Derek, R.I.P.

From an e-mail from Fr. Daniel:

Mr. Derek Wood passed away at his home on Saturday, Nov. 26. As we commend his soul to God, let us also support Joanne through this time of grieving and transition. Further information regarding Burial Services and Wake will be forth coming.

“O GOD, whose mercies cannot be numbered; Accept our prayers on behalf of the soul of thy servant departed, and grant him an entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (BCP, 334)

Oh, no! We knew Derek had been failing, but... not this soon.

Please put Joanne in your prayers.

Snow

Most of the region has already been hit with "significant" snow (2+ inches: enough to wreak havoc in a regime where snow is a relative rarity and where we have little equipment to deal with it -- for all of you who live in the sort of wintry climes I once did). At home we escaped it for a couple of days... until this evening when we already have 2+ inches collected and it is piling up fast. Nice to see, but I hope the power stays on...

Diocese of the Western States Family Camping Trip

A new note appeared on the bulletin board in the Parish Hall recently. It turned out to be a letter from Bishop Provence announcing the first annual Diocese of the Western States Family Camping Trip. This will be held late July, 2007, in Lassen National Park. This sounds like fun -- an opportunity to meet others in the Diocese and to enjoy the great outdoors, at rather small expense, and somewhere that isn't an impossibly long drive away for us (only a dozen hours or so). I look forward to digging out the old tent and camping gear which have been packed away for several years now. I especially look forward to it what with the dark, cold and snow outside right now...

A saint laid to rest

To those readers of this blog who didn't know Adrian (aka "Dutch" for obvious reasons), here is a relatively recent picture of Adrian as we knew him. A quiet, serious Godly man with a restrained and subtle sense of humor, and a sturdy pillar of our church.

It saddens me to hold in my hand (as I write this) the bulletin/program entitled "The Order for the Burial of the Dead: Mr. Adrian Boeschoten," but Adrian received a good Anglican send-off from the service at the church through the motorcade (many thanks to the King County Sheriffs) to the final graveside observances.

I don't say this often but Adrian was, in my humble opinion, a saint among us and we are diminished by his departure.

Requisce in Pacem, Adrian!

(I hope I have the Latin correct.)

Being thankful

A little discussion over Thanksgiving dinner tonight... as is obvious, Thanksgiving is essentially (as seen in the previous posting) an agrarian celebration. But that took us back to the "other end", Rogation Sunday, of which I made note here.

But something I had not written then was that it was Kathy who took the pictures in the Rogation Sunday posting. She was unable to walk with us as we processed around the property; a month and a half since she came down with Guillaume-Barr Syndrome, she was at best able to shuffle around a bit in a walker. For her was a short, level walk between the vantage points from which the two pictures in that posting were taken, soon after the beginning and shortly before the end of our procession.

Six months to the day later (this week) she walked into the doctor's office for her six-month's checkup. The doctor could not believe what he saw: her recovery is off the charts in speed.

Seeing the progress day by day, one loses perspective. But just a comment can bring it back, as it did this evening. Among the blessings for which I am thankful is her recovery.

(And her tofu pumpkin pie too, but that's another story!)

"...and the clouds drop down the dew"

As they certainly are doing today, though it's rather a bit heavier than dew today and quite a cold rain at that, with snow in it.

I'd never really noticed before how much Thanksgiving is represented in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, but it was very evident at Morning Prayer this mmorning.

The Opening Sentences have a special section which surprised me, following the sentences for Trinity Sunday (which was a long time ago now). Oddly, it looks a bit like a mis-print, to wit (if I can get the HTML right):

  Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the

Thanksgiving Day.

firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with

plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
Prov. iii. 9, 10.
  The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by
understanding hath he established the heavens. By his
knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds
drop down the dew. Prov. iii. 19, 20.

Next, the Venite was replaced with a special canticle (p.264):

¶ Instead of the Venite, the following shall be said or sung. O PRAISE the LORD, for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God; * yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.
The LORD doth build up Jerusalem, * and gather together the outcasts of Israel.
He healeth those that are broken in heart, * and giveth medicine to heal their sickness.
O sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; * sing praises upon the harp unto our God:
Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth; * and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men;
Who giveth fodder unto the cattle, * and feedeth the young ravens that call upon him.
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; * praise thy God, O Sion.
For he hath made fast the bars of thy gates, * and hath blessed thy children within thee.
He maketh peace in thy borders, * and filleth thee with the flour of wheat.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.

And of course there is a special Collect, Epistle and Gospel for this day. I guess I had not known the Morning Prayer element because in the past we'd had Holy Communion on Thanksgiving. But I enjoyed this, and Brent's reading of the lessons this morning (and not because I got a "rest"); I hope we'll hear more from him.

A Happy (U.S.) Thanksgiving to you all.

Adrian, R.I.P.

(from an e-mail this morning:)

Dear Bishop James and St. Bartholomew's Family:

Yesterday afternoon, November 19, 2006, Adrian Boeschoten, longtime friend and devoted member of our parish family, went to meet our Lord Jesus Christ in glory.

Adrian left a legacy of quiet devotion and solid friendship among us all here. He will be missed more than words can express.

Memorial service arrangements to follow.

This was not unexpected, but sad news nonetheless. Adrian will be sorely missed.

Not Exactly As Planned

... was a fair description for this morning. Today I was slow in getting ready and just a bit disorganized in trying to get my Prayer Book (the one I usually use for leading services -- given to my grandfather on his confirmation!), Fr. Daniel's excellent homily (I hope he'll send me an electronic copy for the church website) and the bulletins Kathy had helpfully prepared yesterday all pulled together. So it was already 10 minutes past our planned departure time when we got to the garage.

I started my car up... and it quit. Several attempts later it was clear something was very wrong, so we climbed into Seumas Ruaraidh ("Red Jimmy" -- our cars have Gaelic names) and headed off to church, with our arrival to be less than 10 minutes before start of service. Not good, given that I had to vest, light the candles (the rule I was taught is that the candles are lit 10 minutes before the service), and do whatever else was needed before the service.

We arrived at 8 minutes before the hour. Kathy went off to make a copy of the homily for one parishioner who is hard of hearing, and I headed to the Sacristy, noting that its lights were on. To my surprise Deacon Ed was there; I had thought he wouldn't be back until the following week. But this was a big help under the circumstances as he was ready to go, and could read the lessons -- it being way too late to switch over to a Deacon's Mass.

The homily original back and on the pulpit, I thought we were ready until John pointed out that the hymnboard was wrong. Sure enough, the date had been updated but the board still had last week's hymns on it! It being about 1 minute before the hour, I had to pull the board down, take it into the sacristy, update the hymn numbers (we barely had enough '4's and '7's to cover the hymns and canticles!) and re-install it.

Although we started a couple of minutes late, I thought I was home free.

Nope.

In a slight but understandable oversight, the bulletin noted simply that after each lesson we would sing a canticle, giving the hymn number and page in the Prayer Book... but not the name. So I ended up fishing around in the small hymnals we have in the Sanctuary to figure out #624 and #644 were (Benedictus es, Domine and Jubilate Deo) in order to announce them correctly.

But all in all, we got through in good order and once again I heard how some of us remember "sung Morning Prayer" and their wish that we could do it more often on Suundays. But we have our church Canons to deal with in that regard.

Anatomy of a Hymn

Fr. Daniel's sixth article on The Hymnal, 1940, "Anatomy of a Hymn," has been published in the Mandate. I commend it for your reading.

Catching up is hard to do

Last week's trip was not a lot of fun; a nasty cold set in during the flights out and it kept me functioning at a low level (coughing and sneezing) the whole week. Arrived back home after midnight, early Saturday, thanks to delays and confusion at the airport in Detroit (DTW). And with so many other things to tend to upon return, it's only now that I'm able to turn my attention to this blog.

Sunday morning was dark, chill (especially after sunny, warm Atlanta!) and rainy -- just the kind of day that makes me really want to stay in bed, or light a fire in the woodstove, and put my nose in a good book. But obligation (which included a Vestry meeting) won out, so I got up, got dressed and went off to church anyway. And am I ever so glad I did!

The Girls' Choir was on deck Sunday. And not just singing the hymns, but other parts of the service. Including the responses to the Decalogue, which we usually read on the first Sunday of the month. With harmonies. I wish I had had a sound recorder with me, something above the quality of my cellphone (the point-n-shoot digital camera would have been fine), so I could post a clip here. Maybe another time.

I got home with my bulletin marked up all over with material for the church website, just updated, as well as the blog, including some items for later (Diocesan Summer Camp at Mt. Lassen!).

Fr. Daniel is taking the week off, the last opportunity before the very busy season of Advent arrives. That includes this coming Sunday when we will have Sung Matins; this is something some of our parishioners really love (myself included, though I wish someone with a better voice than mine were leading).

There is more... but in its own time.

Stewardship Campaign

Traveling again so I don't have much to report, but I did hear that our Stewardship Campaign was kicked off Sunday with an excellent talk by Gordon.

Speaking of choirs...

This video advertisement was passed around at work today. The claim is that the soundtrack was done entirely by the choir.

I don't think the Schola Cantorum is likely to be attempting anything like this soon...