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

Approaching Christmas

I am now in Sydney counting the days until I can return to Dunedin next Thursday. The forecast there is for 12'C on Thursday, perhaps a bit extreme for mid summer but much preferable to the heat and humidity of Sydney. It is only 28'C now but the humidity is high.

I have now bought a new MacBook Air. The salesperson convinced me it would be all I needed for my purposes. I needed to buy a superdrive despite Mac now believing we no longer need CDs and DVDS and I also bought an external hard drive. That was a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted.

I had problems connecting to my sister's wifi and we decided the modem/router I purchased for her just before moving to NZ, 3 years ago was on its way out.  So yesterday we bought a new one which led to about 6 hours of frustration trying to get it to connect.  It now works well except some sites are blocked. There is no obvious reason eg Dunedin newspaper but not the Sydney paper, some banks but not others.  I have disabled the firewall without success and it now seems we will have to ring the ISP support tomorrow.  Perhaps life would be easier if we did not have computers.

I went to Sung Eucharist at St James, King Street this morning.  I had hoped to hear a sermon by Rev John Beer.  He is an associate priest and often helped maintain my sanity with his acerbic comments about those who run the Sydney Diocese.  He could be more open as his day job was a teacher, he is now retired.  He was invited to the investiture as Presiding Bishop of Katharine Jefferts Schori so obviously has little in common with the archbishop of Sydney and his demand that women be submissive.
Anyway I was disappointed that he only preached at 7.45am and 11am and we had the children's pageant, my second in 8 days. At least it was fairly brief and we still had Eucharist.

I realised I am now more at home at St John's Roslyn.  None of those officiating were present in my time and yet none asked who I was or welcomed me as a visitor.  While St James does liturgy and music very well, it has never been a friendly church despite attempts to remedy the problem.  Much of this is due to the congregation coming from all over Sydney (seeking a real Anglican experience) and it still having a status as the society church of the city.

Last Sunday evening I attended 9 Lessons and Carols in the cathedral at Dunedin partly to recover sanity after the children's pageant that morning.  While only a small congregation, there were others from Roslyn and people I knew from my other activities in the city.  That is the advantage of living in a small city of 130,000 rather than one which has passed 4 million.  I now greet passengers on the train from the cruise ships as being welcome to the "best little city in the world".

St James has 9 Lessons and Carols this evening. It promises to be packed as usual but as my sister is still recovering from a painful knee operation just over a week ago, she is saving up to make it there on Christmas morning.  I went alone to Eucharist this morning.

I am looking forward to a full Choral Eucharist at Christmas. That will be St James at its best.

However the final hymn this morning was one of my favourites, of course appropriate for Advent being based on the Magnificat.  I love to sing it at full volume.
"Tell Out My Soul"   Enjoy

Anglican ??? Worship in Sydney

In yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald, a writer described recently attending a Baptism service in a Sydney Anglican church. Some of the comments.

"To be fair, it's a while since I attended a christening or indeed a church service, but I did expect that I would recognise both. I didn't. Not the words, not the hymns, not the prayers (other than the Lord's Prayer).

The service began with ''OK. We'll get started now.'' Well, we sort of did. I presume it was an attempt to be contemporary, but really the service sounded like it was being made up on the spot; there was no flow, no structure, and no sense of occasion."

"Clearly, churches no longer attract the congregations they once did. No doubt there are myriad reasons for this, and perhaps the adoption of an informal approach is thought to be more appealing to a younger generation. But it is hard to see how the complete dumbing down of the hymns, the content and the structure of any form of worship does not do a disservice to everyone, particularly the young.

Whether you believe or not, there is a sense of importance and occasion in a service with form and structure. Dare I say tradition?"

I happened to also read the latest monthly bulletin from St James, King Street where Fr Andrew Bowyer writes about his time there. On arriving Fr John Stewart, at that time Acting Rector,  told him the three principles of worship at St James were “diligence, dignity and devotion.”

That is why parishioners travel from all over Sydney to worship there.  I had elderly friends in the Blue Mountains tell me, with tears in their eyes, that the local services did not seem Anglican and they were unable to travel regularly the long distance to St James.

One Christmas morning we took my mother to St Stephen's Anglican church at Willoughby. We were unable to get her to the very early service and were surprised when at the next service the rector arrived in shirt sleeves and tie.  The only part of the service I recognised was the creed and I left when the congregation were asked to raise our hands if we were saved.

When I wrote and complained that the service was not Holy Communion, the rector did apologise that had not been made clear in the local advertisements but also told me he believed that too many people took communion unworthily at Christmas. I was too flabbergasted to reply.

Many (most?) of the churches in the Sydney Diocese are Anglican in name only.

St James Spire

Please note, although in the Diocese of Sydney, St James states on its website and all publications

"As Sydney's oldest church, St James is place of soul-stirring worship, challenging preaching and fine music. We are a progressive community that welcomes all people regardless of age, race, sexual orientation or religion"

May it's spire be a symbol of true Christian Love unlike the hatred displayed by so many who unfortunately lead the Diocese.

Wesley at St James

It has been good to return and worship at St James, King Street for 2 weeks. However there have also been some disappointments. The first Sunday coincided with the City to Surf Run which always makes it difficult for St James. Parking is impossible deterring many parishioners.   I had to stand on the train into the city as it was packed. The run attracted 80,000 who had free transport.
The settings had changed during my absence. People who had sat in pews near me for several years and with whom I exchanged the sign of peace made no comment about my absence of 6 months. I have made many more friends at St John's Roslyn in 6 months than I ever made during the 4 years at St James.

The second week was better as numbers were back to normal and we celebrated the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary with full procession and incense. Father John, associate priest who was acting Rector when I left, warmly welcomed me back.

On Saturday, after the same sex marriage demo, I met my sister and we attended a talk, afternoon tea and Evensong to commemorate the two-hundreth anniversary of the birth of Samuel Sebastian Wesley. The talk was given by Professor Michael Horsburgh, Diocesan reader who also warmly welcomed me.  He often preaches in favour of homosexual acceptance and hosted Bishop Gene Robinson and his partner when they visited Sydney. He was pleased to hear how I feel so much more accepted in the Diocese of Dunedin.

I, of course, knew something of John and Charles Wesley but was quite ignorant of Charles Junior or Samuel Sebastian.

At the tea, I spoke with a few other parishioners I knew.

In my late teens and 20's I attended Evening Prayer every Sunday but cannot remember the last time,  so it was pleasant to attend Evensong. The augmented choir sang the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Wesley in E and the anthem 'Wilderness' by SS Wesley. We sang the hymns "Christ is our corner-stone" to the tune Harewood by SS Wesley and the beautiful "O Thou who camest from above'", words by Charles Wesley to the tune Hereford by Samuel Sebastian Wesley.

The best I could find on Youtube is by the boys' choir of Rochester Cathedral although Samuel Sebastian Wesley apparently disliked boys' choirs but could not in those days have women in the cathedral choir. 





While it was wonderful singing, I gain far more from attending Eucharist.
I have already booked my air fares and plan to be back at St James, King Street for Christmas but I will no longer feel that it is that much better than St John's Roslyn and the Cathedral in Dunedin.

St James and Jensen

Have been reading the April magazine from my previous parish.
A new rector  has just been appointed to St James, King Street.
Rev Andrew Semple is currently Dean of Bathurst.  He grew up in Sydney and was active in youth ministry in North West Sydney, a hot bed of evangelicalism. He was later involved in church work in the Diocese of Armidale, the other, less extreme, evangelical diocese in NSW.

However he studied at St Mark's Canberra and was ordained in the Diocese of Grafton.  I am not so happy that he seems to have spent much of his ministry as an Army chaplain but that is showing my prejudices.

His appointment had to be approved by Peter Jensen and in replying to a letter of thanks from the parish nominators, Jensen mentions that his parents met at St James, King Street.

Elsewhere in the magazine there is an historical article regarding a previous Rector and it mentions that in 1937  "Micklem’s resignation from St James’ led to a crisis over the appointment of a successor. Archbishop Mowll required the incoming Rector, the Rev. E.J. Davidson to make substantial changes to the liturgy including the replacement of the 11am Sung Eucharist or ‘High Mass’ with the service of Morning Prayer. This led to an exodus of parishioners to Christ Church St. Laurence. It was not until 1984 that Fr. Hughes, soon after his induction, restored most of the liturgical practices abandoned at St James’ in 1937."

Phew, that explains it, it would be a shock to find that Peter and Phillip Jensen were conceived as a result of a meeting in an Anglo-catholic environment.

Christ the King

Yesterday was a very special day at St James, King Street. After 8 years as Rector, Father Peter Kurti was farewelled. Despite my age, I have never before been in a parish for the departure of the Rector.
We had a combined service of Choral Eucharist and the church was packed as we will expect on Christmas Day but different because at Christmas we have many visitors while a lot of parishioners are away on vacation. I hope it will not be as hot at Christmas. The temperature in Sydney yesterday rose to 41'C (106'F) and it is still Spring. St James has a very high ceiling but no fans.

Fr Peter asked for donations to a village water scheme in the Philippines rather than a personal gift but he was still given a framed photo of himself on top of the church spire taken a few weeks ago (the copper of the spire is being replaced so it is surrounded by scaffolding).  He is supposed to have announced that after 8 years as Rector he finally felt on top of the job. He was also presented with a copy of the cross which tops the spire made out of the old copper. This is traditional but whereas those given to previous rectors were made from the copper removed in 1890, this one was made from the copper removed this year.

The warden making the farewell speech referred to Fr Peter's habit of beginning each sermon with a recent news item but moving onto the gospel and how that was sometimes a worry as the Prime Minister is occasionally in the congregation.  I am glad Kevin Rudd was not present yesterday as Fr Peter began with references to claims the Prime Minister has been less than open regarding the recent asylum seeker situation as a lead into the Gospel where Pilate asks about Truth.

The service ended with the parishioners accepting that Fr Peter has concluded his pastoral relationship and then he received a blessing from our assistant priest Fr John.
Fr Peter then removed his cope and laid it on the altar.  I do not know if this is usual but I felt very emotional at the symbolism.

Fr John is now Acting Rector until a new Rector is appointed. This is where I am very bitter.  We are supposed to be grateful that the bishop has allowed this. I admire Fr John immensely and he is a great asset to the parish. I have found him far more approachable than Fr Peter who is very reserved. Fr John would make a great Rector. However there is a problem in this 'holier than thou' diocese. Fr John's wife is divorced. Actually Bishop Forsythe has said he would otherwise have already been snapped up by one of the other Anglo-catholic parishes in the diocese as he would make an excellent Rector. I find the whole situation absurd.

We had great hymns of praise fitting the celebration of Christ the King.
'All hail the power of Jesus' name'
'The head that once was crowned with thorns'
'O worship the King all glorious above'
'Rejoice, the Lord is King'

However, despite my reservations about Choral Eucharist and the money the parish spends on a semi professional choir, I did enjoy the setting which was Mozart's Coronation Mass and have included the Agnus Dei.




I did not go to the farewell luncheon which followed but, rather than return home to a hot house, I took a ferry over to Manly. It was pleasant sitting on the deck of the ferry on the way over but I had to return on the inside and even next to a window it was still hot. There was no seabreeze at the beach either where it also reached 40'C and I had a lunch of calamari and chips. Even the airconditioning on the train home was struggling.
There were bushfires 9km to the north and 11 km south of me but none were threatening property. Fires much further west did threaten and one house was lost.
Finally today is much cooler with rain. It has been the hottest November on record but our conservative nitwit politicians deny climate change.

Even Dunedin is 29'C today but cooler tomorrow. I just wish I could sell my house and go.

A New Rector for St James

It was a bit of a shock to receive an email from our Rector, Father Peter, announcing his departure in November. Personally I have never really taken to him, it may be his English reserve. However it is always a worry when you consider that any new Rector has to be approved by Bishop Robert Forsyth and Archbishop Peter Jensen. I do not trust either man as far as I could throw him and my continual prayer is to keep them, far away from me.

In the meantime our Assistant Priest, Father John, is to be Locum tenens. I would be overjoyed if he became our new Rector.
Hopefully it will all be irrelevant to me as I move to Dunedin but I am still concerned for the other parishioners, including my sister. I am also concerned that St James, King Street continue to be an inclusive church within the city of Sydney.
Prayers requested

Darwin Cathedral

Our Patronal festival was an inspiring service. I even enjoyed the choir singing Mozart.

The church was packed for the service which took about 2 hours and the front was draped with huge red banners and red ribbons on many of the pews.
The preacher was the Dean of Darwin Cathedral, the Very Reverend Jeremy Greaves.
He was very easy to watch (mea culpa) and also to hear.

There was laughter as he told us he appreciated wearing the cope in Sydney but not always in Darwin. It is now mid-winter, minimum temperatures in Darwin falling to about 18'C (64'F) while average maximum are still in the low 30'sC (80'sF).
In Sydney on Sunday the temperature struggled to 15'c (59'F).
He, however, also referred to the plight of homeless Aborigines who sleep in the grounds of the Darwin Cathedral and he had pitied the homeless sleeping in the porch of the courthouse next to St James.
He told us how, in his previous parish at Katherine, every night he had to deal with trouble in the Aborigine camps surrounding the church and one night, feeling rather grumpy after a long day, he had sent his wife to the door when the bell rang about 10.30pm. She called him and he found a man who had been living in the grounds for about 3 months wanting to present him with a bark painting as he was returning to his tribal grounds. Jeremy admitted he wept.

In referring to St James the Great he told a possibly apocryphal story of a church in England dedicated to St James the Less. It was down a side street and, wanting to advertise its presence, mounted a neon sign on the roof. Unfortunately what was seen from the main street was 'St James the Less Anglican". His comment that he did not want that to be taken as a reference to our diocese had us in stitches.
On a more serious note he lamented that liberal churches were not always passionate in expounding our beliefs in the same way as the conservatives are.

Searching for his photo (more mea culpa), I learnt about the history of the cathedral and the diocese.
Darwin was once part of the Diocese of Carpentaria, at that time the largest (in area) Anglican Diocese in the world. The Diocese of Northern Territory was inaugurated in 1968 and the first bishop was Bishop Ken Mason.
Bishop Ken Mason usually sits a few pews in front of me each Sunday. I have heard him preach once and I was introduced once at Morning Coffee. He is now rather frail and was on our prayer list recently. I had not realised he was the first.

I googled Darwin Cathedral and was please to see:
At Christ Church Cathedral we seek to share God’s unconditional love of all people regardless of age, race, sex, marital or family status, sexual orientation, ability or wealth. Every endeavour is made to make Christ Church a safe place for all. We discourage being judgemental, but seek to affirm one another as equally loved by God.

The cathedral/church has had a chequered history.

In the severe air raid of 19 February 1942, the church was hit by a bomb that landed at the back of the vestry, blasting out the windows and riddling the roof and walls with shrapnel. Fortunately records and valuables had been trucked inland.

However on Christmas Eve, Cyclone Tracy bore down on Darwin.

About an hour after the midnight service, the church-along with much of the City of Darwin-was rubble. Only the porch was left standing and the church hall was gone. So was the new rectory, built in 1970, and the old rectory, dating from 1917, then the home of the curate and his wife of a few weeks.

This was in the time of Bishop Ken Mason.

A new cathedral has now been built.

My only visit to Darwin was in 1968. I am not fond of visiting hot places but I would like to see the cathedral.

St James the Great

Today is the Festival for St James the Great so tomorrow is our Patronal Festival.
Growing up in Evangelical Churches there was not much, if any, attention paid to this. Most of my childhood and as a teenager, I went to Holy Trinity so I guess that should have been Trinity Sunday. I also worshipped regularly at churches named St Phillip, St Thomas, Emmanuel and St Alban but can never remember a patronal festival.
Last year St James Day was on Friday and we had an Evening service of Eucharist but this year it is being kept up tomorrow, Sunday.
The 9am Sung Eucharist and the 11am Choral Eucharist will be combined at 10am for a Choral Eucharist with lunch aftwerwards.

The stained glass window for St James was moved in 1980's when a new Chapel of the Holy Spirit was built. It is now on the stairway to the Bell Tower which is kept locked for safety reasons. I have never seen it and can only find a black and white photo.

From tomorrow's pew sheet

The Patronal Festival is the occasion on which our parish
church celebrates the patron saint after whom we are named and,
at the same time, celebrates the life, character and calling of this
Christian community.
James was the son of Zebedee and the elder brother of John; like his
brother, he was a fisherman in Galilee with Zebedee, in partnership
with Andrew and Peter. At the call of Jesus he left everything and
followed him.
James, the first of the Apostles to die, was martyred in Jerusalem in
AD 43. According to legend, James had preached in Spain before his
martyrdom and his body was taken to Compostela, a city in northwestern
Spain. He became the patron saint of Spain. His shrine was
the most popular place of pilgrimage in Christendom after Rome
and Jerusalem.
The mosaic in the chancel floor depicts the insignia of St James. The
emblems are the scallop shell of St James’ shrine at Compostela, the
palm of martyrdom, together with the pilgrim’s insignia of the staff,
bag and broad-brimmed hat.
On this Patronal Festival we celebrate our ongoing pilgrimage as
God’s people in this place.
‘‘… of all the ancient Spanish cities, the one that seems to be immobilised in a granite dream, immutable and eternal, is Santiago de Compostela… It does not seem ancient but more eternal... But Compostela, immobilized in the Ecstasis of the pilgrims, joins all her stones in one unique prayer, and the chain of centuries had always, in its echoes, the same resonance. There, the hours are the same hour, eternally repeated under a weeping sky.” — Ramón del Valle-Inclán: La Lámpara Maravillosa

The Collect
O gracious God, whose apostle James left his father and all that he
had, and without delay obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ: pour
out upon the leaders of your Church the same spirit of self-denying
service by which alone they may have true authority among your
people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The preacher will be The Very Reverend Jeremy Greaves,
Dean of Darwin

The Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei will be sung by the choir from SPATZENMESSE by WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

But the Processional Hymn is to be: 'For all the Saints who from their labours rest'.

Wonderful.

I know as the choir process in, led by the Censer then the Cross and the candles followed by the banners of all the church organisations, the wardens with their rods, the choir and the deacons and priests in red and finally the President in a glorious red cope singing this wonderful hymn I will be rapt.
Where is the young evangelical man who was taught to sneer at this? If I had not been gay I might be with those drab men in suits and ties leading other churches in this diocese.

A Babble of Baptisms

I met my sister outside church this morning and, having read the daily notices online, said "Guess what, another baptism"

St James, King Street is the oldest church in Sydney and was consecrated in 1824 (not old by world standards but Sydney was first settled by the English in 1788).
Consequently it is seen by many as the place to have your child 'done'.
In the 4 weeks after Easter we had six baptisms over 3 Sundays. I guess there was a backlog from Lent. We have had 2 or 3 since and there are also baptisms at the later service.
On any other Sunday the majority of worshippers are well past child bearing. Our Sunday School, known as Kids@Church, process out after a blessing which follows the Collect for the Day and usually return in time for communion. We are pleasantly surprised if the number of children reaches 2 figures. Where are all those who were baptised 4 or more years ago?

Even if I did not read the pew sheet, a baptism is announced by a large number of strangers sitting at the front of the church who are so obviously lost in the liturgy. This is most obvious during the Gospel procession when they all begin to realise that they should have turned around to face the centre of the church.
I was pleased today to see that many of them, including the Godparents, did go up to take communion. Quite often only 1 or 2 do so.
The problem today was the large number of babies among the group. The sermon could hardly be heard and there was a titter through the congregation as about the 4th parent took a child out of the church. My sister whose hearing is declining told me she just gave up.
The Guest of Honour today was very good and our Assistant Priest Fr John has a real way with kids and always processes around the church to display the child after the baptism. There was a lot of crying during the baptism and I, not having a good view, thought it was the child. It is winter and I am not sure if the water is warmed. However I was told the crying came from some of the others, not the child of the day.

I do like singing Laudate Dominum as they process from the sanctuary to the font.
We leave out the Creed which, of course, is covered by the liturgy of baptism but also the Prayers of the Faithful which I feel is a shame.

A few weeks ago I met a person who used to be a parishioner at St James. She told me at least she restated her baptismal vows on a regular basis while attending St James.

I am not sure if I am being a curmudgeon. Perhaps we should rejoice that parents still want their child baptised. I have no idea what preparation is provided by the priests.
At least it helps the offertories.

On this topic, last year offertories were down and we have had several pleas to increase them. I was glad to read in our July Newsletter that offerings for the half year are 9% over the first 6 months of 2008 and 4% above the budget. I do not know if this is due to increased giving or increased attendance but certainly this 'liberal' parish is not declining.

However to cheer me up, we had one of my favourite hymns for the Offertory.
Dear Lord and Father of mankind.
When the organ leads the congregation to belt out "Speak through the earthquake wind and fire" and then quieten for "Oh still small voice of calm"
the tears stream down my face.

St James Reaches Out

Just on a year ago, St James, King Street installed a coffee shop at the front on the square which leads from the Railway Station to the main legal section of the city. It is only open on weekdays so I have only once tried its coffee but I am glad to read that it is going well. In our monthly online magazine the Associate Rector, Fr John Stewart writes:
"From 6.00am Monday to Friday, the friendly and welcoming faces of Marius and Luis swing wide open the old wrought iron gates at the East end of the Church, start the heating-up process of the espresso machine, and prepare for the steady stream of workers, who over the next few hours, will emerge from the subway that links St James’ station to Queen’s Square. Many of them will divert from their well trodden path to the office, in order to pick-up their favourite shot – sometimes called a ‘god shot’ by coffee connoisseurs, or those who simply know what they like! Since Coffee @ St James’ Church began operating almost twelve months ago, not only has the legal precinct gained a new coffee cart and unique café experience, so too have the ministry opportunities for the parish grown in an exciting way. Our church now looks alive throughout the day as the eastern end of the grounds host patrons at the tables overlooking the Square, and even in the bays of the crypt. For many, they have never before set foot on our grounds – and here we are now, welcoming them in!".....
"for the clergy at St James’ as each visit to the coffee cart results in encountering and conversing with the customers either in the queue or seated at tables in the courtyard. In fact, only the other week, a man from south-west Sydney had made what he called ‘a rare journey into the city,’ discovered our coffee cart, and found there the welcoming embrace of St James’ as a result. Furthermore, he also encountered a priest to whom he could talk – and he needed to! What a unique opportunity God has given us, as we minister here in the heart of the city – just imagine what we could do if we could offer a continuous priestly presence in and around the coffee cart each day? Food for thought."
And I note the customers can tell Fr John is a priest which would not be true for many of the evangelical priests in our city.

Another part of the magazine refers to the Christian Meditation Group.
One was started just 20 years ago and there are now 3 weekday groups plus one on Sunday afternoon.
"The lunchtime groups are very popular and attract a lot of city workers and others. In fact they are so popular and St James’ is so connected with the tradition of contemplative prayer that we are seeking leaders for groups to meet at lunchtime on the other two days of the week, so that Christian meditation is offered at our church every day of the week."

It is good to read about these developments in a parish which would be often criticised by others in the diocese as not being evangelistic. I do regret that living 80km from my church restricts my participation even in drinking coffee there.

Je suis très triste

I began worshipping at St James, King Street 3 years ago when I could no longer worship in churches which were becoming less and less Anglican in their forms of worship and where I could expect at any time to hear a homophobic sermon.

It requires me to leave home just after 6.30am and I arrive back just before 1pm.

There are 3 regular services.
7.45am Said Eucharist
9.00am Sung Eucharist
11.00am Choral Eucharist

I usually attend Sung Eucharist.

At Easter, Christmas and St James Day we have a combined service at 10am which is Choral Eucharist.

For Choral Eucharist we have a Professional Choir and a Head of Music who was recently headhunted from England, I presume at some expense. Music consumes about 20% of the parish expenditure.
The Kyries are sung in Greek and the Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei are sung in Latin along with the motets as we take Communion.

I guess these are beautiful but I find my legs ache, my mind wanders, sometimes I try to remember my schoolboy Latin to follow how much longer each will be.

I like to sing and enjoy singing each of the above in English at Sung Eucharist. (I am not sure if my neighbours equally enjoy it but no-one has complained, I believe I sing in key)

Yesterday I received a bombshell when my sister sent me an email headed: St James new service time and saying "How does this suit you?"
I had not yet downloaded and read the March Monthly News and did so to find the Rector announcing that from late June every Sunday St James would have just a 10am service of Choral Eucharist.

The time is a nuisance I could tolerate. I would leave home later but would not arrive back for lunch until 2pm, however if the service runs late (more likely with Choral Eucharist) it would be 3pm.

However Choral Eucharist every week is something I would find intolerable. I feel Music should enhance our worship not become the focus of it.

So again I will be moving. Christ Church St Laurence at the other end of the city is more Anglo-Catholic and has "Solemn High Mass" at 1o.30am but does have Sung Eucharist at 9am so I will first try this out.

St Mark's at Granville (a migrant largely Muslim area) describes itself as the only moderately high church in the western suburbs and it is actually closer to home but the priest moved to Queensland last year and who ++Jensen will allow to be the replacement is problematic. Its webpage has disappeared.

All the other inclusive churches in the Diocese are east of the city, impossible to reach regularly.

A few months ago my sister asked "Won't you miss St James when you move to Dunedin?" Perhaps this is God's answer.

For The Bible Tells me so

I am excited that our church will be showing this film in a seminar on Saturday Jan 31. It is the first event for 2009 organised by the St James Institute. My sister has agreed to attend with me. This is more of an advertisement, I am sure I will have more to say afterwards.
Details and booking form can be downloaded from the Church website.
However:
THE BIBLE, SEXUALITY & INCLUSION
Saturday 31 January 2009 from 1.00pm till 5.00pm
Interpreting the Bible is not just for scholars and preachers. Christians must apply their faith to their lives on a daily basis. For them the dilemmas and choices are matters not of theory but of practice.
What if there is an apparent conflict between two differently perceived duties?
This is the situation faced by traditional believers when they discover that a child, their partner or someone close to them is gay; or that they themselves are gay. They may believe that homosexuality is wrong, yet they cannot cast off the bonds of love. They may find that the adage to hate the sin but love the sinner is too facile and inappropriate when it comes to those close to them.
This seminar is staged in two parts. In the first we will view a video, For the Bible Tells Me So. Produced in the USA, this video recounts the experiences of some Christian parents with gay children. It includes Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and his parents. In the second part we will discuss the implications of the video for parents, partners and individuals.
The discussion will be led by Professor Michael Horsburgh.
Michael Horsburgh is a former head of Social Work at the University of Sydney and formerly chaired the Academic Board of the Sydney College of Divinity. He is a longstanding parishioner of St James’, a diocesan reader and frequent preacher.
Cost $32 ($16 for those eligible to a discount)
Venue St James’ Hall, Level 1, 169 Phillip Street, Sydney

Missed him

Our church St James, King Street has 3 services most Sundays. 7.45 Said Eucharist is far too early for me (1 would need to leave home about 5am). 9am Sung Eucharist suits me fine and I can be home at 1pm for lunch. 11am Choral Eucharist is beautiful but I prefer to keep it for special occasions (when it is often combined and at 10am). Thoroughly confused? :-)
Yesterday went at 9am and watching news last night got a shock when I saw our assistant priest. Then followed the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd and his wife. Several other views followed during the news. Kevin Rudd is a devout Anglican and the reporters seem to like interviewing him as he leaves church each Sunday. He grew up in Brisbane and naturally now lives in Canberra so he would not feel very at home in the usual Sydney church. He must have been in Sydney for the weekend and yeay, he chose a good inclusive non fundamentalist church.

Feeding the Five Thousand

As promised Michael Horsburgh's sermon at St James as published in pdf on the St James website. Also please read Doorman-Priest's sermon on this same topic. So many aspects to consider. The paragraphing and highlighting is mine.

ON EATING TOGETHER1

A sermon preached by Associate Professor Michael Horsburgh in Saint James’ Church, King Street, Sydney, on the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, 3 August 2008

I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. 2
So says Shylock to Bassanio in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. As a Jew, Shylock will not eat with Gentiles. Given the anti-Semitism that underlies Shakespeare’s play, there may be some wisdom in his reluctance, but that is not its source. Rather, he will not eat with Gentiles for religious reasons. This is most clearly shown in his linking of eating, drinking and praying. He will join them in the ordinary activities of commercial life but he will neither eat nor pray with them. One cannot help thinking that the words might also have been said by those bishops staying away from the Lambeth Conference.

But I come to this quotation by way of beginning our thoughts about this morning’s gospel.
Jesus is followed into a deserted place by a large crowd, said to be comprised of five
thousand men plus the accompanying women and children. As evening approached, the disciples came to Jesus, concerned about feeding such a large crowd. They asked Jesus to send them away. Jesus replied that they should feed the crowd themselves, to which they replied that they have very little food. Jesus asked them to bring what they have to him. He blessed the food, broke it and distributed it to the crowd. Everyone was fed and there were twelve baskets of leftovers.
This is surely an authentic story; it appears in all four gospels.3 Matthew and Mark also have a parallel story of the feeding of four thousand, which is arguably a repetition of the same event.4
In that case, there are six accounts of the same miracle, which makes the story not
only authentic but very important. The stories all have similar contents, including the need to feed the multitude, the discovery of a small amount of food, and the large quantity of leftovers.

Now is, of course, the time to ask the quintessentially modern question: what actually
happened here? I say that this is a modern question only because we are the ones who are in search of explanations. We ought not to think that the gospel writers and their hearers and readers were either stupid or gullible. They knew as well as we do that five loaves and two fishes cannot feed over five thousand people and leave so much still to be eaten. Only their knowledge of the unusual nature of the event could account for its being remembered and written down. After all, if this happened every day, it would be commonplace. They knew that this was a miracle but they did not have our thirst for scientific explanation. Neither did they discount things that they could not explain or imagine that there must be an explanation, if only they could find it. We might say that they had more faith than we do or, to put it more exactly, they gave a different significance to such events.
While we might think that our predecessors failed to ask the obvious questions, we need to learn from them how to invest these stories with a true significance. We must not allow our quite proper question and its possible answers to obscure the meaning of the story.

Five different kinds of answers have been given to what actually happened. The first is that it happened exactly as it is recorded; Jesus made the small amount of food go around everyone.
The second explanation derives from Albert Schweitzer, who suggested that this was a
prototype sacrament in which small amounts were distributed to everyone and the story became inflated over time.
Third, this was a lesson in unselfishness and, following the example of Jesus, everyone shared the food they had brought with them.
Fourth, this story is a development of a time when Jesus and his followers survived on short rations in the desert.
These four explanations acknowledge that there was a real basis to the story but the fifth suggestion is that it has no factual basis. It is instead an allegory of the Eucharist and the fulfilment of all things when Jesus returns.5

I don’t know whether any of these accounts impresses you but I want this morning to
consider one discussion that is of the third kind of explanation: the lesson in unselfishness.
Some scholars consider this to be too facile an explanation to have any credibility. In part this is due to the idea that such a simple explanation can hardly account for the importance that the story has in the gospel record. While selfishness is a common human trait, so also is altruism. And while an occasion on which one overcomes the other might be noticeable, it is hardly miraculous. But the Catholic author Gil Bailie6 takes an importantly different slant to this explanation by setting it within its New Testament cultural context. Bailie begins with noting the significance of sharing food in the Jewish community of Jesus’ day; it was a dangerous activity.

The gospel of Mark, chapter 7, reports an incident in which the Pharisees berate Jesus
because his disciples ate food without first washing their hands. The gospel includes several verses explaining the Pharisees’ rules about washing. Whilst we might regard this as a quite proper sanitary practice, the Pharisaic objection is not that their hands were unwashed in our sense, but that they were defiled by possible contact with ritually unclean things. Thus the food they touched would also be defiled and its eating would render their bodies defiled. The possibility of such ritual defilement was very real and its consequences severe, requiring ritual cleansing and additional sacrifices.
Scrupulous persons had also to be careful of whom they dined with. This is why the
Pharisees were so concerned that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, including, it appears, prostitutes. Leviticus required ritual cleansing after sexual activity, so prostitutes were bound to be ritually unclean, having too much sex too frequently. As Bailie points out, Jesus was making a significant statement by his flouting of these rules: The meals Jesus shared with the outcasts were not, therefore, simply the occasion for the delivery of his message. They were the message. They served as “prophetic signs” meant to manifest the meaning of Jesus’ ministry.7
That meaning was the inclusion of the outcast in the kingdom.
Now we come to the hungry crowd in the deserted place. Bailie says:
… most religious-minded Jews of the time would have taken the precaution of bringing with them enough bread or dried fish to insure that they would not be forced to eat food whose ritual purity was in doubt. But taking the precaution of bringing a supply of ritually clean food would have been only one hurdle, and perhaps not the largest one. For eating these provisions while in the company of others of uncertain moral and religious character would have placed one in jeopardy of moral contamination from sinners and pagans. The fact that Jesus had a reputation for attracting and tolerating the socially marginal would have added to the anxiety of observant Jews in this regard. Not knowing the moral and religious status of those sitting nearby would have made many reluctant to bring out whatever provisions they had with them.
That this barrier could and should be broken down was Jesus’ suggestion. Bailie concludes:
By now the reader will have guessed what I think the miracle was. Jesus opened their hearts, and they, in turn, opened their satchels, and the greatest miracle of all occurred. Following a pattern that is still today embedded in the Catholic Mass, Jesus preached of a God of love and forgiveness and then invited those who heard his message to sit down together and live for a moment in the “kingdom” about which he was preaching.

So we can see that Bailie not only uses the third type of explanation, that of overcoming reticence about sharing, he links the miracle directly to the eucharist, making an allegory out of the reality, which is the fifth kind of explanation.
Whether or not you find this account satisfactory is not the point of my sermon this morning.

I want to go on from this explanation and explore how the miracle seen in this way can illumine our faith journey. My starting point is to note that the single most significant aspect of the divisions within Christianity and within the Anglican Communion is a reluctance to join others at the Lord’s Table. The services in this church contain an invitation to all baptised Christians to join us in communion. That invitation is itself a remarkable thing. It cannot be made in Orthodox or Roman Catholic services. It will not be made in sectarian meetings where close attention is paid to judging the worthiness of communicants. In the meetings of Anglican Primates those dissatisfied with the Episcopal Church for its consecration of Gene Robinson first decline to receive communion alongside the Episcopal Church Primate. By inventing the peculiar doctrine of ‘episcopal taint’, some Anglicans exclude bishops who have ordained women as well as both the men and women they have ordained. We need to note that the concept of ‘tainted hands’ is almost exactly the concept of ritual defilement against which Jesus argued.

One of the characteristics of such ritual exclusions as the Pharisees exercised is a high degree of uncertainty about one’s acceptability to God. Far from living as persons accepted by God’s grace, such people see themselves as having to achieve acceptability. It is inevitable in such a case that the exclusion of others becomes a way of achieving one’s own inclusion.
Another way of putting this is speak of identity. Only a sure identity can withstand the
temptation of uncertainty. In Jesus’ day, observant Jews found themselves in an increasingly cosmopolitan world. Perforce they had to associate with Gentiles and with their fellow Jews who succumbed to the foreign ways. They thought that it was imperative to insist on ever stricter standards in order to preserve their cultural identity. In some ways their reaction was similar to that of some Islamic communities today. It is, however, ironic that their identity, which is an interior thing, found itself turning to external observances for support.

In the light of this, we need to understand what great danger we are in when we exclude others or cut ourselves off from converse with those with whom we disagree. This morning’s gospel teaches us at least that.

If we need more confirmation, we might turn briefly to this morning’s story of Jacob
wrestling with the angel. While researching this story I came across a reference to
Rembrandt’s painting of the scene. Not surprisingly, this has been a popular subject for artists. Most depict two muscular men struggling together, one of them with wings.
Rembrandt’s painting is quite different. Far from engaging in an epic battle, the two
protagonists are almost in an embrace. One commentator says that they are dancing rather than wrestling. The angel looks at Jacob with compassion and love, while Jacob reluctantly turns to look at his assailant. This struggle is not about overcoming or being overcome. It is about being loved by God and about the transformed identity that God’s love brings. Its outcome is a new name for Jacob and, on the next day, reconciliation with his brother.8
The uncertain and fearful Jacob is transformed by this encounter with God just as the uncertain and fearful hearers were transformed by Jesus in this morning’s gospel. Both by invitation and by gift, our identity is transformed by the God who loves us. How then will we dare not to share our table? How then will we dare to imagine that the love that transforms us is not present with others?

1 Readings: Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7, 16; Romans 9:1-8; Matthew 14:13-21.
2 William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene iii, line 36.
3 See Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13.
4 See Matthew 15:32-39; Mark 8:1-10.
5 See http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/proper13a.htm
6 See http://www.test-cornerstone.org/
7 Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads, pp. 212-215. New York: Crossroad, 1995.
http://girardianlectionary.net/res/vu_loaves.htm
8 See also Walter Brueggemann, http://www.thewords.com/articles/walterjacob.htm and Claire Amos, http://www.rethinkingmission.org/article_clare.htm

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 1606 – 1669
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
http://www.artbible.info/art/large/89.html

St James Day

Yesterday was the start of our Patronal Festival at St James, King Street and I attended Choral Eucharist at 6.30pm in the evening. I thought as there was no sermon it would be over in time for me to catch the 8.10pm train and be home by 10pm but I did not account for the singing of the choir which while beautiful can be a bit long sometimes so I did not arrive home until 11pm which is way past my usual bedtime.
As I had to go to the city, I decided to make a day (well afternoon and evening) of it and went first to a concert being put on in the church by Southend Boys' and Girls' choir. The poor things had just arrived from the UK the day before (lots of yawning). It was probably the coldest day this year in Sydney (not much above 12'C in the city) and rained most of the day. Some of their mothers were talking to us and mentioned it was 29'C in London. (Hey, it is winter here). Sadly there were only 6 unattached people in the audience including our rector and organist. Hopefully they will have a better attendance at the Opera House on Sunday afternoon when they will be singing with the Sydney Male Choir. At least today is sunny, although a chilly start by Australian standards. I bought one of their CDs as I felt so sorry for them.

Then after coffee and cake (sorry doctor I cannot resist), I went to the movies to see 'The Band's Visit' which is a mildly funny, sad, thoughtful movie.

However the point of this post is the Choral Eucharist. There were about 100 there on a cold wet Friday night and the entrance hymn was "For All the Saints who from their Labours rest" which really had me reminiscing.
In the 60's when I was at university I attended St Philip's Eastwood although I did not live in the parish (I seem to make a habit of that). It was only 15 minutes away by train and lots of my friends from University attended. The Rector, Rev Eric Mortley was well known for his intellectual sermons (of course evangelical but not like today). We always knew when it would be less meaty but evangelistic if there was no tape recorder mounted on the pulpit. I sometimes felt a bit sorry for his less academic parishioners. At his funeral many years later I was very uncomfortable finding myself surrounded by all the friends of those years with their doctorates. I had a basic Arts degree and post grad teaching diploma. Since then I have added another post grad diploma in library and information science but nothing like my contemporaries of those days. Rev Mortley's son, a close friend in those days, became a professor of ancient languages and chancellor at a number of universities.

Anyway, last night the singing of "For All the Saints" took me back to the packed Evening Prayer services at St Philips when we would often sing that hymn. In the 60's young people went to Fellowship on Sunday evening and onto Evening Prayer, life has changed. Obviously not like St James today but uplifting none the less.

My local church Holy Trinity, Concord West was asking me to return to assist with the youth group. I did not want to go, it was the antithesis of the intellectualism of St Philips. I was singing in the choir at Holy Trinity in the morning. I put my name forward for various elected positions in the Fellowship at St Philips and it was expected I would be successful in one of them. For some reason I was not (perhaps there was some resistance to my coming from out of the parish). My friends were shocked and immediately offered to co-opt me to the committee but I felt it was God's guidance and became Assistant Fellowship leader at Holy Trinity. It was difficult but after 2 years I became the Fellowship Leader, a position I held for 3 more years. Hopefully I was where God wanted me to be. It certainly gave me a more practical outlook on the mission to young people.

Back to this weekend at St James. I will soon be catching the train down to the city again to hear Bishop Tom Frame speak on "Do Australian Anglicans have a future?"
Bishop Frame was Bishop to the Australian Defence Force but is now Director at St Mark's National Theological Centre. He will also be preaching tomorrow at our Festival Choral Eucharist. Perhaps I will blog about him later.
Bishop Alfred Holland, retired Bishop of Newcastle will be preaching at Choral Evensong. Note that although none of the Sydney bishops are at Lambeth , they are not attending the patronal festival at St James either.

St James and World Youth Day

From our Church's Weekly News to show all Anglicans in the Diocese of Sydney are not as curmudgeonly as the Dean and Bishops.
St James is located opposite the Catholic Cathedral.

PRAYER WITH BROTHERS OF TAIZÉ AN ENORMOUS SUCCESS
During the week we have had a once-in-a-lifetime experience at St James' with hundreds, indeed thousands, of young people and many older people in St James' at all times of the day and evening, but especially during the 12 times of Prayer with the Brothers of Taizé. They came from every country imaginable and, as part of the prayers, we heard the Scriptures read and the Lord's Prayer prayed in many languages. The church itself was decorated in orange and gold and awash with candles. The large cross from Taizé and the icons, softly lit with candles, added to the sense of prayerfulness and attentiveness on God. People milled on the steps and porticos, coming in or going out. The prayer times themselves, led by the brothers in their white habits, and supported by a young choir and instrumentalists, were simple, still and meditative. As the city was caught up in World Youth Day, there is no doubt that St James' was well and truly ''in the thick of it'' and it was a great place of prayer and fellowship. I am grateful to all the members of our staff, together with the many volunteers who assisted, who worked so had to make our involvement with World Youth Day 2008 such a memorable experience.
— Fr Peter

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.