Weekend Update 7/31
That’s the final scene from the lovely old Brazilian movie, Black Orpheus.
Orpheus has died, and his two young friends, Benedito and Zeca, use the musician’s guitar to play the sun up.
I’ve thought about that cinematic moment a lot this month because we’ve been serving the Divine Liturgy at 6am on Wednesday mornings. We do that when there’s not a fasting season because it provides folks with a quiet option to the over-crowding we experience on Sunday mornings.
It’s also a good time to pray for our new temple, and so we always make the reliquary of St Eanswythe of Folkestone available for folks to reverence.
Of course, we serve Orthros just about every weekday morning at 4am, so we’re used to getting up early. But Orthros is generally over before the sun comes up; however, with the 6am Divine Liturgy, we get to also watch the morning light slowly move through the Holy Place and the Nave.
And, sure, we don’t make that happen any more than Orpheus caused the sun to rise over Rio. After all, as G.K. Chesterton famously pointed out:
“…God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun”.
But, boy howdy, we get to help.
In fact, we join with Orthodox Christians all around the globe, and, just like Benedito and Zeca, we assist with the sun rise.
Just pick a point on the planet.
Let’s start, say, with St Michael’s Skete in Alaska
The monks there greet the morning with Orthros and then the light rushes on across the Pacific Rim, and it lights up St Seraphim Monastery in Vladivostok, Russia
The light then spreads out across the steppes, and it flows over the Holy Trinity/St Sergius Lavra outside of Moscow
The dawn then leaps over the Balamand Monastery in Lebanon
and St Saba’s outside Jerusalem;
it explodes over the monasteries on Mt Athos
And flows through the Voronet Monastery in Romania
The light then races to the Monastery of the Protection of the Mother of God in Bussy-en-Othe, France
and on to the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Essex, UK.
The morning then shines out across the Atlantic, and it illumines the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York
and Holy Cross Monastery in West Virginia,
…and…then…it’s our turn
That’s right, here in good old Cedar Park, Texas, we get to play our part in fulfilling that Psalmic prophecy: “From the rising of the sun, until the going down of the same, the Name of the Lord is to be praised” (112.3).
And, for sure, there are lots of other Beneditos and there are lots of other Zecas all around the world who take part in this daily Cycle of Praise: nursing moms who turn to their icon corner as the sun comes up, elderly folks in nursing facilities who make the sign of the cross as the new light comes through the windows of their room, working men who get in their trucks at dawn after a long night shift and take a moment to touch their fingers to their lips and then touch the image of the Mother of God that’s taped to the sun visor.
We all make it happen together, but, a month from now, on The Feast of St Eanswythe, here at St John’s we’re going to stay up for the whole sequence. We’re going to offer an All Night Vigil in honor of the Patroness of our Building Program, and we’d love to have you keep vigil with us.
If you can’t make it to Cedar Park on Sunday, August 30, and Monday, August 31 (or if you’re just not able to pull an all-nighter at the beginning of the week), we understand. But there are a whole lot of other ways you can get in on the action.
You can offer The Akathist for a New Temple (video) with us every week.
You can restack this post, share it with everyone you know, and sign up for a Paid Subscription.
You can pick up a Come See Something Beautiful T-shirt or commission an image of a beloved pet for the Calming Room of our new temple.
We’re looking forward to the day when we will be able to see the morning sun light up our new temple. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with this bit of musical anticipation from The Beatles.