I’m not sure that I’ll ever get used to preaching in the cathedral; that elevated pulpit is still daunting. It’s great because you can see the entire congregation, save the folks who are seated behind the pillars, but golly. The steps felt less like a plank today, but it’s still strange to me to climb steps like that.
Since the USPs weren’t around this weekend, Agatha recorded my sermon so they could see it. Rev. JJ, my cathedral supervisor, came into the service to listen, and gave me an index card with his feedback, which was both very encouraging and wonderfully sweet. Sidenote: last fall, Rev. JJ and his family were in a terrible accident, and his wife was killed. Rev. JJ was hurt, and I’ve inferred that his jaw was wired for some time. His physical recovery is progressing nicely, though when he talks too much, his jaw obviously pains him. Keep in mind that he has the children with him at home, alone, to include an infant who was born not long before the accident. Rev. JJ had led the first service on Sunday, and asked to sit out of the second service because his jaw was paining him, yet he came in later (unvested) to hear me preach. He may have had other reasons, but I loved seeing him sitting there. He’s such a wonderful man. I’m really glad he was there, because there was a baptism that surprised everyone (another ambush, though one of the priests knew about it) and threw off the service, and then a thanksgiving after, so it threw off when I thought I would approach the pulpit, and Rev. JJ was there to tell me when to go. [Thanksgiving is just what it sounds like; when someone has something to give thanks for, like the dedication of a baby, or surviving an accident (we had one of those last week), or something for which you’re grateful and you’d like to thank God publically, you have a thanksgiving, in which you kneel at the altar rail after the offering. The priest offers the prayer of thanksgiving, and those kneeling often give a thanks offering.]
This is all very normal, after all; this is Africa.
The baptism wasn’t the only surprise; when the reader read the lessons, they were not the ones I’d been given. Apparently, there had been a meeting in which the lessons were revised, and no one had informed me. This is Africa, after all. The ambush (as we say here whenever you’re surprised by something) turned out not to be as bad as I feared as I was listening to the reader read from the “wrong” chapter in Leviticus, then from 1 Peter instead of Romans. Actually, the 1 Peter reading was easy to fold in, though I would have loved to have done more with it than a passing mention. But we live and learn. I folded in the Leviticus lesson too, though that was a bit more of a challenge, and makes me curious for the reason for the change.
So, that’s done. The USPs are probably going to have a sermon viewing later. I don’t think I want to watch myself – Agatha was sitting to my left, and got a good angle, but golly. Does anyone enjoy seeing themselves on film/listening to themselves? How to actors do it?
I’ve had good feedback from people who were in the cathedral, and with several hundred people there, sitting four feet beneath me, it kept surprising me yesterday when folks said they heard me. Or saw me – Joan With Specs saw the footage. I’m most grateful for the positive feedback – praise God! I’d still change some things, but they’re mostly small. Now to get Dr. Olivia Banja, my UCU supervisor’s feedback…
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