A DUBLIN EVENSONG<\/span><\/p>\n This afternoon, my second to last in Ireland, I attended a Choral Evensong service at Dublin\u2019s Church of Ireland cathedral, Christ Church. The church, first built in 1038 by Sitric Silkenbeard, the Viking king of Dublin, is the oldest in the city (though St. Patrick\u2019s cathedral nearby is supposedly the oldest Christian site in all of Ireland, built on the site where St. Patrick is said to have baptized his first converts in the 5th century).<\/p>\n The service was sung by the cathedral\u2019s famed choir as well as its cathedral girl\u2019s choir and their voices were transcendently gorgeous.<\/p>\n What a treat to sit and reflect on the words of God and on the blessings of God\u2019s creation in the voices of the choir.<\/p>\n I think the vicar\u2019s prayer was extemporaneous as it wasn\u2019t printed in the program, but the one below reminds me of it. So I offer it for all of you.<\/p>\n Grace and stuff,
But for me, the best part of the service was during communal prayer when the vicar prayed for all us sinners, for peace, and then offered a beautiful prayer for artists \u2014 those who are vessels for, who transmit, who reflect back God\u2019s beauty to others in pictures, music, song, and words. As I knelt on the unbelievably cold, hard tiles of the cathedral floor (ouch \u2014 how do those pilgrims who climb mountains on their knees do it?!) I was incredibly grateful to be lifted in prayer as I strike out as a writer of books, a weaver of words, a pilgrim with a pen (OK, a laptop.)<\/p>\n
God Girl<\/p>\n