Tuesday of Holy Week - Saint James Episcopal Church - Cottonwood Heights, UT - April 15th, 2014

         What a great return to Saint James Episcopal Church...the last time I was here was during Ash Wednesday for a noon service. This time I got to talk to the priest at the beginning of the service as well as another member of the congregation.

    The church was draped with the colors of Holy week...Red. Red for the suffering and blood, the action of the Christian story.

      The service began at the Baptismal font, where there was the confession of sin before Kyrie within the service and the readings. I love the High Church service, it seems designed to create as much reflectiveness as possible outside of a Buddhist meditation.

    The readings dealt with the idea of the Trinity and the first reading was God becoming the Son of Man and later Paul's letter to the Corinthians where he says the priests and ritual and the non-believers and wisdom. It perfectly expresses my hangups surrounding the supernatural and faith. To those who belief what happened is apparent, but if not...than you aren't going to get it. This goes for any great claims for me that involve some sort of supernatural premise.

   This was contrasted with the reading of Jesus knowing about his death and saying he will be bringing all people too him...which is a pretty universalist Jesus, which is a contrast of no one knowing the Father except through him...it really showed why there are so many interpretations of who Jesus was.

    The sermon focused on Jesus and how he used the Bible to inspire his action. I liked how the priest related to us using it to live like Jesus did...to live as he did. This struck me as practical and how the good can be taken out of the Bible and how it can inspire right action (just as it can inspire bad), but how following the actions of Jesus's action...caring for the poor, calling out hypocrisy...these are things that do make a difference and how I am inspired by the story of Jesus Christ.

Ash Wednesday Noon Service - Saint James Episcopal Church - Midvale, UT - March 5th, 2014

      Saint James Episcopal Church was the perfect place to spend my afternoon of Ash Wednesday. The church is large but simple, inside there are rafters, a simple altar and purple tapestries in honor of the coming of Easter. The congregation is the largest Episcopal community I've seen outside of Issaquah and Olympia and the Priests and Deacons are all older.

 

        Getting to the Church was an experience in and of itself. From where I'm staying it was an hour walking up hill, which lead to great reflection once I was there. I was able take time to explore the grounds and found the memorial to one of the members who died. There was also an amphitheater behind the Church and in front, "God is Love." A message that is very New Testament God and Christianity.

     The service itself was very powerful. I didn't have a program, but because of it being High Church, I knew what to say at the right time in regards to the congregation call and response and even the psalms were familiar. It was a silent service and there was no music, all psalms were read and there were many moments of silence and reflection throughout the service. Suffice to say it was my type of service. The priest who spoke, spoke about reflection and incorporated in that we face ourselves in our relation to others is key. The reading from the Bible was Matthew where Jesus said only the hypocrites trumpet their good deeds and that good deeds should be done in secret and that what rewards we get are in Heaven and that is how we should live.

    It was a powerful sermon and I definitely plan on visiting again. The focus on reflection and silent action spoke to me of integrity and that you have to be clear with yourself in order to be clear with God and that for many the time before Easter is when they do that, in reflecting and in facing ones shadows, being reborn in the light.