Fourth Sunday in Lent

It can't be the fourth Sunday...can it? One more, then Palm Sunday, then Easter? It is though. Or was. I ought to know, I spent it, or most of it in church. It was really a rather wonderful day. I ended up celebrating Eucharist twice, which was once more than planned. We switched our main service from morning to afternoon because we were hosting another parish from a town about an hour from here for a potluck and shared Eucharist because one of their members who is a professional singer was in concert with one of ours who is a professional musician in our town this afternoon. At least that was the plan. The musician got sick and the concert got cancelled but we decided to go ahead with the service anyway. We thought since we were having the big hoo-ha in the afternoon, we would just have a quiet little Morning Prayer service in the morning. I really kind of thought no-one would come. I thought wrong. The oldest member of our parish came, a gentleman who believes (kind of like I do actually) that church isn't quite as "churchy" without communion. He was a bit confused to find only he and I there until I reminded him about the afternoon goings on, and he was clearly let down to find it was Morning Prayer that was planned. "We can't have communion?" he said. "Well, we can," I said, "It will just take a minute to set up." Why not? It made him happy. He did instruct me after I read the Gospel that there was no need for me to preach him a sermon. I was in total agreement on that. So Mr. M and I had a lovely little liturgy this morning at the 10:30, just we two. And at 5:00, two little churches came together and celebrated ourselves. We are both tiny places with locally ordained women clergy, so there were RevGals all over the altar praying and preaching and cantoring and consecrating as well as that stunning soprano gracing us with an offertory solo accompanied by a substitute organist (also a talented woman). We even had some of the neighborhood Presbyterians drop by to join us in worship and potluck fellowship. It was a good Sunday spent in church.