it still remains possible to know the Peace of God which passeth understanding – and that those who fail to be “content” with who and what they are in and through Christ are doomed to live and die with an unspeakable guilt.  FAB  (to be continued next month with a look at Claggert’s speech, the epitome of evil and envy)

JUST WHEN WE THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE…

Just when we thought it was safe to go back into the proverbial sea, General Convention comes round again.  The once every three year gathering of representatives from the 99 dioceses of the Episcopal Church meets this month over a ten day period.  Perhaps providentially, it will end when I’m out of the country (See our Senior Warden’s related article).

I had thought that since the issue of the proposed Anglican Covenant seems to have been temporarily tabled, that this year’s conclave would be relatively uneventful -- and I still hold the hope that it may be.  On the other hand, we learned yesterday that at least one significant resolution will be put forward, a move to repeal the 2006 “moratorium” on ordaining folks in same-sex relationships and the development of rites for blessing such relationships – a move which even Presiding Bishop Katherine Schori is on record as against.

Coming off the unspeakably wonderful experience of involvement over the last fifteen months with the diocesan Search / Nominating Committee, a few thoughts come to mind.  First, over the years the Church and Society have failed to treat the G / L community as humanely as we might have.  Second, I doubt a single one of us on our committee would welcome the above moratorium being blankedly repealed at this point in time.  Third, there is no logical way that a blessing of any relationship (hetero or homo) can be considered the same as Holy Matrimony between a man and woman.  The primary purpose of Holy Matrimony remains to make a family.  The root of “matrimony” is “mater” (mother).  To apply the term “matrimony” to two people of the same sex would seem to beg oxymoronity.  Last but not least, in the Comfortable Words, Jesus tells us to “Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.”  It is possible that these words apply to more than simply one’s state of sin, and that in the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, one can find his soul’s state, as well as the state of one’s physical life “refreshed” and renewed in the Body of the Church.  That is, the Church ought to do whatever She can to incorporate and refresh, rather than drive away; whether this means that She should bless unions of the same sex remains to be seen and is far from settled.  Of course, no matter how the Church eventually resolves this issue, people on both sides of the equation are going to be hurt, angered and frustrated.

All of us have friends who have left the Episcopal Church for other “Anglican” churches, as if The Episcopal Church (because of hasty or wrong decisions by General Convention) were no longer an “Anglican” church.  Should our local conversations begin to heat up this month as GC gets underway I urge us to remember that when Bishop Louttit, or Bishops Shipps and Reeves speak of the diocese as the “basic unit of the Church”, what they mean is that ultimately we are not members of the Anglican Communion, not to mention the Lord’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church through the General Convention, but through our diocese and our bishop.  We need to remember that the organization we call General Convention was invented by the various dioceses for the purpose of facilitating the missionary work of the Church.  GC is not a Church, but an organization which exists for the convenience of the Church:  the various dioceses.  Indeed up until a couple of decades ago, the official name of the Episcopal Church was “The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society”.

Finally, the Thirty Nine Articles state that Churches can and do err.  What that means is that just because an organization or institution such as GC makes a wrong or bad decision, such decisions do not destroy the validity of the Church as a whole.  God remains in charge, and we can – with a sufficient amount of patience – be sure that in time He will either disannul whatever bad decisions all of us make; or even better, redeem them.  FAB

ECW BOOKCLUB

All Saint's Book Club will meet on Wednesday, July 8, at 11:50. Our book this month is "Same Kind of Different as me". Gini Miller will lead the discussion. Bring a sandwich and come join us. It doesn't matter if you've read the book, it's nice to get together. Everyone is welcome. A great time for our students to join us and share their view. See you there!!!

Don’t forget:  August’s book is A Woman of Egypt:  Her Dream of Peace by Jehan Sadat, widow of Anwar Sadat.  The discussion will be led by Louise Muenz on Wednesday, August 12 beginning at 11:50 a.m.

                                                                 --Lee Chubb and Lee Mitchell

 
OUR EPISCOPAL NOMINEES

Please take the time to visit the website:  georgiabishopsearch.org where you can find a great deal of information about the six gentlemen who have been nominated to be our next bishop.  Included there are brief video interviews of each, as well as their resumes plus their very interesting -- and quite telling essays responding to the questions:  (1) What are you passionate about in your ministry, in your personal life, and in the world around you? (2) Elaborate on an occasion or experience during your ministry, of significant personal growth or change. (3) What are the touchstones in your faith that will guide your responses to the issues now facing – some would say threatening – the Episcopal Church and the world-wide Anglican Communion?

Each of our nominees, (whom by the way Fr. Buechner would be more than comfortable and even pleased with any of the six) will be present on August 27 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Albany.  Your clergy and lay delegates to the electing convention on September 12 in Dublin (Roy Lilly, Debbie Beeson, and Brad Jackson) will be there, but anyone interested is invited.  Time to be announced later.

In the meantime, try to learn as much as you can about each so you can express your thoughts to your delegates.

As we go to press, the five candidates proposed by the diocese’s Search / Nominating Committee are:

The Rev. Scott Benhase,
Rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C.

The Rev. Dean Taylor,
Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Dalton, Ga. (Diocese of Atlanta)

The Rev. Patrick Gahan,
Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Wymberly, Texas

The Rev. Frank Logue,
Vicar of King of Peace, Kingsland, Ga. (Diocese of Georgia)

The Rev. Stephen Zimmerman,
Rector of St. Andrew’s Chapel, Boca Raton.

The following candidate joins the above five as a petitionary nominee.  In order to be presented as a petitionary nominee, the priest must obtain the signature of a priest and layman from each of the diocese’s six convocations – and the priest and layman must be from different congregations within that convocation:

The Very Rev. William W. Willoughby,
Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Savannah (Diocese of Georgia)

Please keep these gentlemen and the Diocese of Georgia in your prayers.
                                                                                                                                                                    FAB

FAB’S (AND KATHY’S) BIG ADVENTURE

Last year when Raymond Hughes brought two of his musical colleagues to sing for us, one of them soprano Liesl Odenweller, happened to be on the Vestry of St. George’s Anglican Church, Venice Italy, and initiated an effort to have Fr. Buechner supply for them for a period while their priest goes on vacation.

In conjunction with the travel purse the parish gave Rick and Kathy in December for their being with us twenty years, we believe this is a tremendous opportunity for their continuing education, as well as for All Saints.  They will have the opportunity to hear three performances at the Munich Opera Festival, not to mention what Rick may learn from a month in Venice.  He’ll be responsible for conducting and preaching the two services on Sunday plus one on Thursday night, but he’ll have the rest of the weeks free to tour Italy as he may

He and Kathy will depart for Germany July 15.  They will be in Venice from the 22nd to 27th, when Kathy will fly home to begin school.  At least she’ll be able to attend the Sunday Service in Venice with Rick on the 26th, when he will have the opportunity to observe how St. George’s priest conducts their services. Rick will continue on in Venice, returning stateside on August 25th.

While we wish the Buechners a happy, productive, and safe journey, we’re grateful that we have the faithful and steady presence of Fr. McQueen to care for us during the time Rick is away. 

Please wish the Buechners well and keep them in your prayers.

Brad Jackson, Senior Warden

HEAVEN

The following appears in the current issue of
The Atlantic Monthly.  Enjoy.  FAB

Henry Thoreau’s last words:  “Moose…Indian.”
Joe DiMaggio’s:  “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.”

Henry died never having gone to bed with a woman.
Joe enjoyed dozens, but in the end loved only one,

& believed that after he’d signed his last ball or bat,
he’d find her waiting in Yankee Stadium in starlight.

Henry died younger, & wasn’t sure about the out-there,
except it sounded transcendentally beautiful, whether

or not it was cognizant of him or was just a cowbell
thunking in the mind of the great Oversoul,

but if it at least proved amenable
To hounds, bay horses, turtledoves, what the hell.

Maybe Henry is in Joe’s penthouse, Joe in Henry’s cabin,
maybe Joe is writing books, Henry hugging Marilyn,

maybe Henry is hitting homers, & Joe is fishing Walden,
maybe Joe and Hank are pals, & Marilyn ecstatic with Emerson.

                                                                            --William Heyen

 
EYC AND PROJECT IMPACT 

During the last week in June, several members of EYC, along with other youth groups in the city participated in Project IMPACT.  Hands On Thomas County organizes a week-long series of events throughout the community, working with various non-profit organizations.  The week began with clearing a foundation for a new Habitat For Humanity house.  The youth braved the hot June sun and worked for several hours before lunch and a trip to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).  At the EOC, the students were briefed on what happens in the event of a natural disaster hitting Thomasville, and then actually participated in a mock drill.  They answered phones, dispatched fire, police, and utility crews, and even briefed the media in a live television interview. 

On Tuesday morning, the groups departed for the First UMC parking lot to bag cucumbers which were gleaned from a field in Omega, GA.  The food was bagged and delivered to the Food Bank at First Methodist, and then the groups loaded in vans and delivered the remaining produce door-to-door in some of the local housing projects.  After a break for lunch we headed over to the Community Resource Center for games with some of the 5, 6, and 7 year olds.  The Project IMPACT theme for the week was “Superheroes of Service” and we had the children design their own superhero.  The exercise was designed to get them thinking about attributes of a hero, and the kids enjoyed the time we spent with them.

Wednesday morning was spent at Magnolia Manor Nursing Home where some of our students played bingo with the residents and others made picture frames with patients in the Alzheimer’s ward.  It was wonderful to see the interaction between our group and our neighbors at Magnolia Manor.  We left the nursing home and headed to Second Harvest Food Bank for lunch and work in the warehouse.  Several weeks ago the postal service made an appeal for canned goods for Second Harvest, and our group sorted some of the 15,000 lbs. of cans that was received during that campaign and would later be distributed to local non-profits.

Thursday morning was another hot day, but it wasn’t spent at a Habitat house.  Rather, we met up with folks from the Thomas-Grady Service center for a game of softball.  The Thomas-Grady group was ready for a great morning, and everyone was ready for a break when the Hawaiian Shaved Ice arrived to serve snow cones to our group.   The afternoon session was perhaps the hardest for our group when we went to Rosehaven at Southwestern State Hospital.  Our group did arts and crafts and played games with some of the patients. 

Friday was a day of fun at the Beau Turner Conservation Park south of Monticello, FL.  Our group was joined by several youth from Vashti for a day of fishing and archery.  Several from our EYC said they would love to go back for another trip.

Many thanks to Annalee Jackson, Ali Hall, Caroline Sewell, Sam Sewell, Chris Bragg, Taylor Bragg, and Chris Alexander who participated in the weeks events.  A special thank you goes to Lee Saussy for providing lunch from Moon Spin pizza for our entire group on Thursday.  I think that everyone from All Saints’ enjoyed our time together during the week, and look forward to Project IMPACT next year. 

OFFICE CLOSING
The office will be closed Monday (July 6) in observance of Independence Day.                               Brad Jackson, Senior Warden

USHERS FOR JUNE

July 5      
Doug Harper     
Bob Jackson     

July 12
John Kavouklis
Bill Ladson

June 19      
Bernie Lanigan     
Robert Lynde     

July 26
Paul McCollum
Buck Mitchell
 
WHO WILL BE THE NEW BISHOP?

Such is the title of the first chapter of Anthony Trollope’s Classic Novel, Barchester Towers, A portion of which appears below.  FAB

 The names of many divines were given in the papers as that of the bishop elect.  ‘The British Grandmother’ declared that Dr. Gwyne was to be the man, in compliment to the late ministry.  This was a heavy blow to Dr. Grantly, but he was not doomed to see himself superseded by this friend.  ‘The Anglican Devotee’ put forward confidently the claims of a great London preacher of austere doctrines; and ‘The Eastern Hemisphere,’ an evening paper supposed to possess much official knowledge, declared in favour of an eminent naturalist, a gentleman most completely versed in the knowledge of rocks and minerals, but supposed by many to hold on religious subjects no special doctrines whatever.  ‘The Jupiter,’ that daily paper, which, as we all know, is the only true source of infallibly correct information on all subjects, for a while was silent, but as last spoke out.  The merits of all these candidates were discussed and somewhat irreverently disposed of, and then ‘The Jupiter’ declared that Dr. Proudie was to be the man.
 Dr. Proudie was the man.  Just a month after the demise of the late bishop, Dr. Produe kissed the Queen’s hand as his successor elect.

 We must beg to be allowed to draw a curtain over the sorrows of the archdeacon as he sat, somber and sad at heart, in the study of his parsonage at Plumstead Episcopi.  On the day subsequent to the dispatch of the message he heard that the Earl of ------ had consented to undertake the formation of a ministry, and from that moment he knew that his chance was over.  Many will think that he was wicked to grieve for the loss of episcopal power, wicked to have coveted it, nay, wicked even  to have thought about it, in the way and at the moments he had done so.

With such censures I cannot profess that I completely agree.  The nolo episcopari, though still in use, is so directly at variance with the tendency of all human wishes, that it cannot be thought to express the true aspirations of rising priests in the Church of England.  A lawyer does not sin in seeking to be a judge, or in compassing his wishes by all honest means.  A young diplomate entertains a fair ambition when he looks forward to be the lord of a first-rate embassy; and a poor novelist when he attempts to rival Dickens or rise above Fitzjeames, commits no fault, though he may be foolish.  Sydney Smith truly said that in these recreant days we cannot expect to find the majesty of St. Paul beneath the cassock of a curate.  If we look to our clergymen to be more than men, we shall probably teach ourselves to think that they are less, denying to him the right to entertain the aspirations of a man.

TRANSITIONS:

Happy Birthday in July to:

Lois E. Mason    7-1-88
Emma Hutton Daniel   7-7-05
Michael Mirocha   7-21-91
Madeline Claire Bruhn   7-22-98
Andrew Raney McMullian  7-26-07

Happy Birthday in the month of August to:

Chadwick Kelly   8-1-93
Parker Hayden McCollum  8-7-04
Jacob A. Bruhn    8-21-96
Haven Shea    8-26-88
Lily Bradford Jackson   8-30-02

From the Parish Register

Requiescat in Pace:

James V. Singletary, Sr. departed this life June 28, 2009
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.  Amen.

Deo Gratis

Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Jackson announce the safe deliver of a daughter,
Emma Myers Jackson on June 19, 2009.

Marriage

Clark Overton Griffith and Sina Margaret Ellis
were united in Holy Matrimony on June 6, 2009.