From the Vicar…
Dear Friends,
After a very dark winter, it is a joy to welcome the Spring as we have begun to enjoy it this week. The blossoms are out and we are waiting for the wonderful green to follow. May it cheer us all up, and fill us with energy and hope for the journey ahead.
S. Michael’s School has finished the third term and will be on holiday for three weeks from today. We wish the staff and students of all schools a safe and refreshing spring break.
Today is S. Matthew’s Day. We don’t always keep saints’ days on Sundays, but in this year that we are reading S. Matthew’s Gospel at Sunday Mass, it is appropriate to do so. The Gospel reading for today, Matthew 9: 9–13, tells of the calling of Matthew by Jesus, and it is the Gospel writer’s signature piece. Matthew follows Jesus, they enter his house and eat a meal with ‘sinners’. When criticised for this, Jesus, quoting the prophet Hosea, says, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” In that is the particular message of the Gospel of Matthew. There will be more about this in the preaching for the day.
With the beautiful Spring light, we have been savouring the restored beauty of the great east window in S. Michael’s Church. Today we shall attend to the work that has been done, and to the provenance of the window, as we bless it again and dedicate it to God’s glory. I quote to you the words of Bishop Julius on the Faculty for the installation of the window, issued on 10 December, 1910. In Canon Francis Knowles’ beautiful handwriting, it says, ‘To remove the East Window at present in the said Church of St Michael and All Angels, in the City of Christchurch, and to insert in place thereof a three-light window representing the Lord’s Crucifixion; over this a choir of angels—beneath, a representation of the Institution of the Holy Supper; both compositions being framed by canopy work of white and gold upon ruby backgrounds. In the base of the right hand light, the dedication sentence:
“To the Glory of God and in memory of the founders of the Canterbury Settlement, 16 December, 1910.” ’
Written in the margin of the Faculty, at right angles, is a further note: ‘In issuing this faculty, the Bishop expressed his desire that the whole, or at least a portion of the old windows may be set up in some other part of the Church, with its memorial inscription attached.’ In fact, four parts of the old window were installed in the north wall of the chapel of the Community of the Sacred Name, where they may still be seen. The fifth was installed in 1911 above the altar in the mission church of S. Stephen’s Shirley, and was destroyed when the new church was built in the 1950s. A memorial inscription is placed beside the west door of S. Michael’s Church.
Please take this opportunity to invite friends, enquirers and well-wishers, to enjoy the Festival of Michaelmas with us, including the Solemn Mass and the Dinner. Flyers are available in the Trumpet today.
May God bless you all.
Peter Williams
