The Podcast Homilies Rebuild

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Just a little bit of introspection today.  I thought readers might want to know what’s in store for 2019 A.D. at the AIC web site.  With the coming completion of the Seasonal Video series (with Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord‘s Episode Two in late October), attention turns to restructuring the Podcast Homilies platform, last changed early in 2015 A.D.

The Podcast Homilies page grew out of the 12-15 minutes homilies I delivered before my retirement from pulpit ministry.  The PH series is primarily focused on the Epistle and Gospel readings for the Sundays in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.   The restructuring will involved integrating the Podcast Homilies into the inventory of teaching material available through Other AIC Resources.    For each of the Podcast Homilies I will add mentions of where the verses cited in the script are used in the 1928 B.C.P. liturgies and also cross-referencing each homily to where the same words, phrases, concepts, subjects are treated in Other AIC materials.

When the project is complete, hopefully by late Winter 2018-2019 A,D., readers and listeners will be able to take full advantage of the greatly-enlarged library of materials available on or through the AIC Web Site.  For example: in a homily which includes a reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, there will be cross-references to where the same reading appears in our Bible Study video series New Testament: Gospels; the appropriate Seasonal Video series with episode number; appropriate Christian Education series (Nicene Creed; Lord’s Prayer; Lives of the Saints; The War on Christianity); appropriate AIC Bookstore Publications, especially Layman’s Lexicon.

As always, thank you for your interest and support for this online ministry.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen!  Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

The Great “O” Antiphons for Advent – 2018 A.D. Edition

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Royal 6 E.IX, f.4v
Christ in Glory, blessing the Blessed Virgin (on next page), mid-14th C, Pacino de Buonaguida, MSS Royal 6 E IX, Folio 4,  British Library, London, England. 

I’ve been busy updating The Great “O” Antiphons programs which were last updated in 2015 A.D., just after my retirement from pulpit ministry.  Since then I’ve learned a few new tricks and acquired many more images from the archives of the Western and Eastern Church traditions.  As viewers will have noticed, the style of AIC presentations has evolved since the launching of The Anglican Internet Church on the Web.  So far in 2018 A.D. I have updated our videos for Epiphany. Gesima (Pre-Lent) and Lent; expanded available offerings for Good Friday; and launched new series for the Easter, Trinity and Advent seasons.   I’ve completed the slides and script for a new 2-episode Christmas series, which will be available in October; and I am revising The Twelve Days of Christmas series, also with new slides and a revised style, with the revised version to be released in early November.

David-Ps4-UK-15thC
David on his harp, inside an illuminated capital letter, Psalter of Humphrey of Gloucester, London, 15th C., MSS Royal 2 B 1, Folio 8, British Library, London, England.

The Great “O” Antiphons program for the last seven days in Advent will remain a 7-episode series.  It will include new illustrations, including the 14th C. Christ image above and the David graphic at left.  I’ve made the style consistent with the format used for the new and revised programs mentioned above, which reflect capabilities of iMovie for the Mac (vs. the iPad version).

The 2018 A.D. edition will also include new Voice and Response contributions by the members of a local church.  These will be heard in the closing response to each of the seven Antiphons and in the closing Antiphons for Christmas Eve.

The introduction of all these remaining revised versions during the months of October and November will mark the completion of the AIC Seasonal Videos for each of the seasons on the Anglican Church Calendar.  There will now be teaching videos, written primarily for the Laity but also useful for Clergy, for every Sunday in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  I hope these will prove useful for understanding the meaning of, and appreciating the spiritual beauty of, traditional Anglican worship.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Amen.  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

 

Trinitytide-2018-Episode Nine

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Feeding the 5000-loaves-fishes-Tissot-300dpi-Detail1
The Feeding of the 5,000 – a detail from a watercolor by James Tissot, painted between 1886 and 1894 A.D. as part of his Life of Christ series.  From the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.

The final episode in our Seasonal Video series, Trinitytide: The Teaching Season, is now available in video and podcast versions.  Episode Nine is focused on the Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity and Sunday Next before Advent, plus discussion of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer‘s complex rules for transferring surplus Sundays from Epiphany Season for years with 26 or 27 Sundays after Trinity.   I hope I have succeeded in explaining in layman’s terms the system which insures that Sunday Next before Advent, called Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity until the 1892 Book of Common Prayer, will always end up as the final Sunday in Trinity season, no matter how many or how few Sundays there are “After Trinity.”

Watch the Video of Episode Nine       Listen to the Podcast of Episode Nine

Many changes have been made in the details of the format of the Seasonal Video series since I started them in 2011 A.D.  I’ve incorporated more historic art – our archive now includes about 800 images – and also added slides which explain “Other AIC Resources” containing information on the same topics and readings within a given episode.  I am pleased to let you know that the change has resulted in greater sales of AIC Bookstore Publications, including both paperback and Kindle editions.   100% of all book royalties are contributed to the AIC ministry on a monthly basis as they are received.   This income helps offset the cost of annual fees for our various web presences, including WordPress, where this Blog is hosted and which expects to be paid the next 12-month fee in August.

When I started doing the Seasonal Videos after my retirement from pulpit ministry, my intention was to offer programs on all the seasons in the Church Year.  The first series, focused on Epiphany, was incomplete.   It was edited and re-released in a full length version in time for Epiphany Season earlier in 2018 A.D.  I chose to focus on getting the AIC Bookstore Publications edited and ready for uploading instead of launching new programs.

Earlier in 2018 A.D. I produced series for the Gesima Sundays (pre-Lent) and the seasons of Lent and Easter and an updated version of In the Cross of Christ I Glory for Good Friday.  With the completion of the Trinitytide series, only Advent and Christmas remain without a teaching video/podcast series.    These last two series (Advent in two episodes; Christmas in one episode) are on schedule for release later in the year.  I anticipate releasing Advent: A Season of Penitence and Preparation in mid-September and early October.   I also plan to produce updated versions of the Great “O” Antiphons and The Twelve Days of Christmas series, with updated graphics.  Changes to the Great “O” Antiphons depend upon finding enough volunteers to speak the Voice and Response lines.

As always, I thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry that is reaching people around the world daily.  Please consider becoming a follower by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church legend in the righthand column.  You’ll receive a request for your email address so that our site host (WordPress.com) can notify you of all new postings.  We do not share such information with any other organization.

May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Amen.

Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

 

Eastertide-2018-Episode Three

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Christ-Ascension-Novgprod-14thC
The Ascension in the Novgorod style, painted in the 14th C., now in the Museum and Gallery, Bob Jones University, Greenville, S.C.  Public domain.

Last week I was so busy getting the garden ready for Spring and with issues related to my secular occupation that I just couldn’t put together my usual Weekly Update nor, owing to technical glitches with the Script/slide pairings, was I able to complete the final episode in Eastertide 2018 series.   This afternoon, I completed and uploaded Episode Three, which is focused on Fourth Sunday after Easter, Fifth Sunday after Easter (Rogation Sunday), Ascension Day and Sunday after Ascension. Not counting book covers and episode graphics, there are 15 illustrations, from the oldest surviving illustration of the Ascension, drawn in Northern Mesopotamia around 586 A.D. to an illumination for Ascension Day from the Bamberg Apocalypse, painted in the early 11th C., to several splendid Russian Orthodox icons of the Ascension by unknown artists and by the renowned Andrei Rublev from the 15th to the 17th C., to a relatively new stained glass window of the Resurrection from the 2nd quarter of the 20th C.  Note that all the traditional representations of the Ascension show the Blessed Virgin in the foreground plus the two men in white mentioned by St. Luke shown as angels, and a representation of the Glory of the Lord, usually a blue oval surrounding Jesus.  In one of the illustrations, by Italian artist Andrea Mantegna circa 1423-1424 and now at the Uffizi in Florence, Italy, the blue oval is formed by several angels.

Episode Three completes the series on Easter.  For thematic emphasis, I included Ascension Day and Sunday after Ascension in the discussion, which has the effect of completing the cycle begun with the Resurrection on Easter Day.   Similarly, I will touch upon Whitsunday/Pentecost at the start of the next series, Trinitytide: the Teaching Season, which should be available on or before May 20th, Trinity Sunday in 2018 A.D. The juggling for the Trinity series to include Whitsunday/Pentecost is necessary owing to the non-Anglican way, prevalent since Vatican II in 1969 A.D., of ignoring Trinity Sunday and counting the Sundays as being after Pentecost.   By making these adjustments, viewers will be able to follow the entire Church Calendar from Advent to Sunday next Before Advent in our Christian Education video series without missing any of the Collect-Epistle-Gospel pairings or missing any of the other changes (special verses or canticles and seasonal Propers).

Watch the video.    Listen to the Podcast version

Trinity-Title-miniI’ve begun work on the series for Trinitytide A.D. 2018, with a series graphic using Andrei Rublev’s c. 1420 A.D. icon in which the three visitors to Abraham under the Oak of Mamre represent the Holy Trinity.  Until the Renaissance, any representation of God the Father was forbidden, which they still are in the Eastern Church, which uses only images of Christ, who was seen by mankind.   The Holy Spirit is always the Dove described in the Gospels or a flame of fire described by St. Luke in Acts 2.  The type face is a new one I bought from a vendor for use with the series.  Each episode will include a small logo in the upper left of each slide without the icon.

Thanks for all the support, especially the viewing of the Good Friday videos.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

Eastertide 2018 – Episode Two

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Christ is Risen from the dead! Allelulia!

Christ-Emmaus-w2-Disciples-DuccioEpisode Two in the AIC Seasonal Video series, Eastertide: From Resurrection to Ascension, is now available in both video and podcast versions.  Subjects are services for Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday, each commemorating a post-Resurrection appearance of Christ, and the First, Second and Third Sundays after Easter.  There are 16 illustrations from the 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th C., including the tempera on panel work, Jesus on the Road to Emmaus, by Duccio di Buoninsegna in the Byzantine style at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena, Italy, painted between 1308 and 1311 A.D. (Public domain: Yorck Project, 10,000 Masterwerke).

Watch the video.    Listen to the Podcast

Other artists whose work is represented in illustrations are Andrei Rublev (St. Paul; Jesus Christ); Altobello Melone (Road to Emmaus); Rembrandt (Supper at Emmaus); Raphael (Christ Resurrected); and Guadenzio Ferrari (the Resurrection scene, one of 21 images in Scenes in the Life of Christ).  Also included are a 10th C. mosaic and 14th C. bas relief of St. Peter; three stained glass windows from the 19th and 20th C. (Good Shepherd; St. Gregory the Great; Incredulity of St. Thomas); and a splendid 17th C. Russian Orthodox Resurrection icon with five scenes and a tooled silver cover.  For each of the three Sundays after Easter are related hymns from The St. Chrysostom Hymnal.

Episode Three in the series, to be available in mid-April, will include the Fourth and Fifth Sundays after Ascension, Ascension Day and Sunday after Ascension.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry.  You can help by sharing links to this site (and/or its topical pages), subscribing by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church tab in the right column, and by subscribing to the AIC’s YouTube channel (https://www.YouTube.com/c/saintjohnc) and its Podbean channel on which our over 600 podcasts are hosted (http://www.saintjohnc.podbean.com).

Be unrestrained in celebrating Christ’s Resurrection today, the Day That Changed the World, at a church of your choice.  Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

Eastertide-2018-Episode One

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Easter-MiniThis morning I uploaded Episode One in our newest Seasonal Video series, Eastertide: From Resurrection to Ascension.  The episode includes 17 illustrations from the 13th to the 19th C. (with a photograph from the 21st C.), mostly Resurrection imagery.  Artists include, in order of use, fresco-makers at Constantinople, James Tissot, William Holman Hunt, Giotto, fresco-makers at Milan, Byzantine icon-painters, and Russian Orthodox icon painters, including the celebrated Andrei Rublev, from the 15th to the 18th C.   Regular viewers will have noticed the change in the series graphic from Portrait to Landscape orientation.  This became necessary when I switched production of videos from the version of iMovie on my iPad to the enhanced version on my Mac.  The “Ken Burns effect” program on the Mac, which has many additional features, especially in the area of multi-source soundtracks, is strongly biased toward Landscape imagery.   Viewers will easily see the difference in the way the images scan during the video.  For those especially fond of icons:  the image in the title graphic is one of the best, most carefully drawn representations of the classic “Harrowing of Hades” depiction of Christ, standing on the destroyed gates of Hades and the pit with the “keys to Hades and Death,” lifting Adam (in white) and Eve (in red) from Hades.  The figure with halo at left center (near the tip of Jesus’ right hand) is John the Baptist, observing in his status as the Last Prophet of the Old Testament.  The blue oval is a classic representation of the Glory of the Lord, sheckinah in Hebrew.

Watch the Video.     Listen to the Podcast version

The program, which runs just over 29 minutes, begins with a discussion of the history of the Feast of Feasts from its origins in the early Church both Eastern and Western to 20th C. liturgies in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  The program continues with a discussion of the meaning of Easter and its central place in Christian theology, followed by prayer books services for Easter Day, including the changes to Morning Prayer and the two sets of Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for the day.  Also included is information about seasonal music for Easter from The St. Chrysostom Hymnal and cross-reference to other AIC programs and publications appropriate for Easter Day observances.

Episode Two, focused on Easter Monday and Tuesday and the First, Second and Third Sundays after Easter is almost complete and should be available in video and podcast versions on or before April 2nd.

I’ve posted new links on the Welcome page to Part I and Part II of the Good Friday program as well as the new Eastertide episode for Easter Day.  You can similate the experience of a Good Friday 12 Noon service by opening Part I of In the Cross of Christ I Glory and pausing at the appropriate times between Noon and 3 PM (which obviously requires also opening Part 2 after the completion of the prayers for the Fourth Word.  Part Two resumes the program with Fifth Word for 1:55 P.M.  Again I think the parishioners of Holy Cross REC for providing the voices for the “all saying together” sections and the responses, including the Amens.

I am exploring the movement of all our videos from YouTube to Vimeo, owing to Google’s increasing anti-religious bias.  I also intend to drop my Twitter channel, for the same reason.  Unfortunately, Facebook is important as a vehicle for reaching a broad audience around the world.  I will continue to post church-related links on both my personal and AIC pages at Facebook.   I do not make any personal information posts on my Facebook page and do not use its Messenger program.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support for the AIC’s online ministry.  Your consideration in sharing links and messages with friends, family, business associates and others does help the AIC reach more people, especially those who do not have a local source for traditional Christian teaching and liturgy.

Glory be to God for all things!