This morning started out on a high. Palm Sunday and a triumphal procession which, while uplifting, was a little bit windswept. One of the younger members of the congregation was being blown along unassisted in his pushchair, and as we rounded the corner of the church and I looked north to the snow covered hills, I wondered what the weather was like in Jerusalem today. (22c with a light breeze) But this isn't about that service. Instead, it's about the evening service.
Tonight I was "Roadie" as Mrs Gerbil did the evening service. The service was a reflection on Easter Saturday from the perspective of the women. Mrs G wanted music played, so I took along my Dad's PA system which comprises of a reasonable sized amp, two CD players, and a small mixer contained in a substantial MDF cabinet. I remember him saying that he planned on lightening the cabinet, or at least fitting wheels as the thing weighs a ton, but we never got round to it. At least the church hall has level access, as the process of getting the thing down my stairs and into the car, then back up was backbreaking. You will never meet an unfit roadie...
Saturday is often overlooked at Easter. It's all too easy to go from the joy of Palm Sunday to the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday with out the death on Friday and the emptiness of Saturday. Basing the service on Mark's gospel, and with reflections from the perspective of the women, we traveled through the Easter story as if told on Saturday. Amongst all that, the music included a small contribution from the band Nine Inch Nails...
Did I like it? Yes, and I'm not just saying that because it's Her Indoors that took the service. It was moving and atmospheric. And I was able to get into it despite having one hand on the mixing desk. But I probably wouldn't have liked it last year, at a time when I thought the only real format for a service was five hymns, three prayers, two readings and a sermon.
I think I'm changing.
What have I become, my sweetest friend?
Wow! Never come across that before, thanks for sharing it. I found it very moving.
ReplyDeleteoh his last album, I think, was his best... stripped back, raw, the long hard experience of a life lived - the bitter, the sweet and the in-between. I love his cover of Hurt: one of those ones where you can't do else but sit back down, stop, and immerse yourself in it songs.
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