For some people, Lent hasn’t really begun until they have attended A Procession for the First Sunday in Lent. This annual Baltimore tradition, which was conceived and initiated by Saint John’s Church, known as Saint John’s in the Village, has been an important ecumenical Lenten ‘pilgrimage’ for sixteen years. Held in the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Episcopal), this service is a musical tour-de-force as well as a sober reflection on the journey from the darkness of sin to the light of repentance and resurrection.

It takes the form of a liturgical procession of penitence and supplication, and moves through the full length of the cathedral in a virtual pilgrimage meant to be symbolic of our journey as the People of God.

The procession begins with the choir singing a prayer of invocation. Then, thematic hymns are sung by the people as the procession moves to the “Stations” -places of ‘rest’ along the way- where prayer is made and lessons from Holy Scripture are read which tell sequentially our story of continuing sin, God’s intervention, and our ultimate hope of salvation in Jesus his Christ.

After each of the lessons the choir sings a beautiful ‘Respond’, musical meditations upon the meaning and implications of the lessons. The people sing hymns as the procession moves to each new station. Along the way, the procession is punctuated by the ‘Stational Collects’, prayers which collect and unite the themes of hymns, lessons, and responds.

Powerful moments in the service are a statement of the “destination of Lent” in a great Easter anthem, and the incomparable penitential Psalm 51, Miserere mei, in the famous setting by Gregorio Allegri. The whole assembly make a corporate act of confession and supplication, followed by the declaration of God’s pardon and absolution through Christ. The service concludes with the Choir out of sight of the people, singing an ancient antiphon as if from the realm of Heaven. The cathedral’s organ then thunders in reply, echoing the sounds of the celestial City of God.

The service is led by the Choir of Saint John’s Church, whose singing style, unique in Baltimore, is particularly suited to the cathedral’s acoustic. The Choir of Saint John’s Church is a primary outreach ministry of Saint John’s in the Village. It is a professional liturgical choir schooled in the English collegiate tradition and sound. The music program at Saint John’s is dedicated to the training of musicians for the Church in both that traditional style and sound, with the object of using and preserving the spiritual treasury of traditional Anglican church music as a vibrant means of outreach and Gospel proclamation in the present and future generations.

If you haven’t experienced this trenchant and mystical service, you have missed a perfect opportunity to begin your Lent.

To help make a “right beginning” of Lent, everyone is invited to come together on 26 February, 6:00 PM, at The Cathedral of the Incarnation, 4 East University Parkway, Baltimore, for A Procession for the First Sunday in Lent.

The Rev'd Jesse L. A. Parker
Rector of Saint John's in the Village

Fr Parker is the author of several liturgies for special occasions including Lessons and Anthems in Time of War, and A Requiem for the Homeless.

Saint John's is a welcoming community of the Episcopal Church, the American Anglicans, located in the heart of the city of Baltimore at 30th and Greenmount in the old village of Huntingdon - an area now known more commonly as the Waverly and Charles Villages. We are young and old, rich and poor, straight and gay, liberal and conservative, and most things in between. Our goal is not like-mindedness, but a holy communion of mutual respect and understanding, in order that together we may find God and serve the world in Christ's name.

Our worship is full of poetry, using the language and beauty of traditional Anglican forms and music. Our concerns are as contemporary and energized as today's news. We are modern people seeking the eternal God. We delve deeply and courageously into the spiritual life and its disciplines, unafraid to ask questions and admit that we do not have all the answers. Our business is reconciliation: with God, with each other, with all creation. On our spiritual journey we welcome anyone seeking God, and also those who are merely respectfully curious.

At Saint John's you can expect to find a spiritual tradition of rich depth, with breadth of experience and an atmosphere of profound mutual respect. Beauty and the arts are used here as important expressions of indefinable truth. An historic choral tradition of excellence enriches the spiritual life of our congregation, our community, our City, and our Diocese. We support eight Choral Scholars, as well as over half a dozen local, regional, and international outreach programmes. Reaching out in service to others is our call and our joy.

In this community you will find tradition balanced with honest inquiry and openness to new ideas. You will find things to comfort, to challenge, to reassure, and to perplex you, and you'll find the security of a place which is not afraid to let you feel them all! In short, we endeavour to be a place for you to seek, find, and enjoy God. Yes, enjoy.

What you won't find here is frozen dogmatic 'religion' or fundamentalism. Yes, we treasure the historic creeds and the Bible. We use them as indispensable formative expressions of the Christian faith to be reckoned and wrestled with today, by using the insight, maturity, and wisdom of all generations, including our own. We don't claim to have all the answers to today's issues, but we do have thousands of years of hard human experience- good, bad, ugly, and beautiful- with which to address them, while seeking the Spirit of God in them. We believe Jesus died and rose to free us from evil, not from our brains. So, as he said once to a disciple, "Come and see!" God doesn't use coercion, neither do we. Join us when you can. We welcome you!

In Christ our hope,