I’m going to use yesterday’s post as a “trampoline” off which I can bounce my reactions to last night’s experiences.
Our pastor sent an explanatory email about tonight’s first NCW Mass. According to him, there will be a few . . . umm . . . innovations. I won’t share the actual text (don’t have permission), but here’s a paraphrase:
First, someone (unclear who) will be making a brief statement about each reading before it is read.
The prefatory remarks for the readings were brief and, to my mind, unnecessary (but that’s just me). They were delivered either by the person who was doing the reading or by the “master of ceremonies,” a middle-aged woman whom I did not recognize (but that doesn’t mean anything; there are a lot of people from our parish whom I do not know by face). She also “led the singing” and played guitar to accompany the “songs”.
Second, after the Gospel has been read, there will be a period of time where anyone in attendance to make a statement about the impact that the readings had on them. This one sounds fishy to me.
This did not happen. Our pastor, the only ordained person in the room, read the [lengthy] Gospel from a missallette (!!!), and when that was concluded, he moved right into the homily, omitting what is called the “Echo”. According to the discussion that I heard after Mass, the omission was unintentional. So we were spared listening to unordained people during what was supposed to be time for the homily. However the homily itself was a bright spot. It was longer than usual, but our pastor is a good preacher, and I enjoy listening to him. Also, there were no announcements; those typically take up 5-6 minutes of Sunday homily time, like they did this morning.
Third, the Creed recited will be the Apostles’ Creed.
This was a total goat-rope, with frequent excursions into lines from the Nicene Creed and from mis-memorized versions of the Apostles’ Creed.
Fourth, the Sign of Peace will be after the petitions, not after the Our Father.
Some folks walked around saying “hi” to everyone; others, like me and the older woman next to me, stayed put and just shook hands with each other. The song that was supposed to be sung during this time was basically ignored by everyone except the woman who was trying to lead it.
Finally, there will be a different way of distributing Holy Communion; he gave no details about that, saying that it will be explained during the liturgy.
This whole sequence of events was somewhat troubling. First of all, the Mass took place not in the FLC gym, like I said in a previous post, but in the FLC’s conference room. The “altar” was two folding tables placed side by side and covered with a white cloth (not purple, in accordance with the season). Those attending were seated on the perimeter of the room with the central space open. There were no “kneeling pads”, like we used when we were having Mass in the gym some years ago because the interior of the church was being painted. Nevertheless, when we reached the end of the Sanctus, I went down; then I looked around, and I was the only one kneeling. I stayed down, but after standing for the Our Father and the Agnus Dei, I remained standing.
The Matter for this Mass was valid, but apparently they bake their own bread, and the full wafer was about the diameter of a saucer, which after Consecration was then torn into pieces to match the number of attendees. A friend of mine was in on the baking process, and she confirmed that it was only flour and water, but it baked up about a half inch thick, and it was very, very, VERY chewy. We were instructed to receive in the hand and hold it until everyone had received. After everyone had received, we were instructed to sit down and consume the Host. The Cup was brought to everyone by our priest
Cut for length; see next post.
. Sounds like you are doing fine.
