Ss Simon and Jude
Oct. 29th, 2005 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yrieithyddWell, last night's Mass was one of the more interesting of my serving career.
We had a congregation of 11; choir of 6; organist; 3 servers and a priest.
2 of the rota'd servers could not make it and nor could the replacement who'd been arranged to cover one slot. So we had MC, thurifer and crucifer (me). No non-rota'd servers arrived so it got to the point where we had to improvise. The suggestion I should carry both cross and lights was never serious but, ... . It was decided that it would have to be cross and no lights for the gospel but that I should enter with the others and be by the table for the Mass but that we wouldn't have torches at the entrance. In fact, I ended up as boat girl at this point as the most sensible thing for me to do so I had an obvious place to be. It was also decided that we could have torches for the Canon because the MC retires from the altar at the Sanctus so we left one candle on the gospel side and one by the credence table which the thurifer lit at the offertory. Unfortunately we did not quite agree what would happen after the Canon. I guessed we'd stay as normal to the Agnus but the MC move after the Canon and there was an awkward moment where I couldn't work out where to go. A quick exchange of glances with the thurifer led to me going out. He then suggested that as the MC had returned his candle to where it had been on the gospel side I ought to take my candle back in and he'd go to that side after the the Communion and we'd take the torches out together. The MC forgot the rail but the thurifer did that.
I think it worked, but not quite our usual!
We had a congregation of 11; choir of 6; organist; 3 servers and a priest.
2 of the rota'd servers could not make it and nor could the replacement who'd been arranged to cover one slot. So we had MC, thurifer and crucifer (me). No non-rota'd servers arrived so it got to the point where we had to improvise. The suggestion I should carry both cross and lights was never serious but, ... . It was decided that it would have to be cross and no lights for the gospel but that I should enter with the others and be by the table for the Mass but that we wouldn't have torches at the entrance. In fact, I ended up as boat girl at this point as the most sensible thing for me to do so I had an obvious place to be. It was also decided that we could have torches for the Canon because the MC retires from the altar at the Sanctus so we left one candle on the gospel side and one by the credence table which the thurifer lit at the offertory. Unfortunately we did not quite agree what would happen after the Canon. I guessed we'd stay as normal to the Agnus but the MC move after the Canon and there was an awkward moment where I couldn't work out where to go. A quick exchange of glances with the thurifer led to me going out. He then suggested that as the MC had returned his candle to where it had been on the gospel side I ought to take my candle back in and he'd go to that side after the the Communion and we'd take the torches out together. The MC forgot the rail but the thurifer did that.
I think it worked, but not quite our usual!
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 03:27 pm (UTC)I was amused to note that it was an 11 a side draw: up-front v congregation, although if we claim the Churchwarden then we won 12-10.*
*I've been terming it like that since teenage years when evensong was generally a close run thing between choir and congregation, somewhere around 16 a side I think!