THE INCARNATION

So the story of Jesus has to begin with the Incarnation; without it, there would be no story at all.  Plenty of great teachers, mystics, martyrs and saints have made their appearance at different times in the world, and lived lives and spoken words full of grace and truth, for which we have every reason to be grateful.  Of none of them, however, has the claim been made, and accepted, that they were Incarnate God.  In the case of Jesus alone the belief has persisted that when He came into the world God deigned to take on the likeness of man in order that thenceforth men might be encouraged to aspire after the likeness of God; reaching out from their mortality to His immortality, from their imperfection to His perfection.  It is written in the Old Testament that no man may see God and live; at the same time, as Kierkegaard points out, God cannot make Man His equal without transforming him into something more than Man.  The only solution was for God to become Man, which He did through the Incarnation in the person of Jesus.  Thereby, He set a window in the tiny dark dungeon of the ego in which we all lanquish, letting in a light, providing a vista, and offering a way of release from the servitude of the flesh and the fury of the will into what St. Paul called the glorious liberty of the children of God.

This is what the Incarnation, realized in the birth of Jesus, and in the drama of his ministry, death and Resurrection, was to signify.  With it, Eternity steps into Time, and Time loses itself in Eternity.  Hence Jesus; in the eyes of God, a man, and in the eyes of men, God.  It is sublimely simple; a transcendental soap-opera going on century after century and touching innumberable hearts; from some bleak, lonely soul seeking a hand to hold when all others have been withdrawn, to vast concourses of joyful believers singing their Glorias, their Kyries, their Misereres.  There have been endless variations in the script, in the music, in the dialogue, but one thing remains constant -- the central figure, Jesus.  After the great Jehovah before whose wrath even the gentiles bow down, the Lamb of God; after the immutable Law handed down to Moses from on high, grace and truth embodied in a gospel of love; after the Creation, the Incarnation, when the momentous announcement:  Fiat Lux!  which begins our human story finds its fulfilment in another:  Ecce Homo!  Let there be Light!, and then:  Behold the Man!  With the Light came the universe, and all its creatures; illimitable space to be explored, and the tiniest atoms to be broken down into yet tinier ones.  With the Incarnation came the Man, and the addition of a new spiritual dimension to the cosmic scene.  The universe provides a stage; Jesus is the play.
                                                                 from Jesus, the Man Who Lives 
                                                                 by Malcolm Muggeridge

TUESDAY MORNING BIBLE CLASS

Fr. Buechner will resume this class on January 12 which meets in the library at 10:45 following the 10:00 Holy Eucharist.

As Fr. McQueen essentially took this group through the Bible over the last two years, the Rector will begin a study of Dante’s Purgatorio.  This is the second of the three “cantica” or songs which make up the Divine Comedy. It follows Dante and Virgil on their journey up Mount Purgatory to the “Earthly Paradise (Garden of Eden).  On their way, they experience with other penitents the purging of their sins, as they ready themselves to enter Paradise or Heaven.

Il Purgatorio is considered by many the least known of the three poems which comprise the Comedia, but many of those fortunate to know all three believe it to be the most popular, enriching, and approachable.

We will use Dorothy Sayers’ translation, and Fr. Buechner will have the books available the first day of class.

PLEASE NOTE:
If there is a group of folks unable to make this time slot, I’ll be happy to arrange a second class at a more convenient time.       FAB

THE CONSECRATION OF THE TENTH BISHOP OF GEORGIA

The Rev. Scott Benhase will take place in Savannah at 11:00 AM on Saturday January 23 at the new convention center on Hutchinson Island directly across the river from downtown.  Fr. Buechner, Kathy, and Roy Lilly will be attending from our parish, but the convention center is large enough to accommodate anyone interested.

The Consecration of a Bishop is one of the most solemn and impressive liturgies in the Church, and anyone in the least bit interested is urged to try to attend.

As we approach this pivotal event in the life of our Diocese, I ask your prayers of thanksgiving for the Episcopate of Henry Louttit, which has given us fifteen years of real stability compared to the tumultuous events in surrounding dioceses; and I ask your prayers for Scott as he begins his Episcopate with hopes of building upon the unity for which Bishop Louttit has striven steadily and successfully.              FAB

ELIOTT HOUSE:  ST. JOHN’S, SAVANNAH

Fr. Buechner will be in Savannah the week of January 25 attending a seminar at St. John’s on St. Augustine’s seminal work “De Trinitatae” (On the Trinity).   Clergy from the diocese and beyond will participate in this four day event led by our good friend the Rev. Dr. Michael Carreker.

Some years ago, Fr. Carreker completed a Ph. D. degree writing his dissertation on the work of St. Augustine, concentrating primarily on De Trinitae, and is without a doubt one of the finest and most knowledgeable minds in our Church on the subject of this great and indispensable Church Father.     FAB

OFFICE CLOSINGS

The office will be closed Wednesday, January 6 in observance of The Epiphany, and January 18 for Martin Luther King Day.         FAB

THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY

The Parish will observe this Major Feast with the Celebration of Holy Communion in the Church on Wednesday, January 6 at 12:10 p.m.

Our Epiphany Festival of Lights service will be on Sunday, January 10 at 10:30 a.m.

ATTENTION VESTRYMEN

Our January meeting will be Sunday morning January 17 at 8:00 a.m. in the parish hall library. 

CHRISTMAS DINNERS

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the All Saints family prepared over 150 meals for the residents of Providence Plaza and Halcyon Home as well as those seeking meals at the Rescue Mission. 

Our thanks go to:

Warren Bicknell
Ed  Davis
Rozzie  Davis
Walker Davis
Paul Gurley
Neel  Gurley
Dale  Gurley
Elaine Kavouklis
Jan Kavouklis
Elaina  Kavouklis
Nancy McCollum
Gini Miller
Elizabeth Olsen
Diane Parker
Tom Parker
Hayley  Parker
Page Parker
Will Parker
Justin Parker
Stephen  Parker
Kathy Parker
Katlyn Parker
Elizabeth Parker
Clayton Penhallegon
John Penhallegon
Caroline Penhallegon
Rebecca Sanford
Alston Watt
Philip  Watt
Christopher Watt
Parker Watt
Jonathan  Young
Geoffrey Young
Preston Young
      
This Christmas the dinners were made possible with the assistance of Dr. Chip Hancock, his family and Granddaddy’s Barbecue, as well as the Flowers Food Employees.

ST. CECILIA AND ST. DAVID CHOIRS

Both choirs will resume rehearsals on Wednesday, January 6, and they will sing Epiphany IV, January 31. An updated rehearsal and snack schedule will be mailed soon.

Welcome to St. David Choir Parker Watt.

Kathy Buechner.

 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN

The ECW Book Club will meet on Wednesday, January 13 at 11:50 a.m. The book is Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.  Please join us.  Reservations for lunch are appreciated.  .

The monthly ECW meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 13 at 5:00 p.m.   Don't forget "work days" start on Monday, January 11.  Please stop by, even for an hour, and lend a hand.  We all need to pitch in and help.  This is the other half of our fundraising for our community outreach.  PLEASE help.  See you on Wednesday, January 13 for the Book Club at 11:50 a.m. and the Meeting at 5:00 p.m.

Lee Chubb
Lee Mitchell

USHERS FOR JANUARY
January 3     
Paul Gurley   
Chip Hancock

January 10
John Hand
Doug Harper

January 17    
Bob Jackson  
Brad Jackson 

January 24
John Kavouklis
Bill Ladson

January 31     
Bernie Lanigan
Robert Lynde

ACOLYTES FOR MAY
 
January 10
 Taylor Bragg
 Savannah Singletary
 Will Carico
 Jacob Bruhn
 Caroline Penhallegon
 Curry Brinson

January 17
 Sam Sewell
 Alex Carico
 Will Ladson
 Madi Bruhn
 Margret Brinson

January 24
 Chad Kelly
 Thomas Bragg
 John Penhallegon
 Neel Gurley
 Jack Brinson

January 31
 Chris Bragg
 Jack Harper
 Preston Young
 Christopher Watt
 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN BAZAAR NEWS

Once again it is time to start thinking of our annual bazaar, which will be held on Wednesday, January 27, 2010.

There are several issues we would like to address:

 1- Ask yourself if the item has a second life. 
 2- Broken, dirty, ragged, or otherwise undesirable items    should not be brought.
 3- Wash or dry clean clothing items.
 4- Please hang clothing.  The price of coat hangers has gone    up and the cleaners are not as willing to give us hangers.     Many clothing items that have been placed in plastic    bags have molded and are not fit for sale.
 5- Clothing racks will be set up in the warehouse and    labeled as “women’s slacks,” “men’s jackets,” “skirts,” etc.     Please place your items on the designated racks.
 6- Separate items into categories, as “books,” “white    elephants,” “toys,” “purses,” “shoes,” etc. and label    accordingly.
 7- Official work days start Monday, January 11th at 10:00    a.m. and run through Tuesday, January 26th. 
 8- We are requesting that each lady of the parish bring at    least one food item for the “gourmet booth.”  Please bring    more than one item, if possible.  Items that sell well    include frozen casseroles, soups, stews, jellies, pickles,    bread, etc.  Other food items will be gratefully accepted.    Gourmet foods may be brought Monday, Jan. 25th   and prior to 9 a.m. Wednesday, Jan.  27th.
 9- Men are encouraged to volunteer their services on work    days and the day of the bazaar.
 10- Please be generous with your contributions.  Remember,    our main purpose is to minister to the community,    especially in these difficult economic times.

Thank you in advance for your diligence and perseverance.  If we all work together, we will more than accomplish our basic goals.

Most sincerely,
ECW Bazaar Committees
 

TRANSITIONS:

Happy birthday in January to:

Margaret Hancock   1-8-93
William P. Chubb   1-9-89
Christopher Bragg  1-11-91
Tom Muller   1-13-90
Charles W. Weissinger  1-14-04
Curry Brinson   1-18-00
Jackson Leverett  1-18-00
Will Carico   1-18-98
Chris Alexander  1-28-94

Happy birthday in February to:

Maryam Norajean Sibley 2-11-02
Neel Gurley   2-12-98
Will Ladson   2-13-99
Virginia E. Jackson  2-19-99
Jonathan Douglas Harper 2-19-96
Robby Stubley   2-22-90
Cecile Shea   2-22-91
Catie Hancock   2-23-90
John B. Brinson, V (Jack) 2-24-97
Colleen Elizabeth Nudd  2-24-06
John Penhallegon  2-29-96

From the Parish Register:

Requiescat in Pace:

Thomas Lyle Williams, III departed this life October 30, 2009.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God rest in peace.  Amen.

 This is the final section of W.H. Auden’s massive poem:  “For the Time Being,” subtitled:  A Christmas Oratorio.  The “time being” is the time between the Incarnation and the Second Coming, i.e., the time in which we all live.  Written in 1941-1942 when Auden’s England was struggling in World War II, the poem, remains a veritable text book on the theology of Christmas.  FAB

NOW THAT CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST OVER

Well, so that is that.  Now we must dismantle the tree,
Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes --
Some have got broken -- and carrying them up to the attic.
The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt,
And the children got ready for school.  There are enough
Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week --
Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,
Stayed up so late, attempted -- quite unsuccessfully --
To love all of our relatives, and in general
Grossly overestimated our powers.  Once again
As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed
To do more than entertain it as an agreeable
Possibility, once again we have sent Him away,
Begging though to remain His disobedient servant,
The promising child who cannot keep His word for long.
The Christmas Feast is already a fading memory,
And already the mind begins to be vaguely aware
Of an unpleasant whiff of apprehension at the thought
Of Lent and Good Friday which cannot, after all, now
Be very far off.  But, for the time being, here we all are,
Back in the moderate Aristotelian city
Of darning and the Eight-Fifteen, where Euclid’s geometry
And Newton’s mechanics would account for our experience,
And the kitchen table exists because I scrub it.
It seems to have shrunk during the holidays.  The streets
Are much narrower than we remembered; we had forgotten
The office was as depressing as this.  To those who have seen
The Child, however dimly, however incredulously,
The Time Being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all.
For the innocent children who whispered so excitedly
Outside the locked door where they knew the presents to be
Grew up when it opened.  Now, recollecting that moment
We can repress the joy, but the guilt remains conscious;
Remembering the stable where for once in our lives
Everything became a You and nothing was an It.
And craving the sensation but ignoring the cause,
We look round for something, no matter what, to inhibit
Our self-reflection, and the obvious thing for that purpose
Would be some great suffering.  So, once we have met the Son,
We are tempted ever after to pray to the Father;
“Lead us into temptation and evil for our sake.”
They will come, all right, don’t worry; probably in a form
That we do not expect, and certainly with a force
More dreadful than we can imagine.  In the meantime
There are bills to be paid, machines to keep in repair,
Irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem
From insignificance.  The happy morning is over,
The night of agony still to come; the time is noon:
When the Spirit must practise his scales of rejoicing
Without even a hostile audience, and the Soul endure
A silence that is neither for nor against her faith
That God’s Will will be done, that, in spite of her prayers,
God will cheat no one, not even the world of its triumph.

   Chorus

He is the Way.
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.

He is the Truth.
Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.

He is the Life.
Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.
 
 
PURGATORY
I believe in Purgatory.
Mind you, the Reformers had good reasons for throwing doubt on "the Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory" as that Romish doctrine had then become. I don't mean merely the commercial scandal. If you turn from Dante's Purgatorio to the sixteenth century you will be appalled by the degradation. In Thomas More's Supplication of Souls Purgatory is simply temporary Hell. In it the souls are tormented by devils, whose presence is "more horrible and grievous to us than is the pain itself." Worse still, Fisher, in his Sermon on Psalm VI, says the tortures are so intense that the spirit who suffers them cannot, for pain, "remember God as he ought to do." In fact, the very etymology of the word purgatory has dropped out of sight. Its pains do not bring us nearer to God, but make us forget Him. It is a place not of purification but purely of retributive punishment.
The right view returns magnificently in Newman's Dream. There, if I remember it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer "With its darkness to affront that light." Religion has reclaimed Purgatory.
Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, "It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy"? Should we not reply, "With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleaned first." "It may hurt, you know"-"Even so, sir."
I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering. Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done me in this life has involved it. But I don't think suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much better than I will suffer less than I or more. "No nonsense about merit.”  The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much.
My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am "coming round," a voice will say, "Rinse your mouth out with this."  This will be Purgatory. The rinsing may take longer than I can now imagine. The taste of this may be more fiery and astringent than my present sensibility could endure. But More and Fisher shall not persuade me that it will be disgusting and unhallowed.
  C.S. Lewis
  Letters to Malcolm:   Chiefly on Prayer