[Magdalen] Interesting Sunday

[Joseph Cirou]

-----Original Message-----
>From: Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
>Sent: May 30, 2016 5:24 PM
>To: "magdalen at herberthouse.org" <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
>Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Interesting Sunday
>
>Wow, Cady!!
>Having supplied at your church many times over the years, I know these are major changes--whew!  Your summer schedule was a killer; the first time I filled in there for three weeks, I couldn't imagine doing that every Sunday all summer. Services were at 8,9, and 10.
>The move to more Morning Prayer services is interesting, although I know you've kept MP in rotation all along. Is that just for the time before you call a new rector? And is there any sense of when that will be?
>Congratulations on leading a sung Morning Prayer service! That's always challenging.
>Will Bill Queen continue as your interim, or is his contract up? I heard good things about him when he was at All Saints in Richmond.
>And I love Johnson's "The Creation"! At the church I attended for the Easter Vigil this year, that was the first reading--a wonderful choice!
>
>I never think of Trinity as small--maybe because it has three services and has such a variety of ministries.What is your ASA?
>
>Keep up the good work! 
>Grace
>
>> On May 30, 2016, at 11:02 AM, cady soukup <cadyasoukup at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear ones,
>> 
>> Our small church, Trinity Episcopal Church in Washington, VA, is
>> nearing the end of an interim rector's year (Bill Queen) after the
>> retirement of our long-term (42 years!) rector Jennings Wise Hobson
>> III (whose father and grandfather were both Episcopal priests). It's
>> been a year of all those "fun" interim activities: tightening our
>> budget belts, learning who we are and who we want to be, stretching to
>> meet goals, examining our "business practices" to bring them into line
>> with more modern church expectations, renovating the Rectory and the
>> Parish Hall, keeping up with the expected schedules, creating a Parish
>> Profile and starting the search process. The vestries (last year's,
>> this year's, next year's) have been, are, and will be working harder
>> and longer than what has been the norm, and have done very well.
>> 
>> One tiny outcome of all this has been a re-examination of lay
>> leadership roles. There have been meetings and will be training for
>> various positions (Litanist, Lay Eucharistic Minister, Lay Eucharistic
>> Visitor, others). We have 3 regular Sunday services: 8am Rite I spoken
>> Holy Eucharist; 9:15 am Rite II family service with folk music,
>> alternating between HE and MP; 11am Rite II "formal" service
>> alternating between HE and MP. The service bulletins are now uniform
>> (Grace Cangialosi can attest to the previous complexity of the
>> bulletins!) and the service elements are more uniform.
>> 
>> And we have moved from requesting Supply clergy at a fee, to having
>> Lay Led MP services when our rector is gone. He was gone previously,
>> and Mike Mahoney was one of the Lay Leaders. He was gone yesterday for
>> his youngest son's college graduation (yes, scheduled on the Sunday of
>> Memorial Day weekend!). I was the Lay Leader for the 11am (summer
>> 10:30am) MP service. First time through.
>> 
>> We had an unexpectedly full service with a few new people (one of whom
>> I know as he graduated high school with our youngest son) and some
>> "visitors" from other services. I am grateful for: the deep training
>> of our congregants as I forgot to announce several of the service
>> moves from one element to another; our 4-member choir including our
>> substitute pianist/organist Danny Wilson who stepped up to the
>> challenges of a fully sung MP service, our Altar guild members who are
>> coping with great grace and forbearance as they cope with only a box
>> for their supplies during the enormous Parish Hall renovation. We even
>> had a lovely coffee hour that I forgot to announce. <sigh>
>> 
>> For the homily, the Rev. Bill Queen provided a poem "The Creation - A
>> Sermon in Verse" from "God's Trombones" by James Weldon Johnson
>> (partially because the previous lay-led Sunday's homily was a reading
>> from one of the Church fathers that was not well received by the
>> family service). I hadn't printed it out, so read it from my iPhone.
>> The congregation had the grace to pay attention, including a few
>> unexpected younglings.
>> 
>> I am so very grateful for the honor of being able to perform this
>> function, even if this is the only time it happens. Praise God!
>> 
>> virtual hugs & virtual beverages for all !
>> 
>> Cady
I think the National Cathedral did that version for its Easter vigil. I only got to watch to the third reading.

Joe