{"id":3151,"date":"2007-05-17T17:22:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-17T17:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/05\/summer-memories\/"},"modified":"2007-05-17T17:22:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-17T17:22:00","slug":"summer-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/05\/summer-memories.html","title":{"rendered":"Summer Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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When I was an Anglican vicar on the Isle of Wight in England I was in charge of two ancient churches: Brading and Yaverland. To please as many people as possible I kept the worship at Brading more \u2018middle of the road\u2019 and then at Yaverland we were \u2018higher\u2019.\n

Therefore, I kept the extra weekday feast days at Yaverland, and it was to Yaverland we went to celebrate Ascension Thursday, with incense and hymns from the New English hymnal and a fine little pipe organ and Victorian ecclesiastical finery.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what was good about it: First of all, it felt special because it was a great celebration Mass on a weekday evening. Because it was special we had a nice picnic lunch together after the Mass. There\u2019s nothing quite so nice as an English summer evenin for an event like this. Furthermore, there was something special about the people who took the trouble to come to Mass on a Thursday evening. I don\u2019t like to categorize but they were, well, the committed ones. They were the ones who really cared and really wanted to be there. As a result, the worship was especially fine. The singing was more fervent, the attention to Mass was more intent, the participation was better and the level of shared feeling at the Mass was higher than usual. In every way, by celebrating Ascension on a Thursday evening the event was made special and wonderful.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, I know every Sunday is special and wonderful\u2026.but to plop Ascension (and the same is true of Epiphany and other feasts that are now transferred) into the next Sunday is to say that you don\u2019t really think it\u2019s special at all. The other problem with this is that the whole thing is conceived by a sort of Catholic legalism. The argument goes like this, \u201cIt\u2019s a mortal sin to miss a Holy Day of Obligation. We can\u2019t say it is not a Holy Day of Obligation because it is and has been. So let\u2019s make sure they don\u2019t commit a mortal sin by changing the Holy Day of Obligation to a Sunday.\u201d It\u2019s that weird kind of double think that used to be called Jesuitical (except I don\u2019t want to malign the Jesuits because I know one or two really good Jesuits)<\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t we be sort of Jesuitical in the same way but backwards and have the Mass of the Day, but have Ascension hymns, a sermon for Ascension and all the trimmings? We could invite people to the \u2018Not the Ascension Day Mass\u2019 and tell them that it is not a Holy Day of Obligation and that they don\u2019t need to be there, but that the people who don\u2019t want to celebrate Ascension on that day would be very welcome to attend\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really suggesting this by the way\u2026in case anyone suspcts me of being a secret dissident, or thinks I should scuttle back to the Anglican Church if I liked it so much.<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was an Anglican vicar on the Isle of Wight in England I was in charge of two ancient churches: Brading and Yaverland. To please as many people as possible I kept the worship at Brading more \u2018middle of the road\u2019 and then at Yaverland we were \u2018higher\u2019. Therefore, I kept the extra weekday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSummer Memories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I was an Anglican vicar on the Isle of Wight in England I was in charge of two ancient churches: Brading and Yaverland. 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