QUEER CEREMONIAL.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 7, 1 January 1927, Page 12

QUEER CEREMONIAL.

. Dear Mr Editor,— One hears at times a good deal about the Anglican Church being' 'the roomiest church m Christendom" and that, this Church is used to having things done "decently and m order. ' * This is no doubt true m a general sen?e, but when one comes down to details m some parishes one is apt to wonder whether it is not often a ease of too much liberty on the one hand or carelessness on the other as far ;as the ceremonial of the Church is concerned. : Looking at the ceremonial seen m some places, from a layman's point of view, one is often puzzled. Leaving aside the larger question of the variety of "uses" one sees at celebrations of the Holy Eucharist, let us consider some of the vagaries of individual parish priests m the conduct of Divine Service, i.e., 1 Mattins and Evensong. To begin with, take the entry of the choir and clergy. In my parish and m one or two others that I have lived m, the choir enters to the strains of a so-called processional hymn. As often as not the hymn is not of a processional type, but even if it is, is the entry of the choir, etc., a "procession"?' I have always been taught that a procession should leave some given pomt ■'"■ and return to it, and that a procession m church should start from the chancel and return there. Yet the choir .simply enters and moves to the chojr stalls, the members breaking forth into singing as each pair enters;, result—a thin volume of sound to start ' with gradually swelling into something like a choral effort. Doesn't seem decent and m order to me somehow! Take again the corresponding "effort" at the end of the service. The choir starts to leave the stalls as the last verse of the alleged" "recessional" hymn commences. If it is a four line hjonn, it ends with the choir half-way to. the door and the exit is something of a scramble. If an eight line hymn, as a rule the basses and tenors alone are left m church to sing th,eir part of a harmonised ' ' Amen. 7 ' In either case the vicar follows at the: rear bearing aloft the spoils of the chase, as someone has said, m the shape of the collection. Decent and m order? I ask you. To pass on to the service itself. Here again one finds much that is puzzling; In many parishes the priest starts off with one of the opening sentences, usually one of the shortest, and then "Dearly beloved T pray and beseech you," etc. No exhortation to confess one's sins, no explanation as to what the congregation, has met together for, simply an /invitation. in a

«in^9ong , voice, /tp : aicoomp l ariy : the 'speaker ;to the thrpije of |he J heavenly grace,..- i-.'Thfi, i 'coHgTegation, Which, lateen seconds at ' the outside before, to its many feet, scHmfeles. tp* its knees mbre or less, and, 'before ' the. sound of many feet Ijlas eyen -Jfajf subsided, off goes the priest, into an V allied confession of sins, .^hy not wait just $ few se<Jjbnias. ai^jisi l^ "* silencef ' HpweWr, the confession having been started on one .note, yjiich =' Varjes-five'ry Suri&ay , the choir cpmes booming m, joyfully : (ap^ar^ntly) : con|essing its sins, setting them to music as it were, at the same fime "feverishly hunting round for psalters -!arid cMnt-bpbks, 'Decent and m order! What about^ the injunction to confess m a humble voice? Is the. combination of a sung confession and a hunt for chant-books likely to proceed from a pure heart? W£uld it not be mpre decent and m Prder if ', the. . conf ession . was said, and the , chjoir had their places found beforehand 1 ? ', X always understood that the sung portion of Mattins and Evensongy commenced at the : versicle "0 LpriJOpeh Thpji Our Lips" and ended, Vat the third, collect. If that belief is cpri'ec^ it must be wfpng anyway to sing or intone anything tliat comes before the said versicle. Again, why is it that after the' prayers which are "said J ' (i.e., the ones after, the third collect), tibe choir m most places comes booming m with a sung Amen? Sounds silly to me, but maybe I Jpow no better. &£am, r iii some parigihes the priest simply pj-ohipunces.. a blessing after the collfidiipri. hymn. He says ' 'Let us pray,':' and before half . the cPngregation is J Kneeling off he goes; result, the firsts half of the blessing is not heard at' ail, being lost m the sound .of many boots scraping along the floor. Why sueh 1 a^desperate hurry? A few more 'seconds^ 1 and the blessing would; '(or should) ■ sound; like one m the* silence. inhere ! are other points worth thought and attention if the worship of;'our belbved n Church r is to be conducted decently and m order, but let the above suffice pro tern. I have been -glad to note when visiting, large churches m the four centres that most of the points I; have touched on have been v attended to; and} believe me, the Result is 'WOTtH while; Maybe m; time others -also' will' have; cause to rejoice. One -hopes so, 'ally way. The ayeragi layman is really far more :sensitive ; and criMcal about these things than he is -^iveia^ credit for.— ;i ydurs; : ;ete.,'v ' ■■;■•■• .■.'■•• \ ■■• ' '

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