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This Week at St. Matthew's
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The Day They Closed The Church
My first days as an Episcopalian were spent in Dallas in a conservative little parish that split off of a larger congregation back during all the hoopla over the new Book of Common Prayer. Even though I was on the staff at FBC Dallas, I never failed to attend a simple and meaningful service of communion in this beautiful refuge of sanity and hope every Wednesday at noon. The rector had attended a fundamentalist bible college when the mystery of liturgy caught him by the throat and he "defected" ASAP! He was working at a major evangelical denominational publishing company in Nashville and was given the responsibility of doing a Lenten series. He had no idea what Lent was so they told him to go across the street to the Episcopal Church and find out. He told me that he literally walked in the door and had the very common feeling so many of us feel - he felt he was finally at home...he and I spent hours in conversation about the ills, spiritual abuse and emptiness of evangelical religion. There is great irony in my own story of coming out of evangelicalism in the fact that I spent hours in my youth practicing the organ which I now play every Sunday at St. Matthews in Pampa, my hometown. There is not enough room on this page for me to tell the stories of profound synchronicity that dogged me throughout my life until I finally "fell" into the Episcopal church. My personal theology and understanding of God is no longer naive and co-dependent. I now have a better understanding of what is real, what is authentic and intellectually honest. I find our liturgy to be one of the last religious art forms in existence. The beautiful prose and elegant prayers contain centuries of spiritual travail and soul searching. There was a time when folks were Episcopalian because it was the most credible and powerfully influential denomination in existence. However, too many of our society no longer need to be associated with anything or any institution that might lend itself to our personal "credibility". It now seems that still too many Americans are completely oblivious to education, integrity and excellence. We are anesthetized by the internet, media and "politically charged cultural clutter".Russ and I were recently in Lubbock at the offices of
the Northwest Texas Diocese of the Episcopal Church. The women who
coordinate the endless activities, logistics and details of this
enormously scattered aggregation of Episcopal Churches are some of the
most intelligent, engaging and completely fun group of people I have
ever met. Our new Bishop, Scott Meyer dropped by on his way to yet
another distant obligation somewhere in the vastness of this unique
part of the greater US of A. As we listened to the stories of the closing of several small parish churches that day in Lubbock - they recounted in particular the story of one that was to be closed. There was one single surviving church member, an elderly woman who told personal stories of her individual family members who had been baptized, married, confirmed, buried and lived their entire lives within the spiritual boundaries of that small parish. The deep, gut wrenching tears and sobs from that beautiful saint would grip the most hardened and cynical among us. As I listened to the story of that single surviving woman who was weeping at the loss of her church...I was reminded of something:
- I was forced to reexamine all of my life history in the church.
- I now know a lot more about the priorities of life.
- We as Episcopalians have permission to think for ourselves.
We can "scrape and claw" our way through the irrelevance of things that are ignoble and shallow. We have the right and inherent ability to find out what is authentic and real in this life. We can question, examine, seek, probe, investigate, approve or reject anything we wish. We also recognize our ability to see ourselves as we really are and embrace our humanity with joy and sheer abandonment. We do not need anyone to tell us that we are all pilgrims on this wonderful journey through life. We are all the same in our need for love, nurture, authenticity, connection, and acceptance. We are not a disconnected, abandoned, fragmented and
helpless nation. We all are profoundly connected to one another.We desperately need to reach out to those who are wandering around in a world of frustration and noisy excess. The vast majority of Americans see no need for church - I really don't blame them. Spirituality and "connection" are all about us on many levels and there are no limits to our ability to communicate anywhere in the world via the internet, television, email, books etc. But, we still need a relevant theology that is intellectually and historically honest and we need authentic love for others that is without borders or boundaries. So where do we begin?... amen. rdl
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Service Music for This Week
We celebrate a service of morning prayer this week at St. Matthews. We will be using several of the favorite canticles from the 1940 Hymnal and the Prelude is the elegant Chorale by Joseph Jongen.
For the offertory interlude we will play a transcription of the Adagio movement from the Organ Symphony by Camille Saint-Saens. This incredible music is some of the most "authentic" and spiritually inspired imaginable.
Each week is a new adventure in expressing our beliefs and faith and hope in new and creative ways.
We are committed to expressing the most beautiful and meaningful in all of musical repertoire. We may be a small parish - but we lack nothing in our ability to achieve excellence, authenticity, spirituality and rarest of all...intellectual honesty. amen
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New St. Matt's Website!
Check out St. Matt's new website at www.stmatthewspampa.org
There are still pages under construction but the site will be totally functional within the next week or two.
The site will be totally interactive and the place to go for all the latest news and schedules for the support of worship and the ministries of St. Matt's.
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Adult Sunday School Class Continues New Discussion
Come join our weekly Adult Inquiry Sunday School class that meets each Sunday morning at 9:30 AM in the Parish Hall. The class is growing and is a very interactive discussion of topics that concern our lives as the people of God.
This week the class continues their new study from a book entitled "Same Kind Of Different As Me".
Please join us and help enrich the lively discussion and insights as we continue this new study.
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Re-live the Sounds of St. Matthew's
Performance of Faure's Requiem
 The evening of passionate music that we experienced that Palm Sunday night was a true joy and a transcendent experience. We were able to get a great recording of the concert and have posted MP3 audio clips of each song on our website at www.RnRFusion.com and will soon be posted on St. Matt's new website due to be online next week! To listen to the evening's music and hymns click on the following link: Pampa Civic Chorus Performs the Faure Requiem.
Be looking to hear more from the Pampa Civic Chorus this Summer, Fall & Christmas Season.
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The Sounds of St. Matthew's
 You can listen to a few clips from last week's 10:30 AM service (4/18/2010) as well as clips from past services online by clicking one of the following links: |
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Rick & Russ' Blog 
at RnRFusion.com
Visit Our Homepage
by Russ
If you have not visited our home page at RnRFusion.com lately stop by and experience moments as they are captured each week in our live worship services. What you hear as you visit our site through the media player at the top of each page at RnRFusion.com are the original arrangements and compositions that Rick & I are creating each week in service to our little church in the Texas panhandle, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Pampa, TX. Although we have our fingers in so many pies we make our service music for St. Matthew's our top priority each week. We are having a blast while breaking through the barriers of church music with our special "fusion" of great literature, original compositions and improvisations in the use of the historic Mohler Pipe Organ and the Yamaha Motif Synthesizer.
We are very grateful to the people of St. Matthew's for allowing us to express our hearts of worship through our spiritual and musical gifts.
Rick & I have experienced leading worship and making music in the largest evangelical churches in the state of Texas, but they do not compare to the beauty, tranquility and aesthetic spiritual depth that we have the freedom to experience at St. Matthew's through our weekly musical offerings in service to God and the dear people of St. Matt's.
We hope that you are blessed by what you hear. To hear the corporate musical expressions from the congregation of St. Matthew's.....(click here to read more of what you can find at RnR Fusion)
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We would love to invite you to participate in a weekly discussion with Rick & Russ through their blog at www.RnRFusion.com.
We hope to engage our fellow worshipers in thoughtful discussion on many topics concerning worship, religious and humanitarian issues. Just click on the above web address link or logo and join in the discussion. You can contribute comments by filling out the form on the blog page at the bottom of the post. Let us know what your thoughts are on the subjects discussed about in our blog. Our discussions will be fun as well as provocative.
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Sounds of
St. Matthew's You can listen to clips from last Sunday's service by clicking on this link:
WORSHIP MUSIC CLIPS
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St. Matthew's Worship Ministries
Rev. Linda Kelly, Rector - Rick Land & Russ Tapp, Musicians
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church 727 W. Browning, Pampa, TX 79065
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