Remembering Kern Tips, by Gayle Davies-Cooley p. 4 Joan Chittister and Benedictine Spirituality p. 8

Acolytes at Trinity p. 14

The The

WWINDOWINDOW of Trinity Midtownof Trinity Midtown Michaelmas, 2016, VOL XXI, No. 3

2

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

Michaelmas, 2016 VOL XXI, No. 3 The Window of Trinity

Midtown, the official

newsletter of Trinity

Episcopal Church,

1015 Holman, Houston,

TX 77004, is published

seasonally.

The opinions expressed in

this publication are the

writers’ own and are not

necessarily the views of

Trinity Church, of the Dio-

cese of Texas, or of the

Episcopal Church.

The Most Reverend

Michael Curry

Presiding Bishop

The Right Reverend

C. Andrew Doyle

Bishop of Texas

The Rev. Hannah E.

Atkins, Rector

The Rev. Rich Houser

Associate Rector

Anna Goza

Senior Warden

Rhonda Rogers

Junior Warden

Charles Spruell

Photography

Mark Goza

Editor

Cover:

Give us today our daily

bread

The Window subscribes to

Church News Service

(CNS) by the Parish

Pump, Ltd., Alderley

Edge, Cheshire, England,

UK

In this Month’s Issue

Leading Column

From Your Rector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 3

Featured Articles

Mr. Football: Remembering Kern Tips

by Gayle Davies-Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 4

Sr. Joan Chittister and Benedictine Spirituality

by the Rev. Hannah E. Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 8

Cristosal: Victim Protection and Legal Assistance

by Noah Bullock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 10

I Didn’t Know I was Lost!

by the Rev. Preb. Richard Bewes . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 11

The Joy of the Ordinary

by the Rev. Canon David Winter . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 11

Terrorism: A Theological Perspective

by the Rev. Paul Hardingham. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 12

Nice 2016: Uncertainty and Hope

by the Ven. John Barton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 13

Acolytes at Trinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 14

Regular Columns

Parish Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 18

Major and Lesser Feasts and Fasts . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . p. 20

Arts and Culture

Cartoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 23

Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 25

Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 27

THE WINDOW OF Trinity Midtown

3

Michaelmas, 2016

This month I celebrated the

twentieth anniversary of my or-

dination to the priesthood and

the Episcopal Church cele-

brated the fortieth anniversary of the vote at

General Convention to allow the ordination

of women in our church. As part of the cele-

bration here at Trinity we will have The Rev.

Joy Carroll Wallis as our guest teacher at

the 9:30 Sunday Forum and preacher at all

three services on Sunday, September 25. The

Rev. Wallis is the author of the book The

Woman Behind the Collar and was a major

inspiration behind the BBC hit comedy sit-

com The Vicar of Dibley. I met her at the

Wild Goose festival at a gathering to discuss

what was dubbed, “The Stained Glass Ceil-

ing.” The festival is a Christian festival which

takes its name from the belief that the Holy

Spirit in Celtic theology was depicted and

referred to as a wild goose. On the holy

Scottish Island of Iona, you will see this repre-

sented in a beautifully designed Celtic knot

style goose that has become a trademark

of the Iona community. The Rev. Wallis is

President of the Board of the Wild Goose

Festival. The festival is set up with presenta-

tions on a wide variety of theological, evan-

gelical, liturgical, arts, justice and spirituality

themes which run all weekend long, once a

year. The stained glass ceiling discussion was

prompted by the lack of women candi-

dates on the slate for Presiding Bishop of the

Episcopal Church that year. Although we

had the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts

Schori as Presiding Bishop for a number of

years, during her tenure, very few women

were elected as Diocesan Bishops in the

United States, thus the lack of qualified can-

didates available for the slate for Presiding

Bishop. Our coming together to uphold

women’s gifts at that time resulted in this

fortuitous visit of Rev. Joy to Trinity at this

time.

I can’t help but want to share a little

of my journey and my story as I reflect on

two decades of ordained ministry. I was or-

dained a deacon in the diocese of New Jer-

sey during my Senior year at The General

Theological Seminary in New York City. My

Bishop had agreed to this unusual timing-

before I graduated- because I had done

well in my studies, passed the General Ordi-

nation Exams will flying colors, and primarily

because I was to be an appointed mission-

ary to the Diocese of El Salvador. El Salvador

needed priests, and so my early ordination

to the diaconate allowed me to be or-

dained shortly after I arrived in El Salvador

later that year. I was to be the first woman

ordained in the Diocese of El Salvador,

which gave me my fifteen minutes of fame

as “La Padra!” I had already lived in El Sal-

vador for two years studying at the Jesuit

University there, doing youth work at a local

Episcopal Church, leading bible study in a

small northern city in Chalatenango, and

helping to oversee International Observers

for the first elections after the civil war had

ended. I also had worked on taking testi-

mony for the UN Truth and Reconciliation

report, on registering women to vote and

other reinsertion projects of ex-combatants,

both government and guerrilla forces, back

into civilian life as per the arrangements of

the Peace Accords.

I worked in El Salvador the summer

before seminary, doubled up with classes

and Clinical Pastoral Education through the

first two semesters and first summer of semi-

nary, then went to work and study in El Sal-

vador for two years, and then went back to

New York to finish my seminary studies. I cur-

rently serve on the Alumni Executive Com-

mittee of my seminary, an interesting, unsta-

ble, and innovative time for seminary edu-

cation in the Episcopal Church. Here at Trin-

ity, under my tenure as Rector, we have

continued the tradition as a “calling’ parish.

Leaders, diverse in every way including

theologically, have been raised up from this

congregation to serve the wider church.

They have gone through discernment proc-

esses to test their call to the ordained minis-

try and they have been upheld and nur-

tured here.

It has been a joy and a privilege to

be part of the journey of all who are called -

lay and ordained, women and men - to

serve the God who loves us in El Salvador,

(Continued on page 18)

FROM YOUR RECTOR

The Rev. Hannah E. Atkins

4

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

One of the discoveries from my recent re-

search into the life of our third rector, the

Rev. Robert E. Lee Craig (1865-1916), is his

association to a well-known—some say fa-

mous—Houstonian, sportscaster Kern Tips

(1904-1967). Likely it is an association in

death only—the two probably never met—

because they are buried in the same plot at

Houston’s Glenwood Cemetery. How did

this come about?

As the recent article recounts, when

Mr. Craig died suddenly in August 1916 while

still rector of Trinity Church, parish leaders

insisted that he be buried in Houston instead

of his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. Ap-

parently, the parish purchased an entire plot

(often eight graves), not just a gravesite,

and it was put in the name of Mr. Craig’s

widow, Beatrice McWillie Craig (1876-1965).

Parish leaders probably assumed at the time

that Mrs. Craig would want to be buried

there, and that their daughter, Elizabeth

(1899-1995), then a high-school senior,

would stay in Houston, marry, have children

and want to be buried there as well. How-

ever, Elizabeth returned to Jackson after

college, in about 1926, and never married.

After thirty years in Huntsville, Texas, as head

librarian at Sam Houston State University,

Beatrice returned to Jackson in 1946. Both

Beatrice and Elizabeth are buried in Jack-

son’s Greenwood Cemetery. So who was to

utilize the additional graves at Glenwood

Cemetery?

It happened that Beatrice’s sister

and her family also moved to Houston

about the time that Mr. Craig was rector.

Margaret McWillie Tucker (1882-1968) and

her husband, Jay Wilfred Tucker (d. 1944),

had two children, son Jay, Jr., (1904-1959)

and daughter, Nancy (1906-1990). The fam-

ily attended Trinity Church for many years. It

is Margaret, Nancy, and Nancy’s first hus-

band, Kern Tips, buried in the plot with Mr.

Craig. Since Glenwood Cemetery’s records

still have title to the plot in Beatrice’s name,

it is possible that the sisters agreed to the

burial arrangement.

So, who was Kern Tips? Despite his

having died forty-nine years ago, there still

are a number of people who remember

him, and sportscasters who were influenced

by him in style and other ways that they de-

veloped their craft. Depending on key-

words, an online search can produce thou-

sands of hits in a quest for Kern Tips. Univer-

sity of North Texas’s Portal to Texas History,

an online collection of rare, historical, and

primary source materials, reveals 1,760

documents related to Kern Tips. Many hits

seem to be simply references to Tips—later

generations of sportscasters citing him as

their ideal, for example—rather than articles

about him. He seemed to be highly re-

spected during his lifetime and remembered

fondly after his death. Since one of his nick-

names was “Mr. Football,” as we begin foot-

ball season of 2016, what better time of year

to recall this well-known native son?

According to The Handbook of Texas

Mr. Football:

Remembering Kern Tips by Gayle Davies-Cooley

Glenwood Cemetery plot that Trinity Church pur-

chased for Rev. R. E. L. Craig's final resting place in

August 1916. Kern Tips' grave is one of three in the

foreground. Note anniversary memorial wreath on

Craig's grave in background.

5

Michaelmas, 2016

Online, Kern Tips was born in

Houston on August 23, 1904, to

Robert Tips and Mary Kern Tips.

Both of his parents’ families

were early Houston residents. His

paternal grandmother was born

in the Republic of Texas; his Ger-

man paternal grandfather

fought for the Confederacy in

Company B, 1st Texas Mounted

Rifles, during the Civil War.

His maternal grand-

mother’s family settled in Brazo-

ria County, between the Brazos

River and Oyster Creek, in the

early 1830s. Her father was an

early Baptist preacher in Texas,

having brought his family there

from Tennessee. He joined the

Texian army and fought in the

Battle of San Jacinto as the

family escaped, abandoning

their home in April 1836 during

the Runaway Scrape when

Santa Anna’s troops marched

through the area. By 1841, the

family had resettled in Houston.

One of his daughters (Kern Tips’

great aunt) married Anson

Jones, the last president of the

Republic of Texas. She served

as the first president of the

Daughters of the Republic of

Texas (1891-1907).

Kern Tips received his college edu-

cation from Texas A&M University and Rice

Institute (now University). While at Rice (1924

-1926), Tips was the sports editor for The

Thresher, the campus newspaper. During his

time at Rice, he was a sports reporter for The

Houston Chronicle, where he served as

sports editor from 1926 to 1934. In 1935 he

became general manager of KPRC radio,

serving in that position through 1946. From

1947 to 1966, Kern Tips was an advertising

agency executive (his firm merged in 1954

with McCann-Erikson).

But Tips was most well-known and

identified as a radio sportscaster, a career

that also began in 1926 (probably at KTRH),

while he was at the Chronicle. His fame as a

sportscaster came through his association

with the Humble Oil and

Refining Company (now

Exxon Mobil) football

radio broadcasts of

Southwest Conference

games. These broad-

casts began in 1934 with

the airing of Rice games

from its then small sta-

dium, as a way to allow

people that could not

get tickets to hear the

games. Humble Oil

soon aired the games of

all eight conference

schools.

Tips was hired as

a Humble Oil football

announcer in 1935 and

became an immediate

hit. Already surveys

showed that football

broadcasts were the

most popular radio pro-

grams in Texas. The

shows were broadcast

overseas to Americans

in the armed services.

Eventually this popularity

translated into television

in 1948. Through it all,

Kern Tips brought the

excitement of football

games into Texas homes

and beyond for thirty-two seasons. Tips be-

came known as the “Voice of the Southwest

Conference.” He is still remembered for his

lively vernacular: a “malfunction at the junc-

tion” was the fumble of a hand-off between

a quarterback and a running back. Ac-

cording to one report, in a broadcast booth

Tips taped index cards filled with his many

phrases to the window in front of him as he

announced a game.

In an interview for University of Texas’

The Alcalde, famous CBS journalist and an-

chor Walter Cronkite remembered Kern Tips.

Cronkite was a high-school student at San

Jacinto High School (now central campus of

Houston Community College, near Trinity

Church) while Tips was a young professional

at KTRH. Cronkite recalled that Tips devel-

Kern Tips in front of his family's house in

Houston. (Posted online by his grand-

daughter, Meredith Tips-McLaine)

6

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

oped a rapid delivery style by pasting to-

gether pages of a script end-to-end into a

scroll. That way, he wouldn’t waste time

turning pages. Cronkite was interested in

the technique and observed Tips at work a

few times. The then-retired news anchor

noted that Tips eventually became a leg-

end in Texas for his Humble Oil football

broadcasts.

Tips’ last broadcast was of the Blue-

bonnet Bowl game in December 1966. After

his death the following summer, a Humble

Oil vice president observed, “His association

with our company spanned a third of a cen-

tury. He pioneered the broadcasting of

Southwest Conference football games and

became one of the nation’s greatest and

most memorable sports commentators.

Kern Tips was not only a fine communicator,

but was outstanding as an individual and as

a citizen.”

Tips distinguished himself in numerous

ways. His article in The Handbook of Texas

Online states that he served as an advisor to

the War Department and as Harris County

director of the Office of Civilian Defense

(appointed by County Judge Roy Hofheinz)

during World War II. He served on various

broadcast boards of directors. In 1959 he

received the first award of the Texas Asso-

ciation of Broadcasting Executives for being

the professional who had contributed the

most to radio and television. The Southwest

Football Officials Association (now Texas As-

sociation of Sports Officials) recognized Tips

with the only (as of 1967) award for distin-

guished service to the sport. For five con-

secutive years, Tips was voted as Texas

Sportscaster of the Year.

Kern Tips emphasized to students

and others that he mentored the impor-

tance of knowing how to write about sports

before learning how to broadcast them. He

practiced what he preached early in his ca-

reer at Rice and at the Chronicle. In 1964,

the fiftieth anniversary of the Southwest

Conference’s founding, he became author

Kern Tips, center holding paper, meets with his

Southwest Conference announcing staff in 1954

regarding broadcast rule changes.

Kern Tips at an undated Rotary International

event. (Houston Metropolitan Research Center,

Houston Public Library,

RGD 0005-F7490-01 Houston Press Collection)

7

Michaelmas, 2016

of

a

book with the publication of Football Texas

Style: An Illustrated History of the Southwest

Conference.

Kern Tips died of cancer on August 3,

1967. Although his wife and children (son

Robert Kern Tips and daughter Nancy Mar-

garet Tips Jones) were active members,

there is no evidence that he was a member

of Trinity Church. According to parish re-

cords, Tips’ family of origin was associated

with Christian Science. However, he and his

wife were married at Trinity Church in Febru-

ary 1928. And his funeral was conducted at

the church on August 5, 1967, with a large

congregation in attendance. He then be-

came the second person interred in the

cemetery plot purchased by the parish for

Mr. Craig. His mother-in-law, Margaret

McWillie Tucker, died the following year and

was also buried there.

Tips’ widow, Nancy Tucker Tips, re-

married in 1969. Like Kern Tips, her second

husband, Herman Frank Grotte (1904-2001),

was an advertising executive. They were

both active members of Trinity Church, she

from 1918 and he from 1937. In 1973 they

co-chaired (with three others) the church’s

eightieth anniversary gala at the Shamrock

Hotel. In 1979, Herman Grotte became

president of the Trinity Endowment Board

and oversaw dramatic growth of the fund

by 1982, when he resigned the office.

Nancy and Herman were together until her

death in 1990, when she was buried next to

her mother and first husband in the Craig

plot.

Nancy Tucker Tips Grotte and Herman Grotte at

Trinity Episcopal Church 80th anniversary

celebration, September 1973.

Football Texas Style was written by Kern

Tips and published in 1964.

Graves of Kern Tips; his wife, Nancy Tucker Tips

Grotte; and his mother-in-law, Margaret McWillie

Tucker.

8

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

Joan Chittister’s The Rule of

Benedict: A Spirituality for the

21st Century takes a look at

the writings of St. Benedict

and his influence on the

Church in general. Benedic-

tine spirituality also had great

influence on the Anglican

and Episcopal Church and

the structure of the Book of

Common Prayer (BCP). He

puts his emphasis on four as-

pects of a holy life. The first of

these he refers to as opus dei,

which is Latin for the Work of

God, and for Benedict this

Work is prayer, and especially

prayer in community. Life ac-

cording to the Rule of Bene-

dict incorporates physical

work, that is manual labor, for up to six hours

a day, followed by up to four hours of spiri-

tual reading, and then a number of hours of

prayer. The fourth element of his spirituality

was sharing all things. In the United States

there are a large number of Episcopal

Churches that are named for St. Benedict,

and his influence on our Book of Common

Prayer has been noted.

In the Book of Common Prayer you’ll

see that there are Daily Offices for use at

home or in church. One of the big changes

introduced was to take the Rule of Life, that

was the treasure of religious community, out

into the people’s individual homes and fam-

ily units. Giving access to the spiritual treas-

ure to the common people for communal

use (thus the term “common prayer”) was

revolutionary in its day. Morning, midday

and evening prayer are all really based on

the influence of St. Benedict’s Rule of Life. St.

Benedict did not initially set out to establish

an order of monks, but rather to establish an

orderly rule that allowed people to dedi-

cate their lives to the most im-

portant things: work, because

it’s necessary, and also good

for the mind, body and soul;

reading, because it leads to

rational thinking; prayer, be-

cause that is the work of the

community; and the common

life, or the sharing or holding

“everything in common” that

he felt was essential in a Chris-

tian community. When you

read through the Rule of St.

Benedict, you realize how very

dated it is in some ways. There

are things that don’t translate

well to the twenty-first century,

partly because life is no longer

as insular, but also thankfully

because we no longer would

consider using corporal punishment to deal

with an excommunicated person as a vi-

able option!

Benedict of Nursia is a Christian Saint,

venerated in the Eastern Orthodox, Roman

Catholic, the Oriental Orthodox, the Angli-

can Communion, and the Old Catholic

Churches. Benedict is the patron saint of

Europe, and of students. Although it was not

his original intention to establish an order

that carried his name, Benedict did eventu-

ally found twelve communities of monks in

Italy. The Order of St. Benedict was estab-

lished later as a confederation of autono-

mous congregations. His main achievement

that reverberates to this day is his Rule of

Life.

This book is Joan Chittister’s com-

mentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, and it

incorporates stories from her experience in

ecumenical, worldwide movements. She

writes commentary and gives a modern per-

spective, and it’s really beautiful because it

is so close to her heart. She seeks not so

Books

Sr. Joan Chittister and

Benedictine Spirituality by the Rev. Hannah E. Atkins

9

Michaelmas, 2016

much to explain away some of the things

that don’t speak to us in this day and age,

but rather to draw it out what is essential so

that Benedict’s wording won’t be an obsta-

cle to engaging with the basis of the Rule

and the community. That basis is really to

dedicate your life to God in a way that’s

meaningful. So, how do we do that when

we work more than six hours a

day, don’t have four hours a day

to read, we don’t have eight

hours a day to pray: That’s what

she’s grappling with in this book.

This book is organized for

daily prayer usage as well. The

Rule, and Sister Joan’s commen-

tary on it, is divided into four sec-

tions with three months each, so

that you read it three times each

year. It’s organized in such a

way to account for the fact that

by May, for example, you may

not remember what you read in

January. The Table of Contents

comes straight out of the Rule.

Our BCP is also set up to read the

daily offices, in their entirety every day, and

there is a shorter version in the BCP called

“Daily Devotions for Individuals and Fami-

lies,” on p. 136, for those days when there

really isn’t time to read the entire daily office

along with the lectionary readings. The daily

devotions follow the basic structure of the

daily offices of the Church, and are in the

morning, at noon, in the early evening, and

at the close of day. This follows pretty closely

the times that the monks would follow, ex-

cept the monks would get up really early in

the morning for prayer! The BCP offers a

good format for our busy lives.

There are some features in Sister

Joan’s book that stand out as you go

through the daily devotionals: I like the Pro-

logue, which begins January 1, where we

read Sister Joan’s response to Benedict’s

call to obedience, in which she says that

Benedict’s Rule is part of the Wisdom Litera-

ture genre, and she concludes, “Life is not a

series of events to be controlled; life is a way

of walking through the universe whole and

holy.” From the chapter on humility, in which

Benedict calls upon us not to exalt but to

humble ourselves, Sister Joan responds that

the preservation of the world in the 21st Cen-

tury requires nothing less than a commit-

ment to the Rule of Benedict to humility. The

centrality of the role of humility to the prob-

lems of this world today is based upon the

consideration that humility is not about hu-

miliation or denying the self, it’s really about

a strength of character that toler-

ates difference, that tolerates

questions, and that acknowl-

edges that God is in charge.

Humility is not self-

abasement; it does not imply sub-

jecting oneself to an abusive

situation; what it does entail is

seeing oneself as a part of a

greater whole, and of sharing

ones’ gifts with that larger

whole. I think of April singing at

the 12:30 service: It’s not self-

aggrandizing; it’s a sharing of her

gifts that brings everybody in to

join in raising a musical offering to

God. This is the reason that we

have the community gather for

prayer; even in the privacy of your own

home, when you’re part of a community

you know that others are praying with you,

even if you can’t get to church on Sunday.

I want to recommend an address by

the Bishop of Gloucester (England), the Rt.

Rev. Michael Perham, on the subject of St.

Benedict and Anglican worship. I have cop-

ies of the address that I would be happy to

share, or you can access it online at this

website:

https://www.google.com/url?

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&

cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwii-

eeJoZzPA-

hUNzmMKHYqhCE4QFggkMAE&url=http%

3A%2F%2Fstpaulsparish.org%2Feducation%

2Fdocuments%

2F021_benedict.pdf&usg=AFQjCNE08GGK8

pakSd7ynOgLvGIVWUokeg

I would also recommend attending

Sister Joan’s upcoming lecture series at

Christ Church Cathedral. Information about

this series can be found in this edition of the

Window on p. 16.

10

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

Cristosal

Cristosal Unites NGOs to Ad-

dress Central American Issues

at Annual UNHCR

Consultations in Geneva

Victim Protection and Legal As-

sistance

Working in Crystosal’s office this

month, there has been an

abundance of Turkish Delights

and Swedish Chocolates thanks

to Cristosal's Director, Noah,

and his participation in a string

of international meetings this

past month, most recently at

the 2016 UNHCR NGO Consulta-

tions in Geneva, Switzerland.

At the 2015 UNHCR NGO Consulta-

tions, there was near invisibility of Central

American issues, with professionals from the

Americas excluded from key roles in the the-

matic and plenary sessions. In response, Cris-

tosal and its regional partners organized a

coalition of 44 NGOs called the Regional

Coordinating Group (GAR). The GAR

worked throughout 2015 to create a robust

agenda for this year’s consultations, and left

Geneva with concrete agreements for fol-

low-up with the UNHCR. The next step is to

consolidate the plan for a regional bi-lateral

conference between NGOs and the UNHCR

that Cristosal will host in San Salvador in No-

vember of this year.

All this travel, including Cristosal's

participation in June at the World Humani-

tarian Summit in Istanbul, is not business as

usual, but rather an indication of the global

community's attempts to fix a humanitarian

field shouldering the greatest workload it

has seen in 60 years. In its latest Global

Trends report, the UNHCR reports that to-

day 1 in every 113 people glob-

ally is now either an asylum-

seeker, internally displaced or a

refugee – a level of risk for which

the UNHCR knows no precedent.

The age of grand intra-

state wars has given way to

complex multi-actor conflicts.

Today refugee and IDP camps

are fading as refugees join mi-

grant flows to find protection

their states and their host states

fail to guarantee. Modern con-

flicts are lasting longer, are more

frequent and recurring, and du-

rable solutions less available. This

is characteristic of Central America where

last year there were 17,500 violent deaths in

Central America’s Northern Triangle (El Sal-

vador, Guatemala and Honduras), and an

estimated 1 million people displaced by vio-

lence in the NTCA and Southern Mexico in

2015.

It is not clear how the international

community will resolve conflict and safe-

guard lives in the future, but hopefully, this is

the early stage of a historic shift to build new

agreements and processes to secure

peace, stability, and humanity in a much

changed world. During this historic shift, Cris-

tosal has found a role as a global and re-

gional leader. Thanks in large part to our in-

dependent support base that permits Cristo-

sal to try, fail, learn and revise, Cristosal has

gained global recognition for carrying out its

mandate to advance human rights in Cen-

tral America, proposing novel solutions to

protect and empower the region's most vul-

nerable populations to claim their rights on

a global stage.

Cristosal's Chief Program Officer,

Celia Medrano, introducing

"Testimonies of Forced Displace-

ment Among Children Adoles-

cents and Youth in El Salvador"

11

Michaelmas, 2016

“Rejoice with me; I have found my lost

sheep” (Luke 15:6) In this famous fifteenth

chapter of Luke, Jesus’ parable of the lost

sheep, the lost coin and the lost prodigal

son, was basically making a single point –

the steadfast determination of the eternal

Father to do everything possible to find and

recover every stray individual – even if they

were taken by surprise at His seeking love.

Years ago I was leading a hospital

ward service one Sunday morning, with a

little team around me. It was still politically

okay to do so in those days! All I could see

of one patient was a newspaper, firmly held

up – and a thin spiral of cigarette smoke

that drifted up from behind the paper. Yes,

back then it was still permitted to smoke in a

hospital ward!

Two days later I went visiting in the

same ward, bed to bed. And there was the

patient – a woman in her early thirties. “So

you’re the one who was speaking on Sun-

day morning!” she exclaimed. “I never

looked in your direction once; I was deter-

mined to hide behind my paper and my

cigarette. But I was listening all the time. And

every word you said was for me. I want now

to follow what you were talking about. How

do I get started?”

This is the wonder of God’s ways with

us. Jesus Christ is the Shepherd; out on the

hills looking, working, seeking for that one

sheep that is missing from the safety of

God’s fold. And when, by the message of

His sacrificial love, that single ‘lost’ one is re-

claimed, the angels are aglow with joy. Je-

sus said so.

W h a t h a p -

pened to the other

patients that Sunday

morning? Who can

tell? But Heaven itself

was lit up that day

over just one.

The Joy of the Ordinary:

Musings on the Church

Calendar

by the Rev. Canon David Winter

For those who attend to such ecclesiastical

details, the Church is now in what it calls the

‘Ordinary Season’. It doesn’t mean it’s going

to be bland, boring or predictable in church

at the moment (or at any rate, no more

than usual), but that following Pentecost

and Trinity Sunday, there are no great festi-

vals of the faith to celebrate until we get to

Advent, and that’s not till the end of No-

vember. For a few months, we can forget

the high days and holidays and simply con-

centrate on, well, being ‘ordinary’.

Personally, I find that rather encour-

aging. All my life I’ve been a person who

enjoys the ordinary. Even on holidays which

I’ve enjoyed, I’ve secretly looked forward to

getting home and picking up the familiar

routine. The dictionary defines ‘ordinary’ as

‘with no distinctive features, normal, usual’.

Well, I think everyday, ordinary, normal,

usual life still includes plenty of ‘distinctive

features’ – surprises, too.

To me an impressive feature of the

biblical gospels is how normal and ordinary

most of it seems. Yes, there are those mighty

acts of power which we call miracles, but

the setting of them is about as ‘ordinary’ as

you could get: a cattle-shed, a lakeside, a

fishing boat, a garden, a little girl’s bed-

room, a wedding party.

It’s in the rich raw world of the ordi-

nary that God does wonderful things, just as

it’s in the routine of daily life that kind words

are spoken, the sick healed, the sad com-

forted. I’m sometimes more aware of God in

these ‘ordinary’ settings than in the extraor-

dinary splendor of a great cathedral. Long

live the ‘ordinary!’

I didn’t know I was lost!

One of Jesus’ most poignant

stories by the Rev. Preb. Richard Bewes

12

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

Fifteen years ago, on Sept 11, 2001, terrorist

attacks demolished the Twin Towers in New

York. They killed 2,996 people and injured

more than 6,000. Events like 9/11 raise the

inevitable question: Why does God allow

such suffering to take place?

There are no easy answers to this

question! We cannot fully understand why

such things happen, although we live in a

fallen world, where people make real

choices. Yet the Bible affirms that God iden-

tifies with our suffering, supremely when Je-

sus experienced suffering and death.

It is on the Cross that God knows

what it is to lose a loved one in an unjust at-

tack. ‘I could never myself believe in God if

it were not for the Cross. In the real world of

pain, how could one worship a God who

was immune to it?’ (John Stott). What does

this mean? We cannot know why God al-

lows evil and suffering to continue, but we

do know that He does love and care for us:

‘For God so loved the world that He gave

His one and only Son, that whoever believes

in Him shall not perish but have eternal

life.’ (John 3:16). God loved us enough to

fully engage with the mess of the world.

We also can view such events in the

light of resurrection. Jesus said: ‘I am the

Resurrection and the Life. The one who be-

lieves in Me will live’ (John 11:25). Resurrec-

tion points to the restoration for us of the life

we lost. New heavens and new earth point

to a world and relationships restored and

perfected! In The Lord of the Rings, Sam

Gamgee exclaims: ‘Gandalf! I thought you

were dead! But then I thought I was dead! Is

everything sad going to come untrue?’ The

answer of the Bible is Yes!

Nehemiah’s Call

Our news is regularly filled with re-

ports of terrorism, famine and injustice. The

danger is that the world’s problems no

longer impact us. The story of Nehemiah

shows us that if we are close to God’s heart,

we will feel His pain over the state of the

world.

The story begins in 445 BC, when Ne-

hemiah was cupbearer to Artaxerxes, the

Persian king in Susa. He received disturbing

news from home: ‘The wall of Jerusalem is

broken down, and its gates have been

burned with fire...For some days I mourned

and fasted and prayed before the God of

heaven.’ (Nehemiah 1: 2,4).

God called Nehemiah to go beyond

simply feeling sorrow over the walls of Jeru-

salem. While understanding the need, Nehe-

miah also appreciated that he had to do

something about it. His story tells how he led

the people to rebuild the broken-down walls

in just 52 days. However, this was part of the

longer process of rebuilding a broken-down

people, to restore their identity and purpose

as God’s people.

It began with an extended period of

prayer lasting 4 months (from December till

March: 1:1 & 2:1). Nehemiah prayed for the

king’s help: ‘Give your servant success to-

day by granting him favour in the presence

of this man.’ (1:11). In the needs that con-

front us, what is God asking us to do? Obvi-

ously we can’t fix all the problems in our

world, but we can be part of God’s work of

rebuilding and restoring broken lives and

families, broken churches and communities.

Nehemiah shows us that a need be-

comes a call when the issue starts to matter

to us, and we commit to pray about it.

‘What a man is on his knees before God -

that is what he is and no more.’ (Robert

Murray M'Cheyne)

Terrorism: A Theological

Perspective by the Rev. Paul Hardingham

13

Michaelmas, 2016

If the audience at the First Night of the

Proms this year had not heard the national

news broadcasts that day, they would have

been startled by an unscheduled addition

to the program. It opened with a rousing

rendition of the French National Anthem.

Scores of unsuspecting holiday-

makers in the French resort of Nice had

been mown down by a fanatical truck

driver; his was the latest in a chain of massa-

cres perpetrated by Islamists in Europe and

beyond. Ironically, it was Bastille Day, com-

memorating French unity. The playing of the

“Marseillaise” in London’s Royal Albert Hall

was a demonstration of solidarity with

French people everywhere and a defiant

message of hope.

Church leaders the world over pub-

lished their prayers the next day. An Angli-

can chaplain based near Nice said, “Prayer

is the thing. We can’t do anything tangible

or practical in support of the security service

apart from our own vigilance . . . but we do

have a very strong and a very powerful

thing that we can do . . . and that is prayer .

. . because with faith we trust in God’s love

and mercy for those who have died, but for

the families left behind this is a most terrible

time from which many may not recover.”

Terrorist acts of this kind are moti-

vated by a deadly combination of false

faith with hatred. No one is risk-free, and the

nations’ leaders are hard-pressed to safe-

guard their people. St. Paul’s advice to

Timothy has never been more apt: “I urge

that … prayers… be offered to God for all in

authority, that we may live a quiet and

peaceful life with all reverence towards God

and with proper conduct.”

We must be on our guard, but also

trust God. In Nice churchyard is the grave of

Henry Lyte, the writer of the hymn, “Abide

with Me,” which encourages us to disarm

our fears by expressing confidence in God’s

purposes:

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide

The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide

When other helpers fail and comforts flee

Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day

Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away

Change and decay in all around I see

O thou who changest not, abide with me

I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless

Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness

Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy

victory?

I triumph still, if thou abide with me

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes

Shine through the gloom and point me to

the skies

Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain

shadows flee

In life, in death, o Lord, abide with me

Abide with me, abide with me,

Nice, 2016: Uncertainty and Hope by the Ven. John Barton

14

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

On September 11, 2016, Aloha Sunday, the

Trinity Acolyte Corps was recognized at the

10:30 Service, and John Cloud was pre-

sented with a mounted retired altar linen as

a memento of his many years of service as

Acolyte Master, in which role he continues

to serve our parish and enrich the lives of all

the members of our Acolyte Corps.

In many Christian denominations, an

acolyte is anyone who performs ceremonial

duties such as lighting altar candles. In Angli-

can churches – such as the Episcopal

Church of the United States, the Church in

Wales, the Church of England, the Scottish

Episcopal Church – altar servers are often

called acolytes and can be of either sex

and any age (although usually no younger

than ten).

An acolyte can assist in worship by

carrying a processional cross, lighting can-

dles, holding the Gospel book, holding can-

dles or "torches," assisting a deacon or priest

set up and clean up at the altar, swinging a

censer or thurible or carrying the incense

boat, handing the offering plates to ushers,

and many other tasks as seen fit by the

priest or acolyte warden.

In Anglo-Catholic churches acolytes

commonly wear cassock and cotta, and in

less Anglo-Catholic churches commonly

cassock-alb with girdle. A girdle is usually

a twisted rope with knots on the ends

which is secured round the waist; it may

be white or of the liturgical color. Wearing

crosses or other special pins or symbols is

the prerogative of the individual church.

In some more 'traditional' parishes,

the acolytes are ranked as they develop

their abilities to serve: Trainees, Junior Aco-

lytes, Senior Acolytes, and Acolytes of

Merit. In others, the functions of acolytes

are performed without vestments, and

without significant formal training by per-

sons available in the parish. In other par-

ishes, Acolytes are referred to according

to the roles they perform. e.g. Gospel

Bearer, Crucifer and Thurifer, together with

Left and Right Torches.

At Trinity we have youth acolytes,

who serve three Sundays a month, and two

teams of adult acolytes, one of which serves

one Sunday a month and as needed for

special services. All youth who are interested

in participating in this very fulfilling ministry

should contact Acolyte Master John Cloud

at jcloud@swbell.net

Acolytes in the Episcopal Church

and at Trinity

15

Michaelmas, 2016

October 14-15, 2016 at Christ Episcopal Church Cathedral, Houston

Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday, October 14th

Programs continue Saturday, October 15th with registration beginning at 8:15 a.m.

Register on-line at http://faithandreason.org/index.php/main/seminar/spirituality-self-

society or call 800-882-7424 to register.

Joan Chittister, OSB (The Order of St. Benedict) is coming to Houston in October 14 and 15, 2016, for three public lectures on the theme, "Spirituality, Self and Society." Chittister will be presented by Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral, The Bishop John E. Hines Center for Spirituality and Prayer, and The D. L. Dykes, Jr. Foundation. In addition, sponsoring congregations and communities will include St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Grace Episcopal Church, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, Covenant Church, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Plymouth United Church (UCC), Trinity Episcopal Church, Covenant Baptist Church, Foundation for Contemporary Theology, and The Joe B. and Louise P. Cook

Foundation.

Sr. Joan will base the three lectures on her latest book, The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century. Lecture titles are: "Compassion: The Glue of Society"; "An Uncommon Case for A Common Good"; and "The Role of the Public Intellectual in a

Just Democracy."

Each of Chittister's lectures will be followed by audience conversations and responses by four responders representing the Wisdom literature in Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. All lectures will be in the Nave of Christ Church Cathedral,

1117 Texas Avenue, Houston 77002.

17

Michaelmas, 2016

18

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

By mayoral proclamation, Sept. 6 was Rev.

Hannah Atkins Day in Houston, in honor of her 20

years of ordained ministry, and 9 years of service

at Trinity Midtown!

Parish Life

Washington, D.C. and in Houston. Thank you

for celebrating with me and continuing on

the journey! You really surprised me with that

Mayor’s Proclamation of September 6th as

Reverend Hannah Atkins Day in Houston. Let

us continue to proclaim the love, mercy, jus-

tice, inclusion, and grace of God together in

this great city responding to God's call on our

lives with a resounding, "yes!"

(From Your Rector, continued from page 3)

19

Michaelmas, 2016

Trinity Youth spent one week in Costa Rica on a mission trip this summer. Upon their return, they

were awarded their mission t-shirts during the 10:30 service at church!

Trinity continued a back to school tradition this year by offering blessings for students’ , and adults’, bags

and backpacks.

20

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

September 24 St

Gerard Sagredo –

church planting in the

11th century

It’s amazing how little

some things change

down the centuries.

Take the life of

Gerard Sagredo, for

instance. He left his

‘comfort zone’ of

home and church

because he felt

God’s calling on his

life. He travelled abroad, and taught in or-

der to earn his living in a non-Christian coun-

try. In his spare time he shared his faith with

the people he met, and gradually some

were converted. Soon he had ‘planted’ a

little church.

Gerard’s life sounds like that of a

western missionary in parts of the develop-

ing world today. In fact, he was an 11th

century monk from Venice. He was the prior

of San Giorgio Maggiore, but gave up the

security in order to attempt the pilgrimage

to Jerusalem. But God stopped Gerard

when he reached Hungary, for King Stephen

not only welcomed him, but pressed him to

become tutor to his son.

Gerard agreed, and soon he had

converted a group of people around him. In

those days monks didn’t just plant churches

– they planted entire ‘sees’ of the church,

and so the see of Csanad was established,

with Gerard as its first bishop.

But the problems of then and now

seem surprisingly similar. Gerard Sagredo

worked in the face of growing hostility from

local people of other faiths, and half-

hearted commitment from some of his own

converts. Nearly 1,000 years later, Christian

missionaries all over the world are still facing

the same two struggles.

Sadly, the next bit of the story is also

all too familiar: King

Stephen died, and

the new people in

power hated Chris-

tians. In 1038 persecu-

tion began. In 1046

Gerard was attacked

in the street, and

stoned. A lance was

thrust through him. His

body was then hurled

into the Danube.

Gerard Sagredo had

become a martyr of

the Persecuted Church.

The non-Christians killed Gerard that

day, but they did not kill Christianity. In the

years to come many more thousands of

Christians would die, while the church grew,

not shrank. Meanwhile, Venice paid hom-

age to her first ever martyr by translating

some of his relics back to the island of Mu-

rano in 1333.

October 2 Guardian Angels –

keeping an eye on us

The teaching of Jesus encourages us to be-

lieve in guardian angels. He once said, ‘See

that you do not look down on one of these

little ones. For I tell you that their angels in

heaven always see the face of my Father in

heaven.’ (Matthew 18:10)

The existence of angels was sug-

gested in various Old Testament texts, Jesus

mentioned them explicitly, and the early

Christians accepted their existence and

work (Acts 12:15).

In England, devotion to the angels,

both in Anglo-Saxon times and later, was

strong. In modern times, the great Ameri-

can evangelist Billy Graham has written an

entire book on the existence and work of

angels.

Alcuin described them as interces-

sors (in the 11th century Leofric Missal); Her-

MAJOR AND LESSER FEASTS AND FASTS This year The Window will continue to look at the major and lesser

feasts and fasts of the Church year.

21

Michaelmas, 2016

bert of Losinga, Bishop of Norwich (d 1119)

specially praised them, and his contempo-

rary, Reginald of Canterbury, wrote prayers

in their honor.

Honorius Augustodunenis (d 1151)

clarified the existing belief of the time by

asserting that each human soul, when in-

fused into the body, is entrusted to the par-

ticular care of a single angel, who protects

both body and soul and offers prayers to

God.

For many centuries Christendom was

satisfied with the feast of St. Michael (and all

Angels), but the special feast of the Guard-

ian Angels was introduced in Austria, Spain

and Portugal in the 15th – 16th centuries.

Guardian Angels were then seen as guardi-

ans of particular towns or regions, or of each

individual. Pope Clement X made the feast

day universal in 1607, fixing its date to Octo-

ber 2.

October 4 St. Francis of Assisi –

love for the Creation

St. Francis (1181 - 1226) is surely one of the

most attractive and best-loved of all the

saints. But he began by being anything but

a saint. Born the son of a wealthy cloth-

merchant of Assisi, Francis’ youth was spent

in fast-living, parties and on fast horses as a

leader of the young society of the town.

Then he went to the war between Assisi and

Perugia, and was taken prisoner for a year.

By the time of his release, Francis had

changed. Perhaps his own suffering had

awakened him to that of others. In any

case, he abandoned warfare and carous-

ing, and began to help the poor and the

lepers of his area. Then one day a voice

which seemed to come from the crucifix in

the small, semi-derelict church of Damiano

Assisi ‘Go and repair my house, which you

see is falling down’.

This religious experience was a vital

turning point in Francis’ life: Jesus Christ be-

came very real and immediate to him. His

first action was to begin repairing the

church, having sold some of his father’s

cloth to pay for materials. His father was not

amused, in fact he was furious - until Francis

renounced his inheritance and even his

clothes by his dramatic stripping off in the

public square of the town. The Bishop of

Assisi provided him with simple garments,

and Francis began his new life.

His inspiration was always religious,

not social, and the object of his quest was

always the Crucified Christ, not Lady Poverty

for her own sake. Francis rebuilt San

Samiano, and then travelled as a pilgrim. His

compassion for the poor and lepers be-

came famous. Soon disciples joined him,

and they set up a communal life in simple

wattle and daub huts. They went on occa-

sional preaching tours. (Not until later did

they become an Order whose theologians

won fame in the Universities.)

In 1219 Francis visited the Holy Land,

and his illusions about the Crusaders were

shattered. He went on to seek out the Sul-

tan, and tried to convert him. Back home,

he found his Order was now 5,000 strong,

and growing. Francis stepped down as

head, but continued to preach and was

immensely popular. He died after a pro-

longed illness at 45, and was canonised in

1228.

Francis’ close rapport with the ani-

mal creation was well known. The story of

his preaching to the birds has always been a

favourite scene from his life. He also tamed

the wolf of Gubbio. This affinity emphasises

his consideration for, and sense of identity

with, all elements of the physical universe, as

seen in his Canticle of the Sun. This makes

him an apt patron of nature conservation.

22

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

23

Michaelmas, 2016

The city of St Albans in

Hertfordshire is today

home to thousands of

London commuters. Its

history is as a thriving

market town and its

magnificent abbey ca-

thedral is world famous.

Nearby are the remains

of the town the Romans

knew as Verulamium - an

important stopping-off

point on Watling Street,

the road to the north.

Sometime during

the Roman occupation,

before Christianity was adopted as the offi-

cial religion of the empire, Christians suffered

much cruel persecution. Alban, or Albanus,

is said to have been a Roman soldier who

sheltered a Christian priest in his home. He

was so struck by the priest’s faith and godli-

ness that he asked to be instructed in the

faith and to be baptized.

When soldiers came to arrest the

priest, Alban put on the priest’s cloak, hid his

face and allowed himself to be taken. When

the local governor realized the deception,

he instructed Alban to worship the pagan

gods. Alban refused, though he knew that

to defy the governor and deny the pagan

gods meant certain death.

Alban was taken in chains to the

place of execution, but on the way he had

to cross a river. His way was blocked by the

crowds who had come to witness his end.

He prayed that the river would dry up so

that he could cross quickly to his martyrdom

and his prayer was miraculously answered.

But that is not quite the end of the

story. The executioner was so impressed by

Alban’s miracle that he refused to do his

duty. He threw aside his sword and declared

that he, too, was a Christian. A replacement

headsman was sum-

moned and the two men

were beheaded together.

The exact date of

Alban’s death has been

disputed by historians and

the legend has undoubt-

edly been embroidered

over time, but there is no

doubt that the reputation

of a brave martyr who

challenged the Romans

became a source of great

inspiration to later genera-

tions. He has been hailed

as the first British martyr

and for centuries his relics drew pilgrims to

the abbey in the city that now bears his

name.

Christian Martyrs: St. Alban Countless Christians have died for their faith. This month

we begin a series on martyrs, starting with St. Alban. by Ted Harrison

$

24

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

Michaelmas: The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels

Michael is an archangel, whose name

means ‘who is like unto God?’ He makes

various appearances throughout the Bible,

from the book of Daniel to the Book of Reve-

lation. In Daniel, he is ‘one of the princes’ of

the heavenly host, and the special guardian

of Israel. In Revelation, he is the principal

fighter of the heavenly battle against the

devil.

From early times, Michael’s cult was

strong in the British Isles. Churches at

M a l m e s b u r y ( W i l t s h i r e ) , C l i v e

(Gloucestershire) and Stanmer (East Sussex)

were dedicated to him. Bede mentions him.

St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall was believed

to commemorate a vision there in the 8th

century. By the end of the Middle Ages, Mi-

chael had 686 English churches dedicated

to him.

In art Michael is often depicted as

slaying the dragon, as in the 14th century

East Anglican Psalters, or in Epstein’s famous

sculpture at Coventry cathedral. Or he is

found (in medieval art) as weighing souls, as

at Chaldon (Surrey), Swalcliffe (Oxon.),

Eaton Bishop (Hereford and Worcester), and

Martham in Suffolk. Michael’s most famous

shrine in western Europe is Mont-Saint-

Michel, where a Benedictine abbey was

founded in the 10th century.

The ‘All Angels’ bit of this feast-day

was added in 1969 when Gabriel and Raph-

ael were included in with Michael.

What is an angel? Easy, people think.

A shining figure with glorious wings, who ap-

pears from time to time to do some mighty

work for God or bring a very special mes-

sage from him.

Well, that’s right in one sense (apart

from the wings, which owe more to stained

glass windows than the Bible). But the fact

that not all ‘angels’ in the Bible are ‘glorious’

or ‘shining’ should make us hesitate to cate-

gorize them in this spectacular way. After all,

the three apparently ordinary men who vis-

ited Abraham and Sarah to tell them that

she would have a son even though she was

long past child-bearing age had none of

those outward embellishments. Nevertheless

Abraham recognized them as divine mes-

sengers.

The Bible is full of angels, from the

early chapters of Genesis to the last chapter

of Revelation, and often they had a key role

in crucial events. It seems, from just two in-

stances, that Michael was their leader, an

’archangel.’ In stained glass he’s often seen

with a sword, because in a vision in Revela-

tion he led the angelic host who fought and

defeated Satan and his army.

In the Gospels an angel of the Lord

appeared to Zechariah in the Temple, to tell

him that his elderly wife was to have a son,

the forerunner of the Messiah, John the Bap-

tist. An angel - Gabriel - appeared to Mary

to tell her that she would be the mother of

the Messiah, the Son of God. . An angel ap-

peared ‘in a dream’ to Joseph, the village

carpenter in Nazareth, to tell him to go

ahead and marry his fiancee, Mary, and

later - also in a dream - warned him not to

go back to Bethlehem. A ‘young man,’

whom we take to have been an angel, was

sitting in the empty tomb on Easter morning,

waiting to tell the startled women that Jesus

wasn’t there - he had risen (Mark 16:5).

Without going into every biblical ref-

erence to angels, those should be sufficient

to show that the word covers an enormous

diversity of experience. So the Letter to the

Hebrews speaks of those who practice hos-

pitality as sometimes ‘entertaining angels

unawares.’ Sometimes people recognized

angels for who they were, and sometimes

they didn’t. Angels, quite simply, are God’s

agents or emissaries, messengers and minis-

ters of his will. Sometimes they are human;

sometimes they seem to be spiritual beings.

Perhaps we could even say that

anyone, in any situation, who is at that mo-

ment God’s ‘messenger’ to us, or serves us

graciously, is an ‘angel’. So when we say,

‘Oh, be an angel and run to the pharmacy

for my prescription,’ we may be nearer the

heart of the matter than we think!

25

Michaelmas, 2016

ART

This month we include pieces from Cross and Crown: Traditional and Interpretive Quilt

Blocks by Adelaide Socki, currently on display in the Holman Street Gallery.

26

Trinity Midtown THE WINDOW

He Gave Us Eyes to See Them:

The Church Bells by the Rev. Michael Burgess

Summoned by Bells is the title of John Betje-

man’s poetic autobiography, where he de-

scribes how bells summoned him to school

and to church. Bells announcing the joy of

weddings and Sunday services; and also

marking out times of sadness and the death

of loved ones.

One of the strangest bell-towers is at

St. Augustine’s Church, Brookland in Kent,

north-east of Rye. It was originally built in the

medieval period, and now stands as a triple

coned, wooden, octagonal tower de-

tached from the church, and clad with shin-

gles in 1936.

The story is that the tower looked

down at a beautiful bride about to marry an

unpleasant groom: it was such a surprise

that the tower jumped off the church in

shock. The truth is that the church was built

on marshy ground, and a stronger founda-

tion was needed for the bells. And so the

tower was built north of the church.

Like all belfries and steeples, it is an

impressive witness to the place of bells in

human life and work: as time-keepers, an-

nouncing both festive occasions and emer-

gencies, and calling people away from

more worldly pursuits to worship. That is why

bells have always been blessed at their in-

stallation for their true function is to ring out

the harmony of heaven.

The tenor bell at Warburton Church

in Cheshire is inscribed with the words, ‘I bid

you to the house of prayer. St. Werburgh’s

hallowed name I bear. Good folk draw near

and humbly pray, as prayed that saint in

olden day.’ As a little boy, John Betjeman

would listen to the bells with his teddy bear,

Archibald. ‘I heard the church bells hollow-

ing out the sky, deep beyond deep, like

never-ending stars.’ For him, for the people

of Brookland, and for all of us, the bells were

like stars lighting up the sky with faith and joy

and praise.

Trinity Bell Tower at dusk: Photo by Elmer Romero

St. Augustine’s Church, Brookland; photo courtesy

of the Romney Marsh website:

www.theromneymarsh.net

A fire was lit as the night was long and cold,

He moved towards it as he tried to warm his hands,

‘You were with him, I saw you’ the girl called out,

‘I don’t know him’ he cried ‘What are you talking

about?’

Three times he was asked and every time he

denied.

And then the cock crowed and he remembered it

all too well

Then Jesus turned slowly and looked into his face,

And Peter ran out weeping in abject disgrace.

Another fire was lit with fish on the coals

The Lord called out to his disciples to come and

eat,

Three times He asked Peter ‘Do you still love me

today?’

‘You know that I do’ was all that Peter could say.

The Lord is gracious and knows in ourselves we are

weak,

But He loves us, forgives us, and then He fills us

anew

Enabled by His Spirit we can stand firm on His word,

So that like the disciples we continue to follow the

Lord.

Poetry

Do You Still Love Me? by Megan Carter

The Trinity EfM group will be held Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm (after the Wednesday

Eucharist) in the Masterson room. The cost for EfM is $350 per year, however scholarships may

be available. Contact Rob Rumph, robert.rumph@att.net or Rhonda Rogers,

rrogers747@gmail.com for more information.