Church with mum and dad

I was going to call this post 'Death of the Anglican church?'
But that might be unfair.
I went to church at dad's old church for 8am this morning.

Apart from a brief greeting by the priest, my welcome was the ability to wander through the church before the service started.  Very strange to see for real what I had only seen in late 1950s bw photos. The large crucifix is very powerful indeed.

The service was 1662 format...all done by the priest and the 2 people in the congregation were quite superfluous. No sermon music or any interactions or engagement. At the end of the service the priest walked out with the communion gear and left the 2 of us to it. I said good morning to the lady and she replied and left.
I wandered back into the church to have a last look around and started to leave.
The priest came out and asked if I was visiting and I replied that I was visiting dads old church and it was lovely to be here. His reply was 'Anderson. ..New Zealand. ..I see..how nice' and he walked away! I didn't know what to do.

One of Catherine Tait's characters. .the council flat nana... has a expression that seemed so appropriate... 'what a .... liberty'

I left..caught the bus and had breakfast back at my hotel.

It wasn't until I was on the train to Leighton Buzzard  that I realized that interaction wasn't important. ..what was important was being able to connect through the same worship place to a part of my family story.