[Magdalen] opening churches

[Ann Markle]

Well, we had church this morning, and it was pretty good.  We had chairs
set out in the parking lot, and a couple of the older folks just didn't get
it, and insisted on moving their chairs, which required a little
rearranging for family groups, etc.  I learned more than I cared to about
how the sun moves into the parking lot over the course of an hour or so,
but could see how we need to rearrange a little for next week.  The weather
at 9 was perfect, though, and it was so good to be back together to
worship.  We did Eucharist, which our Bishop permitted, though he preferred
we do Morning Prayer.  Bread only, I consecrated just a sip of wine and
consumed it myself.  People filed forward.  All masked, and everyone was
cooperative.  I think we were all just happy to be back together, and we
even had maybe 1/3 of our Sunday School kids there.  I was too excited to
sleep much last night, and was exhausted after just the one service!  We
had old prayer books to distribute and everyone took theirs home to bring
next week.

Ann

The Rev. Ann Markle
Buffalo, NY
ann.markle at aya.yale.edu


On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 1:13 PM Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com> wrote:

> I agree with you, Grace+, about full Eucharist with no one at all receiving
> the elements. The Celebrant is required to receive at minimum (with the
> expectation that at least one other will receive as well). IMHO if no one
> will receive, just do a Liturgy of the Word, or the Daily Office.
>
> I think sometimes there's a slightly misplaced sense of politeness that
> says if the people can't receive, the Celebrant should politely not receive
> either, but then there is really no point in doing the Liturgy of the
> Eucharist. I'd say the Celebrant's reception of the Sacrament completes the
> sacrificial action. (Which is also why the Celebrant receives first and
> then takes the Sacrament to the people, also sometimes reversed by a
> misplaced sense of politeness.) I think the theology matters and is
> sometimes replaced by what seems right to individuals.
>
> All this is IMHO, of course, and I'm open to corrections and other views.
>
> On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 11:39 AM Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > First of all, with regard to the sermon, I absolutely agree that it needs
> > to be relevant, both to the external situation and to the particular
> > context of the congregation. When I pastored two small mountain mission
> > churches and went on vacation, I tried at first to use sermons from a
> > service provided by the national church. But they were totally irrelevant
> > to our situation, and since a whole year was given at once, they couldn’t
> > address current issues.  So I ended up having to write my own sermons and
> > leave them for Morning Prayer.
> >
> > All of that being said, the sermons our diocese is providing are being
> > done by one of the bishops or diocesan staff and are very current. We
> only
> > get them the week before the Sunday they are to be given, and I preview
> > them. I just figured out last week how to actually plug them into Zoom.
> > I’ve listened to some of the others, and the quality is mixed. There was
> > one a couple of weeks ago that I thought was pretty weak, and I wouldn’t
> > have used it.
> >
> > As to doing the service from my kitchen, it’s the room with the most
> > light, and I’ve put a cross and a lovely picture on the wall behind me.
> > This week I’m going to try for a fake background, hopefully using a
> picture
> > of the inside of the church.
> >
> > Rolls sound lovely, but I’m only using the Liturgy of the Word portion of
> > the service of Eucharist, through the peace. Then I’m essentially doing
> the
> > last part of Morning Prayer with the Lord’s Prayer, a few prayers from
> the
> > BCP, one of the general thanksgiving prayers, Blessing and a Dismissal.
> It
> > makes the service short, depending on the length of the readings, but
> > without music it’s just not a long service.
> >
> > We are allowed to do the full Eucharist if there is another person
> present
> > for the consecration, but then we have to use the prayer for a Spiritual
> > Communion and we are asked not to receive the elements, since no one else
> > can. That’s the way they’re doing it at the National Cathedral, and I
> find
> > it very unsatisfactory, so I’m not doing it that way.
> >
> > > On Jul 5, 2020, at 11:29 AM, Roger Stokes via Magdalen <
> > magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > Grace,
> > >
> > > I have long felt that a sermon should consider the context in which it
> > is delivered, i.e. be relevant to the congregation. Decades ago I was in
> a
> > diocese where the Suffragan "guided by the Spirit" was known to deliver
> > basically the same sermon whatever the context with a minor variation
> > according to whether it was a confirmation or the institution of a new
> > priest. It was a joke around the diocese until I wrote to him to say
> that I
> > felt his normal confirmation sermon was not appropriate for the
> > congregation I was serving then. That must be a problem for anybody
> > recording a sermon to be played back for congregations up and down the
> land.
> > >
> > > When you said you deliver the service from your kitchen the naughty
> side
> > of me wondered about having some fresh-baked rolls which you take out of
> > the oven at the start of the service and then use for the sacrament of
> the
> > table. (When I was at university we had a roll for communion in the
> college
> > chapel.) The kitchen would also be a suitable venue for a week when the
> > Gospel admonishes us to be like the leaven which leavens the whole dough.
> > That would go down well with Zoom and a "here's one I made earlier" bit.
> > >
> > > Roger
> > >
> > >> On 05/07/2020 15:07, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
> > >> We are allowed to have outdoor worship with no more than 50 people,
> > masks,
> > >> no group singing and no sharing of communion.  Some churches are doing
> > >> this, some aren't.  We aren't, for a variety of reasons.  Churches may
> > also
> > >> record or stream services from their buildings with no more than the
> > >> numbers necessary to do that.  We don't have the technology for that.
> > >> I'm still doing services on Zoom from my kitchen.  Last week and this
> > I've
> > >> patched in sermons by our bishop and another staff member.  They're
> > >> offering us one each week as a break from preaching, if we want. I'm
> not
> > >> going to make a habit of that, but it was nice to have a couple weeks'
> > >> break from preaching. I'd only missed one week of preaching since
> > December,
> > >> except Easter, when I sent everyone to the Cathedral website and went
> > there
> > >> myself.
> > >
> >
>
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>