Key's church

This seems as if it's been Francis Scott Key month. You'll recall that Key is the author of the words to "The Star Spangled Banner," our national anthem, and he became a prominent lawyer who lived and worked in Georgetown in the years following his trip to Fort McHenry.

Well, on the Fourth of July, Robert and I watched the fireworks from the Key Bridge. The full, official name of the Key Bridge? The Francis Scott Key Bridge. And why was that bridge, spanning the Potomac River between the Rosslyn area of Arlington and Georgetown, named after him? Right there by where the Key Bridge intersects M Street in Georgetown is Francis Scott Key Park, the site of Key's former Georgetown home.

Well, yesterday, I had another Key contact. I was apartment sitting in Georgetown for Ian this weekend, so I decided to go to church Sunday morning at the Episcopal church that's about two and a half blocks from Ian's place.

The parish is called Christ Church Georgetown. It was founded in 1817 by the Corcoran family (of the art gallery fame) and their friends, including Francis Scott Key, who was to be a long-time member. The present building dates to 1886.



The architecture is quite interesting. The design is from the mid-Victorian period during the late Gothic revival era. The exterior is fairly plain, but the inside is quite ornate, with a colonnade of low columns lining each side of the nave and some unusual broad interior arches. There are gorgeous, priceless stained glass windows that seem to be in the German style popular in the 1880s. Small clerestory windows depict the disciples and apostles of the Church. Elaborately carved wood reredos back the high altar (which was pulled away from the wall in a late-20th century remodeling). Old style box pews fill the nave, all numbered, and many with brass family name plaques still attached. You can't quite tell from the photograph, but there are two columns of pews and an aisle on the far side of each colonnade, so the seating capacity is about twice what is readily visible.



Large, wide arches separate the nave from the chancel, and the chancel from the nave. You can't see it, but off to the left in the chancel is the organ console and a large pipe chamber. The organ is essentially an 85-rank Möller, but it has some Skinner revisions and some modern Allen electronics.

Up in the sanctuary, there's plenty of room on either side for the altar party to be spaciously accommodated, and they are far enough back the congregation can't see them.



The organist provided the prelude and postlude, doing first Bach's Alle Menschen müssen sterben, BWV 643, then Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 557.

Hymns included Du Lebensbrot Herr Jesu Christ for the processional, a split O quanta qualia for the sequence and gradual, the Old 100th as the presentation doxology, and St. Michael for the recessional. The Mass setting was Healey Willan's, Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena.

The choir sang the psalm in Anglican chant using a setting by Samuel Sebastian Wesley. For the offertory, they sang C. H. H. Parry's "Prevent us, O Lord." The choir was small (nine), but they had a nice sound and choral blend. The only times I noticed a problem was in some of the soft passages when the sopranos (unable to sing full voice) went a little flat on the high notes, but that's not unusual at all under such circumstances. One thing I noticed throughout the service was how much the choirmaster kept the sound reigned in for more responsiveness and nuance.

The rector served as celebrant for the Rite 1 service. There was a little bit of language mixing: they used modern words for the Credo ("We believe" instead of "I believe" and Holy Spirit instead of Holy Ghost). The program gave the traditional words for the Gloria tibi and Laus tibi, but a substantial number of the congregation said the modern versions. Otherwise, it was a nice, solid liturgy. The congregation was a bit reserved, but they seemed all to know their service, and sang and spoke along.

Speaking of the congregation, they were classically Episcopalian! Now, as I walked to church late on Sunday morning, the temperatures were already nearly 90º! Consequently, I made the executive decision to dress in cool, comfortable, casual summer clothes. Well, that's not the tradition at Christ Church. I saw two younger men in Polos and khakis and two or three older men in casual clothes, then I saw one middle-aged man in a blazer and dress shirt with no tie, but other than that, all of the other men were in suits and ties, even the little boys. There were, however, lots of nice bow ties, and I saw more than one man in seersucker and several pairs of white bucks.

The assisting priestess served as homilist. Her sermon-length homily talked about the lyrics to a couple of Bruce Springsteen songs. The pulpit, at least, was striking, and I particularly liked the large, brass, overhead light.

During the passing of the peace, people just quietly shook hands with the four or so people in their immediate vicinity and then sat down. How refreshing!

After the service, people headed to the parish hall for coffee and refreshments. Now, this wasn't a special Sunday or anything (like next week, when they'll be having a special reception to welcome a new staff member), so it was just a regular thing, but, my, how nice for a "regular" service! They had long tables set up, one with coffee and the other with tea punch, both with a seated lady pouring. The food included miniature crab cakes, bacon-wrapped scallops, fried shrimp, a shrimp salad with tiny shrimp, lots of deviled eggs, and tea sandwiches with cucumber, chicken salad, and egg salad. The tea punch—non-alcoholic, unfortunately—was a cold, satisfying mix of tea and ginger ale. The parishioners were surprisingly friendly, too, as I had two men engage me in conversation at the punchbowl.

What an absolutely lovely parish! This is the kind of place I could get used to going to every Sunday....and they even sing Evensong twice a month! Here are a few of their stained glass windows as a parting thought.