It was a lovely day at All Saints. Baptism in the morning, Gathering of the Clan All Saints in the afternoon -- that's what they call their Annual Meeting there. (Reminder: I am at All Saints three Sundays a months and home at St. Mary's House one Sunday a month till May or so.) Potluck supper, election of vestry members, informal conversational reports on various areas of mission and ministry, and a bit of prayer. Not your long boring Annual Meeting.
In the spirit of Clan All Saints (someone or several someones have some Scots in them) there was a tartan theme, and lo and behold, there was a bagpiper. He was good, too. And he wore the kilt well. He's a parishioner of recent vintage, about two years, and I think this may have been his first time playing at the annual gathering, because All Saints' rector, thanking him formally (as formally as it gets there), expressed delight that All Saints now had its very own bagpiper in the congregation, since this meant, and here comes the quote, that
... now we don't have to borrow one from the Presbyterians!
And that's the news from Episco-land in the Southland.
The baby at the baptism was an angel and had a round face, big solemn eyes, and beautiful hands which he moved gracefully during the reciting of the Baptismal Covenant.
Me, I was especially struck today by this sentence during the "renouncing" part of the baptismal liturgy:
*******Do you renounce the evil powers of this world
*******(which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
We tend to notice the question before about renouncing Satan and the one after about sinful desires, but not this one. It struck me today in a William Stringfellow sort of way -- as in, the evil powers that are corrupt institutions and systemic evils that do indeed corrupt and destroy human persons (and other creatures!). See the writings of Stringfellow for more.
Oops, I digressed from the bagpiper. Told you there was a lot to talk about.
But I must get to bed. I also spent six hours at the office (yup, twice at church and twice at the office at school, a long Sunday) because tomorrow the semester begins at the college and my first class is at 8:30 a.m.
+Maya Pavlova sits under the desk lamp, warming the top of her head.
2 comments:
One of the delightful parts of going to the 8 AM Rite I Eucharist in my parish is that I'm spared the infant baptisms. That sounds uncharitable and Grinch-like, but it's simply my attempted and personal repudiation of the attitude of many parents in the parish who speak of baptizing their baby as "having him/her DONE." So said the Rector yesterday at 8, who was looking at three of them at the 10 AM service. When she tossed off the comment she had a bit of a smirk on her face. "It's not a 'done,'" she said, "it's a beginning." I could say the same thing about a bris, but that isn't quite having the kid "done" either--it's his initiation into the House of Israel. In both cases, I suspect baptism and circumcision are treated as some sort of end unto themselves.
If I knew we were importing a bagpiper I might change my mind and show up.
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