Cloudy, windy 17C today. After breakfast, I printed copies the icon blessing rite text, packed the icon, and walked to St Luke's by half past ten to have time to make the necessary arrangements and brief Fr Rhys before the Mass. Kath and Clare followed by car. Fran and Mark arrived at a quarter to eleven with a tall painter's easel for displaying the icon next to the font at the start and finish, with a small stand to display it on the altar after Communion stowed by the side of the credence table until needed. Rhys gave us a full address on our relationship with God understood as Holy Trinity.
I presented the bread and wine at the offertory. Clare and Fran followed me carrying the icon between them, and presented it to Rhys, who censed it along with the bread and wine after the offertory prayer was said. There were twenty of us in the congregation altogether, just one choir member and the organist today, but they did well holding the service together musically.
Fr Rhys rose to the occasion, celebrating with enthusiasm and warmth. The icon sat on the small stand facing the congregation with him standing in front of it facing east for the blessing prayer of dedication. The sun peeped through the cloud and lit it up, congregation members stopped and gazed at the icon with appreciation and wonder. Everything went just as intended on Holy Trinity Sunday.
We returned home for lunch in the garden. Kath went out to meet her friend Emma for coffee, and I went for a walk around Pontcanna Fields, and returned just as Kath was getting ready to leave for Kenilworth. No sooner had she departed than Rachel called to wish me a happy Fathers day and have a chat. Owain sent me a message and then called later. Lovely to hear from all my offspring, sad however that it's rare we can all gather together at the same time.
After supper I started watching a mini-series set in a remote hotel in the wintry wilderness of Iceland, in which an elite gathering of tech leaders and innovative thinkers takes place to think about the future of the planet in the face of many existential threats. When a participant dies, it becomes a whodunit in the classic genre, involving an AI bot and an amateur sleuth who happens to be a world class hacker who is one of the invited guests. It's a 21st century Agatha Christie type scenario exploring the impact of new technologies in a fast changing world with as many new threats as opportunities, but the same power tensions in relationships between men and women still at the heart of the story. How it turns out, we'll see.
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