Monday before Easter

It was chilly this morning, but I didn't realize how chilly until I saw some cars coming into town this morning with snow on them. When I arrived at the church maybe ten minutes before the 12:05 PM service I detected a bit of a chill inside, though it quickly passed because Fr. Daniel had turned the heat on and I suspect the rest, who arrived later, would have been warm.

I had tried to get there about 15 minutes before, because I was reading the lesson today, but traffic held me up. (It's only 5-1/2 miles from work, and usually takes about 12 to 15 minutes, but today the stoplights were worse than usual.) Fortunately I'd thought to read it earlier and though my prayer book was missing from the office I had an electronic copy on the laptop and I was able to read that.

Fr. Daniel had put together a nice little bulletin (2.75"x8.5", in the photo -- the back side has the schedule of services through Easter Tuesday). "They keep getting smaller," he said, but clearly he forgot yesterday's "4 page" bulletin: at 4.25"x11" per page twice the size of the usual Sunday bulletin.

Nicer than the bulletin was the service itself. Fr. Daniel has a flair for simple liturgies that just... work! I confess I'd been groaning a bit inside about the time out of the office for the two such services I'd agreed to read, but this was just delightful. Well, maybe that's not the right word at all, considering, but suffice it to say I'm making the time for the rest of the week.

As you may be able to see in the photo the service was simple. I will summarize it here:

Collect of the Day, BCP 138
Lesson from Isaiah, BCP 138-139
The Passion according to Mark (I), BCP 139-144
Hymn 341, "Beneath the cross of Jesus"
Collect for Holy Week, BCP 134

Look these up and you'll find they are from the Collect, Epistle and Gospel appointed for the day.

Simple and powerful. Ouch! You can feel Peter's shame.

The attendance wasn't too far different from what I'd expected. Kathy observed that the "notorious three geeks" (ahem, "techies") were all there -- Drew, George and myself, the former two having escaped their small giant corporate employer (smaller than mine) to attend, and they will read later in the week. Today's reading, Isaiah 63, should have been done by George though; he has a gift for this that I do not.

But we were quite delighted to see Ann in the congregation today. I was afraid we'd might not see her since Adrian's passing, but... here she was! Ann (I'm sure you read this blog), you are loved here, and welcome anytime.

Just looked out the window and it is snowing again. But the chill is merely physical.