Retirement

My boss and Rector, Fr. Don Turner retired today. It was hard at the communion rail to see him in tears. In coffee hour he mentioned how communion was such an 'intimate' moment. He could barely speak when he got to me at the rail. He enjoyed himself in the service. The processional wound its way around the church with Jeff Wise as Thurifer leading the way, while we sang St. Patrick's hymn "I Bind Myself ..." Fr. chanted most of the service including the Gospel reading which is always interesting. I stood in the balcony videotaping a variety of scenes. I got great footage of the hand bell choir which plays up there. I'm not sure what really gets Fr. all excited about services like today ... the chanting? ... the incense? ... processing around the church? I dunno. It just doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Although I do like the incense, particularly when it gets going good and the place looks like the blue haze I used to see in the bingo hall as a kid. It was particularly interesting during the OT lesson, where God said their incense was an abomination to Him, and here I am in an ECUSA church and the blue haze. The irony did not go unnoticed. I wonder if God was speaking those words even today.