I’m very pleased to announce the uploading yesterday of the AIC Seasonal Video series, In the Cross of Christ I Glory just in time for Good Friday in A.D. 2018. The program is a video version of the Noon to 3 P.M. Good Friday program I presented at my former parish before my retirement from the pulpit ministry. Although the actual program was spread across a three-hour timespan, the actual spoken content ran to less than one hour. To keep the video version within reasonable time limits, the 2018 A.D, video version is presented in two parts. Part One (32 min) includes the Opening Prayers, Introduction, and the First through the Fourth words. Part Two (26 min) includes the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh words plus the Closing Remarks.
Watch Part 1. Listen to the Podcast of Part 1.
Watch Part 2. Listen to the Podcast of Part 2.
In the earlier podcast versions I read both the Verse and the Response lines and said the Amen. In the new video version, I enlisted the help of the congregation at Holy Cross Reformed Episcopal Church in North Chesterfield, VA. I thank them for their enthusiastic participation. They and I speak the opening Confession (left), repeated at the start of each section); the opening Verse and Response that includes the Lord’s Prayer; the internal transition Verse and Response (see below) in each of the seven parts; the closing Verse and Response which includes the Nicene Creed; and, throughout, the Amen for each prayer. To enhance the viewing experience and make it as much as possible like participation in the original 3-hour program, I have inserted an Intermission slide between
each of the sections, with the instruction to pause the video. Each transition slides notes the starting time of the next section.
The program is built upon the solid foundation laid in 1946 A.D. by the Most Rev. William Moody, Bishop of Lexington, KY, who built his work upon the early-20th C. Good Friday lessons by the eminent theologian, the Very Rev. George Moody, who headed the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Cambridge, MA. To this wonderful base of spiritual-minded prayers (about half of which were composed by Bp. Moody) and reflections upon the lessons of Good Friday, I added, in the mini-homilies in each section, the interpretations of the great Eastern Church fathers, including St. John Chrysostom (John the Golden Mouth); St. Gregory of Nyssa; and St. Athanasius of Alexandria.
The video version includes 117 slides, each with an illustration. There are about 48 different illustrations, ranging from the oldest known representation of the Crucifixion from around the mid-6th C. in Northern Mesopotamia (part of modern Syria), to mosaics, frescoes, watercolors, engravings, and paintings from the 6th through the 18th C. in the Western and Eastern Church artistic traditions; and, from the 19th C., stained glass windows. One of these windows, a stunningly-beautiful piece at St. Gertrude’s Church, Stockholm, Sweden, is used as the transition slide that marks the start of the Verse and Response for each part of the program. For the Confession slide, I inserted a Christ Pantokrator mosaic (top left) from the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople commissioned by the Byzantine Emperor Justininian in the 6th C. The picture credit lines are not mentioned in the narrative, both to save time and to avoid distraction from the meaning of the text and the solemn mood of the presentation.
I hope you will share links to this presentation with friends, family, business associates, and others with an interest in hearing traditional Christian teaching and interpretation.
As always, I thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry. May the Lord bless you in all that you do in His Name. Amen. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!
Anglican Internet Church 
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