Letters
from 19 September to 25 September 2005
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Keble
in Japan
Probably
if I had not fared so badly in
the mandatory university undergraduate course of "English
Language and Literature" in the University
of B.C., in the early 1950's, and had to repeat it during
my undergraduate years, I might not have been exposed to
or learn about John Keble who you prominently cite in this
week's AO newsletter (September 18, 2005).
You conclude
with two lines from one of his many hymns. I believe it was "New
Every Morning is the love our wak'ning and uprising prove" from which
you conclude with two lines in today's newsletter:
And help
us this and every day
To
live more nearly as we pray.
That is
one of my favorite hymns.
I came
upon the popular book of hymns he wrote, and learned that although
Keble had never been to the Holy Land, his verse described scenes
so graphically that those who had traced the footsteps of Jesus would
say that his hymns described perfectly what they had seen and felt.
I was
pleased and happy to learn something I had not discovered during
my brief review of John Keble, that his book on the Christian Year
had been so widely distributed in his day for over a half century.
Thank you for sharing that and other facts about the influence of
his words. I have sung the very hymn you cited, translated and appearing
in the Japanese hymnal and sung to "Melcombe", the tune in
Hymnal 1940 (#155). The Japanese Hymnal that for at least
the past half century was akin to the English "Hymns Ancient and Modern", is presently
in the throes of undergoing a total change-over, but I hope the catholicity
of the changes will bring in hymnody representing the breadth of
the Anglican Communion today, as well as honoring treasures of the
past.
The Reverend
Timothy Makoto Nakayama
St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle
Seattle, Washington, USA
frtim@yahoo.com
19 September 2005
Okay.
We're on the way to Toronto...
I
assure you that in our parish, people
would not only pick
up the Keble line, but annotate
it. I once made a reference to Eliot's Coriolan,
not exactly his best-known poem,
So
we took young Cyril to church
and they rang a bell
and
he said right out loud, muffins
and
this howler was immediately corrected to "crumpets" by not one but
two bystanders.
Someone
in our parish has actually been to East Coker, and
the Dry Salvages, Burnt Norton, and Little Gidding.
We know our John Keble and our
Charlotte Mary Yonge. Don't despair.
Mary
Finlay
St. Mary Magdalene's Toronto
Toronto ON Canada
mary.finlay@senecac.on.ca
21 September 2005
On the road
Thank
God for John Keble! He really does show us "a road to bring us daily
nearer God."! And thank you for your weekly guiding along that road!
Peter
Sanderson
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
Davenport, Iowa
19 September 2005
The
1928 American BCP: It's out there...
Thank
you for your insightful words related
to Keble and "The Christian
Year." However, in your opening article you mentioned that
usage of the 1662 BCP and the 1928 BCP were fading away.
That may be true, but I wonder... While I can't speak to
the use of the 1662, I am seeing around me a proliferation
of quasi-Anglican groups using the 1928. For instance, I
understand the Reformed Episcopal Church is using the 1928
BCP in many places now. I also know of many people who are
still using, or beginning to use again, the 1928 for personal
prayer and study. In my own parish (ECUSA) we have re-established
in our weekday chapel services the 1928 service as standard.
My perception is not scientific, but I would think there
is at least a small to moderate rise in the ussage of the
old prayerbook.
I
think that in these troubling times the 1928 BCP, for
many of us, hearkens to a time when the Church seemed
unshakable and unbreakable. It expresses the timelessness
of ancient faith and practice, and raises our consciousness,
through the highest expression of written thought and language,
into the presence of the Almighty. For a time, at least,
we escape the vulgar and secular nature of our institutional
Church for the beauty of holiness --- the transcendent.
The wavering modernist gives way to the solidity of the
faith as it was once delivered. Sexuality and novelty
lose their stature as icons, and common faith spoken
holds us together.
You may
be correct about the 1662 and 1928, but maybe I would just like to
think you were not....
The Rev.
Dr. Van Windsor
Trinity Episcopal Church
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, USA
waltwindsor@aol.com
20 September 2005
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