I am back in London, where my flight from Hamburg was uneventful except for having to endure 1-1/2 hours in the queue entering the UK Border. It is very hot and humid here, unlike my previous trips to London. I can’t ever remember it being so hot and uncomfortable like it is now! My BFF Joan Ishibashi, met me at the airport and we met up with her husband, Kan and sister, Jane, for dinner.
Today is Sunday and we spent most of the day at Joan’s parish, St. James’s Church of Piccadilly, where they celebrated their patronal festival of St. James.
Both the Sunday morning service and afternoon evensong were held outdoors where there is even an outdoor pulpit built in 1904. It was hoped that the “strong Irish voice” of Canon Joseph McCormick would attract the crowds that passed along Piccadilly. “But alas, it is reported that the sound of horses’ hooves on the cobble stones of Piccadilly drowned the sound of his voice, and until the days of a microphone could the pulpit be used effectively.”
This morning, the street was relatively quiet, but in the afternoon, the service was sometimes drowned out by the sound of sirens, motorcycles and other street noise, in spite of the microphones.
I was able to finally hear the Rev. Lucy Winkett, whom I have heard about ever since Joan moved to London and joined the St. James’s parish. Her sermon was brilliant, and very articulate.
The music this morning was with a female cantor, brass quintet and keyboard which opened the service with “Here I am,” and performed other informal contemporary songs. I was pleasantly surprised at how well and stylistically they performed “Every time I feel the spirit” — actually a lovely gospel rendition considering that these were English and not African-American performers!
At Choral Evensong, the choir was heavy on women with just a handful of men—the tone of the women was quite nice and light, but the men were frequently drowned out by the street noise. They sang C. V. Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from the Service in C, and did the Te Deum in Bb also by Stanford. I do remember playing the Te Deum years ago but it seems like it’s been a long time.
In between the services, the church served a light lunch, then we walked to nearby Buckingham Palace where the queen was in residence (as evidenced by the flag flying outside).
Tomorrow Joan has to work and I’ll be on my own exploring London!