The Spirit in Saint Louis – The 27th Annual Conference of the Verger Guild of the Episcopal Church
I took a break from writing the Vergers Voice to get ready for the Vergers Guild conference held at Christ Church Cathedral in Saint Louis, Missouri. This is some of the highlights.
I really cannot express what joy it was to be in Saint Louis for the 27th conference of the Verger’s Guild. Can you imagine 133 vergers under one roof and all of us wanting to lead the procession?
There were vergers there from just about every state in the U.S., from Canada and England. From small parishes to the largest Cathedrals and everything in between.
Things started off early Thursday with Morning Prayer at 7:30 and we were kept busy until 11 that night. The highlight of the day was the Choral Evensong at the Christ Church Cathedral. The Cathedral is beautiful and well worth a visit if you are in or near Saint Louis. Then it was up to the fourth floor dining room for a welcome dinner and a Gospel Concert by the New Life Gospel Choir, believe me they had the whole room rocking. We even got a visit from Fred bird, the mascot of the St. Louis Cardinals. He danced around the room to the delight of everyone, stopping long enough for pictures and to hug the ladies.
Thursday started with Morning Prayer, then the keynote address by James Armstrong, Head Verger, at Carlisle Cathedral in Cumbra, England. The title of the address was “Who do we think we are? Some suggestions on our ancestry as vergers”. James has made an extensive study of the life and times of the verger ministry and over the years has complied quite a library of information. We found out that the earliest record was from 215 AD, we were called Porters back then and were slaves to the Priests. 1800 years later and nothing has changed.
Classes started following the keynote address and I was off to Verger 307 Advanced Discussion Topics for Vergers. After lunch at the Cathedral it was back to the hotel for Verging in-depth “Incense, to burn or not to burn”. Interesting but a smelly subject. Then it was off to Session 3 Using Social Media to Spread the Word. Found out that our Webmaster is doing an outstanding job, which made me look good in class, now we just have to get more people using it. I finished the classroom part of the day with two more sessions, “The partnership Between Clergy and the Verger Ministry” and Including Youth in Worship: Moving from Tokenism to Partnership. Friday evening was the Verger’s Banquet with great food, music from a St. Louis Jazz band and a lot of new friends.
Saturday started out with the Annual Business Meeting then more classes. Session 1 was “Young Adults in Liturgical Service and beyond followed by Interaction between Architecture and Liturgy?
Cindy and I did take a break to see a comic show by the Not Quite Right Improv Troupe and as the name implies they were not quite right and on the backs of their shirts it said they weren’t sorry. One more class for the day and that was “Getting to know you”. This was a really fun class that showed ways to break down barriers that prevent us from getting to know each other better. Finally a little free time and it was off to dinner with some of our new friends.
Sunday was the final day with the Festival Choral Eucharist and Procession of Vergers with the Rev. George Wayne Smith, 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri, presiding and preaching. Luckily it was a beautiful day, the procession lined up outside and it took most of a city block. After the service it was picture time, goodbye to all our friends and a train, plane and car ride home.
To see pictures of the conference go to the vergers face book page.
Back to the Verger’s Voice!