Bouncy Castle

Check out our Bouncy Castle. We had it set up after church on Sunday to celebrate the beginning on a new church year (as well my first Sunday). The liturgy and the BBQ and the castle went very well. There was a little craziness around some of the liturgy and and the Sunday school, but I was expecting that.

One of the first things I want to address in the liturgy is the way I felt so totally separated and distant from the congregation. The chancel is relatively small and stuffed up in the corner. I'm considering moving the altar down into the "nave" to be closer.

I also have to figure out what to do about ceremonial around the altar--when to bow, genuflect, cross things, etc. This was all very laid out and consistent at SMM, of course, but now it's a new ball game. I went for a relatively "middle" approach on Sunday. Interestingly, the only time I ended up genuflecting was to the children as I went down on a knee so that I could be at their height to give them communion. At the time I thought this was very incarnational and warm and fuzzy. But we definitely need to ramp up the "holiness" factor a bit. Moving the altar down to the nave actually increases both the feeling of intimacy and, paradoxically, the feeling of transcendent holiness. That's because the closer the altar is to the congregation the more of an impression it makes on the consciousness. It also means we won't be cramped for space as we move around it!

Lot of details to coordinate. There is a staff meeting tomorrow and a Corporation meeting on Friday. In preparation for the meeting with Corporation I have to line up the agenda. This is a group that wants to get through items efficiently, so that means doing lots of homework to anticipate questions and answers.

I videotaped my sermon on Sunday, but I haven't had time to edit and post it. The video camera worked great, however, and presents all kinds of new evangelism possibilities. I need to set up a kind of church A/V club. I need to think of an appropriate Biblical name for such a group....

Incidentally, the sound system is not behaving well (of course). Luckily this place doesn't require anything nearly as complex as SMM did. Probably I just need to replace the mics for the time being. I'll be amused to follow the sound system developments at SMM. My prediction is that now that I'm gone it won't be repaired until after Fr. Harold retires. That's not a snipe at him, just a prediction based on the fact that he's swamped with his own projects and probably won't be able to make any headway with this one unless it absolutely stops working. The Building Committee is also looking for fat to trim from the renovation budget...

Now I have to run to ABC (Anglican Book Centre) to get some church stuff--including collars. Collars are finicky beasts that wear out faster than you would expect. One day I'll get the real cotton kind (rather than the common plastic ones).

BTW, our cable box has one of the PVR deals built in. It's a hard drive that can record shows much live a VCR. I've got it set to record all episodes of "Mythbusters" for example. Very cool. I always love a new toy.

-t