Celebrating the Saviour's Passion

A cold bright sunny day to mark the Lord's Passion and Death. No service in church this morning, but the grounds of St Catherine's were open, with Mthr Emma and Fr Rhys standing around welcoming visitors. from net until noon, and I went and joined them for half an hour. Earlier a Calvary with three crosses had been set up in the flower bed by the railings on to the street. The grounds are looking so well cared for at the moment, and people from the neighbourhood who come in to walk around are most appreciative. 

After lunch I walked to St Luke's for the Liturgy of the Passion. The church with its socially distanced seating, and stripped bare looked good, like a monastic church There were two dozen of us, much the same people as have attended each day this week and seeing the same familiar faces in a way gives it something of a monastic feel.  

The choir which sang last night sang again, chanting Psalm 22 Anglican fashion and anthems during the devotions at the cross. The crucifix was carried in and displayed but could not be venerated in the customary way, but I don't think this detracted from the solemnity of the occasion. There was no formal procession to begin with Mthr Emma and Fr Rhys took their places quietly and we all sat in silence for a while, like a Quaker meeting, I thought. The lean un-fussy nature of the liturgy this week has appealed greatly to me. 

When it came to Communion, Emma came me half a Communion wafer. I was surprisingly touched by this. It's the first time I have received bread broken since before going to Ibiza fifteen months ago. I'm not a fan of communion wafers. Normally, if I preside and have a priest's host, I break it and share it, though nowadays I'm not sure if that's allowed, so I don't do it. This weeks turnout for services has resulted in the reserved sacrament stock unintentionally running low, so Emma broke some small wafers to give to the clergy - 'family hold back' maxim. It never really seems right to me symbolically speaking, that we don't normally receive a piece of broken bread. I've always thought people's wafers are a practical convenience that undermines the significance of the dominical action.

After the service Mthr Frances asked if I could cover two more funerals, to free up the clergy team to take their leave. I'm happy to do this, and unusually I'll be dealing with three different funeral directors. After the service I met Clare at the Co-op to do some grocery shopping. It was the first time either of us have had to queue for five minutes to get into the Co-op. I think they may have been short staffed, as there was a queue to get out as well. The rest of the day I spent preparing texts for next week's Morning Prayer and editing the reflections I've already written, so that, combined they are no more than ten minutes each in length. Nice to have work to do that I enjoy.

When I think back to last year, being on my own alone working hard at producing services for an audience that I wouldn't meet, it was the challenge of a lifetime. This year's Holy Week, though far from being usual has been such a blessed consolation.

Maundy Thursday back home

After breakfast this morning, a drive up to the Vale Crematorium for my second funeral of the week. This time I allowed half an hour to get there in good time, as the last occasion I drove there the traffic was slow moving, and I arrived just behind the hearse, which didn't give me much time to sort myself out. There was far less traffic today, and I arrived half an hour early. The buildings were locked, and I had to wait outside the the cold along with other mourners until the doors were opened at ten to eleven, an anti covid precaution, according to one of the office staff who came out to explain. It seems ours was the first funeral of the day, as one wouldn't normally expect the place to be locked in between services.

When I got back, I went to the bank to deposit a couple of cheques. If there's counter service I use this by default, rather than use a machine, as it's more sociable, even if there's not much to chat about with the cashier. Today I was informed that counter service will end in June. The branch will continue to be open with automatic machines, and staff on hand to consult. It will also be possible to pay cheques in via a Post Office counter, though why anyone would want to do that when there's often a queue of a dozen people at a Post Office waiting to be served, I've no idea. 

You might have a wait a short while for an automatic pay-in machine or and ATM to be available, but a fraction of the time needed for a Post Office visit. Branch decline is said to be a product of a major shift to digital banking. The upper limit for contactless card payments is about to be raised to £100. It was £30 at first, then went to £45, but during the pandemic, use of contactless payment has rocketed. While the greater limit will be convenient and 'safer' for many, there is also a risk of great loss, from card theft or electronic 'skimming'. A cashless digital society is what we're heading towards, but it trouble me that those least likely to benefit from the trend are the poorest and those without secure housing, forced to beg.

Another funeral has come my way for next Thursday, from a funeral director desperate to find a minister, as all the Parish clergy are taking time out in Easter Week, as they should. The work-load for the fewer number of clergy now serving the city has been made that much greater by the need to create and offer on-line services this past year. The strain on them is terrible.

I walked to St Luke's this evening for the Eucharist of the Last Supper. We had a choir of six singing the Mass and some anthems, all socially distanced. There were two dozen of us altogether. No foot-washing this year, no solemn transfer of the Sacrament or vigil, very low key really, but none the worse for that. I felt so grateful to be able to worship together with others, in such a contrast to this time last year. I think we benefit from overall simplification of our style of worship, but covid safe rubrics have tended to limit active participants, i.e. readers, intercessors, altar servers, Communion ministers. Far too much now has to be done by the priest, adding even more to the demands upon them. Do the rule givers realise?

I failed to spot any April Fool media pranks this year, unless there was one to do with 'Line of Duty' being filmed and having to stop because one of the actors, a Scot, lost his fake cockney accent. Well, it's no more silly than some of the regular media entertainment celebrity news is it?