I just finished a long post on Easter Sunday and it’s disappeared into the ether.
So here’s a truncated version. I hate WordPress at times.
Today it’s Easter Sunday and I went to church.
This is a usual habit for many of you, but not for me. It is about 18 years since I have been to church for other than a wedding or a funeral.
At lunch yesterday a friend told me they were decorating the Cross at her church. I had never heard of this although I am told is quite common around the world. So I accompanied her this morning.
I was brought up in the High Church of England. Services were solemn affairs, churches were quiet areas and children were taken out to Sunday school or the crib shortly after the service started. But not today. This was a cheerful gathering of a wide age group. Many had white hair, and fathers and mothers were with their small children, teenagers and University students, all chatting and mingling.
Today’s service was not held in the beautiful old brick church because it has been deemed an earthquake risk.but in the adjacent hall.
The service was conducted by a very enthusiastic Priest/Minister. He knew everybody by name and was obviously very popular. There was much singing led by a young woman, accompanied by a pianist and three guitar players. I was pleased to note that the hymns were the traditional ones with which I had grown up.
The words of the hymns were projected onto a screen so there was no need for the hymnals which were very much in attendance when we were growing up. And no Prayer Books in sight!
Many parishioners had taken flowers with which to decorate the Cross. When we arrived the Cross was covered with wire and it was in the wire that all the parishioners put flowers and greenery – even the toddlers were given flowers.
The giving and taking of the Host was different too. The Priest broke what I assumed were wafers of unleavened bread into a bowl and poured the wine into another. He blessed each individual, gave them a piece of the wafer and they then dipped the wafer into the wine. Even as a young woman and well before Covid, I always felt that all those people drinking from a chalice was unhealthy.
The sermon was a continuation of a theme on which they had been dwelling for the past six weeks. It was quite long but interesting to this unbeliever.
And after the service coffee and tea were served. One woman offered lunch to anyone that wanted to come to her house. And there was to be baptism in the afternoon. So it is obviously, a very interactional church.
I say that I am open to new experiences. This certainly was one. I will not go back to that church, but over the next few months, I will explore other churches and synagogues in the region.
I choose how I will spend the rest of my life 