Start as you mean to go on

Well this morning's Eucharist was the first one with the new man in charge. Apart from a couple of slip-ups when he missed out the confession & absolution and the Gloria (we had to go back and do them later!), and started to speak the response after the Gospel was announced instead of the sung response we have been doing for the past year or so, things went well and for various reasons it was the most I'd enjoyed a morning service for years.

Me being a traditionalist Anglican at heart I was glad of all the changes he made and the main ones I remember are

• We processed in and out to the organ rather than while singing the first and last hymns
• We all turned East while we said the Creed
• The Nicene Creed was said, not a crappy means-nothing poor imitation from Iona, Canada, Africa or anywhere else, like the ones we have been doing lately
  
• He has asked that in future when at the end of the service he bows in our general direction, we should bow back towards him
• We had incense. At a morning service!
• He's going to precent for the Clucas responses tonight (it's normally been done by someone in the choir for the past few years since with two notable exceptions none of the clergy officiating at Evensong were ever up for singing them)
  

We'll see how how things go, it's early days and I dare say there may be a backlash from the liberal modernists within the congregation, but hopefully he'll show that he has the balls to stick to his guns. He'll definitely have my support, and I think that of a lot of the others in the choir.

It was also nice to see one former chorister, CH, join us while she's visiting her old haunts, and especially nice to see another current chorister, MB, back from university for the holidays. Welcome back folks, particularly since you are both altos and therefore much needed and cherished!