I fancy Trinity

There's a Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in many cities.
This one is in Portland, Oregon.

I thought I was taking a break from challenges, but I herewith present you with two for the price of one.

FANCY (TerriG June challenge):

Omigosh this is a fancy cathedral. Fancy flowers, fancy altar, fancy candlesticks and candelabras, fancy icons, fancy organ, fancy stained-glass windows. If I could bring myself to photograph during the service (not likely!) you would also see fancy choir robes, fancy vestments, fancy altar servers, fancy vergers, fancy sacred vessels, fancy pulpit ... need I go on? Oh, yes, fancy people! Not to mention fancy music. (Today, a lot of J.S. Bach.)

I fancy simplicity of the kind you find in Amish and Quaker buildings. But I also fancy fancy cathedrals. The Catholic cathedral, one block down, is pretty fancy too.

The preacher this morning was the Reverend Lauren Winner, the retreat leader I missed yesterday in my effort to avoid "small groups." She was funny and a wonderful storyteller, including stories she told on herself. I've read one of her books and am ready to try another. Which brings me to the second topic.

FAVORITE BOOKS (DDW June challenge):

In this fancy cathedral every week I get to read and be read to from two of my favorite books, the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. Here's a sampling from today's service.

Bible lesson: Elijah defeats the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18)
As exciting as Star Wars! The spiritual battle ends thus:
"Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench."
I especially enjoy the part about consuming the dust and licking up the water!

The Bible contains poetry, history, biography, letters, prophecy, proverbs, parables, and even a little sci-fi (a beast with seven heads and ten horns! a man swallowed by a whale and spat out alive!).

Book of Common Prayer (Eucharistic Prayer C)
"God of all power, Ruler of the Universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.
At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home."
I think of these words when I look at pictures from the Hubble space telescope, or when I feel grumpy about recycling chores.

The Book of Common Prayer has prayers for all occasions, from birth to death and everything in between, including weddings, healings, and ordinations. There are special prayers for prisons, colleges, elections, politicians, cities, harvest of land and water, birthdays, bereavement, addiction, thanksgivings, and many more. And if that's not enough, there's one For the Future of the Human Race.

If there were a program called Desert Island Books, I would choose these two as my favorites.