I didn't go to church today. Yesterday, I got up at the crack of dawn to go to New Orleans for my grandson's First Communion mass and celebration. I was happy to do so, because I truly wanted to be there with him. But getting up and rushing out in the morning (my definition of "rushing out" is quite broad to include anything earlier than 9:30) definitely makes me cranky, and I tend not to recover until I've had another night's sleep. Even though the church service that I attend is not until 10:30 AM, today I just could not get going, even for that. Maybe that makes me a bad Episcopalian and even a bad Christian. I do feel some guilt, because I am a regular pew warmer on Sundays. There you have it.
I went online to read "The Daily Office" and to the "Lectionary" for the daily readings and read them all and said the prayers. I especially like the prayer quoted below from the "The Daily Office". And yes, I know that this is not the same as the gathering of believers to worship God. I believe firmly that the gathering of the faithful is essential to my life as a Christian, but I trust that an occasional miss for no particularly good reason may be forgiven.
Psalm 146
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!
John 14:1-7
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
Thomas reminds me so much of myself. Had I been present with Jesus, if I had not understood his' words, I would have asked for an explanation, just as Thomas did.
Prayers of the People
We pray to Jesus who is present with us to eternity.
Jesus, light of the world,
bring the light and peace of your Gospel to the nations ...
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy, hear us.
Jesus, bread of life,
give food to the hungry ...
and nourish us all with your word.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy, hear us.
Jesus, our way, our truth, our life,
be with us and all who follow you in the way ...
deepen our appreciation of your truth,
and fill us with your life.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy, hear us.
Jesus, Good Shepherd who gave your life for the sheep,
recover the straggler,
bind up the injured,
strengthen the sick
and lead the healthy and strong to new pastures.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy, hear us.
Jesus, the resurrection and the life,
we give you thanks for all who have lived and
believed in you ...
raise us with them to eternal life.
Jesus, Lord of life,
in your mercy, hear us.
Living God,
for whom no door is closed,
no heart is locked:
Draw us beyond our doubts,
till we see your Christ and touch his wounds where they bleed in others.
This we ask through Jesus Christ our Savior,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery has established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Readings:
AM Psalm 146, 147; PM Psalm 111, 112, 113
Exod. 14:5-22; 1 Joh 1:1-7; John 14:1-7
it is Low Sunday. I think the clergy are surprised to see anyone at all today.
ReplyDeleteAh, Dennis, my absolution. I was waiting for that. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteEven the clergy skip church this Sunday!
ReplyDeleteOh, Ann, what a relief!
ReplyDeleteYes -- our Rector, clearly bemused by a full church today, commented that we normally had a "comfortable" attendance on the first Sunday after Easter -- which meant that everyone there could comfortably lie down on the pews and still have space left over.
ReplyDeleteSusanKay, a "comfortable" attendance. I like that. I'll have to remember that one and put it to use one day.
ReplyDeleteI loves Ps. 146
ReplyDeleteI think that, having attended Mass yesterday (a true work of corporal mercy on a Saturday morning), you fulfilled you obligation.
ReplyDeleteI must take issue with Dennis, however, as he has touched on one of my hot buttons. No feast of the Resurrection, especially one within the Great Fifty Days, should ever be considered Low. I don't care what our precedents or reasons for that atrocious habit may be, it strikes me as a minor blasphemy against the Resurrection and I hate it, hate it, hate it. I bristle even when it is used in jest and I want the term banned.
There are perfectly good names for today. The Orthodox call it the Sunday of Thomas. The Western Church has long called it "Quasimodo" from the opening word of the Introit "quasimodo geniti infantes...." (As newborn infants desire the sincere milk of the Word). If we want to be pedestrian, we can call it the Second Sunday of Easter, as the BCP indicates. But "low"? Not in my presence, please.
Having had my little rant, I return to calm and reaffirm that you done well and everyone needs to have a little down time, even on the Lord's day.
Johnieb, I love Ps. 146, too.
ReplyDeletePaul, I don't know what to say, except that that those who kept Holy Week well were in church a lot the week preceding Easter, and then Easter, and perhaps they felt like taking a short break from church. That was not my reason, but if it had been, I think it would not have been so bad.
I had it drummed into me for years that, unless you were seriously ill or injured, that it was a mortal sin to miss mass even one Sunday, and that if you didn't repent and go to confession and you died that you would go straight to hell.
I love the seasons of the church year, but every day is a little resurrection for me. I need salvation every single day for my survival, Easter season or not.
As I read your comment, I felt the old Catholic guilt creeping back. I realize that you absolved me, because I went to mass the day before, but I don't think like that any longer, and I don't feel absolved, my friend.
well, then I'll say it again, Mimi (and sorry Paul): It's Low Sunday.
ReplyDeletePrayers and readings are very well in their way but may I add a hymn for the day as well?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oremus.org/hymnal/w/w165.html
C.W.S., thanks for the hymn. I originally tried to include a hymn from Oremus, but I could not get the download plug-in to work. I tried again with your link, but, once again, it didn't work. Thanks anyway.
ReplyDeleteit strikes me as a minor blasphemy against the Resurrection and I hate it, hate it, hate it.
ReplyDeleteTell us how you REALLY feel about it, Paul... ;-)
My dear friend celebrated yesterday, but he let the intern do the preaching. I'm glad he had the weekend "off" after all the work he did last week.
Mimi--I'm going to ask your prayers for my David today. His father died rather unexpectedly yesterday afternoon. He was 85 and had Alzheimer's---but he had not been ill, so it was something of a shock. Thanks.
Doxy, may David's father rest in peace and rise in glory. Prayers for comfort, consolation, and peace for David.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I wan tot apologize to Mimi for ranting at her blog. That's what mine is for and I am especially sorry that it came out as hellfire and brimstone. I loathe guilt trips. And so I apologize to all. THAT was a sin against Eastertide. I am sorry.
ReplyDeleteDennis sticks by his guns and that's a good thing. My personal gripe is not with the phenomenon of everyone recovering from the rigors of Holy Week and the beginning of the Pascha but only with that one term for the Second Sunday. It's the name that drive me nuts and though I usually say what I feel (yes, Doxy, that's me) I can't imagine thinking less of folks who disagree with me. Pax, Dennis?
I am really sorry I sounded like I was haranguing anyone for being good to themselves. I am a recovering Holy-Week-aholic myself who used to overdo it so much that I have a much more casual approach now (and even skipped the Great Vigil, the Queen of Feasts, this year, since our mother church held it but our mission did not). And I take Sundays off now and again, including the first couple months after I moved to ABQ from California. Folks at the local church didn't even know I had come into town.
Worshipping together is, indeed, something to be done for joy, with a desire to be among fellow-believers growing together in grace, in faith, in hope, in love. This is why we miss it when we don't go. Our whole life should be one of loving gratitude and joy and ever more loving and generous hearts, not something driven by obligation and guilt, so I quite share Mimi's perspective on that.
My comment about gong to the First Communion was intended, humorously (but who could feel gentle humor when someone has just ranted?) to be supportive of a good and loving thing and not really a serious "you did A so you can get a pass on B" sort of nonsense.
Dear Mimi, of course, needs no absolutions from me for anything. I do hope y'all can forgive me for being a pill last night.
Paul, love, all is forgiven. And if my reply caused you pain, please forgive me. The vestiges of my Roman Catholic ever-present guilt surfaced and probably affected my response to you. You know the saying, "Once a Catholic...."
ReplyDeleteOnce a Catholic and still am at this end.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do not think that God is that tight assed about physical attendance if your heart is in the right place.
Sorry, but I kind of liked Paul's rant; he is very cute when he is worked up like that, Eastertide or not.
(and as Johnieb says- Psalm 146 is good!)
Well, I must admit that Paul is kinda cute.
ReplyDelete