A colder day, but a sunny one. After breakfast I drove to St German's to celebrate the Eucharist. During the week the church central heating was repaired and filling the building with warm. As its half term week the crew young servers were absent. So too was Brian the organist who's gone down with a bug, and no last minute stand-in organist. We agreed a few modifications to the choreography, and I led the singing of all the hymns and best known Mass setting used. The congregation of two dozen rose to the occasion, singing everything with confidence. St German's church acoustics are wonderful for singing unaccompanied. This encourages a slower reflective kind of worship, the kind you'd experience in a Cistercian monastery. It was truly uplifting, and I think everyone enjoyed the experience.
Basma wasn't at church this morning. She emailed me later to say that she'd been up for much of the night with her daughter, getting her ready for an early coach to Heathrow and a flight to Amman in Jordan to see her grandparents. Now that Maya has her residence permit she can safely travel back to the country from which she fled with her mother six years ago. I hope it won't be too long before Basma gets her residence permit and can make the same journey herself.
I got home for lunch just after one. Afterwards, I recorded and edited the audio for next Thursday's Morning Prayer, then went for a walk. After supper, Sunday evening prime time telly Antiques Roadshow, then Call the Midwife. As I want to attend Alf's funeral at St John's tomorrow morning, I thought I'd get a head start on my Monday morning chore of preparing next Sunday's liturgical texts and making a start on the next edition of Sway. I completed all I needed to do, ready to send, in an hour. That's quite a few extra things done that I didn't expect to do quite so easily. Hopefully it will ease the pressure in the coming week, with Ash Wednesday and next Sunday's sermons to prepare.
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