Salt & Light Course Begins December 5th
November 7, 2008
Our Salt and Light Seminar on basic Anglican Christian practice starts December 5, 2008. Beginning with a provided dinner at 6:30 PM, we will start class at about 7 PM. With a few breaks for holidays, we will run about 14 weeks.
Let’s fill the tables—and be filled, in every way—fellowship, bread together, and God’s Word & Spirit! The class is open to anyone interested in learning more about Anglican Christianity.
If you have not attended this class as we teach it currently—or it has been some time since you took it, please make the time investment in your spiritual life and that of your parish. You will be blessed, as you grow in the Lord!
Well-Traveled Epistle by Linda Barnett
November 3, 2008
On several trips to England to visit friends, I have enjoyed going with them to Sunday services at their village church. On my last trip to England in September 2006, my friends, Diane and Brian Bullock, took me to visit their friends in Wales. The Sunday of our visit, we went to the St. Bride’s village church. I wanted to recapture that small “family” feel of those church services, and when I returned home to San Antonio, I found All Saints in the phone book. I called Father Chip to speak of my joining All Saints and to ask general questions about the Anglican faith.
On June 8th of this year, I was confirmed by Bishop Bena during his visit. In the July Epistle I was listed as a confirmed member, and there was a short write-up on how I found All Saints. I sent the Epistle to Diane, and she emailed me to say that she had forwarded the Epistle to Bryn and Philip in Wales, who then took it to their vicar (a very well traveled Epistle).
Bryn reported, “He was absolutely blown away—he had had a particularly bad day, and when he read all about you, he said ‘My job is done; if I can convert just one person to Christianity, my mission is fulfilled.’” The following week he mentioned in church that Bryn’s friend from Texas had visited the church and had now joined an Anglican church in San Antonio. He pointed Bryn out to everyone, which embarrassed her terribly, but she was happy to acknowledge that she had brought me to their service.
I ask the Lord daily to guide me as I learn of the Anglican faith while attending the Wednesday Supper Club, and I am thankful I found All Saints.
Liturgy Lesson for All Saints Day: Halloween and All Hallows
November 1, 2008
You’ve probably heard it: should Christians celebrate Halloween? Taken from the Old English term for Hallowmas Eve, it has its roots in Samhain, the Celtic New Year, celebrated on November 1, and a significant time for divination. The Church, “seizing the land” from our Adversary, replaced the pagan Samhain with the celebration of “All Hallows,”—a term for “All Holy.” The word “Holy,” rendered in Latin is Sanctus (set aside or reserved), from which we derive our word saint, hence the derivation of the term “All Saints” for this festival. The Eucharist, then, rightly honored “All Saints,” and was originally called Hallowmas (mass for all the saints). During this period of 8 days of prayer, called an octave, we tenderly celebrate the lives and our connection, through the Communion of Saints, to all Christians, living with God or on Earth, by remembering their names in the Lord’s courts, especially during Holy Communion. The main difference between Samhain and All Saints Day is that Samhain recognized and feared the evil spirits, whereas All Saints celebrated life lived eternally before God without fear. Our Anglican fathers were wise in their selection of Scripture emphasizing this difference—exemplified by our Gospel today, in St. Matthew 5—describing our rewards as people set aside for God. Should a Christian be part of Halloween? We can read St. Matthew 5:13, where Jesus calls us “Salt of the Earth” and ask ourselves honestly if taking part in the ancient pagan tradition trumpets “All Saints” to the World around us—or not.
All Saints Then and Now
November 1, 2008
When I joined All Saints, the parish had no priest—layreaders conducted the weekly Morning Prayer service and read a sermon provided by the Bishop. Once a month, a visiting priest celebrated Holy Communion. The dozen or so people who attended each service was a significant portion of the membership of the parish at the time.
Like many of our parishioners, I had left the Episcopal Church. For several years, I didn’t attend church at all. When I felt compelled to join a community of believers again, I visited a number of different churches and denominations before ending up back in an Episcopal Church. Though I didn’t join, I attended regularly for a year or more. At the time, I was on a motorized scooter, and the priest brought Communion to me in the pew. I couldn’t attend the coffee hour after the service because it was held in a room with a step too high for me to negotiate on the scooter. After a year, I didn’t know the name of a single fellow worshipper, and no one knew my name. Though people I saw every week smiled and said hello, no one ever spoke to me beyond “good morning.” Amazingly, at some of the churches I visited, people had been rude to me—at one well-known megachurch, able-bodied members practically pushed me off the wheelchair ramp leaving the service. “Good morning” from several other people each week was a big improvement. Though I wasn’t happy with the 1979 Prayer Book, I hadn’t found anything better.
For several weeks, I heard radio ads about a traditional Anglican church that used the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. After my unhappy experiences visiting a variety of churches, I didn’t intend to look any more. Yet one Sunday morning, as I drove down West Avenue on my way to the Episcopal Church, my car turned onto Larkspur and ended up at All Saints. Even though there was no priest and only a few people in the congregation, I felt I had come home, and I’ve been here ever since.
The parish had already been in existence for more than 18 years when I arrived in January 1996, but the growth in recent years has far exceeded what went on before.
The founders of All Saints wanted a church of traditional worship and values in an ever-more liberal world. The first worship service was held in Terrell Plaza Hall on All Saints Sunday, November 6, 1977. Through the years, worship services were held in a vacant shoe store, a ballet studio, a home, a hotel hall, and a Lutheran Church. In 1986, All Saints purchased the property in the Castle Hills area, and the church building was completed in 1990. Since then the Sunday School building has been added, and the house next door bought—first as the rectory and now as Elisha House for offices and other facilities.
We progressed from no priest to volunteer priests. The late Father Wesley Buck had been a Lutheran minister for many years before his ordination as an Anglican priest. He was a wonderful pastor with 50 years of ministry experience, but he limited his volunteer work to preaching and leading worship services. Father Bill McGinnis was ordained as a priest here at All Saints years after his retirement from the military. After Father Buck’s death, Father Bill preached and celebrated Holy Communion but left everything else to the vestry.
Father Jerry Sherbourne came to us as a layreader while he was still attending seminary. He taught school during the week, and drove to Denton for seminary classes one weekend a month. He was ordained as a deacon, then a priest, and eventually became All Saints’ Rector.
Father Chip, who was still in the military, joined the parish during this time. He attended seminary, was ordained as a deacon, and served here. After his ordination as a priest, he served a parish in Athens, Texas until Father Jerry felt called to the military chaplaincy. All Saints was blessed that Father Chip returned to us as our Rector. Father Ed Morgan joined All Saints after years in ministry and was ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood here at All Saints. We are thankful that he is now our Associate Rector.
Until the last few years, the parish had no staff. Volunteers did everything. Now we have Patti Babb, Assistant to the Rector and Volunteer Coordinator, and Diana Dunlap, Parish Administrator, to handle the responsibilities in the office. We have a variety of ministries and discipleship opportunities that couldn’t even be imagined a few years ago. Many volunteers—as manifested in the huge number of members honored on Recognition Sunday—work for the Kingdom here at All Saints. It wasn’t very long ago that you could count the number of volunteers on two hands. The first Web site was met with great skepticism by most of our members at the time, but many of our current parishioners found us through the Web site. Adding a 9:00 AM service on Sunday morning was a big step. When Father Jerry first started holding Evening Prayer on Wednesday nights, often the congregation consisted of one of the Sherbourne children and me. Now we have a beautiful Evensong service with our wonderful choir and 30 or 40 people in attendance every week. Our membership has grown many-fold. The Sunday morning worship services that totaled a dozen or so now regularly host over a hundred. God is good!
On All Saints Day, let’s take a moment to look back and thank the people who organized All Saints 31 years ago and those who have worked to build the parish through the years. But, most importantly, thanks be to God for where He has brought us and for those He has added to our numbers daily. Let’s join together to pray our parish prayer cycle for His continued blessings as we seek to spread His Kingdom.
Lillie Ammann
