Leading Into Holy Week

With an unusual start to the weekend, I discovered I am probably old. Well, not the start exactly, because that was work as normal, but Saturday evening I went to a Taize service. And I was almost the youngest one there. So, therefore, I must be old. Probably.
Anyway, for those of you who have never been to a service inspired by Taize, which is a community in France visited by people of all denominations (and ages), what you need to know really is that it is quiet. They build silence into their liturgies, which are quite simple to start with-the idea being that anyone can join in if they wish. Because anyone can worship. The service was lovely, quite relaxing for me. Though that may have been partly because I was quite tired anyway. I kind of dozed a bit, but I didn't sleep, as I joined in with most of the responses. I was aware of Taize services before, and discovered I actually knew several bits of the liturgy they were using. The whole thing was very peaceful, and I will definitely go again. If anyone is interested, it's at st Mary's church every couple of months-the next one should be around May 18th-it will be a saturday, anyway.
And then, afterwards, chatting with a few folk, I discovered that Folk On were playing a bit later at St Matthews-pretty much just across the road. So I had to decide whether or not I would go-and I went for 'yes'. I went into town and grabbed something to eat, then headed straight over. I met up with a couple of friends, and got a seat near the front. Which was good, as the place was pretty packed. Now, if you haven't seen Folk On before, they're a folk trio who either attend the Salvation Army church locally, or come from the small cotswold village of Little Dribblepatch (so small you won't find it on any map. Or google earth-apparently the day the satellite came over they hid the village in the bushes). Needless to say, they're not entirely serious. Or not at all. Which is all to the good. Needless to say, if you like music or comedy, then you'll probably like them-and if you like both, then you absolutely will. I enjoyed myself muchly, and even caught up with a couple of friends who I wasn't expecting to see, one from Bristol. Where they're playing soon, if you fancy it.
So that was Saturday evening. Sunday was much more relaxed, starting with getting up later for a start. I read a bit, and then I wrote a poem inspired by the evening. And then I went to church. God told me to got to St Matthews that evening, which was interesting, as I wasn't expecting my Saturday to be mostly there as well. But it was also interesting because they did a completely different service to what I think went on at my church. The start was probably similar, and then it was quite different-they had what was basically a small passion play, going through the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. And then there was a cross, in which we were invited to hammer nails in, before taking a palm cross. I was reminded once again what the point of the crucifixion is all about, and the fact that Jesus did that for me. Definitely something that will stay with me for some time to come.