Today I had another study day mixed with a bit of a packing day until I had a phonecall from Neil asking if I could take the 1.00pm Eucharist as the priest scheduled to do this was unwell.
To be honest I did not hesitate at the opportunity as I still see this as quite a privilege to be able to do – and the last time I did a week day Eucharist I made a mistake by forgetting to pray – I remembered to do that today. But …. because I had not presided in the Lady Chapel before I could not find where the chalice and paten had been placed. I could see the purificators, bread and wine … but I needed Ben (thanks) to discreetly point for me. Just a little embarrassing but I hope it did not distract from the worship too much. At that point in the service the rain was smashing onto the cathedral roof which I think distracted people from my failings.
Again it felt very very odd just taking wine myself and only giving bread to everyone else – I know God is fully present in however we celebrate and so I find it interesting that I am developing a bit of a hang up about this. Maybe if we did not consecrate wine at all the issue would not be as intense in my mind.
All that aside, to share communion with the other 5 people present this afternoon was a joy. It’s a special experience which I am finding really hard to explain.
Being in the lady chapel rather than the crypt meant we were far more public. People were passing outside and putting their heads in to look for a while. I gestured to invite them in, most declined. It led me to wonder what people passing make ofthis service; do they see it as a pointless ritual, or some quaint custom? I don’t know, and most had gone by the time we had finished. It would be interesting to know what visitors thought and so I am going to think about how I might be able to achieve this.
The Independent carried out some research recently which I found on Start the Week – I think the title gives it away. The resulting statistics and stuff are quite interesting and you can read the whole article here.
Some interesting statistics:
Eight people would live in Greater London (one of them in Croydon).
There would be 51 women and girls, and 49 men and boys.
Thirty people would have a Facebook account.
They would earn an average of £388 a week (including part-time workers).
The richest 10 people in the village would receive 30 per cent of the total income. Between them, they would earn more than the poorest 50 combined.
17 of the 100 villagers would be under the age of 15, while another 16 would be 65 or over (three of them 80 or over).
The villagers would have 118 mobile phones between them (66 of which would be pay-as-you-go). There would be 55 telephone landlines.
There would be 90 televisions (an average of more than two per household).
What an interesting country we live in!
Following from my last post – I think Rob Bell and St Benedictine are saying similar things – everything is spiritual, everything has a bearing on our relationship with God, God is in everything
On study days recently, and on those odd times that I sit in the coffee shop or w/s on my own I have been investigating the Benedictine tradition which is the underlying spirituality of the cathedral. I have been looking into this to see if there is anything we can learn from as a cathedral in how we engage with visitors, particularly at the time of major festivals such as Dickens and the Sweeps festival.
I knew very little about Benedictine spirituality other than the hospitality side of things and have been surprised so far by what I have discovered.
The first two words of the rule, in the prologue, are listen carefully. The more I read the more I come back to this central underlying instruction to listen carefully – to God, to others, and to self; and probably in that order.
The Benedictine rule seems to be about communication and encounter rather than a set of rules. A communication and encounter with God that causes us to change. In short, I guess he is talking here of a life of worship. That may surprise you as a comment on a rule of life consisting of 73 chapters or rules to follow. But, it does seem to be about meaningful engagement with God and each other rather than sticking to rigid rules. For example, rule 10 takes account of seasonal changes in daylight hours and speaks of shortening the time set aside for prayer rather than shortening the time for sleep. I can’t help but think during the summer months in many churches today that I would receive a fairly negative reaction if I said that, due to the time of year, I would not be able to join the prayer meeting as I felt it was right and better for me to be sleeping!!!
In other rules, St. Benedict lists exceptions due to a number of things which shows a good understanding of humanity and our need to find what works for us within a particular framework that is flexible to some extent. A lot of freedom of expression may be found within the rule.
Benedict had a clear holistic view with an understanding the whole of life, how we work, how we worship, how we look after ourselves and how we deal with others all being connected. The whole of life is our spiritual life. Yes – more prayer can help us, but lack of sleep through prayer may cause us to sin out of tiredness induced weakness!
I have only learnt a little and I have a lot more reading to do – but I am intrigued by a character that tells me the right amount of sleep needs to take precedence over the right amount of prayer! With that … I’m off to bed!
Andy Flannagan has posted this opportunity on facebook:
CSM offering an amazing opportunity for someone to intern for CSM at Labour HQ, starting September 09. Join our scarily growing team! FW to anyone who may be interested. email me for details. check us out on www.thecsm.org.uk
If interested check it out!
It’s been a pretty amazing weekend with quite a lot packed in.
Saw Beth dance at the Hazlitt theatre and I was amazed, as were her brothers, with how excellent a dancer she has become. She was obviously thoroughly enjoying herself and we were all so proud to be part of this.
Sunday I preached and presided at the communion service at St. Mark’s in Gillingham. It was nice to be back and be in the very informal setting of St Mark’s with friends that I have known for years. It was an interesting time – I never thought I’d see the day when St mark’s used wafers in communion, and nor did I ever think I would be the person consecrating and administering them! There’s always surprises to be had.
The weekend had a sad tinge to it in that we visited Ben (cool photo of Ben the BBQ-er don’t you think!!) and Zoe for a BBQ and said goodbye as Ben is leaving to head up what seems an incredibly exciting project in Norfolk. He will be youth working and setting up a fresh expression of church – a job I’d love to be involved with and I look forward to hearing how this pans out in the future. But, I guess all good weekends need to have a sad tinge – so bye B,Z and E – lots of us are going to miss you!
We became aware of the Archbishops letter about Eucharistic practice yesterday which suggest we only take communion in one kind. This morning I presided at the 830 Eucharist in the Ithamar Chapel but only gave wafers to the people there.
It was an interesting experience that I did not like. It felt wrong and threw me quite a bit, particularly as the liturgy demanded we still poured wine and consecrated it – but only a small amount for myself to drink.
Rather than enjoying celebrating the Eucharist with my friends this morning, I felt that I was actually depriving them from entering into the full celebration of the sacrament. It was not a nice position to be in.
Don’t get me wrong – hygiene must come first – I’m just hoping now that the pandemic passes quickly (but I do have a lingering question – if we ignored the hygiene, we would catch swine flu more quickly, and then it would pass – no more pandemic! But I guess that’s too simplistic!)
The long haired prophet has started blogging.
Not sure where he got inspiration for his name from.
Saw this cartoon over at ASBO Jesus yesterday which I commented on along the lines of, sadly, that people even forget they have locked this gift away. Jon commented back that they’ve even forgotten where its been locked away.
I need to ask the question – how did this happen?
Where did it go so wrong?
When did doctrine, appearance, skin tone, …..(insert your own) replace grace?
The Shiny Headed Prophet 