Our Patronal Festival

Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew. Fr. Daniel's e-mail to the parish said simply, "At 6:30 PM there will be a solemn Evensong, followed by a Potluck Supper and a short musical program in the Parish Hall." I should have known better than to take that at face value!

My first hint that my guess as to the conduct of the service might be falling a bit short of reality came when I entered the Narthex and saw Cameron learning how to carry the cross for the procession. Fr. Daniel had recently mentioned the upcoming acolyte training program; it seems it has already begun! (Cameron did a great job, I should add, and it won't be long before that cross is, well, not such a heavy cross for him to bear.)

But that was only the first hint. The second came when some members of the Girls' Choir "escaped" from the Fr. Leen Learning Center in their choir robes. "Well, this is going to be a treat," I thought, "we'll hear the Girls' Choir too."

Then I open the bulletin. Oh my, it's full of Plainsong, and Fr. Daniel has "typeset" it right in the bulletin with the font/software he recently received for that purpose. Better and better -- this is going to be an Evensong to remember.

Then Fr. Daniel asks me if I'll serve as Thurifer, apologizing that he hadn't asked earlier. (It's not a problem; I am long used to serving at the drop of a hat and Fr. Daniel knows that -- I only ask for a few minutes to preview anything I may have to read so I can get some sense of what is to be conveyed and read it aloud that way.) So I vested, fetched the thurible, already lit, and boat and joined the procession waiting to begin.

Evensong has never been so beautiful as this evening's.

Afterwards we all went downstairs to the Parish Hall for a potluck supper and the "short musical program." Short rather implied "short and little" -- which it wasn't. While people got their supper Kathy played her harp, as she's done so many times for us over the years.

Then Les arrived and "sang for his supper." Les is a professional entertainer (is that the right word?); you could hear it the instant his fingers reached the keyboard. He led off with "As Time Goes By" (Casablanca), playing AND singing, and entertained us with much more. Kathy couldn't resist and was up and dancing in no time -- particularly notable because it was just in May she was beginning to walk again with the aid of a walker.

(By the way, the piano is a new resident in the Parish Hall. Apparently it has been largely idle at Adrian and Anne's, and through some arrangement it was moved and re-tuned. If tonight is an indication, this piano is going to be a boost to our musical programs.)

But the serious music hadn't even begun. Ruby and Josephine were next with "The Swan" on cello and piano. Even the children were rapt with this.

Josephine continued solo with a Schubert piece, completely from memory. That just left me stunned.

For a conclusion, Mary Ellen talked about the early days of St. Bartholomew's, passing on a bit of our history from before our founding 28 years ago (today) through to the first service in our building (20 years ago this coming Christmas Eve at 3 PM). Even those of us who've been around for a while learned from this.

"At 6:30 PM there will be a solemn Evensong, followed by a Potluck Supper and a short musical program in the Parish Hall." If there is ever a prime example of understatement, here it is.

Thank you, Fr. Daniel, for a wonderful church family evening!!!!