After another good night's sleep, I woke up just after the Sunday Worship programme started on Radio Four, reflecting on the past year of life suffering and death in lock-down. We had a reflection on a Gospel story from the Archbishop of York, plus a sermon from the Dean of Winchester, using a different biblical text. Both were insightful, thankfully. A lovely English choral version of the Lord's Prayer was used, disconnected from the prayers of intercession, as if it was just a nice piece of music, and I'm not sure that we didn't have two versions of the same modern hymn, or at least two modern hymns that were rather too similar to each other. It felt like a cobbled together Ministry of the Word whose structure was something of a mystery to me.
In contrast following this, we were treated to a ten minute 'Point of View' by poet Michael Morpurgo, the story of whose suffering and recovery from coronavirus has been widely reported, and he himself has written about the experience. This morning it wasn't what he was reflecting on. He spoke of how much he misses personal contact with his audience as a writer, through book signings, Q&A interviews at book festivals, reading his stories in classes of school children. All the things which make his life as a writer meaningful, in other words.
Then he went on to speak about what he'd gained, learning to do the same things using Zoom and how, much to his surprise and delight, he found he was reading on-line not to audiences of ninety but ninety thousand all around the world. It's not about fame or recognition, but his joy, sharing something valued he has made. Something similar has been observed by churches offering on-line services over the past year, finding that audiences extend well beyond the usual circle of parishioner. And not only for worship, but also for on-line discussion groups as well. Will this last as part of the new normal, I wonder?
Another sunny morning to walk to St Catherine's for the Parish Eucharist. There were about thirty of us. Next Sunday, St Luke's will reopen for worship. Few people from there have joined us in St Catherine's that I'm aware of. Did they go to other churches that were open or watch on-line? No everybody's needs are the same.
After lunch I walked up to the Cathedral. The ranks of chairs in the nave had all been pushed back to clear a space in the front where half a dozen chairs were placed in a big socially distanced semi-circle, as if for a performance of some kind. I was surprised to see the high altar stripped bare, and a plain wooden cross placed on a pedestal in the choir. The place looked as you might expect it to look of Good Friday. I wondered if this was an innovative modification to the Passiontide liturgical environment in the light of the pandemic or the first anniversary of UK lock-down and asked one of the duty stewards. It was indeed in anticipation of Good Friday, as the Passion Liturgy of the day is going to be prerecorded later in the afternoon for streaming on the day itself. All will revert to normal tomorrow.
I rather like the stripped down vista of choir and sanctuary. The blend of shapes and forms due to different architectural styles has a special quality unadorned. Monastic churches nowadays have that kind of simplicity about them, and are furnished only as necessary for acts of worship. I wish we could do the same in parish churches, but recognise this would cause a lot of extra routine work for parish sacristans. Shifting it all out of sight for the Holy Triduum and doing the annual spring-clean is enough of an exercise as it is.
We returned to St Catherine's this evening for a special Passiontide service with five scripture readings and choral items from the choir, singing socially distanced from the choir stalls for the first time in a year since lockdown UK began. I took a camera with me and video'd the service, handheld, which means it's a bit shaky in parts. The audio could be better, but I wasn't in the most effective position for this, but it does record a small but significant moment in the history of the pandemic and the Parish. I was able to edit the two video files taken that cover the service using the old Windows Movie Maker, which I prefer to the Windows 10 video editing app, perhaps because I can more readily remember how to. It uploaded to YouTube while I watched the first episode of 'Line of Duty' series six, so I could send a link to Fr Benedict and to Choirmaster Colin for them to circulate. Good to get the job out of the way quickly. On Tuesday I'll be making a video at St John's with Mark and Fran about her icon of the resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene. It'll certainly be easier there to get the sound right!
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