![]() At 9:30 I will teach a class on “Friendship as a Key to the Bible.” This Sunday, September 19, I am to preach at Good Shepherd in Cedar Hill, Tex. Pray also that God will raise up for us new and faithful candidates for the ordained ministry. Spare a thought this week for the ministers in your own parish, lay people whose lives are God's ministry in the world as well as your clergy, and for the bishops of our church and around the world. Similarly, Ember Days come in Advent (in the second week), Lent (in the first week), and in the week of Pentecost. The autumnal Ember Days begin on the first Wednesday after Holy Cross Day (Sept 14) and thus, in 2021, they are Sept 15, 17, and 18. They come in threes: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. They come, roughly, at the turns of the seasons. Even as these more minor observances have been “backgrounded” to the primary observances of the liturgical year, they should not be forgotten, but are instead the very sorts of things that give structure and pacing to time.They are rather old fashioned, but they are also old: the Ember Days, times for praying for the ministry of the church and especially for ordained ministers. The custom of fasting on Wednesday and Friday has extremely deep Christian roots, and the ember days are a survival of that custom. Similarly, the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory requires us brothers to undertake a self examination of our observance of the Rule, and write a written report to our minister provincial. In the Episcopal Church, there is a canonical requirement that postulants and candidates for holy orders must report to their bishop on the ember days. The Episcopal Church no longer lists them as fast days, but it might be a nice thing to take whatever one’s normal Friday observance is and extend it to today and this Saturday (and the other ember days too) for this reason. ![]() The point was to break the year four times, with a pause for self examination and calling oneself to holiness of life and ministry. The abandonment of these days by the Roman Catholic Church is a particular shame, because while these became customary times for ordination, that was never the point. In typical Anglican fashion, we still have them, but with complete permission to celebrate them on the traditional days or at other times. (And for complex liturgical reasons, all but the September ember days had essentially vanished from the liturgy in the Roman Catholic Church anyhow.) In practice the observance of these days has simply evaporated in the Roman Catholic Church. As with the Rogation days, the Roman Catholic Church decided in the 1960s that these should be decided locally, to coincide with local conditions since every diocese has its own times for ordaining people, the observance of ember days should be chosen to suit that diocese’s customs. The ember days became traditional times for ordination, and so the collects for ember days in the Book of Common Prayer are focused on the ministry: one for those to be ordained, one for the choice of fit persons for the ministry, and one for all Christians in their vocation. But what, you ask, is an ember day? The term is a shortening and mutation of the Latin “quatuor tempora,” which means “four seasons” or “four times.” These are three fast days, a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, appointed near the beginning of each season in September, December, the beginning of Lent, and the week after Pentecost. Today is the first of the three summer ember days.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |