Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990 TAG: 9003022962
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Frances Stebbins
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The mailbox and the inviting community sign are symbolic of a small parish that is working to revitalize itself after five years of turmoil and division that left it a fraction as large as it used to be.
A new rector, the Rev. James Drinard Smith, 53, arrived three months ago. A Virginia Theological Seminary graduate, he has spent most of his 27-year-career in the commonwealth and has served churches in its three dioceses.
His energy and enthusiasm plus the loyalty of several dozen long-time members who remained in the Grandin Court congregation are beginning to turn the church around.
Smith and lay leaders say it will take several years for St. Elizabeth's to make the impact it once did in the newer areas of Southwest Roanoke and Roanoke County, but conversation at the 11 a.m. coffee hour that follows the 10 a.m. worship indicated that a new spirit is taking over.
Spirit was behind the singing of the final hymn, "The Spacious Firmament On High," an 18th century Episcopal favorite, with words of English classicist Joseph Addison set to the music of Franz Joseph Haydn.
The worshipers' spirit is needed, for the choir at St. Elizabeth's had fewer than a dozen singers. Several of them were children who marched in behind the processional cross with the adults. Karen Amos, organist and choirmaster, directed the blue-and-white clad singers.
Two other hymns, 19th century standards "Christ Whose Glory Fills the Skies" and " Breathe On Me Breath of God," came from the "new" 1982 Episcopal hymnal issued four years ago.
When the offering was presented, members sang a contemporary folk hymn, "Alleluia." It is a favorite among those active in the Cursillo movement for evangelistic renewal in the Episcopal church.
Music of that movement was popular at St. Elizabeth's in the days before some members left to form the Episcopal charismatic renewal Church of the Holy Spirit. Today the enthusiasm for the hymn shows that, despite St. Elizabeth's return to a more traditional 1979 prayer book worship, some of the informality of the 1970s era remains.
About 45 worshiped last Sunday, most appearing to be about Smith's age or older. Stained-glass windows, donated when the church was more prosperous than it is now, cast colorful patterns across the blue-padded pews. No one was crowded.
It was a Morning Prayer Sunday last week. For Episcopalians, that means that Holy Communion usually is not celebrated at the major family service. Smith chose the traditional-language Rite I following the congregation's custom of recent years.
Morning Prayer, a service actually intended to be used for daily devotion, has a long history of Sunday worship acceptance among Virginia Episcopalians. Whether or not it is replaced by Eucharist [Communion] at every major Sunday service is a matter of some controversy among long-time worshipers.
The church nationally is encouraging more use of Eucharist, but two traditional Roanoke Valley parishes, St. John's of Roanoke and St. Paul's of Salem, still alternate the simple prayers, Bible readings and sermon service with the more elaborate Eucharist.
St. Elizabeth's is in transition. Smith announced that, following much deliberation, he and the vestry governing board will begin a two-month trial period this Sunday of offering Eucharist at the main service each week. Some have asked for it, he said.
At the fellowship time that follows worship, several members made it clear that they are glad that on each fourth Sunday the Eucharist will be preceeded by part of the Morning Prayer ritual. That's a compromise some other parishes also are using as the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia becomes increasingly influenced by newcomers used to the "high-church" style of some clergy and laity.
Such adjustments seem to be paying off as the Sunday bulletin showed that 21 people have become members of St. Elizabeth's since the new life began Dec. 1.
The guest register in the hall of the 32-year-old parish showed the names of several visitors each week.
Carol Giles, a young lay woman, read the Scripture lessons and psalm, as well as the several prayers for sick individuals and for the state of the church at home and abroad.
The readings included the story of the transfiguration. As recounted in Matthew 17, Jesus and three close friends experienced the presence of Moses and Elijah and the voice of God.
In his 25-minute sermon, Smith talked of this "strange and mysterious experience" that brought God into contact with humans. Both Jesus and his friends experienced the transcendent, he said, because they were open, prepared and willing to enter into the presence of God on a personal level.
Many have had such experiences with God, the rector said. One of the most profound of his own occurred five years ago after a painful departure from a long pastorate. He became a construction worker for several months as he sought to overcome his anger at God and those who had hurt him, and to regain his sense of call to church ministry.
His answer, he said, came in the sight of a rainbow on a turbulent March day, a sight his fellow carpenters did not see. Affirmed by God, as was Noah after the Old Testament flood, he began his re-entry into activity as a pastor.
Being prepared to find God in such an experience, Smith said, depends to a degree on taking some risks, having nerve to go into action.
by CNB