Candlemass weekend

We went to St Catherine's for the Family Eucharist and Christingle service to celebrate Candlemass. Children made and distributed the Christingle oranges, lit during the talk after the Gospel but they  seemed detached in the 'childrens area' of the north aisle, on the edge of the usual choral service. Much work goes into preparing events like this, but to my mind they don't quite succeed in achieving their objective. Revision of liturgical texts and music is not enough. The shape of the environment where the 'family' of the church assembles for worship also matters. Holding the liturgy of the Word in a social space more amenable to informality, then moving to the sanctuary to pray around the Lord's table might work, but can be hard to manage with a large congregation. What can be easy to achieve in a modern multi-purpose church centre or a huge minster, can be hard to do satisfactorily in a Victorian legacy building.

We walked to the Riverside market after the service, enjoying the sunshine, though it was chilly, and I only really warmed up by the end of the return trip. We went out again for another walk after lunch, across Llandaff Fields to the Cathedral for Evensong, attracted by the prospect of Candlemass Eve music. We were not disappointed. Straight after the service, a baptism party arrived, the seventh liturgical engagement of the day for the clergy and staff. 

It's much harder to make baptism a regular part of a Cathedral service as happens in many parishes. There's such a tight Sunday schedule and big congregations. Occasional offices are attended by many people who would never normally attend a church service. This carries particular challenges for the conduct of a relevant, dignified ritual that parents and other family members will find meaningful. 

As we climbed the hill from the Cathedral to Llandaff village to have tea at Jaspers, a car pulled up and a young man man got out, looked around and asked "Where's the Cathedral?" It would be unfair to allege this is symptomatic of a poor church public profile when we've raised several generations of people biblically illiterate and ignorant about the church and its historic relationship to culture and community. 

In a world daily bombarded with all that's new, it's not hard to overlook what's always been there. I recall from my time at St John's occasions when elderly Cardiffians came in, declaring that they'd shopped in the market opposite all their lives and never set foot in the church before. It points out the importance of the ministry of welcome, and being open to every opportunity to make places of worship friendly and accessible in communicating their purpose and meaning to the world. I still wonder what I could have done better.