Our place has two Sunday services on Feast Day, following the village show on Saturday. The Sunday evening service begins at the memorial, with the Remembrance ceremony. This is because the war memorial was first unveiled and dedicated on Feast Sunday. A Parade Service too.
An Anglican parish near me is having 5 services over 4 days for their patronal feast. Has anyone encountered anything similar?
Are they celebrating a major anniversary? If not, I could imagine a parish that has a patronal feast in a good time of year (perhaps summer, with good weather and not a lot else going on) having a tradition of a several-day festival with fun and games besides a big liturgy. I'm thinking St Alban's Cathedral in the UK does something like this but could be wrong.
This practice went on in Lutheranism in the United States well into the forties, maybe sixties, I don't know. We lived in a parsonage that had a room set aside for people coming to talk to the pastor and possibly do private confession if wanted. It eventually turned into a "sign this card" kind of thing, which allowed the pastor and elders to notice if anybody had been missing communion for a long time and might be in need of care. Nowadays even that has gone in most of the places I visit.
Until a few years ago in Canada it was common practice for the elders to deliver communion cards (descendants of the old metal communion tokens) before communion Sundays, and the cards would be handed in - placed in the offering plate - and carefully recorded later. The main purpose seemed to be to purge the roll of non-attenders if they were not seen for a long time. The elder's visit was one of the ways of finding out who was in need of pastoral care. All this has changed, with the pandemic accelerating the pace of change.
...a parish that has a patronal feast in a good time of year (perhaps summer, with good weather and not a lot else going on) having a tradition of a several-day festival with fun and games...
Winter here, though others may scoff at what we call winter at my latitude!
That said, there was a brunch at a local café after today's service, supper and entertainment after tomorrow evening's Solemn High Mass, and a lunch after Sunday Mass and before Evensong. So extra communal events.
I asked the priest after the service. He said they are doing it because they can. Which is a good reason, I replied.
Thank you. A very interesting read. Do you know when they ceased being as described?
No, but there are Scottish shipmates such as @Cathcats who may be able to help.
... supper and entertainment after tomorrow evening's Solemn High Mass ...
Sounds slightly contradictory!
Communion seasons still exist, mainly in the Western Isles and mainly in the Free Church of Scotland (the bit which did not reunite with the CofS in the 1920s and largely kept up what was then the traditional way of doing things, singing only unaccompanied Psalms, etc.) there are Church of Scotland congregations who still do the Communion Seasons, (again we are chiefly looking to the Western Isles) and these seasons are, of course, the reason why traditionally communion is not celebrated more frequently in CofS churches. As fewer churches observe the season, so a more frequent communion - often monthly - is becoming more common. This again may change with he shortage of clergy as the General Assembly has so far set its face against lay celebration of the sacraments. But I doubt the communion season will regain its former status as the norm.
,
I know that, in the past, there was so much emphasis on self-examination and "fencing the tables" that few people actually "communed", feeling themselves unworthy.
I notice that the extract given was from the Presbytery of the United States of the Free Church of Scotland (continuing) a conservative group which has exited from the present Free Church of Scotland.
A fairly recent translation into French of one of the novels of Alexander McCall Smith mentioned the words 'wee free' (referring to the Free church of Scotland)
In a note on the words which were left in English the translator explained that 'wee' meant the same as 'petit' and that 'free' meant 'libéral' so that the 'Wee Free Church was 'un petit peu libéral'
I notice that the extract given was from the Presbytery of the United States of the Free Church of Scotland (continuing) a conservative group which has exited from the present Free Church of Scotland.
I hadn't realised that!
Scottish church history is - er - complicated! My wife was for many years a member of the United Free Church (Continuing) - this was the bit of the United Free Church, itself a coming together of secessionist groups, which refused to reunite with the Church of Scotland in 1929. It is not to be confused with the Free Church!
I know that, in the past, there was so much emphasis on self-examination and "fencing the tables" that few people actually "communed", feeling themselves unworthy.
In my central highland parish I had a few people who had been brought up on the Isle of Lewis. They would not take communion. One of the effects of the communion season, at least the way it was implemented, was that no one was sure if they were worthy to receive the elements. In vain would I preach and discuss with them that we are none of us worthy except in Christ. They knew that their parents had attended and not partaken, and that was what they would do.
P.S. one of these staunch old ladies had a sister, still living on the island, who thought her very lax and worldly because she watched Songs of Praise on a Sunday.
A fairly recent translation into French of one of the novels of Alexander McCall Smith mentioned the words 'wee free' (referring to the Free church of Scotland)
In a note on the words which were left in English the translator explained that 'wee' meant the same as 'petit' and that 'free' meant 'libéral' so that the 'Wee Free Church was 'un petit peu libéral'
Unless I am seriously mistaken, the impression I have got is that the Wee Frees are not liberal in any sense that anyone else would recognise and would regard that word as an insult.
@Cathscats a friend of my father's who was on a fishing holiday with his family in the Western Isles somewhere around 1970 was staying in a boarding house. These seem no longer to exist, but they were like a bed and breakfast but with either an evening meal or full board. On Saturday evening, after serving their bedtime tea/cocoa, the lady of the house put a cloth cover over the television with a clear intimation that they were not to watch it on the Lord's Day.
She also made it clear that this was not only her own wish. There were neighbours who would go round on Sundays looking in through peoples' windows, and if they saw a television in use, would snip the aerial cable.
Enoch - I wrote to the translator of the book I mentioned to say that I didn't agree with her translation of 'wee free'. She said that she would amend the note if there were to be further printings of the book.
Comments
Are they celebrating a major anniversary? If not, I could imagine a parish that has a patronal feast in a good time of year (perhaps summer, with good weather and not a lot else going on) having a tradition of a several-day festival with fun and games besides a big liturgy. I'm thinking St Alban's Cathedral in the UK does something like this but could be wrong.
Until a few years ago in Canada it was common practice for the elders to deliver communion cards (descendants of the old metal communion tokens) before communion Sundays, and the cards would be handed in - placed in the offering plate - and carefully recorded later. The main purpose seemed to be to purge the roll of non-attenders if they were not seen for a long time. The elder's visit was one of the ways of finding out who was in need of pastoral care. All this has changed, with the pandemic accelerating the pace of change.
Thank you. A very interesting read. Do you know when they ceased being as described?
Winter here, though others may scoff at what we call winter at my latitude!
That said, there was a brunch at a local café after today's service, supper and entertainment after tomorrow evening's Solemn High Mass, and a lunch after Sunday Mass and before Evensong. So extra communal events.
I asked the priest after the service. He said they are doing it because they can. Which is a good reason, I replied.
Sounds slightly contradictory!
All services in English.
6pm Sunday Arabic.
Communion seasons still exist, mainly in the Western Isles and mainly in the Free Church of Scotland (the bit which did not reunite with the CofS in the 1920s and largely kept up what was then the traditional way of doing things, singing only unaccompanied Psalms, etc.) there are Church of Scotland congregations who still do the Communion Seasons, (again we are chiefly looking to the Western Isles) and these seasons are, of course, the reason why traditionally communion is not celebrated more frequently in CofS churches. As fewer churches observe the season, so a more frequent communion - often monthly - is becoming more common. This again may change with he shortage of clergy as the General Assembly has so far set its face against lay celebration of the sacraments. But I doubt the communion season will regain its former status as the norm.
,
I know that, in the past, there was so much emphasis on self-examination and "fencing the tables" that few people actually "communed", feeling themselves unworthy.
In a note on the words which were left in English the translator explained that 'wee' meant the same as 'petit' and that 'free' meant 'libéral' so that the 'Wee Free Church was 'un petit peu libéral'
I hadn't realised that!
Scottish church history is - er - complicated! My wife was for many years a member of the United Free Church (Continuing) - this was the bit of the United Free Church, itself a coming together of secessionist groups, which refused to reunite with the Church of Scotland in 1929. It is not to be confused with the Free Church!
P.S. one of these staunch old ladies had a sister, still living on the island, who thought her very lax and worldly because she watched Songs of Praise on a Sunday.
@Cathscats a friend of my father's who was on a fishing holiday with his family in the Western Isles somewhere around 1970 was staying in a boarding house. These seem no longer to exist, but they were like a bed and breakfast but with either an evening meal or full board. On Saturday evening, after serving their bedtime tea/cocoa, the lady of the house put a cloth cover over the television with a clear intimation that they were not to watch it on the Lord's Day.
She also made it clear that this was not only her own wish. There were neighbours who would go round on Sundays looking in through peoples' windows, and if they saw a television in use, would snip the aerial cable.