Saturday, September 27, 2008

Volley #23

QUALITY AND STYLE

As we consider ways to make our worship more appealing to a wider swath of our population, we may be tempted to focus our attention on the style of our liturgy. Maybe if we adopted a certain liturgical form, or none, or maybe if we chose a particular genre of music, or several, we could attract and keep the interest of our children and their friends. If only it were so easy!


I overheard a pair of elderly Baptist ladies lamenting to a friend over changes in their congregation’s worship practices. It seems the congregation’s leadership had fired the organist and put the choir out to pasture, and had brought in a “praise band,” and sometimes canned accompaniments for contemporary Christian pop music.
“Well, do you have a lot of new members?” their friend asked.

“Not a one!” the complainers chorused. “It’s just the same group it was before, only now none of us like the service!”

Something was clearly missing in the way the change in worship practice was implemented. One element may have been the focus of attention on style rather than quality. In our own communion, research has shown that congregations can be successful using worship in just about any style. What matters is the quality of the worship. If there is to be music, it must be well-presented. If there is to be preaching, it needs to be good quality preaching. The manner of celebrating the liturgy must contribute to a depth of spiritual experience. The spirit of the congregation ought to be positive, hopeful, and unified. Carping, however, comical as above, is rarely a church growth tool.

We can experiment with and differ over matters of style. But when it comes to quality, there is no room to mess around.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

check out this new church ad

www.myfaithmylife.org/posters.html .

Keeping the Saints in "All Saints"

KEEPING THE SAINTS IN ALL SAINTS

It’s autumn, and planning for our fall program and formation activities is well underway. The question arises: what to do about All Saints Day/ All Hallows Eve, that top-tier church holy day so long neglected in church and so blatantly abused in secular society.
Though it is unquestionably a “Romish” festival, we Episcopalians are fortunate in that we have no need to turn against Halloween and try to stamp it out, as Calvinists have done in times past, and as their contemporary successors are trying to do today. We don’t need to cringe at the portrayal of “ghosties, and ghoulies, and things that go ‘bunp’ in the night.” It might be helpful, however, if we reminded our congregations that the reason it became OK to costume as such things was precisely because, in the triumph of Jesus over the forces of evil, they have lost their power over his people. The Halloween custom of dressing up as witches and goblins, all in fun, serves to mock them, not to honor them.
Some creativity may be called for. I’ve heard of churches in which costume parties were given, in which children and adults were challenged to dress up as their favorite saint—and be prepared to share some knowledge about that character, why he or she is so honored, and what makes them special to the participant. Perhaps a game could be devised for divulging this information in a fun way, so that some Christian formation takes place naturally and unobtrusively.
Games of “trick-or-treating” could be fun for all, with the old custom of performing some kind of feat or talent serving as the “trick.” Children love showing off their ability to jump, skip, balance, draw, dance, sing, or toss objects. And un-churched people may be looking for fun, supervised, wholesome family activities around that time of year, making it a good opportunity to invite neighbors and introduce additional people to our church.
To post additional ideas on how to handle All Saints festivities creatively at church, attach a comment to this posting on the blog West Virginia Discipleship, at http://wvdisciple.blogspot.com/ Check regularly for new material, and share your ideas and resources with everyone.

Friday, September 5, 2008

You Know You're an Episcopalian when..

A forward from Betsy Walker

You know you are an Episcopalian when:

. . . when you watch Star Wars and they say "May the force be with you", you automatically reply "And also with you".

. . .if the only good reason to raise your hand during a hymn is to question the organist's re-harmonization.

. . . if someone says, "Let us pray" and you automatically hit your knees.

. . . if you recognize your neighbor, or rector, in the local liquor store and go over to greet him/her.

. . . if you have totally memorized Rite I, Rite II and the first three episodes of The Vicar of Dibley.

. . . if you know the difference between a surplice and a cotta - and the appropriate use of each.

. . . if words like: "vouchsafe", "oblation", "supplications", "succor", "bewail", "wherefore", "dost" and "very" (in its archaic sense) are familiar to you even if you don't have a clue that they mean.

. . .if your groomsmen at your wedding whisper "with God's help" to you during your vows after you say "I will".

. . . the sight of a woman in a clerical collar doesn't make you cringe.

. . . if you can rattle off such tongue twisters like: ". . . who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full and perfect sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the world" and "Wherefore, O, Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people, do celebrate and make here, with these gifts which we offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make . . ." without missing a beat.

. . .if you think that the Bible is a holy book because it quotes the Book of Common Prayer so well.

. . . if while looking for a can opener in the church kitchen, all you can find are four corkscrews.

. . . if your choir director suggests discussing something over a beer after choir rehearsal.

. . . if you catch yourself genuflecting or bowing as you enter a row of seats in a theater.

. . . you visit any Protestant church, and when you get seated you say, "where are the kneelers?"

. . . or, "where is the altar?!"

. . . if you can pronounce "innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same."

. . . if the word "Sewanee" puts a lump in your throat.

. . . if you know the best way to quiet a room full of them: "The Lord be with you!"

. . . if you ever find yourself saying, "Oh, but we've never done it that way before."

. . . if, when visiting a Catholic Church, you are the only Ah-men amongst a sea of A-mens.

. . . if your covered dish for the potluck dinner is escargot in puff shells.

. . .if you know that a primate isn't just a monkey.

. . . if you know that a sursum corda is not a surgical procedure.

. . . if you don't think Agnus Dei is a woman.

. . . if your picnic basket has sterling knives and forks (entree, fish, salad and cake).

. . .you know how to finish the phrase "and I will raaaaise them up, and I will raaaaise them up..."

. . . if you know that the nave is not a playing card.

. . . if your friend said "I'm truly sorry. . ." and you replied, "and you humbly repent?"

. . .if you consider a sticker on your car to be an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.

. . .if you know that "humble access" has nothing to do with a security clearance.

. . . if while watching the movie "The Madness of King George" you're able to recite with the King, when he undergoes "surgery," the Collect for Purity.

. . . if you know that the Senior Warden and the Junior Warden are not positions in the local prison.

. . . if you think the most serious breach of propriety one can commit is failure to chill the salad forks.

. . . if you not only talk about God, but God is placed in the palm of your hand.

And finally,

. . . if you reach a point when you're not sure about anything theologically but you still feel completely at home at the altar rail and somehow know you're meeting God there, even though you can't begin to understand how.