Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord – Episode One

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Christ-Nativity & Annun-Egbert_codex-Detail1-PCAI’ve completed and uploaded Episode One in Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord, part of the final link in our chain of teaching videos for all the seasons in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  The series will have two episodes.  Episode One offers discussion of the evolution of the Christmas tradition; Anglican traditions of Christmas; and discussion and reading of both the first and second set of Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Christmas Day.   The series is illustrated with material from the 10th through the 20th C.  The oldest is a Byzantine-style illumination of the Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds from the Codex Egberti, a Gospel book prepared in the Scriptorium of the Reichenau Monastery, Reichenau, Germany, between 980 and 993 A.D. for the incumbent bishop of Trier.  I applied perspective correction to the original file.  The Codex is part of the collection at the Trier Library, Trier, Germany.

Watch the video.     Listen to the Podcast.

Other illustrations include an early 11th C. illumination from the Bamberg Apocalypse; a 14th C. French depiction of the coronation of Charlesmagne at Rome in 800 A.D.; a 14th C. oil on panel of Malachi by Duccio di Buoninsegna; a 10th C. depiction of St. John writing his Gospel from the Ottonian era of the Holy Roman Empire; a 13th C. mosaic at the Basilica of St. Mark, Venice; a circa 1420 A.D. Nativity scene in colored inks on parchment made in the Netherlands; F. X. Zettler’s elegant and beautiful stained glass window of the Nativity at St. Gertrude’s Church, Stockholm, Sweden; and Nativity murals from St. Joseph’s Villa Chapel, Richmond, Va from the AIC Bookstore publication, Paintings on Light.

Episode Two has been recorded but not yet place into video format.  It is focused on First Sunday after Christmas Day, Second Sunday after Christmas Day; the AIC Seasonal Video series, The Twelve Days of Christmas, soon to be available in a new edition; and, finally, the fourteen hymns in The St. Chrysostom Hymnal that are either not in the venerable 1940 Hymnal or are used by different, more easily-sung tunes.

I will also be recording new versions of The Great “O” Antiphons and Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve in late October and early November.  I spoke yesterday at a Clericus of the Orthodox Anglican Church, meeting at St. Joseph’s Villa Chapel, on the topic, The Mistaken Quest for Relevance.

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Lessons & Carols for Christmas Eve

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Lessons and Carols-2018-Slide2A new 2018 A.D/ edition of the AIC Seasonal Video Lessons & Carols for Christmas Eve is nearing completion.   It will have it a new look, one consistent with the style of all our other Seasonal Video series which were revised and improved earlier this year.  I’ve also added historic art from the greatly-expanded AIC archive.   The sound track will be recorded on November 1st, with the congregation at Holy Cross Anglican, Midlothian, Va providing the voice responses to the opening verses, The Christmas Eve Antiphons, I used each Christmas Eve at my former parish.  Here’s the complete text:

Today shall ye know that the Lord will come and deliver you.
And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord.
Tomorrow the iniquity of the earth shall be done away.
And the Saviour of the world shall reign over us.
The Lord cometh; go ye out to meet him, and say ye: Great is his dominion, and of his kingdom there shall be no ending.
The mighty God, the Ruler, the Prince of Peace.
Minister & People: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia

For the other series I have been working on, Christmas: the Nativity of Our Lord (two episodes) and The Great “O” Antiphons (seven episodes) the scripts and slides are complete.  My plan is to record both episodes of the Christmas program during the week of October 1st.  On the same November evening as the Christmas Eve Antiphons are recorded, the good people of Holy Cross Anglican are also going to participate in the recording to their responses each each of the seven antiphons for The Great “O” Antiphons.  Without any unexpected technical or other issues, I anticipate the recording stage to be complete during the first full week of November, with the production of the finished video the following week.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of 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!

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!

 

Advent – Episode Two

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Add. 42497
4th Quarter 12th C. frieze on parchment of Jesus meeting John the Baptist and a group of John’s followers.  Source: Additional MSS 42497, British Library, London, England.  

This week I got back in the swing of things.  First, I uploaded Episode Two in Advent: a Season of Penitence & Preparation.  Episode Two is the final episode in this Seasonal Video series and it brings me closer to achieving my post-retirement objective of a teaching video for every season on the Anglican Church Calendar.

Episode Two is focused on the Third Sunday in Advent, Fourth Sunday in Advent, and other traditions of Advent, including the Great “O” Antiphons for the final seven days in Advent and Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve.  The illustration at left is one of nine scenes in the life of John the Baptist, five on the front side and four on the back.  Another scene from the same source included in Episode Two depicts St. John the Baptist baptizing a man in a wooden tub.

Watch the Video

Listen to the Podcast

The final missing piece in the AIC Seasonal Video series, Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord, is also nearing completion.  The script and slides are complete, awaiting  its soundtrack and final video editing.  I hope to finish both episodes in September or early October.  The series will be available in two episodes, each with historic art, much of which viewers may not have seen before.  Episode One will cover the evolution of the Christmas tradition in the Western Church, Anglican traditions of Christmas, the two Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Christmas Day, plus the changes made for Morning and Evening Prayer and the Proper Preface for the Octave of Christmas.  Episode Two will cover the First Sunday after Christmas Day, Second Sunday after Christmas Day and include discussion of the Twelve Days of Christmas tradition and information on the fourteen hymns or carols of Christmas in the St. Chrysostom Hymnal that are either not found in the venerable 1940 Hymnal or are arranged to different tunes.  The Twelve Days of Christmas video series, with one episode for each day of the twelve days from Dec. 25th through Jan. 5th, will be reissued with new content and many new illustrations in December 2018 A.D.  The changes will make the Twelve Days program consistent with the style and content of all the other Seasonal Video series.  Episodes are, or will be, linked from the Digital Library page (with Podcasts linked from the Podcast Archive page).

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As always, thank you for your interest in and support for this Internet-based ministry this is consistent reaching traditional Christian in many parts of the world.  We are solely supported by contributions and by royalties from sales of AIC Bookstore Publications (see the Virtual Bookstore link at the bottom of the Home Page).

May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Amen.  Glory be to God of all things! Amen!

Advent – Episode One

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Advent-2018-Mini-TitleThis morning I uploaded to our YouTube channel Episode One in a new AIC Seasonal Video series, Advent: A Season of Penitence & Preparation.  Episode One is focused on the history and purpose of Advent Season; Anglican traditions of Advent; the Collects, Epistles, Gospels, Canticles, and Opening Sentences for Advent in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer for First Sunday in Advent and Second Sunday in Advent; plus music for Advent Season in The St. Chrysostom Hymnal that is not found in the venerable 1940 Hymnal.

Episode Two (of two) in the series will cover the two remaining Sundays in Advent, plus my discussion of The Great “O” Antiphons, a 12th C. office created to celebrate the last seven days in Advent, and the AIC video series, Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve, with music and contemplation in the English style made popular by Trinity College, Cambridge, to which I have added art work from historic archives.  Episode Two is currently in production, with completion anticipated in September.   I hope to produce new 2018 A.D editions, with new voice responses and some new or updated illustrations, for both these series in time for Advent and Christmas.

The Advent series bring me a step closer to completing my post-retirement objective of offering viewers teaching videos and other materials on all the seasons in the Anglican Church Calendar.  The final missing piece is an entirely new series, Christmas: The Nativity of Our Lord, also to be presented in two episodes.   These two new series will be added, placed in Anglican Calendar order, to the Digital Library and, for the podcast versions, the Podcast Archive pages on this site.

Watch the Video       Listen to the Podcast

Christ-In Majesty-Codex Amiatinus.jpg
Cover, Codex Amiatinus, a Vulgate Bible made 700 A.D., Laurentian Library, Florence (since 1787 A.D.).  Public Domain.

Observant viewers will realize that this new series on Advent does not have the customary historical art.  That is because there is no single image that can effectively symbolize a season meant to prepare Christians for two different but related events:  the Incarnation celebrated on Christmas Day and His promised Second Coming in judgment.  I have reserved the Nativity scenes for the Christmas series.   That does not mean that the episode is without historical art from both the Western and Eastern Church traditions.  An example is the image at left, Christ in Majesty, a symbolic image of the Second Coming from the Codex Amiatinus, an early 8th C. edition of St. Jerome’s Vulgate Bible.  Made in northeast England around 700 A.D., when the area was still under threat from Viking invaders, it has been in the collection of the Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy, since 1786 A.D.  The style is Byzantine, in the spiritual-minded manner preferred everywhere before the Renaissance.  The images were hand painted on vellum in tempera and gilt.

As always, I thank viewers, readers and listeners for their interest in and support for this online ministry.   With your support the site, and its related bookstore, is reaching people all around the world.   Just as a reminder, all royalties from AIC Bookstore Publications are contributed monthly to the AIC.

August is a special month for me and for my family.  Corkie and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary early in the month with a trip to Southwest Virginia and the region from Roanoke to Charlottesville.  Tomorrow will be my 76th birthday and we plan to celebrate with dinner at my favorite Richmond restaurant, The Rappahannock.

May the Lord bless you in all that you do in His Name.  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!

 

Twelve Days of Christmas – 6th Day – Dec. 30th – JOY

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TwelveDays-Slide76For this the Sixth Day of Christmas, Dec. 30th, the key theological word is JOY.  Not surprisingly, the opening music is Joy to the World, first published by the prolific hymn-writer Isaac Watts in 1719 A.D. as a song about the Second Coming, in this case played on modern electronic instruments.   Joy to the World is Hymn No. 38 in the St. Chrysostom Hymnal, arranged to the tradition tune, Antioch, from a hymnal published in 1926 A.D.

The Twelve Days of Christmas video series is a celebration of key theological words or phrases, one each for the twelve days beginning on Christmas Day and ending of Epiphany Eve, Jan. 5th.  It has no connection whatsoever with the silly song of the same name.

Watch the Video.    Listen to the Podcast version.

The Key Word for tomorrow, Dec. 31st, is Family.

Thank you to all who have followed the Anglican Internet Church ministry online and in print in A.D. 2017.  You can subscribe to these Blog postings by clicking on the “Follow Anglican Internet Church” tab in the right column or forward the entries to friends, neighbors and family.

Great “O” Antiphons – O Emmanuel – Dec. 24th

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The final Great “O” Antiphon episode is here, with O Emmanuel for Dec. 24th.  Many of Christianity’s problems in the modern world are owed to the Church’s reluctance to teach the kind of faith that generated the Great “O” Antiphons in the 12th C.  The hymn for today is, of course, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, sung by soloist Jared Haselbarth.  Mr. Haselbarth’s music is available in a boxed set of DVDs from nab audio.com.

For this occasion, I’ve integrated the Christmas Eve program from my former parish into the traditional wording.  For interested listeners/viewers the hauntingly evocative theme music for the series was purchased from a vendor who identifies the artist as Ricky Theory.

Watch the Video.      Listen to the Podcast

Later today I will post Lessons & Carols for Christmas Eve, an electronic version of the classic Christmas Eve service offered by nearly every Anglican parish everywhere but made available here for a wider audience.  The program leads into another series, The Twelve Days of Christmas, with a theme word or phrase for each day from Christmas Day to Epiphany Eve.

 

Great “O” Antiphons – O Rex Gentium – Dec. 23rd

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O-Antiphons-Slide55Join us for today’s Great “O” Antiphons observation for December 23rd, when the key words are O Rex Gentium, or King of Nations.  This presentation was adapted, with illustrations and music, from the original 12th C. office.

Today’s hymn is The Coming of Our God by Charles Coffin, circa 1736 A.D.  In the St. Chrysostom Hymnal the same hymn (Advent Hymn No. 4)  is titled The Advent of Our King.  The soloist is Mr. Jared Haselbarth, whose music catalogue is available at http://www.nabaudio.com.  This and other teaching and worship videos are linked from the Digital Library page on this site.

Tomorrow there will be links to both the office for Dec. 24th, O Emmanuel, and also the AIC Seasonal Video, Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve.

Watch the video.   Listen to the Podcast

The AIC urges you to attend a local Church for Holy Communion on Sunday, Dec. 24th, and, if available, a local Lessons and Carols service.  Our version of Lessons and Carols is available 24/7 via the Web.

Great “O” Antiphons – O Orien – Dec. 22nd

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O-Antiphons-Slide44For December 22nd the key words are O Orien (Dayspring) in the 12th C. devotions known as the Great “O” Antiphons.   The hymn for today is Wake, Awake, the Night is Dying (Anglican translation is Awake, the Night is Flying), sung by Mr. Jared Haselbarth.  You can access all his beautiful Christian music at http://www.nabaudio.com.

This series will be followed by the AIC video Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve and, beginning Dec. 25th, The Twelve Days of Christmas.  These and other AIC teachings and worship programs are linked from the Digital Library page.

Watch the Video.     Listen to the Podcast.