Mood:
chattyThe liturgical year has begun again, with a beautiful Sunday liturgy at the parish. The service started with a Trisagion by Arkhangelsky, apparently, a Russian composition, which was impressive. We sang the text, there was a beautiful musical interlude, we repeated the text, and then another interlude, of great beauty, was played. The NT readings were examples of Christian apocalyptic, and the homilist explained that the earliest gospel, Mark, was written in expectation of the imminent end of all things, the end of history, and the return of the Christ. Luke, which is this year's gospel, was composed two decades later, when, I would imagine, hope for the return of the Anointed One and the transformation of life, had faded somewhat. Luke, we were told, deals with how to live in this world as it is, as a Christian, and as a believing community. This is a new approach to Luke, that I do not remember hearing before. This approach is certainly relevant to what faces believers today, so I think it is going to be an exciting year, as far as the Sunday gospel readings are concerned. The liturgy ended with the glorious composition, "Lo, he comes with clouds descending," which is really memorable. I was extremely happy; I had hoped to hear that hymn, but I did not think they would do it this morning. It was a nice surprise. Someone who may be a choir member, came late to the liturgy, sat behind me, and contributed a descant to the final verse, "Yea, amen, let all adore thee," which was a nice way to end Sunday worship this morning.