[Magdalen] A brighter note?

[cady soukup]

Good afternoon Grace,

Georgia put the wafers directly into people's hands. Only people who
were comfortable with that came up to the rail.

As the only glluten-free person in the congregation right now, I
handle my own wafer in a separate tiny "tin" by putting it on the
altar for the consecration, then getting the tin from the celebrant,
opening it and consuming the blessed wafer, taking it home with me,
putting a new water in the tin, and repeating everything next Sunday.
It simplifies the process for both the Altar Guild and for the priest.

Georgia is one of at least 6 priests (including a "retired" bishop)
who are providing coverage, from pastoral care to church services, as
we go through our transition period, which started the first of the
year.

So far, the vestry is still the "transition team" - we are lucky to
have had the simplified down time to go through the candidate process.
So far, no one has received a Priest-In-Charge contract. We have more
candidates to vet and interview.

The transition process has not been easy. As in many places, we are
not an easy church, even as we do our best to be a community of faith.
Transition is as much of a challenge as bringing all of our buildings
& grounds up to modern code, but we wrestled with that over a period
of several years! The hardest part is that everyone is so eager to
have everything go "back to normal" - as if such a thing could be
defined.

Georgia led us in a prayer of remembrance for June 6 1944, DDay.
Looking back, remembering, hoping forward.

Cady

On 6/6/21, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:
> I’m interested in knowing how you distributed communion. We’re still not
> having folks come forward, but are distributing the wafers in individual
> paper condiment cups at the point in the service where the Peace takes
> place. At the point in the Eucharistic prayer where the Holy Spirit is
> invoked, people hold the wafers up, and I bless them. We consume them
> together at the usual place in the service after the words “The gifts of
> God…”
> I know people are handling this in all sorts of ways, but this was what was
> done at an Easter Vigil service I attended, and it seems sound. I don’t
> think my folks are ready to come to the rail yet.
> Did Georgia put the wafers directly into people’s hands?
>
> Is she going to be your interim?
>
>> On Jun 6, 2021, at 2:43 PM, cady soukup <cadyasoukup at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> At Trinity episcopal church in “little” Washington, VA today we gathered
>> for communion (one kind) at the altar rail, in person, unmasked, for the
>> first time since Lent 2020!
>>
>> Our own list sibling Georgia DuBose was the celebrant. She preached an
>> on-point sermon about (among other things) how following the example of
>> our
>> Lord, and responding to the call of the Holy Spirit is not easy, and has
>> never been easy.
>>
>> We were all out of practice, so the service was a community effort to
>> recall the rhythms, sounds, and cadence of worship, as we each reminded
>> ourselves and each other how we do this amazing event we call a worship
>> service in person. It was streamed for our parishioners who are, even
>> now,
>> unable to get to a service, so all the fits and starts are recorded for
>> those active participants who might not yet be embarrassed.
>>
>> Nevertheless, we gathered, we worshipped, we sang, we communed, we
>> praised,
>> we had a coffee hour, we rejoiced!
>>
>> Thanks be to God!
>>
>> Cady
>> one grand round of virtual, non-invasive hugs all around for those who
>> wish
>> to partake!
>