The Anglican Parish of Saint James truly is a house filled with the word of the Lord.
From the Bibles to the floors, the word of God is everywhere in “the little church by the railroad tracks” that began in the Most Rev. John W. Gains’ living room July 25, 1993.
Hidden verses on the floors — written by Gains before carpet was laid in the sanctuary — are just one of the unique characteristics of the Anglican Church. Actually, Gains said nearly all items in the chapel have interesting histories.
“The organ is from Veterans Stadium (in Philadelphia),” Gains said, grinning. “When they were bringing it in, I said ‘don’t play ‘charge’ as I am going up the aisle.'”
Red vestments, purple veil and burse and what looks like a black altar frontal. A little eclectic, surely?
Does anybody have any idea re the jurisdiction that this parish is under?
Must be a continuing church. Alas, almost nobody in TEC or the new Common Cause and African affiliated churches celebrates the Eucharist with the priest facing the altar any more. The altar in the photo appears to be positioned correctly.
Not true, #3. Our church was built with the altar against the wall. It was pulled out after Vatican II made facing the people popular. Many years later, we pushed it back against the wall–the way it was built to be. I’ve known several parishes that have also experimented with facing the people and then changed back.
I don’t understand the color “scheme” either, #1. We sometimes will not change the super frontal for weekday feasts–just use the proper color veil and vestments, but this looks all “mixed up”!
#3 and 4–I’m almost afraid to ask, but where in the world does the “correct” positioning of the altar come from? I’m almost afriad to ask, because every time I do so, I find some new requirement for salvation I didn’t know about. In previous posts on this site I found out Pacific Islanders are going to hell becaue they don’t have wheat and can’t make communion wafers with gleuten, and when I had communion in the Marines with grape drink because wine wasn’t available (in a foxhole at the time), it didn’t count. What gives with altars?
I dunno – I think the frontal is just a darker purple than the burse and veil. I attend a mission church (we meet in a school) and our priest doesn’t have vestments for all the liturgical colors yet because they’re so expensive, nor do our “hand me down” paraments always match. So he would wear white (instead of green) during Christmas, and our Advent frontal is blue while our burse/veil is more purple-ish. Maybe Fr. Gains is doing the same thing? Anyway, kudos to them for growing a church from the ground up!
The Most Rev. John W. Gains appears to be the Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Independent Communion in the Americas. I never heard of this particular Anglican “church” before. I can’t tell if this “church” has another American parish or not…
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Anglican_Church_Canada_Synod]Wiki article on IACCS[/url] Not “continuing” exactly. Formed in 1934. Gains group is connected with it.
I had to chuckle about the organ being used in Rev. Gains’ church. As a long time Phillies fan, I’m sure I heard that organ any number of times at the Vet, but I was always so fixated on the game & the antics of the Philly Fanatic, I didnt notice the organ music much.
Memories…
The Independent Anglican website indicates that the church traces its historic succession through bishops in the Old Catholic Mathew succession.