Rooftop view

Wandering up to the rooftop to lay out in the sun seems to be a popular thing to do around here on summer vacation days. This is a picture of the view to the north from the rooftop of my building. You can see the Washington National Cathedral very well from that direction. It's not quite as close to here as it might look.....keep in mind that it's on top of "Mount St. Alban," which is the highest geographic point of D.C., and the cathedral building itself is very very large—they say one could lay the entire Washington Monument down the center aisle of the nave.

Oklahoma Day

Today was Oklahoma Day at the National Cathedral. This wasn't a big deal state day today—states have a "major state day" about once every three or four years (Oklahoma comes up in January 2006)—so there wasn't a special procession or reception or anything. They just include special prayers for the state during the normal liturgy, and that's it.

The church service was a little odd this morning, but I've come to expect that at the cathedral—they always try to be too many things to too many people. This morning's liturgy was taken largely from the new British alternative Book of Common Prayer called Common Worship, with some things from the New Zealand Book thrown in for good measure. As are so many things from Tony Blair's Labour Government, the new prayer book is modern, but lacks grace. The psalm was an Anglican chant based on Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress" that just didn't quite work in my mind. Hymns this morning were Es flog ein kleins Waldvogelein, Nettleton, New Britain, Hollingside, and Austria. The offertory was Michael Tippett's "Steal Away" from A Child of Our Time and the communion anthem was Palestrina's "Sicut cervus." Their best choral work, though, was an anthem sung during the post-communion ablutions that wasn't listed in the program, so I've no idea what it was. The Mass setting was from Antonin Dvorak's Mass in D, which was interesting and well done by the cathedral's Choir of Girls and Men, but I always think that making a congregation stand and listen to choral settings of Masses is just bad church business, especially in these days of evangelical churches using rock bands and setting up the church campuses like a religious Disney World. I was even getting bored and wanting to sit down myself in the middle of the Gloria when it occurred to me that they were just then starting the "gratias agimus tibi" section of the Gloria! (for those of you who don't know Latin or the Catholic/Anglican rite, that's the third sentence of a long sung canticle of praise). The preacher was an older priest who kept talking about military history, current politics, foreign policy, and military spending in the Bush Administration, and I have absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Don't know that he did, either. I was also somewhat chagrined this morning to note that the principal celebrant of the service was a priestess, but, fortunately, one of her concelebrants was a proper male priest, so I was able to take communion.

Here are a couple more pictures from the cathedral. One is the back end of the Chapel of the Resurrection. The sanctuary of the chapel is often photographed in books and postcards because of the striking hemispherical mosaic over the altar, but I thought the back and side walls (which never get photographed!) were equally striking.



You probably can't see enough detail in these tiny blog pics, but several of those tiles are actually metallic gold. The final picture is the fountain in the courtyard outside the cathedral, where I listened to the carilloneur play for quite some time after the service.

Cinco de Mayo

Thursday was Cinco de Mayo.

After our business meetings in Albuquerque, I went out in quest of a Cinco de Mayo celebration. I'd been searching the newspapers and tourist guides, but nothing at all was mentioned, so I headed to the Old Town section of downtown Albuquerque, which includes the original plaza, church and buildings from back when Albuquerque was founded in 1706.

One of the more interesting things on the plaza was St. Felipe de Niri Church, the original church from the early days of Spanish colonization in New Mexico. It's a very small, narrow church, and I found the art and statuary to be particularly interesting. If you look closely at the figures in the reredos behind the altar, you'll see a definite "conquistador" theme with Jesuits and explorers. I gather the parish is more of a tourist attraction than an active parish, since there was only one Mass scheduled for the day, and there was no special Mass observance for Ascension Day, which it also was.....I guess I should have looked for a proper Episcopal church if I'd wanted to observe a holy day of obligation on its proper day, instead of being transferred to a Sunday.

May Day

Tis May Day today, and nobody sent me flowers. :(

Went to church at St. John's Lafayette Square this morning. This is the little crackerbox place that's just north of the White House known as the "church of the presidents." There are many things I like about this parish. The rector, Fr. Luis Leon, is a particularly effective leader and preacher, and they have a twelve member professional choir that does a fine job. The parish is friendly without being pushy, and they have strong youth and Hispanic programs. They're also involved in the community—this morning, they were seeking volunteers to help make 1,000 sandwiches to give away to the street people.

On the downside, the church is an old, cramped thing with very uncomfortable, ancient pews—the kind that has a central barrier running down the middle. It's located nearly a mile from home (not a big deal if one had a car, but in the district, since there's no direct bus or subway, that's a long walk). And, the most disturbing thing is their assisting clergy. This morning, the celebrant was a pregnant priestess. If that weren't bad enough, she kept changing the words of the litury, refusing to refer to "God" with masculine pronouns or calling Him "Father." I thought the only people who were in to that inclusive language litury crap were lesbians and feminists. What was particularly amusing during her "inclusive" liturgy was after one of the more egregious examples, a bit of plaster from the cupola above where I was sitting "dripped" down on me, making a splash mark on my blue blazer. Was that a sign of His displeasure?

Anyway, it was a pleasant walk to the church this morning. The ushers were all very chatty, and I found a seat in the "President's Pew"—George wasn't coming today, so it was available for common use—right at the Gerald R. Ford kneeler pillow. The hymns today were Creation, Sloane, Royal Oak, and a weird-word version of Forest Green. The mass setting was a hodge-podge, with a Rutter version of the Gloria (significant because John Rutter is a well-known, self-avowed atheist). They do Anglican chant for the psalms with a congregational antiphon. Offertory anthem was a Magnificat setting by Bryan Kelly that kind of reminded me of a French or English "Broadway" musical chorus with its cadence and modern chords, and the communion motet was a pleasant "I Am the Vine" by Linda Hoffer. They filled in the post-motet time with a Taize chant that the congregation didn't sing along to (I hate Taize) as requested. The postlude was Vierne's "Carillon de Westminster," and I forgot what the prelude was. On the steps outside the church after the service, the rector actually recognized that I wasn't a parishioner and introduced himself!

Don't know where I'll go to church in Albuquerque this week....Thursday is Ascension Day. And, it's also Cinco de Mayo, which may be a more fun thing to observe in Albuquerque! This will probably be my last post until I return Friday night.