Let my prayer be set forth in THY sight as the incense :

Smoke Signals

Smoke Signals is not a parish publication; it was written and privately distributed by the late Peter Harper, a parishioner and a Sub-deacon at St. John’s. Yet it would never have existed outside a parish like ours.

Smoke Signals arose in 1995 as a response to a delightful but short-lived (1994-1996) leaflet produced by the choir called Square Notes that dealt with the music program and choir life.

Reproduced here are topics relating to church life, catholic customs, and the grandeur and foibles of Mother Church.

Despite the irony and sometimes the ‘tongue-in-cheekness’ of the style, the reader should feel the deep underlying love the author had for the Great Tradition of Western Christianity.

Peter Harper

Peter Harper (1942 - 2019)
✠ Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord:
and let light perpetual shine upon him.

Wine Peter Harper Wine Peter Harper

And He Shall Laugh Them to Scorn!

Next time you drink a fine wine, remember that like so many other great gifts of the Creator, it is a perfect blend of the best and the worse that nature has to offer.

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Wine Peter Harper Wine Peter Harper

The Wine of the Kingdom

When I depart this world to appear before my beloved Lord to account for my sins which have been scarlet, I shall say to Him: I cannot remember the name of the village; I do not even recollect the name of the girl, but the wine, my God! was Chambertin.

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And let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice