From Huffington-
I left St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in New Haven with a soaring spirit. The Lessons & Carols service -- quintessentially Anglican worship interweaving Scripture and music -- had just concluded. Particularly memorable had been a haunting setting by Roderick Williams of one of the seven Greater Antiphons of Advent: "O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel" ("O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel"). This stunning piece has a dark edginess that beautifully captures what waiting for God can be like. Dissonances rise and clash above powerful choral continuities; impressions of order are challenged by free-form melodic descants; a tenor solo seeks valiantly to unfold the narrative of Israel's redemption against the backdrop of luminous but subtly disturbing musical chaos.
O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and to him gave the Law: Come to redeem us with outstretched arms.
As I drove away, I passed the turn that would have taken me to the other church in my life. St. Andrew's, where I currently serve as a deacon, is just a few blocks away from St. Thomas', but it's in an entirely different world. The well-resourced St. Thomas' is located in a lovely neighborhood with million-dollar houses along the broad, tree-lined streets.
St. Andrew's is in the troubled Newhallville area of New Haven. Across from the church is an overgrown vacant lot with trash and used drug paraphernalia caught up at the bottom of a chain-link fence. The neighborhood is plagued by crime; several shootings have taken place within a few blocks of the church in the past three months. With a tiny congregation and no endowment, St. Andrew's struggles to stay open. It hasn't helped that in recent months, the church has experienced two break-ins, an off-site robbery of its Sunday offering, and the home invasion of an elderly parishioner.
More here-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carolyn-sharp/luke-13956-magnificat-for_b_1146988.html
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