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NEWSLETTER OF THE CHAPEL OF THE CROSS - March 2007

Music at The Chapel of the Cross

In This Issue:

Music and Theology

By The Reverend Dr. Richard W. Pfaff

Two questions can be disposed of quickly. First, is music required for the worship of God? Answer: there is no reason to suppose that God refuses to accept any kind of sincere worship, without or with music. Second, can one be a "good Christian" and at the same time indifferent to music? Answer: many are; C.S. Lewis, for example, always attended said services if possible, and acknowledged a positive dislike for organ music. Given these two direct answers, must we conclude that music, in worship and in the lives of faithful Christians, is no more than an optional extra for those who like that kind of thing? Hardly, on two grounds.

The first is what it does for us in terms of nourishment. To those whose Christian life is bound up with liturgical worship music offers nourishment second only to the literally vital nourishment of Scripture and Sacrament. And, as with the food we ingest, some music is more nourishing than other music. This is tricky ground; I realize that my tastes in music are not quite equivalent to scientific analysis of the value of whole grain as compared with white Wonder bread. Nonetheless, it's clear that much of what passes for "Christian music" in many churches now is trite and banal, and that an important responsibility of Christian education is to help parishioners benefit, thankfully, from the most nourishing music they can take in. Much of the music we encounter in worship also has a verbal component (hymns, chants, anthems), and those words nourish, too. Powerful combinations of music and words - think of "When I survey the wondrous cross" - can provide a substantial portion of our Minimum Sunday (or even Daily) Requirement.

Equally deep as the connection between music and the nourishment needed for the Christian life is that between music and our attempts to apprehend God. There is space to illustrate this with reference to only a single composer (guess who?): Johann Sebastian Bach. While much of his music has a strongly verbal aspect (e.g., the pounding affirmations of the Credo in the B Minor Mass), some of his non-vocal works seem to attempt an almost direct encounter with the Divine - theology at its most audacious. If you listen to a recording of his unfinished Art of Fugue (an excellent Lenten exercise, by the way), you may be reminded of the starkest and yet most sublime of Old Testament stories, that of Jacob wrestling all night with the unnamed opponent [Gen. 32].

Yet there are limits even to such music. Because, like that inconclusive story, Bach's work is unfinished, it is common practice to end it with the chorale prelude "Vor deinen Thron/Before thy throne, O God," which he wrote just before his death: a reminder that, whatever degree of apprehension of God an individual Christian may have, at the last the soul must simply bow in supplication before the throne of the heavenly grace - in confidence that the music of heaven will be even more glorious than that of Bach.

Music at The Chapel of the Cross

By Wylie S. Quinn, Organist and Choirmaster

Annie Dillard once wrote that instead of handing out bulletins at the church door we should be passing out crash helmets. I think she meant that we ought to expect to run right into the Lord God Almighty, to feel ourselves wedged into the intersecting point of time and eternity, to know that we are in the presence of the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, to have our socks knocked right off because we are standing on holy ground. As Christopher Smart (Hymn 386) put it: "Tell them I AM, the Lord God said, to Moses while on earth in dread and smitten to the heart, at once, above, beneath, around, all nature without voice or sound replied, O Lord, thou art." People are drawn into church, among other things, by this perhaps unrecognized need for moments of genuine transcendence. Indeed, this is one of the most urgent imperatives of our lives.

Many forces play a role in the task of ushering people into the presence of God and reassembling the pieces after the collision: architecture, stained glass, flowers, acoustics, liturgy and preaching, the sacraments, silence, incense, acts of Christian hospitality, and fellowship. And, of course, this is quintessentially the role of church music. Whether in a roof-raising hymn with full organ, congregation, choir, and soprano descant; or in the complex tonal universe being spun out before our very ears in a piece of organ or choral music; or in the simplicity and depth of a Gregorian chant; or in the absolute silence between two musical moments (for example the space between passus et sepultus est and et resurrexit in Bach's B Minor Mass, or in Mendelssohn's "Behold a star from Jacob shining" - from "Beyond the night of sorrow" to "Break forth!")

For almost 37 years (most of it part-time) I have directed this important ministry at the Chapel of the Cross. I was fortunate to come into a church where than had been a fine musician, Jerrold Baab, for around a decade. He, in conjunction with the rector, Thomas Thrasher, had established a pattern and expectation of excellence and integrity in music.

The Senior Choir that I found was very good, although it needed a little rebuilding. The lead sopranos had been hired away by other churches in Chapel Hill! Fortunately I was able to bring in two splendid sopranos (one of whom had sung for me the previous year) from the university's music department right away. There was a viable tenor section but not a solo caliber voice there, so Peggy and I paid a tenor for the first two years. There was a very fine although small choral library, which provided a solid foundation for the great library we have amassed over the ensuing decades. For the first rehearsal, the choir had in their folder some music already in the library - Purcell's "Rejoice in the Lord, alway," Byrd's Ave verum corpus, Sweelinck's Chantez á Dieu - and some pieces I had bought - Olivier Messaen's O sacrum vivium, Weelkes' "Alleluia, I heard a voice," and Benjamin Britten's "Festival Te Deum." The music budget (for everything except organ tuning) was $200! The choir grew in the early years because of the repertoire which was not generally sung elsewhere. In the intervening decades the Research Triangle has seen a proliferation of small groups that specialize in renaissance music, so the competition for singers has become more intense. We continue to attract excellent singers who want to sing this music, but want to sing it for the glory of God.

The "print center" in those days was a mimeograph machine under the stairs outside the parish office.

When I was hired by the then junior and senior wardens (there was no rector), I was told that the church had a junior choir because "some people think we ought to," that no one expected much from it, and that I would have to do it if I took the job. I said that I thought that was a poor attitude toward a children's choir and that, if I took the job I would expect to make that a major part of my work and would expect some serious support. I did some recruitment and we had 25 singers that first year, and it has remained around 30 or 32 for a number of years (after a high point of 40). They are, in my opinion, one of the great treasures of the parish and one of the great joys of my life. They perform over 40 anthems every year, not including hymns and service music. Integral to this particular choir is the fact that, unlike most other children's choirs, they sing every Sunday during the school year. This creates both depth and musical polish to their singing. It also means that choir and weekly worship plays an important role in their formation as Christians.

The parish's organs are discussed elsewhere, but I should note that I am proud to have played a part in bringing these two magnificent organs to our parish. In the early years of my tenure, while there were many services in the chapel, music was quite limited by the organ which was virtually unusable. The rebuilding of that organ in 1976 enabled the liturgical flowering of the chapel which we have seen in the past quarter century. The sky is now the limit!

Elsewhere in this issue Linda Everhart discusses the excellent work of the cantus choir, primarily first and second graders. For many years I had wanted a "training" choir to prepare children for entrance into the junior choir in the third grade. Mary Lycan organized such a choir in the early 1980s, and it has continued with little interruption since that time. The new name reflects a broader mission to make lifelong singers out of all parish children, regardless of their participation in the junior choir. This is an exciting program which goes far beyond what I had envisioned for it.

There have always been adults who wanted to sing in our church, but for one reason or another could not sing in the senior choir. When the organist-choirmaster position became full-time, I organized the parish choir. They sing roughly twice a month at the 5:15 pm service, and the combination of choir and the magnificent new organ are a great step in the liturgical growth of the chapel. It is rewarding to take a more amateur group of singers and teach them some great music. The 5:15 pm service began as a low-key evensong sung by a group of graduate students with volunteer leadership. The next step was the addition of a bare-bones Eucharist. Eventually evensong fell by the wayside and the Eucharist developed into a full-scale service with all the lessons, hymns, and service music that characterize our other celebrations.

The service that perhaps most embodies the radical "transcendence" mode discussed earlier is Compline and the schola which sings for it. Every thing about this service is counter-cultural: the hushed darkness, the Gregorian chant, the absence of the spoken word, the Latin texts, most of which would not be understood literally but which make their impact directly on the soul and what Bernard of Clairvaux called "the higher intelligence." With a largely student congregation drawn from many different traditions it is a place and time where nothing must be said or done, but you can simply (as one student described his experience) "let it all wash over you while you let God do all the work."

In the Bible, of course, these moments of transcendence (theophanies) are always accompanied by a call. Perhaps that student wasn't entirely correct in thinking that God, in the long run, would do all the work. As Isaiah describes his vision of the Lord "high and lifted up" in the temple there was clearly a more radical teleology at work than his own experience or salvation. (Chapter 6) "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" asks the Lord. Isaiah, "smitten to the heart," responds: "Then said I, 'Here am I, send me.' " Thus the inner logic of this heightened religious consciousness leads inevitably to mission and the circle remains unbroken.

From the Rector

Dear Friends,

One of the greatest gifts in my life, one that touches on the divine and the very core of life itself, is music. Whether listening to the music of others or participating in it myself, music engages my heart and soul. Even beyond any words involved, music speaks of the joy and the mystery and the poignancy of life. Nothing can touch me so deeply as beautifully expressed music of any kind, but especially live music and especially sacred music.

Numerous Church luminaries have articulated for us their perception of the importance of music to our faith. I would like to share with you two of them.

Richard Hooker, the Anglican Divine, wrote of the power of music, even without words, to stir us and to connect us with the divine mystery:

Touching musical harmony whether by instrument or by voice, it being of high and low in sounds a due proprotionable disposition, such not withstanding is the force thereof, and so pleasing effects it hath in that very part of man which is most divine, that some have been thereby induced to think that the soul itself by nature is or hath in it harmony (Laws, Book 5, Chapter38).

St. Basil, writing delightfully in the fourth century, emphasizes the teaching role of music, to help us learn scripture more deeply:

Whereas the Holy Spirit saw that mankind is unto virtue hardly drawn, and that righteousness is the less accounted of by reason of the proneness of our affections to that which delighteth; it pleased the wisdom of the same Spirit to borrow from melody that pleasure, which mingled with heavenly mysteries, causeth the smoothness and softness of that which toucheth the ear, to convey as it were by stealth the treasure of good things into man's mind. To this purpose were those harmonious tunes of psalms devised for us, that they which are either in years but young, or touching perfection of virtue as not yet grown to ripeness, might when they think the sing, learn. O the wise conceit of that heavenly Teacher, which hath by his skill found out a way, that doing those things wherein we delight, we may also learn that whereby we profit!

I consider it a great privilege to be rector of a parish that shares a passion for and appreciation of music. Sunday after Sunday and service after service, I am nurtured and inspired by the strong congregational singing, by the beautiful renditions of the choirs, by the moving organ voluntaries and instrumental accompaniments. In this issue, you will read more about the role of music at the Chapel of the Cross and the people and the preparation involved in it. May a deeper awareness of these great gifts make you more able, in Paul's words to the Galatians, to "sing and make melody to the Lord with all your heart" (5:19).

- Stephen

Parish Dialogue Gatherings

By Ele and David Ross

The first "Parish Dialogue" gathering was held in our home on January 16, 2007. These information sessions are designed to provide an opportunity for all of us to learn more about the master plan, and to give input and ask questions. We welcomed 18 parishioners, including a facilitator, presenter, members of the Master Plan Committee and the rector. With refreshments in hand, a presentation began to explore the ministries and facilities of our parish and how we see ourselves in 2025. Questions and discussion ensued and focused on a wide array of topics from parking to whether we really need a new parish hall and additional spaces for children and adult education programs.

The PowerPoint presentation highlighted the major renovations and additions to our church over the years, summarized current and long-range needs as well as proposed design concepts. It also projected a timetable for decision making by the vestry and implementation of the master plan. The campaign survey that has been underway for several months was also discussed as well as various financial alternatives for meeting the educational space needs of the Chapel of the Cross in the coming years.

It was a wonderful opportunity to become better acquainted with members of our parish and to share our thoughts and ideas. From our own experience, we heartily encourage each parishioner to make a special effort to attend a Parish Dialogue meeting.

A Note From the Vestry

By Anne Henley, Vestry Member

At its January meeting, the vestry discussed at some length requests for a change in voting procedures in vestry elections. Currently we must vote for four and only four of the candidates on the ballot, the number needed to fill the new "class" of vestry members. However, some parishioners feel that, because of the size and complexity of our parish, we could make better-informed choices if we were allowed to cast fewer than four votes.

Vestry members agreed that knowing the persons for whom we vote presents a challenge and that we don't wish to ask parishioners to engage in an "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" selection process. Nonetheless, we felt also that voting for a slate of four requires a desirable investment by us the voters, insures a fairer and more representative selection process, and promotes our getting to know - or to ask others about - candidates with whom we may not be acquainted.

Our decision was not to propose a by-laws change at the Annual Meeting, which would require a majority vote and subsequent approval by the Bishop and Standing Committee of the diocese. We did ask, however, that more opportunities for parishioners to meet and get to know the candidates be provided - at after-service gatherings and by way of fuller profiling in church publications. We hope you will take advantage of these opportunities as we all try to make our parish a more closely-knit community.

(Anyone eligible to run for vestry may propose a change in by-laws at the Annual Meeting. It would be best to submit it ahead of time to the parish chancellor, Bill Daniell, to insure conformity with the rest of the bylaws.)

Vestry Actions

At its meeting on January 18, the vestry:

Vestry Election Schedule 2007

Sunday, March 4: Annual Meeting takes place; vestry nominees will be introduced.

Sunday, March 18: Vestry election takes place; results will be announced in the March 25 issue of Sunday Announcements and the May issue of Cross Roads.

Sunday, March 25: Run-off vestry election is held (if needed). Results will be in the May issue of Cross Roads and the April 1 issue of the Sunday Announcements.

Friday/Saturday, May 18-19: Spring vestry retreat takes place at Avila. New vestry members' terms begin at the end of the first session.

A Brief History of Organs at The Chapel of the Cross

By Allen Harris

According to early parish records the original church (now the chapel) contained a small pipe organ made by the Pilcher Organ Company. This was probably a chamber organ of the same type as found in the fellowship hall at St. Bartholomew's church in Pittsboro - a small organ with diminutive tone that could not have possibly supported hymn singing by choir and congregation. This little organ was sold (for $40) and a new melodeon (foot-pumped reed organ) was given to the parish by Mary Ruffin Smith and first used on April 10, 1880. As the musical needs of the parish grew, it became obvious that the melodeon would need to be replaced by a real pipe organ.

After a few years of discussion and fund raising, a new pipe organ was ordered and delivered in 1906. This organ was manufactured by the Hinners Organ Company of Pekin, IL, and sold by catalogue. It was a stock model of one manual (five stops) and pedal (one stop). This organ was purchased for $700 and installed while Dr. William H. Meade was the rector. His daughter, Alice Meade Prince, was the organist; and her son, William Meade Prince, hand-pumped the organ for several years as a boy growing up in Chapel Hill. In 1978 the Zimmer Organ Company of Charlotte installed a new one-manual organ inside the old Hinners case. The original Hinners Pedal Bourdon 16' and Manual 8' Stopped Diapason were incorporated in the new scheme. In 2006 a new two-manual and pedal organ was installed and dedicated. This new organ was built by the Dobson Organ Company of Lake City, IA. The parish donated the old Hinners/Zimmer organ to an Episcopal parish in Alabama.

The present Hobart Upjohn church contained a 1924 Skinner Organ (opus 504) of three manuals and pedal. The console was rebuilt by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in 1949, and some additions to the pipe-work were done in 1961. This Skinner organ was replaced in 1980 by a large three-manual and pedal tracker-action organ built by the Detlef Kleuker Orgelbau in Germany. Five years ago some console improvements and tonal work were carried out by the John Dower Co. of Lincolnton, NC. This work included the addition of a notable Festival Trumpet stop given as a bequest from the estate of William Lanier Hunt.

Parish Choir

By Ray Dooley

The parish choir sings several times a month at the 5:15 pm Sunday service, and in many ways reflects the nature of that service: informal, warm, unassuming, and deeply satisfying. We also sing at a number of special services during the year, including the early evening Christmas service, where this year the choir members distinguished themselves by carrying on despite a power outage in the church. The parish choir is the perfect venue for those who love music (or think they might) and want an introduction to, or a re-acquaintance with, the joys of choral singing without the rigors and time commitment required by singing with the senior choir. Rehearsals are on Monday evenings at 7:00 pm for about an hour.

Van Quinn is choirmaster for the parish choir. We all benefit from his musical excellence and erudition while enjoying his patience with our modest if earnest musicianship. Not that we all are without musical training. A number of us are even adept at reading music. Others, like me, stand next to those who are. No matter; the point is to use what skills we have to breathe life into the beautiful, sacred music of the Anglican tradition.

I find myself looking forward to the hour on Monday night. Having geared up for another work-week complete with its strivings and pressures, it is both pleasurable and restorative to catch a breath, literally, and sing it out in harmony with my fellow choristers. We have a loyal cadre who enjoy each other's company as well as each other's talents and are quick to welcome new singers.

Preparing to write these thoughts, I came to think of the popular Christmas song, "The Little Drummer Boy." The eponymous Drummer Boy, you will remember, uses his modest musical gifts in praise of the Lord. I find, having sung with the parish choir since its inception, that like the ox and lamb in the song (okay, the ox) I am learning to keep time, and like the drummer boy I enjoy doing my musical best for Him Sundays at 5:15 pm.

Contact Van Quinn if you think you might like to join in, or come by the choir rehearsal room on the second floor of the parish house on Mondays at 7:00 pm. Laudate Domini!

So, What Are You "Giving Up" for Lent This Year?

By Linda B. Rimer, Environmental Stewardship Committee Chair

Of Polar Bears, Phytoplankton and Butterflies. . . .

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." (Genesis 1:31).

Between the first and last verse of Genesis 1, we learn that God created day and night, land and water, grasses, herb yielding seed and fruit trees, creeping things and "great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind".

Then in Genesis 2:15, we read: "the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to till it and to keep it".

Some scholars have described this verse as being wonderfully ambiguous. Did God make the garden because humans needed a place to live? Or did God create humanity because the garden needed someone to care for it? They go on to explain that the Hebrew verb "to keep", "shamar," is the same word in the Aaronic blessing that is used sometimes to conclude worship services: "May the Lord bless and keep you" (Numbers 6:24). Surely we can conclude that God intended for us to nurture, sustain, and care for creation the way he nurtures, sustains, and cares for us.

Today, there is growing evidence that we have not been very good stewards of God's creation. One recent example is the proposal announced on December 27, 2006, by the United States Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Why are polar bears threatened? Because their habitat is disappearing. As Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne said: "polar bears are one of nature's ultimate survivors, able to live and thrive in one of the world's harshest environments . . . but we are concerned that the polar bears' habitat may literally be melting".

The reason that glaciers and ice sheets are melting over the entire planet is because the temperature of the Earth is rising; this increase in temperature is most pronounced at the poles. The reason the temperature is rising is because of an increase in "greenhouse gases" that we humans have been putting into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, mostly in the form of carbon dioxide.

But polar bears, who sit at the top of their food chain, are not the only animals threatened by the impacts of global warming. Phytoplankton, microscopic plants that convert sunlight and nutrients into organic materials and that make up the basis of marine food chains, are being starved of their food supply. Although phytoplankton live in the top layer of the ocean, they rely on nutrients brought up from deeper depths by convective currents. As the temperature of the earth's atmosphere rises, so does the temperature of our oceans. Warmer ocean surfaces create barriers to the upward mobility of these nutrients, resulting in reduced photosynthesis and lessened productivity of the oceans of the world.

And what about butterflies? Climate experts are predicting that changes in rain patterns as a consequence of global warming, may reduce the chances of long term survival for our beloved Monarch butterflies. Computer models of the locations in Mexico where Monarchs usually go in winter, show a relatively stable temperature. But these models are also predicting that precipitation will increase more than three times by 2050. Monarchs have never been known to survive in extremely wet conditions.

These are not the only creatures threatened by global warming. An article published in Nature in 2004 estimated that climate change could drive a million of the world's species to extinction as early as 2050.*

The earth that God created and declared to be good, is indeed, in trouble. The very people whom God charged with being stewards of His creation are failing to live up to his expectations. We must all prayerfully consider our actions that are contributing to these global effects, and thoughtfully and intentionally work towards truly being better stewards of "this fragile earth, our island home." (Eucharistic Prayer C, Book of Common Prayer, p. 370)
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3375447.stm

Dr. Quinn: Since 1970, Pulling Out All the Stops

by Chrys Bullard

Dr. Wiley S. (Van) Quinn, III didn't want an ordinary souvenir from his 1961 field trip to Chapel Hill. As his high school friends roamed Franklin Street for T-shirts, the teenager slipped through the hedge of the Morehead lot and sneaked into the sanctuaries of the Chapel of the Cross. What did he steal? A look at our organs. What did he take back to his home in Gastonia? A very low opinion of their quality.

"I couldn't believe this magnificent church owned such awful organs," he said, "and imagine my utter amazement when I returned to the church in 1970 for a job interview and found the same awful organs in use!" Whether seventies Karma or simple fate, Dr. Quinn's return to the Chapel of the Cross as director of music, organist, and choirmaster seemed predestined.

"My predecessor insisted that the church bulletin include a composition's lyrics in its original language and a translation with the composer's full name, birth and death dates," said Quinn. "The priest in charge was also a stickler for it - as am I. The church secretary took one look at my resume, called the priest and said, 'I've found the one!'" As Kum bay yah and Jesus Christ, Superstar resonated from choir lofts throughout town, Van Quinn - B.A., B.D., M.S.T., and Ph.D. - joined the Chapel of the Cross because our music library cataloged The Lamentations of Jeremiah among other masterpieces; because the church's sopranos, altos, basses, and tenors held sway as the preeminent choir in Chapel Hill and we featured a junior choir at the 9:00 service; because there were lots of warm, receptive people in our church, "and still are!" said Quinn; and because - as a patient and determined man - he knew the pipes, stops, keys, and pedals of an organ could inspire a budget as surely as they could power an instrument. At first, he compensated for the church's lackluster organ by playing everything an octave above its written key, a feat tantamount to sitting in a chair typing on a keyboard two feet to your right while pedaling a bike two feet to your left. "I knocked myself out trying to get a new sound out of that old organ," he said.

If Karma did bring Quinn back to the Chapel of the Cross, he's already enjoying his rewards. Ten years after joining our staff, he struck the first chord on a new church organ by German master builders Detlef Kleuker, and in 2006, he oversaw installation of the Chapel's new Opus 82 organ by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders. In 37 years, he has taken what was good about music at the Chapel of the Cross and made it arguably the best: enriching traditions and expanding programs to provide what he calls, "transcendent moments in our experiences with God."

"There is a great nurturing, sustaining, spiritual force in music that has stood the test of time. It deepens us and opens us up to the realities of God," he said. "Worship is the highest of all human aspirations. Why would we demand any less from our music?" Quinn's favorite transcendent moments come as he's playing a hymn. "The most fun, the greatest high, is to work the congregation up into a righteous frenzy. The words are great, the tune is great, and everyone is caught up in something greater than themselves. I love it more than a Bach fugue." To find out more about Dr. Quinn, our choirs, organs, and music, log on to our website at www.thechapelofthecross.org/music.

Compline Choir

By Mark and Sara Ardrey-Graves

Just what would possess two exhausted church ministers to wrap up their busy Sundays with a 30-minute drive to Chapel Hill in order to sing with the Compline service at Chapel of the Cross? Each week during the academic year, though, the two of us do just that - and, in fact, look forward to it with relish. After a long day of leading EYC activities, teaching Sunday school, directing choirs, and leading worship music between our two churches in Raleigh, we both feel very grateful to participate together in the Compline choir every week.

At first glance, the Compline service is a bit out of the ordinary - the church is dark; the congregation's only participatory task is to listen, meditate, and pray vicariously through the singing of cantor and choir. Yet week after week, the church fills with worshippers - and our volunteer choir comes together - at an hour when most people are winding down and heading to bed. The liturgy itself is simple and straightforward, hearkening back to its roots as the final Office in the ancient daily prayer cycles of monasteries and convents. The peal of the bell summons worshippers to the church, illuminated with candlelight and filled with incense. The service is simple, yet profound. The prayers and hymns reflect upon the end of the day as a time for placing our lives into the hands of God, for letting go of our illusions of control over our own lives. The spiritual sense of relinquishing our fates to God's provision is the continual theme of this part of the Daily Office, as we pray that God will grant us both "a peaceful night and a perfect end."

We both spend our Sundays in a hurried rush of leading others in the activities of worship and fellowship in our churches, and often find that there is not a place for filling our own needs for prayer and meditation - or even for us to worship together with each other. Singing in the Compline choir allows us to achieve these spiritual needs, while at the same time participating in a ministry to others. In the four years of our collective membership in this informal choir, we have come to treasure this experience of sung prayer every week. It is a great gift to share in this weekly ritual. Every Sunday after we have prayed that "we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in [God's] eternal changelessness," we both retreat to the pew, sink down in our seats, and allow the organ postlude to wash over us as we look ahead to another week. Compline has become a place of sanctuary for us both, and we are continually thankful for this unique ministry.

Learning Music By Heart

by Linda Everhart, Cantus Choir Director

A few weeks ago, I introduced a new anthem to the children in the cantus choir by telling them the words were very old. The text was based on a prayer of Alcuin, the scholar and teacher born in York in about 735 A.D. More than a thousand years have passed since Alcuin tried to find words for his perception of the many faces of God. For children involved in our cantus and junior choirs, music opens a great door onto the ways Christians throughout the ages have distilled their experience of the sacred.

Week after week, Van Quinn and I have responsibility for bequeathing to our young singers their musical heritage as Christians and we have the responsibility for empowering them to claim that inheritance. In the words of Goethe, "What from your fathers you received as heir, acquire if you would possess it." Acquiring that inheritance is the spiritual challenge of every new generation of Christians, an inheritance that includes the poetry of Alcuin, Donne, and Herbert, the Psalms of David, the chorales of Bach, the hymnody of Luther, the anthems of Wesley, Elgar, and countless others. When the Cantus Choir sang its first Bach anthem recently, they staked out their claim on that vast inheritance.

If you come to any one of our cantus choir rehearsals, you will see us working on vocal development. You will see us working on music literacy, reading simple rhythms and melodies from music notation. But these activities are not an end in themselves. We are preparing to claim our inheritance. It is each child's birthright to learn to raise his or her voice in a jubilant song.

Because our first and second graders are novice readers, I teach most of our anthem material by rote. After several weeks of repetition, they come to know the anthem "by heart." As the idiom suggests, knowing something "by heart" is a special kind of knowing. It's not in the "head" where it can be easily forgotten, rethought, or argued away. When a text has taken root in the heart, it's there forever. (And if you don't believe that, just ask any parishioner of a certain age to recite a poem learned "by heart" in elementary school.) And that is why nothing but the finest texts would ever be worthy for our young children to sing.

Recent cantus choir anthems include Alcuin's "Eternal Light, Shine in My Heart," as well as "The Lord's My Shepherd," "The Lord is My Strength and My Song," "Keep Me as the Apple of the Eye," "Create in Me, O God, a Clean Heart," "Hosanna, Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord," and "How Beautiful Upon the Mountain Are the Feet of Him that Bringeth Glad Tidings". I believe these words and music will remain in the children's hearts long after they have tossed their soccer shoes in a corner. When videogames and i-Tunes are obsolete, these words will be timely. What greater legacy can we give our children?

Engaging God's Mission with South Africa Continues

By Barbara Day

We are answering the call of the Episcopal Church (Policy for Action of the Episcopal Church, USA) in accepting our "responsibility for witnessing to the gospel through an active concern for all of God's creation". The Policy for Action in Engaging God's Mission in the Episcopal Church speaks specifically about responsibilities toward Africa and its impact on funds for HIV/AIDS relief, on pastoral care, health services and education for Episcopal congregation and dioceses; on improving education and reducing poverty; and restoring peace. It commends churches in Africa fighting AIDS, poverty, and injustice and calls on all levels of the church to partner with the Anglican churches in Africa and other agencies to implement the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and to support efforts to address the pandemic.

Seven parishioners from South Africa arrived in Chapel Hill on Friday evening, February 2, after spending time in Washington, D.C. with parishioners at St. John's Church, Layfayette Square.

Ann Henley, Martha Dill, Nancy Tunnessen, Blair Evans, Marty Hunter, Shirley Lee, Dorothy Guma and I carefully planned the visit. Arriving on Friday and beginning with dinner at Mama Dips, the South African pilgrims met their hosts and hostesses of our parish: The Revs. Sharron and Don Dinnie with the Revs. Susannah and Ralph Smith; teachers (Shelia) Phalama Radebe and (Dorcas) Neadzekile Sifunda with Linda and Alan Rimer; Warden of St. Peter/St Paul Church, (Peet) Petrus Smith, with Martha and David Dill and students, (Promise) Xo Lile Sibiya and (Dinah) Masebatli Phalatsi, with Marsha and Andrew Pate. Many thanks to these host families for the care they provided our South African visitors.

Saturday was spent at the Morehead Planetarium, the Ackland Art Museum with a special exhibit of Asian sculpture and African Masks, and on a tour of the UNC campus. Blair and George Evans hosted visitors and parishioners for luncheon. Saturday evening dinners included a clergy dinner at Susannah and Ralph's home for Sharron and Don; an educator's dinner with Martha and David for the teachers (Shelia and Dorcas) and Peet, who enjoyed watching a basketball game; and the students, Promise and Dinah, had dinner with the Marsha and Andrew and their children. Again, this parish reached out in welcome in many ways.

Sunday included a full day of worship beginning with the 9:00 am service; speaking at the 10:15 am forum where Sharron and other guests shared information about the school and Kwasa Center, and where Barbara Day presented a picture of the Old Well to her; and attending the 11:15 am service where Sharron was the morning preacher. At this service the rector presented a check for $1500 from the Global Missions Committee that will enable two students to receive scholarships to attend good schools. He also presented prints of the church and chapel to each visitor. In return, Sharron thanked Stephen and the entire parish and gave him a beautiful green African stole; he immediately put it on.

A luncheon was served in the dining room while pictures, taken at the Kwasa Center and school, were shown throughout the morning. Authentic African food was prepared by parishioners from South Africa, Setlhatsana (Dorothy) Guma (and her children, Nonkuleko and Xolani); Shirley Lee; and Marty Hunter. Foods indigenous to the area of the Xhosa people of South Africa were served: Samp (hominy); Mquosho (Samp with beans); and Morojo (greens, potatoes and carrots stew); Bobotie (meatloaf with a South African origin); yellow rice and curried potatoes (a South African food of Indian origin); and dessert (jelly with custard). Nancy Tunnessen, who organized the planning of the luncheon, announced that we had $1300 to present to our South African friends for additional scholarships. Others generously gave, making a total of $4219 to be sent to the Diocese of Highveld to be used under the directions of The Rev. Sharron Dinnie of St. Peter/St. Paul Anglican Church. Special thanks to our photographers, Chip Matteson and Jerry Cotten, who chronicled it all in pictures.

Following lunch, the group traveled to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Durham for an ordination service. Bishop Michael Curry was the Celebrant; the Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary, the Very Reverend Martha Horne, was the preacher; and our own Bill Joyner, Archdeacon of the Diocese of North Carolina, served as the Bishop's assistant. Everyone warmly greeted the South African visitors at the reception/dinner following the service. Before going back to the Chapel of the Cross for Compline, the group relaxed for a few minutes of "Super Bowl" and dessert at Barbara and Doug Day's home. We ended this joyful and beautiful day at the candlelight sung service of Compline.

On Monday morning the group was taken to Southpoint mall for a brief time for shopping and for lunch "American mall style". Returning to the church, a group gathered to say goodbye and to take our visitors to the airport with reassurances that we would see each other again, hopefully next year when we sojourn to South Africa. Just before departure to the airport I asked Sharron to briefly tell me some of her thoughts and feelings regarding the visit. She said: "I am so touched by the amazing warmth and welcome of the church. Seldom have I experienced such hospitality in churches and homes. It was wonderful to be included in the life of the Chapel of the Cross and a great privilege to meet and share with the clergy. This is obviously a diverse and competent team. I felt at home, liturgically, shared the music, enjoyed the diversity, and obvious giftedness of so many. I enjoyed all the social contact with people of all ages. I will go home enriched spiritually, emotionally, mentally and relationally. We send our thanks to all for giving us this opportunity to be with each of you and we are looking forward to where our journey together will take us. Deep gratitude to everyone for all your donations, gifts that you gave to us and to Kwasa. You will be in our hearts and in our prayers."

Barbara Day and Ann Henley welcome our guests from South Africa.
From left Peet Smith, (Sheila) Phalama Radebe, Dorcas Neadzekile Sifunda,
Barbara Day, The Revs. Dinnie and Don Smith and Ann Henley.
Photo by Jerry Cotton.

May God give us the will to continue in this mission of reconciliation, justice, and equity and the power and grace to accomplish it as we do God's work in peace and love. St. Paul tells us that the Church, as the Body of Christ, is a sign of hope and life to our broken world. Our hope is that the new relationships will deepen the spiritual life of our parish, strengthen our bonds to the world, and create closer ties between our parish and the parish of St.Peter/St. Paul.

This parish reached out with love and hospitality to our South African visitors. We invited them into our homes for fellowship, food, and rest; we were in church with them all day Sunday, and we graciously supported them financially with our contributions for scholarships for girls to attend good schools and to support for the pre-primary school and Kwasa Center. This center serves children and families from the informal settlement of Vukuzenzele, many of whom live in shack dwellings as squatters and are HIV affected. The Rev. Sharron Dinnie, in her message during the morning forum and the 11:15 service touched the hearts of many of our parishioners; their comments and notes to her were filled with admiration for her work. The South African economy has been described as an ocean of poverty, lacking the most basic resources for living. The teachers, Shelia and Dorcas, told us that the children in the village speak Zulu. The Zulu greeting in South Africa is "Sawubona" which means "I see you!" The reply is "Sikhona" or "I am here". At the Chapel of the Cross we have been given new eyes to love. We have looked and listened with our hearts and heard the message of Jesus: "Go to the least of my sisters and brothers and listen to them; you might hear me".

In our ministry and mission with South Africa we can witness the peace and reconciliation that these visitors have found in their strong faith in Christianity. They live in a land of pain, but through it all they find hope. Kwasa is the name of their school and center; it reminds us to "look to the light". With God's blessing, we can learn much from this ministry with South Africa.

Choristers Start in the Basement on Their Way to Junior Choir

Story and Photos by Chip Matteson

"Show me how not to stand when you are singing," Linda Everhart announces. She is sure to annunciate the "not" when giving the instruction.

The young singers, standing in a circle in the basement of the Chapel of the Cross, begin to bend and twist and watch as their fellow cantus choir members do so as well. What starts as mildly bent postures ends up being snakes slithering on the floor and gymnasts vying for the Olympic gold.

Linda then announces, "now show me how to stand correctly when you sing."

The cherubs in training stand, give their best posture and sing. "Open your mouth." Linda adds as she takes them through musical exercises that will become their junior choir warm-ups.

Linda uses puppets and dance during cantus choir. At one point, rubber bands were stretched as they heard and learned the proper way to say "ah."

"The children at this age don't have an extensive attention span and so I try to shake things up every ten minutes. Singing is fundamentally a physical activity. It comes out of the body in an energized state. I tell them your body is an instrument and that it's about taking your voice out of its case to sing." Linda says.

"The best feedback I get is the kids keep coming back, and on most Wednesdays it's perfect attendance," Linda says.

From the Balcony: A Parishioner's Account of the Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the First Holy Eucharist of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray

By Ann Henley

Bright mid-winter sun poured through the west windows of the chapel, burnishing the rich walnut of the organ, lighting the heads and shoulders of the 270 parishioners crowded into pews and onto window ledges. And as the procession moved up the center aisle, it glinted off the cross, gave a pearly luster to the albs of acolytes and priests, added richness to the crimson robes of bishops, and fell grandly on the damask and red and gold vestments of our distinguished visitor, the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.

Another February sun had lit these same walls - and many of these same heads and shoulders - 30 years earlier, when the Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray came to celebrate her first Holy Eucharist as an ordained priest, at this altar - the one at which in 1854, her grandmother, Cornelia, a slave of the James Strudwick Smith family, had been baptized.

Syd Alexander, a new father and Junior Warden in 1977, remembers looking down from his balcony seat that day and seeing "this tiny woman behind the great eagle lectern" that had been given to the Chapel of the Cross in memory of Miss Mary Ruffin Smith, the aunt and self-appointed guardian of Cornelia and her brother and sisters. Dr. Murray wrote later of the irony of reading the gospel from that lectern and looking into the balcony to which her grandmother and other slaves had been relegated while their white masters worshipped below.

When Charles Kuralt, who interviewed her on that occasion, asked Dr. Murray if her grandmother would have been pleased, "maybe sitting at her old seat in that balcony and looking down at you holding communion," Murray replied: "My grandmother was much closer than that. She was right behind me. I think reconciliation is taking place between individuals, reaching out, groping toward one another."

An inexhaustible reaching toward reconciliation marked every phase of Pauli Murray's remarkable life. Motivated by her grandmother and other family members, she walked in the "proud shoes" of vision and persistence - through the tragic early deaths of her parents, through the humiliation of life in the Jim Crow South, through the near - destitution of her student days in New York City - always toward the goal of social justice and racial and gender equality.

Denied admission to UNC's Graduate School of Social Work because of her race and to Harvard Law School's graduate program because of her gender, Murray earned a degree from Howard Law School, graduating first in her class and its only woman. By the time she received a doctorate from Yale University Law School in 1965, she had worked for the Women's Division of the Methodist Church's Board of Missions to compile state statues codifying racial segregation, taught law at the newly established University of Ghana, worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. in civil rights organizations, served on John F. Kennedy's Committee on Civil and Political Rights, and begun associations that would lead to the establishment of the National Organization for Women.

Her "growing feminist consciousness," Murray says in her autobiography, finally led her "to do battle with the Episcopal Church over the submerged position of women" (369). From her earliest days at St. Titus, Durham, her devotional life and the rituals of the Episcopal Church had been an essential part of Murray's life, and she had grudgingly accepted the fact that she would never be privileged to carry the cross, or swing the thurible, or read the Bible lessons. But in the middle of a Holy Eucharist at St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery on a Sunday in March 1966, Murray was filled with such rage that she had to leave the church and walk the streets: "I had been taught all my life to revere the church and its teachings; now I could only condemn the church [for denying] me the right to participate as fully and freely in the worship of God as my brethren" (370).

Channeling rage into action, Murray filed a report with her parish's Commission on Worship and began, over the next ten years, to prepare herself for the priesthood, a vocation she had gradually come to acknowledge. In 1973, at age 63, she entered General Theological Seminary in New York as a candidate for ordination. Her subsequent application for holy orders coincided with the 1976 General Convention's approval of the ordination of women. On January 8, 1977, Pauli Murray was ordained at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, the first African-American woman - and one of the first women - to become a priest of the Episcopal Church.
And so it was that, on February 13, 1977, at the invitation of then-rector Peter James Lee, Pauli Murray's proud shoes brought her to this chapel to celebrate her first Holy Eucharist. That occasion, she said, was given to her as "a symbol of healing":

"All the strands of my life had come together. Descendant of slave and of slave owner, I had already been called poet, lawyer, teacher, and friend. Now I was empowered to minister the sacrament of One in whom there is no north or south, no black or white, no male or female - only the spirit of love and reconciliation drawing us all toward the goal of human wholeness." (435)

If her grandmother Cornelia could have looked down from the balcony 30 years later, she would have seen, as we did, that Pauli's commitment to love and reconciliation had indeed resulted in a symbol of human wholeness. Behind the eagle lectern the Right Reverend Michael Curry, Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina - the first African-American bishop of a southern diocese and, as Stephen accurately said, first in our hearts - stood to read the Gospel: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Across from him stood the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman Presiding Bishop in the Anglican Communion, called to lead her church in a time of divisiveness and challenge. Her sermon began with an acknowledgement of the debt we all owe "Mother Murray": "As we stand here today, we can say with utter confidence that her life and ministry have brought many others to greater awareness, healing, and yes, even friendship, than would have been possible without her strong witness." With profound dignity and grace, Bishop Katharine reminded us that Pauli Murray's life and ministry had been from first to last a reflection of "God's dream of a reconciled world." And we, too, she insisted, must "dream of a world where no human being lives in squalor or want without clean water or adequate shelter, but each has access to the orchard and vineyard and garden of abundance . . . . Our brother Jesus offered his life in that service, and our sister Pauli did as well."

Later in the service the Rector Stephen Elkins-William's welcome to our guests - bishops, priests from all the Orange County parishes, parishioners from St. Titus and St. Paul AME - emphasized the powerful coincidence of past and present at this commemorative Eucharist. The Right Reverend John Rabb, Suffragan Bishop of Maryland, had been ordained alongside Dr. Murray; the Right Reverend Alfred "Chip" Marble, Assisting Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina and a former Bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi, is thus a successor of William Mercer Green, founding rector of the Chapel of the Cross. And Emma Lo, who led the reading of the Psalm, is the daughter and granddaughter of parishioners present at both the 1977 Eucharist and this commemoration.

The end of the Psalm Emma led resonates with the intersection of "then" and "now" and with the meaning of the worship experience we shared on this sunlit February day:
Those who sowed with tears
Will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,
Will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

Cornelia, the slave who looked down from the balcony, and Pauli, the granddaughter who became a priest - and numberless other saints of the past - carried seeds and sowed, often with tears, so that we in the present could bear the sheaves of their planting and sing their songs of joy. And so, slowly but inevitably, comes the Kingdom of God. We at the Chapel of the Cross have been witnesses to a part of its unfolding. Thanks be to God.

Sources:
Pauli Murray. The Autobiography of a Black Activist, Feminist, Lawyer, Priest , and Poet.

Thanks to: Martha Schutz Lo, Syd and Laurie Alexander (Parishioners of the Chapel of the Cross)

Proud Shoes to Put On - 30th Anniversary of Pauli Murray's First Eucharist

A Sermon by the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori

I stand here with what I imagine is a good deal less confidence than did the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray 30 years ago. Her 66 years that day had brought carbon steel as well as the strength and limber of bamboo out of the chapters of her life. As we stand here today, we can say with utter confidence that her life and ministry have brought many others to greater awareness, healing, and yes, even friendship, than would have been possible without her strong witness.

Mother Murray wrote of the death of her grandfather, tending his grave, and a dawning awareness of the gift his history brought her in the midst of a land of confederate veterans' graves: "for there at least at Grandfather's grave with the American flag in my hands, I could stand very tall and in proud shoes." You and I stand here today because of her dream. I know that I stand here today only because she stood here before me. Her proud shoes have carried many others down the road to freedom.

These proud shoes, and the firm footing that grounded her, are most fundamentally about knowing herself beloved. That gift of the abundant love of God made known in human flesh came to her first through a deeply-rooted and connected family. It comes to us as well through the images all around us of "God with skin on", whether those images come in family or friends or strangers. Pauli's family memory of her grandmother baptized in this place in 1854 said that yes, even that girl child owned by another was God's beloved and worthy of God's own gift and adoption. That ancient dream planted in her family and history shaped Dr. Murray's life, and her ministry both lay and ordained.

A poem of hers reflects that deeply-rooted dream: "freedom is a dream...[that] lures us down a trail of skulls where men forever crush the dreamers, never the dream... Always the dream was the same, always the dream was freedom."

That is the same dream that Isaiah dreamed three thousand years before when he said, "the spirit of the Lord is upon me, to bring good news to the oppressed, and liberty to the captives, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, to bind up the broken-hearted, and give the oil of gladness to those who mourn." It is God's dream of a reconciled world where all children can wear proud shoes that shout "beloved" and "friend" both to themselves and to everyone they meet.

That dream of freedom, of life abundant, is the dream Jesus offers the world. No one can deny you the name "beloved" once you acknowledge it. No one can take away the awareness of being God's special treasure whatever the state or condition of your life. That kind of freedom cannot be put in chains or kept in slavery; it cannot be denied or bottled up in unjust laws. That kind of freedom will emerge and find its voice as a "song in a weary throat". That dream must fly out in a song of freedom for all God's creatures.

Pauli Murray understood quite early in her life the systematic nature of all forms of oppression. She made the link between slavery, its aftermath, and the ongoing oppression of women as she struggled to study in institutions of higher education closed to her because of her race or her gender. She made the connections to treatment of Asian immigrants and Asian-Americans when she worked in California, and she saw the same attitudes as Jews cried out to leave Europe and immigrate here in the late 1930s. She understood the kind of attitudes that today seek to shut out immigrants from countries to the south of us, the kind of attitudes that still cry out, "other" "unclean" "unwanted."

In a letter to Philip Randolph in 1963 she was explicit about the radical call of freedom she heard: "The time has come to say to you quite candidly, Mr. Randolph, that 'tokenism' is as offensive when applied to women as when applied to Negroes, and that I have not devoted the greater part of my adult life to the implementation of human rights to now condone any policy which is not inclusive."

That dream of freedom has not yet been realized, in any community in this land or across the globe. As long as any of us is restrained by custom, law, prejudice, or bigotry, we all remain in chains. Our labors in this church continue to sing of hope for the full flourishing of all God's children, black, white, Native, Asian, women, men, gay and straight, differently abled and full and able-bodied. We still yearn for the realization of Paul's ancient creed, "in Christ there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Greek, male and female". In Christ we are all beloved, we are all wanted, we are all of infinitely precious worth.

Will you sing that song of freedom for all? Will you sing to the beloved in your backyard and across the world? Will you sing until we all wear proud shoes?
Dream the dreams of Zion and sing the songs of hope until the whole world is set free, until the whole creation once more blooms and rejoices. Dream of a world where no one goes hungry, but all gather at the feast; where no child is ignored or untaught, and all young ones are challenged and guided into maturity; where no person lives in the chains of poverty, illness, or distress, but all have opportunity to develop and use to the full the gifts God has given; dream of a world where no human being lives in squalor or want without clean water or adequate shelter, but each has access to the orchard and vineyard and garden of abundance; dream of a world where no mother brings forth children in want without the care of healing hands, and each child is welcomed with the best of healing arts and possibility. Then will our mouths be filled with laughter and our tongues with shouts of joy.

We have dreams to dream, proud shoes to put on, and work to do. May we befriend this world and lay down our lives for our six billion brothers and sisters. Our brother Jesus offered his life in that service, and our sister Pauli did as well. You and I are also God's beloved friends - can we do any less than lay down our lives for that dream of freedom?

Isaiah 61:1-4; Psalm 126; John 15:12-15,

Welcome Announcements Made by the Rector at the Service Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the First Eucharist Celebrated by the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray

I welcome all of you here on this exciting and deeply moving occasion. Whether you are parishioners, friends, or friends of friends, we are glad that you are here.
I am especially happy to welcome our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori. Bishop Katharine, it is not only I who welcome you, nor even those assembled here today, but all those associated with this chapel over the last 165 years. Not only was this the site thirty years ago of the first Eucharist celebrated by a female Episcopal priest in the state of North Carolina; but you should know that in 1842, when William Mercer Green, our founding priest, gathered the signatures of 12 men on the declaration of incorporation as a parish, as then required by canon, right alongside them also were inscribed the signatures of 12 women! So it is with complete conviction and integrity that I say to you in 2007 that we at the Chapel of the Cross, both past and present, are immensely proud to have you serve as our Presiding Bishop.

[Editor's note: A prolonged standing ovation followed.]

I also want to welcome our own Bishop, Michael Curry, known to many of you. Michael has his own list of firsts(!), whenever his biography is written, but perhaps most importantly, Michael, you are first in our hearts. Thank you for being here at a very busy time.

And the other two bishops, who are not as well known to you, both have an obvious and a not so obvious reason for being here. John Rabb, the Suffragan Bishop of Maryland is in Raleigh this week as the president of the Urban Caucus, the reason for Bishop Katharine being in the area today. He also was ordained thirty years ago at the same service as Pauli Murray and he has brought with him a scrap book of that service, which will be available at the reception afterwards, to which you are all cordially invited. Chip Marble (that's Chip "don't call me Alfred" Marble!), our Assisting Bishop in Greensboro, has been the head of our diocesan Anti-Racism Committee, and he made the initial contact for us for Bishop Katharine to come here this afternoon. As a former Bishop of Mississippi, Chip is also a successor of William Mercer Green, our founding priest, who envisioned this chapel, and the first Bishop of Mississippi. We happily welcome you both here today.

I also want to especially welcome members of our Sister Parish, St. Paul, AME, led by their Pastor, Thomas Nixon. It is always a joy to have you with us.

I want to ask any of you who were here at Pauli Murray's service 30 years ago to please stand up. We honor you and through you those who are no longer with us.

When it comes time, I invite all baptized Christians who wish to receive communion, that age-old Christian practice which unites us to God, to one another, and to those who have gone before. It will be by standing station this afternoon. At the direction of the ushers, those of you on this floor simply come forward by the center aisle and receive the bread, and then go to the outermost chalice on your side which is the most open, returning by the side aisle. Those of you in the loft, simply remain in your place and we will bring communion to you. If anyone wishes to come forward but not receive, simply fold your arms to receive a blessing.

The offering today is designated to further the important work of the diocesan Anti-Racism Committee. I encourage your generosity.

JOIN US for the Attic, Basement, Closet Sale - April 21, 2007

The Attic, Basement, Closet Sale is one of the Chapel of the Cross's most cherished and enduring traditions; it also represents the largest social outreach ministry of our parish. For one week, the entire parish house is transformed into a department store of bargains and treasures. The week before the sale, hundreds of volunteers work tirelessly day and night sorting, pricing, and displaying merchandise - all in preparation for sale day on Saturday. Last year, thanks to the leadership of Ann Craver and Mary Kent Hill, and to the help and donations of many volunteers, we raised over $25,000! While the sale is critical for funding many worthwhile organizations, it is also equally important for building bonds of friendship throughout our parish community.

This year's sale will be held on Saturday, April 21, and there is an opportunity for everyone to contribute and be a part of this extraordinary event. We need your:

Time - Volunteers are needed for a variety of jobs, especially during the week preceding and on the day of the sale. To volunteer, please fill out the ABC Sale Volunteer form and return it to the parish office.

Treasures - Start putting aside those items that you may wish to contribute to the sale. We are looking for high quality merchandise that will sell at good prices. Please save your best donations for us! The ultimate success of the sale depends on the quality of the merchandise we receive.

Talents - If you have a special skill in marketing, volunteer to help with publicity (contact Martha Schutz - call church office for number). If you have a green thumb, grow bedding plants for the Garden Shop (contact Jerry and Lynn Gschwind - call church office for number). Cooks can contribute to the bake shop (contact Cricket Taylor, Kim Sullivan or Betsy Vaden - call church office for numbers). Those with an artful eye can help with sorting and displaying merchandise.

In the weeks preceding the sale, there will be an ABC table in the dining room on Sundays where you may receive further information and sign-up to volunteer. In the meantime, please feel free to call ABC Sale co-chairs, Ellen Cole, ehc430@aol.com and Allison Worthy, aworthy@nc.rr.com with questions, suggestions, or to volunteer.

A Treasured Affair

Years ago, on a Sunday afternoon before the ABC Sale, the Episcopal Church Women held a tea to which treasures were brought and appraised by an expert. It was a lively event that afforded attendees a free appraisal of their donation to the Treasure Room along with a spot of tea and good conversation.

In celebration of the 45th annual ABC Sale, this tradition will be resurrected with a slightly different twist. This year, we would like to invite parishioners to A Treasured Affair, an early evening gathering to which you are asked to bring a treasure for donation to the ABC Sale. David Lindquist, owner of Whitehall Antiques at the Villa, will offer his expert appraisal of your special trinkets and treasures. Wyndham Robertson will host the event.

Please Join Us for
A Treasured Affair

Wednesday, April 11, 2007
from five to seven pm
520 Hooper Lane

RSVP by April 4
to Ellen Cole - ehc430@aol.com - call church office for number
or Allison Worthy - aworthy@nc.rr.com - call church office for number
Parking will be available in the UNC lot at the end of Hooper Lane and Boundary Street.

The ABC's of Applying For and Receiving ABC Sale Funds

by Peggy Pratt, Social Ministry Committee Chair

How do groups get funded?
To be a recipient of ABC funds, a group or organization must apply for funds. The application form is on the website and also available in the parish office. Completed applications should be returned to the parish office with attention to Social Ministry Committee/ABC. The deadline for application is April 15th.

Who is eligible to apply for ABC funds?
The following guidelines were developed by the Social Ministry Committee and approved by the vestry:

Who reviews the applications and makes the decisions about what groups receive funding?
A sub-committee of the Social Ministry Committee comprised of three members of the Social Ministry Committee and three volunteers from the sale, appointed by the sale co-chairs, meet to review, discuss, and finally to prioritize and assign monetary amounts to the requests. The sub-committee’s recommendations go to the Social Ministry Committee for approval and then to the vestry for final approval.

How many applications does the committee receive?
In the past few years, the committee has typically received 25-30 requests in a given year totaling about $40,000 - $60,000. Last year 19 organizations received a total of $24,675 in ABC funding. A request not funded does not mean the cause isn't a good one. Requests are prioritized and not all can be funded.

Are there other questions the sub-committee will consider in making its decisions?
Yes, other considerations the committee makes include:
WILL OUR SUPPORT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
What kind of difference will it make?
How urgent is this need?
Who or what segment of society will benefit or be impacted by our support?
Is the organization capable of carrying out its objectives and goals?
Does the group/organization have a proven track record?
Should ABC Sale proceeds be used for this request or should the funds come from another committee of Chapel of the Cross?

Further questions can be directed to Barbara Tremblay, chair of the SMC-ABC sub-committee or to Peggy Pratt, chair of the Social Ministry Committee.

Adult Education Opportunities-March 2007

Sunday Mornings

10:20-11:05 am

March 4
Annual Parish Meeting
This important meeting of our parish includes an address by our rector and reports from various committees.

March 11
Almsgiving in Lent

Weekdays

Lenten Contemplative Prayer Groups
Registration is required.

Reading with a View to Spirituality
Saturday, March 24, 12:30-2:00 pm
Read J. Philip Newell's book, Listening to the Heartbeat of God, and join this group for a discussion. Bring a bag lunch. Call Raquel Goldberg for additional information.

Mary Harris Bible Study, Tuesdays, 8:30 - 9:30 am
New members always welcome to join in this participant-led reading and reflection on books of the Bible. The group continues its study of James, Peter, John, and Revelation

Weeknights

Mondays, 7:30 pm, parlor
Adult Inquirers Class
Sessions on Episcopal approaches to important Christian topics, led by the Rector and others.

Wednesdays, 5:30 pm, room 1
Centering Prayer
New members are welcome! Join a group of parishioners who gather to support one another in the discipline of centering prayer. The time includes discussion following silence.

Special Lenten Program
Friday and Saturday, March 2-3
Friday, 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm and
Saturday, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Camp New Hope, Fleming Lodge and Dining Room
The Chapel of the Cross, University Presbyterian and Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham are hosting J. Philip Newell, Scholar in Spirituality at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, for a Lenten series.

Devotional Resources to Use During Lent for all ages are available in the dining room.

Special Offering

Throughout the weeks of Lent, we will collect monetary donations to help fill the new home for girls at El Hogar in Honduras. An empty doll house will be on display in the dining room symbolic of the new, empty house being built. Help us begin filling the house with beds, sofas, end tables, kitchen supplies, etc. In addition, the Environmental Stewardship Committee invites us to give up carbon for Lent.

Upcoming in April - Orientation to the Labyrinth - Sunday, April 1st, 10:20-11:05am

Holy Week Labyrinth Walk, Sunday, April 1 – Friday, April 6

This meditative walk will be offered by nine sponsoring churches and is open to the public. A 40 x 40 foot canvas labyrinth, a replica of the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in Chartres, France will be laid on the floor of the sanctuary at Olin T. Binkley Baptist Church at the corner of Willow Drive and 15-501. Hours the labyrinth is open vary so please refer to upcoming information.

March Programs & Meetings

Sundays Weekly

12:30 pm Social Hour, 5:30 pm Episcopal Youth Community
8:30 pm Compline Choir Rehearsal

Mondays Weekly

7:00 pm Parish Choir Rehearsal
7:00 pm Edge of Adventure
7:30 pm Adult Education

Tuesdays Weekly

8:30 am Mary Harris Bible Study
9:30 am Staff Meeting
3:30 pm Girl Scout Troop 378
5:30 pm Episcopal Campus Ministry
6:30 pm Boy Scout Troop 9
9:00 pm Tuesday Night Worship

Wednesdays Weekly

4:00 pm Junior Choir Rehearsal
4:00 pm Cantus Choir Rehearsal
5:00 pm Junior Choir Potluck
5:30 pm Centering Prayer
6:30 pm Girl Scout Troop 47
7:30 pm Senior Choir Rehearsal


Thursday, March 1
Submissions Deadline for April Cross Roads
5:00 pm UNC Habitat for Thailand

Friday, March 2
8:00 pm Habitat Florida Spaghetti Dinner

Monday, March 5
8:30 am Children & Family Ministry
7:30 pm Adult Inquirers Class

Tuesday, March 6
6:00 pm Personnel Committee
6:00 pm Environmental Stewardship

Wednesday, March 7
5:30 pm Buildings & Grounds
8:00 pm Cross Ties

Monday, March 12
5:30 pm Adult Education
7:00 pm Global Missions
7:30 pm Adult Inquirers Class

Tuesday, March 13
6:30 pm The City of Passion: Jerusalem
7:30 pm Finance Committee

Thursday, March 15
6:00 pm Vestry
7:30 pm Short Story Reading Group

Monday, March 19
7:00 pm Special Worship with People with Developmental Disabilities
7:30 pm Adult Inquirers Class

Wednesday, March 21
11:30 am Prayer Chain

Thursday, March 22
6:00 pm Master Plan Meeting

Monday, March 26
7:00 pm Troop 9 Leadership
7:30 pm Adult Inquirers Class

Tuesday, March 27
7:30 pm Spiritual Life

Thursday, March 29
5:00 pm UNC Habitat for Thailand

Friday, March 30
10:00 am Servant Leadership

 

 

Last updated: March 1, 2007

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304 East Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
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Photo by A. Altaffer. © 2003 Chapel of the Cross.