Edwardtide Glory (and fun) in London.

Last night, I took the Oxford Tube (my first double-decker bus) to London. The main reason was a Sung Eucharist on the Eve of the Translation of St. Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey.

King Edward was the founder of Westminster Abbey (hence, their celebration of “Edwardtide”) so I thought it would be special. And was I right!

First, I got off the bus early on a whim to walk through Hyde Park. Broad green spaces are therapeutic for me. It became a bit warm though. I guess I better stop complaining about cold, grey days.

The service at Westminster was excellent. Of course, I could nitpick like any traditionalist neophyte liturgist. But the usher, without any prompting from me, guided me to the “Canada” seat on the back row of the choir. And it was a very comfortable, relatively private, and excellent place to hear and view the service. Heck, I was right next to one of the lectors. Arriving early has its perks. And I guess I’ll have to stop blaming Canada . . . for a while.

The choir sang Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices very well. The organ pieces, mainly from Bach, were very well selected and played. (By the way, Bach’s organ pieces can really speak to me.)

I liked the sermon from the Dean, which pointed out that we celebrate King Edward in part because England is not a (nasty) secular state like France.

We sang excellent hymns in praise of St. Edward. Yes, I love that sort of thing.

And after the service, the screen was opened for us to go behind it and circumnavigate the shrine of St. Edward. Very medieval.

The bells were ringing like crazy, which only increased my joy from the service when I stepped outside. I was so happy as I walked to the excellent Italian dinner I stumbled upon (Spaghetti House near St. Martins-at-the-Fields is expensive, but good.).

Then I attended my first ever London theatre to see Spamalot. I bought the ticket online during a discount promotion. It was A-10, so I thought it would a good front row seat in the balconies. Wrong! It was FRONT ROW, PERIOD!

(Now, be warned that Spamalot is more bawdy than the Monty Python and the Holy Grail it “lovingly” rips off. But, with that caveat, it was good fun.)

Yes, it was an auspicious evening.

Turkey has no shame.

I need to run off and get going on academics, but I can’t let this pass.

Turkey truly has no shame. They still get oh-so-outraged when light is shed on their genocide of Armenians 1915-17.

If you want a good history lesson on that, the Daily Mail had an excellent article a few weeks ago. Be warned that it’s not easy reading.

Flummery is fun.

The past four nights, I’ve gone to three special services with extra doses of ceremony and flummery.

First at Christ Church was the installation of two professors as canons of the cathedral. I was really going there for the choral evensong part of it. But there was a man in a funny wig and the reading of Letters Patent from Her Majesty, the Queen.

It also happened to Be a Chorister for a Day night. So the choristers-for-a-day gathered haphazardly in the aisle in the midst of the choir to help sing the opening introit. The informality was quite a contrast with the installation of canons later.

Oh, and after the service, all the vested clergy escorted the new canons around Tom Quad to their new lodgings.

The following night, the new head choristers were installed at Magdalen College with the President of the College reading the installations to the two kneeling choristers . . . in Latin.

Then last night at Christ Church was the Court Sermon (formerly known as the Assize Sermon). Lots of funny wigs and outfits in procession, as the local judges were there.

What was most surprising, however, was the Court Sermon itself. When I saw that a Rev. Dr. Michael Spence, Fellow of St. Catherine’s College and Head of the Social Sciences Division (uh oh) was giving it, I thought it might be one I quietly slip out of (especially since the choir’s duties were pretty much finished at that point).

But it was actually a good sermon from what I could hear. (I was sitting behind a column.) And he actually preached the gospel. Yes, you read that right. In fact, his whole sermon was a winsome gospel presentation. And (except for a quibble or two) he did it well.

And that impressed me more than all the flummery.

Random Oxford Thread

The Choir of New College is sounding good . . . really good.

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I think the favorite part of Christ Church’s services for some of the choristers is actually after the service when two of them come out during the organ voluntary and put out the candles of the choir stalls.

One chorister in particular, the tallest one, has a look of pure entranced delight when he does this. The pyro.

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If Brasenose College isn’t a snooty little place, you could have fooled me. I’ve been here about six weeks now. And I can’t recall ever seeing it open to the public.

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One of the big events of “Naught (0) Week” (which was this past week) is the Freshers Fair. (“Freshers” is Oxford for Freshmen.) Other new students are invited, too. Hence, I had a ticket to go in.

It is quite a crowded ordeal, not unlike a cattle drive.

For some reason, the first section you go through is that of left-wing politicos. When I saw a sign proclaiming Bush the world’s number 1 terrorist, I said, “Ah, this must be the looney section.”

Yes, I somehow made it through that section intact.

I did find some interesting and worthwhile organizations. I’m definitely getting involved with the chess club . . . and the Real Ale Club. Yes! And it will be good to get involved with some people. I’ve been a bit lonely at times.

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I am now also a member of the Oxford Gregorian Chant Society.

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You know the way English children sound like in the movies?

They really sound that way. It’s delightful.

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I know this isn’t an Oxford matter, but I’ve neglected to mention something not yet generally known: the Choir of King’s College will be doing a U. S. tour this coming Spring. One of their stops will be Dallas in April.

I heard it from Mr. Cleobury himself.

Very Interesting

This bit of news posted over at Stand Firm is very interesting, particularly this from reporter Jonathan Petre:

Sometime in November, a conservative archbishop is planning to announce radical plans to adopt a breakaway group of conservative American dioceses,and the resulting collision could prove very messy indeed. Under the plans, between three and five dioceses will - over a period of time - opt out of The Episcopal Church and affiliate with the conservative province thousands of miles away. The proposals, which I have seen, have been drawn up over a number of months and follow extensive consultations between the bishops of the American dioceses and their counterparts in the province concerned.

As if that’s not interesting enough, then comes this in the comments:

++Venables is the patron of FACA which is having a meeting of bishops next week. . . .

I did not know that. Since most of the members of FACA are also in Common Cause, that will likely be discussed.

Then I chime in on who the “conservative archbishop” might be:

I’m betting on ++Venables. Just a hunch.

And do note who soon concurs.

Like I said – interesting.

By the way . . .

I’m not ignoring the statement from the Common Cause bishops meeting, which sounds like good progress. I just don’t have anything profound to say about it at the moment.

However, it so happens I’ve been elected a delegate to the 2008 REC General Council next summer. Since Common Cause and its efforts will almost certainly be on our agenda, it just might be interesting.

Peaceful Islam

This needs no elaboration from me:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taliban militants hanged a teenager in southern Afghanistan because he had U.S. money in his pocket, and they stuffed five $1 bills in his mouth as a warning to others not to use dollars, police said Monday. Taliban militants elsewhere killed eight police.

The 15-year-old boy was hanged from a tree on Sunday in Helmand, the most violent province in the country and the world's No. 1 poppy-growing region.

"The Taliban warned villagers that they would face the same punishment if they were caught with dollars," said Wali Mohammad, the district police chief in Sangin.

Dollars are commonly used in Afghanistan alongside the afghani, the local currency, although the U.S. currency is more commonly seen in larger cities where international organizations are found.

Militants often justify their attacks and executions as a response to U.S. meddling in Afghan affairs.

In Sangin on Saturday, the Taliban shot and killed another man who had sought farm assistance and seeds from an international aid program, Mohammad said. The militants accused him of being a spy.