I think our job in the service is to both worship God and welcome the stranger. And we can do both at the same time. Personally, I have had several very different experiences, all fulfilling to me as a worshipper at different points in my spiritual journey. As a young man, making my way back to the church, I would occasionally attend services at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. There I was definitely allowed to just “be”. The service itself was formal and complicated. The service bulletins have everything you need printed into them (the cathedral can afford this) so you don’t have to juggle two books and a bulletin, but I could also just sit in the back, be left alone, and simply take it all in. Then I started going to a completely different style service at St. Gregory of Nyssa, also in San Francisco, known for its highly participative liturgy. You are not just asked to play a part in the “symphony,” you are asked to dance! There is no sitting in the back at St. Gregory’s. People literally take you by the shoulder and make you move! That was an incredibly powerful way to worship for me at a different point in my life. And at St. Gregory’s there is no bulletin. Instead every single thing is succinctly announced to the congregation in the moment, including the dance steps. The “being” at St. Gregory’s is highly kinetic. I now attend a more traditional Episcopal church in South Carolina where everything is included in the printed bulletin. You don’t need the BCP, you don’t need the hymnal, every word, including all the readings, is in the bulletin. And liturgy leaders announce when to stand or sit. Like many Episcopal churches, the congregation is made up of folks from a wide variety of traditions. Visitors remark on the warm sense of welcome and how the congregation actually sings (!) during the hymns. So they do too. I strongly believe we can find a way to fully worship and fully welcome at the same time. It will look different in parishes, but if we keep checking in on both — and asking the stranger what it felt like — I think we can love both God and our neighbor in our liturgies.
I appreciate all these differences. I'm wondering, though, what it would be like at other times (not during liturgy), to be invited into what liturgy means, where it comes from, how it brings us into the presence of God.
That's what I'm thinking about - liturgy as discipleship.
Thank you. This is true. Coming alongside people can be so powerful. This last week, I shared a hymnal with a guest at a memorial service. Holding it together, singing together, making space for one another to find the melody or harmony - it all builds belonging. Part of God's presence in a gathering is experienced through community; the living instructions.
I have attended the Episcopal Church for over a year. I’ve also organized hundreds of music programs and thousands of university class presentations. Here are some thoughts.
1 The Book of Common Prayer does a good job of hiding liturgy, nor what the roadmap contains. The first great handful of pages has no easy indication of how far in one must go to start Sunday morning service.
2 A pitiful hunk of 3-5 little ribbons do not a serviceable BCP guide make.
3 Moving from the BCP to a hymnal simply provides the chance to think with confusion; or realize how intrusive singing becomes when two bulletins must be set down (where?) after discovering that hymn 101 is actually about half way into the book rather than near the beginning.
4 Printing the text for all readings, responses, hymn selections, adds bulk to the Proper, but must be supplemented by an unchanging Ordinary. This can lead to excess bulletin production, or worse, two different bulletins (of different sizes for us) to juggle up and down throughout the service.
5 Presiders or others could be utilized to verbally guide the congregation through the service. But not a Master of Ceremonies.
6 Please, please do not solve worship flow issues, in both corporate or individual devotion, by installing a smart screen. Never has the need for forgiveness been greater than after the installation of that which causes a worshipper to zone out while facing the digital replacement for human interaction.
7 Add time for everyone to meditate. List the time (“3 minutes”) and really wait that long. At first one will not believe how long it will feel.
8 These comments represent what seem to me some weaknesses in Episcopal service structure. I very much enjoy a liturgical framework for worship. I think addressing structural issues would substantially improve things for members and visitors alike. Would this bring more folks in the doors? Not alone. But clunky service experiences will likely drive them away.
I have attended the Episcopal Church for over a year. I’ve also organized hundreds of music programs and thousands of university class presentations. Here are some thoughts.
1 The Book of Common Prayer does a good job of hiding liturgy. The first great handful of pages contains no indication of how far in one must explore to start Sunday morning service.
2 A pitiful hunk of 3-5 little ribbons do not a serviceable BCP guide make.
3 Moving from the BCP to a hymnal simply provides the chance to think with confusion or how intrusive singing becomes in worship.
4 Printing the text for all readings, responses, hymn selections, adds bulk to the Proper, but must be supplemented by an unchanging Ordinary. This can lead to excess bulletin production, or worse, two different bulletins (of different sizes for us) to juggle up and down throughout the service.
5 Presiders or others could be utilized to verbally guide the congregation through the service.
6 Please, please do not solve worship flow in both corporate or individual devotion, by installing a smart screen. Never has the need for forgiveness been greater than after the installation of that which causes a worshipper to zone out while facing the digital replacement for a human interaction.
1. the BCP presumes that it is a reference that goes along with liturgical formation. I think we've forgotten this.
2. the ribbons are indispensable if you are leading worship in any way. but again, that's what they're for - to be your shortcut. which is not a shortcut for understanding the service itself, or guiding people in this.
3. I think having both a BCP and a hymnal (or more than one!) helps make liturgy almost infinitely adaptive and creative, while still staying within a structure.
4. Printing everything is prohibitive for most congregations - and it is really wasteful. we can all use the technology (email) by which we can send readings and bulletin in advance, and people can print them out if they need them. or we can just *listen*. and print a few copies out for people for whom that is difficult.
5. I think verbal guidance is intrusive to the flow of liturgy, beyond 'please stand', and 'continuing on page...'. Personally, I think we should just experience the flow. those who have been there forever know when to sit and stand. New people generally do what others around them do, or they remain seated (which is just fine).
6. I think the days of screens in worship are coming to an end, even in large churches. big screens, anyway. I think it's great to have readings/bulletin/livestream on small screens for people.
I think our job in the service is to both worship God and welcome the stranger. And we can do both at the same time. Personally, I have had several very different experiences, all fulfilling to me as a worshipper at different points in my spiritual journey. As a young man, making my way back to the church, I would occasionally attend services at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. There I was definitely allowed to just “be”. The service itself was formal and complicated. The service bulletins have everything you need printed into them (the cathedral can afford this) so you don’t have to juggle two books and a bulletin, but I could also just sit in the back, be left alone, and simply take it all in. Then I started going to a completely different style service at St. Gregory of Nyssa, also in San Francisco, known for its highly participative liturgy. You are not just asked to play a part in the “symphony,” you are asked to dance! There is no sitting in the back at St. Gregory’s. People literally take you by the shoulder and make you move! That was an incredibly powerful way to worship for me at a different point in my life. And at St. Gregory’s there is no bulletin. Instead every single thing is succinctly announced to the congregation in the moment, including the dance steps. The “being” at St. Gregory’s is highly kinetic. I now attend a more traditional Episcopal church in South Carolina where everything is included in the printed bulletin. You don’t need the BCP, you don’t need the hymnal, every word, including all the readings, is in the bulletin. And liturgy leaders announce when to stand or sit. Like many Episcopal churches, the congregation is made up of folks from a wide variety of traditions. Visitors remark on the warm sense of welcome and how the congregation actually sings (!) during the hymns. So they do too. I strongly believe we can find a way to fully worship and fully welcome at the same time. It will look different in parishes, but if we keep checking in on both — and asking the stranger what it felt like — I think we can love both God and our neighbor in our liturgies.
I appreciate all these differences. I'm wondering, though, what it would be like at other times (not during liturgy), to be invited into what liturgy means, where it comes from, how it brings us into the presence of God.
That's what I'm thinking about - liturgy as discipleship.
Love that.
Thank you. This is true. Coming alongside people can be so powerful. This last week, I shared a hymnal with a guest at a memorial service. Holding it together, singing together, making space for one another to find the melody or harmony - it all builds belonging. Part of God's presence in a gathering is experienced through community; the living instructions.
love this. so true.
Sorry for the double posting. First one is unedited. Second is OK and slightly longer.
I have attended the Episcopal Church for over a year. I’ve also organized hundreds of music programs and thousands of university class presentations. Here are some thoughts.
1 The Book of Common Prayer does a good job of hiding liturgy, nor what the roadmap contains. The first great handful of pages has no easy indication of how far in one must go to start Sunday morning service.
2 A pitiful hunk of 3-5 little ribbons do not a serviceable BCP guide make.
3 Moving from the BCP to a hymnal simply provides the chance to think with confusion; or realize how intrusive singing becomes when two bulletins must be set down (where?) after discovering that hymn 101 is actually about half way into the book rather than near the beginning.
4 Printing the text for all readings, responses, hymn selections, adds bulk to the Proper, but must be supplemented by an unchanging Ordinary. This can lead to excess bulletin production, or worse, two different bulletins (of different sizes for us) to juggle up and down throughout the service.
5 Presiders or others could be utilized to verbally guide the congregation through the service. But not a Master of Ceremonies.
6 Please, please do not solve worship flow issues, in both corporate or individual devotion, by installing a smart screen. Never has the need for forgiveness been greater than after the installation of that which causes a worshipper to zone out while facing the digital replacement for human interaction.
7 Add time for everyone to meditate. List the time (“3 minutes”) and really wait that long. At first one will not believe how long it will feel.
8 These comments represent what seem to me some weaknesses in Episcopal service structure. I very much enjoy a liturgical framework for worship. I think addressing structural issues would substantially improve things for members and visitors alike. Would this bring more folks in the doors? Not alone. But clunky service experiences will likely drive them away.
I have attended the Episcopal Church for over a year. I’ve also organized hundreds of music programs and thousands of university class presentations. Here are some thoughts.
1 The Book of Common Prayer does a good job of hiding liturgy. The first great handful of pages contains no indication of how far in one must explore to start Sunday morning service.
2 A pitiful hunk of 3-5 little ribbons do not a serviceable BCP guide make.
3 Moving from the BCP to a hymnal simply provides the chance to think with confusion or how intrusive singing becomes in worship.
4 Printing the text for all readings, responses, hymn selections, adds bulk to the Proper, but must be supplemented by an unchanging Ordinary. This can lead to excess bulletin production, or worse, two different bulletins (of different sizes for us) to juggle up and down throughout the service.
5 Presiders or others could be utilized to verbally guide the congregation through the service.
6 Please, please do not solve worship flow in both corporate or individual devotion, by installing a smart screen. Never has the need for forgiveness been greater than after the installation of that which causes a worshipper to zone out while facing the digital replacement for a human interaction.
7
1. the BCP presumes that it is a reference that goes along with liturgical formation. I think we've forgotten this.
2. the ribbons are indispensable if you are leading worship in any way. but again, that's what they're for - to be your shortcut. which is not a shortcut for understanding the service itself, or guiding people in this.
3. I think having both a BCP and a hymnal (or more than one!) helps make liturgy almost infinitely adaptive and creative, while still staying within a structure.
4. Printing everything is prohibitive for most congregations - and it is really wasteful. we can all use the technology (email) by which we can send readings and bulletin in advance, and people can print them out if they need them. or we can just *listen*. and print a few copies out for people for whom that is difficult.
5. I think verbal guidance is intrusive to the flow of liturgy, beyond 'please stand', and 'continuing on page...'. Personally, I think we should just experience the flow. those who have been there forever know when to sit and stand. New people generally do what others around them do, or they remain seated (which is just fine).
6. I think the days of screens in worship are coming to an end, even in large churches. big screens, anyway. I think it's great to have readings/bulletin/livestream on small screens for people.
Excellent advice! Thanks.
it was just an analogy. yours is good, too!