Weekend Update 8/7/26

“It’s great to stay up late!”

That’s what we’re going to be doing a month from now: in fact, we’re going to be staying up all night long when we offer our Annual Vigil for St Eanswythe of Folkestone.

If you’ve been reading Come See Something Beautiful for a while, you know that this Anglo-Saxon Abbess is the Patroness of our Building Program. If you’re new to our Substack, you can read all about our relationship with St E here: St. E. and Me.

But you might also be wondering about how a Vigil works. Granted, you don’t hear about vigils much nowadays, but it’s an ancient form of Christian worship, and it’s something we still do here in Orthodox Land. Basically, it’s a series of back-to-back services, that are offered over-night. Monastic communities serve vigils on a pretty regular basis; in parishes, vigils are generally only offered on really special occasions.

But, for all of us here in the Parish of St John the Forerunner, August 31 is about as special as it gets, because we will be honoring the Kentish Princess who intercedes for us and for our new temple.

“Wait a second…why don’t you…?”

Now, as you know if you’ve seen “Singin’ in the Rain” (and, if you haven’t please log off and go watch that musical right now), what prompts Debbie and Donald and Gene to launch into that great number is the fact that they’ve come up with a great idea—an idea that changes the course of the whole movie.

And we’ve got our own great idea—an idea that we think we’ll change the course of our whole temple project. And we’re going to unveil that great idea right before we begin the Vigil for St Eanswythe on Sunday evening, August 31.

“Hot Dog! Hallelujah!”

That’s how Donald responds to the great idea in the movie, and we’re really hoping you’ll feel the same way.

(But will there be dancing?)

We knew you wanted to ask.

And, of course, the answer is yes: We will, most definitely, be getting down with our fine selves during the All Night Vigil.

We’ve written about this before, but, really, how could we not throw some shapes when that’s what all the saints are doing, right now, in the Kingdom of Heaven?

Let’s just take some recent examples from our hymnography. Here’s a portion of the canon for St Marina on July 17

“Manifestly flashing lightning-like with the martyrs’ splendor, thou dost dance around about God, sacredly deified, O all-famed Marina, and granting enlightenment, by thine intercessions, unto them that sing thy praise.”

And here is a selection from the Intercessions for St Elias the Prophet from July 20

“Two brightly shining luminaries are risen upon the world, even Elias and Elisha. The first, with a divine word, shut up the rain-drops of the heavens, rebuked kings, and upon a fiery chariot ascended into the heavens. The second healed the noxious waters, and when he had received a double portion of grace, he crossed the streams of Jordan on foot. And now, as they dance for joy with the Angels, they intercede on our behalf, that our souls be saved.”

At the vigil, we won’t be hoofing around the nave like Gene and Donald and Debbie—though, we gotta say: Father Andrew Wilson does a mean Maxi Ford—and that’s not easy to pull off in a cassock.

No, we will be a lot more subdued…but, we’re convinced that if they have any tables or staircases or couches in the Kingdom, it’s so saints like Marina and Elias and Elisha can slide under them or dash up and down them or somersault over them.

And we’re looking forward to joining them in that joy.

But even though there won’t be any physical acrobatics during the overnight hours of August 30 and August 31, at the end of this post, we’ve got a pretty accurate musical description of what will be happening in our hearts after the service is done, and the sun’s coming up, and we’re walking out to the parking lot.

We’ll play that for you in just a moment, and, if you’d like to get in on that joy, all you have to do is show up and stay up with us on August 30 and August 31.

If you can’t fit an all-nighter into your plans, we’ve got other ways you can support us and connect with that joy.

Join us in offering The Akathist for a New Temple (video) each week.

Restack this post; share it far and wide; take out a Paid Subscription.

Pick up a CSSB sweatshirt; commission an image of a beloved pet for the Calming Room of our new temple; make a direct donation to our Building Fund.

And while Katrina and the guys don’t have half the energy of Debbie and Donald and Gene—well, you get the idea…