Easter services

At a horrible time in my life, my local Anglican priest (a wonderful lady named Cathy), gave me a book called The Thirty-Nine Article, by E.C.S. Gibson. The book is the foundation, such as it is, of the Anglican Church.

It is mainly a limited reform of the Roman (Papalist) church combined with a resistance to more radical reforms (such as Puritanism or Calvinism, who wanted to do away with bishops, and kings along with them).

In the end, the Anglican church looks and sounds like a Catholic church even though the Pope doesn't so accept it, but there's a place in it for Purcell, Gregorian Chant, and Thomas Dorsey (Precious Lord).

My sister and I are both church musicians, and although I do not attend church often, I fill in for her sometimes.

I filled in for her on Holy Saturday (an evening service) and on Easter morning, we worked together for the first time in public

Easter morning is a good time to be in a church: a lot of people are there. Most of the mainline Protestant faiths include the wonderful hymn Jesus Christ is Risen Today.

The priest in his "address" (sermon) talked about how the women encountering Jesus' empty tomb were filled with awe. For myself, I'd suspect grave robbers. The women, include Mary of Magdal (Mary Magadalene) told their story to the disciples but were not believed. If the story stopped there, relying only on what women said, we might never have this story/legend/article of our faith.

This Easter Sunday gave my sister and I a rare opportunity to place religious music for a full church together. That is something to look forward to again sometime.