I went to church this morning, for the first time in several years; you may remember I reported from the churchyard in the first of my lockdown videos, and now that the lockdown is easing, I wanted to see how the community is putting itself back together.
Well, it's still not religion as we knew it before. No hymn singing allowed by the congregation, just a cantor intoning from the back; no communion for anyone except the priest; only every third seat in every second row was available to sit in.
But it was still an important celebration. The service was centred around the Paschal candle which should normally have been lit at Easter, two months ago. The gospel was Matthew 10:26-33, whose tagline is "Be not afraid". And the first time that the congregation as a whole spoke was to jointly profess the Creed – one of the special Belgian ones:
| Ik geloof in God, die liefde is en ons de wereld schenkt. Ik geloof ook dat God ons roept en zendt om van deze wereld een thuis te maken: een wereld zonder honger, zonder oorlog, zonder haat, een wereld vol goedheid, rechtvaardigheid en vrede. Ik geloof in Jezus Christus, Ik geloof dat de Heer zijn Geest van liefde |
. | I believe in God, who is love and gives us the world. I also believe that God calls and sends us to make this world a home: a world without hunger, without war, without hate, a world full of goodness, justice and peace. I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe that the Lord gives His Spirit of love |
I’m not sure that I will go back very often. But it was important to go today.
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