Holy Week advances

All set for Palm Sunday

Holy Week is, without doubt, a verger's busiest eight days of the church year. Palm Sunday at St. Philip's saw two well attended services.  The weather was awful with lashing rain and a cold wind, so the Liturgy of  the Palms was held in the Parish Hall, with the very short procession under cover to the church.

Holy Week is a time for Vergers to study the customaries. However many notes one makes once-a-year services always provide questions from the Altar Guild, Ushers, Choir, etc., usually, "Did we do that last year?"  I make copious notes to remind myself of any glitches, or things that can be improved for the following year.

Notwithstanding the weather, our worship on Passion Sunday went well, as did Holy Eucharist on Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday.

On Wednesday Tenebrae was, as always, a beautiful service - an easy one for the verger.  No procession, choir already in place and in excellent voice.

These warm-up services are the curtain raises to the Tribuum.  Maundy Thursday is a busy one, with careful planning and co-ordination of ushers (for the foot-washing and communion), the dimming of lights to be synchronized and helping the Altar Guild when the clergy strip the altar.

And so we come to Good Friday and I am about to take my turn, at 6:00 am, in The Garden Watch at the Altar of Repose. Back to church for our midday Downtown Way of The Cross"and our Good Friday Liturgy this evening.

The Altar of Repose - simply beautiful.

Into Lent

Three services on Ash Wednesday saw this verger at the church for most of the day.  Preparing future service bulletins and attending a meeting between the services meant that it wasn't the services that took up the time.

The Imposition of Ashes went well, pleasing for me as I had produced them in advance from last year's palm fronds.  The results of my attempt at this were rather good, despite me looking like a chimney sweep by the time the process was completed!

The three services in which I was involved were well attended, as was the children's version in the late afternoon.  Being part of each, slightly different service makes one more aware of our vulnerability and of our mortality in this life as we prepare for the penitential season.  Early morning was a said service with no Eucharist.  At noon we did have a Eucharist, as did the evening choral service. Our choir singing Gregorio Allegri's setting of Miserere mei, Deus (Psalm 51), during the Imposition was so beautiful.

A particular sentence from the sermon has stuck in my mind. "Dust is a wonderful antidote to arrogance." Okay I had heard it three times, but perhaps that was just as well as to me this is such a powerful realization of our limited time in this life, no mater who we are, what we have achieved, or what material goods we have accumulated.  It reminds me of a favorite expression of my late mother-in-law, "there's a reason they don't sew pockets in shrouds."

And so Lent begins.  No meat on Fridays?  Well that's easy.  Giving something up?  That's not too bad.  Taking something extra on?  That's more of a challenge.  Is Lent the "uncomfortable" season?  That's currently a matter of mild debate, but to me it definitely is, and so it should be.  It should be a time of silent reflection on the suffering and sacrifice,  life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It should be a time of penitence, spiritual discipline and  of preparation for Holy Week.

The First Sunday in Lent includes "The Great Litany". This is said to be the first prayer composed in the English language (i.e. not an English translation from another language) for use in public worship.  It is used in Anglican worship at various times and seasons, but is probably most frequently experienced during the season of Lent because of its distinctly penitential nature.  In our church it is chanted in procession around the perimeter of the worship space.

For the Verger this procession, sometimes called "the Holy pretzel," can be fun(?)  It takes some planning, as we need to complete the procession as the last part, the Kyrie eleison, is chanted.  Ours went well, despite some choir members deciding to take a detour, and we were all in place by the Kyrie.

And so whilst most get involved in the Lenten season and look forward to Holy Week so does the Verger.

There is one difference however.  The Verger is preparing, or is to continuing to prepare, for what is the busiest week of the liturgical year.  Our medium sized church sees thirteen services during the week, although to be liturgically correct, from Passion Sunday to the Great Vigil is all one service.  This includes a joint Episcopal/Presbyterian downtown "Way of the Cross" procession, which is such a moving experience.

I better get on with the planning.

Pax Christi

Candlemas

"Candlemas" is a word we Episcopalians use for the liturgy to remember Christ's Presentation in the temple, which occurred 40 days after his birth, and where Simeon encountered the Christ Child.  Candles are an integral part to this service, serving as a powerful symbol of Christ bringing light to an otherwise dark world, and which helps us to remember how we are called to carry that light within us as individuals and as a community of Christians.

Our Candlemas service was more beautiful than ever this year with many candles, a glorious liturgy and wonderful music. 

Set-up for Candlemas

I wonder how many can spot the not-so-deliberate mistake in the above photograph.  It did not spoil our worship, but this verger is peeved, to say the least.  With probably the best Altar Guild in North America, it is still up the verger (however much he or she has to do) to spot and correct mistakes early.

Last year's palm fronds have been burned in readiness for Ash Wednesday and the "Holy Pretzel" to look forward to, as well as planning for Holy Week, keeps me in a state of readiness that is the verger's calling.