Sunday, May 30, 2010

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Let's talk about how much I love the Sabbath, shall we? Yes, let us shall.

It is just such a blessed day! It is so refreshing to focus solely on things that matter. While yes, I am reading Following Christ right now and am studying the skips or Conference talks on a daily basis, focusing on Christ and Heavenly Father for the entire day just doesn't really happen terribly often on non-Sabbath days. But when I do focus on them all day long, how I feel the Spirit so strongly! It is so refreshing.

So today was really great. This morning, roommates Chris and Jonnie and I went to Sung Eucharist, where they did Byrd's Mass for Four Voices at St. Bartholomew's church, actually very close to where we saw Peter Pan on Friday night.

The church was gorgeous. It was built in 1123, so the architecture was not as ornate and fancy was many other churches I've seen over here, but I kind of preferred that because it actually preserved the worshipfulness of the chapel, as opposed to focusing on the ornateness or fanciness, etc (I'm pretty sure I've used some words that don't actually exist in the English language in this paragraph). It was relatively small, but big enough that it was still a “legit” european church.

The service was super nice. The Mass for Four Voices is fantastic. William Byrd wrote it after some monarch (who I don't presently remember) came into power and forced everyone to convert to the Anglican Church, but he wanted to remain Catholic. So he continued having underground Catholic services in covert locations with those who wanted to continue in the Catholic tradition. Therefore, the masses for three, four, and five voices are fairly Catholic-sounding (rather than Anglican-sounding) and they are really great because they are also extremely intimate. Often, there would only be a few people at these services Byrd sponsored, so if there were only going to be three people at church the next week, he would write a Mass for Three Voices. If it was only going to be four, Mass for Four Voices. And then he wrote one more for five. I think my favorite is for three. It is just so intimate, yet, at the same time, Byrd manages to make it a bit intricate and really engaging. It's fantastic stuff.

So the choir was only six voices and it just had that intimate sound that I'm sure Byrd heard when he wrote the piece. I really loved it. It was really quite refreshing to hear. Loved it.

After the service, we rushed to the Singles' Ward at Hyde Park, where we had a super good Sacrament Meeting, mainly about dedication to the Lord and gospel study.

After Sunday School, I overheard some Portuguese from two girls just in front of me, so after a little, I asked where they were from in Portuguese, which took them completely off-guard. It was really funny.

And in true Brasilian form, I was immediately their friend and we started planning things to do together. I had had thoughts to go to Bath tomorrow, and they were possibly having a churrasco (Brasilian barbecue), so they were either going to come with me to Bath or I was going to join them for the churrasco. Anyway, it was super fun to speak Portuguese and be among Brasilians. Gotta love them.

After church, I ate my weight in food, since I hadn't had much for breakfast and it was 4:30 by the time I got home. I then went on a walk through Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens with my friend, Heather, which was really quite pleasant. It was the perfect day for a walk—sunny, 68 degrees, slight breeze. Fabulous. I walked most of the way barefoot, which was ever so enjoyable, since we were in the grass most of the time. We enjoyed the weather, the other people in the park, and good conversation. It amounted to a very nice stroll.

And back to the flat for a chill evening of games with friends and some blogging, skyping with the 'rents, and BED. Good night.