Redeemer News

As you pass the vintage photograph on your way to the choir room, you are walking in the footsteps of a legacy that spans generations. Beginning with a men and boys choir at the turn of the 20th century, the baton has been passed through an illustrious array of faithful contributors. There was Craig, a teacher from the Chestnut Hill School who infused pedagogical grace; Cindy Johnson, whose keyboard artistry lifted spirits; the choral enthusiasm of Mary Reynders; Michael Murray's reinvigoration of the choristers program in 2016; and most recently, the effervescent John Meyer Spressert, who has brought a blaze of youthful energy with his guitar. At Redeemer, music and youth have long been interwoven in a vibrant tapestry, each thread adding a unique hue to our community's spiritual fabric.

In the Anglican tradition, music isn't merely an aesthetic pleasure; it's a form of spiritual language. I would argue that the Book of Common Prayer 1979 and the Hymnal 1982 are not simply books but the reverberating heartbeats of the Episcopal Church. These texts bestow words of solace, acknowledgment of our human frailty, and our hope-filled joy, while also framing our Christian journey with hymns and anthems that resonate through time.

In my last letter, I announced the arrival of a Children’s Homily as part of our Sunday service—an endeavor that excites and, to be candid, terrifies me. But innovation doesn't stop there. We’re charting a refreshed course for music in Sunday School, thanks to Sarah Taylor (spouse of Nigel Potts). Every Sunday, towards the end of the Godly Play and Apostles classes, Sarah will shepherd our youngest from their Sunday School classes into the Children’s Chapel for a 15-minute musical journey. It will be fun, but it’s also intended to be a joyful exploration of our deeply rooted musical canon.

Many of our senior members speak eloquently about the spiritual depth hymns add to their lives, having absorbed them in school chapels long ago. As many schools have unmoored themselves from their respective religious traditions to steer more secular courses, local parishes are the last places remaining for children to recite the prayers and sing the songs of our faith. If we don't acquaint our children with this sacred repertoire, are we not creating a chasm between the spiritual wisdom of our tradition and the souls of the next generation?

My ambition is to sow seeds of our hymnal heritage into the fertile ground of our children’s spirituality. And, as I am wont to believe and say more often these last years, "Faithful experiments are indeed good for the soul!"

In Christ,

Mike+

For those like me, raised in an atmosphere of fervent Christianity, the word "Jesus" is not so much a name as it is an ever-present companion, shaping the contours of life in both obvious and nuanced ways. My boyhood home was a fortress of religious piety, the kind that would send tremors of alarm through the editorial halls of The New York Times or The Boston Globe. Mention it to Twitter's legions of secular warriors, and watch how quickly you are pigeonholed into dated archetypes of religious dogmatism.

We were the epitome of Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting attendees: resolute in our creationist convictions, disdainful of premarital affairs, and fervently expressive about our personal conversions. The Jesus of my youth was a vigilant moral sentinel, inscribed into every facet of daily life, ensuring that we continually evaluated our ethical decisions lest we stray too far.

However, it was not until my college years and my sojourn into Episcopalianism that I discovered a different theological landscape, one that swapped the restricting moral gauntlet for an expansive meadow of divine affection. I encountered, within the pages of the Hymnal 1982 and the Book of Common Prayer, a deity whose affinity for humanity was not predicated on moral rigor, but flourished in the expansiveness of unconditional love. The God I met was less a surveillance state and more a boundlessly benevolent parent, reveling in the joys and follies of His earthly children.

This revelation comes at a fortuitous time as we approach the commencement of the Episcopal program year—a season of renewed devotion and community that, though time-consuming, offers something uniquely invaluable. My assertion is simple, yet profound: The Church is the lone institution in your life that seeks to reveal God's boundless love to you in a deeply personal way. Yes, the cacophony of life's responsibilities is loud, and the demands on our time are ever increasing. Yet here, in this sacred community, you will find the grounding for all other aspects of your life.

More than that, the Church could be the sanctuary that encourages you to discard what is toxic to your soul. And there, you'll find a different Jesus, not one of moralistic scrutiny or antiquated scientific beliefs, but one with arms outstretched and eyes beaming with love. He invites you in only to propel you back into the world—a world that stands in desperate need of individuals who are renewed, reconciled, and steeped in the boundless grace of God.

In this transformative journey from zeal to grace, I am reminded that the resonance of a name can evolve, reflecting the mutable landscape of our beliefs and experiences. Yet the name "Jesus" remains, not as an overseer of a moral fiefdom, but as a symbol of eternal, undiscriminating love.

Being able to read music and to learn to sing is a gift of a universal language and an art form that a person will have and enjoy for the rest of their life. Our parish church offers this gift to children today! The music program at the Redeemer may have been one of the important aspects of this parish to attract you or your family to becoming members. But why might music be considered strong here? One reason with certainty is because so many members of our adult choir (including myself) sang in a church choir as a child. Today, music and the arts are too often marginalized in the education system, in society, and we learn of more churches who are disbanding their choir - and Covid has not helped! It is therefore all the more reason to give children the opportunity to learn and love music. But learning music is more than just another language and art form. It also has many intellectual, personal and emotional benefits too. Last year I enjoyed reading some quotes by Vaughan Fleischfresser, an internationally respected music educator, consultant and speaker. He is Associate Consultant (Scottish Curriculum) for Music Education Solutions.

Here is one quote that may resonate with you:

Want young people to work together? Put them in a music ensemble.
Want them to listen to each other? Put them in a music ensemble.
Want them to learn the importance of personal responsibility? Put them in a music ensemble.
Want them to connect? Put them in a music ensemble.

Vaughan Fleischfresser goes on to say, (which can also apply equally to singing): Many people regret not learning an instrument. Many people regret giving up learning an instrument. Very few people regret learning an instrument. Learning an instrument changes you for the better, and it changes you for life. I have been fortunate to have given organ recitals in over 30 US states and in three other continents, and one common comment I receive when greeting audience members after is: I wish I had learnt an instrument when I was young or I wish I didn’t quit!

I have often spoken to our choristers that singing in a choir is like a team sport. Just as every player in a sports team matters for the overall success of the team, so the same applies to choir - each voice matters for the mutual support and complete full sound of the team. However, since the return of our choristers from Covid, we are running on very low numbers and it is rather like playing a sport with only half a team. If you or somebody you know (they need not be member/s of the Redeemer) has a child/ren that may have some interest in singing, please have them contact me or let me know. The Redeemer choristers are a group of children ages approximately 8 through high school, who rehearse every Tuesday afternoon (4:30pm-5:30pm) and sing in church with the adult choir most months during the school year. The choir is affiliated with The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) which hosts various annual summer schools around the country. I enjoyed being a music housemaster for the week-long RSCM course at Duke University Chapel in 2019 – a course which 8-year-old chorister, Nigel Potts my former choristers from Grace Church Cathedral in Charleston, SC loved returning to annually.

It is my hope that in years to come, our choristers too may thrive in attending these wonderful courses. While music is not for every child, no experience is necessary for those that show an inclination for music. The Redeemer choristers receive (free) professional vocal tutelage and music theory from former Redeemer staff singer, Janet Ross and myself. They learn to read, sing and love music in a relaxed, safe and encouraging environment. We do not teach by rote. While the ‘work’ may be more demanding, their understanding, ability and appreciation of music will give them a greater reward.

What we ask for in return is commitment, focus and the choristers’ best effort. As you know, we are blessed at the Redeemer with its beautiful setting in which to worship God through music. Please feel free to email me music@redeemerchestnuthill or set up a time to talk/meet, if you would like to know more about our chorister program.

The one who sings, prays twice - attributed to St. Augustine

Nigel Potts

Organist & Director of Music

Our next Build date is Saturday, May 13th from 8:30am - 3pm.  For details and to sign up (you must sign up 48 hours in advance), click here. 

I hope you can join us either by helping in the Build project this Saturday or contributing to this important mission here. 

Dear Redeemer Faithful,

As we approach the holiest time of the year, we invite you to join us in celebrating Palm Sunday and Holy Week services. These services offer a time for reflection, contemplation, and an opportunity to renew our faith.

On Palm Sunday at the 8:00am and 10:00am services we will commemorate Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This day marks the beginning of Holy Week, which culminates in the celebration of Easter Sunday. As we gather together, we will wave palm branches and sing praises to our Lord, remembering the joyous occasion of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. However, the service will shift markedly with the reading of the Palm Gospel, the ironic conclusion of a service that began with joy and wonder. At 5:00pm, Choral Evensong will reflect on this most auspicious of days in the Christian calendar.

Throughout Holy Week, we will follow Jesus’ journey to the cross, from the Last Supper, to his arrest, trial, and ultimately his crucifixion. Through these services, we will remember the profound sacrifice that Jesus made for us and the magnitude of his love.

On Holy Thursday, April 6th at 7:30pm, we will gather to celebrate the institution of the Eucharist, a reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice for us and the power of his love. We will wash each other's feet as a symbol of our commitment to serve one another, just as Jesus did for his disciples. We will witness the Stripping of the Altar as an act of solidarity with Christ’s trial and suffering.

On Good Friday, April 7th, we will remember the pain and suffering of Jesus’ crucifixion, and we will mourn his death. We will reflect on the darkness of sin and the weight of our own human brokenness, but also on the hope that his sacrifice brings. Our traditional service of Solemn Collects will take place at noon with a Children’s Stations of the Cross at 5:00pm. The evening of Good Friday will be commemorated by our second annual Service of Shadows at 7:30pm. This dark mirror of Advent and Christmas Lessons and Carols will mark the solemnity of the day and the quiet of the tomb.

On Holy Saturday, April 8th at 10:00am, Barrie Rose Bliss will lead a solemn meditative walk through the Houghton Garden. As Jesus’ body lay within a garden tomb, Houghton Garden provides a quiet and contemplative landscape to ponder the death of Christ.

We encourage all members of our parish to attend these services and to invite friends and family to join us. These services are a time for us to come together in community, to strengthen our faith, and to grow closer to God.

Please join us as we journey together through Holy Week and celebrate the hope and joy of Easter Sunday. We look forward to seeing you at our services.

In Christ,

Mike+

Dear Friends of the Redeemer,

I write to you this afternoon from a crossroad within my soul. On Saturday night as I was putting the final touches on my Sunday morning sermon, my phone (like yours) alerted me of the murder of ten black Americans at the hands of an angry and young white supremacist. Those murdered people just like us going about their daily routines providing for themselves and their children. Celestine Cheney, grandmother of six, was grocery shopping with her sister. Andre Mackniel was shopping for a birthday cake for his three-year-old son. Hayward Patterson was just waiting in his taxicab to pick up a shopper when he was murdered. This violence was horrific and numbingly predictable. It was that story we continue to hear about a mentally unstable young white man hatefully fueled to violence by racially charged lies and sentiments. And like all of these terrible stories, these murders were preventable. Had this young man's parents, his friends, his relatives, or his systems of education and justice acted in concert on the information they all had, these innocents would have been saved. I could not gather my soul in a way to address it, and I am still at a loss on how we might confront the sick sin of white supremacy that cancerously infects our national soul. What strikes me today is how American Payton Gendron is. Gendron hailed from Conklin, New York, a rural town on the border of New York and Pennsylvania. With a population of just over 5,000 people, Conklin's citizenry represents the kind of majority white small town America that is worlds away from the cosmopolitan and diverse worldviews of our East and West Coast realities. Relegated to the limited and narrowing economic horizons of much of America's hinterland, the positivity and possibility of upward mobility is being dragged down by factors far beyond our control. And, when the optimistic stories of America no longer move someone to hope and possibility, other narratives filled with lies and hateful sentiments begin their pernicious work of radicalizing the young and impressionable. There is no excuse for the murders committed by Payton Gendron, but the seeds of his hate were sown in the soil of isolation, watered by hopelessness, and fertilized with anger, cruelty and hate. These too were all preventable.

What then can an Episcopal Church and its community of Christians do in light of this great field of thorns growing in our midst? Every piece of our life as the Church stands against the forces that created Payton Gendron. We are a community. Isolation is inimical to us. We are called to gather from across the panoply of the human experience breaking the divisive barriers of economics, ethnicity, education, gender, sexuality, and all of the dividing walls that keep human beings apart. We are agents of the Gospel and its message of hope. We believe that in raising Christ from the dead, God has broken the power of sin and death that drag people into hopelessness. Ours is the most hopeful story that can be told. And, we are called to love. Love is not just avoiding behaviors that are wrong, it is actively seeking out those that are alone and estranged so that they might experience God's abiding love with and through us. Through God's own Gospel story and God's own Gospel love, we can and will starve the seeds of hate planted all around us.

Dear Friends of the Redeemer,

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen. 

--A Prayer of St. Francis

Helpless. That is how I felt this morning when Faye woke me to the news of the invasion of Ukraine. A world away the great American enemy of my childhood, Russia, had once again made war on her neighbors. I thought of my Polish friends who still bear the scars of Russia's "influence." I thought of my distant Czech relatives on my father's side and wondered what they might be thinking. I thought of the men, women and children fleeing their homes in those eastern provinces being swallowed in Russia's reclamation of lands lost in the dissolution of the USSR. And I felt so helpless and in my helplessness I felt anger. But thanks be to God, I was reminded of the prayer that always finds me in my helplessness from the pen of St. Francis of Assisi. "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace..." 

While I cannot bring peace or a solution to what is happening in Ukraine or Russia, I can be reminded of those things all around me which are in need of peacemaking. Hatred, injury, doubt, despair, darkness and sadness? These were here long before this morning's terrible news. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the God-given grace of my baptism love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy are God's own weapons to meet them all. These I have in bountiful surplus! I need only pick them up, and so I am not helpless in the least.

And when we have finally exhausted all these weapons of God towards which St. Francis has beckoned and the Holy Spirit has gifted, I am reminded of Origen's words in Contra Celcus, "He [God] makes Himself known to those who, after doing all that their powers will allow, confess that they need help from Him..." When we have exhausted St. Francis's prayer, have faith, friends, that when we turn to God for help in our helplessness, God will make Godself known. And that, friends, is all we will ever need.

In Hope, Peacemaking and Prayer,

Mike+ 

I saw a funny internet meme a few days before the first of January that went something like this: I was looking forward to 2022 until I realized it's pronounced twenty twenty-too!

As we are about to enter our third year of the Pandemic, many of us are wondering out loud and often whether we are in for yet another year of divisive political rhetoric, conflicting and confusing public health advice, and long internet posts by high school friends apparently moonlighting as armchair epidemiologists and virologists thanks to extensive internet "research." I know the Pandemic is a serious matter, but when I've feared all I can fear and worried all I can worry, the last thing left to me is the impulse to laugh at it all.

And then, unbidden, I hear the 96th Psalm ringing in my head:

1. O SING unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the whole earth.
2. Sing unto the Lord, and praise his Name: be telling of his salvation from day to day.
3. Declare his honour unto the heathen: and his wonders unto all people.
4. For the Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised: he is more to be feared than all gods.
5. As for all the gods of the heathen, they are but idols: but it is the Lord that made the heavens.
6. Glory and worship are before him: power and honour are in his sanctuary.
7. Ascribe unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people: ascribe unto the Lord worship and power.
8. Ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his Name: bring presents, and come into his courts.
9. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
10. Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King: and that it is he who hath made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved; and how that he shall judge the people righteously.
11. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad: let the sea make a noise, and all that therein is.
12. Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord.
13. For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: and with righteousness to judge the world, and the people with his truth.

As much as our Pandemic predicament seems like a broken record in need of  constant lament, the Scriptures teach us of God's unparalleled steadfastness worthy of our attention, our proclamation, and a new song. The psalmist tells us that the whole of creation is singing God's praises and that as part of creation, we must join our song to theirs! If we get caught in yet another annual cycle of Pandemic confusion and lament instead of joining the songs of the heavens, the earth, the seas, the fields and the forests, we will miss out on knowing God. Our God's lovingkindness is louder and wiser than the confusion of the myriad would-be-wisdoms vying for our time and attention. This new year deserves a new song and so do we! Thanks be to God.