Lent III

The past few days have been packed full. There was another trip to Binghamton (Liz and I both went this time) and then there was the Left Forum 2007. All of that meant that I was not able to keep up with blogs from early Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon.

I did see that Tobias Haller posted some meditations he delivered at a retreat for the six candidates for the diaconate in this Diocese of New York. I haven’t read them yet, but I have printed them out. The deacons were ordained at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Saturday morning while I was at Cooper Union attending the Left Forum.

This morning at St. Mary’s, new Deacon Emily Sieracki, who was jointly sponsored by St. Mary’s and the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Columbia University, served as deacon for the first time. Emily read the Gospel, administered the chalice, and dismissed us. Since I was pressed into service taking up the collection, I did not see whether she prepared the table. She did not lead the prayers of the people, which is a traditional diaconal function not mentioned in the rubrics. Anyway, it was a pleasure to have a deacon at St. Mary’s again. Emily’s parents were there, as were some friends.

Our preacher this morning was our seminarian, Miguel Escobar, who is a senior at Union Theological Seminary and is at the beginning of the discernment process towards ordination. (Miguel was received into the Episcopal Church last spring while in seminary. Since we are very close to Union, over the years we have had a fair number of folks in that position.) I can’t do Miguel's sermon justice so I won’t even try, although I enjoyed and admired it very much.

Announcement

On Friday March 16th at noon, and again the following Friday, we will go down to the Isaiah Wall opposite the UN and will chant the Great Litany in Solemn Procession. St. Mary's has sponsored this every Lent since the US invaded Iraq. These are the only times I have ever seen the Supplication used.

We invite all who can make it to join us.