December 19th, 2007 – Holden Evening Prayer with Holy Family - Practicing Exits and Entrances

This Wednesday evening started for me in conversation with Will. Will and I spoke about our lives before soup and bread and it was an engaging talk. He remarked how good it was for him to come back to church again and receive the welcome he experienced. His grief and his observations and realizations about life since losing his wife, Franya, were poignant.

Very particular memories of Franya came to me during this conversation. I thought about her participation in the Faith Stirring sessions at Creator several years ago. Her candor and eloquence as she told stories about her church experiences she as a child made a deep impression on the group. We appreciated Franya's energy, humour and independent thinking.

The soups were delicious and the table talk was lively for soup and bread.

There was a good attendance at worship. Reverend Julie, from Holy Family Episcopal Fellowship, gave her talk in the service about angels as messengers. Reverend Julie also shared worship lead this evening with Pastor Mark and Pastor Dayle.

Speaking of Holy Family reminds me of a story that was told at practice last Sunday. Pastor Dayle was letting someone know about Holy Family's participation in our Christmas Cantata. This person who was not thinking of this as a reference to our joint Episcopalian / Lutheran events and was more than a little puzzled about Pastor's meaning. When she was asked if she knew for sure of the Holy Family participation on Friday evening Pastor Dayle simply said "Oh yes, I had an email from Mary confirming it."

Different pieces of Holden Evening prayer can become the musical focus for a particular evening of worship. That is one reason why sharing it each Wednesday never becomes tiresome. Also, David was creating meaningful musical moments in the Advent Wednesday worships this year.

Last week the Annunciation / Magnificat was a focus. This week, the three lead voices rose to make that another special moment but the highlight for me was the worship’s Litany. The repetitive refrain, God of mercy, hold us in love, had a hypnotic power as our voices fell into the hushed rhythm of the music. There was a relentless beauty in this prayer / response piece tonight.

We had the final run through of Agnus Dei after worship. The choir practiced singing, making entrances, moving off and on the stage, together with our exit from the sanctuary. The instrumentalists were all there. The chair configuration caused us to make a light bulb-shaped prayer circle which was different and Pastor Dayle led us in prayer.

The word for reflection I picked up this Advent Wednesday is Wait. Certainly this is the primary word for Advent and the question that comes up again and again is "What are we waiting for?"

I am reflecting on this and other questions and each of the answers that have come up during this Advent season.