#18 A WORSHIP BUDDY IS A BIG HELP!

St. Peters is the only surviving structure on Tryon St. from the 1800's

WHERE I WENT AND WHY:

 Advent is one of my favorite times of the year and I wanted to visit a liturgical church.  I have been curious about St. Peters.  It has a reputation as a liberal Catholic church run by the Jesuits and I have been curious about its art work. 

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO:

St. Peter's Catholic Church is at 507 South Tryon Street across from the Mint Museum.  There are 4 hours of free parking at The Green (under the park).  Get your ticket stamped in the Narthex.  Dress was church casual, though many men had on ties.  The church was full at the 9 am mass and a family mass was also being held  in the social hall at the same time.  There is a Saturday Vigil at 5 pm and other masses on Sunday at 11:30 am and 5 pm.

REFLECTIONS ON WORSHIP

MOOD:

A "worship buddy" can make all of the difference in one's experience!  It is never my intent to compare churches in this space, but I must admit that after my experience at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, I was hesitant to visit another Catholic church.  However, I knew that St. Peter's had a welcoming reputation.  Upon entering, I spied my neighbor, Steven.  I moved to sit beside him and told him briefly about my project and asked for help following the service.  He was most gracious and helpful:  helping me follow the liturgy, explaining when to sit, kneel, or stand, and answering my questions.  I almost giggled when as we were holding hands during the Lord's Prayer (a practice we also use at Advent Lutheran and we've adopted in my own family). He signaled for me to stop at a place where the Catholic Priest inserts a sentence before the final sentence that Protestants are not typically "ready for" and usually recite through.  I had made this mistake in Catholic churches at least twice before (and probably would have again!).  When I shot him a note asking if I was welcome at Communion, he replied, "Yes. Absolutely.  Those rules are made by men, not God."  I'm not sure if the Priest would have agreed, but I "went with it," praying I wasn't being disrespectful.  Thank you, Steven, for making me feel welcome and comfortable.

MUSIC:

A worship sheet (not really a bulletin, though a "bulletin" was printed with announcements), held the hymns and musical responses.  I loved the traditional Advent carols, especially Awake! Awake and Greet the New Morn.  This carol has many meaningful words to me including, "He opens wide the heav'nly door And lives now inside us forever," and "The weak be raised above the strong, and weapons be broken asunder." The cantor for the psalm and some responsive readings, was a wonderful soprano.  They have a beautiful pipe organ.  

MESSAGE:

The homily was delivered by a visiting Benedictine Monk from Belmont Abbey, with the theme presented in the psalm of "Justice shall proper."  I loved the way he preached on all three of the readings, blending them together in a message of justice, peace and reconciliation.  He began with a passage from Isaiah 11, where all of the animals, wolf, lamb, cow, and bear lie together and "a little child shall lead them."  He declared, "It doesn't get any better than that".   He compared Isaiah's time to ours as one of fierce political upheaval and suggested that in our polarized world perhaps what awaits us (patience, folks!) is God's justice.  In the second reading from Romans 15, he declared that we should have hope of God's welcoming justice and should choose peace and reconciliation.   He brought this together with the Gospel from Matthew 3 where John the Baptist calls on us to repent.  It would have been easy to slip into the "fire and brimstone" of John, but instead he called on us to lay aside our prejudices, and take a long hard look at ourselves before we judge others.  We should look at our lifestyle and make sure that it allows us to take care of our family and friends and to winnow away the distractions of the world as we prepare for Jesus and Justice.  He referenced Ferguson, Charleston and Aleppo as modern day examples of times we should change the way we think and act, and instead choose peace and reconciliation. 

OUTREACH AND OBSERVATIONS

• Some readers may have realized that I used one my "chips" and missed last Sunday. (This has been a trying time for my family, and I think God would approve of my family time last Sunday.  And Jesus cured the sick on Sunday and God rested on the 7th day!!)
• The mood, music and message were all meaningful to me this week.
• At the end of the message, the Monk declared, "Seven minutes!  You have a clock back there!  Thanks be to God!"  The congregation laughed and clapped.  I was reminded  of visiting St. Matthews Lutheran church in Charleston, more than 50 years ago,  with my Luther League friend Ruthie Epting, whose father had been the pastor of the church for 25 years.  To recognize this milestone, the church had a big celebration.  Among the gifts was a clock to be put in the back of the church.  Not a very subtle cue!  I think that was one of my first recognitions that pastors are also human and struggle bringing us the Word of God in a "timely" manner!  Though when Ruthie's dad used his "preacher voice" to call us down to breakfast, I was SURE it was the Word of God!!
• During the announcements, folks were invited to a film, The Visitor, about immigration and a retreat at Our Lady of Consolation on Charlotte Catholics:  Their Stories in Black and White.

Ben Long Frescoe before it fell

• Twice the congregation has suffered from "man made earthquakes."  According to the church history, not long after the parish was established in 1851 a munitions explosion during the Civil War (1869) caused a crack in the wall, making the building unstable.  The Ben Long frescoe in the current sanctuary fell in 2002, probably as a result of the driving of pylons for new buildings on Tryon St.  I was very disappointed that I did not get to see it and according to the church history, there are 18 saved pieces on display throughout the parish.  I guess I'll just have to go back and take a tour.
• In 2004 and 2008, the artwork was replaced by a free standing triptych of Jesus as a fisherman, and 2 bas-reliefs of a Madonna and Child and a Homeless Man before the Crucified Jesus .  These are magnificent and their description in the church history is very interesting.  http://www.stpeterscatholic.org/index.php/information/history-of-st-peters/

Art by John Collier -note the Disciple in modern clothing

MY DAD, FUNNY TO THE END:

My dad died last Tuesday.  Thanksgiving Day was really the last time he was lucid and "had a good day."  After visiting their other grandparents on Thursday, my children (thirtysomethings) and granddaughters came by to see Dad.  I had wheeled him out into the sunshine, as it was a beautiful, warm day.  I took the granddaughters off while they were visiting to let them expend some energy at a playground.  I thought everyone would leave fairly quickly when I returned, as nursing homes can be pretty depressing places, but it was as if my children knew this was their last encounter with Dad, and just didn't want to leave.  Dad would seemingly doze and then surprise us by joining in the conversation.  At one point we were talking about Yellowstone, and he chimed in with a story about cutting a long branch and attaching a string to it to fish in a stream while they were hiking. (Mom and Dad worked at Yellowstone for 2 summers during their "RV years".)  "What did you use for a hook, Granddad?" asked my son Clay.  "Oh I bent a safety pin."  "Did you catch anything?"... "Of course not... I've been lying to you the whole tale!!"  Dad was famous for his fish stories, both true and embellished, and the one thing my son Clay wanted from his house was a picture of his Granddad with an 8 pound bass he REALLY caught!

One of my favorite pictures of Dad, with his grandchildren @1982

His namesake, Clay, is in the Superman T Shirt

Tuesday they had put "Mr. Clay, Man of God" on the sign at the church.  My son, also named Clay, laughed and said he needed to take a picture of the sign, as he would never see this in writing about him!  As he planted his foot to take the photo, he came down on a large fire ant hill!  After he recovered and had gotten all of the ants out of his pants, he said, "I guess Granddad was messin' with me one last time!"  My daughter, Emily did a wonderful eulogy for the family, retelling "Granddad stories" to illustrate life-lessons he had taught them.

THE BULLETIN: