A Volley from the Canon, Number 56--Formation

THE FORMATION IMPERATIVE

Not long ago, I had the pleasure of working with the vestry of Christ Church, Bluefield, as they hammered out an excellent mission statement together. We were all feeling pretty good about the accomplishment, and I looked at it contentedly and said, “What it says to me is that you are committed to being an academy and laboratory for Christian living.” They liked that summary and wound up with it as a bonus at no extra charge to use as a slogan for advertising and such. However, I’m not so sure that slogan singles them out so much as having a unique mission: in fact, I would hope that pretty nearly EVERY Episcopal congregation would have the idea of teaching and practicing a Christian discipline as part of their DNA, if not as their mission statement.

Here’s the rub: we Episcopalians THINK (because we’ve been told so) that we are all about worship. That’s because we have tended to think we do worship particularly well (often kind of like a symphony orchestra does music particularly well, with a handful in the audience). But worship is not our foundational activity. Christian Formation is, for worship is merely one, albeit a very important one, of several aspects of congregational life that build and support Christian lives.

When a congregation has the notion that Christian Ed is for children; that Confirmation means “graduation” from Church School; that Bible study and other forms of adult formation are for the handful of truly devout but somewhat weird members, not for oneself; that Inquirers’ Class is the full extent of education needed for full, life-long participation in the life of the church—that congregation is in a heap ‘o trouble. The Evangelical churches count on a sudden, cathartic, one-time experience of conversion to Christ. We don’t. We count on a life-style of living and practicing the life of conversion over a period of time. How ironic that they so often do a better job than we do with on-going Christian Formation.

It isn’t eccentric for adult Christians to participate regularly in some kind of instruction in scripture, tradition, and practice. It’s just the Episcopal way.

A Volley from the Canon, # 55 And What Does the Lord Require of Us

WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF US?

When a congregation is considering the question of what its mission or purpose statement ought to be, perhaps a foundational beginning might be some of the things scripture actually teaches us to be essential to the faith. Jesus’ own specific teachings to his followers would be an excellent place to begin—not simply to lift a piece out of scripture and adopt it as mission (since that would be too general and universally applicable to provide specific identity or direction to a congregation), but to set up some categories to begin with.

We shouldn’t neglect the Old Testament while we are at it, for it is our scripture, too. Recently, I came across an edition of the Bible that comes with yellow highlighting on all verses or portions of verses that mention the responsibility of God’s people to promote justice and to care for others who are in need. The proportion of scripture that has yellow highlighting is impressive, to say the least.

The prophet Micah provides a useful summary. “What does the Lord require of us,” he asks rhetorically, “but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God?” That pretty well covers it, and I cannot imagine Jesus objecting to that sentiment.
Bishop Barbara Harris quotes the late Dr. Verna Dozier as saying that we too often reverse the verbs in that passage in our own practice. She says we only “love” justice, while we actually “do” mercy. Justice, you see, requires commitment and sacrifice to DO, but it is easy and cost-free to be vaguely in favor of it, if it ever should somehow happen. Mercy is easier to DO; we can just write a check. It has the added advantage of meeting with universal approval, and not rocking anyone’s boat. Justice, however—DOING justice could turn the world on its head (a phrase that rings a Pauline bell, now I think of it. This is what the early church was accused of wanting to do!)

Imagine that. A congregation whose purpose is to turn the world on its head.

A Volley from the Canon, #54 A Matter of Policy

A MATTER OF POLICY

At this writing, I am visiting Anniston, Alabama to officiate at the wedding of my niece Rachel in St. Michael and All Angels Church, a very beautiful English-style stone church set down incongruously in a working-class neighborhood in small-town Alabama. To do this, we had to “borrow” the church, with which no one in the family has any connection. Rachel grew up actively involved in Church of the Holy Comforter, Charlotte, NC. But when she left for college, her parents moved to suburban D. C., where she has lived only briefly after University. One day, on retirement, her parents will attend The Church of the Holy Comforter in Gadsden, Alabama, but that time is not now, and Rachel does not know that congregation. She attends graduate school in Austin, TX, where she will not reside for long. Bottom line: she is at that time of life when she has no “permanent” church congregation. She and fiancé Jonathan know they want to wed in church (and she wants it to be an Episcopal Church). But what church, where?

Sound familiar? In this highly mobile society, this scenario describes the plight of many a person, and not just twenty-somethings.

The paternal grandparents, who are not Episcopalian and limited in mobility, live near Anniston. If the wedding is held here, they can attend, and there are other family members still in Alabama. The groom, Jonathan’s, family are from Arkansas. So everyone else has to travel anyway—why not gather here?

In many instances, clergy exclusivity and hard-headedness, that’s why. How many parish clergy are even willing to listen through a convoluted story like the one above, much less to consider seriously and open-mindedly the possibility of allowing such an “outside” ceremony to be performed in “their” church? More than used to be the case, fortunately, and the Rev. Bruce White, of St. Michael and All Angels, is one of them. He and his altar guild wedding volunteers are being extraordinarily hospitable. The parish even housed the after-rehearsal dinner, food supplied by an outside caterer, of course, but making fullest use of the church’s buildings. They could hardly be more delightful to work with.

There is a substantial fee, and that is not inappropriate; after all, it costs money to maintain this impressive structure, and it is only fair to expect interlopers such as ourselves to share that responsibility. But to get to the point of this writing: congregations need to have carefully planned and thought-out written policies, with input from all concerned (altar guilds, musicians, vestries, sexton staff, clergy) as to who can be accommodated with requests to use the church facilities for meetings, weddings, funerals, baptisms, and parties, and under what circumstances. The policy needs to be designed to include and draw in, not to exclude and rule out. It needs to be attuned to the mission of the congregation. It needs to be about Stewardship, Servanthood, and Evangelism.

We’ve all been plagued by those calls: “I belong to Possum Creek Church, but your church is so pretty, I thought I’d like to have my daughter’s wedding there.” It can get pretty annoying. Still, when we respond to such requests, it wouldn’t hurt us to consider, trite as it is, “What Would Jesus Do?” In our answer, prepared by careful policy planning done in advance and not in the heat of re-action, I would hope there will always be Good News.

A Volley from the Canon, #53

THE MAIN EVENT

One of many things I’ve always liked about parish ministry is the variety of activities one gets to do. Clergy can manage their own schedules to a great extent, and no two days of a week need be quite the same. That really helps in keeping things fresh and interesting. The down side, though, is that it can be challenging to stay focused. It is easy to get pulled in one direction and another.

With more on the to-do list than one can shake a stick at, it takes discipline and resolve to stop shaking sticks long enough to put quality time into the things that matter most—especially when everything seems to matter so much and demand so much attention.

People certainly matter enormously, and their urgent pastoral needs often trump other obligations. In the end, though, it is important for both clergy and lay leaders to realize that what happens in church on Sunday morning is nearly always the most important event in the life of a congregation in any given week, the one most impacting the lives of the people and the future of the church. Sunday liturgy, particularly the Eucharist, is the Main Event. It deserves careful and prayerful planning, attentive communication with worship leaders, and even intentional rehearsal. Our prayer book worship, prescribed as it is, may seem to be predictable and rote. In presentation, however, it is imperative that it be experienced as anything but! Keeping it fresh week by week does not happen by accident, but only by taking the time to ponder, wonder, and pray in preparation.

People have plenty they could do with a Sunday morning, including say their prayers from the comfort of their own beds. Those who get up and haul their carcasses to the church deserve to be rewarded with something special and inspiring. Worship that expects encounter with the Holy One is the most effective evangelism, spiritual discipline, pastoral care, and Christian formation experience a congregation can offer. No demand on a church’s ministers’ time is more important than that.

A Volley from the Canon, #52

MISSION VS. MAINTENANCE: THE PASTORAL CARE DIVERSION

During a clergy search, many if not most congregations are very clear in stating: “We need pastoral care. We want a priest who visits the sick and the shut-ins.” Often the phrase ends, spoken or unspoken, “unlike that last guy.” Very rarely, it seems, does any church get quite enough clergy visitation to suit the “clergy as pastoral-caregiver” segment of the congregation.

It is quite true that the weaker members of a congregation rate special, caring attention in their time of need. It is also a fact that a congregation that makes attention to the sick and elderly its top priority, particularly for its clergy-person, has set its face toward its own death. One reason is simply statistical: the sick and elderly members, by and large, don’t last very long. Consequently, all that clergy attention, at high cost to the congregation, is being directed toward those who are on their way out of the congregational life. Morale is an issue, too: after a while, the priest realizes that all of her best friends in the congregation are dead! It isn’t easy to bury, year after year, the church members you know best and love most.

But meanwhile, the “pastoral” clergy leader is ignoring the young, the active, and the newly enrolled, many of whom may well look elsewhere for church, precisely because they feel the rector’s lack of interest in them. The congregation is placing maintenance of those it already has ahead of its mission to reach out to those it does not yet fully have! In fact, I’ve heard it said that the church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of those who are not yet its members.

This very situation may well be the key to the decline of the Main Line in Protestantism.

Pastoral care for the sick, the elderly, and for those in “any kind of need or trouble” is the responsibility of the entire congregation, not just the clergy. So are evangelism, formation, and congregational life. Remember the story about the Canada geese, how they share leadership, mate for life, fly in formation, and—when one is injured or sick, one or two stay behind to care for the weak one. We can learn this from those geese: it isn’t always the same one who stays behind to care for the sick.

And meanwhile, the flock flies on to its destination.

A Volley from the Canon, #51

MOVE TOWARD THE FIRE

In a former life, my wife Linda was Director of Public Relations for a hospital in our home town. One of her duties had to do with emergency procedures, and I was intrigued to learn of some ways that hospitals respond differently from other institutions to an emergency such as a fire.

I was a teacher then, and our procedure was simple: get the kids out! In most instances, when an occupied structure catches fire, priority one is to evacuate, and priority two is to call the fire department (of course, that is done automatically in most cases). In the hospital, however, there are hundreds of patients, many of whose lives would be as threatened by being moved as by the emergency itself. In any case, there could never be staff enough or emergency personnel enough, quickly enough, to remove all patients safely. Evacuation itself poses serious risks. Therefore, the hospital maintains a cadre of staff who are trained to rush TO the source of the danger. Others are sealing off unaffected wings of the buildings, evacuating those who can most safely be evacuated, and taking up stations for further actions should they be called for. Still others continue to care for the seriously ill throughout the emergency. But the most crucial action required is to put out the fire and limit the damage immediately, not waiting for crews from outside to arrive.

What does this have to do with congregational life and health? The church is, after all, a hospital for sinners, a gathering place for people in all stages of spiritual and emotional treatment and recovery. What happens when there is a spiritual “fire,” (and not one of holy origin)? How can the local church deal most effectively with an outbreak of serious conflict that threatens its very survival?

We have all kinds of natural responses. Some people refuse to acknowledge that there is a fire, and they try to go about their business normally, hoping it will just go out on its own. Some of the stronger and abler people run from the fire, often abandoning weaker souls who are too frail, in whatever way, to get out of the way of the flames. Some just try to seal it off from affecting “their” particular wing of the congregation.

We also need to maintain teams of people who are prepared and equipped to rush TO the fire. We need to meet conflicts head on, address them honestly and directly, and bring them to resolution as quickly and expeditiously as possible. We need to excise the Body of dangerous, destructive behaviors, and we need to facilitate reconciliation and healing. Conflict Resolution may be the crash cart of wholesome congregational life.

A Volley from the Canon, #50

SUMMER SOCIALS

Somehow, Coffee Hour, that sacred Episcopal institution, sounds less appealing in summer. Sure, there are those of us who need our post-worship jolt in any season. But many of us would just as soon get it in a cooler, breezier way when the weather turns warm.

That undercroft gathering space may seem a bit dark and caveish in summer, too.

If there is a level shady spot outdoors, why not try moving the coffee hour al fresco for summer? Some people will still want coffee—but what if it is available iced as well as hot? How about fresh-brewed iced tea? Real lemonade? Those summer treats hearken to lazier, more relaxed past days, but they also invite folks to relax and unwind together a little longer in present days, too. Ice cream bars and sandwiches make terrific summer after-church snacks, too, and a welcome break from the all-donut diet.

It is always a challenge to get hosts to do things a little differently, when they have learned a routine. For encouraging Sunday attendance through the summer, and for welcoming the guests who continue to drop in during summer months, however, variety lends a very attractive spice. It may be well worth the hospitality committee’s time and effort to do a little additional sales, training, and coordinating to produce a memorable summer routine.

Volley from the Canon, #49

FRESH LEAVEN FOR THE LOAF:
WORKING IN NEW MEMBERS

It is a simple truth that new church members beget new church members.

The long-time members largely have already worn out their family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances with invitations to the church. It saddens one to see them hide when they espy us approaching. Chances are, if they haven’t showed up by now, they aren’t interested. At any rate, they know they are welcome.

The new member, however, knows and is related to (we hope) a different set of people, including many who have not yet been introduced to the local Episcopal congregation. While they are fresh and excited about their experience of attending the church, it’s a great time for them to be the evangelists of the congregation, talking up their interest and enthusiasm to their friends and relations. In my own experience, one new member to our original congregation (that we hardly knew) set off a chain reaction of friends and friends-of-friends that brought a double-handful of young adults into that congregation.

The existing members owe a huge debt of gratitude to those new members, who refresh the community life and stir the pot, fending off congregational torpor. It is essential that they be carefully drawn into the group. Remember: within six months of joining a church, every member needs to know at least seven people there that he or she considers friends, inside and outside of the church, in order for them to continue attending.

No matter how small the congregation, it is a good idea to have a new member incorporation group of some kind, whose job it is to work the new leaven into the loaf. Newcomers need to be invited to take part in various activities and events, and specifically not just the drudge jobs. Perhaps most important of all is to ask them what their ministry interests are, and to help them find ways to develop those in the congregation.

Should a new member serve on the vestry right away? That depends on the congregation, the vestry, and the new member. As a rule, it is wise not to hit them up with too large a commitment all at once. Many of us know of vestries whose meetings could be terminal to a fragile faith, either through boredom or through conflict. There can be situations though, in a small and well-functioning congregation, when participation in the leadership of the church could be an excellent orientation and commitment experience.

New members are a special gift to a congregation. Let us rejoice and be glad in them. Let us also not neglect to ask them to invite their friends and connections, as well. We’d be glad in them, too!

A Volley from the Canon, 47-48

NEW MEMBERS AND CLERGY CONTACT

It sounds so simple. Of course, everyone who visits a congregation for the first time would love to be contacted right away by the rector or missioner of the congregation, right? The sooner the better! Why not have them just drop in?

But whoa! Not so fast! While it is common for a couple or individual who visit a church for the first time to have that attitude, it is far from universal. Much depends on their former experience with church which, if they are newcomers, may be unknown. We also may need a quick review of Sizing Up Your Congregation (Alban Institute, Arlin Rothauge) to explain the complexity of the situation.

Our diocese is almost entirely composed of small (“family-size”) and medium-small (“pastoral-size”) congregations, with only one or two in the medium (“transition-to-program-size”) category. Groups in those size ranges vary considerably in their expectations about clergy role in leadership, communication, and new-member incorporation.

Small (up to about 75 average Sunday attendance) congregations are led by a small number of long-time members who are the go-to persons for any information about the church, and who ultimately make the important decisions about activities and events, finances, and acceptance of a new member. The clergy can be as welcoming as they want, but their contact cannot take the place of acceptance from these lay leaders. Introducing a prospective new member to the “patriarchs and matriarchs” and facilitating their getting to know and trust one another is essential to working new members into the small church. The clergy person, when he has a good relationship with the leaders (as he must, to survive), can help, but not control, that process. A visit from the priest probably doesn’t matter much: a phone call from the Altar Guild leader or a Warden can be a real sign of welcome and acceptance.

Medium-small (75 to 140-ish in ASA) congregations are clergy led. Yes, totally opposite. Clergy make or lead most decisions, and clergy are the ones who know everyone and know everything on the calendar (because they put it there.) You are a member of the congregation when the rector invites you to be. You know you matter to the congregation when the rector knows you (by name and particulars) and especially when she specifically invites you to take part in some parish activity. Of course, the friendliness and welcome of everyone matters—but if the priest does not remember your name, you’re toast in that congregation. Obviously, in this sociological setting, being visited by the clergy-person is very important to any prospective new member.

There is that other factor, though, of prior experience with church to consider. Has the person had a negative experience previously, and did it involve clergy? Has the person had a particularly close or happy pastoral relationship, with high expectations to match? Is the previous congregation either a family-size one or a pastoral-size one (we always think that what we’ve known in the past is normative.) Or, as is increasingly common, is this the first and only church experience the person has? Gently and politely finding out this information is a very important responsibility of the greeter team who welcome people on their first visit to the church. If, with sensitivity and genuine interest, they can discover and pass along to the clergy answers to these questions, the priest can accurately assess what kind of clergy response may be best in each particular situation.

Most of the time, a hand-written note of welcome from the rector or missioner of the congregation is an ideal first response, and it should arrive during the week following that first visit to worship. However, some congregations have a guest card or register in which the question is asked, “Would you like a call or visit from the clergy?” If that box is checked “yes,” then that call or visit has to take place right away, during that first week—and if the priest is to be away, then a card must be sent explaining that, with promise to call asap upon return.

There was a time when clergy had special license to drop in on anybody at any time. (That’s why the huge family Bible sat out on the coffee table to be dusted every week.) That time has passed. Now, unless we have specifically been told not to by an individual, we call in advance and inquire when a visit would be convenient.

It also used to be that home visits were always welcome. That may not necessarily be so today. The rise of coffee shops is a great solution to this dilemma. Now, we can say, “Would it be convenient for me to come by, or would you like to meet me at Espresso’s on the corner?” and we provide a comfortable alternative for anyone who, for whatever reason, is loathe to have a clergy visit at home. When the clergy family situation is conducive, it can also be helpful to invite newcomers, perhaps several at once, to the clergy home for a getting-acquainted visit (and in the pastoral size congregation, that would feel like a very welcome gesture.) Warm weather makes for opportunities for grilling on the deck or desserts on the patio or porch, which might seem even more comfortable for some.

If all this makes it seem terribly complicated, trying to figure out who would like to have a clergy visit and who would not, that’s because it is. Opportunities for small faux pas abound. There is one mistake that is just too big to make, though, and that is the mistake of clergy ignoring the matter entirely, and thereby alienating most everyone. Conveniently, there is one back-up solution that almost always works: just ask them what they would prefer. Who doesn’t like to be given a choice?

The welcome and inclusion of new members is not exclusively a clergy activity: it is a partnership between clergy and lay ministers in any congregation, and in many cases, the lay involvement is paramount.

A Volley from the Cannon, #46

CLUTTER

Is your congregation a pack-rat church? If so, you are not alone in our diocese.

Is it a place where no one has the courage to throw anything away, or pass it along to someone who can use it, no matter how long it has laid underfoot or clogged the closets?

Do people in your congregation believe they have to hang—forever—every gift of art or achmaltz ever given, even the ecclesiastical equivalent of poker-playing dogs on velvet, whether or not it adds anything to the devotional use of the space?

This will take some chutzpah, but it could also be much appreciated by many: first, gather some allies; then, pick a room (how about one that was last decorated by the ECW in the 1970’s?), or even the worship space of the church itself, and remove everything from its walls. Leave them bare for six months to a year, until you’ve had time for what was there before to fade from memory. Repaint or refinish the walls. Then prayerfully consider what piece of art or decorative object “cries out” to be there. What fits the period, the style, the purpose, the location? Even consult a professional about color, shape, and scale, if you lack those skills. The object is to place ONLY those pieces of decorative art that advance the spiritual life of the congregation, and place them where they have the greatest impact—all the while keeping the focus on the point of reference for the entire church, the altar.

There needs to be some place in the church that is the “refrigerator door” of congregational life. It need not be the whole building, though. The church can be a place to be freed from the clutter of our lives, both aesthetic and spiritual.

A Volley from the Canon, #45 "For Example..."

FOR EXAMPLE…

Following up on last week (Volley # 44), here’s a family experience to illustrate. I know that many of our congregations have great ideas to share, and I hope we will hear your contributions, too.

Our son Daniel and his wife Chantal live in Charlotte, NC, near Huntersville. Soon after they moved there, Linda and I visited for the weekend, and we attended St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Huntersville, with them for their first visit (well, we parents do what we can to move things along.) St. Mark’s is a little country church that is no longer in the country. They’d almost have to resort to dire measures NOT to grow. On the contrary, however, they have called an energetic and dynamic rector, and an excellent preacher, the Rev. Sarah Hollar, Finding seats can be a problem, and they are planning their new building now. Their welcome was friendly and warm. They offered a very positive and affirming worship experience.

After worship, we went out for lunch. When we returned to their new home, we found a colorful bag hanging on the doorknob. The bag contained a church newsletter, a welcome note, and several little items like pens, chocolates, refrigerator magnets, etc. Both “kids” were impressed. Daniel, as a “PK,” is a pro of sorts with this sort of thing, but that didn’t detract from it at all—he was pleased, as anyone would be to be told specifically that he was wanted in this congregation. We must not just assume that people will know this: we need to tell them!

I know some congregations send out more symbolic gifts, like fresh-baked bread. That is great, if someone wants to take it on, on a weekly basis. But don’t keep bread in the freezer for occasional use! Freezer-burned bread makes a statement, but not the one we want to make.

St. Mark’s has fancy, engraved name-tags for their members—a danger area in my opinion (difficult to maintain consistently). But on their next visit, Daniel and Chantal found shiny new tags on the rack with their names on them! A+ for St. Mark’s!

A Volley from the Canon, #44, Now What?

NOW WHAT?

A new family showed up for church last Sunday. They were welcomed, and seemed to be comfortable with the congregation. They seemed happy to be in church, and appreciated the worship. Now what?

We used to drop the ball all too often on that “first date,” greeting and welcoming people. We’re doing much better now on that score, after great effort. Now, we need to pay attention also to the next step, helping people who visit a time or two to make the decision to become members of the congregation, and helping them to find a place for themselves there.

Step Number One is to follow up to that first visit with some kind of non-threatening contact. In many growing congregations, a lay person or two will drop by the home on Sunday afternoon, bearing some kind of welcome package. They don’t go inside, even if invited, and they limit their visit to about five minutes. They are just delivering a small gift, and reinforcing the idea of welcome. Note: the clergy person or spouse must not do this! That would be too threatening. It is surprising how impressed people are by this gesture, though. It makes a powerful statement, and it is well worth the investment in time and organization to the congregation.

People do want to hear from the clergy, however. A hand-written card is all it takes for the first contact. After another appearance at church or two, a phone call with an offer to visit in the home or at a coffee-bar would be in order. (Of course, if they have indicated a desire for a clergy visit, their request must be honored promptly.) That visit, when it occurs, is all-important—it can make or break the relationship with that prospective member (especially in the “pastoral” size congregation.)

If the congregation has “pre-made” name tags (which I do not recommend), then there had better be some with those people’s names on them, including the children, NEXT SUNDAY! Don’t make them ask for one, or let them look for one and not find it. This is no time to go stingy.

More to come, spread over the next several weeks….

A Volley from the Canon, #43 Event Evangelism

EVENT EVANGELISM

The liturgical calendar is an attractive mystery to those who don’t live with it as we do, both churched and unchurched. Not only are our seasons color-coded, but so are our days of special observance. Just the fact that we have days of special observance puts us a leg up over many of our Christian neighbors.

We use the calendar to teach and inspire our own people, and to organize our common life. We have the further opportunity, however, to make great use of special seasons and events to attract others who are seeking to be taught and inspired, and who can appreciate some structure to organize their own spiritual lives. We’ve just observed Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, and now we are in the season of Lent, which has an amazing attraction for people one would not expect to be very keen on abstinence and penitence. (It always amazes me that we Episcopalians, as hedonistic as we are by nature, would be as serious about Lent as we are.) In the weeks ahead, we have not only more of Lent, but also the heaven-sent evangelistic advantage of Holy Week and Easter, and our deeply symbolic ways of honoring them.

If we are ever to invest in some advertizing, put up special signs or banners, send out fliers, and invite neighbors to attend worship with us, now is a great time for it. Passion Sunday, with its procession of palms and the dramatic reading of the Gospel; Maundy Thursday, with the washing of feet and that heart-wrenching stripping of the altar; Good Friday’s observance, in silence and awe; finally the Great Vigil of Easter and the Sunday of the Resurrection—who could possibly miss out on the messages of those powerful and moving remembrances, when they are done with reverence and care?

Our communities are filled with hungry hearts longing for a faith to take that seriously, as we ourselves once were. Let’s do the best we can to find them this year, and offer them sanctuary.

A Volley from the Canon, #42

SPOT-POLLING

Do you occasionally want to know what members of your congregation think about a recent experience or innovation, or a possible one being considered? Would you like to increase the people’s “stake” in the practices of the congregation? Help folks feel more involved and more valued? Add a motive for regular attendance at coffee hour, or whatever fellowship activity surrounds worship? Try “Spot-Polling.”

Here’s how you do it: Place a newsprint easel pad on an easel near the entrance to the gathering area. On the top sheet, neatly print the question, clearly and unambiguously worded, that you want feedback on. Add the list of options that are reasonable and acceptable possibilities, with a “blank” drawn beside each one. Leave some marking pens on the easel tray or where they can be easily found. Invite each person present to indicate his or her preference on the question by making “their mark” in the appropriate blank. Each person may vote once (though there could be a circumstance in which you might solicit their top two or top three choices. Be clear with instructions in that case.)

Add them up at the end, and next week, report the result. Voila! You have your answer.

Only persons present can vote. No absentee or remedial ballots. Next time, be there!

A caveat: don’t poll on a question you don’t really want to know the answer to, or that you’ve already made your mind up on! Don’t poll on something that someone else has a right to decide. Don’t overdo this and render your vestry irrelevant. But for occasional, limited, and appropriate use, this method will give you quick, helpful information and important morale benefits, too.

A Volley from the Canon, #41

A LENTEN DISCIPLINE
One table group at the recent Anti-Racism training in Wheeling was discussing the readiness of people to accept change in their church experience, and they came up with a suggestion for a Lenten discipline. Each Sunday during Lent, sit in a completely different place in the church, and take note of how it feels. How is the worship experience different? What new perceptions are gained, and what is lost? Can you even do it—and what would that mean?
Why not give it a shot?


Bonus thought: “If the people in the pews of your church do not look like the people on the street outside your church, your congregation is dying.”

A Volley from the Canon, #40

Roll Over, Beethoven, Revisited

A speaker at TENS Conference (aren’t y’all glad I went to that?) offered an observation that made me sit up straighter for a few minutes. He said that we Baby Boomers must not assume that one of our most firmly-held convictions-- that the language and music of worship must be revised to suit our present theological, social, and artistic sensibilities—will be shared by our children and our children’s children. This development would delight those of our parents who are still living, but it will be a huge challenge to the present “established” generation, especially those who have worked so tirelessly, and with the conviction of absolute certainty, for inclusive language. [Yes, we Boomers are the generation in power now, a difficult concept for us to grasp, since we have defined ourselves as those who “rage against the Machine.” Now, we ARE the machine.]

A word of comfort: it is not that our children do not agree with us on such matters as gender equality and “diversity,” with all the layers of blending that code word implies. It is just that their minds are not fixated on the struggle, which they see as our struggle, not theirs. They are past that. Our battle was over “inclusion.” Theirs might be better identified as “connection.” “I am more than the sum of my cell-phone directory,” I heard someone say. Younger adults and teens crave connection with something larger than themselves and the present moment. Example: the Latin mass is back in the Roman Catholic Church. It doesn’t matter that younger people understand it even less than their parents did. It matters that it bridges the centuries. “Mystery” is in--again.

Here we sit, this Episcopal Church that defines itself as being larger than the present moment. All of a sudden, we may not be so out of it after all. Wouldn’t it be funny if we completed our shift into cultural relevancy in the eyes of one generation just in time to become irrelevant to the next one. Some implications for us:

• Rite One may not be dead after all. Book of Common Prayer 1662 may not be, either!
• The way we DO liturgy may be more important than the liturgy itself. Inclusive, yes—transcendent, even more so.
• We don’t need to give up on chant, even very ancient forms, to reach moderns. We need to make those forms more accessible by teaching, repetition, and practice.
• Deliberate excursions into historic practices may bear fruit. Take heart, religious communities, you may become cool again!
• Our rootedness in history doesn’t make us passé. It makes us more genuine.

All this does not mean that we can put the brakes on developing new, contemporary, “emerging church” liturgies. It just means that life continues to get more complicated, not less so. The successful congregation may be the one that does, well something, authentically and well.

A Volley from the Canon, #39

TIPS FOR SMALL CONGREGATIONS

At the TENS Conference (The Episcopal Network for Stewardship) last week in Tennessee, my counterpart for the Diocese of North Carolina, Bill Renn, made some comments on small congregations that I find worthy of passing along. Bill says that it is really easier for a small congregation to become a healthy congregation than it is for a large one: fewer people to get transformed! A congregation becomes a healthy congregation, he says, when its member know and embrace their mission, and take it as their ministry to accomplish it (gee, that sounds familiar—but remember, this is from Bill!)

“Don’t do bad liturgy!” he warns. If you have a choir of three, and they don’t sound so good, don’t have a choir! (See why I’m quoting him by name here?) If there are twelve in the congregation and the quality of their singing ranges from inaudible to wish-it-were-inaudible, then don’t sing hymns! If your organist sounds like the funeral parlor musician she is, complete with that out-of-control base pedal, then don’t have an organist! It is better to have no music at all than to have bad music.

How do we have an effective liturgy, then, without music to fall back on? With careful planning and execution, that’s how. First, anyone who is to read scripture must be selected for their skill, not just their willingness. Both the prayers and the lessons must be delivered clearly and distinctly, and with some expression. If the liturgy does not sound like it has any meaning to the readers, then it won’t to the listeners, either. The judicious use of silence is a great substitute for music, too. What would be wrong with providing the opportunity for private prayer in worship? An appropriate poem or dramatic reading, well selected and well presented, could easily take the place of music. And how about the worship space itself? A piece of art for the occasion, or an arrangement of significant objects, in a place where they could be viewed by the congregation, could contribute significantly to worship. Even moving furnishings around (horrors!) to emphasize a season or a point from a lesson could be meaningful. Rote worship can be thrown together in minutes with little planning and no practice, but good and meaningful worship takes time and planning. Yet it is the responsibility of all worship leaders to provide spiritually enriching worship experiences every time we invite people to gather at the church.

At the bottom of it, the point is that small churches should not strain to act like big churches. Why have a “procession” consisting of the priest carrying the processional cross, and nobody following, just because the one enrolled acolyte slept in that morning? A procession is not a requirement for Episcopal worship, and it is a device for moving numbers of people into the worship space. If we don’t have the numbers, we don’t need the device.

Small congregations can be wonderful communities, rich in relationships and spiritual depth. They just need to know and claim who they are, and give up trying to be what they are not.

A Volley from the Canon #38

SUNDAY CLOTHES

She had loved everything about the Sunday Eucharist, she reported--the music, the sermon, the prayers. Yes, people had been very welcoming and friendly. She experienced nothing of the guilt and rejection that had been laid on her in her former congregation. But feeling better about oneself is not accomplished in a single hour. The young single mother and her baby would not be coming back. “I just don’t have the clothes,” she admitted apologetically.
I had met her when I delivered some baby items to her housing-project apartment. We talked for a while, and I invited her to attend worship at our church. I was thrilled to see that she actually followed through, so much was she in need of a less harshly judgmental expression of Christianity. We did fine in word and deed. Then we blew our whole witness by wearing fancy clothes to church. We expressed our judgment on a different level.
This was when I discovered a gender gap in our congregation that I had previously been blind to. The younger men, particularly, had taken happily to my suggestion that some of us needed to be more casually dressed in worship in order not to intimidate the unwary newcomer. And when casually dressed, they looked—casual. But the women seemed unwilling or incapable of making that sacrifice. Even their jeans were imposing to the fashion-challenged.
And why not? I now wonder. They were just being themselves. They shouldn’t have to take turns looking sloppy, just to express their evangelistic zeal. Still, I wonder what became of that young woman, and others like her, torn between fire and brimstone on the one hand and an unreachable level of fashion achievement on the other.
Dr. Sherri Smith, of that congregation, later began an organization called “Dress for Success” to help women present themselves favorably for job interviews and new professional work environments. What a helpful idea! I wish I had known of it then. With a little tact and discretion (since she brought up the subject), perhaps I could have directed that young mother to some friendly and helpful women who would have been pleased to assist her in dressing and feeling more comfortable and acceptable in the new environment. Fitting in, after all, can work from more than one direction.

A Volley from the Canon, #37

“Space and Function”

Prior to 1975, I was not around in the Episcopal Church to know what people were thinking when they did things like build church buildings with no rest rooms, place parish halls at the bottom of long, steep steps or on the far side of cemeteries, purchase pews from some dungeon apparatus dealer, and tack on kneelers showing the brand name de Sade. Clearly, there was once a common understanding that attending church ought to hurt some, to be effective.

They may have been onto something, because the decline in mainline church attendance has coincided with the increase of mercies, in various forms: like letting the children miss the sermon and prayers, but get communion; the option of standing (or sitting, or wallowing on the floor, for that matter, depending on age) instead of kneeling; emphasis on shorter and sweeter sermons; allowance of casual dress. Be that as it may, our worship, since 1979, has shifted in its emphasis-- we are more community oriented, and less individualistic, more a community at prayer than a group of individuals praying in sync. That emphasis calls for changes in the way we worship, too, the way we structure worship, the way worship looks and feels. But there is an important liturgical principle that has not changed:

The Building Always Wins.

Many of us struggle to lead meaningful and varied worship in settings that were designed for one style, and one style only. Many of our buildings are old and venerable, perhaps even land-marked. We wouldn’t have the funds to replace them, as they really ought to be replaced, for public worship anyway, even if we had the desire to do so. I humbly submit, with the greatest apprehension, but also deep sincerity, this little tidbit of information for the prayerful consideration of those responsible for worship:

Even if a church building itself is protected as a historical structure (or should be), its furniture is not.

Just think about it.

A Volley from the Canon, #36

Just Do SOMETHING

The congregation may have feared “the E word,” (evangelism) for a long time. At last, a shift occurs. They are now ready (i. e. desperate enough) to consider a plan for outreach, to introduce themselves to a wider swath of their community. The question is: what to do?

Radio ads? How about a billboard or two? Newspapers! Fliers! Doorbell ringing, anyone? Sign on the city bus?

Soon, the planning group is reduced to bickering, playing one idea against the next. No matter what gets suggested, there is someone to point out its flaws. It’s too expensive. It reaches too few people. It reaches the wrong people. We tried it twenty years ago, and it didn’t reach ANY people.

What it amounts to is that the idea, whichever it might be, is no silver bullet. It fails to guarantee that, in just a few short months, the church’s pews will be filled with happy, highly committed and involved, incredibly nice, well-heeled and generous, new members.

In other words, “the perfect becomes the enemy of the good.”

What Christians must learn is that evangelism is not about packing the pews so much as it is about expressing God’s Good News, in ways varied enough to speak to various people. No one way will communicate clearly to everyone.

In the end, it may not matter so much which thing we do as an evangelical innovation. What will matter is that we do SOMETHING. Then, after that, something else, and so on, as we respond to the folks God sends us via each of those efforts.

A Volley from the Canon, #35

A Wailing Wall

The character May in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees has a “wailing wall.” She built it herself in the back yard out of stacked stones. She needs the wall because she is afflicted with a peculiar sensitivity to tragic events in other people’s lives. When she is overcome with emotion, she goes to her wall, and she writes her thoughts and her lamentations on scraps of paper, which she stuffs into the spaces between the rocks.

May’s wall is based on the Western Wall, in Jerusalem, all that remains of the Second Temple, where Jews and others similarly inscribe their prayers onto paper and insert them into the interstices of the Temple’s foundation stones. (I should go on record in stating that the Western Wall should not be called “The Wailing Wall,” because that label is a derogatory and ill-informed reference to the Jewish custom of chanting prayers while bobbing and swaying the body, in order to “pray with one’s whole being.” The Wall is used for any kind of prayer.)

But I think there is a lot of May in all of us. Sometimes, we need to wail. We are affected by the tragic events of our world, whether they impact us directly or not. We need to express our hopes, fears, horror, and sadness, as well as our joys, to compassionate divine ears. It can be helpful to send God a note, too, as a sign of our passing presence. Not many of us can travel to Jerusalem to do it, but a holy place closer to us would be helpful.

Maybe our churches need to provide such places. They could be outdoors, on grounds or in gardens, near columbaria, perhaps. They could also be sheltered, inside covered entrances, but accessible to the public. They should be blessed and set aside for the purpose. And they need to be known to the community as places where the prayers of ordinary children of God can be expressed and recorded. Perhaps the scraps of paper could be collected periodically and offered to God, with remembrances of those who wrote them, their pain and their need.

It isn’t always easy to go straight to an “inward and spiritual grace.” We Episcopalians know, better than most, how helpful an “outward and visible sign” can be in leading us there.

Volley #34

Buzz, Continued: Negative Buzz

Some say there is no such thing as bad publicity: people remember the name, but they don’t remember what it was they heard about it. Maybe this principle explains (partially) the Paris Hilton phenomenon, which is inexplicable for any other reason. I don’t think it applies to church buzz, though.

Previously, in Volley Number 26, I suggested that getting a community talking about our congregation, about what is going on there, is a worthy goal, and it is. Many of our congregations have another, flip-side, issue to deal with: negative buzz. It may take the form of comment on the spotty, inaccurate, overwhelmingly negative news reporting we get, especially at the national level. Locally, some of our congregations have bad reputations among some in their area because of sins of their past, even distant past. Small-town memories can last for generations, and the congregation that was too high-falootin’ for Great-Grandma will have to get along without her descendants!
What troubles most, however, is the negative buzz that is self-inflicted. “A” gets feelings hurt at church (or elsewhere) with “B,” and is heard recounting it loudly with “C” and “D” over the meat cooler in the local supermarket. Reverse evangelism! How attractive does that congregation sound? Is Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness foremost there? To hear some people talk-- about their clergy, choir, lay leaders, worship, the congregation’s self-appointed lay pope, you name it-- there is nothing good or holy about the congregation they belong to. So why would anyone from outside want to be part of that? Worst of all is when the new or potential member has to witness an entire church-family altercation, in all its knock-down, drag-out, high-decibel, paint-peeling glory, right on the church property.

We all want our children and grandchildren to follow our example of active church involvement. How likely is that to happen if most of what they hear about the church and its leadership from our lips is carping and criticizing?

Much of our complaining is recreational in nature, and most of it comes from our own sin of self-focus. Something is not going the way we want it to go (starting with the aging and weakening of our own bodies), and we want the world to know, and sympathize. Yet criticism rarely produces a positive effect, while reliably producing several negative ones. We would do well to try to restrict our complaining to the ears of God, and the person we’re piqued at, in that order. In fact, if we begin with the former, we might find that we no longer need to trouble the latter.

P. S.—Yes, I know this is a carping and complaining volley. However, I feel much better now. We’ll be back on more positive turf next week!

Volley #33

How Do People Know
Part Duh

How do I know if I am welcome in a congregation, if I’m:
• divorced
• or a single parent
• or just out of prison
• or homeless
• or on welfare
• or gay
• or non-white
• or Hispanic
• or poor
• or sick
• or handicapped—blind, deaf, limited in mobility, mentally or developmentally challenged?

The fear of just showing up can be very strong, and sadly, these persons may be the very ones most in need of experiencing the healing and renewing love of Jesus through the life of one of his faith communities. We also know very well what they know—that they are not really welcome in all Christian churches, including all Episcopal ones. We would do well to ask ourselves regularly, and in various ways, how we might better convey the message of welcome and acceptance to those who need to hear it. In the meantime, here are a few start-up questions.

• Is it clear, in all mentions of Communion, that all baptized persons who wish to receive are welcome?
• Is it stated openly in all communications that this congregation welcomes seekers of all kinds, without pre-conditions?
• If the congregation would be hospitable to gay and lesbian Christians, do they ever have the courage to say so? Even a little rainbow logo or flag or banner would speak volumes.
• If anyone is Hispanic, Black, Asian, or an immigrant, how would they know this congregation would receive them gracefully?
• Is the facility handicapped accessible? Could it be? Do communications say so?
• How about young adults? Single people?
• Do the website, and all publications, contain photos of the widest possible diversity of people by age and ethnicity? Are some people casually dressed? Do they look like they’re having fun?
• Are there people in worship wearing jeans or other casual attire? Even some greeters and parking lot attendants?

Maybe all kinds of people OUGHT to know they are welcome in an Episcopal church. But for some very good reasons, they don’t.
And the next step may be the bigger challenge—making all these things true of the congregation. That requires conversion of hearts, and may take time. But isn’t conversion of hearts our specialty?

advent conspiracy

Via Bishop Martin Townsend, a thoughtful seasonal u-tube posting.
http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

for Koinonea

“The Peace of the Lord Be with You”

Remember those excruciating days, just following the adoption of the present Book of Common Prayer, so many years ago now, when the Exchange of the Peace was a solitary affair? Episcopalians, not having adapted yet to the idea that they might even speak to just anyone who showed up in their church, were certainly not about to touch them—even in a handshake! Sadly, there are some congregations one could point to, even in our own diocese, where that attitude remains largely in force. In many, however, it has been replaced by an opposite practice, which nevertheless indicates that we still don’t understand the purpose of the Exchange of the Peace in our liturgy any more than we used to. I am referring to those places where the Peace sets off a melee of hugging and kissing, catching up on news, making plans for later, and general social interchange among those in the congregation who are friends. The greeting offered is, as often as not, “Good morning!” or “How are you?” and one finds, upon inquiry, that the congregation is rather pleased with itself over how friendly and welcoming they have become. But they are no closer to passing “Peace 101” than their frosty neighbors.

The Exchange of the Peace occurs at a key moment in the Eucharistic liturgy, that miraculous couple of seconds when we have just confessed to God our sins and omissions and have received God’s amazing and liberating forgiveness. In that moment of grace, we are uniquely able to wish upon others, whoever might be near us, known or unknown, that same divine peace we have received. And it is God’s peace we exchange, not ours: it is important to acknowledge that fact by mentioning him in our greeting. The ability to do this is crucial to our participation in the Great Thanksgiving which follows (and, on another, but related subject, the connection between these two elements illustrates why creating a chasm between them by inserting “announcements” is an unfortunate intrusion.) We’ve been taught that our liturgy consists of two parts, Word and Sacrament. But we need reminding that those two parts make one event, and the flow from one to the other should not be disrupted. Likewise, the Passing of the Peace should not be allowed to become such a hoopla that the true climax of the celebration, the sharing of Christ’s Body and Blood, becomes diminished. Presiders are right when, however hesitantly, they intervene to call the congregation back to order for continuation of the liturgy we’ve all come for.

To those congregations who believe a boisterous Peace shows how friendly they are: no it doesn’t. It accentuates to the guests just how out of it all they are, and to the introverts just how socially deficient the others consider them to be.
The mature congregation is one in which the Peace is kindly and freely exchanged with everyone adjacent to each worshiper, with a smile, a handshake, or even a light embrace, as locally appropriate. When few are present (say, under 20), it is fine for all to greet everyone else, with no omissions. It is also important for the nearest ones to move around to greet those who have seated themselves somewhat apart from the pack, and to make sure they include those near them that they don’t know (but not for everyone in a larger group to congregate around the one new family like a pack of Chihuahas on a pork chop!)

As for setting off a general hub-bub of social interaction, we have another set of trigger words for that. They come at the end of the liturgy, after the blessing and concluding hymn, and the dismissal: the people say, “Thanks be to God!”

A Volley from the Canon, #32

A Volley from the Canon, Number 32


Special Liturgies

Most of us Episcopalians believe that liturgy is something we do particularly well, and liturgical worship is important to us. Doing liturgy well takes planning and attention, even when it is of the weekly, ordinary-Sunday variety. “Special” liturgies, the kind that come just occasionally, and may even be unique, require just as much work and careful focus on detail. Yet they can be among the most powerful evangelistic tools we have in our kit.

More than once, I’ve had groomsmen in wedding parties comment to me, “I’ve been in a bunch of weddings lately, but this is the most spiritual one, I’ve ever been to.” And we’ve all heard non-members say, after a burial Eucharist, “Now that is the way a funeral ought to be!” (My favorite was the pastor of a neighboring congregation of another denomination, who asked, “When I die, will you bury me?”)

“Hey, I’m not making this up, I just read it!” I protest. But the point is: our Book of Common Prayer is a priceless resource for heart-moving, life-altering, Good News evangelism, culminating in an “altar call” in which everyone willing comes forward to receive Jesus.

In this coming season, we have several wonderful opportunities to dazzle shepherds, inn-keepers, and wise persons of all varieties with inspiring, celebratory re-tellings of the Greatest Story, all in the context of Holy Eucharist. Because there are extra worship opportunities, special events, and the expectation of guests and travelers, we also have a built-in excuse to do extra advertizing and publicity. Don’t let’s blow it!

• Are your Christmas events and worship opportunities prominently displayed on your website, in your church ads, in newsletters, on signs out front, in special mailings, and on fliers to be posted and distributed? How about your phone answering message?
• Are the Christmas liturgies meticulously planned and choreographed? Are they set at times when people actually will attend rather than fixed by some out-moded tradition?
• Has the Christmas worship team been recruited, trained, and rehearsed? Are there greeters? How about a little eggnog afterward?

There is no guarantee that a tourist bus will pull up out front for our Christ-masses. But there IS a guarantee that we will entertain, perhaps unawares, not only angels, but the Incarnate Christ himself—along with some person or persons he will bring with him who desperately need to experience a magnificent celebration, whether large or small. May they always say, of all of our Christmas Eucharists, “Now that is the way Christmas ought to be!”



Volleys from the Canon will go on temporary holiday hiatus until The Feast of the Circumcision.

A blessed celebration of the Incarnation to all!

Quote du jour

Reinhold Niebuhr, received from the Rev. Bob Thomas:

"Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime;
therefore, we must be save by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
therefore, we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however, virtuous, can be accomplished alone;
therefore, we must be saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our standpoint.

Therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness."

A Volley from the Canon, Number 31

31
Clocked IN
When we make the all-important decision to request that our names be placed on the rolls of a congregation, we face a major shift in our responsibilities and standing in that community. It would be helpful if someone prepared us for the enormity of what we are doing when we ask to be members!
Before, we were checking the church out to see what it had to offer us and our families. We were the newcomers, and we could be justified in thinking it was “all about us.”
But when we identify ourselves as members of the congregation, we become ministers of it. Now, we come to help feed as well as to be fed. We can no longer be consumers of religious life, but we must be suppliers as well.
When we arrive on Sunday morning, and at all church functions, we are “clocked in.”
That couple we don’t know standing hesitantly in the Narthex, or at the edge of the activity at coffee hour—whose job is it to greet them, introduce them around, begin to discover what their needs and interests are? It’s ours.

Quote du jour

We do not “think our way to a new way of living, but we live our way to a new way of thinking.”

from Alban Weekly

The Eucharist Explained

A Sample Text for Celebrating Holy Eucharist with Instruction

(Note: this text was prepared several years ago for a specific congregation, St. John's, Huntington, WV, during Pentecost season. It would require adaptation in several places before it could be used intelligibly in another place or season.)

THE HOLY EUCHARIST EXPLAINED

Prelude

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LITURGY

CELEBRANT
What we are doing together this morning is the same thing that we do almost every Sunday, and sometimes in between. It is the same thing that Christians have done together continuously over the centuries since Jesus said to his disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me.” It is the same thing that the Orthodox Christians call the “Divine Liturgy,” the Roman Catholics call “the Mass,” the Protestants call “the Lord’s Supper,” and we have often called “Holy Communion.” It is the great drama of the Eucharist, our premier act of worship and celebration in the Christian church.

ASSISTANT
All of us come to church on Sunday desiring a variety of blessings. We want to be uplifted, empowered to face the coming week with confidence and strength. We hope to be inspired, in a way re-converted to follow Christ. We want to commune with God and to have an opportunity to pray in a place that has been made holy by the prayers of many faithful people over the years, where the presence of the Holy Spirit has often been felt. We want to be with friends, to make friends, not to be alone. We want to learn about God. We seek to be fed by the risen Christ. We crave the experience of connectedness with the Divine. We ask to be healed. There is a whole complex of human needs, and all of them are met in one way or another, at one time and another. But one need we all share that we may not recognize very often is our need to worship God. If we do not worship the one true God, then we will inevitably find substitute gods, beginning with ourselves, to give our allegiance to. Our spirits will sicken, and they may die. God does not need us to worship him, though we believe he desires our company. We need to worship God. It is not only our duty, but to our benefit to do so.

CELEBRANT
The Anglican Communion is sometimes referred to as a “liturgical church.” We worship using a “liturgy.” Originally, liturgy meant “the work of the people,” and it could refer to any act of public service. What we mean by that word is that it is something we all do together, in an agreed-upon form, with everyone having a role to play. This is perhaps the most important concept to grasp in order to understand and benefit from Episcopal worship: You, the congregation, do not sit in an auditorium as an audience and listen to the ministers as they perform. Rather, you are all performers in the drama. That is why we call our book of worship the Book of Common Prayer, not in the sense of being ordinary, but meaning that it is shared by all. The vested ministers, choir, acolytes, and clergy, are at best stage hands and directors. Ultimately, the audience is Heaven itself. Therefore, we come not primarily as consumers, to get out of worship what we can; we come as participants, to put into the worship of the whole body what we can. Ironically, in so doing, we also get all the benefits ours hearts could desire.

In place of a sermon today, we are going to intersperse the various parts of our liturgy with teaching, in the hope that this Eucharist and all that follow it may become more meaningful for us all.

Entrance Hymn
Opening Versicle and Response

NARRATOR #1

At this point, we have already begun the first half of our liturgy, the Service of the Word. Several other parts of the Prayer Book could have been used for this: Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Holy Matrimony, Holy Baptism or Christian Burial can each serve as the Service of the Word. Today we are using Holy Eucharist, Rite II, the contemporary language version in use since 1979.
First, you heard music as a Prelude, just to let everyone know that it is time to quiet themselves, body and spirit, to prepare for worship. You may have noticed that most people knelt for prayer when they entered the church. That is partly also to set the tone for worship, but it is also a matter of simple etiquette: when we enter someone’s house, we greet our host! The congregation sits in the church proper, which is called the nave, Latin for “boat.” It represents the Ark of our Salvation, carrying us through the stormy seas of life toward Heaven, represented by the Sanctuary, which begins at the altar rail.
We used an opening hymn to set the mood and theme for the day. This is Pentecost season, the “ordinary time” of the church year. The hymn lyrics are carefully selected to complement the scripture readings of the day and reinforce their overall theme. The Procession is partly just a way to get the worship leaders into their places. But it also means something. The ministers enter from the west entry vestibule, called the Narthex (like being born into the church through baptism), they walk down the aisle, representing the journey through life, the straight and narrow path. At last, they enter the sanctuary, which signifies the kingdom of heaven. This is the pattern and model for Christian living, and the whole congregation follows this same path as we come for communion. Notice who leads the way—the Crucifer, or cross-bearer, “lifting high the cross.” Most people bow as the cross passes, indicating their reverence for Christ, for the cross is his victory sign.

NARRATOR #2

While we are talking about the symbolism of architecture in the church, let us notice some other details. In many Episcopal churches, the baptismal font is at the west door, representing the entrance into the kingdom of God through baptism. Ours is not there, simply because it will not fit, and would not be consistent with the period of our building’s design. We have our font at the crossing of the aisle, however, in the center of the aisles to proclaim the centrality of the importance of baptism, and on this side of the altar rail, because baptism is the admission rite to receiving communion. The altar is also in the center of the sanctuary, raised on a dais, the most prominent item in the church, because Holy Communion is the very heart of our gathering. The pulpit and the lectern are in the sanctuary, but at the sides, because preaching and reading God’s word are important, but not the focus of our worship. Flowers discreetly acknowledge the beauty and perfection of God’s creation, but they also are not at the center. The traditional color for the season after Pentecost is green, the color of creation. The two candles on the altar remind us of the Word of God in Old and New Testaments. Most visible of all is the Cross, our reminder and proclamation of Christ’s victory over sin and death through his own death and resurrection. In fact, it is not an accident that the church building itself is traditionally in the shape of a cross when viewed from above.

NARRATOR #1
Since this is Pentecost season, the first words of the celebration itself are the greeting for ordinary time, “Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The people respond in agreement. Then we say the Collect for Purity as a preparation for our worship. In most Episcopal churches, the celebrant says this prayer on everyone’s behalf. Here at St. John’s we say it together. Next we move to a seasonal hymn. The oldest and most traditional one would be Kyrie Eleison, “Lord, Have Mercy,” which we use in Advent and Lent. In this season, it is common to sing another ancient hymn, the Gloria in Excelsis. We stand throughout this section of the liturgy, because it is primarily about praise.

Gloria in Excelsis.

NARRATOR #2
Now the Celebrant leads us in the Collect of the Day. There is a different one of these for every Sunday of the year, and more for other occasions as well. They are printed in the Prayer Book, but we print ours with our scripture inserts for convenience. At the end of the Collect for the Day, we will sit to listen to the readings from Holy Scripture.

Collect of the Day

The first lector comes to the lectern.

NARRATOR #1
It is appropriate for lay people, male or female, young or old, to read the scripture lessons. These volunteers are called Lectors, and they read from the Lectern. The first lesson is normally from the Old Testament, except during Eastertide, when it is from Acts. At the end of the lesson, they usually say, “The word of the Lord,” and the people respond, “Thanks be to God.” Following the first lesson, there is a “Gradual Psalm,” originally a song to transition to the next lesson, because Psalms were the first hymns of both Judaism and Christianity. The Psalm is often read, as we are doing, either in unison; or responsively by whole verse or half verse; or antiphonally, from side to side. We also sometimes chant the Psalm using an ancient Gregorian chant tone, perhaps being led by a cantor. This congregation also is familiar with Anglican chant, which allows for singing in harmony. Chant is different from metrical hymns. If you are not familiar with it, perhaps the easiest way to participate is to listen and read for a couple of verses, then just jump in and give it a try. You will quickly learn to feel the tone changes even if you do not read music. Chant is not about performance. It is about participation--quiet, meditative, communal, and attentive.

First Lesson

Psalm

The second lector comes forward

NARRATOR #2
We have two lectors just to share the opportunity to serve. The second lector reads the second lesson, which is always an Epistle, and later he or she will lead the Prayers of the People. The selection of readings is not arbitrary. They are from a three-year cycle of readings which cover almost the entire content of the Bible. This is year A of the Common Ecumenical Lectionary, which we share with the Roman Catholic Church and all of the mainline Protestant denominations. That means your friends in other denominations are likely to be hearing the same lessons that we are, with just a few occasional exceptions. This lesson ends with the same response as the first lesson.

The Epistle

NARRATOR #1
After the second lesson, we will sing a hymn called the Sequence Hymn to transition us to the Gospel Reading. This hymn focuses particularly on the Gospel text. It is our custom to sing half before the Gospel, and half after. This way we have music to cover the Gospel Procession as is goes into the nave and as it returns. There are several reasons for the Gospel Procession. First, it is left over from an ancient time, before microphones, when there was a platform called the Ambo in the center of the congregation from which lessons were read. In most Jewish synagogues, a platform like that still exists. Secondly, the procession dramatizes the idea that Jesus brings the Word of God among the people. Finally, it gives the Gospel reading prominence as the most important scripture reading of the day. We never celebrate Eucharist without a reading from one of the gospels. The gospel is properly read by a deacon, but the celebrant or an assisting priest may also take that role, since every priest is also an ordained deacon. It is not read by lay persons at a Eucharist. The deacon introduces and concludes the gospel reading with its own chanted versicle and response.

The Sequence Hymn and Gospel Procession

The Gospel

2nd half of hymn


ASSISTANT

Now we would normally have a sermon, which is intended to be a response to the Gospel reading of the day, though it might well take into consideration the other readings or the season or occasion as well. All the clergy are expected to preach, and some laity may be licensed by the bishop to preach also, if they have completed training which the bishop considers to be satisfactory preparation. We also have Lay Readers, who are licensed to lead public worship such as Morning or Evening Prayer or even Burial. Faith Balshaw and Dr. Tom Wilkinson are licensed Lay Readers here. They lead worship in the absence of clergy, but do not preach original sermons.
Immediately after the sermon comes the Nicene Creed, which summarizes the content of our faith in response to both the gospel reading and the sermon. Then the lector leads us in the Prayers of the People, in which we lay forth our intercessions, petitions, and thanksgivings to God in order. Everyone is invited to add their own prayers, either silently or aloud, in each category. This month, we are using Form Two. During Pentecost season, we generally rotate choices by month.
The General Confession in our tradition replaces private confession prior to receiving communion in the Roman Catholic tradition. The Celebrant pronounces God’s absolution, which is understood to come from God, not from the priest himself. Then comes the Exchange of the Peace, a very ancient part of the liturgy. It once involved kissing on both cheeks! At St. John’s, we’re usually satisfied with a friendly handshake, or maybe a hug. Notice where the Peace occurs: it is only in the moment of receiving absolution, after confessing our sins, that we are qualified to greet our sisters and brothers in Christ without fear of barriers between us. The Peace is exchanged with our neighbors, whoever they may be.

CELEBRANT
The Passing of the Peace marks the end of the Liturgy of the Word and the transition to the second half of the liturgy, the Great Thanksgiving. In between, we have our welcome and announcements.

Nicene Creed

Prayers of the People

Absolution

Peace

Welcome

Announcements



NARRATOR #1

The Offertory is the first act of The Great Thanksgiving. In it, we offer the bread and wine for the communion and also the gifts of money we have pledged for the support of the mission of the church. The choir sings an anthem while the offering is being collected in order to preserve the atmosphere of reverence. Also, while this is going on, the deacon or celebrant sets the table for communion. At the end, a server pours water over the fingers of the celebrant. This is not so much a matter of hygiene as an act of prayer for purification, and it is left over from Jewish rites. The celebrant puts on an outer garment called the Chasuble. These vestments cover the person of the celebrant and signify the assumption of a specific role as representative of the whole congregation.

The Offertory

The Anthem

The Presentation Hymn

NARRATOR #2
The Eucharistic Prayer today is Prayer C, the most contemporary one we have. It has several parts. First, there is the Sursum Corda, Latin for “Lift your hearts.” This is a very old exchange between celebrant and people. Notice that we are actually told by the celebrant that we should be happy while we do this! It is our great act of celebration and thanksgiving, and it is to be joyful. During some seasons, our celebrant may chant the opening of the Eucharistic prayer as a very traditional and festive celebration. The people respond.
Eucharistic Prayers A and B have a Proper Preface inserted for the season. These are also printed in the Prayer Book and vary according to the day or season. But Prayers C and D do not include that prayer. In all of the forms, we continue with the Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) and Benedictus (“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord…”) combined. We stand for the first section, and may remain standing for the whole Eucharistic Prayer, but at St. John’s we follow the traditional custom of kneeling at the end of the hymn for the remainder of the prayer. Standing indicates joining in participation. Kneeling signifies reverence. The Eucharistic Prayer includes remembrance of God’s action in creation and redemption of the world, the Words of Institution when Jesus established the sacrament of Holy Communion, and the Epiclesis, or blessing. Our communion does not specify exactly how or when the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. We simply acknowledge the mystery that they do. If you listen carefully to the Eucharistic Prayers, over time you hear and notice some statement of virtually every doctrine of Christian theology.

NARRATOR #1
During the Eucharistic Prayer, the bread and wine are elevated and shown to the people, and a bell called the Sanctus bell may be rung. This is an ancient sound effect that reminds us to pay attention, for what is happening is important. It is left over from a time when the prayers were in Latin, and little understood by the congregation. But even now, minds can wander. Our worship uses all the senses—color, movement, spoken word, music, even smell, taste, and touch--in one way or another to help worshipers to participate fully. The Eucharistic Prayer concludes with the Lord’s Prayer, which we all say together. Then the bread is broken, signifying Christ’s body broken for us.

Sursum Corda
Proper Preface
Sanctus
Lord’s Prayer
Fraction

The Celebrant and Deacon prepare other vessels

NARRATOR #2
In the Episcopal Church, we recognize the baptism of all the Christian communions, and baptism is the one qualification to receive communion. Therefore, we invite all baptized Christians who are admitted to communion in their own church to receive the Body and Blood of Christ with us. What we share at the Lord’s Table does not belong to St. John’s or to the Episcopal Church: if you belong to Christ, then this sacrament belongs to you. There was a time when children did not receive communion until they reached the age of ten or twelve. Now we give communion to baptized children when they are old enough to ask for it. We wouldn’t want their earliest memories of church to be about getting rejected from the family meal. Also, in doing this we acknowledge that understanding the sacrament is not essential to receiving benefit from it. None of us really comprehends how Christ is present to us in the sacrament. We only know that he is.
There was a time when many Episcopalians complained that having communion every Sunday was too much, and we would get tired of it. Now we find that on those Sundays when we don’t offer communion, attendance drops off sharply. If we don’t receive communion on Sunday, we feel as if our worship is not finished.

NARRATOR #1
To take communion, come down the aisle following the people in front of you, and take a place at the rail on the same side of the church as your pew. You may kneel or stand. Place your right hand atop your left hand, palms up and open, to receive the host. If you are going to drink from the chalice also, or if you are going to decline the cup, go ahead and eat the bread. But if you want to dip the host into the chalice, which is called intinction, hold the host until the chalicist comes by to serve the wine. You may offer the chalicist your host to dip into the chalice and return to you, or you may hold the host and dip it yourself into the small intinction cup. We prefer that you not dip your own host into the large chalice to keep fingers out of it.

NARRATOR #2
The use of the common chalice is a centuries-old tradition in our church, dramatically symbolizing our one-ness in Christ. While it is considered good manners to decline the cup when we have any kind of known infection, out of consideration for others, it should also be noted that in all of our church’s history, no illness has ever been known to have been spread by the communion chalice. Episcopalians, and especially Episcopal clergy, who drink after everybody in the congregation, have no more colds or other illnesses than any other segment of society.
We generally sing a hymn while communion is being distributed. There is also plenty of time for individual prayer. If you need some suggestions for something to pray about, don’t forget the congregation’s prayer list, the people who are receiving and distributing communion, and the whole congregation.
At St. John’s we also offer the sacrament of Unction, an ancient Christian practice rooted in scripture. Unction is anointing the head with oil, which has been blessed for the purpose of healing. It is accompanied by laying on of hands and prayer for a gift of healing. If you wish to receive anointing, you may go to the side chapel after you receive your communion.

The distribution of communion



NARRATOR #1

After everyone has received communion, the deacon attends to cleansing and putting away the communion vessels. Then we re-unite in a final prayer, said together, called the post-communion prayer. This prayer gives thanks for what we have received and asks for God’s help in our ministry in the world as we depart.
Some of our members are unable to attend Eucharist because of illness or frailty. Therefore, we send communion directly to them, via trained and licensed Lay Eucharistic Visitors. After they are sent forth, the celebrant blesses the congregation, often with a seasonal blessing, to equip us for our service and ministry.

Post Communion Prayer

NARRATOR #2
We have carefully avoided using the word “service” to name our worship, although that is the common term in the larger Christian community. What you have just attended is not the church service. Rather, the service of the church begins when you walk out the door. Our service is not in the church, it is in the world. The world also is our mission field, and it, too, begins at the church door.
We will sing a final hymn to inspire us for our mission as the ministers lead the way out, again led by the cross. Finally, the deacon or a priest dismisses us. It is fitting that the congregation gets the last word: “Thanks be to God!” Our Great Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Day is now complete.

Website Helps from Jack Hauber

Donald-

Emmanuel in Moorefield has stepped into the 21st century and we now have a website:

www.emmanuelmoorefield.org

For small churches like ours who don't they can afford it or do it, I used www.godaddy.com and got

- a website builder which is very easy to use and includes templates (I built our site in less than two days)
- two years of hosting of the 10-page site
- two years of domain registration

and the total out-of-pocket cost was under $200.

Thank you for the kick start you gave us at ETS in August.

Jack Hauber

Bumper Snicker

"I think; therefore, I'm dangerous."

A Volley from the Canon, number 30

Why Mission Matters

My previous posts on the importance of mission or vision statements have prompted some thoughtful and helpful responses. Many of us have had prior experience working with such statements, in church or in work situations, and some have been less than exciting. First, some say, the process itself is time-consuming and frustrating, and often result in bulky, forgettable, vague, padded results (which means, according to me, that the task is not yet finished—sometimes, we have to step away, then return to the project to accomplish the desired result.) Second, some point out (and I’ve experienced this myself) that even when a pretty good statement is achieved and plastered all over everything, it lacks impact, and the group soon push it to the side, and go on doing whatever they want to do. I got one very interesting alternative suggestion, originating from an old friend, Doug Girardeau—to craft a congregational collect instead, that would be included in the prayers in all worship. Some nice examples were even offered.

I think the collect idea is an excellent way of working the mission statement into the congregation’s life. It is an excellent follow-up to the work of crafting the statement. But you still have to do the work on the statement!

Here’s why, bottom line: SMALL CHURCHES GROW WHEN THEY KNOW WHAT THEIR MISSION IS.

When we’re in a small congregation, what are we inviting people into, or hoping they’ll wander into? A rich liturgy? A sophisticated music ministry? A big youth program? Sunday School for all ages? We don’t have those things, because we are small. Too often, we emphasize Sunday worship, when in reality, that is likely to be one of our weakest areas in the eyes of the newcomer. A dozen or so people, randomly selected from the over sixty population, are rarely concert-quality singers. Even preaching is a stretch: I would hope we have competent and sometimes compelling preaching in all of our congregations, but how likely is it that our smaller congregations could attract (or keep) a giant of the pulpit?


Even more, we talk up what a friendly group we are. And we are friendly—to each other, while all too often the guests huddle alone and bewildered until they find an opening to flee the scene. But we also should bear in mind that every church, of every denomination, claims to be friendly! (Have you ever heard of one that admitted they were cold and distant, but people should come there anyway?) Some congregations, including many of ours, actually are friendly to strangers—but, while certainly commendable, that fact avoids the obvious “SO WHAT?” The question is, why would anyone want to attend any small church, friendly or otherwise? If we’re able to make friends at church, we can make plenty of them in other settings just as well.

What will attract un-churched people, and keep them long enough to get attached for other reasons as well, is the mission of the congregation. People want to be part of a congregation that exists for a purpose—and knows it.

A Volley from the Canon, number 29

The Power of Mission

Rick Warren, of The Purpose Drive Life fame, told at Washington Cathedral (as he has in many settings) of a significant turning point in his life. He visited an Anglican congregation in Africa. They could afford no building, just a tent. But the people of that congregation took care of their own children, and also all the AIDS orphans of the village, a couple of dozen children. Warren had a huge congregation with a large physical plant. A voice inside him asked persistently, “How many orphans are we caring for?” He knew the answer: none. His ministry had been focused on drawing as many as possible to Christ; but once they came to Jesus, it was largely up to them to determine what, if anything, that event changed about the manner in which they lived their lives. Even as a congregation, their impact paled in comparison to this dedicated band of disciples.

Sometimes, we Episcopalians act as if our purpose is to get people to attend Sunday worship. It is not. Rather, the purpose of Sunday worship is to strengthen and inspire people to do the real ministry of the church, Sunday through Saturday. We can never become who God is calling us to be until we get that straight.

A congregation that grows will not be a faithful remnant who continue to hold Sunday prayers in the face of dwindling attendance, casting about desperately for the all-important warm, ordained body to offer them the sacraments on a somewhat regular basis, while subdivisions are built and other congregations grow up around them. It will be the congregation that knows what its mission in its community is. Whether newcomers show up at the church door on Sunday morning, or discover the congregation in the midst of its ministry to the community, they will be drawn to the fire within the people and the power of their witness for hope and compassion. It doesn’t take a large number of people to build such a blaze, but they have to have that spark within them! Knowing and owning their mission, which is given from God, is one sure source of spontaneous combustion.

A Volley from the Canon, number 28

Mission and Ministry


While judging the many excellent entries in our “Best Bulletin Contest,” one of the criteria we discovered to be very important to us was having the congregation’s mission or purpose statement prominently displayed. It helped if that statement bore some resemblance to the personality of the congregation. In far too many cases, the statements could have been attached to any church, anywhere, and some were too long for a bulletin cover (or for anyone to remember and make use of, for that matter).

It isn’t easy to come up with a mission or purpose statement that is distinctive and memorable, while also short and specific. Often, people seem to feel the need to load them up with religious-sounding phrases that wind up saying nothing. Yet these statements are crucial. They express the congregation’s understanding of its identity and special vocation, and they can make all the difference in helping a newcomer discover a sense of belonging there (if the statement is authentic, that is.) For me, it is not necessary to conform to a business style of statement. But note that the congregation’s vocation needs to be special, even unique. The main purpose is to limit the range of possible ministries for that group, in that setting, at that time. Otherwise, there is no focus for their ministry.

They don’t have to be stuffy statements. I’ve heard of a congregation in Austin, Texas that has “Doing Our Part to Keep Austin Weird” on its publications and T-shirts. (It must be true—who would make that up?) I love it. I would go to church there. If anyone should propose a particular ministry or activity for that group, they only have to ask, “Now, is this weird enough for us? Because if it is bland or ordinary, the Methodists will do it.” They have a good litmus for narrowing and focusing their many possibilities.

In Huntington, the Palatine Sisters of St. Mary’s Hospital simply say, “The love of Christ impels us.” That strong, wonderful verb com-pels the reader to imagine those sisters magnetically drawn to works of love by the power of Christ’s love. When faced with a set of alternatives, they can ask themselves: “Are we impelled to this? And is Christ’s love our motivation?”

Many people consider writing mission statements a waste of time that fails to yield any productive result. I say that is because we so often quit before we are finished, satisfied with the first plain statement we can all sign onto, though not remember, instead of slogging on until we get something with zing that can excite and inspire us.

We have to find something that impels us. Something that can keep us weird. And something that truly describes OUR God-given vocation.


For an archive of all the volleys and Koinoia articles, or to post a comment, an article of your own, or the url of a site of interest you have found, go to http://wvdisciple.blogspot.com

Welcome Poster Link

In case you missed or misplaced it, the link to Jennifer Gamber's site for church welcome posters is:

http://www.episcopalposters.org/

Volley from the Canon #27

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

As a parish priest, I had a chronic problem: what to do about keys to the church buildings.

On the one hand, I’d just as soon leave the doors unlocked 24/7. On the other hand, Episcopal churches do have valuable wares inside them, that people value (and which in some cases have historical significance). In our area, we do have regular church break-ins, usually for computers and accessories (my church in Maryland got broken into, and communion vessels stolen). Consequently, we try to be conscientious about locking up.

Still, over time, it gets so that everyone who was ever connected with the church has a key. In addition, everyone who ever “borrowed” the church facilities got keys. One might have no idea who has keys, or to whom they passed them on. Yet changing locks always causes a ruckus. If you want to lose a long-time member, just change the lock on the door without warning, so that his key no longer works! Never mind that he has had no official function for eight years.

I refer you to “the one hand” above: I never cared who got into the church (I’d love to have more people there.) But wardens, vestries, and insurance agents want some kind of order to things.

Lately I’ve noticed at several of our congregations, and discovered for my own residential use, combination door-bolts. I commend them to our churches for greatly assisting access and control of access.

The one I have (Lowe’s, starting at $109) has a battery to power the keypad light, but the bolt itself is manual. There is a key in case the battery dies unexpectedly. It uses a programming code for adding and removing codes, and it can hold up to nineteen different ones at a time.

Eureka! You can have a code for wardens and vestry, changed annually so that no one gets snubbed. One for Altar Guild and choir, changed every several years. One for staff, one for youth group, one for AA. You can program one in for the caterer at a wedding, then program it out after the event. There is no need to drive over to borrow a key, no need to return it (or forget to), no problem with losing it, no running over early Saturday morning to let in the florist, and no dilemma over asking for a key back if the senior warden quits in a huff and joins the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I know not all of our church doors can accommodate a bolt, but for those that do, this seems to me an ideal answer to the access vs. security dilemma.

Quote du jour

"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." G. K. Chesterton

Volley #25

Experiencing the Holy

Why do you keep coming to church?
In years past, social pressure was a motivator. There were business or professional contacts to make. The sense of duty was strong. On Sunday morning, practically no one worked, and there was little else to do. I still remember the day the sheriff of my county marched the manager of K-Mart off to jail for opening on Sunday! Such considerations just don’t apply anymore.
We still have friends at church, and we look forward to spending time with them there. Worship can be uplifting, instructive, enjoyable, and entertaining. But when we get to the heart of it, those are not the things that bring us to church, at least not for the long run.
We come to church, and others will be drawn to do so with us, because there we meet God. When we plan our worship, prepare our sermons, select our hymns, and design our special liturgies, this is what we need to keep in mind. We are creating space and time for the people of God to experience the holy.
Wouldn’t most people keep coming back for that?

Volley #24 Banners and Flags

BANNERS AND FLAGS

One of the problems we face as small community and rural congregations is that we tend to be “open” only on Sundays—when others are either attending their own churches or at home in bed. Consequently, many people may rarely if ever actually observe anything happening at our churches. Are we still in business? Are we doing anything interesting or exciting? It isn’t easy to communicate the good and lively things we are experiencing in church.

That’s where banners and flags can be of help. They bring in color and movement, and they catch the eye of passersby. They convey an impression of life and vitality. They show that something special is afoot, and they convey a sense of excitement about it. They pique the interest and make people want to check for signs to see what is happening.

In many cases, congregations can design and make such things ourselves. In others, they may be well worth an outlay of relatively small expense.

No community is so small that it contains NO prospective members for our churches. Step number one toward reaching them may be simply letting them know that we are still here, and still excited about doing ministry in their vicinity.