Sunday 12 May 2013

Ascensiontide baptism

My first service of this morning was the nine fifteen Mass at St Timothy's in Caerau with Ely Parish. When the server-sacristan was doing the announcements at the end, I was surprised to hear him mention the Dean of Llandaff's resignation, then inviting people to remember her and the Cathedral in prayer. I wondered if this concern is being repeated elsewhere, in with the notices about Christian Aid week collections?

It spent quite a bit of time editing my sermon to make it more concise for the occasion, as I felt that I should be finished and ready to leave in an hour and five minutes with no lingering for a cup of tea. During the week I had a request from Fr Derek Belcher to take a Eucharist and Baptism in Llansannor Parish Church, as the regular retired cleric who helps out there was unavailable. It's nearly a year since I was last out there and I gladly agreed, although a safe gap between services would require no dithering in between. I immediately lost five minutes taking a wrong turn in exiting the housing estate on my way to the main A48 road out of town. There are few places where it's possible to do this, and I was annoyed at the error. The rest of the journey was unhindered, however and I arrived at ten to eleven, with plenty of time to get organised.

There were thrice the normal congregation numbers present. A grandson of the church warden Dr J.P.R. Williams was being baptised. The people sang well and were responsive participants in the liturgy, with 32 people receiving communion. After Communion, I offered a thankgiving prayer for the Ruby Wedding Anniversary of Drs John and Cilla, which coincided with the chosen baptism date. Fr Derek tipped me off with an email sent yesterday after midnight, which I looked as just before setting out from home. It meant I could print off a copy of something appropriate from my archive to take with me. His 'just in case' phone call arrived as I was sitting listening to the 9.00am news outside St Tim's. I was pleased to report that I was ready for the occasion, if only due to timing luck.

After a brief visit to the Williams' household not far from the church, I was on my way home for a late lunch and an afternoon home alone to recover, as Clare went over to Bristol for her monthly study group. While I was writing, I tuned in to an Ascensiontide BBC Choral Evensong, from St John's College Cambridge. A Latin polyphonic Magificat and plainsong Nunc Dimittis, then for the Anthem, Bach's Ascensiontide Cantata with orchestral support, and lots of familiar tunes. Such a musical delight.

It also meant I could sit and watch without reproach the ridiculously naff horror disaster movie remake of 'Godzilla' with all its hyper-real computer graphics animation. The script was so bad it failed to convey any sense of the sheer trauma of a cataclysmic event. Disgracefully, it made reference to the events of 9/11. How much more chilling was the raw film footage of reality, shown on TV last evening, as opposed to that of a fantasy disaster. Entertaining only for bad movie fans. The original Japanese version was also a bad film with added hilarity. You could see and laugh at puppetry strings attached to the monster in some scenes. I can't imagine paying to see the re-make in a movie theatre, though I think I saw the original as a teenager.

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