No kidding. I knew this Anglican vicar who went in for symbolic liturgical gestures. On Ascension Day he hired a hot air balloonist to be waiting outside the church. After the processional hymn the door were flung wide and everyone processed out and watched as the priest climbed into the hot air balloon and ascended on high.
Since the ascension was all about defying gravity why can’t we do more stuff that is fun like this? It could become a tradition, and before long there would be rubrics about what you can and cannot do. The Ordo would stipulate that the balloon would have to be white and gold (or a suitable array of colors) The priest could ascend, but not the deacon or servers….Parishes would have to limit the extent of the priest’s airborne travel to avoid mid air collisions with the priest from the next parish. Only bishops could ascend in balloons that are shaped like miters. The basket would have to be made from pure wicker and not artificial substances. You get my drift.
Would there be rules about whether or not a particular priest would be allowed to descend back into his parish, or could this be an opportunity to get rid of a particularly irksome pastor?
My thoughts exactly, Fr. Phillips. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to convince Cardinal Mahoney that this is a surperb idea. *evil laugh*
Well, if the priest is really an alter Christus, I think he shouldn’t be coming back down, period…at least no time soon.
Well if that’s how you all feel, here’s one priest who’s not going up in a hot air balloon.Enough hot air in the pulpit anyway I hear you say…
Hot air in the pulpit = self-inflating balloonor Hot air in the pulpit = self-inflating priest
What an uplifting message. I’ve been floating on cloud nine all day. I suppose that is as about as high church as you can get, huh? Must take off now and get to work.God bless
We actually witnessed a hot-air balloon demo after the Sunday service at an Episcopalian Church in Town Unnamed, Colorado. And people wonder why we became Catholic…