LPaD 33: new

here's something old 

and something new

together.

This is a (from-the-floor) shot of some of the sanctuary at All Saints Cathedral, the big Episcopal church in downtown MKE.  The first time I was here was for a chamber music concert put on by the Eastside Chamber Players; the second was for a beautiful choral evensong service for Lent one Sunday afternoon.

why "old"? 
Well, the building is old. It was originally built in 1868 in the Gothic Revival style.  Super pretty.
The Episcopal Church is old. It's the American version of the Anglican Church, or the Church of England.  The Episcopal tradition of the U.S. started shortly after the American Revolution because those of the Anglican faith wanted to keep doing their thing but couldn't/didn't want to pledge allegiance to the English king.
The music was old...ish.  At the choral evensong service, the organ prelude included selections from Bach (his Passicaglia and Fugue in C minor - one of my favorites!) and Messiaen, so quite a time range.  Still, any organ music could be considered part of the 'old' worship tradition.  Portions of the service sung by the congregation were largely in a monotone or 2-3 note chant style, reminiscent of early pre-Baroque chant traditions.  My traditional-worship-music self had a field day.

why "new"?
I have recently started to explore and have become slightly more familiar with the Episcopal tradition.  Between following The Rev. Laurie Brock, Lent Madness, and other inter/cross-denominational feeds on twitter and the blog-o-sphere, my interactions with Christ Church in Whitefish Bay (a partner church of All Peoples), and my love of exploring different styles of worship and worship music, I've been exposed to a little more of Episcopal-ness.
Though it's not completely new for me, I'm trying again to intentionally seek out opportunities for me to be more spiritually filled.  Working at a church is great and all, and being surrounded by a positive Christian community is something I wouldn't trade for the world, but because my church is also my job, worship services at All Peoples sometimes feel more like work to me than they do worship.  I'm not saying that's a bad thing, and it doesn't mean I don't appreciate or enjoy the services we have; it just means that for my own spiritual and emotional well-being, I've found I need to seek out other ways to 'fill my bucket,' as it were.  I do this in a variety of ways: finding organ and other music concerts to go to, attending worship at our partner churches during Lent, knitting during the sermon, doing this Lenten Photo a Day challenge and reflecting, and making music by myself for myself.  I guess a lot of this could be considered self-care, something I am thinking about again as Holy Week approaches, plans for our HS summer trip through church are piling up, and I'm feeling burnout coming on.  Through this semi-new focus on 'bucket filling,' I hope I can better enjoy my life, see the beauty in the little things, remember to have fun, and take time to take care of myself.

What new thing will you do so that you can perceive what God is doing in your midst?