The Epistle of Q — Chapter Sixty-Eight (Part B-1)

Why would I miss some of the Ethics Bowl to attend three different church services on Sunday?

Normally I would be at least moderating sessions, if not judging them as well. I have been a big fan of the Ethics Bowl that APPE sponsors every year. I have used its rubric to re-design my own final exams in my Environmental Health Ethics Class. But a couple of years ago I saw a very bad decision made re the winners — it was purely academic and purely “global warming” in the decision — not only was the other team more professional, their solution was more practical. The case is one that whenever I have used it always brings out great conversation, but the decision is always the same — if there is a shortage of water, almonds take precedence over strawberries and beef if the area is the only location where almonds can be productively grown. Anyway, after some heated discussions with the organizers, it was apparent that they thought “global warming” was “a fait a compli” and there was no middle ground for any conversation that might actually provide a practical solution that professionally made more sense but in a different direction (that might actually acknowledge “climate variability”). So I opted out of my continuing role as judge. Ironically, this year I was even left off both the moderating roster and the session chair roster even though they were looking for volunteers when the conference started. But, as you know, I take rejection well… I met some of the teams and certainly supported their efforts…Saturday evening was the starting point with a couple early rounds so that was cool, and there were playoff rounds in mid-day on Sunday. But I felt the morning could be better spent going to one of my favourite Presbyterian churches…Fourth Presbyterian Church

This is the story of the first service…

Since I was getting up early each day to get to 8:00 a.m. sessions, it was not difficult to arise and go over to the church which is across Michigan Avenue from the North Michigan Avenue Westin. At 8:00 a.m. each Sunday they have a communion service in the sanctuary. It is a service provided primarily for those members who travel a lot or live farther away from the church and so do not attend every Sunday at the regular services (9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. and thus may miss the half-dozen communion services held there, throughout the year) and for visitors like me who may not have been able to attend their own church’s communion service in recent months. The service is not an econo-version though. The full choir is in attendance, along with the music director and one of the organists (actually we were favoured with both the Associate Organist — Thomas E. Gouwens and Grant Nill who is an Organ Scholar that Fourth is helping through school). The prelude was Johannes Brahms “O darkest Woe! Ye Tears that Flow!” which set a wonderfully Lenten mood to the service and led into the Introit “Even Now, Says the Lord, Return to Me” (by Richard Proulx). We then all rose to the stirring sounds of the massive pipe organ and sang with great gusto the Doxology — my father would have been so happy to participate in a service starting with that long time staple of Presbyterian worship.

After the Call to Worship, which was responsive, we then sang the hymn “My Life Flows On” which was sung to a familiar tune so, while I didn’t know it well, found it a wonderful choral lead-in to the Lenten Prayer of Confession which we all said in unison and then had a moment of silence for each to quietly offer up one’s own confessions. The Third Lenten Candle was then extinguished followed by the choir rendering a powerful version of Franz Schubert’s Kyrie. The Declaration of Pardon was followed by the “exchange of peace”, a practice I am seldom ecstatic about once the service has started, but at Fourth it is not a busy or overly active process — almost everyone remains in their pew and we reach only as far as we are able. It is definitely more like greeting your neighbour as opposed to seeing how many hands you can shake. The Announcements brought everything rather quickly back into focus and then to make sure we were in a worshipful mood, the choir sang their anthem “Hide Not Thou Thy Face from Us, O Lord” (by Richard Farrant). It was beautiful and the harmonies were very precise.

The service then moved into Listening for the Word and after the Prayer for Illumination, the responsive psalm was sung (Psalm 86) followed by the Gloria Patri (led again by a very vibrant pipe organ). The scripture was Mark 12: 13-17 and the sermon was given by one of the five Associate Pastors, Victoria G. Curtiss who is in charge of Mission. She was very good as she focussed on the theme of “You Can’t Catch Me” — based on Christ’s response to whether people should pay taxes (render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s). The main thrust was that we must be respectful of our civic and civil duties, but that our first allegiance is to God and His requirements of us. We can’t duck out simply because there are earthly preferences we would like to promote — God has laid out expectations that Christ has summarized in the two commandments: Love God, Love our neighbour as ourselves… these are the fundamental guideposts for us to adhere to, and we ought not to get confused by earthly fads and distractions, just because the world seems more likely to approve if we signed up for them. The sermon was responded to by us all singing “Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart” and then the Affirmation of Faith (said in unison).

The offering was collected while the organist played a variation on the Prelude (O Darkest Woe! Ye Tears that FLow) by Ethel Smith — a contemporary music composer who’s idea of contemporary music really honours classical traditions as I almost wished the church had been full so that the piece could have been repeated several more times. The offering was brought forward while we all sang the Offertory Response (“For the life that you have given…”)

We then entered into the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper which during a series of prayers included another old faithful — we sang the Sanctus (which is a piece that we used to always sing when I was a child attending church on the prairies) as well as a sung version of the Memorial Acclamation plus singing the Lord’s Prayer. All in all it was a wonderful way to prepare for communion. The format was “intinction” so that it moved fairly quickly while the choir provided a Communion Anthem “Call to Remembrance, O Lord” (also by Farrant). There was a prayer said in unison to conclude Communion and then we all sang a final hymn “Take My Life”. After the Benediction and choral response, the organist favoured us with a Postlude that was a Fugue by Ethel Smith on the same theme as the Prelude. By the time it was over…I knew I had truly been in the presence of God.

If you are ever in Chicago, and even if you are busy on the Sunday, go to the 8:00 a.m. service at Fourth. It will be restorative.

g.w.