For Easter, I'd promised myself something low church, and managed to exceed my own expectations. No bells, no smells. No choir, no organ, no brass. No vestments, no candles. No pews... indeed, no church! Just a little rolling cart-turned-altar out in the open of Madison Square Park, bright but not quite warm on this early Spring afternoon. This is where Ecclesia: Church in the Park meets each Sunday for an interfaith service and to hand out sandwiches for the people who make a kind of home on the park's benches. The administrator of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen was there - it may be his brainchild - and so were several people from Holy Apostles, including the celebrant and preacher, the wonderful Mother Liz (and a lovely sermon it was, too). Thinking of everyone else jammed into churches in their Easter finery, smothered by the sound of brass and the heavy smell of lilies, I had to smile. "Jesus Christ is risen today..." sounded every bit as good with just our little circle of not particularly musical people, bundled up against the chill but luminous air, and the exchange of peace seemed to radiate out through it into the city and up to the open sky.
