...or, They Talk Funny Over Here, Part II.
Some of you may be curious about what an “internship” at Christ Church Cathedral entails. The job description I received via email a few months ago said I could “expect some Liturgical responsibilities, moving chairs and everything in between.”
Thus far, virtually everything has been on the “chair moving” side of the spectrum. However, on our first Saturday in Oxford (June 30) there were two ordination ceremonies and I had the role of “Crucifer” at each ceremony. (I carried the crucifix at the head of the of the processions.) I am happy to report that my performance was flawless—I didn’t drop the crucifix even once.
Last Sunday, Darla and I “served” at the Christ Church 11:00 Eucharist. I was the Crucifer and she was one of the two torch (candlestick) bearers in the processionals.
Otherwise, my work has been assisting the Cathedral vergers. In the Episcopal USA tradition, a verger leads the procession in and out of the service. Some parishes use a verger for every Eucharist (Holy Communion) service, but it is my experience that most parishes use a verger only on High Feast days, or not at all. On the other hand, the vergers at Christ Church have a wide variety of duties. On the liturgical side, they meet with clergy to help choose among liturgical options for the variety of services at the Cathedral. The services include—depending on the day of the week—Morning Prayer, Choral Matins, said Matins, Choral Eucharist, said Eucharist, Choral Evensong and Evening Prayer. At the bottom of this post is a link to the July bulletin for Christ Church Services and Music offerings. While the Cathedral has 500,000 visitors per year, you will see that the visits are made around a very busy and vital worship schedule.
Otherwise, my work has been assisting the Cathedral vergers. In the Episcopal USA tradition, a verger leads the procession in and out of the service. Some parishes use a verger for every Eucharist (Holy Communion) service, but it is my experience that most parishes use a verger only on High Feast days, or not at all. On the other hand, the vergers at Christ Church have a wide variety of duties. On the liturgical side, they meet with clergy to help choose among liturgical options for the variety of services at the Cathedral. The services include—depending on the day of the week—Morning Prayer, Choral Matins, said Matins, Choral Eucharist, said Eucharist, Choral Evensong and Evening Prayer. At the bottom of this post is a link to the July bulletin for Christ Church Services and Music offerings. While the Cathedral has 500,000 visitors per year, you will see that the visits are made around a very busy and vital worship schedule.
The vergers also print the bulletins for each of these services and participate in the services in the traditional role of vergering: they lead the clergy during processions and escort the readers to the lectern and back to their seats as well as escorting the preacher to and from the pulpit for the sermon.
The less glamorous role of the verger is the maintaining the physical plant of the Cathedral— that is where I come in. Because of the many and varied services, movable/stackable chairs constantly need to be set out, moved re-stored. These transitions occur at least once a day and often more than once. The Cathedral is quite proud of these chairs. They are relatively new and very “sturdy”—i.e., they are heavy. Also, the chairs come in sets of one, two, three and four chairs. The sets of three and four are quite heavy. As it turns out, four years of college, three years of law school, a 35-year law practice and two years of seminary have left me uniquely qualified to move these Cathedral chairs—and I am given the opportunity to do so quite often.
| Some of the sets of four chairs. |
However, I do not want to be understood as only a “chair mover.” In fact, my unique qualifications extend to storage-room cleaning and “tidying.” I know that my qualifications for this cleaning are unique, because no verger here can recall any of these storage rooms being cleaned. (However, the longest tenured verger has only been here twenty-four years, so someone with my credentials my well have cleaned these rooms in the 1100-year history of the Cathedral.)
In all seriousness, the vergers with whom I work very closely are wonderful people. There are three full-time vergers (Matt, Jim and Matthew) and a half-time verger (Emily). Each of these people are delightful and never tire of answering my continuous questions about the services and the history of Christ Church Cathedral. In short, every morning I look forward to my day “on the floor” of the Cathedral.
This brings me to “brilliant” and “good.” I had not been here more than two days when I began to feel that perhaps I am something special. It seemed that with every task I completed I was told that my job was “brilliant!” However, I then began to notice that many others were often told they were performing brilliantly—and for seemingly the most mundane tasks. Set out the hymnals... “brilliant!” Return from lunch and report for duty... “brilliant!” Take out the trash... “brilliant.” ...and the list could go on and on. However, it wasn’t until several days after I started that I was told that I had done a “good” job on a more significant task. I queried one of my verger pals and it was explained that “good” is a compliment and “brilliant” is merely acknowledgement of a completed task (or the promise to complete a task). So, “brilliant” is the equivalent of our “good” and vice versa. I am told that “terribly good” is an ultimate compliment... I’m still waiting on that one.
My next post will discuss some of the history of Christ Church. In the meantime, God’s Peace to you all.
Randy
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