30 March 2010

A calmer approach to Holy Week

For the last few years Holy Week has been a somewhat manic time for us. We've routinely spent Wednesday to Saturday at Loyola Hall in Merseyside, where I have helped by organising and leading the music. Whilst that sounds like a calm and peaceful way to approach this reflective time in the Church's year, it most certainly is not! Planning meetings coming out of your ears, trying to move people on from their favourite seasonal music (mostly from the 70s and 80s), and trying to get people singing in parts are all demanding tasks which take a lot of energy. With the arrival of LittleLanky, we decided that we would give our apologies this year in favour of a bit of down-time at home. 
One of the downsides of worshipping in the context of a University Chaplaincy is that there really isn't anyone around in the holidays. The Sunday services are reasonably attended, but trying to get people out during the week is very difficult! Combine this with the timing of Easter in relation to the vacation, and it is proving to be a very quiet Holy Week so far!
Having said that, we had a very successful 'workshop' approach to Christopher Walker's Passion on Palm Sunday, and I'm hoping for a smattering of people at my contemporary approach to Tenebrae on Maundy Thursday. Thankfully it's a service I used at Loyola last year, and I only need to make a few small amendments.

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