Introduction
How to use this book
Worship is not worship until you do it.
Worship books consisting simply of texts to say or sing are like recipes which list ingredients without the instructions for putting them together.
But how do you offer advice and suggest questions to ask about the presentation of the liturgy without putting it all in rubrics, or mandatory stage directions, in the services, or producing a separate manual? Probably the most digestible and least legalistic way of doing it would be to tell stories. So here you have
* the authorized text of A Service of the Word, with notes and instructions about how to put it together;
* a set of Resource Sections providing material, section by section, for each part of a service; and
* the stories of four entirely imaginary churches, at the beginning of each Resource Section. As you read them, you will gather a little of the flavour and style of each church, both rural and urban, with different spaces and resources.You may find you identify more with one than with another, but be prepared to learn from the others. Sometimes the lessons may be how not to do it.
What do you want to do?
* To look for items to put into a service, browse through the Resource Sections, using the indexes.You will find an index of the themes followed in each section on pages 59 and 501.
* To find a service for a special occasion, look at the section entitled Sample Services for ideas and suggestions, an outline order of service, or a complete worked-out example.
* To find some help in preparing either of these, read the introductory pages to each Resource Section and each Sample Service.
* To learn more about putting services together, or find ways of helping a PCC or worship planning group to learn more about the decisions they need to take, read the stories of the four churches. The introductory notes and outline discussion starters included in the Planning Worship section of this book are designed to make it a useful educational tool.
How to use the stories
Two or three people could be asked to read a particular section beforehand, in preparation for the discussion; the stories - and possibly the questions below - could be reproduced on a handout given to everyone. A larger meeting would be better divided into groups, possibly with both thequestions and the collecting of responses set out on an overhead projector.
Ask some questions:
* Can you imagine being present in the situations described?
* What is good or bad about them?
* Do you feel nearer to the experience of one of the four churches?
* Which one?
* Make a list of suggestions which come to you as a result of reading this section.
* Are any of these suggestions possible for us
a) some time in the future?
b) right now?
* Do we need variety in how we handle this part of the service week by week, or do we need the security of being consistent?
* Do we need to consult with others before taking action - other church leaders, the PCC, musicians, choir, servers etc.?
Patterns of church life:
Introducing the four imaginary
churches
St Ann's is a large suburban church, with a
mixed congregation of different ages and backgrounds. There is
considerable lay involvement in the leadership of the church,
and this is evident in the worship too.The PCC recently spent a
day away reviewing the church's worship, and one of the results
of this was the setting up of a worship planning group. See the
first section of page 25, and Planning and Preparation in
General, beginning on
page 24.
Sunday worship is the focus of the whole life of this very active church, and a lot of energy is put into preparing for Sunday both by those involved in teaching the different adult and children's groups and by the music and drama groups. Sunday morning worship follows Common Worship Order One Holy Communion, but on occasion makes use of the provisions of A Service of the Word with a Celebration of Holy Communion to enable it to feel more like a less formal all-age service. The sermon is done in a variety of ways, for example using videos or dividing the adult members of the congregation into groups. There is a break at the Peace when the children come back from their groups and some non-communicants and enquirers leave without embarrassment.
St Bartholomew's is a lovely medieval country church, small both in size and in congregation. Sharing a vicar with other churches in the group means that the Sunday pattern varies from week to week, and the main service is not always communion. The church is not as insular as it used to be; one or two people sometimes go to services at other churches in the group, and some incomers in the village bring experience of other churches.The main vision of the staff (vicar, deacon and an excellent Reader) is of worship that is accessible to everyone in the village, children included, and that accurately reflects and sums up the life of the community. Some of the congregation would prefer the worship to be a little less related to the community and more of a beautiful oasis, away from the week's troubles - a kind of entering into eternity from which they can emerge refreshed to face the week.
St Christopher's is a large nineteenth-century neo-gothic building in the downtown part of the city. The parish priest lives in the vicarage adjoining the church. The high brick wall which surrounds the church and vicarage also includes the disused school, now used adventurously for a wide range of community activities. The parish priest is the only professional living in the area. The small congregation spend a lot of time together; all of them live locally. Some of them help to run things in the community centre and every morning there are four or five praying, with more for late evening worship, and thirty for communion with hymns and sermon on Tuesday evening. Sunday worship is a culmination and gathering together of the activities, concerns and worship of the week. The social needs of the community are offered to God as easily as they are discussed practically in the pub after church - a kind of extended Peace attended by most of the congregation.
St Dodo's is a church where worship is
simply not one of the most important things the church does. It
comes low on most people's agenda, though there are occasional
heated discussions at the PCC.The demands of different factions
and rival views in the church mean that the worship is very
bitty, and there is a different kind of service each Sunday in
the month, with very few people going every week. The vicar
finds little time for preparation
and feels it is impossible to involve others in preparing or
helping to lead because of the need to keep the balance between
the different factions.
Note: There really was a St Dodo. He was the abbot
of a monastery in Belgium who died in ad 750. We've chosen him
partly because there are no churches dedicated to him in
Britain, partly because of the other overtones of his name. But
if you find yourself identifying with some of the stories of St
Dodo's (and many of them are true) don't despair: you're not
extinct yet, and the fact that you are using this book shows
that you are well on the way
to recovering from deadness.