MORRISBURG – “I hope, when we talk about the past, that people realize that nothing we do is really ‘new,’” said the Rev. Peter Cazaly, who with the Rev. Jon Martin, presided over a special 1867 service at St. James Anglican Church on Sunday, July 2, 2017.
“We are just rediscovering and finding new meanings in the old words and the old ways.”
As part of the Canada 150 celebrations, St. James welcomed parishioners and many visitors to the unique service, carried out as it would have been in the late 19th century.
The rituals, prayers and even the sermon at the July 2 service were all taken from sources common to the so-called “established church” of British Canada.
Warden Mark Lewis and treasurer Bob Ruddock assumed the roles of 1867 wardens, even carrying the official rods of office from the time period. Among a warden’s duties, Cazaly pointed out, to laughter from the congregation, was the task of thumping parishioners who chose to fall asleep during lengthy sermons.
Jill Dumaresq and Wendy Lewis also showed visitors what the respectable (but fashionable) Upper Canada middle class woman would have worn to Sunday services, which often lasted over two hours.
The special clothing worn by participants at the St. James’ service were courtesy of Upper Canada Village.
During the service, people discovered that religious rituals of 1867 were often highly formalized. The Book of Common Prayer called for many pledges of loyalty to the Queen (Victoria at the time), who was the head of the Anglican Church.
Consequently, the 2017 congregation also duly promised to faithfully “serve, honour and humbly obey her…”
There was also much kneeling in the services of the 1800s. Rev. Martin laughed that several modern parishioners, given the hard floor and the equally hard kneelers in the pews, told him after the service that that was one aspect of worship they were glad had changed over 150 years.
Change was also the theme of Cazaly’s sermon, based as it was on an 1866 sermon by an area priest who had dared to do something a little different in one of his homilies, and been called out for it.
In “On Turning to the East,” Rev. Cazaly stressed that often people fear change, but change is sometimes merely a ‘new way’ of looking at ‘old ways.’
After communion (served from a cloth covered table – no altar in 1867), there were refreshments and a time of fellowship.
Many visitors also took the opportunity to examine the architecture, stained glass windows and religious relics at St. James.
“It was a great service,” said Rev. Jon Martin. “People seemed to really enjoy experiencing an 1867 service.
I am always amazed,” he added, “at how often I say to the congregation, what are the new things we can do?
But so many people have told me how much the old ways and the old memories meant to them today. They loved reliving the old rituals, and reconnecting with the old ways and those old feelings.”