- Everyone survived
- M and my mom still have issues. In other news, the sun still rises in the east…
- Services went well. Quite a bit of liturgical nit-picking could be done but won’t be. The Gospel was proclaimed, the sacraments celebrated, and the death and resurrection of our Lord was duly commemorated. M preached some kick-ass sermons.
- The kids behaved amazing well given that we had mass every night and a three-hour service on Friday. Unfortunately, they were the only children at all of the services but Good Friday and Easter (And the at Maundy Thursday was twice G’s age…)
- Lil’ G was the boat girl at our Vigil. Yay! She was great.
- From the above you’ll have gathered we had incense. We borrowed a thurible from a friend at a more evangelical-charismatic Episcopal church (don’t ask my why they had one…). Someone seriously needs to teach even evangelical types how to clean out thuribles. It was FILTHY!
- For charcoal, I found us some organic hardwood charcoal. It gave off no smell whatsoever. Between the clean thurible and the “clean” charcoal even M was asurprised how “pure” the incense was.Shun quik-lite varities! Yeah, they light quick but the chemicals to make it do that are noxious!
- However, have a flame burner available. I ended up toasting our charcoal on the electric burbers in the church kitchen which took way longer than I planned for. Next time we use it, I’ll get one of those little table-top propane-feuled burners and use that to ignite them.
- M got Sunday off so we’ll be running a 10K together. Aunt A will be coming along to watch the girls.
- There’s a sprint triathalon on Father’s Day; I’m tempted… I also don’t have a functional bike for racing and my swimming stinks. (I’m still tempted.)
- I did my civic duty today and headed out to H&R Block. It was quick and painless. Who knew filing an extension could be that much fun? God bless America…
Derek,
Glad to hear everything went so well. As you said, liturgical nit-picking is always a temptation, but as long as God’s holy Name was praised that’s all one can really ask for. Although we did some of that at Easter dinner – well, a lot! My son’s girl friend and her family were here and her step-mother (who is a good friend) is a church musician, so we could hardly help ourselves!
Easter here was wonderful as well, and I have to thank you and everyone who was commenting on this blog the last two weeks of Lent. The conversation really spurred a lot of my thinking and definitely shaped my preaching. The feedback from the congregation was very positive – so thank you, everybody. And thank you Derek for your blog.
Easter blessings,
Vicki+
At Smokey Mary’s in NYC (back in the day) and at St Gregory’s in SF we used a gas flame to light the real charcoal. It also lasts far longer than those quick-light biscuits!
If we lived nearer to each other, I’d gladly loan you my own thurible. Of course, it’s Orthodox–liturgical jingle bells, anyone?
Isn’t saying “we had incense at the Vigil” a bit like saying “I made this reuben with corned beef”?
Well, Postulant, you’d think…
Joe–I’ve always wanted to play with one of those but have never had the chance!
Huw, yes, that’s what Smokey Mary’s was using when I was there too. I just couldn’t remember if our church’s kitchen was gas or electric.
Vicki, glad everything went well for you too! I’m curious—which parts of our conversations made it in?
Hit me up on FB if you work up to a half and want to do one somewhere in the NE.
Will do!
Derek,
Our conversations kept the following points very much in my consciousness while preparing for preaching, more than being used as specific themes in sermons:the liberative nature of Christian faith; the Church as the Body of Christ (although this was the theme for my Maundy Th homily); the overarching narrative of salvation history (which comes front and center during the Vigil, anyway); Christopher’s emphasis on Incarnation and Trinity together. More than anything, I found our conversations about theology renewing and energizing, and they helped me get clear about being very clear regarding the Easter proclamation.
Vicki+
We had incense at the Vigil, too, and here it’s definitely NOT like saying we made a Reuben with corned beef…incense freaks my rector out, and the vigil is the only time he’ll let me use it. Sigh.
I love G as the boat bearer!
I like the idea of using real charcoal, but if you use it twice on Sundays, and often once more during the week, would a considerable amount of effort not be needed? What about cost?