Church of the Incarnation (Dallas, Texas)

Church of the Incarnation
Church of the Incarnation
Location	3966 McKinney Ave (at Cambrick); Dallas, Texas
Country	United States
Denomination	Episcopal
Churchmanship	High Church
Website	incarnation.org
History
Former name(s)	Cathedral Chapel of the Incarnation
Founded	1879
Founder(s)	Alexander Charles Garrett
Dedicated	1897
Architecture
Style	Neo-Gothic
Completed	1927
Administration
Province	Province VII
Diocese	Dallas
Clergy
Bishop(s)	George R. Sumner
Rector	Christopher Beeley
Vicar(s)	Joe Dewey
Priest(s)	Oliver Lee ; Jon Jordan ; Wesley Hill, Scripture Scholar;
Honorary priest(s)	Frederick Philputt
Deacon(s)	Dorothy Budd,; Judy Frizzell
Laity
Organist/Director of music	Christopher Jacobson
Director of music	Monica Awbrey (interim)
Organist(s)	Trevor Carolan (interim)
Youth ministry coordinator	Pam Coghlan (Middle, High School)
Music group(s)	Incarnation Choir; Uptown Band

Last updated April 03, 2024

The Church of the Incarnation is a parish of the Diocese of Dallas of the Episcopal Church, located at 3966 McKinney Avenue in Dallas, Texas.

The church was founded in 1879 by Bishop Alexander Garrett as the Cathedral Chapel of the Incarnation. It was originally built on the corner of McKinney and Harwood, to a considerable degree north of Dallas's business and residential community. In 1897 the mission church became a full-fledged parish of the Diocese of Dallas. In 1902 a brick building was dedicated and used as the church for the next twenty-five years. In 1927 the church moved to a new building farther north on McKinney at Cambrick Avenue. Sixteen rectors have served the church since its founding and the modest brick chapel has become a 5-acre (20,000 m²) close serving the Dallas community with a Christian volunteer force of 1,800 households.^[1]

The church is one of 74 Episcopal churches and missions in the Diocese of Dallas,^[2] which is a member of Province VII^[3] of the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) and a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current rector is the Rev. Dr. Christopher Beeley.^[4] It is one of the largest parishes in the diocese.

Architecture & Worship Spaces

The Main Campus facility located at 3966 McKinney Ave, with the exception of the Great Hall and school building, was constructed in a neo-Gothic style. The worship spaces contain traditional Anglican furnishings and stained glass.

Main Church

The main church is arranged in a cruciform layout. The nave and both transepts are used for congregational seating, and the rear gallery is used as overflow seating when needed. The north transept faces the crossing, while the south transept faces forward (east) toward a second altar, allowing it to function as an attached chapel. The south transept also contains a large stained glass window depicting Jesus as the "Good Shepherd". The Good Shepherd window backs up to the organ chamber, which prevents natural light from illuminating it, so it is lit artificially from behind. The cruciform layout of the church also serves as a symbol of the body of Christ. With the altar representing the head and the nave that contains the seating representing the body of Christ.

The chancel is divided into three distinct sections. The first is where the pulpit, lectern, and seating for the clergy are found. The pulpit is on the left (north) side of the chancel, and the lectern on the right (south) side. The presider sits on the right side, but to the left of the pulpit, facing the center. The subdeacon and one assisting priest sit behind him on the other side of the pulpit. The acting deacon sits on the opposite (north) side with the preacher behind. All of the clergy sit facing across the chancel.

The next section of the chancel contains the choir stalls. The stalls face the center and have three rows on either side of the chancel which increase in height moving out from the center. They can comfortably seat around 40 people and are outfitted with seated-height music racks.

The third section of the chancel is the proper sanctuary. Its focal point is the carved wood altar with its gold leafing and relief carvings. On the north side of the sanctuary sits the cathedra, along with two benches. In the north wall is the aumbry, which is used for the reservation of the Sacrament. On the opposite wall are three more seats. Dividing the sanctuary from the chancel are wooden altar rails with red embroidered kneelers. Communion is distributed continuously, but kneeling is still expected for those who are able.

Above the chancel on the north side is the organ loft. The large console of the Noack organ faces away from the chancel, requiring the use of either a television monitor or a series of mirrors for the organist to see the conductor below. Directly opposite the loft on the south wall is the organ itself. The Gothic facade speaks directly across the space, and the chamber extends straight back to the same depth as the south transept (obscuring the stained glass). The chamber takes up the entire square space on the southeast corner of the main church.

The nave has a single central aisle with pews on either side. The outside ambulatory aisles are separated from the nave by a row of Gothic pointed arches, so they do not bisect the pews. The last several pews are located beneath the gallery. Also under the gallery is the baptistry, which cuts a square area out of the pew space on the north side of the nave. There is a narthex separating the nave from the west door. Staircases on either side of the narthex lead to the gallery.

Outside and on the south side of the nave is a single cloister which connects the narthex with the hallway leading through the center of the church campus. The participants in the service (clergy, choir, etc.) gather for prayer prior to the celebration of the Eucharist in this space, weather permitting.

Ascension Chapel

The Ascension Chapel was completed in 2015 as the worship space for the Uptown Contemporary Service. In 2017, a new stained glass window was installed above the altar, created in collaboration with Canterbury Cathedral Studios^[5]^[6]^[7] in 13th-century style artistic design and craftwork. [More description needed.]

Memorial Chapel

The memorial chapel was the original worship space on the current church site. Although the traditional services have long since outgrown it, daily office services are held in it, in addition to wedding, funerals, and the like. The layout is traditional, but not cruciform as it has no transepts. The furnishings are similar to those in the main church, simply on a slightly smaller scale. Also, the altar is not attached to the east wall, so the presider performs the Eucharistic rite standing behind it and facing the congregation. The chancel area is separated from the nave by a large Gothic arch, behind which is a set of curtains which can block off that space when the chapel is being used for functions other than worship, though they are rarely used as such.

The organ is situated on the back wall, with the largest pipes of the pedal division flanking the west door. The swell shades can be seen behind the acoustic fabric panels hung in front of them. The console is on the north side of the gallery, which runs the length of the nave along both sides. The console, as in the main church, faces the wall. A small space for a choir of about 12-16 voices is available around the console.

The baptistry in the chapel is located adjacent to the entrance from the main hallway on the north side of the nave. On the opposite side of the nave and set off by a wood slat wall is a small chapel containing one of the two columbaria of the church (the other being outside), after which the chapel takes its name since it is not named for a particular person.

The chapel also has a narthex which provides access to the upper gallery, as well as to some of the audio-visual equipment that is utilized by the contemporary services held in the chapel. Stained glass can be found surrounding the chapel, the finest of which is in the small columbarium chapel.

Liturgy

The Church of the Incarnation, being a parish of the Episcopal Church, uses the 1979 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) as its standard for worship. Each Sunday the Eucharist is celebrated seven times, in addition to six times during the week. Both of the rites provided in the Book of Common Prayer are used. The traditional services use Rite I while the contemporary services use a Rite II. One exception to the use of the 1979 BCP is for Choral Evensong. Earlier versions of the BCP included rites for this service, but the closest thing to be found in the most recent edition is a rite for evening prayer. Therefore, the rite used had to be taken from a different edition. The rite used is found in the 1662 BCP, which remains the primary edition in the Church of England. Another exception is that, while in Rite II of the 1979 BCP, the congregation's response to the Dominus Vobiscum is "And also with you," in the contemporary services at Incarnation, the congregation says "And with your spirit," a more literal contemporary rendering of the original Latin "Et cum spiritu tuo."

Anglo-Catholicism

The Church of the Incarnation is one of the few parishes in the Diocese of Dallas to be considered Anglo-Catholic. This applies primarily to the traditional liturgies only, but also impacts the theology and practices of the parish outside of the liturgy. A few of the identifying practices seen in the parish include the celebration of Choral Evensong (including the use of incense), the hearing of private confessions, the invocation of the Virgin Mary and other saints for the purpose of intercession, a limited Marian devotion, a great deal of pomp in processional practices, and the "high-church" liturgy used in the traditional services.

This high-church style is reflected most obviously in the vestments and other liturgical clothing used by participants in the Mass. The choir and lay servers wear black cassocks and full-length surplices, the vergers (of which there are nearly always two for Eucharists on Sundays) wear cassocks and blue/gray vergers' gowns, and the assisting clergy vest as the choir with the addition of a stole (or tippet for the priest who is preaching to be exchanged at the start of the Eucharistic liturgy for a stole). The participating clergy wear eucharistic vestments. The three participating clerics wear amices and maniples, the presider wears a chasuble, the deacons a dalmatic, and the subdeacon (an uncommon office outside of Anglo-Catholicism) a tunicle. Because he is also a bishop, the rector from 2008 to 2022, Anthony Burton, sometimes wore a mitre in addition to the chasuble. At other times, he sometimes wore a scarlet chimere over his rochet. All of the eucharistic vestments were replaced in 2013 by Watts & Co. of London. For Evensong, the presiding priest vests in a cope.

Music

The Church of the Incarnation is well known throughout North Texas as a center for musical excellence. The program is divided into two segments, one traditional and the other contemporary. Together they provide the music for seven of the eight worship services held each Sunday throughout the academic year.

Traditional

The traditional component of the church's music program was until October 2022 under the direction of organist/choirmaster Scott Dettra. Dettra assumed the position in August 2012 after serving as organist of Washington National Cathedral. Prior to Dettra's arrival, the position was held by Richard Sparks (interim). Monica Awbrey, succeeding former associate organist Graham Schultz, currently serves as interim director of music,^[8] assisted by interim organist Trevor Carolan.

For choral evensong, which is held each Sunday from September through May, the choir takes after the English cathedral and collegiate tradition in following the rite set forth in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The choirs use one setting of the Preces and Responses throughout the month, many settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are used in rotation, and the remaining music is determined by the propers for the day. The choir has developed their own book of Anglican chant psalms, as pointed by Scott Dettra. In December 2012 the ensemble was heard in a nationwide broadcast of their annual Service of Lessons & Carols; the broadcast was carried by Public Radio International.

Tours and concerts

The choir has made several pilgrimages to the United Kingdom, a practice which began in 1998 with a residency at Chichester Cathedral. During these tours, the choir establishes week-long residencies at various churches and cathedrals throughout the country. The first week is spent in a different venue each year. The most recent UK trip, in July 2019, was to York Minster; previously, in July 2011, the choir went to St. George's Chapel, Windsor and Canterbury Cathedral. The second week has then usually consisted of a residency at Westminster Abbey.^[9] In July 2014 the choir sang services at the National Cathedral in Washington and at Saint Thomas Church and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.

Organ

The main worship space of the church which is used for the traditional liturgies has a substantial pipe organ redesigned, enlarged and rebuilt from the original Aeolian-Skinner by the Noack Organ Company in 1994. The organ has four manuals (keyboards) and 65 stops spread over 80 ranks.

Great
Diapason	16′
Diapason	8′
Second Diapason	8'
Bourdon	8'
Spielflöte	8'
Octave	4'
Harmonic Flute	4′
Twelfth	2²/₃′
Fifteenth	2′
Seventeenth	1³/₅′
Mixture IV	1¹/₃′
Sharp III	²/₃′
Trumpet	16′
Trumpet	8'
Clarion	4'

Swell
Bourdon	16′
Diapason	8′
Chimney Flute	8′
Gamba	8′
Celeste	8′
Octave	4′
Koppelflöte	4′
Night Horn	2′
Sesquialtera II	2²/₃′
Mixture IV	2'
Bassoon	16′
Cornopean	8′
Oboe	8′
Clarion	4'

Choir
Gemshorn	16′
Viola	8′
Gedackt	8′
Flute Douce	8′
Flute Celeste	8′
Principal	4′
Rohrflöte	4′
Blockflöte	2′
Larigot	1¹/₃′
Mixture III	1'
Trompette	8'
Cremona	8′
Vox Humana	8′

Solo
Harmonic Flute	8′
Salicional	8′
Celeste	8′
Open Flute	4′
English Horn	8′
French Horn	8′
Tuba	16′
Tuba (ext.)	8'
Tuba (ext.)	4'
Festival Trumpet (ant.)	8′

Pedal
Bourdon	32′
Open Wood	16′
Diapason (Gt.)	16′
Stopt Bass	16′
Gemshorn	16′
Diapason	8′
Gedackt	8′
Octave	4′
Mixture IV	2²/₃′
Trombone	32′
Trombone	16′
Trumpet	8′
Trumpet	4′

Other organs

The chapel contains a two manual Wicks organ.

The church's previous location at McKinney and Harwood contained a two manual, 19 stop organ built in 1910 by the Pilcher Organ Co. of Louisville, Kentucky

Contemporary music

The church's contemporary music program consists of a praise band-style group of instrumentalists. The Uptown Contemporary services are held simultaneously with their traditional counterparts at 9 am, 11:15 am, and 5 pm on Sundays and are held in Ascension Chapel, part of a substantial building project completed in 2015. The North Campus location, which opened in August 2019 at 12727 Hillcrest Rd., also features a contemporary music program for its Sunday service at 10:30 am.^[10]

Outreach

The parish is known for its commitment to outreach and community service. A mentorship program with neighboring North Dallas High School has been very successful, and similar programs have begun at other area schools as a response. Also popular among parishioners are the mission trips to Belize and Honduras. In total, the parish has dozens of different outreach ministries, and there are two permanent staff positions exclusive to the department.

Related Research Articles

In Western ecclesiastical architecture, a cathedral diagram is a floor plan showing the sections of walls and piers, giving an idea of the profiles of their columns and ribbing. Light double lines in perimeter walls indicate glazed windows. Dashed lines show the ribs of the vaulting overhead. By convention, ecclesiastical floorplans are shown map-fashion, with north to the top and the liturgical east end to the right.

The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral or National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The structure is of Neo-Gothic design closely modeled on English Gothic style of the late fourteenth century. It is the second-largest church building in the United States, and the third-tallest building in Washington, D.C. The cathedral is the seat of both the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Bruce Curry, and the bishop of the Diocese of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde. Over 270,000 people visit the structure annually.

Saint Thomas Church is an Episcopal parish church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York at 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Also known as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue or Saint Thomas Church in the City of New York, the parish was incorporated on January 9, 1824. The current structure, the congregation's fourth church, was designed by the architects Ralph Adams Cram and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in the French High Gothic Revival style and completed in 1914. In 2021, it reported 2,852 members, average in-person attendance of 224 and $1,152,588 in plate and pledge income.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chancel</span> Area around the altar of a Christian church

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary, at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.

St Mary's Church is in West Derby, a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of West Derby, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool. Its benefice is united with that of St James, West Derby. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is an Anglican cathedral church in the centre of Old Portsmouth in Portsmouth, England. It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Portsmouth and the seat of the bishop of Portsmouth.

Bradford Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter, is an Anglican cathedral in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, one of three co-equal cathedrals in the Diocese of Leeds alongside Ripon and Wakefield. Its site has been used for Christian worship since the 7th century, when missionaries based in Dewsbury evangelised the area. For many centuries it was the parish church of St Peter and achieved cathedral status in 1919. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.

Chelmsford Cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England, is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd. It became a cathedral when the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914 and is the seat of the Bishop of Chelmsford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choir (architecture)</span> Area of a church or cathedral

A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, so at right-angles to the seating for the congregation in the nave. Smaller medieval churches may not have a choir in the architectural sense at all, and they are often lacking in churches built by all denominations after the Protestant Reformation, though the Gothic Revival revived them as a distinct feature.

The Parish Church of St Helier is the parish church of the parish of Saint Helier, Jersey. It is a Church of England church, one of the twelve 'Ancient Parish Churches' of Jersey, and serves as the Island's civic church and Pro-Cathedral.

Belfast Cathedral, also known as St Anne's Cathedral, is a Church of Ireland cathedral in Donegall Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is unusual in serving two separate dioceses. It is the focal point of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter.

St Peter's Church is a Church of England parish church located in the centre of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It is a Grade I listed building classed as a 'major parish church', and was completed in 1879 to a design by George Edmund Street as the founding mother church of Bournemouth.

Church of the Holy Cross, Crediton, formally the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and the Mother of Him Who Hung Thereon, is the parish church of the town of Crediton in Devon, England. The church is built on the site of what was the cathedral of the Bishop of Crediton in the former diocese until 1050 when the see was transferred to Exeter. A college of canons remained at Crediton, administering the buildings and life of the "collegiate" church.

All Saints Hove is an Anglican church in Hove, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It has served as the parish church for the whole of Hove since 1892, and stands in a prominent location at a major crossroads in central Hove.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvary Episcopal Church (Pittsburgh)</span> Historic site in Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Calvary Episcopal Church is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The parish was founded in 1855.

St Mary's Church, Moseley is a Grade II listed parish church in the Church of England located in Moseley, Birmingham. It is now part of a united benefice with St Anne's Church, Moseley. The War Memorial in the South-East corner of the Churchyard, facing Oxford Road, is unusual in that it depicts Christ upon the cross in carved stone. The War Memorial has achieved its own Grade II listing.

St. Michael and All Angels Church, in Bassett, Southampton, is an Anglican parish church which dates from the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Church of All Saints (Indianapolis)</span> Church in Indiana, United States

The Episcopal Church of All Saints serves the Old Northside Historic District near downtown Indianapolis. It is distinctive within the diocese for its Anglo-Catholic style of worship, and is historically significant as the first Episcopal Church in the United States to regularly ordain a woman as priest. The building also served as the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis from 1911 until 1954, when the bishop's seat was relocated to Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis.

Holy Trinity Church in Southport, Merseyside, England, is an Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool and a Grade II* listed building. It was built in the early 20th century, and designed by Huon Matear in free Decorated style. It is constructed mainly in red brick, and has a tower, the upper parts of which are in elaborately decorated stone. Many of the internal furnishings are by the Bromsgrove Guild.

Blessed Sacrament Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Buffalo, New York, United States. Constructed in the late 19th century, it remains the home of an active congregation and has been recognized as a historically significant building in the Linwood Historic District of Buffalo.

References

↑ "About".
↑ "Our Churches". Archived from the original on 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
↑ "Find a Church".
↑ "Our Staff".
↑ "From Canterbury to Dallas". 30 January 2017.
↑ "Here Are 5 Fascinating Things About the New Stained Glass Window at This Dallas Church". 30 March 2017.
↑ "Episcopal Diocese of Dallas".
↑ "Our Staff".
↑ http://incarnation.org/england-pilgrimage/ Archived 2012-11-01 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "About".

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "About".

[2] "Our Churches". Archived from the original on 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2010-09-18.

[3] "Find a Church".

[4] "Our Staff".

[5] "From Canterbury to Dallas". 30 January 2017.

[6] "Here Are 5 Fascinating Things About the New Stained Glass Window at This Dallas Church". 30 March 2017.

[7] "Episcopal Diocese of Dallas".

[8] "Our Staff".

[Choir_Tour-9] ttp://incarnation.org/england-pilgrimage/ Archived 2012-11-01 at the Wayback Machine

[10] "About".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]