Dearest Readers,
My apologies that is has taken me such a long time to update this blog.
We are finally back in school here at the University of Virginia and have had just over a full month of classes. As fall break approaches (starting tomorrow) many of us will be leaving the Grounds for short adventures into the blissful unknown - a place we only get to venture freely on occasion as we are students and typically find ourselves buried under piles of books, papers, journal articles, staplers, half-sharpened pencils, etc.
This year has been an exciting one for Canterbury. We've a new chaplain, the wonderful Nik Forti, who is very excited about what the group will be doing, what traditions we will maintain, and what new traditions we're bound to create.
There have been many fun activities at each of our Wednesday evening gatherings. We've celebrated a Eucharist together, written personalized prayers of the people for the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and played my very favorite game of all time with Professor Paul Jones of the Religious Studies department.
We call it "Stump the Theologian."
In the coming weeks, we expect visits from our very own Professor Ben Ray who will talk with us about the Salem Witch Trials. And not shortly thereafter, we'll be heading over the mountain to go apple picking.
For all the alumni of Canterbury, We miss you! But know that you're off doing wonderfully fabulous things with your lives and your freshly minted degrees from the University.
For newcomers, we would love to meet you. Our group meets every Wednesday at 120 Chancellor Street (just behind Bank of America on the Corner), starting at 5.30pm.
Happy Autumnal Equinox everyone and enjoy this lovely change in the seasons!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Delayed Reaction
Hey everyone! Sorry that these posts have been lacking. Unfortunately, I've been sick on and off for about a month, which has caused me to play some major catch-up games.
There has been A LOT going on at Canterbury in the last month or so, from making valentines cards to be distributed to nursing homes, to hearing Larry Bouchard talk about religious themes in theatre.
Also, the healthcare reform passed through our Congress and has been a major step towards social justice. As with any social legislation, it's not perfect at first, but hopefully the kinks will be worked out over time.
We've also been moving forward in our Lenten series over at Canterbury, where we focus on improving our lives and ministries while preparing for Easter. During Lent, Canterbury decided to take the average of what was spent on meals during the regular school year and instead make meals out of soups, bread, cheeses, and fruits so that we can use the difference between the cost of our Lenten meals and our non-Lenten meals as a charity donation. All the money we save during Lent will be donated to the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund, which will then send those contribution to the relief efforts underway in Haiti.
This Sunday many Canterbury students will be involved in a re-enactment of the Passion during the 5.30 service, so if you're available it should be worth seeing!
Enjoy the beautiful weather!
There has been A LOT going on at Canterbury in the last month or so, from making valentines cards to be distributed to nursing homes, to hearing Larry Bouchard talk about religious themes in theatre.
Also, the healthcare reform passed through our Congress and has been a major step towards social justice. As with any social legislation, it's not perfect at first, but hopefully the kinks will be worked out over time.
We've also been moving forward in our Lenten series over at Canterbury, where we focus on improving our lives and ministries while preparing for Easter. During Lent, Canterbury decided to take the average of what was spent on meals during the regular school year and instead make meals out of soups, bread, cheeses, and fruits so that we can use the difference between the cost of our Lenten meals and our non-Lenten meals as a charity donation. All the money we save during Lent will be donated to the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund, which will then send those contribution to the relief efforts underway in Haiti.
This Sunday many Canterbury students will be involved in a re-enactment of the Passion during the 5.30 service, so if you're available it should be worth seeing!
Enjoy the beautiful weather!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Presiding Bishop Visits Charlottesville
Last week Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited Charlottesville and was kind enough to meet our Canterbury students during her time here.
In preparation for her visit, our group met Wednesday evening at our usual Canter-time to discuss the office of the Presiding Bishop. Matthew Lukens led the discussion and provided us with a bunch of interesting information about her.
For those who may not know, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States has a surprisingly well structured government. On the parish level, each church has a rector. Parishes comprise Dioceses, which are overseen by Bishops and either Assistant or Suffragan Bishops. The different between Assistant and Suffragan Bishops is that Assistant Bishops have the option of becoming the Bishop should the current Bishop retire, move to another diocese, or pass away. Suffragans can only move away to another Diocese to either be Suffragan there or to become a Bishop. The next level up is the national church, which is presided over by - well - the Presiding Bishop. This persons job is essentially to lead the Episcopal Church USA in doctrinal matters and work with the Bishops of other countries to maintain relations within the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is a collection of (for lack of a better word) Archdioceses around the world; for example there is the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Church of New Zealand, etc. At last count, there were approximately 77 million communicants who identified themselves as belong to the Anglican Communion.
In the States, the Presiding Bishop is elected at General Convention by the House of Bishops and the ratified by the House of Deputies (which are Lay representatives sent by Dioceses to General Convention). Given the rather progressive nature of the Episcopal Church USA, our Presiding Bishop has an interesting and somewhat complicated job. She acts as our representative whenever the Primates (or Archbishops of the other Anglican countries) meet at Lambeth Palace to discuss current ecumenical issues and the future of the Anglican Communion.
All that being said, Katharine Jefferts-Schori is the first female Presiding Bishop in history. She had a busy weekend here in Charlottesville, as she gave a talk Friday at the Rotunda, was the guest of a banquet Saturday, and preached at the 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock services this past Sunday.
Canterbury had a good time meeting with her at the Colonnade Club on Friday and were then able to escort her over to the Rotunda for her speech.
Hopefully there will be pictures coming soon. But for now, visit rector Jim Richardson's Blog .
In preparation for her visit, our group met Wednesday evening at our usual Canter-time to discuss the office of the Presiding Bishop. Matthew Lukens led the discussion and provided us with a bunch of interesting information about her.
For those who may not know, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States has a surprisingly well structured government. On the parish level, each church has a rector. Parishes comprise Dioceses, which are overseen by Bishops and either Assistant or Suffragan Bishops. The different between Assistant and Suffragan Bishops is that Assistant Bishops have the option of becoming the Bishop should the current Bishop retire, move to another diocese, or pass away. Suffragans can only move away to another Diocese to either be Suffragan there or to become a Bishop. The next level up is the national church, which is presided over by - well - the Presiding Bishop. This persons job is essentially to lead the Episcopal Church USA in doctrinal matters and work with the Bishops of other countries to maintain relations within the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is a collection of (for lack of a better word) Archdioceses around the world; for example there is the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Church of New Zealand, etc. At last count, there were approximately 77 million communicants who identified themselves as belong to the Anglican Communion.
In the States, the Presiding Bishop is elected at General Convention by the House of Bishops and the ratified by the House of Deputies (which are Lay representatives sent by Dioceses to General Convention). Given the rather progressive nature of the Episcopal Church USA, our Presiding Bishop has an interesting and somewhat complicated job. She acts as our representative whenever the Primates (or Archbishops of the other Anglican countries) meet at Lambeth Palace to discuss current ecumenical issues and the future of the Anglican Communion.
All that being said, Katharine Jefferts-Schori is the first female Presiding Bishop in history. She had a busy weekend here in Charlottesville, as she gave a talk Friday at the Rotunda, was the guest of a banquet Saturday, and preached at the 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock services this past Sunday.
Canterbury had a good time meeting with her at the Colonnade Club on Friday and were then able to escort her over to the Rotunda for her speech.
Hopefully there will be pictures coming soon. But for now, visit rector Jim Richardson's Blog .
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Pictures from this semester's first meeting
Hey all, please find some pictures from the first meeting of Canterbury Fellowship this semester. They're from our gathering where we baked bread for the 5:30 service.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man
Welcome back to U.Va. Canterbury is excited for this coming semester. We've settled on a one word missions statement for the future of the group, which is "hospitality."
Canterbury met Wednesday for the first of many exciting and fun gatherings this term. As part of our hospitality mission statement, we decided to use a recipe from Virginia Theological Seminary, come together as a group, and bake bread for the 5:30 evening service on Sundays. It was an absolute blast, as we all got to mix the dough - culminating in a mass "kneading" party, where we each took a hunk of dough and pressed in into the desired form. All this fun was finished by cutting unique designs into the bread.
So if you're a regular attendee of the 5:30 evening service, keep an eye out for the bread made with love from your local Canterbakers (which has a certain luxury car ring to it).
Canterbury met Wednesday for the first of many exciting and fun gatherings this term. As part of our hospitality mission statement, we decided to use a recipe from Virginia Theological Seminary, come together as a group, and bake bread for the 5:30 evening service on Sundays. It was an absolute blast, as we all got to mix the dough - culminating in a mass "kneading" party, where we each took a hunk of dough and pressed in into the desired form. All this fun was finished by cutting unique designs into the bread.
So if you're a regular attendee of the 5:30 evening service, keep an eye out for the bread made with love from your local Canterbakers (which has a certain luxury car ring to it).
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Northern Sky
December is such an interesting month, bringing along with it a time of preparation, colder weather, and most recently lots of rain - cold rain, even a moon halo last night. The other day I rean across a poem by U.Va. professor and poet Charles Wright, which comes from the book Zone Journals and intimately engages the month of December. The poem itself is a long poem entitled "A Journal of English Days."
(December)
- Noon like cicada wings,
translucence remembered, half-sheets
Of light over light on the black stones
Of the crescent walk and bodices of the rhododendron,
Red eye of the whirring sun -
December comes out of the ground
Shedding its skin on the bare trees,
And hovers above the northern sky
Wings like new glass,
wings like a thousand miles of new glass -
How sweet to think that Nature is solvency,
that something empirically true
Lies just under the dead leaves
That will make us anchorites in the dark
Chambers of some celestial perptuity -
nice to think that,
Given the bleak alternative,
Though it hasn't proved so before,
and won't now
No matter what things we scrape aside -
God is an abstract noun.
The poem continues after this line, but it is at this point that I would like to stop, as I think it embodies much of what the transition into December is like and much of what we feel during this time.
While the thought of God being abstract, something intangible may be discomforting to humans, actually should give us encouragement; that a loving presence exists everywhere; that because of its abstract nature, it is limitless. Linguistically, what Charles does is quite impressive. In the course of one sentence, the concept of love, while limitless, is also anchored, as a noun is something which we can both define, but not physically touch. Sure a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea, but can we physically touch a noun. We can touch the person; we can touch the place and the thing. But what we cannot do is physically touch the idea of a noun. In the same way, we feel a loving presence touching us, but this is often times something which we cannot physically touch. In reading this poem and in thinking about the concept of God, the concept of love, it then is wonderful to know that "...something empirically true / Lies just under the dead leaves...".
From the time we were children we have been told to "Love our neighbors as ourselves." Admittedly there are times when I cannot bring myself to love someone and there are times when I think love is completely absent from whatever situation or surroundings in which I find myself. During these times, however, it appears that God - that love, that this abstraction, this idea - is present whenever it enters our minds. That is to say that whenever we the idea comes into our heads, then love is present, "No matter what things we scrape aside.", and really, that one of our vocations in life is to love and allow ourselves to be loved.
(December)
- Noon like cicada wings,
translucence remembered, half-sheets
Of light over light on the black stones
Of the crescent walk and bodices of the rhododendron,
Red eye of the whirring sun -
December comes out of the ground
Shedding its skin on the bare trees,
And hovers above the northern sky
Wings like new glass,
wings like a thousand miles of new glass -
How sweet to think that Nature is solvency,
that something empirically true
Lies just under the dead leaves
That will make us anchorites in the dark
Chambers of some celestial perptuity -
nice to think that,
Given the bleak alternative,
Though it hasn't proved so before,
and won't now
No matter what things we scrape aside -
God is an abstract noun.
The poem continues after this line, but it is at this point that I would like to stop, as I think it embodies much of what the transition into December is like and much of what we feel during this time.
While the thought of God being abstract, something intangible may be discomforting to humans, actually should give us encouragement; that a loving presence exists everywhere; that because of its abstract nature, it is limitless. Linguistically, what Charles does is quite impressive. In the course of one sentence, the concept of love, while limitless, is also anchored, as a noun is something which we can both define, but not physically touch. Sure a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea, but can we physically touch a noun. We can touch the person; we can touch the place and the thing. But what we cannot do is physically touch the idea of a noun. In the same way, we feel a loving presence touching us, but this is often times something which we cannot physically touch. In reading this poem and in thinking about the concept of God, the concept of love, it then is wonderful to know that "...something empirically true / Lies just under the dead leaves...".
From the time we were children we have been told to "Love our neighbors as ourselves." Admittedly there are times when I cannot bring myself to love someone and there are times when I think love is completely absent from whatever situation or surroundings in which I find myself. During these times, however, it appears that God - that love, that this abstraction, this idea - is present whenever it enters our minds. That is to say that whenever we the idea comes into our heads, then love is present, "No matter what things we scrape aside.", and really, that one of our vocations in life is to love and allow ourselves to be loved.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Snow White
As I was sitting in my Modernist Lit lecture today, it occured to me how closely the academic world and the religious world really are. We were studying Donald Barthelme's Snow White this week, which (among other things) is about a post-modern world and the ruin left after World War II. How do we define ourselves and how do we live in a world dominated by hyper-consumerism?
Just last week we had the pleasure of hearing from Professor Jim Galloway. He spoke to Canterbury on the topic of our nitrogen footpritns. You all have probably all heard much about carbon footprints, but not so much about nitrogen footprints. Basically everything we eat or drink or anything that we consume costs the environment nitrogren - and not just in what we eat. For example, the food used to raise the cattle that are then killed, cleaned, processed, shipped, eventually finding its way into the local grocery store. It all costs nitrogen, but nitrogen that ends up back in the atmosphere where it reacts with other chemicals eventually furthering the Greenhouse Effect.
In hearing Professor Galloway speak and in reading this interesting Post-Modern novel by Barthelme, it struck me that our generation is trying to take a step away from hyper-consumerism, while looking forward to a future where we can reclaim some sense of self- and communal identity that is not saturated by media outlets; however, in order to achieve this goal, I think we must be able to really know what we want and what it means to be an individual in an increasingly globalized world. For all the remarkable outpourings of individuality, it is amazing how much our culture is still somewhat uniform.
The question is then, how can we take a step back from our hectic lives and revist the idea of a community, so that we can once again figure out how to live and enjoy life :)?
Just last week we had the pleasure of hearing from Professor Jim Galloway. He spoke to Canterbury on the topic of our nitrogen footpritns. You all have probably all heard much about carbon footprints, but not so much about nitrogen footprints. Basically everything we eat or drink or anything that we consume costs the environment nitrogren - and not just in what we eat. For example, the food used to raise the cattle that are then killed, cleaned, processed, shipped, eventually finding its way into the local grocery store. It all costs nitrogen, but nitrogen that ends up back in the atmosphere where it reacts with other chemicals eventually furthering the Greenhouse Effect.
In hearing Professor Galloway speak and in reading this interesting Post-Modern novel by Barthelme, it struck me that our generation is trying to take a step away from hyper-consumerism, while looking forward to a future where we can reclaim some sense of self- and communal identity that is not saturated by media outlets; however, in order to achieve this goal, I think we must be able to really know what we want and what it means to be an individual in an increasingly globalized world. For all the remarkable outpourings of individuality, it is amazing how much our culture is still somewhat uniform.
The question is then, how can we take a step back from our hectic lives and revist the idea of a community, so that we can once again figure out how to live and enjoy life :)?
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Halloween at Canterbury
The Wednesday before Halloween, Canterbury decided to take a break from our usual, deep spiritual discussions in lieu of something more fun and seasonally appropriate. We carved pumpkins! If memory serves me correctly, we had something like 10 pumpkins of various shapes, sizes, and even colors! How wonderful!
It was wonderful to see the range of artistic designs that made their way onto the faces of these pumpkins. We had everything from UVA themed jack o'lanterns to ones which looked decidedly French, with that special exotic feel about them.
In the process of carving the pumpkins, Neal and a few others took the seeds, washed and cleaned them, then placed them in the oven to roast with a little bit of salt. The end result - delicious! Nothing is better than freshly roasted pumpkin seeds. Overall, it was a wonderful way to welcome in the latter days of Autumn before the cold of winter officially arrives :)!
Pictures should be on there way shortly. I'm waiting on one of the house residents to send me some fials via e-mail.
It was wonderful to see the range of artistic designs that made their way onto the faces of these pumpkins. We had everything from UVA themed jack o'lanterns to ones which looked decidedly French, with that special exotic feel about them.
In the process of carving the pumpkins, Neal and a few others took the seeds, washed and cleaned them, then placed them in the oven to roast with a little bit of salt. The end result - delicious! Nothing is better than freshly roasted pumpkin seeds. Overall, it was a wonderful way to welcome in the latter days of Autumn before the cold of winter officially arrives :)!
Pictures should be on there way shortly. I'm waiting on one of the house residents to send me some fials via e-mail.
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