What is in Kelvin's Head?

The Triduum Promise

02/04/2015
Over the next couple of days, I will be entering into a different time zone.

It is one thing to put the clock forward to British Summer Time but it is quite another to step into the triduum zone.

The Triduum is the set of services that begin with the Maundy Thursday communion service tonight and which culminate (if Jesus rises) with a great feast on Sunday morning.

When I say that it is like stepping into a timezone, people might presume that it is like stepping back 2000 years but in fact it feels different to that. It is more as though the events surrounding the crucifixion step into our time than that we are looking backwards.

Every year I make the same promise – if you come and keep the Triduum here in St Mary’s it will change your life and change the way you think about Christianity forever. I’ve never had anyone say that my promise wasn’t kept.

What I’m talking about is coming to all of the following:
- The Maundy Thursday service followed by as much of the Watch as possible. (The Watch will be kept until Midnight and some people go away after the communion and return for some of the Watch later in the evening).
- The Good Friday Three Hour devotions and at least one of the other services (either Veneration of the Cross at 9.30 am or Stations of the Cross at 7.30 pm)
- The clean and polish on Holy Saturday – (Yes, this really is part of the triduum experience).
- The Fire Vigil at 7 am on Easter Day.
- High Mass on Easter Day.
It seems like a lot. It is a lot.

But it is a big promise and I’ve found that there’s always one or two who try it out every year. They tend to come back and repeat the experience and yes, they describe it as life changing.

There’s at least one description of what it is like from someone who tested the promise out online, but there’s plenty more accounts circulating in the congregation.

[The previous links in the post above all point to previous descriptions I’ve written on this blog about those services – a couple of years out of date, 2000 years up to date – I don’t know)/

7 responses to “10 Discussion Points about the Church and Virtual Reality”

Tim

30/03/2012

Hear here. (Especially the evolutionary point.)

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chris

30/03/2012

…or even “hear hear”! Very pertinent in my neck of the woods, where the cyber-poor and the cyber-dinosaurs have their abode (and the second category is not necessarily related to the first other than in outcome).

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Pam Smith

30/03/2012

Excellent points.

I’ve been working in online Christian communities quite a while, and I’ve observed a couple of things that I think replicate mistakes in offline evangelism:

1) ‘Success’ is equated with numbers of followers not the quality of the interactions. So a lot of energy can be put into building up a following regardless of who the followers are. This often means attracting Christians who aren’t normally very interested in being online to your online project, rather than trying to make your online Christian project appealing to people who spend a lot of time online.

2) Events that are geared towards using the online media for evangelism and outreach almost always end up being evangelistic about online media not about Christianity

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Steve Murray

30/03/2012

I canâ€™t access the blog to post comments â€“ does this mean cyberpoverty may also stem from corporate repression? [These comments posted by Kelvin by request via email]

My â€˜cyberpovertyâ€™ is a deliberate choice â€“ I sit in front of a computer all day so have deliberately chosen not to be online at home. Is this really a societal evil … ?

The web is already beset by megaphones and proverbial empty vessels can make the most noise â€“ how do we distinguish between volume and quality â€“ I can follow thousands of religious twitterings but who filters out the distortion? â€“ c.f. The Guardian which is in the process of shedding journalists and filling its pages with â€˜comment is freeâ€™ â€“ aye, and you get what you pay for . . .

You do already provide ministries for the cyberpoor â€“ theyâ€™re called churches â€“ they have gravitas, space for quiet reflection, sanctuary from information overload, and a community â€“ long may they continue.

Will there be a paywall to fund the virtual church â€“ or will it be forced to rely on commercial sponsorship? A reading from the book of Numbers, brought to you in association with Lehman Brothers.

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Kimberly

30/03/2012

[…] Kelvin is asking good questions again about the theology and praxis of The Church and Virtual Reality.Â He sets out questions enough for several doctoral thesis, but it was this that caught my eye.Â […]

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Eric Stoddart

30/03/2012

Two important aspects that I suggest need to be added to your list, Kelvin.
(a) the monetarisation of cyberspace, especially of social networking (making money out of ‘friendship’ is a big business), and
(b) the effects of social networking as a means of surveillance (that’s lateral, between friends, as well as by mega-corporations); how is our behaviour being modified by the collection of, and categorisation by, our personal data?

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kelvin

30/03/2012

Thanks, Eric, yes.

And important to recognise that the church is in the business of calling on people in relationship with it to cough up money too. It isn’t just big business.

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