SSJD Worship

Life at the Convent has a regular pattern every day, worship and eating, and free time in between. My days have been - eat pray read pray eat read pray eat read pray bed. The real schedule is 7:45am Breakfast followed by Morning Prayer; 12 noon Eucharist followed by dinner; 5pm Evening Prayer followed by supper; 8:10pm Compline. In between I have been reading and enjoying the good weather. The chapel is a bright westward facing chapel with the chairs in typical monastic style, facing each other accross the aisle. One of the aspects of worship that I find very meaningful, comes at the end of worship. At entering the chapel, people venerate the altar with a bow, acknowledging God's presence. At the end of worship, instead of bowing to the altar, both sides bow to each other acknowledging the presence of God in each other. It would be interesting to try that back at the Good Shepherd. It is a powerful statement about the presence of God among us. This is the chapel at the Convent. Worship was certainly a big part of all of my sabbatical , both in Toronto and in Europe. It is one thing that can unite people of faith, to worship and share the Lord's Table together, despite the differences in theology. As long as we can share the table, there is hope. Unfortunately in our Anglcian community, some have chosen not to share the table with those of us who are more progressive or liberal in thinking.