Easter

A Happy Easter to all.

I have spent Easter in Dunedin.  It feels like the first time.  I was here in 2010 but at that time I had only lived here a little over 3 months.  I had just moved into my house and my sister was here to help. We went to St John's on Maundy Thursday and the Cathedral on Easter Day.  My sister does not like the sadness of Good Friday services so we just went for a drive to Palmerston.

In my evangelical youth I remember occasionally attending communion on Thursday to remember the first last supper.  Services on Good Friday were sometimes the Litany and sometimes Ante Communion.  I took a while to understand that was not Anti Communion but merely the service leading up to but not actually consecrating and partaking of the bread and wine.  It was instilled in me that Good Friday (and I guess Easter Saturday) were the only days on which one never took communion.
In the afternoon we often went into the city for the Procession of Witness.  This began as a procession in opposition to the opening of the Easter Show on Good Friday but developed into a more general procession in which the parishes marched behind banners through the city.  Occasionally I went to the cathedral for the 3 hour service from 12 to 3 in which there were sermons on the 7 Words from the Cross.
At home we had hot cross buns and I still continue this tradition.  Friends laugh at me that under no circumstance will I eat a hot cross bun before Good Friday.  I often went hungry at staff morning teas in the week before Easter rather than break this rule. The leftovers are eaten on Saturday then not again until next year.  I think it is ridiculous to see them on sale in shops almost the day after new year.

Easter Day was just like any other sunday except the churches were more crowded and we went home to a special dinner and exchanged Easter eggs and bunnies.
Thankfully, my family has never gone into the commercialisation of Christianity in a big way.  Once I grew beyond childhood we have never given gifts at either Christmas or Easter just exchanged cards and Easter eggs.

Most of my adult life has just been a service on Good Friday morning in addtion to the usual Easter Morning Communion. 

I began worshipping at St James, King Street in 2006.  It was too far to attend the Thursday evening service but I returned to the 3 hour service on Good Friday.  The first year there was the familiar sermons and meditations on the Words from the Cross but in the following years they moved to more elaborate services, including a section where the cross is processed down the aisle and we all kneel. Not quite kneeling at the Cross itself which is forbidden in the Diocese of Sydney.

They also have communion, they use the elements consecrated the evening before and reserved (also forbidden) in the chapel.  I have always left at this time as I still feel that Good Friday is the one day we do not take communion.

I would have liked to have gone to the Easter vigil on Easter Morning at St James but there is no public transport at that time. (unlike Anzac day when trains and buses are put on to transport us all to the Dawn Service starting at 4.30am).  Easter Eucharist at St James has very special meaning for me with a great procession of crosses, banners and incense, singing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today".

In 2011 Easter Day was followed by Anzac day.  In 2012 they were 2 weeks apart so I went to Sydney both years for both special times.  This year there is nearly 4 weeks between so I am just going over to Oz for Anzac day.

I attended the Maundy Service at St John's.  I find the stripping of the sanctuary and leaving the church in darkness very moving.  I missed the music at St James.

On Good Friday I went to the 3 hour service at the Cathedral. The Dean reflected on 12 paintings with meditation and bible readings, mainly from Mark's narration of the Crucifixion.  This was interspersed with 12 organ recitals.
Then on Easter Day I was able to drive to St John's for the morning Vigil and service of Light. We sat in darkness for an hour with bible readings by torch light and meditation. Again I missed themusic.  I do not do quiet meditation very well, my mind wanders.  However lighting the candle and then entering the lighted church was very moving.

Afterwards, I returned for Choral Eucharist and the opening responses of "Christ is Risen" and the singing of "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" meant I did not feel I was missing St James.

The whole liturgical experience from the Last Supper and darkening of the church on Thursday through  the meditations on Friday and then lighting the candle and celebrating the Resurrection with Eucharist on Sunday has been a wonderful gift.

Oh and my sister has left me an Easter Bunny when she visited Dunedin 2 weeks ago

Catching Up

Well trying to do so, anyway.

At the moment I am waiting for a plumber to finish installing a laundry tub so I can go down to the city and begin booking my round world airflights for August to November.

Things have been go go go since my sister arrived on March 23rd. Despite being older than me she has far more energy. When I wanted to have my afternoon siesta, she polished the furniture. When I wanted to rest after hanging 6 paintings/pictures, she insisted we keep on going (there are 33 of these throughout the lounge/dining and hall). She was in her element dealing with tradesmen and choosing colours while I absolutely hate it. The decorator gene which is suppose to accompany the gay gene does not apply to me eg I was amazed at having to decide between different shades of white for the bathroom tiles, white is white to me.  Sadly we had several explosions as we have had all our lives but these blow over. She admits she can be bossy and I know I can be lazy and hate making decisions.
I have had trouble finding time to read the blogs on my list let alone writing my own.

My sister arrived on the evening of March 23rd and stayed for 3 nights in the hotel where I had been living for nearly 8 weeks. The first day she saw the house, loved the layout and location but realised there was a lot needed doing especially as the previous owner was a DIY person who really had no idea.  I have seen a number of tradesmen scratch their heads in amazement.  We made many trips to Mitre 10 the mega hardware store in Dunedin. We also chose new dining chairs and a reclining chair so I will not need to lie on the lounge to watch TV in future. These finally were delivered yesterday.

The following day my furniture arrived, all 90 boxes.  Fortunately it was mainly in good condition. Some mould on a few items of furniture (Sydney's humidity?) which led to the polishing already mentioned and a few scratches. 20 boxes were of books which I only began to open yesterday. We moved in the next day, March 26.


I had already had new carpet laid in the lounge/dining to match the carpet the previous owners laid in the rest of the house only a few months earlier and had all the electrics checked and new power points installed.

Now we began the job of arranging for the kitchen to be completely remodelled and the bathroom/laundry to be renovated. This led to the choosing of colours etc already mentioned.  The bathroom is being done as I write and the kitchen cupboards will be a few weeks. New blinds through much of the house have also been chosen and will arrive in a few weeks.

We did manage to have a nice lunch the first Sunday at the beachside suburb (a late birthday lunch for me) and went on 2 walks with my walking group. The first was just a few hours to a nearby hill and past a lake while the second was on Easter Monday and we were away for 6 hours travelling to the mouth of the Taieri River south of the city and walking nearly 8km

Finally I took her away for 3 nights to Queenstown and Christchurch from where she flew home last Friday. I will post some photos of this trip in my next entry.

I am afraid I did not give as much time to Lent and Easter as I would have liked.
On Palm Sunday we attended Sung Eucharist at the local parish before going to lunch at the seaside.

My sister does not like the solemnity of Good Friday and I knew the long services would be difficult for her so we attended on Thursday night which has not been my custom in the past, living such a long way from my previous church.
The service was fairly informal and was held in the hall and we sat in a circle. We did not participate in the feet washing but were not alone in this. I knew my sister would be uncomfortable and must admit it would have been a first for me. The Eucharist was distributed around the circle as we each administered the bread and wine to our neighbour.

Then we processed in silence into the church where the altar etc was stripped before we left in silence. Both of us found the service very moving.

Good Friday has always been a very holy day for me but this year we just ate hot cross buns and fish meals to acknowledge the day.  In the afternoon we drove north along the beaches and bought an ice cream in a small town which would have been infra dig  for me in the past.

Easter Sunday we chose to go to Choral Eucharist in the cathedral as the family service advertised for the local parish did not enthuse me. The choir singing was beautiful but I did miss St James, King Street.

Unfortunately my sister had one of  her TIA turns. This is not unusual if we have to stand for long periods and there was a baptism of 3 adults so we had turned around in the pews to face the font. Usually she realises an attack is coming and sits down but she was embarrassed to do so and as I was facing away from her I suddenly realised she was falling onto me and luckily managed to grab her and sit her down with the help of one man. She lay along the pew for most of the sermon and as usual was completely recovered 20 minutes later. I do worry about her attending church by herself as the attacks mostly occur while standing for long periods.  There is a risk that one of these attacks may become a full blown stroke so your prayers would be appreciated.

Next year I would like to be in Sydney at St James for Easter but time will tell.

My sister says she enjoyed her 17 days in New Zealand although I felt too much of the time was spent in hardware and furniture stores or dealing with tradespeople. However it was good to have her advice and assistance (well most of the time).

Happy Easter, May the Easter Bilby visit you.

I will not wish that the Easter Bunny visits you. Well, not if you live in Australia anyway.

Here in Australia, rabbits are a menace. While some came from Europe with the first fleet, the first "successful" introduction was in Victoria in 1859. They were introduced to feed the foxes which were also introduced to provide hunting sport???
"The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable" (Oscar Wilde)
The result has been a disaster to our grasslands and to our native animals.

For a number of years there has been a push to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby.
A bilby is a type of bandicoot. It has a black tail with a white tip and eats insects and fruit. They have greyish fur and ears a bit like a rabbit's. Being marsupials they have a pouch for their young which, of course, can also be used to carry Easter eggs!!!

They are an endangered species because of competition from rabbits and also attack by foxes and feral cats.

Therefore I have, as usual, purchased chocolate bilbies for my sister and brother-in-law for Easter (see right) and expect to receive one in return. Our family is a no-easter bunny zone.

I have purchased my chocolate bilbies from Darrel Lea which gives a donation to Save the Bilby Fund with every sale.

Miscellaneous Musings Mainly on Holy Week

A few matters I have intended blogging about recently. It is hard to settle my mind to anything now that it is less than 3 weeks until I fly to Europe for 2 months.
The Annual Vestry meeting at St James, King Street is next Sunday. It will be the first I have attended for over 20 years, I never felt really part of a parish before. In all the papers we have been given in preparation there was a report on the National Church Life Survey which was carried out in 2006. I remember filling it out but had only been attending St James for less than 6 months. In fact it was the first day my sister began to regularly attend after our mother's death.
I was at first horrified to see that "Openness to social diversity" was only 21% until I saw that it is only 5% for the rest of the Diocese. In fact the core quality of wider community care and social justice was the top valued quality for St James (28%) while it was only in the top 3 for 8% of the Diocese. The main weakness for St James was in building a sense of community. This is understandable because the church is situated in the main office and legal section of the city and almost none of the regular worshippers would live nearby. The priests live in suburbs at least 10km from the church. Almost everyone would travel past several other parishes in order to attend yet numbers are growing. Also being in the city and being the oldest existing church, we have large numbers of visitors. Most visiting Anglicans would feel completely lost if they attended services at the cathedral about half a km away.

I received these papers on Palm Sunday. In many Sydney parishes there is only lip service paid to the Church year. One or two hymns might reflect the season or day, the sermon might be relevant if it is a really important day. The priest only wears a surplice and scarf (or perhaps a collar and tie)so no colours are evident, perhaps the book mark on the lectern. Some might find some palm leaves to place with the flowers for Palm Sunday. So it has been a unique experience for me to find the church full of palms and for each worshipper to receive a palm cross. Of course the vestments are in the correct colours. Most moving for me has been the exit procession in complete silence with the processional cross shrouded. One really feels that Holy Week has begun. This year the Palm Sunday service began by us meeting in the city square outside and processing around the city block trying to sing "Ride on Ride on in Majesty" in key with the choir way up the front.
I think it would be wonderful to attend every day during Holy week but far too difficult as I have a 2 hour train ride each way.
When I was young I use to attend the 3 hour "Words from the Cross" service beginning at 12 noon in the cathedral. I do not know when this was discontinued. Now all the cathedral advertises is "The Lord's Supper" even the term 'Holy Communion' seems to be out of favour.
I was glad the first year I went to St James we had this most moving service with seven sermons. Then last year they changed the format to just one sermon and many readings with the choir singing chants and leading the congregation in other hymns (no organ).
Some of the readings were very moving, not just scripture but other poems eg.
Bruce Dawe "And A Good Friday Was Had by All" which ends
"then we hauled on the ropes
and he rose in the hot air
like a diver just leaving the springboard, arms spread
so it seemed
over the whole damned creation
over the big men who must have had it in for him
and the curious ones who'll watch anything if it's free
with only the usual women caring anywhere
and a blind man in tears."
As we had some of the same this year it was a bit disappointing. For some reason they have also included the Eucharist although it is reserved from Thursday night (I did not think that was allowed in our Diocese)
As I have stated, while Holy Communion has been reduced in importance in the Diocese generally, they often cannot think of any thing else to do on Good Friday. We often had the Litany when I was young, the only time I ever heard it. At other times we had ante-communion. (which can be confusing if not spelt properly:-))
To me it is always meaningful to receive the Eucharist on Thursday evening and then not again until the wonderful celebration of Easter Morning.
I have stayed seated during the Eucharist on the last 2 Good Fridays and think next year I may attend the Last Supper service on Thursday and not attend on Good Friday.
As it is not possible to attend every day during Holy Week I have greatly enjoyed visiting the blogs on the right (even if they are a day late for me:-)) especially Father Jake with his readings and thoughts and both Susan Russell and Elizabeth Kaeton.
Just imagine, Jensenites, I am being spiritually fed by priests who are not only women but gay as well.
I felt particularly motivated by Susan's message on Tuesday. “The Spiritual Gift of Righteous Indignation” which included:
'And as we follow Jesus this week in the way of the cross may we also be given the grace to take up the cross of righteous indignation and take ON those religious authorities who presume to say who qualifies and who doesn’t to be gathered into God’s loving embrace.'

I will follow this up because I have received a reply to my letter (petition) from Archbishop Jensen (or one of his minions) and now that Holy Week is over I intend writing an answer which I am afraid will not be polite.
And on that topic please read the article in the Guardian about Bishop Gene Robinson. Wonderful wonderful man.

He is Risen