Mike's musings

Celebrating - with Jojo

(backposting) Jojo came with me to the team service at Gosfield. It was a bit of a toss-up, as I was celebrating, and that's not always gone well before, but we agreed some rules, and she was absolutely fabulous. It wasn't the most interesting service in the world for a not-quite-5-year-old. But she did some writing/drawing, and lots of cuddling of me during the lesson, gospel and sermon. I'd said she could join me in the sacristy for the consecration as long as she didn't interfere, but in the end she decided to stay in the nave and do some colouring. I was very, very proud of her.

Labels: eucharist, jojo

The congregation's expectations

Helen asked a very interesting question about my post on BCP services, and I thought I ought to respond. She wanted to know "How much do you feel bound by the expectations of the congregation when you preside?"

It is an interesting question, and I'm not quite sure to which part of my post she was referring. There were a number of areas of practice which were not my usual last Sunday, so I guess I'll cover them one by one. I think there are 2 important points to mention first, however. The first of these is that I'm still in training, and am therefore very aware of the fact that I need to be very careful about making decisions or trying to introduce change without discussion. The second is that I wasn't in churches which are part of my team, but in a different benefice, so was very much a guest.

But to cover the particular points that I think Helen (and Sally) might like covered:

1. use of the Book of Common Prayer: I have no problem with the BCP, and, in fact, love using it. It's what was expected, and that was fine.
2. facing East for the prayer of consecration: well, I don't think I really had much of a choice: I didn't fancy celebrating from the North, and I don't think there was even room at Foxearth. I'm not sure whether I should have been facing East for the rest of the time I was up in the sanctuary, but with no microphone it would have been hard, and it felt wrong anyway. It was hard enough.
3. elevation of the host for the Fraction: here's the interesting one. As is my usual practice, I didn't elevate at the consecration, but I did, however, elevate at the Fraction (breaking of the bread). I had a memory of a discussion with my father about this being the one time that the congregation should specifically be able to see the host, and, on re-reading the rubrics this morning, I found out why. They say:

   When the Priest, standing before the Table, hath so ordered the Bread and Wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the Bread before the people, and take the Cup into his hands, he shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth.

   So, it seems clear that the Bread should be broken "before the people", so that they can see it. I like this. If the rest of the act of consecration ends up being hidden from view, the sharing part of it is made visible. I'm not sure how it looked, and I've not yet had the opportunity to discuss it with my boss, but I'd be very interested in other people's views.

There's a larger question, also, of the extent to which we should follow the expectations of the congregation. There are a number of issues here, one of which is that it's their church - even if we're the incumbent - another that we have a duty to be true to doctrine - as we understand it - and true to ourselves and our faith. But we must also make sure that we're not mindlessly or unintentionally upsetting people, and should always be prepared to defend our practice.

I think there's more discussion to have here, and I look forward to having it.

Labels: doctrine, eucharist, services

BCP

Today, I took two BCP services - my second and third ever - in two churches I'd never visited before (and which took some finding, as it happened): Belchamp Walter and Foxearth. Two more different churches you'd struggle to find. The first has possibly the best acoustics I've ever come across in a parish church, and the most beautiful wall paintings: the one of the nursing Virgin is stunning, and I'll try to post a photo of it soon. The second is a classic Victorian Tractarian church, with wall paintings in a classic neo-gothic style, a Father Willis organ, and six candles on the altar.

The main thing they had in common was that both had altars against the east wall, which meant that for the first time, I had to celebrate facing away from the congregation, which I found very odd. I need to spend some time thinking about this, and also talking to John, my boss, but I made the decision to say only the actual prayer of consecration facing east, and to face west (and the congregation) for the rest of it. I also elevated the host for the Fraction: something I also need to think about, but which felt right.

Afterwards, we headed out for a Chinese meal with the girls, and then to a doom-laden Sainsbury's trip which was so awful that it was actually funny. And then we got back and said the girls could play outside. And Miri fell in the paddling pool. Through the ice. Jo did a great job: told her to get out (possibly helped her, I don't know), told her to hop up and down to warm up (huh?), and then came to get one of us, and Miri was absolutely fine (stripped off and in a shower immediately), but a great end to a slightly hysterical day.

Moo's done great tidying and cleaning, and I've mainly been in charge of the girls, but a big thanks to Moo.

Labels: eucharist

My first Midnight Mass

(backposting) Lunchtime with Si, D, Morgs, Boo and Simon, Jo's godfather. Good to see everyone: we need to find a time to get together for some child-free time to chat, eat and drink with Si and D. Simon spent some great quality time with Jo: I suspect he's a very good teacher.

Well, the afternoon brought us the Halstead crib service, which I was attending with the girls. The church was pretty full, and the girls were sheep, which was very sweet. Got them to bed afterwards - as before, took rather a while to get them to sleep. Mum, Dad and Moo went to bed, and I headed off to the Midnight service at St Andrew's, Halstead, where I was to preside at the altar.

We had about 138 people, including choir and clergy, and it was one of the most joyous experiences of my life. Sharing the great gift, as He was shared for the first time with us, was just so special. I just can't begin to explain the emotion, I really can't.

Labels: Christmas, communion, eucharist, god, joy

Baptisms galore

Quite a day, really. I'm about to do the ironing, after a lovely 5.4km (3.34 mile) walk. That was after putting the girls to bed. We'd spent most of the after noon at Sally's post-ordination party. The girls met a 7 year old who they played with, so that was good, and it was nice to meet some of Sally's family and friends.

But it was the morning which was most interesting. It was my first "lone" Sunday, and 5 minutes before the 0800 started, I was concerned that noone was going to turn up. Luckily, 4 people turned up, which was a relief. After a 40 minute or so service, I then had well over an hour to kill before the 1000. What to do? Well, I walked down the hill to the WH Smith at the bottom of town, and bought a copy of the Observer. And on the way up, I noticed that there was a caff open. Not a café: a caff. Yes, and open caff. So, was my eating there simply an excuse for a cooked breakfast, or an opportunity for expressing my ministry of presence with parishioners? You get to decide. At least I 'fessed up.

So, after another trip to WH Smith's for some mints, I was back up to the church for our 1000 Eucharist. I do enjoy celebrating the Eucharist: it's great. And after that, we had a baptism. Well, I say _a_ baptism. I'd been told to expect 5 candidates (all children, from 4 families), and lots of family and friends. We god under way with a pretty full church, and it was only at the presentation of the candidates that I realised that there seemed to be 6 children dressed up for the occasion. I stopped and demanded a recount, and there were, in fact, 6 children, from 5 families. Luckily, we discovered the we had all the relevant paperwork, and were ready to proceed.

It was a blast. There were so many children, friends and family that half of the job was policing and traffic control. I had to restart the service and explain that the congregation needed to read out the bits in bold, or the service really wouldn't work. There was lot of children-noise, lots of adult noise, lots of photos, and lots of joy. The first candidate was a little boy who was asleep when it came to the actual baptism, but not when I poured the water over his forehead. He woke up, and cried, loudly. Which rather put the other children off. And I've never needed to raise my voice in a service whilst micced and amped up. I loved it, and had lots and lots of very positive feedback (and not from the mic-amp-speaker system). And about 270 people in the church.

Labels: baptism, curacy, eucharist, food

Ordination and first Eucharist

(backposting) So much to blog about. So much. But I'm still processing it, so I'll put down what I can.

Ordination

We arrived at the church early, and it was lovely to greet people as they arrived. I had problems letting go, and not being the curate: there were other people to sort things out, and in the end, I just had to be an ordinand, get ready, and go with it. I robed up in cassock, surplice and white alb - a beautiful 18th century white alb that Dad had been given for his priesting, and which he passed on to me. We formed up in the St Andrew's Centre car park, and then walked over to the church. Moo was my lay sponsor, and I held her hand as we processed up the aisle together. There's a fair amount of preamble - all of it important - before the actual act of ordination, and I was the third of the 3 to be ordained, but in the end my time came. I knelt in front of the bishop, and the clergy clustered round and laid their hands on me. There were 10, I think: the bishop, the bishop's chaplain (Tim), the preacher (Chris), my father, my incumbent (John), Geoff (from the team), Viv (from the team), Mark and Ian's incumbents and James (a good friend, and previously from the team). Moo says it was a big of a scrum, but I couldn't tell. As the bishop said the words, it felt heavy, and I felt surrounded, and it was good. And then, I was a priest. The bishop anointed Ian's hands, then Mark's, and then mine, and we were done.

The service moved into a Eucharist, and we stood to either side of the bishop as he presided. After we'd taken communion from him, we got to sit down and just relax a bit. The service finished, the bishop took us three, new priests, down the aisle, and it was over, and time for some pictures.

First Eucharist

The parish put together a fabulous bring and share lunch: what lovely people. I had a chance to catch up with a few of them, but also friends and family. Leo, Rosie and Andy, Mark and Jenny, Mum and Dad, of course, Aunty Les and others, too. Si and D arrived in time for the 1500 Eucharist, as did Gary with his family, which I'd not expected. I walked the main players - Dad (serving for me), Sally (reading the Gospel) and Ian (preaching) - through the choreography first, and then it was time to start.

It was an immensely emotional experience for me. Mum later said that the first time she'd seen me cry in church was 31 years ago, and she thought she'd see it again, and it was close. Some of the liturgy, a couple of the hymns, and also parts of Byrd 4-part all had me close to tears. But when it came to the two parts which mattered the most to me - the Absolution and the Eucharistic prayer - it all worked. I'd been worried about the Absolution, but it felt right. Even more so for the Eucharistic prayer. I'd spent a lot of time preparing, and in particular thinking about the actions and gestures that I'd be using, before deciding to go with pretty much the bare minimum. I was boiling in a warm chasuble in a very warm church (Catherine had needed to call an ambulance for a member of the congregation at the ordination service - though I'd not noticed! - and the afternoon was hotter), we had a gospel procession, a Latin mass setting, and pretty "high" setting, but the theology is pretty low for me.

When it came to the prayer of institution, it just felt right to be saying it. And I was just aware that I was not the first person to be saying these words and celebrating this feast, but was part of a long tradition, made up of many, many others. It was just right. And Dad hadn't realised that he would be the first person to whom I administered communion, and that was very special indeed.

Our last hymn was "Jerusalem": a mission hymn. And, although not everyone enjoyed it, we had my favourite piece of organ music: "Dieu parmi nous" (God among us) by Olivier Messiaen. We sat, rather than processed, and it was the perfect end to my first communion.

Aftermath

We finished the day with friends coming back for a barbecue - during which it rained very, very hard. Si and D with Morgan and Boo, James and Ruth and Sally all came, and John and Mo arrived later as the others were departing, giving us a good chance for a chat with them. The girls pleaded tiredness around 1900 and we put them to bed without even a bath, and they were down so quickly that we had a good long time to chat. A good end to a long day, and we went to be tired.

Only for Jo to turn up with a temperature (I took her into the spare room with me) and Miri to go in with Moo, having been woken by Jo's perambulations. Such is life.

Labels: church, eucharist, family, friends, music, ordination

Church, swimming and a difficult decision

(backposting) Took the girls to church in Halstead today, which they enjoyed. It was a family service, and therefore pretty child-friendly, and also quite short, which helped them. In the afternoon, we all went swimming at the Freeport pool in Braintree. Jo learnt to tread water, which is a useful skill.

In the evening, I went for a good walk. I'm trying to work out what to do about my first Eucharist on the 28th. I really want to have parts of a Latin setting of the Mass (well, Greek, if you include the Kyrie), and to have a really serene service. But the more I think about it, the more I'm worried about not making the service child-friendly. I'd really like Jo and Miri to be able to be there, but there's a tension there with the style of service. This is something I need to decide pretty soon.

Labels: church, eucharist

Eucharist

In 24 days, I'll celebrate my first Eucharist. We had a CME day today to help us prepare. I had some issues with at least one of the speakers - a "Forward in Faith" priest who referred to the Pope as "the Holy Father", said that he's the only true vicar, and admitted to using the Roman Missal (completely illegally), but had some other good theological points - but it was a very useful day. Afterwards, my parents arrived to spend the weekend with us. Dad (who's a priest) had written me a letter in preparation for my first Eucharist which raised a number of the questions we'd discussed today, as well as some others, and we had a good discussion about a number of them. More to come, I'm sure.

And Dad gave me a white stole. He gave me one for my deaconing, too, which his mother had given him. But this is a C18th stole, with gold thread, and is just stunning. I think I'm going to wear it for my ordination, and ask him to wear the other one which he gave me. Really - it's beautiful.

Labels: eucharist, ministry

Ascension Day! (and a new phone... (and a new washing machine))

(backposting) So, the new phone arrived today around 1500. I'd been on tenter-hooks all day. The new washing machine arrived around 1100, and has been busy going through all the washing we've not been able to put through for the past week or so. Mel's been a star and has helped out with a load or two, which has allowed us to have some pants, etc..

I've taken some time getting my head round the phone, and the camera's very good, wifi works fine, and so far, so good.

After the kids had gone to bed, I went to our sung Eucharist for Ascension Day. John, my incumbent, hadn't expected I'd make it, so it was a good surprise. We had a pint after the service and went through the draft order of service for my (and Iain and Mark's) ordination to the priesthood, which is only a little more than a month away. John preached helpfully - in that I have more ideas now about what to preach about on Pentecost.

Labels: eucharist, geekery, ordination