WORSHIPPING
PUBLISHING
LIVING
Don’t miss 7pm Wednesday 6th May
“The Church in Lockdown – how are we doing?”
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72543129362? The password is 262239. See the eventbrite link: https://tinyurl.com/ybrfge58
HOLY WEEK ON ZOOM
April started with all churches celebrating Holy Week in lockdown. But social media platforms like Zoom enabled us to celebrate it virtually. On Palm Sunday I held a simple communion service with Linda and a few friends on Zoom, and gave a half hour talk on what actually happened with Jesus every day of the week. E.g. why did Jesus arrive late at the temple on Palm Sunday? (Mark 11.11) because he’d just walked 18 miles uphill from Jericho. The next day was when he threw the traders out; he also stopped people using the Temple as a short cut for carrying goods. It wasn’t a demonstration; it was an occupation! No wonder the priests were furious. I recorded the talks on Zoom and actually managed to put them up on my new youtube channel “bible in brief”.
For Maundy Thursday I celebrated a simplified Passover seder (service) as Jesus might have done. There were 8 of us sharing food via our screens. I got the idea from an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz which gave an easy guide to what food to have on the seder plate. It really worked.
Easter Day started at 6.30 with me and Linda in our communal garden having a short Dawn Service. It was a perfect spring morning. Next year we will invite people to join us. After a joyful Easter service on Zoom at 10.00, Linda insisted that I stand on our balcony, and sing “Amazing Grace”, which I followed with “Jesus Christ is risen today”. A lady with her dog stopped and listened to it all and I got a round of applause from the neighbouring houses and flats. I have been singing three hymns from our balcony every Sunday since. Because Philbeach Gardens is a crescent the acoustics are great!
BREAD AND WINE IN LOCKDOWN
The day after Easter I got an email from Jenny, our area dean, advising me of the C of E’s official position that to celebrate a virtual communion via screens was not permitted. Once I had got over my initial foot-stamping reaction, I started thinking . I decided that there was another possibility of sharing bread and wine without it being communion, through a combination of Orthodox ‘artoklasia’ (breaking of the bread) or ‘agape’, which I had experienced in Jerusalem;
and the Jewish “kiddush”, when the sabbath morning service is concluded by raising a glass “to life!” It had impressed me in Streatham synagogue 30 years ago. The exciting thing for me was that I was able to use my Jewish (on my father’s side) family’s 18th century kiddush cup. I used my reflections on this for my monthly blog, “Bread and Wine in Lockdown”, which I summarised on facebook and then boosted. It reached 9,340 people and got 2,763 likes!
You are welcome to join me on Sunday at 10.00 via Zoom for a short service. Just email me at aoroland@gmail.com and I will send you the link.
PUBLISHING IN LOCKDOWN
By April I was ready to publish an improved edition of “Discovering Psalms as Prayer”.
The first main change is a chapter on ‘Who wrote the Psalms When’. The clue lies in the very first words of the book. These are “Book One”. There are in fact five books which make up the psalms. By looking at the ancient editorial headings, you get an idea of the circumstances they were written in. Of the first 40, 18 are directed “to the leader” or musical director. He was responsible for a choir of 288 singers! After Psalm 90 there is no mention of a music leader; these psalms must have come from a time when there was no king, no temple and no choir. At the end of the book is a section, ‘Daily Prayer’. This is intended as a practical aid for anyone who would like to try a simple fourfold pattern of prayer during the day, with psalms as the backbone.
However, Filament Publishing Ltd, like so many other businesses went into sleep mode on 18th April. On their last day at work I had to choose how I wanted to publish it as an e-book – whether to put it on all e-book platforms, or to take up Amazon’s offer of five days on which I could offer the book for free, but then its distribution as an e-book would be limited to Kindle. But they are a major player in the world of books. I decided that the five free days was a good opportunity to do some serious marketing, so that is the route I chose. Of course the paper back version will not be restricted to Amazon.
The first free day I chose was my birthday, 23rd April. I thought that could be a nice link, together with its being St George’s Day. I paid for an advice session with Kizzie of ‘Social Fireworks’, my social media guru. She said, quite rightly, that I need to put myself in the shoes of my audience. I tried to do this with the opening sentence: “HOW CAN I SHAPE MY TIME when time in lockdown is so shapeless?” I boosted this too, and it reached 2,141 people, of whom 128 responded in some way. I had hoped for more. The next free days will be the weekend of Pentecost (30-31/5), and I will publicise it through clergy networks as well. I can but try!
LIFE IN LOCKDOWN
I miss going out to cafe’s and lunchtime concerts and cinemas, but the lockdown has brought me some benefits. I have started to learn German more purposefully, and my piano playing is improving. And I started reading again, beginning with a novel by Robert Graves about the Roman emperor Claudius (who ruled from 41 to 54 AD) – rather dense but fascinating about Herod Agrippa (who killed James, John’s brother) and the conquest of Britain. This new reading habit is a good thing as my brother gave me the latest Hilary Mantle book for my birthday – all 882 pages! And the lockdown made my birthday brilliant! I had a family dinner via Zoom with my brother and sister-in-law, assorted nephews and nieces, and our son Peter. We all had pasta and wine. There were eleven of us sharing five screens. It was a marvellous get-together and lasted two hours.
THE CHURCH IN LOCKDOWN – how are we doing?
In a few days time, at 7.00pm on Wednesday 6th May, I will host a ‘No Holds Barred” discussion on “The Church in Lockdown – How are we doing?”. Has the lockdown been a body blow or a shot in the arm? The discussion will start with my blog “Bread and Wine in Lockdown” but all opinions or ideas about the question are welcome.
The eventbrite link: https://tinyurl.com/ybrfge58
The Zoom link which will take you there is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72543129362? The password is 262239
You can contact me on:
aoroland@gmail.com Tel 0207 370 7431 www.bibleinbrief.org
facebook/revandybooks twitter.com/rev_andy_books
linkedin.com/andrewroland youtube.com/bibleinbrief