don't call the liturgical police
We celebrated All Saints' at the parish I'm supplying at on Sunday.But the Holy Spirit was surely moving. Separate decisions were made, each without knowing about the other one. The youth decided to do a presentation on October 30th, reading some profiles of some of the church's founders. The powers-that-be decided to celebrate All Saints' on the 30th.
When I realized it was all going to come together like that, I got Spirit-ual goosebumps.
The teens read stories of the early members of the congregation, who lived through the excitement of building a church in a territorial capital and the disappointment of seeing the capital taken away to another town.
I spoke a bit about the unity of the church vertically in time and horizontally in space, and then we repeated the baptismal covenant. I pulled out the holy hardware and sprinkled everyone with water--and people were so excited, everyone wanted the water, so I had to backtrack if I accidentally missed someone.
We sang good hymns and ignored the little mishaps and celebrated Eucharist and it was very, very good.
posted by Emily @ 3:11 PM
3 Comments:
I was baptized as a baby and have never really held with outfits that wouldn't recognize my infant baptism as legitimate. It has seemed a "once in a lifetime" event. I love asperges because it's a tangible way of actively reaffirming the covenant ... of making my own choice in the matter ... without re-baptism.
We usually use rosemary branches instead of holy hardware.
I wish we'd had them when the Bishop visited us this past Sunday. It was the one thing missing from an otherwise just-about-perfect day. I will lobby for their inclusion when the new one finally visits us.
Hi, Charlotte:
I loved reading about the Bishop's visitation, it does sound about perfect. I thought about a branch as well, but decided in the end to honor the congregation's stuff and ask to use their own liturgical items. Also, they had a nice glass bowl which fit the aspergillum (sp?).
I'm with you on infant baptism.
If we actually have an aspergillum, I don't know it, and I am familiar with the contents of the safe. But, yes, using Their Stuff is a plan.
I'm glad you made sure to get everyone!
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