An Advent Search: Part II

NOTE: Last week, I blogged about attending Saint Thomas’ Episcopal Church but was called out by several friends (and rightly so!) for talking more about architecture and less about orthodoxy. I have returned to that blog and made the appropriate revisions and hope I struck a better balance in this week's post about Grace Church.


















This Sunday, I (Stephanie was in Florida, reveling in a night-time shuttle launch) attended Grace Church in my continuing advent search for a house of worship in New York City.

Grace Church, a Gothic Revival masterpiece and National Historic Landmark, was designed by James Renwick, Jr., who, at 23, was just beginning his career. He would later go on to design St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Smithsonian Institution castle. Grace Church was consecrated in 1846.

Grace Church, New York City reminded me very much of Grace Church, Colorado Springs where I was first introduced to Anglicanism and attended before moving here. Both the interior architecture and the liturgy was eerily and therefore comfortingly similar.


















Other than that, the first thing I was struck by was how few people attended. Only about fifty people or so. And I guess that was considered a large crowd as the Rector seemed to suggest as much from the pulpit. Perhaps just as surprising was the demographics of the crowd. While one might expect an aging congregation, this was comprised mainly of young couples and lots of radiant children.

The Rector’s sermon was quite good. He began by addressing acting (the church is located on Broadway, after all!) and how actors inhabit the characters they play, let the role take over, get their own personalities and desires out of the way, and stay in character no matter what happens during the performance. It is the same, he said, with the performance of life. Christ inhabits us and we must let Him rule over our passions and no matter what life throws at us, we must "stay in character."













One of the more pleasant things about the service was the administration of the Eucharist. Since there were so few people in attendance, we were all invited to surround the altar in a semi-circle throughout the entire ceremony, not simply come to the front for the administration of communion itself. It was a lovely atmosphere of fellowship and very intimate. It is in the communion of fellowship, the gathering together of the saints in one worshipful voice, that I truly find meaning in the physical act of attending church.