Advent I

Forgive me for not writing much tonight, but I've been at the cathedral all day long and I'm very tired.

Our guests in the cathedral community during this special week (which is the 150th anniversary of our building) have been the Suffragan Bishop of Cuba, the Rt. Rev. Nerva Cot Aguilera, and her husband, the Very Rev. Juan Ramón de la Paz, who is the Dean of our sister cathedral in Havana. At the 10:00 am service today, Juan preached and Nerva co-celebrated; his sermon was about the great importance of equal friendship between peoples of different cultures - not judging, not feeling superior/inferior because of wealth or opportunity or political idealogy, but simply meeting each other as friends. At the big Advent Lessons&Carols Evensong later in the day, Nerva read one of the lessons in Spanish, and other readings were in French and in English, which was very nice indeed.

Yesterday evening there was a dinner and dance in celebration of this anniversary. I hadn't expected to have such a good time, but I did -- dancing until late in my high heels (and I didn't even feel sore today.) We had delicious Caribbean food served by another Montreal Anglican congregation, who do catering as part of their ministry. But the highlight was watching this couple from Havana dancing to Latin rhythms: so elegant, so dignified, and so joyful. They'll go home in a few days, taking off the sweaters, parkas, and mufflers that have been protecting them during these northern days, but hopefully full of memories of the warmth with which they were greeted here.

I wish I knew what they've been thinking.

Comments

[Marja-Leena]

How very joyful this all must have been for everyone, including the special guests, I'm sure!

[Bill]

Church? Dancing? RU kidding? You make me aware of where I live where such a thing seems provocative, lascivious, hardly imaginable at all. I wonder if mega-churches around here, in their striving to be full service community institutions with daycare, through the week youth programs and such, have yet gotten around to dancing. Christian Rock being hugely popular, I'm certain that electrified worship band are numerous, but still I can't quite imagine anyone actually dancing to them, especially members of the older population. I keep meaning to go to one of these churches to see what in the name of dog is going on there. I've been to a revival at pentecostal church where congregants went straight from clapping, stamping and swaying to a swoon. Trembling, sure, but no dancing.

It's my guess that the only relationship our churches here would want with Cuba would be purely missionary.

[Beth]

You bet, Bill. Not only dancing, but rum punch and plenty of wine. Seeing several bishops out on the dance floor boogieing, as well as our own clergy in high heels and party dresses, was definitely worth the price of admission, but better yet was seeing our own very inclusive congregation having a great time together - gay couples dancing freely with their own partners or straight friends, people dancing in groups and dancing with the clergy, elderly people, and even one developmentally-challenged acolyte having a great time out on the dance floor, and nobody thinking anything about it except that it was a lot of fun. It was an accurate reflection of who we are as a community, and everyone said they had had a much better time than they'd anticipated - "let's do it again!"

[dale]

:-) sounds wonderful!