As I have mentioned before, this semester in school has been hard on me. It has been extremely time-consuming and stressful. I hardly noticed when Lent began. I barely have time in the morning to read a Bible verse. I try to pray throughout the day, but let’s be honest. That doesn’t always work. Yet I didn’t want to just let Holy Week come and go like any other week, so I decided to find a church service to attend for Good Friday. I wanted something solemn, something traditional. I decided on an episcopal church, where they were performing the stations of the cross service. I went by myself, because sometimes I like doing things alone. And this was one of those times.
I walked into the cathedral-style sanctuary and took my seat on the third row. There weren’t many people there yet, as I was 15-20 minutes early. A minute later the choir began to warm up and tears immediately and unexpectedly filled my eyes. I didn’t realize how much I missed singing in a Christian choir. In college, at Tabor, I sang for all four years. My director was wonderful and passionate and he and the songs he chose for us never failed to inspire me. This church I attended had an excellent choir, and with their music filling the room it all washed over me again at that moment.
When the service began, I fell in love; I think I was born to be an Episcopalian. I loved the entire process, from beginning to end. I loved the robes the choir wore, with the crosses hanging from their necks. I loved the liturgy. I loved the recitation:
V. We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee:
R. Because by thy holy cross thou hast redeemed the world.
I loved the procession. I even loved all the standing and kneeling. I especially loved the short hymns we sang in between stations:
“Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.”
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom. Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
I loved the sound, and I loved the silence. And I loved how it made me remember. This year, I hope Easter will not be just another day.
From Erica:
Amen. Blessings to you and a joyous Easter day!
From Dad:
HI Kat,
What a beautiful blog. I too love the Episcopal service, it’s what i grew up with. Uncle David too. That’s why it was so hard for him to leave. Unfortunately many of the Episcopal churches no longer are based on Bible truths. But there are some that adhere to the truth. You just have to enquire a bit.
Dad
From Brad Vogel:
Kat,
Your mom forwarded your blog to me . . . you have no idea how GOOD it makes me feel to know that you were inspired by the choir’s work! That’s always my hope (although my first hope and joy is to bless God), and I’m thankful you found joy in it, too. For the record, I’m quite drawn to Episcopal worship, too, and would request that the next time you go, please invite me! :-) It’s a long trip, so please plan ahead . . .
Blessings, Kat!
From Cio:
Hi,
#1. That’s a beautiful church (from the pictures I see)
#2. I forget you’re a singer, I am too..we should sing a duet.
#3. Nicole,Kayleigh and I were talking today after church, how disappointed we were that the worship team didn’t do any old school songs, or hymnals for that matter, this morning. I mean its Easter, hymnals are a MUST! I really did miss the old school songs we used to sing, back home at my parents church. We vowed then and there, that next year we’d go to a church where you know they’d do it old schoo style.
Hope you had a great Easter!
From Katy:
I have never participated in a Good Friday service. Some year I must when I don’t have to work on Good Friday (poo on working on holidays). I did attend an Episcopalian church a few times in college and always enjoyed it. The church I grew up attending was always quite against liturgy and “meaningless ritual,” but I’ve come to believe that sometimes participation in tradition is all we have, even if we don’t feel God at the moment, because sometime we’ll notice him again and we ought to at least be looking.
Yesterday in church, my pastor made a joke that he hadn’t seen some of the attendees since Christmas! “So good to see all of you! I haven’t seen some of you since Christmas!” Hilarious.
From David the Elder:
The Episcopal church left me. I still believe in the bible but the national leadership chose to move on. I still love the service though and it was heart wrenching for me to have to leave but they left me no choice. The Charleston diocese is till bible based though so we like to go to the services at St. Michales and St. Phillips when we are down there.