[Magdalen] Busy Triduum

[Scott Knitter]

On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 4:47 PM, F von Prondzynski
<F.von-Prondzynski at rgu.ac.uk> wrote:
> It’s not easy getting all that right! You end up focusing as
> much on the choreography as on the worshipping.

Indeed. Even when I do focus pretty well, something gets away from me.
On Palm Sunday I had gone to the gate with the deacon to accept the
cruets and ciborium, and on the way back the deacon tugged on my
sleeve, as I was about to forget to take our new detour to the sedilia
so the celebrant could bless the cruets' contents. That's a new thing
I haven't heard of before. Other "new" things have turned out to be
really old things brought back. Now after I return from chanting the
epistle, I am to go directly to the epistle horn of the altar and move
the altar book from there to the Gospel side by way of a genuflexion
at the foot of the altar, then get back to the sedilia without
colliding with the deacon if he's on his way to get the Gospel book
from mid-altar. :) We're back to kneeling during the words of
institution, and the other change is that once the deacon and
subdeacon "split" to their respective sides for the Sursum corda, we
stay split until we ascend from there; used to go back to the
I-formation. I have to tell myself that every time or I'll forget.
We're also back to starting Mass in I-formation at the altar (epistle
horn, then the center for the Kyrie, up to the footpace for the Gloria
when sung, split and then epistle horn for the collect) rather than
staying at the sedilia until the Offertory.

Also, the freestanding altar is no longer used, and I know the rector
really prefers Rite I but so far we haven't had that change (I hear
him during Evening Prayer saying the Rite I Magnificat sotto voce...).

Anyway, changes like these are OK with me as long as we get clear
instructions. Confusion is no fun.


-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA