State of Alarm - day Forty

How disappointing to wake up to overcast skies and rain after such a lovely day yesterday. Farmers may welcome the rain, but how demoralising the cold and damp is! Ah well, plenty to busy myself with, getting this Sunday's service completed and ready to send to Dave for uploading.

Clare sent me a link to a video of Max Boyce reciting a 'lock-down' poem he's recently written in keeping with many other poets in Britain and doubtless across the world at this time. 'When only the tide went out' is moving and reflectively serious, yet not without a dash of humour in the best Welsh bardic tradition. It moved me to tears 'hiraeth'. You'll find it here on YouTube. Thanks Max.

Talking of YouTube, I found a wonderful rendering of the Taize canticle 'In resurrectionem tuam'

played by a virtual choir of fifty singers and musicians all over the world, appearing on screen in vignettes saying who they are and where they are. The video is beautifully crafted, and the sound editing precise, demonstrating a true digital native's mastery of the technology, whether Zoom or something else, I have no idea. Seeing so many joyful young faces from all around the world is a truly Gospel message in its own right. It's great to listen to but really must be seen here for this to have its inspirational impact.

I spent some time after my walk listening to a couple of thoughtful pastoral Bible studies by Simon Ponsonby for the ICS annual conference conducted for the first time ever this year using Zoom and then posted on YouTube. Co-incidentally on the page running the live stream I spotted a live video stream about to start of Vespers and Mass broadcast from the Church of St Gervais in Paris. As I'd finished Simon's talk, I then listened to Vespers while I cooked supper. A French Catholic internet channel has been showing services from there for at least a decade as I recall, and occasionally in times past I have dipped into them. 

The singing sisters at St Gervais are part of the Communaute de Jerusalem. Many of those under vows, men and women work in the area, and worship together twice a day. Are they flouting lock-down law, I wondered? It was clear from the conduct of the liturgy that social distancing is part of the everyday norm for the sisters. They don't bunch up in choir stalls, but use the generous expanse of floor space offered by the Gothic choir of the church with its exquisite acoustic. It allows them to flatten themselves on the ground in adoration without getting in each other's way, and may help their excellent varied choral singing not to be positioned so closely together. Kath rang for a chat while I was watching and cooking, so we agreed I'd ring back when I'd eaten. We then had a lovely conversation on WhatsApp while she was making supper. 

Late this evening, Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez is speaking of the prospect off people being allowed out their confinement for exercise on May 2nd, if there is no negative impact on rates of infection from letting under fourteens out with their parents from tomorrow. No doubt this will be hedged in by an assortment of limitations by the time that day arrives, but it will be better than how it has been now for the past forty days.

From Lakeside to Mountainside

An hour before this morning's Eucharist, St John's choir met and rehearsed music for the Sung Eucharist service of the day. Clare went and sang with them. Altogether there were just over thirty of us for the service, regulars and returning visitors with summer homes in the vicinity. Many lingered for a drink and a chat afterwards, including a young Chinese couple training at the local hotel school. She was from Hong Kong and he was from Taiwan. I wonder what they made of my sermon, which contained biblical reflection on the theme of hospitality?

After lunch and a siesta, I drove into the mountains for a second Eucharist at the ski resort of Villars up at 1,300 metres, which involves a challenging 900 metre ascent from the Rhone Valley. There's a modernised road which runs from Aigle to Ollon and then to Villars, and that was the route I used on the return run. But, I needed to do a practice drive up on the much narrower and slower road up from Bex, a longer distance. Next Sunday there's an early afternoon Christening in Villars, but there are road closures in Ollon because that route is used for a motor hill climb competition, over the weekend. Today, I needed to time the journey to prepare for next week, not least because on return, there's an Evensong service at five at the 19th century English chapel of St Michael in Caux, above Territet, which is still used occasionally, but no longer owned by the local Anglican community.

The church building used for Anglican services in Vilars is called 'Aiglon Chapel'. It was built by the Commonwealth and Continental Church Society (now known as Intercon) in 1883 as a mission to English speaking visitors and residents of this popular mountain resort. Its architecture externally and internally is Swiss Vaudois Protestant in style, in contrast to St John's Territet which is a typical Oxford Movement Anglo Catholic edifice. But then Intercon is primarily a protestant evangelical missionary enterprise even today. The most flourishing of the three Anglican chaplaincies at the eat end of Lac Leman is Vevey, also founded by Com and Con in the 19th century. Villars services used to be taken by the Vevey chaplains, but this seems to have changed in latter years.

It's called 'Aiglon Chapel' because it was bought by Aiglon school in 1996. The school was founded after the war by a church member. It has grown enormously and is one of several in the region with an international constituency and reputation. The entire school population is now too big to be accommodated by the church building, so only upper or lower school services are held here twice a month. Denominational services are held on other Sundays of the month, on variable occasions. The Anglican group is not large, we were eight people, including visitors. Even so, it's good the pastoral connection remains through changing times.

I drove home by the quicker route. Well, it was quick enough until I reached the Rhine valley floor. The road from Aigle to Villeneuve was one long crawling traffic queue, holidaymakers making their ways home before school starts again this week. Traffic on the autoroute above was also moving at a snails pace due to a traffic accident in the tunnel de Glion. So, it took me an hour to get back to Montreux, just as it had take me an hour to get to Villars. It's good to learn about weekend traffic in this region early on and be prepared for it. Normally traffic flows easily, with the occasional choke point in a town, as there seems to be plenty of space on the road, but it all depends on timing, plus the occasional misfortune for some poor motorist. I could also have gone by train up to Villars, but there's no guarantee the timing of the Regionale from Territet to Aigle or Bex to connect with one or other of the mountain railways would be convenient enough for these occasional services. Quite a pleasant thing to explore nevertheless.