Twelfth Night

Up early and out of the house before nine I drove to St Dyfrig and St Samson's church in Grangetown and was fortunate not to encounter heavy traffic. I arrived in good time to say Mass for a couple of regulars, standing in for Fr David, on leave today. Then I returned to St John's, Canton for the regular Thursday 10.30am Eucharist, which I'm looking after this month as Fr Mark is on leave. 

Thankfully the first service was 2004 Church in Wales rite with readings for the 12th day of Christmas, and the second was 1984 Church in Wales, with a repeat of the readings from last Sunday, for the Holy Name of Jesus. It's good to be challenged by liturgical variety, to stay in focus prayerfully and not let the taking of services become routine or automatic. Different readings also bring their own stimulus to reflection with the congregation, and this I greatly enjoy.

Not long after I returned home, Martin and Chris dropped in to see us. They were invited to a lunch party for Chris' uncle at the Cameo Club, in Pontcanna Street and had been dropped off early, so they chose to come and see us rather than hang out in a cafe for an hour. It was lovely just to have time with them quietly on our own, as so often when we visit them there's a house full of people, and lots going on.

After lunch I went out and walked my usual course again, and some extra. Even so, reaching the set daily target of 10,000 steps eluded me again. I felt I'd walked as much as I could before my dodgy knee started complaining. The daily improvement hasn't been great in this week of trying to get back to regular exercise after Christmas idleness. I probably need another osteo treatment.

At tea time, we finished off the remains of the Christmas cake. Kath let us know that they'd arrived home from Spain, and later we chatted on the phone. We had a quiet evening together, watching telly, and Clare took time carefully to remove and pack away all the decorations from the tree. My job tomorrow morning will be to return it to the back yard, in its tub. Despite dropping some needles, it doesn't seem to have been killed off by a couple of weeks indoors, though it clearly prefers being out in the cold damp air. Then I'll have clear up behind me. The past fortnight has simply flown by.

    

Prayer Book reminiscences

This morning I celebrated the Maundy Thursday Eucharist at St John's Canton for a dozen people, thus setting the Parish clergy free to attend the Bishop's Chrism Mass at the Cathedral. This is an important occasion in the year for bonding between the bishops and their full time clerics, I'm happy to support them in this way, plus I get to use the 1984 Church in Wales equivalent of the Book of Common Prayer, the substance of which dates back to revision which began in 1966, just before I entered St Mike's. It's the traditional element of worship that defined my generation, one we moved away from in successive modernising revisions and return to for a sense of continuity. After a lifetime advocating modernisation and liturgical renewal, I still know it off by heart and enjoy being leading a congregation which is still at home with it.

As a student we studied the English Book of Common Prayer, the 'Urtext' of Anglicanism, translated first into Welsh in 1567. I got to use it once or twice a month in English for the first time after becoming priest in charge of St Paul with St Barnabas in Bristol in 1978. The other churches in the St Paul's area were already into modernising liturgical innovation when I arrived there, Advent 1975. Once I became Team Rector of Halesowen in 1989, I learned it by heart, having to use it weekly at the eight o'clock Communion, and other occasions. The classic register of liturgical English is as familiar to me as the modern. Likewise the language of the first post-Vatican II Missal of the Roman Church, from my days in an ecumenical university chaplaincy team over forty years ago. So many good experiences to give thanks for.

After lunch at home, I went into the office for a while before making my way on foot again over to St Germans for the evening Eucharist of the Lord's Supper. Having preached four times this week so far, ad extempore, I thought that I'd at least prepare some notes to contain my homily safely. After working on this for a quarter of an hour, MS Word crashed on me and the document eluded recovery - such an unusual occurrence, and I will read nothing into it - so I had to extend my extemporising run, although this was a little easier as I had done this in the morning Eucharist also. It's funny, I'm unused to feeling quite so unsafe when preaching. Trouble is, I'm far too used to vetting my own work before delivery.

The Eucharist was conducted with a full team of servers and catholic solemnity, with the sacrament in a monstrance for adoration for the Watch of the Passion at the end. This something I know is customary in some places, though not universally practised. It's certainly the first time I've ever had to do it, and I'm none the worse for that, although I felt tired afterwards, and left the others to set things straight after the stripping of the altars, and went straight home.