Churchy stuff – Page 4 – The Artsy Honker

Gaudete

Byartsyhonker December 15, 2013 0 Comments

First a little music -- the second track from my album, Cheerful voices, available at Bandcamp. As I've written there: This carol is from the Piae Cantiones, a cllection of Scandinavian sacred music published in 1582. Only the music for the chorus is given; the traditional tune for the verses is taken from other songs from around that time. Thanks to Ruth Moss for the English half of the chorus....

St Lucy, and another Ember Day during Advent

Byartsyhonker December 13, 2013 0 Comments

Another Ember Day today. They come in threes, you see. On Wednesday I found the spray I used kept flaking off an irritating my throat. Not good. So today I've used some hair gel I had lying around, and mixed in some red food dye powder from the Turkish shop next door, as well as some talcum powder to thicken the mixture. It has made a more brilliant red than before, and isn't irritating my...

Liturgical hair: Ember Day during Advent

Byartsyhonker December 11, 2013 0 Comments

So far in Advent I've been puprle, purple, and purple. There have been a few optional white days for various saints, but they aren't ones we normally keep at St Andrew's. Today is what is known as an Ember Day, and I thought I'd do some red spray-on stripes to highlight it. According to Wikipedia, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the...

Liturgical Hair: Advent I

Byartsyhonker December 1, 2013 2 Comments

The liturgical hair thing has not started all that well, though it could have been worse, I suppose. I started by cutting the very ends of my hair off. These bits would have too much henna in them, I thought, to bleach well. Then came bleaching: well, I missed a bit, but also it became apparent that the henna goes rather further up my hair than I had thought. When I went to put purple in my hair...

Wedding Hymn

Byartsyhonker October 28, 2013 0 Comments

When I was choosing music for the wedding, I had a bit of a hard time: there was so much that was good, and that I wanted to include, but it was also important that the wedding itself not be completely taken over by the music; also that the service itself wouldn't go on for too long! With some regret I limited myself to five hymns and an anthem. One of my favourite hymns is "O Love divine, how...

Of baptism, press releases and consistency

Byartsyhonker July 24, 2013 3 Comments

The Church of England published a press release yesterday about baptism. There was something of a mixed response on Twitter: broadly, it seems that some people are concerned that the press release contained too little theology, while others insist it must be as broad and general as this in order to be accessible rather than unwelcoming. I think it is good to make things accessible and clear, and...

On Cultural Relevance in Liturgy

Byartsyhonker May 31, 2013 0 Comments

Earlier this week I wrote on liturgy, what it means, what people think it means. One of the reasons religious groups reject one form of liturgy and replace it for another is that they are trying to be culturally relevant. There is something very good in this: there is a recognition that the language the religious group uses to talk about what is divine, spiritual or transcendent, is not the same...

On Liturgy

Byartsyhonker May 30, 2013 2 Comments

I've seen a number of instances where a church or a member of a church claims that their worship "doesn't use liturgy". They seem to mean that they don't use sung prayers, or set words, or participate in the Eucharist -- they avoid The Liturgy Of The Church, so to speak. I understand liturgy much more broadly: as the shape and format of public worship. Of course, religious traditions that are not...

New Legislative Proposals — what does GS 1886 mean?

Byartsyhonker May 24, 2013 0 Comments

Right, if you're not interested in Church of England politics, look away now. Go watch some kittens or something. The House of Bishops has published a report recommending one of four possible legislative proposals drafted by the working group on women in the episcopate. They have recommended Option One. Option One, most simply put, means: 1) make it legal for women to be Bishops 2) remove the...