YHWH or the Hwy: December 2008

1st Christmas

Christmas was good. I had the Liturgy Committee take the lead on the Evening Prayer. They did a great job. I'm so proud of them (*sniff* wipe away tear). We've been working together for a few months on liturgy stuff. I had them lead us in an opening and closing worship at each of our gatherings. When it came time to plan Christmas services it seemed only natural to get them out in front as worship leaders. It was a very well led service. I want to help them develop their individual and corporate spirituality as an aspect of developing the whole parish.

Our main service was a Midnight Mass with a special musical prelude. Several people shared their singing and instrument playing talents. We had a pretty good turnout too, considering the really bad weather. I wanted the service to follow an arc: a soft start, building to a celebratory Eucharist, then dial down to calm and quiet for the night. I think it went off just like that. I'm happy with it. I've got a talented parish that seems to naturally fall into worship patterns like that. We used Enriching Our Worship for the Eucharistic Prayers. I've used some material from that before, but not a whole service. It was totally new for them, and the feedback I got was very positive. They liked the different language, and would be interested in using it again for other services.

Christmas morning was a small crowd. The weather was good and I thought we might pick up some of the folks who didn't want to, or couldn't, venture out the night before. It was a spoken service, like the usual 8 am service. With just a few of us, it brought the contemplative nature of the spoken service to a uniquely intimate level. It was nice.

The only downer was that there were a significant number of worshipers who did not come up for communion at the Midnight Mass. They escaped before I could greet them. We put two invitations to the altar for communion in the ordo. Did they think we weren't serious? Did they think they weren't worthy? Hhhmmm. Come Easter, I'll have my ushers alerted about this so that we can commune as many people as possible, and not miss another opportunity like that.

Learning, learning, learning.

not to be outdone

My bad. I was so happy to have K with me I neglected to give due notice to Buffy Cat. Mea culpa. Buffy is our grouchy old man. He's gotta be pushing his feline elder years by now, but showing no signs of stopping. He just gets grouchier, and more overt with his displeasure. I had envisioned three new warm bodies in the house (K, Roz Dog, and Buffy) and turning the heat down a little to save money. I was enjoying that thought when I came across Buffy who had his own ideas about the heat.

If he really applies himself he can cover those remaining squares on the heat grate.

"at last...

... and here we are in heaven."

I went and got K. We're all here now. All my quiet and sparseness has gone. Six months of living neo-monastically was a very enjoyable experience, but it's worth the trade-off. The house is becoming a home.

This was our wedding song. It fits.