Comments

• Portola Shipmate

  January 9

  Thank you for your interesting and detailed report. The aspect which spoke to me most was the inability of the preacher to bring the sermon to a close because of rambling. I listen to a lot of sermons, which means that I suffer a lot, because too many sermons lack structure and focus. It is my impression that rambling occurs when a preacher does not do a careful study of the Biblical sermon text, but instead uses it as a springboard to jump into his/her favorite themes. In your report I got the impression that there was no specific sermon text, which would explain a lack of focus.
• Amanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate

  January 9

  True -- it was more of a sermon than a homily (i.e., a talk on the meaning of Christmas rather than the scriptural events surrounding what we call Christmas). But I did enjoy it, mind you -- although I would have enjoyed it more had he taken the first exit path. I will definitely pay this church another visit.
• Nick Tamen Shipmate

  January 9

  Thanks for the report, Miss Amanda! Very interesting and enjoyable!
  
  And I love Richard Proulx’s adaption of Schubert’s Deutsche Messe/German Mass to the Ordinary of the English Mass, especially the Sanctus. (So much so that I have made note that I want it to be used at my funeral.)
  
  But as much as I share your opinion that too many organists take it much too fast, I doubt any congregation needs to take it as slowly as Schubert intended. He specified the tempo as sehr langsam—very slowly, typically in the neighborhood or 35–45 beats per minute. That works with a choir, but my experience is that the typical congregation would find it painfully slow to sing.
  
  I actually have a recording of Proulx conducting it, and he takes it at about 90+ beats per minute—andante or moderato (or maßig in German), which is an easy walking tempo, but not a “jump rope” tempo.
  
  
  
• Amanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate

  January 9

  I think I would prefer it at 85.
• Nick Tamen Shipmate

  January 9

  Amanda B Reckondwyth wrote: »

  I think I would prefer it at 85.

  I’d probably lean that way too, actually.
  
  
  
• CharlesRead Shipmate Posts: 28

  January 15

  This is not so much a comment on your excellent report as on their website! They are a bit coy about them being an ACNA church and imply they are part of the Anglican Communion, which they are not. Interesting that they use parts of TEC's liturgy though!
• Alan29 Shipmate

  January 16

  CharlesRead wrote: »

  This is not so much a comment on your excellent report as on their website! They are a bit coy about them being an ACNA church and imply they are part of the Anglican Communion, which they are not. Interesting that they use parts of TEC's liturgy though!

  
  Terms like Anglican and Catholic seem to be rather elastic.
• Amanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate

  January 16

  CharlesRead wrote: »

  Interesting that they use parts of TEC's liturgy though!

  They have their own version of the Book of Common Prayer. I didn't look through it when I was there Christmas Eve, since everything we needed was in the service leaflet, but I will have a closer look on my next visit. I suspect that the rites contained therein are very close to those in TEC's Prayer Book. The Christmas Eve service certainly was.
  
• Nick Tamen Shipmate

  January 16

  Alan29 wrote: »

  CharlesRead wrote: »

  This is not so much a comment on your excellent report as on their website! They are a bit coy about them being an ACNA church and imply they are part of the Anglican Communion, which they are not. Interesting that they use parts of TEC's liturgy though!

  Terms like Anglican and Catholic seem to be rather elastic.

  Yes, but in the US, the province of the Anglican Communion is the Episcopal Church; the word Anglican may be used in describing an Episcopal church, but Episcopal, not Anglican, will be used in the name of a church. If a church in the US is named “St. Swithun’s Anglican Church” (or “St. Swithun’s Church (Anglican)”), one can very safely assume the church is part of the Continuing Anglican movement/Anglican Continuum rather than part of a member province of the Anglican Communion.