Rothko’s Icons Remembrance Rutledge’s Advent THE December 2, 2018 LIVING CHURCH CATHOLIC EVANGELICAL ECUMENICAL Waiting for the Light $5.50 Advent livingchurch.org GIFTT IDEASIDEA FROMFRFROM FORWARDFORWWWARDAARD MOVEMENTMOVEOVEEMENT MORERE IDEAS ATAT FORWARDMOVEMENT.ORGFORWARDMOVEMENT.ORG Read samplessammples and purchaseppurch has at ForwardMovement.orgForwrwardMo rdMoovovement.org R EVANGELICAL ECUMENICAL THE LIVING CHURCH THIS ISSUE December 2, 2018 ON THE COVER | “The uniqueness of Advent is that it really forces us more than any other season to NEWS look deeply into what is wrong in the world” 4 What We Remember on Remembrance Day (see “Advent Begins in the Dark,” p. 16). By Matthew Townsend Advent livingchurch.org Lawrence Lew, OP/Flickr photo 6 Christmas and Humility in Los Posadas By G. Jeffrey MacDonald 8 Bishop Love’s Lone Stance on Same-sex Marriage Analysis by Kirk Petersen FEATURES 16 Fleming Rutledge: “Advent Begins in the Dark” By Zachary Guiliano 19 Past and Future Meet in Advent | By Lawrence N. Crumb CULTURES 20 Rothko’s Icons | By Dennis Raverty BOOKS 4 22 O Wisdom | Review by Emily Hylden 23 The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume III 20 Review by Peter Doll OTHER DEPARTMENTS 24 People & Places 26 Sunday’s Readings LIVING CHURCH Partners We are grateful to St. Matthew’s Church, Richmond, and Grace Church Broadway [p. 24], the Diocese of Dallas [p. 25], and St. George’s Church, Nashville [p. 27], whose generous support helped make this issue possible. THE LIVING CHURCH is published by the Living Church Foundation. Our historic mission in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is to seek and serve the Catholic and evangelical faith of the one Church, to the end of visible Christian unity throughout the world. NEWS | December 2, 2018 POSTCARD FROM NOVA SCOTIA What We Remember on Remembrance Day By Matthew Townsend and civilians had died. Estimates vary, churches throughout Canada. Many of but most sources suggest about 10 mil- them contain plaques that commemo- For Americans, November 11 marks the lion soldiers died, and roughly the rate parishioners who died in the war, moment in which we give thanks to all same number of civilians. lest we forget. military veterans, living and dead, for In Canada and the British Com- Remembrance Day takes on special their service to God and country. monwealth, Nov. 11 is Remembrance meaning at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Memorial Day, held on the last Monday Day, a day in which those dead are in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and not only in May, serves to acknowledge and brought to mind. Canada’s losses were because of its losses in the Great War. remember people who died in that felt intensely. About 61,000 members Ninety-one parishioners were killed service. Memorial Day is said to have of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the war; their names were read emerged from the established practice were killed, with another 172,000 as a litany during Holy Eucharist on of decorating graves of those lost in war injured, according to the Canadian Nov. 11, along with names of those — and the Civil War’s shocking toll. War Museum. Another 1,305 New- who died in World War II. Elsewhere in the world, it was World foundlanders (not yet part of Canada) St. Paul’s — built in 1750 and said to War I that provided a jarring entry into were killed, as well. With around be the oldest building in Halifax and modern, mechanized combat, with 424,000 Canadians sent overseas — or oldest Protestant church in Canada — battles lasting for months and wars for around 5 percent of the country’s pop- is planted at the south end of the Hal- years. What began in 1914 as a war to ulation, at the time — the math is ifax Grand Parade, the city’s most end all wars, a short war to bring shocking. More than one in two Cana- prominent public square. At the north lasting peace, quickly proved to be oth- dians deployed did not come home or end is Halifax’s city hall; the city’s ceno- erwise. By the time the war ended on did not return physically unscathed. taph lies between government and Nov. 11, 1918, millions of combatants That pain is visible in Anglican church, a somber reminder of Haligo- nians who died in the world wars and in the Korean War. St. Paul’s front doors open upon the cenotaph. On days like Nov. 11, the Grand Parade is Halifax’s busiest public space. This year, well more than a thousand people packed into the square to hear memorials of the dead, 100 years after World War I ended. As solemn poems and prayers were read at 11 a.m. by city dignitaries, veterans, and youth, can- nons on Citadel Hill (about a quarter- mile away) loudly saluted the hour of armistice. They also heard of death, of sacrifice, of post-traumatic stress dis- order, and of loss — but they did not hear, as St. Paul’s rector told the church before the ceremony, glorification of war. That is not a part of the Remem- brance Day program. “This is a day of remembrance. Let us give thanks for those who offered their lives in the hope that their sacri- fice in a short war would create a long peace,” the Rev. Paul Friesen preached. “We remember above all the love of Matthew Townsend photo God that heals.” Haligonians share a moment of silence around the Halifax cenotaph on Remembrance Day. St. Paul’s participation in events 4 THE LIVING CHURCH • December 2, 2018 refuge from the morning’s near- tion for what they’ve done.” freezing temperatures and harsh Lynch, an associate member whose winds. Staff and volunteers hauled family served in conflicts, was among king-sized pots of hot chocolate those to carry a poppy wreath to the between the small parish kitchen and cenotaph during the Remembrance the narthex, where youth presided over Day Ceremony. (Poppies are the uni- cups and ladles. (Marshmallows, how- versal symbol of war dead throughout ever, were a self-service affair.) the Commonwealth, thanks to the Canada’s observance of Remem- poetry of Canadian physician and sol- brance Day seems to strike a balance dier John McCrae, one of those who sometimes hard to find in the United did not see 1919.) States. Somewhere in between “The She said that Halifax’s military his- Battle Hymn of the Republic” and tory — and the active duty personnel “Down by the Riverside,” the day cre- that call the city home — give a special ates a space and time in which anti- significance to Remembrance Day. war sentiment and respect for service Lynch said support for the Legion’s men and women can coexist. War is work during “poppy season,” the time deeply lamented while the warriors are between the end of October and Nov. embraced. Warfare is not glorified, and 11 when Canadians of all stripes (and soldiers are not sanctified, but the politics) don lapel poppies and drop Ashley Stephenson photo depth of their sacrifice is honored. funds large and small into Legion col- Airmen await the start of the Remembrance Karen Lynch, chairwoman of the lection boxes, had been overwhelming. Day parade. Halifax is home to land, sea, and air personnel. Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of She said, however, that support of vet- the Royal Canadian Legion, told TLC erans and the fallen is not limited to a that Remembrance Day, for her, is a single day. included hospitality. The church way of “showing that we understand “It’s almost like a daily part of our remained open as a warm space before, their commitments and the sacrifices lives here,” she said. “It’s not just during, and after the ceremony — that they’ve made, and the apprecia- (Continued on next page) Your Gift Can Make A World Of Difference You can make a difference. SaintFrancisMinistries.org. December 2, 2018 • THE LIVING CHURCH 5 tics, personal views on war, and NEWS December 2, 2018 familial connections. | “Individuals will have different feel- Remembrance Day ings when they hear the bells. They (Continued from previous page) may look at it as a celebration. They Remembrance Day. It’s something we may think of their families, their lost strive to do every day, especially the ones, who served in past wars, past Legion in its advocacy for veterans.” conflicts,” he said. “It’s a mixed bag. I’m For Lt. Mike Campbell, a member not about to tell people what they Nov. 30 of Canada’s Air Force Reserve who should think. Let them make up their Liturgical Folk Concert attended the ceremony with his wife own minds.” (also in uniform), the day was as much A live music event about remembering as teaching future Matthew Townsend and his wife, Kate at Canterbury House, Dallas, TX generations. He said that Remem- Crane, live in Nova Scotia as Kate pur- brance Day is a way to be sure knowl- sues academic studies. They worship at edge of sacrifice is passed on. “It’s the St. Paul’s and, from time to time, King’s same thing in the U.S. and a lot of College Chapel, Halifax. Dec. 8 other nations in the world where people have served,” he told TLC. “It’s St. Augustine of Hippo as Catechist nothing too deep — just to come, be A study day at St. Anne’s out here, and remember.” Christmas Episcopal Church, Atlanta, GA The Grand Parade cleared after the cenotaph was decorated with wreaths, and Humility but events continued throughout the day.