Sixth Day of Christmas
It's the end of 2020. The one thing our highly divided nation can agree on is that we all want to see Coronavirus go away. Here are just a couple of stats on our blog (I want to say "our" rather than "my"). I have written 223 posts beginning in mid-March. You have written 161 comments. Readership peaked in the first couple of months. Then there was a steady decline through November. October had 553 reads. November had 444 (although I was out a week). I'm glad to say that December has 612 with this final day left. That works out to about 25 a day on average (blog is six days a week). I hope we can increase that number in 2021. I particularly would like to see an increase in Comments. I should add that the blog has been a far greater joy for me than I could have imagined. Since I am no longer teaching Sunday School or Disciple, the blog has given me a sense of usefulness to Christ's church. I want to thank all you faithful readers. I'm glad you have found something useful for your own faith in spending a few minutes a day with mine.
Yesterday I said that one way to tell high church--low church is how different your church is in the different seasons of the Christian Year. This is particularly true in Lent. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, a moveable fast. Ash Wednesday is 40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays. The themes of Lent are repentance, penance, self-denial, and prayer. The liturgical color is purple, Lent is a very serious season.
I remember when the late Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral mega-church declared that his church would no longer observe Lent, because it was too much of a downer.
That leads us to the first of many "don'ts" for the season of Lent. The more of these "don'ts" your church observes, the more high-church it is. The fewer, the lower. I remember once seeing a sign in a church saying, "Celebrate Lent with Us. You celebrate Christmas and Easter. You observe Lent.
Ash Wednesday: Does your church have Ash Wednesday services with the Imposition of Ashes? Are the ashes made from burning of the palm leaves from the previous Palm Sunday? Do. Does your church have an Ash Wednesday dinner. Don't. Ash Wednesday is a fast day, one of the two major fast days of the year. I ate at an Ash Wednesday dinner at my church this year. I should have been fasting.
Sanctuary appearance: The sanctuary should be plain other than purple paraments, A purple veil over the cross is appropriate. Don't put flowers on the altar, please!
Don't have baptisms during Lent. Baptism is a celebration. Lent is not. The baby can wait. So can the parents. Easter is the perfect time for Baptisms.
Don't have Weddings during Lent. Same reasons as for Baptisms.
Do have communion every Sunday during Lent. (HIgh church has it every Sunday anyway).
Music: Organ music should be low, slow, minor key, even somber. Same with choir music. My personal preference is not to have solos during Lent.
Congregational Hymns: Although the United Methodist Hymnal is short on good Advent hymns, it has many good Lenten hymns. Do sing them.
Don't say or sing Alleluia during Lent.
High Church has silent choir processions during Lent. Opening hymn begins when the choir is in their places.
All the above you would find in all Episcopal churches. I don't know about Catholic and Orthodox churches. Few of the above would you find in Baptist churches. Methodists are, of course, in the middle.
Here are a couple of things I like to do during Lent. Say a different creed. If you regularly say the Apostles' Creed, say the Nicene Creed during Lent. If you regularly say one of the modern creeds, say the Apostles' Creed.
Marianne is a superb seamstress. She has made all my albs. I have a standard white one. I also have an off-white one with a hood. She also made me a black one. I wore the black one during Lent.
One point I hope to have made here is that Lent is different. What we do in worship and sanctuary should accentuate the difference.
Happy New Year! The blog will be off tomorrow. I'll be cooking ham, Hopping John, and collards, then eating, then watching football. May 2021 be a blessed year.
Faithfully,
Christian
2 comments:
I grew up in the Disciples of Christ. We had communion every Sunday although in other aspects, we were certainly not High Church.
Lent is actually my favorite season. I love soup suppers and reflection. It seems like church groups get together more during Lent and have more personal conversations about their own struggles. My church in Jersey City had wonderful soup suppers with deep conversations. My church in Philly had groups that would meet at people's homes for suppers. All very real, more like early Christians.
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