Gung Hey Fat Choi! Millions of people around the world celebrated the lunar new year yesterday and ushered in the Year of the Tiger. The Dean of Canterbury was one of them - he and his crew of one turned their usual morning prayer service into a celebration of Chinese and Philipine culture, which included music and footage from St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong. You can check out their festive count-down at the 53:46 mark of the morning prayer recording!
This expression of culture, custom and Christianity (which featured pairings such as psalms read to the accompaniment of a Chinese melody and Auld Lang Syne being sung by Chinese worshippers waving noisemakers in the Hong Kong cathedral) reminded us of the vibrant variety of countries and cultures that comprise our Christian family - and how we can learn from and enrich each other.
And then THAT reminded us that is the year of the Lambeth Conference, which usually occurs every 10 years. At this gathering, bishops from across the worldwide Anglican Communion meet at Canterbury to confer and consult. So what better year than this to learn more about the cultures represented in the Anglican Communion? Just click here for a list of the member churches - we can do some fun virtual travelling in 2022, even if the pandemic is keeping us snug at home!
LET'S CELEBRATE AT ST. CLEMENT'S!
So as the year progresses, we look forward to weaving some multicultural elements into St. Clement's life - whether that's a dancer taking part in our Sunday morning liturgy, a multicultural theme for a summer social, occasional forays into new hymns, a different slant to some of our sermons - let's see where our explorations take us! If you are interested in developing some ideas along these lines, or have any other suggestions or leads, please speak with someone on the clergy team.
We plan to move this into high gear for Pentecost season, so please put on your thinking caps now!