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Baptism, like a precious gem, has many facets. Once baptized into the mystery of Christ we embark upon a life-long pilgrimage. As baptized companions in the pilgrims’ way,

the riches of our baptismal dignity are revealed to us throughout our life. What are these aspects of grace which we glimpse like light refracted through a jewel?

A change of ownership takes place through baptism. We are claimed by God as God’s own. “I sign you with the cross, and mark you as Christ’s own forever,” says the minister of the sacrament whilst making the sign of the cross upon the forehead of the candidate (BAS 160). We live under new ownership as baptized pilgrims—our motto might be: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8).

Baptism effects a change in our allegiance. During the ‘examination’ in the sacrament (BAS 154) each can-didate renounces evil and sin, and then turns to Jesus Christ with acceptance, trust and obedience. Daily we struggle to maintain our allegiance to Christ during our earthly pilgrimage by renouncing the ‘evil powers of this world’ and our ‘sinful desires.’ As Jesus arose from the baptismal waters, so we too can hear God speak to us, “you are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased.”

We experience a stripping off of our old selves and the putting on of a new self who is Christ. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:27). We are clothed with Christ in order that we might “seek and serve Christ in all persons” (BAS 159). Baptismal pilgrimage is marked by trial and testing, so we can expect to be stripped by Christ and clothed in Christ during the course of our earthly pilgrimage.

The sacrament of Baptism is “the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Born again through water and the Holy Spirit, as pilgrims we are raised to the “new life of grace” (BAS 160). Having been

reborn we can expect to be renewed by grace through-out our life’s journey. Transformation and change are the condition of baptismal pilgrimage.

Enlightenment is a further grace. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). “Receive the light of Christ to show that you have passed from darkness to light” (BAS 160), says the minister to the newly bap-tized. So by grace we live in and by the light of Christ.

Baptism makes us sharers in Christ, the anointed King and Priest. This is evident in the sacrament when the newly baptized are anointed on the head with the oil of chrism which evokes “the anointing of kings (1 Samuel 16:13) and the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)” (BAS 148). So through baptism we share in the royal and priestly dignity of Christ. Indeed, it is a high calling to be a baptismal pilgrim in this life.

Through baptism we are adopted as God’s own chil-dren. “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:5-6). Adoption describes the relationship between God and the bap-tized: it is made through God’s initiative, and the effect of the relationship is that the baptized become co-heirs with Christ. Here we can understand the mystery of grace. When anyone seeks baptism it is a response to God’s initiative. An effect of baptism is that we become inheritors of the riches of God’s grace.

So we have gazed upon the jewel that is baptism and glimpsed the aspects of grace which unfold through-out our baptismal journey. No wonder, then, that the newly baptized are received into the household of God with this acclamation by the People of God: “Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priest-hood” (BAS 161).

PAX: Easter 2013 | 1

Baptism: The Pilgrims’ Way | Fr. Mark Greenaway-Robbins

2 | PAX: Easter 2013

Baptism, the Book of Alternative Services (BAS) tells us, “is the sign of new life in Christ. Baptism unites Christ with

his people. That union is both individ-ual and corporate.” (BAS, 146)

Orthodox priest and author Alexander Schmemann (1921-1983) makes impressively clear what the Church is doing in this sacrament: pointing and tending “beyond itself and the present,” Baptism is prepara-tion for transformation of our lives, by referring them to their “fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” (16) When we speak of the kingdom, we understand it has both an “already” and a “not yet” dimension. The “already” is the gift of grace, in the life and person of Christ.

In this paschal sacrament (“pascha” means “passage” or “pass over”)—the pass-over of Jesus from death to life—“the whole Church acknowledges herself as passage . . . from this world into the kingdom of God,” as participating “in the decisive events of Christ’s death and resurrection.” (38)

Among the many memorable and penetrating passages in this book are the minutely sketched descriptions of the symbols involved in the rite. The meaning and significance of Baptism, Schmemann says, are laid bare in the consecration of the water (called “Thanksgiving over the Water” in the BAS). In water we have “one of the most ancient and uni-versal” of all religious symbols. (39) The waters of Creation, the Exodus, and the Baptism of Jesus are all recalled (BAS 147). The Thanksgiving Prayer “asks that those who are baptized may be buried and raised with Christ, cleansed of sin, and reborn by the Holy

Spirit.” (BAS, 148) Our understanding is deepened: water is both death and resurrection, Schmemann notes, but not “naturally” or “magically”; rather “only inasmuch as the one who is to be baptized wants ‘in faith, hope and love’ to die with Christ and to rise with him from the dead,” by making the sacrament central to his or her life and being. (43)

He is similarly insightful and thor-ough in his discussion of the symbolic use of oil. Like water, oil was of vital importance, a necessary and daily requirement in the ancient world. Oil, he explains, was used primarily as medicine (the Good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the wounds of the man on the roadside, we remember). What is more, oil was of special significance as a “natural source of light and thus of joy.” (51)

Much debate has taken place in Christian history on infant versus

adult Baptism. In the Orthodox Church, Schmemann says, “understanding” is not a necessary pre-condition for Baptism. The Church “would rather say that true ‘understanding’ is made possible by Baptism [and] is its result and fruit, rather than its condition.” Moreover, “[m]aybe the ultimate grace of Baptism is indeed that it makes us children, restores in us that ‘childhood’ without which, in the words of Christ himself, it is impossible to receive the kingdom of God.” (18)

Editor’s note: the Parish library does not yet own a copy of this book. But it should be available from a variety of usual outlets.

Of Water and the Spirit | Tim Firth

photo by saint james music academy, christmas recital, december 7, 2012

Alexander Schmemann

Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism

Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1974


Easter Conversations | Margo Swiss

The angels said unto them, why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke to you when he was yet in Galilee. (Luke 24:5-6)

Jesus Christ knows flesh,Bodies speaking, always diddo what his Father said.

His mother’s hard labour, first,in time, his own: walked his talk, thenwas crossed, tombed, shut up for gooddead (it was said)until

He heard his Father say, rise,be born again this day.

It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. (Luke 24:10-11)

From Here Now (Toronto: Arkwark, 2012); reprinted by permission.

photo by saint james music academy, christmas recital, december 7, 2012


The Body of Christ | Sr. Mary Christian Cross

Like so many of the teachings of St. Paul, we can be moved by the beauty of the concepts presented in his teachings; but it is in the practical living out of these teachings that we

are daily challenged.The body of Christ: not only are we baptized into

that body, but weekly, or more often, we are renewed at the Altar as we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Glorified. It is our calling as Christians daily and hourly to live out what that signifies.

As in any body all the members are not proverbial “peas in a pod,” but are unique. Paul lists in 1 Cor. 12 the many members of Christ’s body, starting with the fact—revolutionary in his time and culture—that the body is made up of Jews, Greeks, slaves and free. If it was true for the Corinthians, this is true for us. We are all with our various gifts expected to work for the common good. This is a lofty concept that history shows to have been a constant struggle to maintain.

Richard Rohr, in his book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, draws our attention to a familiar passage in Genesis. In order to renew the world that existed at the time, God orders Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every creature. It is a well-known story, but Rohr makes the unfamiliar observation that

once all the creatures were admitted to the ark, the door was shut. The creatures, human and otherwise, have to put up with one another for the duration of the flood. If we project this image to the Church it conjures up all manner of considerations, including a thought that sometimes, just sometimes, it might be difficult to maintain peace and decorum under our contemporary conditions.

“You are members of the body of Christ, and individually members of it.” 1 Cor. 12:27

Archbishop Rowan Williams, in his book Silence and Honey Cakes (Oxford: Lion Publishing, 2003), draws an anecdote from the “Sayings of the Desert Fathers” lest we are tempted to think that “holy” people are immune to understanding diversity among the members of the body, or that holiness conveys uniformity; rather, there are times when it is difficult even among the “holy” to understand one another.

“A certain brother came to see Abba Arsenius at Scetis. He arrived at the church and asked the clergy if he could go and visit Abba Arsenius. ‘Have a bite to eat,’ they said, ‘before you go to see him.’ ‘No,’ he replied,


‘I shan’t eat anything until I have met him.’ Arsenius’s cell was a long way off so they sent a brother along with him. They knocked on the door, went in and greeted the old man, then sat down; nothing was said. The brother from the church said, ‘I’ll leave you now; pray for me.’ But the visitor didn’t feel at ease with the old man and said, ‘I’m coming with you.’ So off they went together. Then the visitor said, ‘Will you take me to see Abba Moses, the one who used to be a highway man?’ When they arrived Abba Moses welcomed them happily and enjoyed himself thoroughly with them until they left.

“For in the Spirit, we are all baptized into one body.” 1 Cor. 12:12

The brother who had escorted the visitor said to him, ‘Well, I’ve taken you to see the foreigner and the Egyptian; which do you like better?’ ‘The Egyptian [Moses] for me!’ he said. One of the fathers overheard this and prayed to God, saying, ‘Lord, explain this to me. For your sake one of these men runs from human company and for your sake the other receives them with open arms.’ Then two large boats floating on the river were shown to him. In one of them sat Abba Arsenius with the Holy Spirit of God, in complete silence. And in

the other boat was Abba Moses, with the angels of God: in this boat they were all eating honey cakes.” (p. 42ff)

Williams points out, “What could put more clearly the sense of distinctiveness of vocation: Arsenius’ aus-terity, and Moses’s exuberance of life?”

And so, as struggling members, as baptized members of the Church, we make up one body; but in this life, it is a body still yearning for reconciliation of our dif-ferences. Archbishop Rowan offers direction: To be the means of reconciliation for another within the body of Christ we must:

1 be consciously [ourselves],2 know a bit about what has made us what we are,3 know what are our typical problems and brick

walls, and4 know what are our gifts. (p. 39)

This reconciliation requires self-knowledge, repent-ance, renewal in Christ, the daily slogging away and stumbling at our efforts, being picked up by a forgiv-ing God and then just getting on with our daily lives. Getting on, knowing that we are indeed baptized into the one body of Christ—Christ Crucified, Resurrected, Ascended and Glorified—and that in this body of Christ we are healed, renewed and transformed.

palm sunday procession, march 24, 2013; photo by tracy russell

I’ve been a Christian for less than five years. Since November 17, 2008 to be exact. Back then, I got on my knees and read the words that a friend sent me, a little shorthand on conversion. A scrap of

paper that led me in the unlikely way that we all perhaps are led to this unlikely God. A memory pulled from the past of a seven-year-old girl who did the same, in the quiet of her bedroom on a hot night in July. My night was a cold, rainy night in November. In essence, it was a simple thing to do. So simple, in fact, that anyone can do it. You just have to begin the conversation.

But what do you say to God?Nothing seemed to change that night. Not that I

noticed. I went to bed feeling the same and woke the same as always. However, I held a conviction that I could never go back to the way I was. I could never say I was just kidding. “Hey God, you know that night…?” I don’t think God works like that.

But still, a nagging sense of something not quite right.Groucho Marx once said he didn’t want to join a

club that would have him as a member. I feel like that sometimes, as the contemplation of Christ leads me to a sense of unworthiness. Like, I can’t do this. Wasn’t being a sinner easier somehow? Wasn’t not caring about anything easier than this burden, to live as He lived?

I remember that old life, but dimly.I feel like a counterfeit Christian at times. Like I’m

missing something that others seem to get. I live in this world. And the secular is always there quietly mocking me, like a parasitic lover slowly sucking whatever will I have to believe in a world beyond this one.

To believe that there is love, grace, and hope; that there is something more.

Baptism: paint a picture and make it a confession. Buried with Christ/raised to a new life.

Christ my Savior, my murderer, my delight in killing me, and in so doing blast me new and scour me fresh. Burnish me. Bend me, break me, crush me, and form me from the dust of my old life. Hold my new life in Your Loving Hands, gentle, morning, mourning dove, graceful, patient.

Help me emerge into the light of this new life.Help me see that there is something more than this

bedraggled world. For I need help, every day, every minute, every second. We all need help because faith itself is a burden and a struggle, a nagging, niggling doubt that somehow outs us during our prayers and quiet moments. Or at a traffic light, waiting in line blank and bored, or having a drink somewhere in the dark cloister of the place you used to go to forget.

But I need to light a candle, look at the words “in the beginning,” look at the words “he was there from the start,” know the words “this is my Son with whom I am well pleased.” Believe that somehow he is well pleased, even with me.

I never had a “God-shaped hole” in my heart. I was a hole from the start.

After I became a Christian, after I was baptized, I recall standing in the kitchen one night, staring out into the darkness beyond the window and thinking that all my life I have been this puzzle piece, a lost but unique fragmented shape that only needed a place to fit. And the universe, God’s universe, is THE puzzle and suddenly I found my place in it. It’s still a puzzle, but now, at least, I know that I fit.

It just took having a conversation with some water on the side.


Puzzling Baptism | Barton Hewett


The following reflections are excerpted from Br. James’s article that appeared in “Monastic Wisdom,” in Cowley, the magazine of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (Winter 2013). Abridged and slightly edited for PAX by Paul Stanwood.

In the Incarnation, we believe that as Christ shared in our human life, so we share in his divine life through baptism. The catechism in the Book of Common Prayer declares that we are

made the children of grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. We share in the divine life of God by being made children of God, by being made members of Christ’s body, and by becoming heirs of the kingdom of God… All of this happens at the font where we die to sin and rise to newness of life through the waters of baptism.

When we begin to understand that baptism does something to us now, and that that something is nothing short of incorporation into the divine life of God, then we can begin to experience the Trinity; for by our baptism we are invited not merely to under-stand, but to experience the Trinity… Baptism, indeed, is about union and communion. “We will certainly

be united with him,” says St. Paul. And we experience baptism as both a sign and a seal of that hope… In baptism, we glimpse the mutuality and reciprocity that is at the heart of community.

We have the opportunity to experience and to renew our baptism Sunday by Sunday in the Eucharist. Tradition frequently calls the Eucharist the Blessed Sacrament… Yet the Eucharist renews and sustains the life we were given in baptism. Baptism is the fun-damental event by which we are invited to share in the divine life. In the Eucharist, we have an opportunity to renew, reaffirm, and nourish that life. Even those of us who were baptized as infants and have no memory of the event can have an ongoing, powerful experience of our baptism—of meeting God and being embraced by God—when we are fed by God in the Eucharist. For in the Eucharist we are again brought into commun-ion and community with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we reach out for the Bread and Wine, we can remember the divine life which it sustains in us, and by which we are made members of Christ, the children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The weekly renewal of our baptism through the Eucharist aims to remind us that the life we share with God is not a life that is “yet to come.” We are not simply waiting for some day in the future when we will share in the life of God or be united with God. Baptism promises us that we are already sharing the life of God… already joining the Trinity… already sharing in the glory of the life of the Ascended Christ. Baptized in the name of the Trinity, we are already sharing in the mystery of this communion.

Baptism: Sharing the Divine Life | Br. James Koester, SSJE

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baptism of ira maley, january 13, 2013; photo by elaine jan

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palm sunday procession, march 24, 2013; photo by sean birch


When the Apostles’ Creed is said during the Rite of Baptism, the celebrant introduces it by saying, “Let us confess the faith of our baptism.” Following

on, the creed succinctly outlines the basic narrative of Christianity, announcing the fundamental beliefs of the faith. Where it does make explicit the components of Christian belief, it leaves implicit the significance of the baptismal effects themselves. The Creed declares the faith of the Church while it implies the meaning of the sacrament of baptism. In order to understand more fully the consequences of baptism, it is helpful to consider its historical and liturgical context. When it is seen in this light, it will become apparent that the ultimate consequence of Christian baptism is inclu-sion—inclusion into the Christian community and into the purposes of God.

Throughout human history, water rites have often been linked with initiation. In the pre-Christian era, Egyptians, Greeks, and the Israelites all practiced some form of ‘baptism.’ Generally speaking, the use of water was seen as an important symbol in the process of incorporation of new members. After undergoing the rite of baptism, one was able to participate in sac-rifices, rituals, and meals of the community. Similarly, baptism was integrated into Christian teaching at the behest of Jesus himself. In what is known as the Great Commission, Christ exhorts his followers to “make disciples of all nations” by “baptizing them.” From the outset, baptism signified one’s admission into the Christian movement.

Subsequent Christian reflection determined baptism to be a sacrament, an external sign that indicates a

spiritual reality. In Christian thinking, then, baptism’s significance is twofold: formally, it welcomes the new convert into the community of believers, allowing him or her to participate in the activities of the Church; and materially, it absorbs the newly Christian indi-vidual into the purposes of God. Practically, it was the end result of introductory Christian education; mys-tically, it catalyzed the process of spiritual growth. As Clement of Alexandria put it in the Pedagogus, his treatise on Christian ethics: “Baptized, we are enlight-ened; enlightened, we are adopted; adopted, we are made perfect; perfect, we become immortal.” In short, baptism is the first step of Christian living. The words

of the late Michel Meslin are helpful in understand-ing its importance in early traditions of the Church: “As a gateway to the sacra-ments, baptism opened the way into the church com-

munity, and prayers and rites increasingly describe it as the entrance to a holy place, the opening of… routes offered by the faith.” (Encyclopedia of Religion)

Here, the Anglican tradition is faithful to the inclu-sive history of baptism. In Anglican theology, baptism is likewise understood to be the introductory act of one’s Christian life, one’s life in accord with God. Article XXV of The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion describes the sacraments—baptism and Eucharist—as “signs of grace and God’s good will toward us.” Specifically relating to baptism, Article XXVII states, “[T]hey that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church… [signaling] our adoption to be the [children] of God by the Holy Ghost.” The Church is understood to be the family of God—and fittingly, baptism is, as it were, the means of adoption.

The Sacrament of Inclusion | Ryan Kelley

The ultimate consequence of Christian baptism is inclusion—inclusion into

the Christian community and into the purposes of God.

ASKBEAR!

Dear Bear,What is the baptismal covenant and why should I

care about it? — Name withheld

It is that part of the baptismal liturgy where the candidates, their sponsors and all the gathered People of God confess the faith of the Church as given in the Apostles’ Creed, which appears in the form of three questions.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer added this question after the Creed: “Wilt thou then obediently keep God’s holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life?”

The American (ECUSA) Prayer Book of 1979 replaced this one question with five questions that expand upon what is required to “keep God’s holy will and commandments.” Our Canadian Book of Alternative Services (1985) followed the American revision with the same five questions (BAS 159).

These additional questions are truly an inspired example of modern liturgical innovation! Here we find a concise and comprehensive summary of how to live as baptized Christian pilgrims. These ques-tions can serve us as a source for constant reflection upon the requirements of our baptismal dignity. The Apostles’ Creed grounds us in what we believe. The five questions that follow offer us a way of practicing our faith which keeps God’s will and command-ments. Why not read them again?

— 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.


The baptismal liturgy, as it is found in the Book of Common Prayer, only clarifies the connection between baptism and inclusion. Here, the rite is considered a testimony to “the receiving of them that be newly bap-tized into the number of Christ’s Church.” Beginning as a petition of the congregation to God on behalf of the inductee(s), it asks the Lord to “open the gate unto us that knock… that [one] may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised by Christ our Lord.” The priest then pronounces that the newly baptized individual is indeed “grafted into the body of Christ’s Church.” Upon the administration of the sacrament, the celebrant announces with thanksgiv-ing that the individual is now a full-fledged member of the Christian community, becoming an adopted child of God. As such, the newly baptized has become both a “partaker” of the resurrection of Christ and an “inheritor of his everlasting kingdom.” In sum, it is the hope and faith of the Anglican tradition that baptism truly does serve as the mode of inclusion for the Church.

With this in mind, the Easter season brings the notion of Christian inclusion to the fore. To those who have not been baptized, it demonstrates the recep-tivity of the Church toward those who incline to the Christian message. Baptism, the sacrament of intro-duction, as it were, marks the first step toward the hope of the faith. To those who have already been baptized, it serves to encourage the Christian believer. Although they have already been included within the Christian fold that does not mean that their baptism is no longer of any importance. Rather it should be seen as a divine deposit upon the life of the faithful. For the Christian, the words of John Henry Newman in his Parochial and Plain Sermons serve as a fitting conclu-sion to this reflection: “Baptism, though administered to them once and long since, is never past, always lives in them… that ‘He who hath begun a good work in them will perform it.’”


In this address to young adults in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Sunday 4th November 2012, Archbishop Rowan Williams explored what it means to be a holy person.

If you look up ‘holy’ in some sort of biblical index, you might get from bits of the Old Testament a very, very strong impression of what being holy means, very much to do with being set apart, very much to do with being on rather dangerous territory. Remember when Moses meets God at the burning bush, God says, “Take your shoes off. This is holy ground.” And when the people of Israel come to Mount Sinai, and it’s sort of blazing with lightning and all the rest of it, it’s holy and it’s very, very dangerous.

And then, if you turn to the New Testament, at first sight you get a bit of a contrast… St. Paul, when he writes to the people he writes his letters to, often addresses them as holy people: To the Saints, to the Holy People at Corinth, the Holy People at Ephesus, the Holy People at Philippi. And that might give us a bit of a pause to start with, because it doesn’t sound from the way that Paul uses that word, or the way it plays out in his letters, it doesn’t sound quite as though ‘holy’ there means dangerous and weird in quite the same way it does in the Old Testament. And then, in St John’s Gospel, where Jesus says to his friends at the Last Supper that he’s just about to consecrate himself, he’s just about to make himself holy, and he wants his disciples to be holy in the same way. And what that means is that Jesus is making himself holy by stepping forward towards his death, stepping forward towards the cross. And the New Testament makes it very clear in all sorts of passages that the crucifixion is in one sense the supremely holy thing that happens, and yet it’s found outside holy places… It’s an execution machine on a rubbish dump outside the city wall. Holiness seems to be not being separated off and protected here.

Holiness in the New Testament is Jesus going right into the middle of the mess and the suffering of human nature. Being holy is being absolutely involved, not being absolutely separated.

And that’s one first thing to bear in mind about the Christian idea of holiness. It’s something to do with going where it’s most difficult in the name of the Jesus who went to where it was most difficult. And he wants us to be holy like that.

And we really misunderstand the whole thing very seriously if we think that holiness is being defended from our own humanity or other people’s humanity: quite the opposite. Now, that makes me think about something which somebody said to me many, many years ago about the difference between being holy and being good, or even being saintly. There’s a fine phrase in one of Evelyn Waugh’s novels, when someone says to another character, “She was saintly, but she wasn’t a saint,” meaning that this person was actually very, very irritating. Saintly, very strict, very devout, very intense, but somehow the effect she has on the people around her is to make them all feel worse. They’re made to feel guilty, they’re made to feel inadequate, and I think that’s probably what most of us experience when we encounter people we think are Good—they make us feel rather worse. But, this friend of mine said years ago, holy people actually make you feel better than you. Good people make you feel worse than you are. Because goodness always comes across just a little bit as a competitive examination. Some people are scoring very well and some people are on the borderline, and some people are sinking below the line. But the holy person somehow enlarges your world, makes you feel more yourself, opens you up, affirms you. They’re not in competition; they’re not saying, “I’ve got something you haven’t.” They’re saying, “There’s an enormous amount of room for you in the world we occupy together.”

Reflections on Holiness | Rowan Williams


So, we’re beginning to build up a picture, I hope, of holiness. It’s not goodness, it’s not a sort of extra special kind of goodness. Because somehow it’s not about competing levels of how good you are. It’s about enlar-ging the world, and it’s about involving in the world. A holy person is somebody who is not afraid to be at the tough points in the centre of what it’s like to be a human being. And a holy person is somebody who in the middle of all that actually makes you see somebody new. And I guess that all that boils down to some-thing horribly simple and horribly difficult, which is that holy people, however much they may enjoy being themselves, just aren’t obsessively interested in them-selves. They actually allow you to see, not them, but the world. They allow you to see not them, but God. You come away from them, not feeling, “Oh, there’s a remarkable bloke or blokes,” you come away feeling, “There’s a remarkable world or there’s a remarkable God,” and even, “What a remarkable person I am too.” That’s the transforming thing. If you want to be holy, stop thinking about it. If you want to be holy, look at God. If you want to be holy, enjoy God’s world, enter into it as much as you can in love and in service.

So being holy is certainly being unselfish, but not in the sense of, again, having a policy about how to become unselfish, but being so interested in God and the world that you don’t really have too much time to brood on yourself. And we’re all called to it, and we’re all in Jesus’ spirit empowered for it, because the spirit of Jesus is the spirit that constantly renews in us the ability to pray with integrity and conviction; to pray to God intimately, as to a parent, to say Abba, Father…

We start, then, on the path of holiness, by two very simple things—simple in this case meaning difficult as before—and that is looking, looking at Jesus, looking at what God is like, looking at the Gospel, looking at all that that means, and by exploring. Exploring where

human beings are, what their needs are, and what they are calling you to do. How you may help make them more human. That, I think, takes us a bit further towards what I think is the really biblical idea of holi-ness… I suppose that in the Old Testament that sense of the danger of holiness is a way of getting us to think of just how alarmingly different the world can be when God is really around. One of the most powerful images in the Old Testament is when Solomon dedicates his new temple and prays that the presence of the Lord may fill it, and the presence of the Lord does fill it, and we’re told it’s like a thick, choking cloud coming down on the temple so that the priests of the temple can’t stay there. Now, that gives you a sense of danger all right, but the danger is all to do with just how different it is, and therefore just how much we have to change in order to cope with it… You can see the connection, and that’s why people have talked about the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ being from some points of view a terrifying reality because of just how far we have to travel, just how much we have to change for us to be able to live with it. In the Eastern Orthodox Church on the Feast of the Transfiguration, one of the prayers that’s said is a thanksgiving to Jesus for having revealed his glory to his Apostles on the Holy Mountain as far as they were able to bear it. As far as they were able to bear it, because it’s a big change, it’s a long way, and the holiness that in one sense gives us life, enhances our joy, is also terrifying because of that level of change, conversion.

© Rowan Williams 2012. Excerpted for PAX from http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2689/archbishop-reflects-on-holiness-with-young-adults-in-christchurch (accessed 18 March, 2013).


When I joined the St. James’ Anglican High Mass Choir, on Ash Wednesday four years ago, I was surprised by the sheer volume and difficulty of the

music put before me. Fortunately, I had studied early music and Gregorian chant at Capilano College as a teenager, and realized that reading the square notes in the Kyriale was akin to getting back on a bicycle after thirty-five years. Indeed, everything about St. James’ was new and stimulating to my senses. Although I occasionally went to Latin Mass as a child with my Roman Catholic grandmother, my principal acquaint-ance with Christianity came via the small, wooden and very plain United Church in Pemberton Heights, where I attended Sunday services with my family and learned to read music while standing next to my father who told me to “just follow the notes.” Not until I inadvertently came to a Sunday Mass at St. James’ in early 2009 did I know that such a marvelous congregation of people and traditions existed. What would transpire is a central part of my own resurrection.

I celebrated four years at St. James’ this past Ash Wednesday and count them as transformative. After re-locating in the downtown as an artist in 2007, I was soon taken down by a chronic illness that left me for dead in every way but one. As everyone in the Parish knows, this neighbourhood is not a good place to be vulnerable, and the peril is very real. But slowly, stead-ily and with the help of music, clergy and fellowship I have been able to rebuild a worthy life far beyond my original, desperate hopes for mere existence.

I have come to understand better the sanctity of the Lenten season and thrill at the prospect of singing such glorious music as is the custom of our Church. Although unable to function as physically well as I once did, I can now experience the “extreme sport” and the fear and adrenaline rush that comes from sight-singing an unfamiliar Mass setting for the first

time, or from hearing my voice alone while singing the Alleluia before the Gospel reading.

Last year I moved beyond the music to the liturgy and participated in a Lenten sacrifice of my own. It was a simple act that had a profound effect on my spiritual and physical life. For the first time, I moved beyond the childish pleasures of Christmas to understanding the more mature and demanding requirements of the Paschal season. In a modern world filled with material distractions and over-indulgence, the act of giving up an unnecessary or unhealthy habit and the discipline involved therein are soul-nourishing. There is here a place for me to re-establish a relationship with God which, although still private and fiercely personal, is nevertheless alive.

Each and every one of the forty days of Lent is an opportunity to begin again a life of focus, connection and purpose—no other practice has brought such meaning and given me the desire to live again. Due to this living tradition I can look forward already to the new and better place I will be in by this time next year.

The Beauty of Lent | Christine Hatfull

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Two Voyager spacecraft were launched into the great beyond in 1977. On board were, among other things, gold-plated phono-graph recordings which, in addition to

spoken greetings, contained music of J.S. Bach. The first music from earth to greet such listeners as may exist will be from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, chosen because of its feeling of “energetic optimism.”

The music of Bach does not belong to any time or place or class of persons. And could we not all benefit from a shot of “energetic optimism”? Here are two fairly recent recordings of Bach’s instrumental music that exemplify very well just such a life-commending quality. Both are exceptionally well-recorded, the sound is crisp and clear; well balanced between instru-ments, and with extensive dynamic range.

Richard Galliano is a master of the accordion, “a portative organ with vast expressive potential,” he notes. And so it has, in evidence from the first notes of the first track. Backed by a superlative string ensemble with which he blends wonderfully, they play various transcriptions of Bach compositions for flute and harpsichord, cello, oboe, violin and various keyboards. While there is some breathtaking virtuosity on display, it never amounts to showing off, and is never at the expense of the music.

People may be accustomed to hearing the accordion in other settings which may have “tarnished” its repu-tation, Galliano admits. If you thought you didn’t like accordion, this may give you cause to reconsider.

Heinz Holliger is an oboeist of the first rank with an extensive discography going back decades. This disc is composed of “reconstructions”—as he explains in the notes—“none of [Bach’s] surely numerous concer-tos or chamber works for oboe survived… the ‘fury of disappearance.’” Listeners will find that, like the accordion, the oboe possesses a rich and full palette of colour and tone possibilities. In Holliger’s hands, it is capable of whispering, soaring, and shimmering. The backing from Camerata Bern, strings and harpsichord, is very sympathetic; both urgent and elegant.

Johann Sebastian Bach had a great gift for melody. This was often expressed in a yearning, perhaps even soulful and ennobling fashion. As the tunes linger in our brain and resonate inside us, it is as if we are being developed, shaped and transformed by a presence that points away from us to something higher.

It is difficult to convey the marvels of sound and music with mere words. Listen to this unpretentious, comforting, and revealing music. While these record-ings offer a window on another age, it may be you’ll find that the music transcends any age.

Review of Bach Albums | Tim Firth

Bach

Richard Galliano

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concertos and Sinfonias for Oboe

Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern

ECM RECORDS


NEW MEMBERS OF OUR CHRISTIAN FAMILYOn January 13, the Baptism of Jesus, we welcomed five new members to the family of God: Shyla Coan, Graham Gibson, Maximus Lacerte, Ira Maley, and Rochelle Maley. At the Easter Vigil, we also celebrated the baptism of four children: Alexander James Bustin, Maddison May Jennifer David, Anderson Kendall Lewis, and Jaxon Harley Tait-Morgan. Congratulations to all!

IN MEMORIAMA Requiem Mass was offered on February 8th for our Business Manager and long-time parishioner John Van Luven, who died suddenly at the end of January. Retiring People’s Warden Paul Stanwood gave a tribute to John at the Annual Vestry Meeting on February 24th, especially reflect-ing on John’s “willingness to serve wherever needed or asked, ever pro-viding faithful Christian witness to all his endeavours.”

SPRING EDUCATION AND FORMATION SESSIONSIn January, in celebration of our com-monality as Christians, we explored ecumenicism — the promotion or movement toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation. Bishop Remi de Roo led a session on Roman Catholic ecumenicism, and Fr. Mark spoke on ‘The Ecumenical Life.’ Parishioners also attended a service at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Fr. Mark preached at this service.

These sessions were followed by talks led by Leslie Arnovick, Tim Firth, and Gordon Carkner exploring the ‘myth’ of today’s secular world view

and the idea that religion has dis-appeared from modern society, when in fact it is thriving all over the world.

In Lent the Formation Sessions pre-sented ‘The Theology of Salvation,’ called ‘soteriology.’ From what are we saved? How does Jesus save? Why are we saved? Presentations have been offered by the Reverend Dr.Richard Topping (of VST), and our good friends Fr. Bill Crockett and Canon Douglas Williams. In April a series will begin entitled ‘The Christian Imagination: The Life of Christ in Poetry.’ This will be followed by ‘The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit,’ also called ‘pneumatology.’

The Formation Sessions are a won-derful opportunity to learn about many aspects of Christianity, and we thank all who volunteer to lead us in exploring such a wide-ranging and interesting selection of topics.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATIONThe St. James’ Social Justice Group has continued to lead us in prepar-ing for the final national event of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to be held in Vancouver in September. They have prepared a display table of resource materials on the landing outside the Bishops’ Room, shown a film entitled ‘The Spirit Has No Colour,’ and invited a Residential School survivor to tell his story. More presentations will be held throughout the year, and all are invited to attend.

Please see the following websites for information about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the September event: Truth and Reconciliation Commission (www.trc.ca) and KAIROS Canada (www.kairoscanada.org). Please check the Diocesan website as well.

ANNUAL VESTRY MEETINGOn February 24th the Parish held its Annual Vestry Meeting. The meeting included the election and appoint-ment of Parish Officers for the coming year. Their ministries were supported and blessed at High Mass on Sunday, March 3rd. We thank these people, and all who will be heading our many groups and guilds in 2013, and appre-ciate their willingness to exercise servant ministry at St. James’.

MUSICAL EVENTSTwo excellent concerts were held at St. James’ this spring. In February we were very fortunate to have eminent organist David Palmer present a program of varied and entertain-ing works. Mr. Palmer is Professor Emeritus in the School of Music at the University of Windsor, and has per-formed across Canada and the United States, and in England and France. In March the Pacific Baroque Orchestra gave a concert featuring the music of Henry Purcell. These free concerts are an outreach to the people of this area; and in recognition of their efforts the St. James’ Outreach Committee subsequently sent them a generous donation.

PRE-DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEEThe Pre-Development Committee is continuing to explore the redevelop-ment of the St. James’ Parish Hall. A consultant has been engaged to conduct a feasibility study to help determine if this is a viable enterprise. The Parish is eagerly watching for updates on what could be a very excit-ing project.

Did You Know? Parish Life at St. James’

Helen Tataren and Judi PatersonJanuary 6, 2013

Farewell to the AmundgaardsJanuary 6, 2013

Sophia Amundgaard and Ana Greenaway-RobbinsJanuary 6, 2013

Proclamation of the Date of EasterJanuary 6, 2013

Bishop Remi de RooJanuary 13, 2013

Induction of Parish OfficersMarch 3, 2013

Palm Sunday Procession March 24, 2013

Bishop John Hannen and Mother Alexis March 24, 2013

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303 East Cordova Street, Vancouver, BC, v6a 1l4Telephone: 604 685 2532 Fax: 604 685 7605

Email: [email protected]

www.stjames.bc.ca

our vision: Discovering the beauty of holiness in our lives and neighbourhood, by living a Christ-centred sac-ramental life rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.

PAX no. 18 © 2013 St. James’ Anglican Church Editorial Panel: Paul Stanwood, Tracy Russell, Mother Jessica Schaap Designer & Art Director: Miles Linklater Writers: Fr. Mark Greenaway-Robbins, Tim Firth, Margo Swiss, Sr. Mary Christian Cross, Barton Hewett, Br. James Koester, Ryan Kelley, Bear, Rowan Williams, Christine Hatfull Photography: Sean Birch, Christine Hatfull, Tracy Russell, Elaine Jan Distribution: Mary Brown Archivist: Jane Turner

PAX is free, but voluntary subscriptions of $10/year are welcome. PAX aims to be financially self-sustaining and therefore donations to sup-port 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 print-ed 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 max-imum being 500 words unless otherwise specified.

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Easter PAX 2013