Today was a full day at SMM. I arrived at the church at 5:50 A.M. and was going non-stop until 2:45 P.M. The main reason I had to arrive so early was to assemble the leaflets for the Celebration Mass.
Fr Harold celebrated the 8:00 AM Mass, which was good since it gave me time to finish some urgent paperwork and a few other loose ends before it was time to set-up for the 9:30 Celebration Mass. The Celebration Mass is the new name for the old SMM "Folk Mass." The Folk Mass has a long history at our church. It's been an expression of the playful and experimental side of SMM. Pretty much anything goes at this service, and the parish is very fond of recalling some of the more spectacular Folk Mass liturgies.
For the last few years, however, the Folk Mass has struggled to redifine itself. These things have a lifespan, and clearly this was the end of it. Time for death and rebirth. So I've worked hard in the last year or so to make that happen. Part of that revisioning included changing the name. But there are other changes we've begun to make in the service, too. Much will depend on the musical vision of the new Music Director, Stephanie Martin.
Today was Stephanie's first celebration mass. For that matter, it was the first time she has lead worship at the 9:30 service. She managed to pull it off quite well, which was all the more impressive when you consider how much new stuff she had to deal with. I was quite proud of her. She has recruited some excellent musical talent to play alongside her: clarinet, recorder, cello, violin, and piano all acompanied our worship. This is huge progress towards my vision of what this service can become. I'm sure I'll be writing more about that soon.
Anyway, I celebrated that Mass and then was the Assisting Priest (a.k.a. liturgical deacon) for the Solemn Mass at 11. People said my singing of Gospel went particularly well. One of the biggest challenges of being at one of the flagship Anglican Churches in Canada has been learning to sing. I started working with a voice teacher, Hallie Fishel sometime ago and that has helped a great deal.
The Toronto U2charist is gaining momentum. A small committee has gathered around this idea and we are making plans. Right now it seems probable that this liturgy will take place at the Anglican Cathedral in Toronto. It's going to awesome.
That's it for now. Lots happening.
-t
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