About me

This blog exists as a vehicle for my own musings - mostly on liturgical matters. Growing up surrounded by Christians of all denominations, I was always fascinated by the ritual forms of worship. Liturgy has remained an interest of mine ever since I read Jungmann's Missarum Solemnia at the age of 12 (!). The title of the blog is not simply a pathetic attempt to be witty but reflects one of my strongly held convictions on the importance of ritual worship. It's a conviction that has grown on me as I attend more and more liturgical services. We live in the heyday of liturgical functionalism, with atomized gestures and rites, leading to the intrusion of an extreme subjectivism. Absent of ritual coherence, many rites are left hanging on the intentions and invisible interior dispositions of people. The recovery of a ritual dynamic is something that is increasingly important in denominations with formal worship.

I eschew labels, but they do fulfil a function. In the interests of full disclosure, I confess that I do approach things from a fairly conservative viewpoint. I do give a certain amount of weight to the tradition, which has been reinforced by a strange, almost post-modern, suspicion about academic theories that seem to fit a little too well. Of course, that suspicion often finds me in conflict with people who identify as conservative or traditionalist as well. Admittedly, it does not crop up consistently, leading to some incoherence in application.....

So what is this blog going to be on? In short: anything that catches my fancy. It may be a niggling rubric from a liturgical book, an review of something I'm reading, a thought I've had, or a study I'm undertaking. I've tried to write blogs before and usually failed to find the time. But I've realized I need a place to put down my thoughts, so here goes......maybe it will work this time.  Nunc coepi!