As a follow up to their Spring Equinox service, the Druid church in Columbia SC, St. Michael and All Angels, is at it again,
"An observance of the Summer Solstice, June 21
St. Michael and All Angels', Columbia invites you to join us in our outdoor chapel on Tuesday, June 21 at 7pm as we observe the summer
solstice.
This will be a service of prayer and Thanksgiving for the abundance of God's creation. As Christ's Body in our world we are stewards of this
great bounty.
We will gather to pray for the healing of our planet and for the wisdom to care for it.
St. Michael and All Angels' is located at 6408 Bridgewood Rd, Columbia, SC, 29206." (From EDUSC News)
And don't try to convince me that they are trying to convert the Columbian Druids to Christianity.
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To play devil's advocate, how is this any different from the seasonal placement of the Christmas and Easter holidays? The dates of these holidays stem from pagan nature holidays and I don't have a problem with that, so why should I have a problem with what this church is doing?
ReplyDelete- Daniel W
The date of Pascha (Easter) is tied to the date of Passover, which has nothing to do with a pagan nature holiday.
ReplyDeleteKefitzat,
ReplyDeleteOne problem is that there is no liturgical basis for this celebration in what should be a liturgical church.
Another is that the scriptural basis for this celebration is tenuous at best.
Maybe they have longer range goals in mind...Solstice Carols, Solstice Cards, A Charlie Brown Solstice, T'was the night before solstice, or maybe the Solstice Bunny?
Miss Sippi - point taken, but that still leaves the date of Christmas.
ReplyDeleteUnderground Pewster - I also see your points, but to be fair they are praying to God for various Biblical purposes. It's not like they are actually worshipping nature deities. At least their solstice celebration isn't like that put on by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in which the only purpose seems to be to follow the pre-Christian tradition of celebrating the solstice (http://solsticeconcert.com/)
Also, I'm not sure the liturgy should determine every celebration in a church. Furthermore, the liturgy is determined by the church, i.e. the sorts of people holding this celebration. Would you have the same problem if they got together and had these same sorts of prayers on a day that wasn't the solstice?
You can't blame them....after all, look at Rowan Cantaur - just look at him - and tell me he's not a Druid!
ReplyDeleteUnderground Pewster – I firmly believe that you are way off base with your objections to a service of prayer for the preservation and renewal of the earth held on June 21, which is this year’s Summer Solstice, as well as off base labeling it as a Druid celebration.
ReplyDeleteGod created the earth and all that is in it – thus it is understood that God created the seasons and the days - including the Solstice. Nothing in the article quoted on your blog referenced Druids. The pagan reference was created by you.
St. Michael and All Angels is not alone in their offering of additional prayer services and contemplative activities. After a little research I found that many other Episcopal churches hold services and prayer activities on the Solstice – both Winter and Summer.
Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Virginia held a winter solstice celebration in 2010.
St. John’s Episcopal Church of Logan (Utah) is planning a Community Prayer Service this year.
St. Francis Episcopal Church in San Jose California as well as The Vashon Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit (Vashon, Washington) are planning a Labyrinth walk for the Solstice.
Can you show me anywhere in the BCP rubrics that forbids prayer services on the Solstice? I have thumbed though the BCP, Stuhlman’s "Prayer Book Rubrics Expanded", Hatchett’s "Commentary on the American Prayer Book", Lee’s "Opening the Prayer Book" and Black’s "Welcome to the Book of Common Prayer" (and ran a Google search) and I can’t find anything that specifically forbids a prayer service on the Solstice or a prayer service for the renewal of the earth......can you show me where I missed the prohibition of a service or prayerful activity on the Solstice?
Is Episcopal Stewardship limited to the annual beggathon? Shouldn’t stewardship include prayers for the preservation and healing of earth that God created? Shouldn’t stewardship include providing opportunities for Christians to gather together to pray, praise, rejoice?
Anon 10:53,
ReplyDeleteThis problem dates back to the time of Paul when, I repeat myself from the Spring Equinox post,
"Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."-Galatians 4:10-11 (King James Version).
Neither is it in the BCP that same sex blessings can be done. Is that the justgification given by the Diocese of San Joaquin and the Diocese of Chicago to go ahead and allow these to be performed?
Rationalizations that other churches do it won't work either.
They need to add spell check to these comment boxes!
ReplyDeleteThe Galatians 4:10-11 argument doesn't work. If you are going to use it to argument against an equinox service, then the verse works to discredit the entire liturgical calendar. How is one exempt, but not the other?
ReplyDelete- Daniel W
I survived this the longest day of the year.
ReplyDeleteI should praise God for that, and not worship the day.
Again UP - you are missing the point - no one is worshiping the day - they are using the day to worship GOD!
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:45,
ReplyDeleteI believe there already are services in the BCP for the end of the day. Evening Prayer and An Order for Compline.