anglican rosary

I’m working on appreciating the Anglican rosary.  I’ve had a set of beads for a while now but I’ve liked the traditional form more, so the beads have been proudly displayed on my rearview mirror almost since I got them.  After Easter Vigil I received another set, absolutely beautiful and I’m pretty sure it was the giver’s personal set… which means I need to learn to appreciate this style of prayer beads more fully.

I’m not trying to adapt a regular rosary to the Anglican beads since I have one of those when I want to pray the rosary or the chaplet of divine mercy (in song!); rather, I’m going to try and find something that works more for the beads as they are.  This is what I tried tonight and I was cool with the result, but I will keep experimenting.  Oh the wonder of via media practice!

Cross: In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Invitatory Bead(s): O Lord make speed to save us, O Lord make haste to help us.  Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen.

Cruciforms: Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One: Have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Weeks:

1. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
2. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
3. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us your peace.
4. My flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed, says the Lord.
5. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
6. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
7. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us your peace.

Invitatory Beads (on the way out): Our Father

Cross: Let us bless the Lord.  Thanks be to God. [Alleluia, alleluia!]

I am one of those people who says “why say it when you can sing it?” (especially if nobody is around to hear…), so I picked mostly singable stuff that fits.  I suppose if you said the Agnus Dei it might seem less unwieldy and more appropriate to say per bead instead of phrase per bead… with one leftover… so I put in what we had been using as our fraction anthem during Lent.  I may try it sometime with a Kyrie.

remember when?

Remember those days I said were so awful that a shower just wasn’t enough, it was more like a day that required a haircut? Well, here’s to hoping donating about 16 inches of hair for kids with hair loss does something to offset the shits let off in the sacristy yesterday (I’m concerned liquid paraffin is going to send the entire altar guild to hell). If not, I have finished a couple more cat mats for the local humane society shelter and am working on another despite feeling like I’m knitting a clown (really ugly yarn, but of course a sleepy kitten will make it look cute!).

Back to the hair, it is below my ears and highlighted. All clergy heartily approves and I’m told the blonde highlights looked gorgeous as I was distributing palms in the courtyard sun. I wasn’t worried about it, but now that you mention it…

Listening to: dishwasher and lame-o Sunday night sports show

a fish swims into a cement wall

When I checked my phone after work, I had a message asking if I would thurifer for the early service on Sunday.  Did you have to ask – YES!

I should probably think things out a little more often.  I may have signed myself up for a turn at thurifer and a turn at chalice for the late service, which means I also signed myself up for standing for the entire passion narrative.  Twice.  Go, me.

Listening to: Mass of the Angels and Saints: God Has Put the Angels in Charge of You, Steven Janco

confirmation, almost a year later

Today was the annual bishop’s visit, which means we were treated to a bunch of confirmations as well as the Lazarus rising gospel (additionally, the second-longest gospel passage in the history of the RCL).  The sermon centered on resurrection, a theme of the gospel as well as confirmation.  And this is where I must note that forgetting to bring tissues on the day of episcopal visitation ranks as one of my worst ideas.  I took an entire box last year and didn’t use them because I was too afraid I would throw up.  This year, the hot messery started during the homily.

The idea I took away from the sermon was that if Jesus could raise his super-duper dead friend (How dead was he??…) from the dead, then Jesus can raise us from the dead as well.  That may not resonate as deeply with others, but yesterday was my day to go to confession, chief sin on the list being my lack of action on the ordination front thanks to the fear/difficulty trusting factors.  If Jesus can resurrect Lazarus in bodily form, then can I be resurrected in mental form?  Yes.  I have been resurrected, I am being resurrected, and I will be resurrected.  And now I need the tissues again.

I didn’t get to chat with the bishop today, which might not be all bad though not all good, but I did get more encouragement from one of our postulants to send in my paperwork (the big goal of Lent, which has almost passed) so I can have my Official Chat with the bishop.  Also, I did leave him with communion wafer cupcakes!

Listening to: the kitty water fountain

minor change

I think I wish the Lord’s Prayer read “forgive us our sins as we forgive ourselves”.

partially jonah

So it has come to my attention that I am Jonah.  Partially.  I didn’t completely run in the opposite direction; more like walked briskly in the appropriate direction, found a nice shade tree, sat down, and made myself cozy far short of the goal.  After this realization I was feeling like my penance needed to be scrubbing the sacristy floor with a toothbrush or something.  After the youth group’s service day during which I scrubbed pews (remember, it’s a large church) with the kids, I no longer feel I need physical penance.  A psalm looks great right about now.

Being thurifer went well last week.  I noticed a distinct haze throughout the church after the service, which I take to mean that I did a good job.  Someone asked me if I had done the incense.  “How did you know?”  “Because you smell like it.”  Awesome!  I long for the next day when incense is an acceptable substitute for a shower and jeans are legit daily wear.  I might be getting excited about seminary now – one of my friends has also realized a call to ordained ministry (about damn time he got the memo), one of our postulants is excited for me/wants to HAVE COFFEE have coffee soon, and I think I am as ready as I’m going to get for putting a lid on the debt and moving forward.  Actually, if I could get that prescribed as my penance that would be great.

Plus, I’m starting a tacky Ash Wednesday scarf that could get pulled into stole duty.  I  hope two skeins of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky M270 (a nice mild variegated violet, trust me) are enough to make a knee-length scarf that may or may not have three smudge-style crosses at the ends and neck.  I’ll probably have to wear it doubled until such day as hands are laid upon me (just so to alleviate any laity-clergy confusion), but you gotta save something for ordination.  I’ve already done funerals, may have a wedding, and blessed dead fish (my own, in toilet).  It’s probably a good thing I don’t know anybody who has need to be emergency baptized.

The bad news about the scarf is I traded knitting for myself in for knitting for others.  Unless I turn over the first scarf to our postulant (which I don’t want to do, it’s experimental knitting) it’s only legal from sundown Saturday to midnight Monday.  I might be taking back knitting come tomorrow night because let’s be honest, you can only knit so many preemie hats before you’re ready to stab yourself with knitting needles and take up a new hobby.

Did I mention spring break is over?  I think if we all don’t show up tomorrow, they can’t fire us all.  Solidarity, yo.

Listening to: Saints of God, Mass of the Angels and Saints

penitential knitting

Knitting preemie hats for the hospital doesn’t really feel like penitence yet, but it does feel like tikkun olam which is positive.  I’ll bet that by the end of the week knitting the same pattern made of laceweight yarn on double point needles feels like penitence.

Lent feels very different this year.  Part of me recognizes why and part of me is unsure of why.  Usually I am pretty indifferent about the season, mostly observing because it’s going on so I might as well participate.  This year I have a giganto sin (under the category of “things left undone”) to work on and I’m pretty aware that it’s going to take 40+ days to progress on.  Some days it feels like 40+ years is more like the time requirement, but let’s all hope not.  But that doesn’t feel like the only reason Lent is different this year, so I’ll do the Rainer Maria Rilke thing and treasure the questions as much as the answers.

In other questions, what’s the penance for intentionally being intoxicated on Ash Wednesday… prior to but not during Mass?

Also, I have a new church job: thurifer, aka holy smoke handler.  This feels like a very bad yet very good idea.

Listening to: Seinfeld reruns