When I first saw the title of this thread I didn't see it was in Eccles and was expecting actions comparable to helping widows and orphans in distress, feeding the hungry, visiting prisoners etc.
This thread makes me think of the old rhyme: Piskie, Piskie, bow and ben’,
On yer knees and up again.
Presbie, Presbie, too proud to bend,
Sit ye doon on man’s chief end.
I don't know the vintage, probably 19th century or early 20th, but does broadly reflect the differences between the Kirk and the SEC in this area. I was flummoxed on first worshipping in the Kirk that the pews were too close to permit kneeling.
I forwarded that to my old friend who was at Knox College in Toronto, and he had heard it from an elderly professor whose version was almost the same:
Piskie Piskie boo an' ben'
Get ye doon an' up again.
Presby Presby, never bend,
Set ye doon on man's chief end.
Am much obliged to you. I hadn't heard it before and will cherish it.
Our host congregation's building has to use "liturgical east," as the altar is in fact at the south end of the building. This was very likely forced on the original builders by the size and shape of the lot. You can tell by the very odd attempts to connect the main worship area to a separate gym and school building on an adjacent lot--the hallways, stairs and elevator have half-floors, as the two buildings were apparently not built with the idea that they'd ever be connected (either originally belonging to different communities, or somehow otherwise impeded). If both lots had been available when the buildings first went up, they could have had true east, not the weird set-up we have now.
When I first saw the title of this thread I didn't see it was in Eccles and was expecting actions comparable to helping widows and orphans in distress, feeding the hungry, visiting prisoners etc.
I did mention those in the OP and made it clear that liturgical actions are no substitute for such things.
This East business rather depends on the orientation of the building, or it's a bit of headology.
That why I was careful to refer to “liturgical east,” which is a thing. The idea that the end of the church with the altar is “the east,” regardless of whether it’s actually east, is reflected in describing Masses where the priest faces the altar rather than the people as ad orientem (“to the east”).
Luth’ran, Luth’ran, stand and sit,
Sing the hymn and ponder it.
Kneel? Well… maybe. If we must.
Trust the Gospel, not our fuss.
Or
Luth’ran, Luth’ran, bend or stand,
Christ alone our chief command.
Kneel if able, sit if sore—
Faith is freedom, not a chore.
As to the placement of the altar in my home congregation, it is the center of the sanctuary.
Which reminds me of the old Baptist rhyme:
I'd rather be a Baptist
With a happy, smiling face
Than a miserable Methodist
And think I'll fall from grace.
We all have our triumphant, sectarian and party-spirit or Pharisaical tendencies.
'Lord, I thank you that I am not like that [Anglican/ Methodist/ Catholic/ Pentecostal ... insert church or denomination of choice] over there.'
My own Tradition is particularly prone to that.
Lord have mercy!
I hasten to add that I find the Ship refreshingly eirenic.
At the risk of adding more physical actions in a worship context whilst neglecting justice, mercy and all the things our Lord emphasised, it occurs to me that 'holy water' is a physical thing we haven't addressed so far.
Or incense come to that.
Or practices like foot-washing or the use of banners.
On the holy water thing, I'm taking a bottle of blessed water from the spring within the Anglican shrine at Walsingham and a bottle from my own parish to a poetry event later today in order to give them to an RC friend.
They asked me to bring some back from an ecumenical pilgrimage there. I couldn't find any in the RC shrine as they were doing some maintenance work in advance of the main pilgrimage season. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough.
My friend is eirenic enough to accept some from Anglican and Orthodox sources.
I'm a bit puzzled when they said they'd run out and hadn't had any for ages as they live almost opposite an historic RC church which one would expect to have holy water on tap as it were.
Still, they are very welcome to have some of mine.
I don't know whether this is 'kosher' for a non-RC but I will often dip my fingers in the holy water stoup and cross myself on my forehead with it on entering a Catholic church.
I've probably done the same in Anglo-Catholic settings.
I do it as a reminder of my baptism and also as a sign of respect and an acknowledgement that God is at work in and through other Christian churches as well as - occasionally my own.
This East business rather depends on the orientation of the building, or it's a bit of headology.
That why I was careful to refer to “liturgical east,” which is a thing. The idea that the end of the church with the altar is “the east,” regardless of whether it’s actually east, is reflected in describing Masses where the priest faces the altar rather than the people as ad orientem (“to the east”).
I think it's a reasonable facsimile in most churches.
Perhaps in the UK. Definitely not in the US.
One persons "thing" is another person's delusion. Which I why I always describe "ad orientem" as "backs to the people."
I describe it as 'turn your back on the congregation, huddle over the altar, and mumble'.
I'm very grateful that except among the most mega-spiky Anglo-Catholics, it seems to have more or less died out. Is it allowed in the Roman mass at all these days?
This East business rather depends on the orientation of the building, or it's a bit of headology.
That why I was careful to refer to “liturgical east,” which is a thing. The idea that the end of the church with the altar is “the east,” regardless of whether it’s actually east, is reflected in describing Masses where the priest faces the altar rather than the people as ad orientem (“to the east”).
I think it's a reasonable facsimile in most churches.
Perhaps in the UK. Definitely not in the US.
One persons "thing" is another person's delusion. Which I why I always describe "ad orientem" as "backs to the people."
I describe it as 'turn your back on the congregation, huddle over the altar, and mumble'.
I'm very grateful that except among the most mega-spiky Anglo-Catholics, it seems to have more or less died out. Is it allowed in the Roman mass at all these days?
Those that use the Tridentine Mass turn their backs to the people. It is rare for those who use the modern Mass, though it is allowed - but not the muttering.
You'd have even more of an issue with the Orthodox @Enoch as our priests not only face the altar but perform some of the rituals and say some of the prayers behind a screen.
Our Bishop insists that clergy are audible when praying within the icon-screen, something that is more apparent in our tiny chapel-of-ease than in our main church building.
I attended several services in a Greek parish during my visit to Australia and you couldn't hear a word once they drew the curtains. Not that I'd have understood anyway as they were all in Greek.
I hope it goes without saying that I respect those Christian traditions which adopt a congregation-facing position or which have communion 'in the round' and so on.
It all comes down to theological choices of course. The Orthodox prefer to maintain a sense of mystery and the 'now and not yet' aspect and the symbolism around the opening and closing of the doors and curtains on the iconastasis reflects that.
If we understand that then it can 'work' - and it's particularly effective dramatically at Easter - but equally it can lead to incomprehensible mutterings and mumblings and indeed unhelpful superstitions.
The key thing of course, in whatever Christian tradition we are in, that we remember that these things are means to an end not ends in themselves and that however we worship we should not neglect the 'royal law of love' nor those things I cited from Mother Maria Skobtsova's observations in the OP and which @LatchKeyKid has reminded us more recently.
This East business rather depends on the orientation of the building, or it's a bit of headology.
That why I was careful to refer to “liturgical east,” which is a thing. The idea that the end of the church with the altar is “the east,” regardless of whether it’s actually east, is reflected in describing Masses where the priest faces the altar rather than the people as ad orientem (“to the east”).
This East business rather depends on the orientation of the building, or it's a bit of headology.
That why I was careful to refer to “liturgical east,” which is a thing. The idea that the end of the church with the altar is “the east,” regardless of whether it’s actually east, is reflected in describing Masses where the priest faces the altar rather than the people as ad orientem (“to the east”).
I think it's a reasonable facsimile in most churches.
Perhaps in the UK. Definitely not in the US.
One persons "thing" is another person's delusion. Which I why I always describe "ad orientem" as "backs to the people."
I describe it as 'turn your back on the congregation, huddle over the altar, and mumble'.
I very much agree with both of these sentiments. (Then again, I’m Reformed, so I would.)
In line with what @Enoch said about “turn your back on the congregation, huddle over the altar, and mumble,” I’m reminded of what a woman of my grandmother’s acquaintance once said to my grandmother. This woman was a member of, I think, a Church of Christ—she referred to other denominations like Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic, etc., as “nicknames churches.” One Sunday she had occasion to go an Episcopal church. My grandmother saw her later in the week and asked how she liked it. “Oh, the Good Lord forgive me, I ain’t never goin’ back there again. Wasn’t nothin’ to it but stand up, sit down and mumble.”
Ad Orientem is pretty common in the SEC and I've no issue with it, though I do agree that it is incumbent upon the celebrant to ensure they're audible. I think it probably works best when the altar is quite close to the congregation, so there is the sense of the priest leading the congregation, rather than doing something secret away from them.
When the congregation is in the round, the presider will have his/her back to at least a third of the people at any one time. However, there is one section of the sanctuary which is least populated. Pastor will say the words of consecration with his back toward that section.
This East business rather depends on the orientation of the building, or it's a bit of headology.
That why I was careful to refer to “liturgical east,” which is a thing. The idea that the end of the church with the altar is “the east,” regardless of whether it’s actually east, is reflected in describing Masses where the priest faces the altar rather than the people as ad orientem (“to the east”).
I think it's a reasonable facsimile in most churches.
Perhaps in the UK. Definitely not in the US.
One persons "thing" is another person's delusion. Which I why I always describe "ad orientem" as "backs to the people."
I describe it as 'turn your back on the congregation, huddle over the altar, and mumble'.
I'm very grateful that except among the most mega-spiky Anglo-Catholics, it seems to have more or less died out. Is it allowed in the Roman mass at all these days?
Yikes! This is absolutely standard for Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod congregations, though there are a few here and there who do everything facing the people. It's mostly a case of what architecture a church has.
But when you consider the fact that we use microphones (prevents the muttering) AND also do a helluva lot of up and down, turn around, etc. kinds of stuff, near-constantly, I don't think it excludes the people. I mean, position of the celebrant is like the weather around here. If you don't like it, wait five minutes and it'll change.
The general idea of proponents is that it points the celebrant in the same direction as the congregation. Not an argument I find convincing, but others clearly do. Also, it's how the RC church did it before Everything Went Wrong, so it must be right.
This East business rather depends on the orientation of the building, or it's a bit of headology.
That why I was careful to refer to “liturgical east,” which is a thing. The idea that the end of the church with the altar is “the east,” regardless of whether it’s actually east, is reflected in describing Masses where the priest faces the altar rather than the people as ad orientem (“to the east”).
I think it's a reasonable facsimile in most churches.
Perhaps in the UK. Definitely not in the US.
One persons "thing" is another person's delusion. Which I why I always describe "ad orientem" as "backs to the people."
I describe it as 'turn your back on the congregation, huddle over the altar, and mumble'.
I'm very grateful that except among the most mega-spiky Anglo-Catholics, it seems to have more or less died out. Is it allowed in the Roman mass at all these days?
Yikes! This is absolutely standard for Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod congregations, though there are a few here and there who do everything facing the people. It's mostly a case of what architecture a church has.
But when you consider the fact that we use microphones (prevents the muttering) AND also do a helluva lot of up and down, turn around, etc. kinds of stuff, near-constantly, I don't think it excludes the people. I mean, position of the celebrant is like the weather around here. If you don't like it, wait five minutes and it'll change.
Many LCMS churches do have free standing altars, meaning the minister can face the congregation during the Eucharist. I just checked, there is no standard in the LCMS as to where the minister is to be oriented.
With us Orthodox it's all down to the symbolism and so on and if you 'get' that it's fine.
I don’t feel 'excluded' because the clergy are puttering around behind a screen or the priest is facing away from us much of the time.
But I can understand people getting that impression.
On a 'dramaturgy' level it heightens the impact as it were for when the reading of the Gospel takes place or the "Great Entrance" occurs.
Whether all of the Orthodox understand the symbolism is an issue of course and there are stories of Greeks and Russians who didn't understand the words until they moved to the UK and heard the Liturgy in English.
Our priest used to mutter and mumble until the Bishop directed otherwise. In some service books there's a stage direction to the effect that the priest should murmur the words of certain prayers 'secretly' - as if it's a kind of pagan mystery religion.
Which is what some hyper-Protestant types accuse us of being of course.
'Idol worshippers!'
I do think it's important for the prayers to be audible and 'in a language understanded of the people.'
The faux-Elizabethan/Jacobean of some (most?) English translations doesn't help. If I had my way I'd go for something between that and Fr Ephrem Lash's English translations.
Ideally there should be a happy blend of all these elements - physical, auditory, visual and olefactory - not too much incense please - a complete 'immersive' experience on every level - if we have the sensory capacity - and which leaves us wanting more.
Sometimes the whole thing adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
'This is the house of God. This is the gate of Heaven.'
At other times it feels as though the heavens are as brass and we are wading through treacle.
I'm sure that's the same across the board.
But we press on. One day we will know fully, even as early are fully known.
Daughter in law did a silent portrayal via delarosa last night. Very moving. She said she felt especially connected to the righteous women who were following Jesus as he was carrying the cross.
At the Easter Communion service this morning we had renewal of baptismal vows. To my surprise the font was filled and the priest used a sprig of something to asperge us all. This added a good five minutes to the service. Not something I have encountered before.
At the Easter Communion service this morning we had renewal of baptismal vows. To my surprise the font was filled and the priest used a sprig of something to asperge us all. This added a good five minutes to the service. Not something I have encountered before.
No, I have not seen that but I rather like the idea.
At a ordinary baptism (i.e. not Easter) at a church I did not know, and where the children were gathered specially around the font in front of everybody else so they could have a good view, at the end, the vicar dipped his hands into the font and splattered all the children with water. It was quite obvious from their excited reactions that they were expecting this and that it was whart normally happened there. I thought that was rather good.
The Orthodox asperge with water at various services throughout the year.
Not seen it done in quite the way @Puzzler describes but I like the idea of it.
Something we do at Easter which I don't think anyone else does is for the priest to fling bay leaves around at the Vesperal Liturgy for Great and Holy Saturday.
It marks Christ's conquering Death by death and sets the scene for the evening Vigil.
Our priest tends to clown around with the leaves, tipping them over people's heads etc.
In some parishes people stamp, bang the pews or benches (if they have them) and I understand that on Greece they throw clay pots full of water out into the street.
After the sombre gloom of Good Friday the Saturday services move towards the joy of the Resurrection.
At the Easter Communion service this morning we had renewal of baptismal vows. To my surprise the font was filled and the priest used a sprig of something to asperge us all. This added a good five minutes to the service. Not something I have encountered before.
I’ve encountered it a number of times in Presbyterian churches, believe it or not. I’m sure John Knox is spinning under the parking lot next to St Giles.
We also had renewal of baptismal vows in the service this morning. The vicar asperged us with a sprig of rosemary:she told/warned us first, saying she wanted us to gather closely round the font so she could get us wet! It seemed to go down well. I don't remember it being done before though.
At the Easter Communion service this morning we had renewal of baptismal vows. To my surprise the font was filled and the priest used a sprig of something to asperge us all. This added a good five minutes to the service. Not something I have encountered before.
I’ve encountered it a number of times in Presbyterian churches, believe it or not. I’m sure John Knox is spinning under the parking lot next to St Giles.
If we could attach Knox to a generator I think his outrage could power most of Edinburgh.
At the Easter Communion service this morning we had renewal of baptismal vows. To my surprise the font was filled and the priest used a sprig of something to asperge us all. This added a good five minutes to the service. Not something I have encountered before.
I’ve encountered it a number of times in Presbyterian churches, believe it or not. I’m sure John Knox is spinning under the parking lot next to St Giles.
If we could attach Knox to a generator I think his outrage could power most of Edinburgh.
At the Easter Communion service this morning we had renewal of baptismal vows. To my surprise the font was filled and the priest used a sprig of something to asperge us all. This added a good five minutes to the service. Not something I have encountered before.
I have been doing this for a long time now, I can’t quite remember how long. If there are children in the congregation I always invite them to gather around the font for the renewal of baptismal vowels and then get them to asperge the congregation calling out “remember your baptism“. (I also get them to join in the procession of the Easter candle at the beginning of the service calling out with me “the light of Christ“ for the congregation to respond “thanks be to God“, and for those that are old enough, I get them to pass light from the Easter candle to the congregation.)
Children were involved in lighting the Paschal candle and the altar candles, but this was somewhat disrupted as our crucifer decided to set off the choir procession at this point. The visiting priest had omitted to come to the choir vestry for prayer before the service. We had to get in somehow.
In other “actions,” we had all been asked to bring bells to church today. More were available for those who hadn’t brought one. The bells were all to be rung every time we said or sang “Alleluia!” It was very celebratory.
I often take a small hand bell to the Easter Vigil and jingle it when we all cry 'Christ is Risen!' in various languages in turn.
Not everyone brings one, but we are all given candles of course.
The bell I take has a particular resonance and poignancy as it's the one my dear late wife used to summon assistance during the last few weeks of her life and before she went into palliative care.
I slept in the spare room as my wife found it uncomfortable for me to be in the same bed. The elder Gamalielette had returned home to help and the younger one was back from university.
We would respond to the bell and help in whatever way we could.
It seems appropriate to ring that bell as we proclaim the Resurrection.
My apoplectic martyrdom would not prevent the wearing of zebra and unicorn outfits and similar non-canonical habilliments.
'Habilliments'.
That's a good word.
I came across it many years ago in John Nelson's 'Journal', a highly polemical account of early Wesleyan Methodism in Yorkshire.
At one point stout John is press-ganged into the army as the Crown is threatened by Bonnie Prince Charlie but is 'bought out' by donors and supporters.
'What right have you to dress me on these warlike habilliments.'
Anyhow, is it Worcester Cathedral where they have the bloke in the procession dressed as an asparagus?
We Orthodox can't shout. I saw a photo once of a procession in Moscow with a bunch of blokes dressed in onion-dome costumes.
I surprised myself yesterday, walking out from home in the afternoon after Easter Day worship.
I walked for perhaps a dozen miles until it got dark.
I 'wild' camped overnight and said the office.
As I walked, I was unsurprisingly drawn to Luke 24, so this was read in the office, alongside the usual daily IC prayers + concerns.
Then from my sleeping bag I journeyed again - inwards - seeking Christ's light and revelation on the conflicts within, wrestling with myself.
Got up early this morning, struck camp and walked the 12 miles home + breakfast.
I find that physically drawing aside, just walking out from my front door, with a minor sacrifice of time and comfort, helps me in my struggle to seek Christ with a whole heart and will.
I try to do the more old-fashioned approach in the US Episcopal book of common prayer, particularly the kneeling, but all of that has been a lot harder since developing the foot problem almost 2 years ago now. Hopefully I will get completely healed of that and in better shape enough that I’ll be able to do things like genuflecting and what have you rather than just sort of vaguely bowing. Part of me wants to try to go into more detail, but it’s 146 in the morning and I’ve had a long long day and need to eat something.
Comments
I forwarded that to my old friend who was at Knox College in Toronto, and he had heard it from an elderly professor whose version was almost the same:
Piskie Piskie boo an' ben'
Get ye doon an' up again.
Presby Presby, never bend,
Set ye doon on man's chief end.
Am much obliged to you. I hadn't heard it before and will cherish it.
Piskie, Piskie, always bend,
Doon on yer knees an’ up again.
Presby, Presby, dinna bend,
But only sit on man’s chief end.
Luth’ran, Luth’ran, stand and sit,
Sing the hymn and ponder it.
Kneel? Well… maybe. If we must.
Trust the Gospel, not our fuss.
Or
Luth’ran, Luth’ran, bend or stand,
Christ alone our chief command.
Kneel if able, sit if sore—
Faith is freedom, not a chore.
As to the placement of the altar in my home congregation, it is the center of the sanctuary.
I did mention those in the OP and made it clear that liturgical actions are no substitute for such things.
One persons "thing" is another person's delusion. Which I why I always describe "ad orientem" as "backs to the people."
Which reminds me of the old Baptist rhyme:
I'd rather be a Baptist
With a happy, smiling face
Than a miserable Methodist
And think I'll fall from grace.
We all have our triumphant, sectarian and party-spirit or Pharisaical tendencies.
'Lord, I thank you that I am not like that [Anglican/ Methodist/ Catholic/ Pentecostal ... insert church or denomination of choice] over there.'
My own Tradition is particularly prone to that.
Lord have mercy!
I hasten to add that I find the Ship refreshingly eirenic.
At the risk of adding more physical actions in a worship context whilst neglecting justice, mercy and all the things our Lord emphasised, it occurs to me that 'holy water' is a physical thing we haven't addressed so far.
Or incense come to that.
Or practices like foot-washing or the use of banners.
On the holy water thing, I'm taking a bottle of blessed water from the spring within the Anglican shrine at Walsingham and a bottle from my own parish to a poetry event later today in order to give them to an RC friend.
They asked me to bring some back from an ecumenical pilgrimage there. I couldn't find any in the RC shrine as they were doing some maintenance work in advance of the main pilgrimage season. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough.
My friend is eirenic enough to accept some from Anglican and Orthodox sources.
I'm a bit puzzled when they said they'd run out and hadn't had any for ages as they live almost opposite an historic RC church which one would expect to have holy water on tap as it were.
Still, they are very welcome to have some of mine.
I don't know whether this is 'kosher' for a non-RC but I will often dip my fingers in the holy water stoup and cross myself on my forehead with it on entering a Catholic church.
I've probably done the same in Anglo-Catholic settings.
I do it as a reminder of my baptism and also as a sign of respect and an acknowledgement that God is at work in and through other Christian churches as well as - occasionally
I'm very grateful that except among the most mega-spiky Anglo-Catholics, it seems to have more or less died out. Is it allowed in the Roman mass at all these days?
Those that use the Tridentine Mass turn their backs to the people. It is rare for those who use the modern Mass, though it is allowed - but not the muttering.
Our Bishop insists that clergy are audible when praying within the icon-screen, something that is more apparent in our tiny chapel-of-ease than in our main church building.
I attended several services in a Greek parish during my visit to Australia and you couldn't hear a word once they drew the curtains. Not that I'd have understood anyway as they were all in Greek.
I hope it goes without saying that I respect those Christian traditions which adopt a congregation-facing position or which have communion 'in the round' and so on.
It all comes down to theological choices of course. The Orthodox prefer to maintain a sense of mystery and the 'now and not yet' aspect and the symbolism around the opening and closing of the doors and curtains on the iconastasis reflects that.
If we understand that then it can 'work' - and it's particularly effective dramatically at Easter - but equally it can lead to incomprehensible mutterings and mumblings and indeed unhelpful superstitions.
The key thing of course, in whatever Christian tradition we are in, that we remember that these things are means to an end not ends in themselves and that however we worship we should not neglect the 'royal law of love' nor those things I cited from Mother Maria Skobtsova's observations in the OP and which @LatchKeyKid has reminded us more recently.
In line with what @Enoch said about “turn your back on the congregation, huddle over the altar, and mumble,” I’m reminded of what a woman of my grandmother’s acquaintance once said to my grandmother. This woman was a member of, I think, a Church of Christ—she referred to other denominations like Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic, etc., as “nicknames churches.” One Sunday she had occasion to go an Episcopal church. My grandmother saw her later in the week and asked how she liked it. “Oh, the Good Lord forgive me, I ain’t never goin’ back there again. Wasn’t nothin’ to it but stand up, sit down and mumble.”
Yikes! This is absolutely standard for Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod congregations, though there are a few here and there who do everything facing the people. It's mostly a case of what architecture a church has.
But when you consider the fact that we use microphones (prevents the muttering) AND also do a helluva lot of up and down, turn around, etc. kinds of stuff, near-constantly, I don't think it excludes the people. I mean, position of the celebrant is like the weather around here. If you don't like it, wait five minutes and it'll change.
Many LCMS churches do have free standing altars, meaning the minister can face the congregation during the Eucharist. I just checked, there is no standard in the LCMS as to where the minister is to be oriented.
I don’t feel 'excluded' because the clergy are puttering around behind a screen or the priest is facing away from us much of the time.
But I can understand people getting that impression.
On a 'dramaturgy' level it heightens the impact as it were for when the reading of the Gospel takes place or the "Great Entrance" occurs.
Whether all of the Orthodox understand the symbolism is an issue of course and there are stories of Greeks and Russians who didn't understand the words until they moved to the UK and heard the Liturgy in English.
Our priest used to mutter and mumble until the Bishop directed otherwise. In some service books there's a stage direction to the effect that the priest should murmur the words of certain prayers 'secretly' - as if it's a kind of pagan mystery religion.
Which is what some hyper-Protestant types accuse us of being of course.
'Idol worshippers!'
I do think it's important for the prayers to be audible and 'in a language understanded of the people.'
The faux-Elizabethan/Jacobean of some (most?) English translations doesn't help. If I had my way I'd go for something between that and Fr Ephrem Lash's English translations.
Ideally there should be a happy blend of all these elements - physical, auditory, visual and olefactory - not too much incense please - a complete 'immersive' experience on every level - if we have the sensory capacity - and which leaves us wanting more.
Sometimes the whole thing adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
'This is the house of God. This is the gate of Heaven.'
At other times it feels as though the heavens are as brass and we are wading through treacle.
I'm sure that's the same across the board.
But we press on. One day we will know fully, even as early are fully known.
At a ordinary baptism (i.e. not Easter) at a church I did not know, and where the children were gathered specially around the font in front of everybody else so they could have a good view, at the end, the vicar dipped his hands into the font and splattered all the children with water. It was quite obvious from their excited reactions that they were expecting this and that it was whart normally happened there. I thought that was rather good.
Not seen it done in quite the way @Puzzler describes but I like the idea of it.
Something we do at Easter which I don't think anyone else does is for the priest to fling bay leaves around at the Vesperal Liturgy for Great and Holy Saturday.
It marks Christ's conquering Death by death and sets the scene for the evening Vigil.
Our priest tends to clown around with the leaves, tipping them over people's heads etc.
In some parishes people stamp, bang the pews or benches (if they have them) and I understand that on Greece they throw clay pots full of water out into the street.
After the sombre gloom of Good Friday the Saturday services move towards the joy of the Resurrection.
If we could attach Knox to a generator I think his outrage could power most of Edinburgh.
And I'd probably have been carried to mine.
'Here lies Gamaliel who died of van apoplexy ...'
Not everyone brings one, but we are all given candles of course.
The bell I take has a particular resonance and poignancy as it's the one my dear late wife used to summon assistance during the last few weeks of her life and before she went into palliative care.
I slept in the spare room as my wife found it uncomfortable for me to be in the same bed. The elder Gamalielette had returned home to help and the younger one was back from university.
We would respond to the bell and help in whatever way we could.
It seems appropriate to ring that bell as we proclaim the Resurrection.
I read it as "vain apoplexy" which seems to imply it didn't even do any good.
My apoplectic martyrdom would not prevent the wearing of zebra and unicorn outfits and similar non-canonical habilliments.
'Habilliments'.
That's a good word.
I came across it many years ago in John Nelson's 'Journal', a highly polemical account of early Wesleyan Methodism in Yorkshire.
At one point stout John is press-ganged into the army as the Crown is threatened by Bonnie Prince Charlie but is 'bought out' by donors and supporters.
'What right have you to dress me on these warlike habilliments.'
Anyhow, is it Worcester Cathedral where they have the bloke in the procession dressed as an asparagus?
We Orthodox can't shout. I saw a photo once of a procession in Moscow with a bunch of blokes dressed in onion-dome costumes.
But I digress ...
I walked for perhaps a dozen miles until it got dark.
I 'wild' camped overnight and said the office.
As I walked, I was unsurprisingly drawn to Luke 24, so this was read in the office, alongside the usual daily IC prayers + concerns.
Then from my sleeping bag I journeyed again - inwards - seeking Christ's light and revelation on the conflicts within, wrestling with myself.
Got up early this morning, struck camp and walked the 12 miles home + breakfast.
I find that physically drawing aside, just walking out from my front door, with a minor sacrifice of time and comfort, helps me in my struggle to seek Christ with a whole heart and will.
Heron
Shortly after my wife died I went on an Ignatian guided retreat in North Wales.
Some aspects of the Ignatian model don't sit well with me but I found it helpful to meditate and reflect on the scriptural passages I was given.
They had photocopied maps guests could borrow and I would plan out a walk at particular spots to read, reflect and pray.
Somehow this helped as it became a kind of walking meditation or form of 'spiritual orienteering'.
I'm sure I stopped at places I'd last visited when I was 15 and hiking through the area with my twin brother.
There was a kind of happy coalescence of landscape, activity, memory and text in a way that seemed to reach deep into my soul.
So yes, I can relate to your experience.
How did this work, exactly?