Last night’s service at St Paul’s showed Oriel’s choir in a radically different setting from the usual intimate college chapel, and permitted them to sing magnificently at full power. No doubt Dr Maw’s excellence as a teacher and conductor, and his wisdom in selecting pieces that made the most of both the setting (with St Paul’s notorious eight-second reverb, when the nave is relatively dull) and the choir’s strengths, combined to amplify all the best gifts of the choir. The cathedral was surprisingly (to me) full, the officiant, lectors, and intercessors read effectively (I noted that Lord Mendoza read to his usual high standard), God was greatly praised with words from our own St John Henry Newman, and satisfying pizza followed after. I napped on the Oxford Tube back to Our Fair City, and the bus trip home to Abingdon passed fairly quickly. After lugging my backpack and a travel bag crammed with vestments, I slept like a champion, thank heaven.
I had already decreed my intent to have a lie-in and not run today, so after a leisurely wake-up interval I cooked my hot breakfast, changed to work clothes, joined in Morning Prayer at St Helen’s, and have come home for another mug of coffee and some work time. Ash Wednesday parish service is at 7:30 tonight.
I should say something about the political situation in the USA, in answer to Dave’s cry of outrage. I’ve hitherto been venting my spleen on the socials, but at this point my relatively un-visited blog may as well join the party and affirm what Dave says: As if the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti were not blatant enough evidence, the recent revelation that the DHS sought subpoenas for the operators of online accounts that criticise ICE makes it clear that the US is sliding into the worst kind of authoritarian state, as the government exercises control of the media through its billionaire proxies, executes and disappears citizens for their exercise of First Amendment rights, and indulges its gluttonous id in shameless corruption. At this point I can’t imagine going to the US again even to visit my beloved family, at least not until after the half-terms reveal a clue toward the trajectory the government will follow.