**
Everyone should be completely veiled (except for faces and hands) to keep us from being distracted by each other's choices of clothing, jewelry, hair styles, etc. (Optional but provided at door: those things they put on horses so they can see only straight ahead.)
The veil-outfits should have lots of pockets so we wouldn't have to grope in our purses, etc. for kleenex, cough drops, water bottles, and so on.
THE FLOOR SHOULD BE MADE OF RUBBER or whatever it is that they put on tracks to make them easier on the joints.
***Most importantly, everyone should have assigned places BASED ON HEIGHT so that the short people can still see the icons, altar area, etc.
More babies, all sorts and conditions thereof--bring 'em on!
And of course, somehow, everyone should have access to all the words of the hymns, kanons, etc.
**
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
And the choir in the back so that they are a part of (rather than 'apart from') the faithful.
What to do about the "center" line down the middle of the nave that everyone refuses to stand in, but ought to be the first place anyone would want to stand to see the altar, so we might stand close enough to touch the robe as the gifts pass?
It's not just the height, it's the hat. I think there's a formula that goes something like this where "h" = height, "H" = hat size, and "f" = fidgety-ness: (h + the square root of H + f/pi squared) all divided by Napier's Constant (2.718).
The higher the number, the farther back you have to stand. And that volleyball player lady with the really big hat ... she gets stapled to the back wall!
nothinghypothetical,
Our choir is in the back--it's great. But I'm in the back of the choir, and I can't see much!
Center line? I don't think we have that.
Touch the robe? The robe of the priest? I don't think we do that either. But it sounds like a good idea!
Jim,
Hats? Is that an Alaska thing? Nobody here seems to wear hats...I would have to bring a BB gun into church if they did! I love your formula!
Oh yeah, hats. Nope, it's not an Alaska thing; up there they wear touques (or stalking caps). Down here its big hats: Kentucky-Derby-style-need-a-mint-julip-in-one-and-betting-form-in-the-other-hand-to-be-legal hats. There's a group of women that wear big floppy, tall, totally in the way and totally distracting hats instead of scarves. We have pews and these women sit in the front three or four pews, which means the rest of us can't see very well.
We have our "Saint of the Day" Icon on a stand in the "middle" of the Nave and someone thought of putting a carpet runner up the middle to the stand.
My choir director remarked the other night, "They act like that darn carpet is holy ground, no one will stand there. We should get rid of it so people can stand where they can see through the Royal Doors."
She was right. No one gets anywhere near that carpet (except to go up and venerate the Saint).
Touching the robe of the priest during the Great Entrance with the gifts is an old tradition, but I don't know it's ethnic origin (we have a very diverse parish and I lose track of all the countries folks are from). Women do it. I think it is to figure the woman who touched Jesus' robe for healing.
There is something beautiful about it.
Post a Comment