Ash Wednesday

I went in to London to attend an Ash Wednesday service at St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's is mother church of the Anglican Diocese of London and people have been worshipping on the site since 604. No, I did not leave out a "1". The church today is one that was designed by famous architect Christopher Wren. It's a big tourist attraction, but today the church was only open to those attending services. It was kind of funny that while there were no tours and none of the extra rooms (or galleries) were open for this holy day, the gift shop downstairs was in full operation!

It was a very high church service with all the smell and bells one expects from the Anglicans. I was there about 30 minutes early, so I observed some of the setup. It did my heart good to see that even if you are a clergy person in one of the most famous churches in the world, you are still sometimes engaged in the ministry of rearranging the furniture. There should be a seminary class on effective chair set-up and arrangement.

I would guess that there were somewhere between 300-400 people there for this particular service. It was a very diverse crowd. There were people who were clearly tourists. Others who obviously attend church at St. Paul's regularly and who greeted friends as they came in to the service. There was a surprising number of college-age type people as well as business people who seemed to have left the office to attend the service. A bonus for me was that the young man in torn jeans and a ratty scarf who sat behind me had the most beautiful singing voice. We sang three hymns during the course of the service, and I was glad of my seat choice.

There will be services all day long, but I chose this one because it was the sung Eucharist with the imposition of ashes. Whereas a Presbyterian service revolves around the reading and hearing of the Word, an Anglican service is designed to move you toward the Eucharist. However, there was a brief and very meaningful sermon given today by a young female priest. And the music was something. For the noon service, there was just a quartet, rather than the full choir. But the sound was other-worldly.

If you've already seen the news today, you may know about the Turkish plane that crashed in Amsterdam. Skip was NOT on that plane, although he is supposed to fly from Frankfurt to Amsterdam tonight. That may get delayed. He has a co-worker who is currently in Amsterdam and is trying to get back to London today. I'm just glad neither of them was on that plane, and I will be grateful when Skip is not getting on one every week.

Here is part of one of the prayers from the service today:

In your mercy
forgive what we have been
help us to amend what we are
and direct what we shall be
that we may do justly
love mercy
and walk humbly with you, our God
Amen.

May we all use these next forty days wisely as we prepare for Easter.