To the Cathedral in Perth last night for the ordination of the Rev Giles Dove. It was a splendid affair too. A good preacher and an organist [John Kitchen] who was playing to the gallery helped a lot.
For some reason I ended up sitting in a gloomy corner in the north aisle, which for a dedicated attention seeker is not the best place to find oneself. [As Saint Patrick Swayze famously said, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner”]
What a lot of music there was! Four anthems from two choirs on top of a full choral setting. It is a good job I like music as much as I do. The trouble with this is that it does make the liturgy rather long – 1 3/4 hours in fact.
I did find myself put in charge of getting the procession into the cathedral in an order, which was an entertaining task. For the record, it was Ministers of the Church of Scotland, Priests of the Orthodox Church (Russian), Lay Readers from the Episcopal Church, Deacons of the Episcopal Church and Priests of the Episcopal Church. People within their divisions were invited to process in alphabetical order, which I suggested to them would make an excellent ice-breaker in the cloister. Personally, I think it is a mistake putting non-Episcopal clergy right at the front as it puts the onus on them to find the right seating. Given that there was barely enough seating left for the clergy anyway, this task was made more difficult than usual, which is what led me to be sitting in a corner with my knees pressed against a grand piano – a position from which one could see very little.
I do rather wish that someone had been put in charge of getting the procession out again at the end. Once again, Bishop David ended up in the middle of a procession with his clergy tripping out behind him.
Notwithstanding all this, it was still a very enjoyable do. It is the third Sunday evening in a row that I have had Sunday Night Religion. It is becoming something of a habit.
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