Watch your step!

Snuffing the candles at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. SOOC.

Like the ladder in Jacob's vision, these steps see much ascending and descending during the course of a service. They can be treacherous. Our beloved former deacon, in her mid-seventies, retired in part because the steps were presenting an increasing challenge.

The Dean likes to preach with his feet so close to the edge of the top step that his toes are in the air. He must be an engaging homilist because once he gets started I rarely notice his precarious balance.

The candles are being snuffed, a practice that in some churches of stuffier bent is reverently observed by the kneeling congregation. Those who are less pious refer to this as 'candle worship.'

The shot was taken after the service during the organ postlude. At Trinity while the candles are being put out a crowd gathers behind the altar screen to watch the organist's flying hands and feet. You can see, upper right, only one white-haired gentleman listening, but there are others. They will afterward, some with canes, make their gingerly descent back down the steps.

STEPS: DDW July challenge by Anniemay