Compline to Canada!

Compline is my favorite service. So I was so excited to attend St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, but I didn't understand that this Sunday night offering is not really a congregational service so much as a performance piece by the cathedral choir. Young people from the local colleges gather, many bringing blankets and pillows and lying on the sanctuary floor, to listen to the choir offer a modern version of what the medieval office might have sounded like. The choir is all male. The language is 16th century and the vibe is really Roman monastic.

But the congregation has nothing to do until the creed when everyone stands while the choir recites it. Otherwise, it's a concert. Reverent and probably historically pretty accurate (and definitely beautiful), but really rather soulless. It reminded me of visiting St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue with its amazing boy's choir and ushers with flower boutinaires. The church was gorgeous and the liturgy was textbook but the congregation had nothing to do (only the priests and the choir). Beautiful and terrible all at the same time.

I was so proud to get a note from my old friend, Jerry Kahler, saying that you all knew how to participate in the liturgy; that you really worshipped and it wasn't just the worship team. Of course, I didn't do that. You already knew how to do that when I arrived on the scene.

But it makes all the difference in the world to know that worship is not the same as performance. No matter how beautiful the music is technically, it can become simply an academic exercise unless the heart is present. At least for me on Sunday night, there was no heart. All those young people came to hear but not participate. Too bad.

Up early, breakfast, packed, and departed for Canada. Rain all the way from Seattle to Vancouver.

At the border, in the rain I manage to pick the wrong lane and end up in the Nexus lane, which is all about people paying to go back and forth across the border (so these are special people and well known to the border guards). But we should not have been there. The guard asked lots of questions, drugs? Leaving anything in Canada? Meeting anyone? Guns? When I said, "No," he said, "No? But Americans love their guns!" I said, "I don't have guns and I never will. I hate guns!"

But Sarah and I were pulled over and sent to talk with other agents who could clear our passports. Already in trouble. Not in the country 5 minutes! They couldn't believe we would drive all the way up the west coast to spend two days in Canada. But they were very nice and we were cleared. We drove on into Vancouver in the driving rain and checked into this incredible hotel.

After obsessing about the cost, I settled down and we went to dinner. Really special and sooo good. It should be, after all, it's Thanksgiving! I prayed in thanksgiving for this amazing opportunity, for my incredible family, the beautiful souls at St. Peter's, music, good food, Canada, all the blessings of my life.

Tomorrow: Vancouver!

 

Posted with Blogsy