A Bittersweet Easter Post

On Easter, Christopher Johnson invited people who had left the Episcopal Church since 2003 to write of their experiences. A flood of responses came in and may be read there. It’s an interesting and bittersweet mix of accounts.

Aside:
In case someone thinks these are just a few disgruntled people and not that many are leaving TEC, I will point out two things relevant to TEC lies membership statistics.

First, many (most?) people that leave a denomination do not bother to write a letter to be taken off the membership rolls. They should write in, but they don’t.

Second, those that do clearly communicate their leaving often are kept on the rolls anyway against their will! Read some of the interesting experiences here. As one commenter put it, “I’m trapped in the Episcopal Church and I can’t get out!”

Two Glorias

I hope you all are having an excellent Easter Monday.

For those new to Anglican and Catholic liturgical practices, The Gloria in excelsis Deo is omitted from services during Lent, not to be revived until the Easter Vigil.

That revival of the Gloria can be a moment of high drama. And I knew that. But I was surprised at the strength of my reaction to that moment this year . . . twice.

Saturday afternoon, I watched parts of the Easter Vigil from the Vatican on EWTN. I was switching between that and the Masters.

I was tuned in when the Pope in his slightly weak voice sang “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” Then all heaven broke loose. The organ broke out and cranked loud. And the big St. Peter’s bells began ringing.

I got so into it I roared, “Yeeeahhh!” You’d think I was watching a movie where the bad guys get theirs in the end, or a basketball game where a team I hate gets dunked in the face . . . except this was better -- certainly more exciting than the Masters.

Later on, I went to the Easter Vigil at my REC parish. We don’t do the first Gloria of Easter with great ceremony. We just sing it at the end of the Holy Communion portion of the service as we do for all Holy Communion services outside of Lent.

But yet it was different. I had the feeling of wondering, Are we really going to sing it? And I was hesitant to stand up when the time came. I think the rest of the congregation was the same way. For when I heartily belted out the first line “Glory be to God on high,” I’m sure my voice stood out. The rest were hesitant in singing.

(Note: For better or worse, we sing the whole Gloria as a congregation, including the first line.)

But quickly the congregation did get into it, and, though small in number, we were loud.

One youth who enjoys pointing out my quirks noted afterward that I was particularly loud and into it, however. And I imagine I was. I felt like pumping my fist during the Gloria. But I didn’t think that was liturgically correct, so I restrained myself.

In any case, though I anticipated the first Glorias of Easter, the adrenalin they gave me pleasantly surprised me.

Perhaps it’s because this year it came home to me:
Gloria in excelsis Deo sounds like victory!

It is Finished

On this Good Friday, I commend to you this excellent meditation from Matt+ Kennedy over at Stand Firm.

May you have a holy Good Friday.

Holy Week Ads and Catholic Church Names

During the local T. V. news here in Corpus Christi, various churches are running ads to encourage us to attend their Easter services. Bay Area Fellowship is promoting their new mall, stadium, amusement park church. First Baptist’s ad sounds, well, wonderfully Texas Baptist. You Yankees and Foreigners would be rolling on the floor, trust me.

But the ad that catches my attention the most is the one from Most Precious Blood Church . I think they left out Catholic in the ad. In any case, they downplayed that at least a bit. In fact, the ad almost made their church look like a hootenanny with a procession. But it’s a 30 second ad trying to attract people, so I don’t begrudge them that. And they do attract people. Their parking lot looks full when I drive past them on Sundays.

Anyway, the ad reminds me of a quirk of Catholics and of myself for that matter. I’ve always found it odd and irreverent even to name churches after such holy things as the Most Precious Blood of Christ. You say such things with hushed tones and bowed heads. You don’t name things after them, not even churches. Or so I think. Catholics obviously disagree.

Seriously, I think it encourages a casual attitude towards holy things. I’ve overheard conversations like this:

“Where do you go to church?”

“Oh, Most Precious Blood. How about you?”

You can imagine other possibilities.

“Now to get to my house, you turn right just after Most Precious Blood.”

What if they chose to have a school of the same name? (Later: Heck, they do have one!) What would their cheers be? “Go, Most Precious Blood! Go! Fight, Most Precious Blood, Fight!” No that’s a bit of a mouthful. How about “Go, Blood! Go!” No, I don’t think that will fly. Hmm, I wonder what Our Lady of Perpetual Help School does for cheers.

Anyway, I hope I’m not being irreverent here. But you can see why I think some things are so holy that the way to show proper reverence is not to name your church after them.

But I have to admit I find the Catholic tendency to do so endearing. If only my quirks were as questionable, I’d be doing well. Besides, I live in a town called Corpus Christi, and that rolls right off my tongue.

And, hey, “Holy Week” used not to be in my vocabulary, so you never know.

Speaking of which, have a holy Triduum.

Weather and Holy Week

I’ve always liked it when weather enhances worship. I experienced that once again this morning as an ominous dark cold front moved through during my personal Morning Prayer with singing of the Litany. When cold fronts hit the humid Gulf of Mexico air down here, it’s often something to see. It continues to be a stormy Holy Wednesday morning. It’s thundering as I write this.

Easter on the other hand always seems bright and sunny. I can remember only one or two times when it hasn’t been. (This year may be another one of the exceptions, though, if the forecast is right. But we get so much hot sun, we don’t complain about rainy days here in Corpus.)

Do you have any memories of weather enhancing worship, especially during Holy Week?

What I’m Reading This Holy Week

As the 1928 and REC Books of Common Prayer assign for the daily offices, I’m reading the Gospel of St. John, chapters 14 through 17.

That we can read what Jesus said to his disciples the night before his crucifixion is like the Holy of Holies to me. And there are so many sayings in these chapters that mean a lot to me. The whole passage is so intimate, revealing much of the heart of Jesus before his departure.

I can’t do it justice with words. Who can?

I know reading it during Holy Week brings home its intimate yet solemn nature that much more to me.

Holy Week

In my spiritual journey, it’s remarkable that I’m now using the term “Holy Week” at all.

In my younger, even less reverent, low church past, I used to be amused by higher church types’ use of the word “holy” for various things. It sounded so pious and overly devotional to me. Inwardly, I made fun of those who called things holy this and holy that, including “Holy Week.”

Please don’t be too offended. A quirk of mine is that once I became a Christian as a teenager, poking fun at my fellow Christians of every churchmanship imaginable, including my own churchmanship, became quite a sport for me. I even listened to Christian radio for laughs.

Anyway, God must have a strange sense of humor, too. For here I am now using “Holy Week” without batting an eye.

Speaking of Holy Week, I’m not sure how much or on what I’ll be posting. I have decided to give up snarkiness and negativity for the week, God help me.

If something really provokes me, I’ll just save it for next week.

Next week might be interesting.

I might post something this week, so feel free to check. But in any case, do have a blessed Holy Week.