Westminster Abbey

Before and after Buckingham Palace on Saturday, I attended three services at Westminster Abbey (Saturday morning eucharist, Sunday morning sung eucharist, and Sunday evensong--held at the scandalous hour of 3:00 p.m.!). I had read in a bookshop that the reform of Edward VI was very hard on the Abbey, and hundreds of vestments were thrown out, with the result that even today the Abbey has fewer vestments than one would expect, coming late to the party that is the High Church revival in the C of E. I saw this was true, everything matched but there were some disagreeable alb & stole combos--wearing just an alb and a stole stikes me as being half dressed, like wearing a necktie over a tee shirt. No sermon on Saturday, but a lovely job on Sunday morning by the Rev'd Deiniol Morgan, Minor Canon, who spoke about how we consistently approach God as if He were consistently in a Bad Mood. Less stellar job Sunday afternoon, too much use of the official parable of the day, the hardships faced by an Iraqi doctor in Baghdad (perhaps I am jaded because this is the official example for many lectures at school). Fascinating array of academic hoods present for evensong--I almost thought I was at Commencement! St. Paul's continues to be be my weekday worship site, but I expect that Westminster will serve on weekends as it is but a 10 minute walk, 20 if I am pokey.