SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE (June 29)

For the Collect, the Epistle, and the Gospel followed by the sermon preached by Fr. Hart at Saint Benedict's Anglican Church on the Feast of Saint Peter the Apostle, Sunday June 29, 2025, click on the picture below. 

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PART THIRTY-TWO GOSPEL OF JOHN

In this video Dr. Kevin Hart leads us in a study of John 11:45-57. To go to the video click on the picture below.

 

After a bit of travel, Dr. Kevin Hart is back, and is continuing this study of the Gospel According to Saint John, in this installment covering John 11:18-44. Click on the picture below for the video

SEEING THE KINGDOM OF GOD - TRINITY SUNDAY 2025

Click on the picture for the video with the Collect, Epistle, Gospel, and this week's sermon preached at the 10:00 Mass by Fr. Robert Hart on June 15, 2025, TRINITY SUNDAY, at Saint Benedict's Anglican Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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Omelas exists

by Fr. Matthew Kirby

Recently I became aware of the Abrego Garcia deportation case in America, and this initially due to two conservative commentators' pushback against President Trump's actions. Their objections were based not only on the contempt for the due process required by the rule of law that was shown, but the intrinsic injustice of the treatment of Mr Garcia (and others). But looking into this then sent me down the rabbit hole of CECOT and El Salvadoran prisons more generally. I realise that Fr Hart has preceded me in discussing these events, and wish to add my voice to his, but also to discuss at greater length the situation in El Salvador, a country literally named after our Saviour.

The fact that there has been a crackdown on gangs in El Salvador is not the issue. Even the fact that membership of a criminal gang is effectively treated as sufficient for some imputed guilt is arguably defensible, based on a RICO-style approach. This is perhaps especially the case with gangs like MS-13 that usually have a modus operandi, internal expectations and even initiations which guarantee frequent murder, rape, extortion and more, causing a culture of violence and fear to be imposed upon their host communities.

However, the fact that young men often are coerced into membership initially, including via threats to their family, should still affect the degree and imputability of guilt in any fair trial. But what if trials are indefinitely delayed during incarceration, and the trials themselves are rushed travesties? Those questions bring us closer to the real issues.

SUNDAY AFTER THE ASCENSION 2025

For the video with this Sunday's Sermon (following the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel) you may click on the picture below. 

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Ascension Day

https://anglicancontinuum.blogspot.com/2012/05/ascension-day.html?m=1

ROGATION SUNDAY (Easter V) 2025

You may click on the picture below to go to a video with my sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Easter preached on May 25, 2025, which follows the Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings.

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FOURTH SUNDAY after EASTER 2025

For the video with the sermon, after the Collect, Epistle and Gospel, click on the picture below.

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Thank you.

PART 30 GOSPEL OF JOHN

In this video Dr. Kevin Hart opens for us John 11:1-27. Click on the picture for the link.

TO ERR IS DIVINE

In his famous poem An Essay on Criticism (1711), Alexander Pope wrote, "To err is human, to forgive is divine." Whereas no one should presume to take issue with that sentence, I am about to write a sentence that, seemingly, deserves to be rejected on face value, but that really deserves to be heeded once it is explained. Therefore, I presume to write, and then to defend, a paradoxical and provocative line, after which you may see my point as essentially true, just as, when the meaning and context are considered, Saint Paul’s words say something worth hearing, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men (I Corinthians 1:25).” My sentence is this “To err is Divine.”

So, to explain why I would say something so audacious, I must assure you that I know and firmly profess that God is all-knowing and infallible. But just as Moses saw only the back of God (Exodus 33:23), foretelling that our Lord Jesus Christ would command us all in his often-repeated refrain, “Follow me,” our imitation of Christ requires us to learn how to reflect his glory in this fallen world as his lights in the darkness, and as his witnesses, and therefore ourselves to demonstrate what we know of the Father by looking carefully at the Son (John 14:9), so that, by the grace of God we may exhibit to the world some visible and tangible reality of just who He is. That is, just as priests are alteri Christi to the Church, so the entire Church, as the Body of Christ with every member, is called to be alteri Christi to the world (II Corinthians 5:20).

Therefore, we are called to be like God in this world, as Jesus taught us, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48),” or “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful (Luke 6:36).” But here we have a problem that God does not share: We, unlike God, are neither all-knowing nor infallible. If perfection is, as we see it is, to be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful, we must show forth this Divine attribute without any full assurance that every decision we make will always be absolutely correct. Therefore, we must resolve thus: In order to be as much like our heavenly Father as we can be by God’s grace, and as Jesus has shown us by example and has taught us in words (Acts 1:1), we must accept both our capacity to make mistakes, to err in our estimation and judgment, while at the same time following our Lord to make known to the world who God is. The solution is very simple: We must resolve to err, if we err at all, on the side of mercy. Indeed, we may err, but if we err on the side of mercy, this is right in the eyes of God. On the other hand, it is impossible for indifference or cruelty, for any lack of mercy, ever to be acceptable to God. Such attitudes are always sinful.

It is entirely possible, of course, that the poor person asking for assistance is to blame for his own circumstances, or that he is lying. In my experience I have learned that most of them, almost all of them, have been entirely honest, but that some have been dishonest. Generally, that dishonesty has not been about their need, but about promises to come to church, or the claim that they are Anglicans, or other things that would not have mattered anyway. The point is, on those occasions it was not my place to judge them; and if anyone has taken advantage of me, then I trust that God has used it to convict his (or her) conscience. For the most part, I know that I have helped people who were bringing to me real needs, and who knew of nowhere else to turn but to God’s Church. It is better, in the eyes of God, to err on the side of mercy: In the long run, such is no error at all really.

Again, it is not for us to judge. The commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ leave no wiggle room, no means for excuses and rationalization.

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:38-48).”

            We all know the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, the judgment before the throne of Christ when he comes as the King. “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me…Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me (see Matthew 25:31-46).” What we, in our weakness, as sinful creatures, may see as inconvenience, must be seen with renewed and regenerated eyes. These are not inconveniences. These are opportunities. Do we believe in the Incarnation? Do we fail to see that, when the woman poured the costly ointment on our Lord (Mark 14:3-39), she was showing her love for God and for her neighbor – the two objects that envelope every commandment of God – by pouring out her love on the one who is both fully God and fully Man? It is your opportunity, as Christ comes to you in the human flesh of those in need, the hungry, the ones in need of proper clothing, the stranger or immigrant or refugee, the one in prison, the one who is sick, to “work out your own salvation (Philippians 2:12).”

            Before discussing these things further, I must bring in another element of following Christ, one that needs to be always before our eyes so that we may see the Good Shepherd as he walks before us, so that we may indeed follow him. As modern people, part of how we perceive our duties in this world all too often involves a very worldly and carnal tribal identity, and, especially in America and Europe, a political or ideological loyalty that requires us to label every person and every thought by such empty notions as “Liberal,” “Conservative,” or more broadly, “Left” or “Right.” There are some people who are committed to applying those labels as a standard of judgment, and everybody is certain that God is on their side. But these labels have noting to do with the Kingdom of God. In fact, there are only two categories to be considered. The Psalmist foretold of Christ as the Bridegroom of the Church in Psalm 45 with these words:

“Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness (Pslam 45:7).”

Just as “In Christ there is no east or west,” I assure you, in Christ there is no Left and Right. The only categories are righteousness and wickedness. To be loyal to any political party will, eventually, require you to betray Christ in order to justify evil. It does not matter which party: The trap is laid for you. The deception that many of our own people wallow in is confusing what is righteous or wicked with what is Left or Right. I know that, fallible as I am as one who is not all-knowing, my position on matters of righteousness and wickedness are right in the eyes of God because they are based wholly on God’s commandments as taught by our Rabbi, Jesus.

Clearly, oh so very clearly, people who lean Left or Right see the wickedness on the other side. But God sees the wickedness on both sides, neither of which represent His kingdom, which is not of this world (John 18:36). If they must fight it out, neither side has the blessing of God. God will not bless sexual perversion or license, and will not tolerate the murder of children in the womb, sacrificed to the Molechs of convenience and greed. But neither will God bless those who hate the immigrant, who cheer on the use of a political prison called CECOT, the very existence of which constitutes a Crime Against Humanity, as the life-long hell for people who have been convicted of no crimes whatsoever. It is simply because they take refuge in  lies, in the Bearing of false witness against those young men, parroting the entirely unproved accusation that they are gang members or terrorists, that they allow their love to wax cold, and their hearts to become hard, evil, callous, and uncaring. Some imagine such a weak sinful state of mind to be strength: But it is cowardly weakness. The Left-wing apologist for “a woman’s right to choose” murder and the Right-wing apologist for mass deportation without even the minimum requirement of Due Process of Law, are equally wicked. Both will be sent away for mistreating Jesus Christ who has come to them in the flesh of their neighbors in need.

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (Matthew 24:12).”

Many of you are forming arguments and justifications and rationalizations in your minds. As a man of exceptional experience, as both an investigator and a journalist in my many years, I warn you now: The partisan lies you choose to believe, because those lies are convenient either for fueling your sinful hate or for justifying your endeavor to achieve comfort, for ignoring the pain of the unborn child who feels the sharp blade, or the agony of the young man forever imprisoned in a hellish nightmare, both of whom have suffered the loss of their futures, will not shield or protect you when you face Christ on his throne, when you must give an account of your soul to God. He commanded you to love him and to love your neighbor. But you chose a party, a label, a tribe, and rejected Christ your Lord because you would not recognize him. Repent now, before it is too late. Pray that God will circumcise your heart, give you a soft heart that, if it errs in judgment, errs on the side of the love of God: That alone is acceptable with Christ our God.

PART 29 GOSPEL OF JOHN

IN this video, Dr. Kevin Hart expounds for us on John 10:19-42. You may get to the video by clicking on the picture.

GOOD SHEPHERD'S MORTAL COMBAT Easter II 2025

GOOD SHEPHERD'S MORTAL COMBAT

Second Sunday after Easter ("Good Shepherd" Sunday) 2025

The sermon follows the Collect and the two appointed readings. It was preached on May 4, 2025 at Saint Benedict's Anglican Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the 10:00 am Mass. Click on the picture. 

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PART 28 GOSPEL OF JOHN

In this video Dr. Kevin Hart opens to us John 10:1-18. Click on the picture below.

EASTER 2025

For the video with the Easter Collect, Epistle, Gospel and Sermon preached by Fr. Hart, click on the link below.

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Easter Fugue

Once again, I am sharing with my readers one of my sacred compositions for this time of the year. This coming Sunday (April 20, 2025) will be Easter - or as most Christians in the world who do not speak English call it, Passover. For this most holy of days, I composed a fugue that can be played in church on an organ. For those who like to understand the details of this musical composition, you may continue reading. Either way, I hope that you will enjoy the video and. even more so, the audio portion. It may be best to wait until Sunday for some of you.

I used for my fugue subject the hymn tune Salzburg, a melody that was harmonized by J.S. Bach. I chose it because it has two popular sets of lyrics, one for Epiphany and the other for Easter. The opening notes go to the words “At the Lamb’s High Feast we sing…” The first voice comes to us in D major, the second voice comes in with the notes just varied enough to be in the same key a fifth apart, while the countersubject is heard in the first voice in four notes descending. For the third and fourth voice entries the same pattern is used in different octaves. Beginning with the second voice, a short ascending episode separates each voice entry and continues to do so throughout when the subject is stated. The tempo is good and fast, an allegro tempo, to give the piece a feeling of joy.

I chose to use the standard modulation that I have used more often than any other in composing in this form. The piece opens in D major, with the third and fourth voice entries a fifth apart from the tonic (i.e., a fifth apart from D major) making it go from D to A both times. This goes on for several more measures, with each statement of the fugue subject still followed by the episode that I mentioned above. The key changes then to G major, that is the subdominant, then to B minor, the relative key to the tonic key (that is, as you recall, the relative minor of D major), then to F sharp minor because it is the relative key to the dominant (i.e. A major), then to E minor because it is the relative key to the subdominant (G major). Then it returns to the tonic, D major. 

To recap, this fairly standard modulation is as follows: Tonic, dominant, tonic, dominant (for a four voci), subdominant, relative key to the tonic, relative key to the dominant, relative key to the subdominant, then a return to the tonic. This is, as I say, a fairly standard modulation for fugues. It has a satisfying effect to the ear to move from key to key in this pattern. Plenty of fugues, however, do not follow this pattern, and among my fugues, my Advent Fugue on O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel) does not make use of it. So, while it is often used, it is not a necessary component for the form. 

This Easter fugue concludes, as a fugue, after the return to D major, when the anticipated ascending episode lands on a D major chord. But despite the obvious conclusion, it has happened so abruptly that the music just cannot be over. Indeed, notes in the bass suddenly begin to carry us up to loud happy sounds that are emerging into a tonic chord, which in turn yields to a recapitulation. The same notes play over and over in the bass (a good stretch of the legs for the organist) while the hands go crazy, deliriously happy with the news that death has been overcome because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. The piece concludes with the opening of the hymn on which it is based, using Bach’s harmonization as an ending. It works quite well that way.

MAUNDY THURSDAY 2025

To view this video with the Collect, the Gospel and a Sermon, click on the picture below.

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Just Like Abortion - When Morality and Politics Overlap

  When Morality and Politics Overlap.

We have the responsibility to be witnesses for Christ not only to our generation, but also to future generations who will learn about any role we play, or fail to play, when it becomes history.

Most of the men illegally deported by Trump’s Gestapo agents had NO criminal record in any country, and were here legally. But, even if some of them were criminals, this “cruel and unusual punishment” is pure evil, and anyone who condones such treatment is also purely evil. That includes any “Christians” and especially any members of the clergy.

By the way; If you think this is about “Liberals vs. Conservatives,” then you are too lacking in intelligence to learn anything. It has NOTHING to do with political partisan ideology. I am very Conservative about things like “Due process of law,” a phrase from the Constitution of the United States.

PART 27 GOSPEL OF JOHN

In this video Dr. Kevin Hart takes an in depth look at John 9:13-41. Click on the picture.

Seven Last Words : Holy Week music

I composed this piece in 1988 for Holy Week, and made this video in 2023. This year I have remastered the audio track for improved sound fidelity. Program music should always contain recognizable features that indicate a character, and the music should fit the story. I composed this piece in an A-B-A format. That is, the opening and closing theme is the same music that create “bookends” for the content in between. I always envisioned this music performed live with an actor who could recite the Seven Last Words, that is the things Jesus said during His crucifixion as recorded in the four Gospels. By using the video medium, I have included the words as written text, translated in the King James or Authorized Bible of the Church of England (1611) because it works best in a dramatic and artistic manner. Each time Christ speaks I make use of a classic painting of Christ from the various paintings of the crucifixion that were made by Matthias Grunewald (1470 to 1528), mostly because they portray the suffering of Christ. I believe that a straightforward depiction is far more moving, and produces greater feeling, than any attempt to overtly force or manipulate emotion. My intention is to create a work that creates feeling in the person who views the images, reads the words, and hears the music. 

As program music requires, I have selected a “voice” for Jesus. His words are always stated by a simple descent in the bass surrounded by a chord progression that suggests a halo, the presence of holiness even in the time of sorrow, pain, and cruel injustice. The Speaker remains elevated, Himself truly above the evil all around Him, unchanged, compassionate, but still vulnerable to the agony of the cross and the pain of death. Nonetheless, He prays for His persecutors, and grants mercy to His fellow sufferer. Thus, the musical imagery is from the heart of Christian belief: He remains divine, and is also suffering as a human being. This is my Holy Week music, especially appropriate for the coming week, especially Palm Sunday and Good Friday.