I am back!

We’ve just come to the end of what pretentious clerics and pious lay Christians call the Triduum. That’s a fancy word for the time between the evening of Maundy Thursday and the morning of Easter Day.

(By the way - there is no such thing as “Easter Sunday”. Easter is by definition a feast of the first day of the week - so the day should be called either “Easter”, or “Easter Day”)

Having thus revealed my Anglican and linguistic snobbery, I return to the Triduum!

Ted Copland, the Rector at St. Boniface Church on Siesta Key was good enough to ask me to preach at the Maundy Thursday Eucharist. See my earlier post today if you wish to read my sermon.

After the sermon I washed the feet of the Revd. Andrea Taylor, and she washed mine. As my sermon says, I truly believe that the foot-washing of Maundy Thursday is the quintessential expression of what it means to be a priest.

Good Friday saw me back at St. Boniface’s for the 10:30 a.m. Liturgy. I was assigned the role of “narrator” in the long reading of the passion according to St. John. Andrea preached a super sermon.

Holy Saturday was, and should be, a quiet day for Christians. It is a day in which we muse on the absence of G-d. 

Jesus has died. He is entombed. His absence is awful.

“This joyful Easter-tide” saw me presiding at the 8:00 a.m. Eucharist at my other parish - All Angels by the Sea on Longboat Key. Their good Rector David Danner gave me this opportunity – and I was deeply grateful.

David preached a powerful sermon. The choir and bell choir never sounded better. All Angels is blessed to have Dale Hooey as its musician.

At the place in the service where the Priest/Minister breaks the sacred bread the Episcopal liturgy mandates a period of silence. This morning, during the silence a “babe in arms” cried out. I grinned from ear to ear.

This was partly because we rarely see or hear babies in the Churches in this part of Florida (we are in a retirement area). It was a joy to hear that babe this morning.

It was also because of Psalm 8 v 2 

“From the lips of children and sucklings
you have ordained praise”
It was sacred praise indeed

I was at home by 10:00 a.m. with no more duties to fulfill. I have walked Penne a couple of times and read a bit.

Now I am cooking my main meal for the day. I’ll eat at about 4:00 p.m. – so it is either a late lunch or an early dinner.

I am going off-diet to enjoy some roasted leg of lamb. My home is filled with the lovely smell of the rosemary with which I bathed the meat. Alongside the lamb I’ll enjoy mashed parsnip (with lots of pepper), and mashed sweet potato and banana.

(Yes indeed - I will add a baked banana and a bit of honey as I mash the sweet potato).

As they say: “woot, woot, woot”!

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