An Introduction to Anglican Worship

EXPLORING FAITH Theology for Life

Level 4 Year A Term 1 Module Code: REL424

INTRODUCTION

Aims and Content of the Module

Module Aims:

To enable students to investigate the biblical foundations of Christian worship To enable students to examine ways in which the worship developed within Anglicanism To enable students to examine the liturgies available within the Church in Wales and to explore ways in which they can be used creatively within a range of liturgical and pastoral contexts.. To enable students to reflect critically on their own experience of worship and the ways in which it supports their Christian discipleship and ministry

The Seminar Day is designed to set the scene, to explore the nature of Christian worship and to identify ways in which worship can be examined and explored. Session 1 explores the ways in which the Church’s worship is rooted in the experience of the New Testament. Session 2 examines the Eucharist in the Book of Common Prayer 1662, investigates the contexts from which it emerged. Session 3 examines the Eucharist in The Book of Common Prayer 1984 and An Order for the Holy Eucharist 2004, investigates the context from which they have emerged, compares them with the BCP and explores how they can be effectively used today. Session 4 investigates the development of Morning and Evening Prayer and explores how this can be used to support the common prayer of the Church and the spiritual formation of ministers and people. Session 5 examines the development of ‘A Service of the Word’ and explores ways in which worship can be constructed from resources that are available. Session 6 investigates the Church as a pilgrim people and examines ways in which the concept of journey has shaped the structure and provision of liturgy in the Church in Wales. It further explores ways in which the Church’s Year can help the church to witness to the story of salvation and the ways in which Church in Wales liturgy can articulate the transitions between different stages of human life. Session 7 examines ways in which liturgy can express and enable the pastoral practice of the Church and explores ways in which services of wholeness and healing can be used to support the Church’s pastoral ministry. Session 8 explores how the Gospel can be proclaimed through the structure of Sunday worship, through special occasions in the Church’s Year and through the construction of special services that support the Church’s outreach.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the biblical and theological foundations of church worship demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the development of worship within Anglicanism demonstrate knowledge of the authorised liturgies of the Church in Wales. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles that inform the structures of worship evaluate ways in which worship works best in different physical, social and spiritual contexts

1 The Sessions Please study the Introduction to each session carefully and undertake the recommended reading. In addition to the Textbook - Liturgy (SCM Study Guide) by Stephen Burns - a Reading Block is provided giving an additional piece of reading for each session to support assignment work. Candidates are provided with a Work Sheet that they should use to write answers to the questions that are set in preparation for each session. Where appropriate sessions are supported with material in the Resource Section. Assignment questions are provided at the back of this handbook.

Worship and Prayer Please surround each session with worship and prayer. Provision is made for worship at the beginning of each session and for prayer at the end. Please be imaginative and creative.

2 Booklist. Please note that the materials in the Reading Block are drawn from the following list (marked *), but you may still wish to consult other chapters from these sources to broaden your knowledge. * Avis D - Church Drawing Near * Cocksworth C - Holy Holy Holy: Worshipping the Trinitarian God 1997 0232521875 Dawn Marva J - Reaching Out without Dumbing Down - 1995 0802841023 * Drane J - The Macdonaldisation of the Church 2000 0232522596 Duffy E - The Stripping of the Altars - 0300060769 * Earey M (ed) - Common Worship Today 2001 0005993814 Giles R - Repitching the Tent 2004 1853115711 * Giles R - Creating Uncommon Worship 2004 1853115908 * Helfing and Shattuck (eds) - The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer 2008 0195297628 Hurtardo L - At the Origins of Christian Worship 1999 0853649928 * Jones C et al (eds) - The Study of Liturgy (Revised Edition) 1992 0281045550 * Perham M - New Handbook of Pastoral Liturgy 2000 0281052522 Ward H and Wild J - Human Rites: Worship Resources for an Age of Change 1995 0264673344

Online Resources Almost all of the liturgical resources mentioned in this handbook are available for free on the Internet. For the Book of Common Prayer 1662 and other historical texts, please see: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/england.htm For all Church in Wales liturgies, please see http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/publications/downloads/ For Church of England resources please see: For Common Worship: http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts.aspx For Times and Seasons:http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/times-and- seasons.aspx For Pastoral Services: http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/pastoral.aspx For New Patterns for Worship: http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer- worship/worship/texts/newpatterns.aspx

Supplementary Material Grove Booklets series - Ministry and Worship, The Worship Series, Liturgical Studies, Leaves on the Tree, All-Age Learning and Worship. Produced by the National Society/CHP Bradshaw P (ed) - The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship 2002 0334028833

3 4 SEMINAR DAY

AN INTRODUCTION TO ANGLICAN LITURGY

The Seminar Day is designed to enable candidates to i) examine the origins and development of Christian worship ii) explore the experience, nature and purposes of worship iii) develop methods of enquiry into Christian worship.

For the Seminar Day i) Study the Introduction to the Seminar Day ii) In 500 words Describe an act of worship that has had a significant impact on you and say why it was significant.

5 SEMINAR DAY Introduction to Anglican Liturgy

INTRODUCTION

‘Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea; and all that is in them singing, ‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might for ever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshipped.’ Revelation 5:13-14

In these words the writer of the Apocalypse tells his story of the future, and his hope in the present.

How different from this vision of heaven seems the experience when it is ‘two or three who are gathered together’ in a remote medieval country church or a great Victorian barn in town – but is it? Huddled together or scattered to the four corners, what is going on? Or when thronged together at a multi-media ‘prayer and praise’ event – is it then any nearer the apocalyptist’s vision?

The answers we may give to these questions will depend on our understanding of what worship is. They will be shaped by our experiences, by what we have been taught, by our expectations.

The word Worship comes to us out of the Saxon language where it describes the ‘grant of worth’. Because the actions of God are behind all Christian being and behaving, worship has often been described as ‘response’, our recognition of the worth of God as we ‘offer our bounden duty and service’. This has led to a tradition in the west that considers worship to be something that we do. In some places this has become even more inward looking, being practiced as if it was simply a congregational activity. The Revelation of John challenges us to look at worship from a different direction. So it is that Christians have become aware that while worship is the means of our honouring God, it is also the way in which God gives to us a new dignity which is enacted and affirmed in our worship. At the conclusion of our Eucharistic Prayers we often find a phrase that has resonated through the centuries, ‘through him, with him, in him’. So we find our offering of praise and thanksgiving is made ‘through’ Christ to his Father, yet it is also made ‘with him’ and ‘in him’. So it is that we find ourselves not on the outside but on the inside of the prayer of God. This challenges us to look at our worship from the perspective of God, as well as from that of the sanctuary or the pew. This understanding of the Christian on the ‘inside’ of the divine presence and activity is found in the Revelation of John and has led the eastern churches to talk of the ‘mystical theology’ of worship, the understanding and expression of the mystery whereby in Christ heaven and earth are made one and our worship itself becomes a sacrament of heaven.

Our experience of worship will have dimensions that are spiritual and physical, individual and corporate, personal and social, local and global, of the moment and eternal. This experience, and what we have been taught, will influence our expectations so that we may be looking for the personal rather than the communal. That what is done, and desired, in worship is not inconsistent with our daily life has been born out by liturgical studies, over the last half-century, which have sought to understand worship in terms of human behaviour. In this they have drawn on understandings from the disciplines of sociology and psychology.

6 From this study has come the recognition that worship incorporates within it dimensions and capabilities that challenge the normal boundaries of understanding.

As we search for understanding, the answers we produce will also reveal their roots. They will be seen to be reaching into differing times and contexts, some shallow and many very, very deep. Sometimes they will be obvious and open to easy scrutiny, but often they will be deeply embedded in the culture of both church and society, and hard to discern.

These answers will challenge us to search out the heart of man and of God. And, in turn, they will ask further questions about understandings and expectations: of our worship, theology, ecclesiology, and missiology. These questions will be asked of others and of ourselves.

The questions need to be asked, and answers sought, for while it is recognised that there are many ‘honest and authentic’ answers within the Christian tradition they all have one thing in common – while we may make worship, worship also makes us and forms us as individuals and as Church.

A Liturgical Church Churches have differing ways of defining themselves: it may be through doctrinal edicts, traditions, constitutions, policy statements. For Anglicans it is through their Prayer Books. These have been both the depository of doctrine and the formulary for life. You could say it was ‘the text, the whole text, and nothing but the text’. However the practice has never been perfect, and in recent years the recognition of the multiplicity of contexts in which individuals and faith communities worship in the Church in Wales has led to a new approach. So it is that the revised liturgies of the Welsh Church (and other Provinces also) produced in the last decade or so form a directory, a collection of worked out examples, templates, rather than a Prayer Book in the traditional manner. These aim to legitimise the practices of the churches and to resource them, at all times strengthening the unity through the use of common liturgical forms. This unity is for the Church as a whole; it is also for the congregations, and while the liturgies will provide order, they can also set free. We can be part of the worship of our Church, engaging with the particular act of worship in that place, and making our own personal spiritual journey in parallel, and at the same time. And now we can also hold together the rich heritage of the past and immediate response to the present. Tradition, order, and liberty together.

Interpreting Text, Form and Practice If we are to understand our experience of worship and to develop our ability to lead and participate in worship we need to learn how to interpret liturgical texts, forms and practices. We will be required to do this in respect of worship as a whole, as well as of the particular parts and dimensions, and we will need to do it for ourselves as well as with and for others. For when worship is understood, as well as taken part in, then it will be at its best.

As with any historic texts hermeneutical skills are used. Indeed, it is the development of such skills and their application to historic liturgical texts that have helped set aside the simplistic assumptions that coloured much writing in the past, particularly with regard to New Testament and Early Church practice and so-called ‘authentic worship’.

However liturgy is not just text. It is also practice. This requires us to learn to ask questions about the physical setting and how we arrange both people and furniture, about movement on the local and the large scale, and about both what we see and what we hear.

In order to make sense of the richness of description that arises from such an analysis of liturgy we have found three avenues of enquiry to be of use. They are Intention, Encounter and Story.

Intention As we explore worship we come to differentiate between ‘worship’ as a general activity or instinct and an ‘act of worship’ as a particular event in a particular context. Historical study draws attention to different concerns and approaches that have influenced the Church.

7 The Prayer Book of 1662 assumes a context in which the whole nation is both Christian and Anglican under the authority of the King and Bishops. Its intention is unity of church and nation.

Meanwhile the prayer books of the mid 20th Century such as the Church in Wales Holy Eucharist 1966 and the Church of England’s ASB of 1980 again stress the Unity of the Church but in a very different social context. They show an understanding of a gathered church in a society that is no longer Christian. These services may be seen to assume the image of the church as a family gathered together from the world.

Subsequent liturgical revisions in the Church in Wales have focused on issues of language and unity within diverse contexts and significantly began with the Eucharist as ‘the Church’s quintessential, self defining action’ (2004). We can see the same process in the Church of England where Common Worship has the image of ‘pilgrim people’ at its heart. Both movements have not sought to provide a single order of service in a traditional Prayer Book . sense. Rather they equip the church with a range of resources and patterns of worship within an Anglican framework. These enable worship to be developed locally and flexibly in response to local conditions and opportunities while maintaining a common approach and ethos.

Encounter In worship we have experience of encounters of many types. They are not just inter-personal, or spiritual. There is interplay and overlap as meeting is made with mind, heart and soul, through the effect of words and actions, setting and contacts. There will be meetings with the present, past and future as we consider scripture, tradition, and the current concerns of world and Church. Liturgical worship is not a solitary activity; our experiences are shaped by others as well as by ourselves. Through these encounters our understanding of worship will be informed and our experience will be determined. Together they will define the moment.

Story All liturgy reflects a number of stories. The story of the mission of God is told, the story of creation and redemption. It reflects the story of the human condition through coming through confession to praise and reception of the grace of God. It tells the story of the Christian tradition through creed and common prayer and the story of the local and individual persons and communities through intercessory prayer and particular acts and rites such as baptism and marriage. My story, your story, their story are made one as the liturgical Story finds its place within the larger stories of creation, salvation and of God.

Conclusion We all come to this present moment of preparation for ministry and discipleship with our experience of worship formed by particular liturgical roots. These will be in part personal, in part drawn from the local communities of which we have been members. They will be formed by the Church in Wales, which is itself part of the wider church, both Anglican and catholic. In none of these are the roots singular or simple, but rather they are complex. They will have come out of the diverse explorations of scripture, history, theology, spirituality, and human behaviour that have led to the many liturgical insights, experiments, trends and texts that we see in today’s Church.

8 SESSION 1 THE ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP

For this session 1. Study the Introduction and undertake supporting reading including Burns Chapter 1 and the extract from Cocksworth Holy, Holy, Holy provided in the Reading Block.

2. In 250 words address the question: In what ways did the early Church express its worship?

9 SESSION 1 The Roots of Christian Worship

INTRODUCTION

In the beginning was . . . . . was what?

In the Royal Injunction of Edward VI, that formally began liturgical revision in England and Wales at the Reformation, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was asked to consider a Godly order and have an eye and respect to scripture and the usages of the primitive church. The desire to be ‘biblically authentic’ and consistent with the early church has repeatedly informed liturgical enquiry for members of the church as well as for scholars. We see this in the work of Pope Gregory in the sixth century, of the Benedictine Order in the eleventh century, in all traditions at the time of the Reformation.

When we take this ‘biblical approach’ as Cranmer was instructed to do what do we find? The early studies in historical criticism in the nineteenth century followed in the footsteps of the Reformation and expected, and found, certainties in both biblical and liturgical scholarship. This was particularly so with regard to understanding the world into which Jesus came. However in the twentieth century, further investigation (often in the world of secular scholarship) has reduced this confidence.

Many of the texts upon which our assumptions about the time of Jesus had been based are now recognised to be much later in date, and to record later practices. For example, Jewish scholarship recognises that accounts of Temple worship and sacrifice are usually from well after 70CE, and from outside the Jerusalem environment. They may come from those who still mourned its destruction, or from those who were proponents of the new ways of worship. Similarly the accounts we have of synagogue practice date from the second century. There are marked similarities between what is happening in synagogue and in church at this time. Originally it was thought that the synagogue was reflecting early practice and that this had influenced what happened in church. However many scholars would now argue that the direction of influence was the reverse of this. Again much of our knowledge of pagan cultic behaviour comes through the concerns and debates of the Church Fathers, and we have to recognise the bias in their writing. Biblical studies have also recognised the passage of time between the event and the record, and the significant effect upon the final text of the situation and concerns of their writers. Together this has led to the point where in his work, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, Bradshaw can state, ‘. . . the New Testament generally cannot provide the firm foundation from which to project later liturgical developments that it has frequently been thought to give. We must therefore remain agnostic about many of the roots of Christian worship practices which we observe clearly for the first time in the following centuries’. (Bradshaw 1992, p 55).

Nevertheless the need to find continuity in liturgical thought and practice is still there, not least in the work of the Liturgical Commissions of the various Churches of the Anglican Communion, who have sought to inform, correct and enrich their worship through the study of scripture and particularly study of the earliest records of the church.

10 Looking at the New Testament The recognition that we are unlikely to find the sought after liturgical ‘firm foundation’ in the New Testament has led to the discovery of other insights. Rather than ‘liturgical detail’ we can explore categories of religious behaviour and the arenas in which they take place. These categories can be described as the ‘personal’, ‘local’ and ‘official’. They are to be found in each of the principle roots of worship that we observe in the New Testament; namely the Jewish, the Gentile, and the Christian. And in the Christian root we will recognise the influence of the Jewish and the Gentile roots in both their adoption and in their rejection. We will also see those moments of being immersed in the current context and culture, and those times when Christian faith requires them to be counter-cultural.

Throughout it all we will see Christians trying to be ‘gospel authentic’ in their life and worship, and to discover ‘order’ in a time of change.

Jewish There is record of religious behaviour in three arenas: the private, the synagogue and the temple.

Jesus is described as going away to be alone to pray with his Father (Lk 6.12). He also instructs his disciples about their prayer, in the quiet of their room (Mt 6.6). These references, together with the comments he makes about those who prayed aloud on the street corners, make it clear that there was a tradition of personal prayer. But whether this was more than the recital of the ‘Shema’ we cannot say. The Shema is the Jewish confession of faith consisting of Deut 6.4-9, 11.13-21, Num 15.37-41 and surrounding benedictions. This was to be recited morning and evening.

The synagogue, for both Jesus and Paul, is the place for doing theology and for teaching (Mt 4.23, Acts 17.1ff). This is the place for religious behaviour that is communal and local, but not necessarily for ‘worship’ as we may think of it. It is however where the understandings of God that will inspire worship are put in place. It will not become the place of worship for the Jew for at least another century.

Then there is the Temple, the place of ‘official’ religion. Here is the worship around the altar of incense, and the acts of reconciliation and thanksgiving at the altar of sacrifice. As well as the personal offerings (Lk 2.22) it is the setting for the events that mark the national, as well as the religious year eg. the feast of Atonement and Passover. This last brings together the ‘official’ with the ‘communal’ and ‘personal’ categories, with the ritual slaughter of the lambs and the Passover meal, and the recital of the story of national and personal salvation.

Gentile In every community of any size there would have been a temple, probably dedicated to a local deity. Here sacrifices were offered by individuals in their own name. These could be out of devotion or with intercessory or placatory aim. But sacrifices were also offered here by people on behalf of the community at large. Indeed it is from this practice that the word ‘liturgy’ originates; it being the public work in the Gentile world. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (8.1ff, 10.14ff) we have his comments around the issue of eating meat that has come from the temple meat market. This was the meat left over after the ritual offerings had been made. From other sources we know that there was a practice of extending the religious significance of the temple sacrifice into both the communal and the private arena through the eating of such meat. While it was not the sacrifice itself it continued to have importance as bearing an indelible mark of that event. These quasi-religious meals took place in the temple precincts and in private homes. The principal activities of personal religion centred around the domestic shrine where offerings would be made, particularly of incense.

Christian In the New Testament we have fleeting glimpses into the worship of the first Christians, and in these differing understandings and practices are now recognised. We read of the singing of psalms and spiritual songs (Col 3.16), of teaching (1 Cor 15.1ff), of prayer (Phil 4.6), and of the breaking of bread (Acts

11 2.46-47). We note the meeting of private experience and expression with the communal, this is particularly evident in the central chapters of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. We see a church, moved by the Spirit, exploring new ways, and committed to worshipping God.

In the beginning this was in the familiar settings of Jewish worship: the Temple and the Synagogue. But this was to cease. The Temple was destroyed in 70CE, and the acceptance of the Christians in the synagogues was not to last, for in 85CE they were formally expelled. We read of Paul attending the synagogue in Antioch (Acts 13.14) and speaking there but following the reaction of the Jews the later meeting of the church (Acts 14.27) must have been in a different setting and this was almost certainly in a private house. By the time of writing of 1 Corinthians this is taken for granted as the setting for worship, and we must imagine people in the rooms surrounding a central courtyard, maybe as many as sixty or seventy.

To these assemblies would have been brought the experience and understandings of Jewish worship, and of Gentile worship. This would have included practices that reflected the ‘official’ in the ‘private’. For the Gentile the cultic sacrifice was mirrored by the domestic offerings of incense. For the Jew the Temple worship was paralleled by the recitation of the Shema. There was also the experience of the ‘official’ and the ‘communal’ coming together. In the Gentile world this took the form of the temple feasts. For the Jew this was particularly evident in the keeping of Passover, where Temple sacrifice and domestic meal are inseparable. The ‘social’ and the ‘religious’ could also be part of the same event, as in Gentile semi- religious feasts drawing on the long tradition of the ‘symposium’, and the Jewish practices that, in time, would become the family rituals of the Sabbath and the ‘service of light’. What emerges from this diversity is a rich expression of worship that, while it contains much that is held in common, also incorporates a number of inner tensions. One such tension is to be seen in the diverging interpretations of ‘breaking bread’. The tradition that is observed in Acts 2.42 and 10.40 is probably of a meal that enables the preaching of the resurrection. By contrast there is the tradition of a sacrificial interpretation as recorded by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11.23ff. These theological differences will echo long into the future. Again in Paul (1 Cor 11.17ff) we find the beginning of the divide between the community meal and the ‘sacrament’, between the Agape (love-feast) and the Eucharist.

While this diversity may leave us with uncertainty, we have, in Paul, someone seeking to bring order into the life of the church so that the worship of the one may contribute to the building up of the whole into the body of Christ. For his congregations his word becomes the nearest there is to ‘official’ liturgy. Yet what he describes is not liturgy as we may think of it, it is certainly not worship centring around the use of a set prayer book. Instead in his writing we see descriptions of those events that are part of worship, and of their significance. We also see definitions of ‘order’ and of the practices that will enable this (1 Cor 14) and while these include directions to the congregation as a whole they are largely concerned with the behaviour of the individual within it.

The following centuries Early studies placed considerable confidence in the writings of Justin Martyr (c 150CE) and of Hippolytus (early third century), searching in them for an archetypal ‘apostolic liturgy’. More recent study has pointed to the rich diversity of practice that continued in the early church, with its regional variations of liturgical shapes and texts. Indeed the ‘Apostolic Tradition’ of Hippolytus is considered by many scholars to be a conflation of text and practice from very different places, traditions, and times. It is also understood to reflect differing theologies and spiritualities. If the Pauline tradition of the theology of sacrifice is followed then, clearly, bread and wine are the elements for communion. But if the Agape root was dominant in your church practice you could well have found the Christian communal meal would consist of fish and of milk and honey.

In the face of such diversity of practice, understanding, and expectations how can the Johannine Prayer for unity, or the gospel imperative of salvation be brought into being? As we have seen, for Paul the answer is to be found in correct individual behaviour in public as much as in correct communal behaviour. For Justin Martyr, as we see in his ‘Apologies’, the answer seems to lie in defining the shape and sequence of liturgical practice and ideas, so bringing ‘order’ to a communal activity.

12 This continued to leave freedom regarding the final text with the minister. While this gave the opportunity for that text to be ‘appropriate’ to the moment and the congregation, it was always open to the danger of becoming purely personal. In the ‘Apostolic Tradition’, as it comes down to us, there is concern over verbal content. That ‘unity can only be achieved through uniformity’ is the interpretation that is often given to this. Others have seen here the possible foundations of later arguments over textual niceties that were to dominate the Councils of the Church, and to divide it. But it could simply be a desire to share words, words that have come to be words of power and life.

Conclusion As in the past ministers find themselves responsible for holding together in worship the experience of the individual, the local expression, and the mind of the Church. And they do this for themselves as much as for others. In the process they find themselves using the different approaches of Paul, Justin Martyr and Hippolytus. That of bringing ‘order’ into worship through the ordering of individual behaviour is evidenced time and again through the centuries, and in most congregations today. To bring ‘order’ through uniformity of text and practice is the tradition of the Prayer Book, though it has to be said that this has been ‘observed more thoroughly in the breach than in the keeping of the same’. And now, in contemporary liturgical developments, we find the Church exploring the approach of Justin Martyr.

In acknowledging our roots, and in finding solutions for the twenty-first century we could do no better than return to scripture, to the Lord’s Prayer. There we find two versions (Matt 6.9ff, Lk 11.2ff), suggesting that official text may not be everything – yet in the text providing all the essential keys to prayer. These keys are sufficient in themselves but they can also become an agenda for prayer that is fuller and deeper. Whichever, it draws us, as it drew the early Christian of every heritage, into more than we could have imagined our own roots to bring into being.

There we find liturgy that is official – ordering but not confining, communal – uniting and setting free, personal – individual and of ‘the body’; of the Church and for the world.

13 14 GROUP SESSION 1

15 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share what you have noted from the Seminar Day.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1 As a group

Drawing on the Introduction and your reading i) List the settings in which a) Jews b) Gentiles c) the New Testament Church d) The Church of the 2nd and 3rd centuries expressed their worship.

ii) Explore the nature of this worship in each case.

Address the question What features were unique to early Christian worship ?

PROJECT 2

Examine the following texts: Luke 4: 16-24 Matthew 6: 5-15 Acts 2: 42-47 Ephesians 5: 18-20 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34

For each text, address the questions 1. How does this text help us to understand the nature and context of early Christian worship? 2. What issues does this text raise for our understanding of Christian worship today?

16 PROJECT 3

Discuss the view that:

Worship should not be written down, it should come from the heart.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's work to God in prayer. Plan your preparation for session 2.

17 18 SESSION 2 AN ORDER FOR HOLY COMMUNION (1) The Book of Common Prayer

For this session 1. Study the Introduction and Resource Sections 1 and 2 from this handbook and undertake supporting reading including Burns Chapter 2 and the extract from Earey, Common Worship Today provided in the Reading Block.

2. Familiarise yourself with the BCP 1662 Order for Communion available for download at http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/index.html

3. In 250 words address the question: What changes in the way that the Eucharist was understood took place a) in the period leading up to the Reformation ? b) at the Reformation itself in England and Wales ?

19 SESSION 2 An Order for Holy Communion (1) The Book of Common Prayer

INTRODUCTION

From the earliest days ‘breaking bread’ has been important in the life of the Church as one of the two ‘Dominical Sacraments’, the other being baptism. We have already seen that this action can be used in differing ways, given different interpretations and different purposes. It can be the setting for preaching the resurrection, or the remembrance of the Last Supper, it can be the means of building the body and of transforming the individual, and it can both look to the past and anticipate the future. Such differences have led to great diversity in the liturgies of the Church so that there are different texts, different actions, different buildings, different emphases, different intentions.

Diversity can also come about as the result of changes in society and the political sphere as much as anything ‘religious’. Particularly significant was the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 313CE. This led to the transformation of Christianity into the public religion of the State. Now the Church found itself worshipping in the civic buildings that it had adopted, rather than in houses. This new and larger setting for worship demanded changes in the liturgy, in its presentation and style, and in the thinking about worship. In the following centuries there are further changes which are in part reactions to the past, the roots, and in part a response to the present. These are often best considered as changes in theology, for they reflect shifts in understanding: about God, the meaning of salvation and the ways in which the divine work may be effected. They also follow and create differing expectations of the liturgy, on the part of both the clergy and the people.

At the Reformation Changes in the theology of the Eucharist, together with changed understanding of how salvation ‘worked’, meant that by the end of the Middle Ages the priest could ‘say mass’ alone as part of his priestly obligation. Now what mattered was the dutiful ‘offering of the sacrifice’, by one who was worthy; communion was almost an afterthought. The communal activity of Eucharist had been replaced by the individual celebration of Mass. This characteristic of individuality is also evident in the practice of people acquiring ‘merit’ for their soul by having a mass said for them. If they could not afford to purchase a mass they could at least add some ‘merit’ by being present at the moment of consecration, particularly at the ‘elevation of the host’ - and they could be seen going from church to church to be present at this saving moment. Even death did not bring this to an end - it could be continued by others saying mass for them, and it was common for people to leave money in their will to pay for the services of a priest. So we find the ‘intention’ brought to a narrow limit. The offering of the great thanksgiving in the company of the faithful is replaced by the singular offering of sacrifice. A prayer for the soul of one departed at this time replaced the long lists of intercessions, that had followed the eucharistic prayer in many earlier rites and which led into the corporate recital of the Lord’s Prayer. But alongside this focus on the individual there continued the communal practice of guild and charity masses and processions, and the churches being be full of light from the great tapers paid for by these institutions. The changed and the traditional existed side by side.

In the early 1500s another change was taking place, for the Church no longer stood alone in the matter of scholarship. There was a new group of secular scholars, with new areas of interest and investigation. Active in the Low Countries, and in the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge, they were examining the newly discovered texts of ancient Greek philosophers and of the Church Fathers. They even dared to question the scriptures.

20 This encouraged others to take things into their own hands and we see a growing practice of individual and family prayer and spirituality. This is evident in the publication of ‘Primers’; books of prayers and devotions to be said during Mass and on other occasions. They included texts in Latin, and frequently in the local language.

In the face of this diversity there was strong pressure from Rome for uniformity in liturgical texts and practices, as a matter of papal authority and power as much as for any other reason. The almost universal presence of the Franciscan Order had been used as a way of trying to achieve this. But the other monastic Orders had continued with their own usages, as did most of the local and national churches. So that, in Italy alone, we find three liturgical traditions. At St Peter’s the old ‘order’ for mass tended towards the spare: simple in structure, short on words and actions, capable of giving space to the spiritually skilled who were able to pray for themselves and handle silence. A service that could be a spiritual antidote to the richness of life at the Vatican, or simply fitted into a very small allocation of time. Meanwhile out in the city the liturgy followed the Neapolitan tradition and was rich: in its shape, text, actions, and use of space. In the north the even richer Milanese rite was in use. In part this was a matter of history, of tradition, but it was also a matter of liturgy appropriate to local culture, taste, and need. Often it was practiced unquestioningly but it was facing a new challenge from within. Reform was the word on everyone’s lips.

Reformation in England By the sixteenth century mass was according to the Order from Salisbury (Sarum) through most of the Province of Canterbury. Yet there were still pockets using other traditions, and in other areas local usage was very much in force. Some of this contained echoes of the earlier Celtic understandings of church and spirituality that had given way to those of Rome.

The new scholarship, with its encouragement of individual intellectual responsibility, and with its search for biblical authenticity, had considerable influence on what was to happen. The pattern for reform was to be gradual movement, by testing and searching, though there were those whose preferred way would have been more like revolution, in both theology and church practice.

Under Henry VIII the Bible, in English, was to be placed in every church for public reading. Then the Creeds, Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments were ordered to be said in English (Royal Injunctions of 1538). They had already been printed in English in many Primers, but now their use was to be for everyone. Following Henry’s break with Rome it continued to be a matter of the old and the new side by side, though Cranmer had begun making private plans for an English Service Book about 1538.

It was to be another ten years - when Edward VI had come to the throne - before Cranmer was charged to ‘consider and ponder the premise’ of ‘a uniform, quiet and Godly order . . . having as well eye and respect to the most sincere and pure Christian religion taught by scripture, as to the usages in the primitive church’. He, and his committee, produced a Prayer Book in 1549 in which much of the familiar liturgical shape is retained. There are significant changes to theology, words and practice, such that it can be claimed to be truly reformed. Yet others see in it continuation of what was. This may have contributed to what happens next, for in 1552 a revised book is published, and this is more thoroughly reformed: in its theology, its words, and its liturgical shapes.

We know it as the Book of Common Prayer (BCP 1662), for, with minor revisions, it was to be the book attached to the Royal Injunctions of Charles II at his restoration after the Commonwealth.

Tools of enquiry When a Liturgy is enacted its meaning is conveyed in a variety of ways. These include: i) the way that the building is used and the place where different activities occur (sacred place) ii) the significance put upon the whole or special moments in the worship (sacred time) iii) the role of leaders and people and the way that they inter-relate (sacred people) iv) the action undertaken by the different participants (sacred action).

21 These tools of enquiry assist us in asking questions that enable us to understand what is happening in worship. The answers to the questions we may ask can be found in the text of the liturgy, but we also need to look at the ‘stage directions’. In the Middle Ages these directions for ceremonial were to be found in a separate book, the Ordo. Later they were inserted into the main text of the liturgy, as rubrics. Originally printed in red, hence the name, they are found in most modern copies in italics. Other sources of information include the art of the period, particularly the engravings of the sixteenth century.

By tracing the changes in the use of sacred place, the significance of sacred time, the notion of sacred people and the use of sacred action it is possible to identify the different ways in which acts of worship are conceived and understood.

This may be illustrated by changes in the mass by the late medieval period. i) It had become less a community event and more priest centred (a change in the notion of sacred people). ii) The focus of the liturgy had moved to the altar and away from the body of the Church (a change in the use of sacred place). iii) There was less emphasis on the importance of the whole liturgy and more concentration on particular moments: the words of institution, the offering of the sacrifice, the elevation of the host (a change in the notion of sacred time). iv) The ‘mystery’ of the Eucharist was expressed through more and more complex ritual (a change in sacred action).

These tools enable us to understand our particular liturgical heritage and to examine our own personal and church practice. (See Chart below). In turn they will equip us when responsible for ordering, creating, and delivering liturgy. Being aware of ourselves and others, of the past and the present, we can then worship.

Rite Sacred people Sacred place Sacred time Sacred action

Sarum Priest with deacon The middle of the The ‘Words of A divine drama in sub-deacon and altar in the ‘Holy Institution’ is the which the priest candle bearers Room’ (the significant moment consecrates with offer Mass for the chancel) is the in the service elaborate manual Church place of sacrifice acts

1549 Priest and people The people go into Whole service is Interplay of priest PB gather together the chancel to significant, and people - around the altar. gather around the preaching Manual Acts and Priest says prayers altar encouraged ‘consecration’

1552 People and The table is Liturgy of the Whole event is PB minister share brought down into Word is said even stressed - static - no service in the church or if there are no manual acts or chancel chancel & the communicants ‘consecration’ priest stands at the north side

1662 Priest says prayers Laud had the altars The word and People and priest PB on behalf of the put back to the East sacrament of equal are separated by individuals present end of the church weight chancel - manual but the priest still acts and stands at the North consecration side Restored

22 GROUP SESSION 2

23 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share any reflections you have had on last week's session.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1 As a group

Refer to the two charts on the following pages (reproduced from the Introduction and Resource Section 1) Identify the ways in which each of the four rites understood: i) the role of the priest ii) the role of the people iii) the nature of the Church iv) the Eucharist

PROJECT 2

Using Cranmer’s Preface to the Prayer Book of 1549 (Text R2 in the Resource Section) and the Introduction to this session.

Address the questions i) Why did Cranmer believe that a new Prayer Book was needed ? ii) What did he hope it would achieve ? iii) In what ways do you think the issues that prompted Cranmer to create a Prayer Book are still relevant for the Church today ?

24 PROJECT 3

Discuss the view that:

Priests should celebrate communion in Jeans and a T-Shirt to show that they are one with the people.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's work to God in prayer. Plan your preparation for session 3.

25 Rite Sacred people Sacred place Sacred time Sacred action

SACRED PLACE IN THE SARUM RITE

Clerks C Sd People throughout the Service P D C

26 IN THE 1549 PRAYER BOOK

Women C from Offertory Sd People during the Service

P and non-communicants D from the Offertory Men C from Offertory

IN THE 1552 PRAYER BOOK

Women and children

Men

IN THE 1662 PRAYER BOOK (The 1662 and 1552 rubrics are the same. Shown here is the pattern frequently found in the 18th Century) Pulpit and Stall Free Box Pews Benches

P Squire’s Box Pews Free Box Benches Pew

27 28 SESSION 3 AN ORDER FOR HOLY COMMUNION (2)

For this session 1. Study the Introduction and undertake supporting reading including the extract from Hefling, Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer provided in the Reading Block.

2. Read the Introduction to the Eucharist 2004 available to download at http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/publications/downloads/ and familiarise yourself with the Order for the Holy Eucharist 2004 available for download at the same address.

3. In 250 words address the question: Why has the Church in Wales revised its liturgy over the past 50 years? Include theological, ecclesiological, and social factors.

29 SESSION 3 An Order for Holy Communion (2)

INTRODUCTION

With the Book of Common Prayer we have the foundation document of the liturgy and doctrine of the Church of England. However, its use has been challenged from the beginning, for there have always been those who wished for a more catholic liturgy in the tradition of 1549, and those for whom the memorial meal approach of the reformed churches was attractive. In this they continued positions held by Laudians and protestants in the early seventeenth century. This division would surface again in the nineteenth century when two major movements in the English Church: the Oxford Movement (Anglo Catholic) and the Evangelical Revival, challenged the sufficiency of the Book of Common Prayer to meet all liturgical and spiritual needs. Then, in 1914, the church found itself at war, and the chaplains were reporting that what was in their hand was of little use in the face of such suffering, nor in the constraints of time and place that were the trenches. If you were part of the Anglo Catholic wing how were you to create a vision of heaven when bent low for safety and covered in mud, and the candles kept blowing out. Or if from the Evangelical wing how were you to preach when every other word was lost under the scream of a shell. Inadequate and inappropriate were the words being used to describe the BCP.

Following the war the concerns of the Church had changed. The large number of widows and orphans, and then the experience of the Depression, led to a renewed exploration of the social context of theology, of pastoral care and of worship: as we see in the writings of Archbishop William Temple.

In 1920 the Church in Wales was disestablished and therefore gained control of its own liturgical destiny for itself (although Welsh language translations of the 1662 BCP were in common usage, the Church in Wales, as simply separate Diocese of the Church of England, had no independent existence and hence no independent liturgy before this time. Robert Paterson, in The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer says “Until its disestablishment the Welsh church was part of the Church of England, but even after the creation of a new separate ecclesiastical province in 1920 the 1662 Prayer Book continued to be used with minor variations, such as no longer referring to the monarch as a 'governor’. Although the Church in Wales was free to order its own liturgical life, it chose for the first generation simply to use what it had inherited, deciding in 1922, for example, to adopt the Church of England’s new lectionary in order to save the inconvenience of having to publish its own. The later consequences for liturgy of constitutional independence were both positive and negative. Negatively it prevented Church of England liturgical materials from being used in Wales unless specifically authorized by the Governing Body the province’s legislative synod. Positively however, it led over the course of time to the development of an unique Welsh style of Anglican public worship, generally more formal and less diverse than in many other parts of the Anglican Communion. At the beginning of the twentieth century leading figures in the Welsh church felt they had been abandoned, under pressure from Nonconformists and political Liberals in favour of disestablishment and disendowment, and many stressed the catholic heritage of the church, at the expense of its Reformed character, over against what was at the time a considerable Nonconformist majority in Wales. Thus, following disestablishment, the Church in Wales developed a distinctive style of churchmanship — conservative and moderately catholic in style—and an ethos distinct from that of the Church of England.” (Patterson in Hefling and Shattuck (eds) 2006)

Between the wars, while the 1662 BCP formed the basis of the worship of the CiW, many variations in local practice and liturgy were commonplace in the parishes, many based upon the proposed 1928 revision of the

30 BCP from the Church of England. After WW2, the Church in Wales began to engage with a rising sense of the identity of the Welsh people and language as a political entity. The 1949 Nation and Prayer Book Commission was formed and a period of liturgical experiment followed. The goal of this process was the composition of a ‘definitive’ Eucharistic rite (passed by the GB in 1966) as well as revision of pastoral services such as baptism and funeral liturgies.

The new Eucharistic rite followed a ‘four-fold’ structure (taking, blessing, breaking, giving) which was an attempt to recover what were felt to be early forms of Christian worship. This move also provided the church with a Eucharistic rite that was closer to that used by many other denominations and so contributed to a sense of a more ‘universal’ rite.

Although at this time more radical calls for change were heard from some quarters, regarding more flexible, varied or modern language worship, the mind of the church at this time was more Catholic, conservative and sought uniformity. The preface to the Book of Common Prayer 1984 (commonly known as “The Green Book”) makes these aims clear by saying “It remains the intention of the Church in Wales that there be One Use in this Province...The Bishop shall not allow any practise that conflicts with the provisions of this book.”

The Bishops’ notes on the development of the 1966/1984 Eucharistic rite speak of the need to be mindful of the ‘current temporary conservatism’ of the church.

This conservatism was indeed temporary because as soon as the Green Book was authorised, a new programme of liturgical revision began. Focusing particularly on issues of contemporary language and a more permissive, flexible and variable approach to liturgy a new series of rites were authorised for ‘experimental use’. This resulted in the publication in 2004 of An Order for the Holy Eucharist and subsequently many other liturgies including Services of Christian Initiation (2006) Holy Matrimony, Funeral Services and Daily Prayer 2009.

While the 2004 Eucharist is broadly based on the principles of four-fold action as the 1984 rite was, developments in liturgical scholarship in the intervening years had called into question the equal weight previously given to the four stages. For example it is noted that Jesus took in order to bless and broke in order to give. Therefore the categories are essentially reduced to two – the thanksgiving and the communion (as opposed to the Offertory, the Great Thanksgiving, Breaking of Bread and The Communion in the Green Book). This may direct the student’s attention to the headings given to ‘sections’ of the service as well as the text of the service itself. In broader terms these new liturgies mark a departure from the ‘one use’ rubric. (Indeed a comparison between the 1984 and 2004 rubrics illustrates well the differing emphasis and intentions in the liturgies). The newer rites, including the 2004 Eucharist make extended provision for contemporary language and alternative texts. The province has also made these resources available online for Parishes to construct their own booklets for local use reflecting local practises and preferences and seasonal variations. The seasonal provision in 2004 is greatly extended compared with 1984, and alternative prayers, intercessions and other liturgical texts are provided, alongside a structure within which these are to be used. Particularly significant is the provision of 7 Eucharistic Prayers rather than one, including two designed specifically for use with children present. (Additional rubrics are also provided to encourage creativity in the Liturgy of the Word with children). Meanwhile the English language of the rite, chiefly the work of Walter Williams, then Chancellor of St Asaph Cathedral, and Jim Davies, University of Wales Swansea, was designed to retain a sense of the numinous while being accessible to all. Another significant change was that the 1984 Book of Common Prayer included an idiosyncratic one year lectionary (a cycle of readings appointed for Sunday services and festival) which was only in use in Wales. By 2004 a form of the Revised Common Lectionary, used by churches of many denominations around the world and providing readings on a three- year cycle, was in common use. These readings and their collects are available separately as The Word of the Lord series rather than being incorporated within the 2004 Book as they were in the Green Book.

31 32 GROUP SESSION 3

33 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share any reflections you have had on last week's session.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1

As a group Using the work that you have prepared for this session, drawing on the Introduction and your reading, address the questions: i) Why has the Church in Wales revised its liturgy over the past 50 years? ii) How do the intentions expressed in the Preface and rubrics to the 1984 'Green Book' differ from those expressed in the An Order for the Holy Eucharist (2004)?

The rubrics are provided on the following pages.

PROJECT 2

Undertake the following task. Using a grid like the one below. Identify how an understanding of ‘Sacred People’, ‘Sacred Place’, ‘Sacred Time’ and ‘Sacred Action’ are expressed in An Order for the Eucharist 2004.

Rite Sacred People Sacred Place Sacred Time Sacred Action

Are these expressed differently in different Church in Wales Churches?

34 PROJECT 3

Discuss the view that:

Now that each church can worship in its own style, Anglicans have nothing in common.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's work to God in prayer. Plan your preparation for session 4.

35 Rubrics from the Church in Wales Book of Common Prayer 1984 GENERAL RUBRICS

1. The Holy Eucharist is the principal act of Christian worship. Every confirmed person should communicate regularly and frequently after careful preparation, which should include self examination leading to repen- tance and reconciliation. It is the responsibility of the Priest to teach and help his people in these matters. He should instruct them in the use of private confession,- which is available for all who cannot otherwise find the assurance of God’s forgiveness. (See Appendix IV)

2. It is the duty of a Christian to contribute gladly and liberally to the maintenance of the worship of God and the proclamation of the Gospel.

3. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our fellowship in the Body of Christ. The Priest shall therefore warn any communicants who by their public conduct bring the Church into disrepute that they ought not to receive the Holy Mysteries until they amend their way of life. If they do not heed the warning, the Priest shall report the matter to the Bishop and proceed as he directs.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS

1. The Holy Table shall be covered with a clean white cloth

2. The bread and wine are to be provided by the churchwardens at the expense of the parish. The bread shall be wheat bread, whether leavened or unleavened, and the wine pure grape wine to which a little water may be added.

3. It is the Bishop’s right to he the celebrant of the Eucharist and to preach; if he is not the celebrant, he pronounces the Absolution and gives the Blessing.

4. As far as possible the celebrant should be seen to preside over the whole of the Eucharist in order to emphasise the unity of the service.

5. When a Deacon is present he should read the Gospel and assist in the administration of the Sacrament and may if necessary lead the Post-Communion. A Deacon may administer Holy Communion from the reserved Sacrament.

6. A Deacon or Reader may say such parts of the service to the end of the Intercession (omitting the Absolution) as may be required.

7. Subject to the regulations of the Church in Wales, a lay person may assist in the administration of Holy Communion. At the discretion of the parish Priest, lay persons may read the Old Testament Lesson and Epistle and lead the Intercession

8. When the Ministry of the Sacrament is not to follow the Ministry of the Word the service shall end with the Lord’s Prayer and the Grace.

9. On weekdays which are not Holy Days, the Psalm and either the Old Testament Lesson or the Epistle may be omitted.

10. The directions STAND, KNEEL, SIT indicate the postures which are appropriate for the people at various stages of the service.

11. Appropriate parts of the service may be either said or sung.

12. The use of silence is commended as a means of recollection, especially before the General Confession and immediately after the Communion of the people. 36 Rubrics from the Church in Wales Order for the Holy Eucharist 2004

NOTES 1 The Holy Table shall be covered with a clean white cloth.

2 The bread and wine are to be provided at the expense of the parish. The bread shall be wheat bread, leavened or unleavened, and the wine pure grape wine to which a little water may be added.

3 When the bishop is present, it is normal for him to preside over celebrations of the Eucharist and to preach. Even when he does not preside, he pronounces the Absolution (1) and the Blessing (if there is one).

4 As far as possible, the bishop or priest should be seen to preside over the whole of the Eucharist in order to emphasize the unity of the service. When circumstances require it, a deacon or Reader may lead the service to the end of the Intercession (3), amending the Absolution (1) by substituting ‘us/our’ for ‘you/your’.

5 It is the duty of the deacon to proclaim the Gospel (2), to prepare the elements of bread and wine (5), to administer Holy Communion (6), and to dismiss the people (7). In addition, the deacon may carry in the Book of the Gospels at the beginning of the service, preach the Sermon (2) when licensed to do so and lead the Intercession (3).

6 The Eucharist is the action of the whole people of God. The ministry of the members of the congregation is expressed by means of their active participation throughout the liturgy, and by some of them reading the scripture passages in the Proclamation of the Word (2) and leading the Intercession (3). A licensed Reader may preach and licensed eucharistic assistants may assist in the administration of the Communion.

7 The Gloria in Excelsis (1) should be used on Sundays and festivals, though it may be omitted throughout Advent and Lent. The Creed (2) should be used on Sundays and festivals. According to local custom, the Confession and Absolution may be moved to follow the Intercession(3) immediately, and the Lord’s Prayer may be said in section 6 before the Invitation instead of following the Eucharistic Prayer.

8 The priest introduces the Collect (1) with ‘Let us pray’, after which there may be a bidding and a period of silence, followed by the Collect.

9 On weekdays which are not holy days, one of the first two readings (2) may be omitted. The Old and New Testament readings may be introduced with either the words, ‘A reading from …’ or the opening reference: Book, chapter, verse (if not verse one). A brief context (not a summary) may be added.

10 A deacon or assisting priest may introduce the reading of the Gospel with the greeting ‘The Lord be with you’ to which the people respond ‘And also with you’.

11 The Intercession (3) is essentially a series of biddings or petitions constituting one prayer in which all present can engage without difficulty. Its hallmark is simplicity.

12 When there is no Communion, the service ends with the Intercession (3) followed by the Lord’s Prayer (5) and the Grace or another appropriate ending (see Morning and Evening Prayer). When the service is to be combined with or follow Morning or Evening Prayer or the Litany, refer to the notes accompanying the order of service to be used in conjunction with the Eucharist.

13 The structure of Eucharistic Prayer 5 is such that proper prefaces (Appendix vi) should not be used with it.

14 The acclamation ‘Christ has died …’ in the Eucharistic Prayers (5) may be introduced with appropriate words, for example ‘Let us proclaim the mystery of faith’, ‘Great is the mystery of faith’, ‘Jesus is Lord’. Such introductory words should be said by the deacon or, if there is no deacon, the priest.

37 15 Suitable times for silence are indicated in the text of the service. Silence is also to be commended, as appropriate, after the Sermon (2) and during the Intercession (3).

16 Basic guidance for posture is given in the text of the service, though this may be altered to suit local needs: the people shall always stand for the Gospel; a change of posture is not appropriate for the reading of the Collect (1) nor throughout section 5.

17 Notices and banns of marriage may be read at the beginning of the service, before the Intercession (3), or immediately after the Post Communion prayer (7).

18 A form for individual Confession and Absolution is provided in Appendix ix.

GUIDELINES FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST WITH CHILDREN 1 Every celebration of the Eucharist should be an expression of the unity of the whole body of Christ.

2 When there is a significant number of children present, the Gathering (1) may be shortened and simplified by the omission of the prayers ‘Father of glory’ and ‘Heavenly Father, all hearts are open to you’, and the Kyrie and Gloria may be treated as alternatives, the former being used in Advent and Lent, the latter at other times.

3 Considerable flexibility and imagination should be exercised over the number, length and presentation of the readings (2). A Gospel reading should, however, always be included.

4 The Nicene or Apostles’ Creed may be replaced on these occasions by the alternative confession of faith in Appendix ii.

5 Eucharistic Prayers 6 and 7 (Section 5) are recommended for use with the age-groups specifi ed.

6 When few of those present have received Communion, an appropriate alternative prayer may be used instead of those given (7). Some of the Prayers of Dedication in Morning and Evening Prayer are suitable for this purpose.

7 The responses should not normally vary.

8 While it is of the greatest importance that all communicants should prepare themselves properly before receiving Communion, special care should be devoted to helping children in this respect.

38 SESSION 4 MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER

For this session 1. Study the Introduction and undertake supporting reading including the extract from Cheslyn, The Study of Liturgy Revised provided in the Reading Block.

2. Familiarise yourself with Daily Prayer 2009 available to download at http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/publications/downloads/

3. In 250 words address the question: What was Cranmer’s intention of creating the two offices of Matins and Evensong and how did he do this?

39 SESSION 4 Morning and Evening Prayer

INTRODUCTION

From the very beginning prayer, and a discipline of prayer, has been part of the life of the Church. At the start of his account to Theophilus, Luke tells how the Christians ‘devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers’ (Acts 2.42). He also tells of Peter and John going to the temple ‘at the hour of prayer’ (Acts 3.1). So we hear of the first Christians following in an ancient tradition: linking the story and practice of their daily life to the story of God: through remembrance, thanksgiving and prayer.

The Early Centuries The root of this behaviour was the practice of the Temple worship, and the Jewish custom of the private recitation of the ‘shema’. These were not separate activities, but rather two different expressions of a common action. For while there was the offering of prayer by, and for, the individual, the overriding consciousness was of a stream of prayer that was the life of the nation itself. However strongly personal the moment may have felt, it remained part of a corporate behaviour, for what affected the one affected the whole. This awareness of the individual within the corporate is central to Paul’s understanding of the Christian life and of their worship, and he goes to great lengths to convince his congregations of this. That there can be an underlying tension between the perceived needs of the individual and of the fellowship is also evident in his letters. While we have Paul’s directions as to how to bring order into the worship of the fellowship it is not possible to reconstruct the detail of the worship life of the early church. Nor can this be done from elsewhere in Scripture.

It is not until the third century, and the writings of Hippolytus, that we have a reference to a fixed pattern of prayer. He emphasises the times of prayer, and records that in addition to the fixed psalms, hymns, songs, and intercessions are found the continuous recitation of the Psalter and readings from Scripture. The writings suggest that this is not just a daily pattern for ministers, but that it is the pattern for all Christians. Earlier Justin Martyr, when talking of their principal service, describes it as containing readings from the prophets, the memoirs of the apostles, discourse and common prayer, and that this led into the second part which was the thanksgiving and the breaking of bread.

In the centuries that followed three strands emerge: the Sunday Service, the twice daily services of the people, and a fuller pattern of prayer throughout the day followed within the monasteries. St Benedict, in his Rule c540CE, describes a community of laymen whose daily life centres upon the Divine Office (the opus dei, the ‘work of God’), with additional private prayer, spiritual reading, and physical work. Each day was given shape by the recitation of a sequence of services, each with its own canticles and cycle of psalms and readings. Such a pattern of prayer was possible in the literate world of the monk; it also fitted into the contained and contemplative life. By contrast the people’s service was largely composed of fixed psalms that could be memorised. And, rather than being static in the choir, it had a dramatic quality as it moved in procession from door to sanctuary and back to the door. This mirrored a journey from the world into a meeting with God, and a return into the world. These separating worlds, of the community and the populace, united in the Sunday Liturgy, the offering of the Eucharist.

40 At the time of the Reformation Over time the spiritual world had changed, there was a growing concern with ‘sin’ and ‘judgement’ and ‘hell’, and a powerful belief in the effectiveness of the sacrifice of the Mass. Spiritual power was seen as residing in the daily hearing of Mass, each with its particular votive intention. The point of focus for the liturgical life of the people had moved. So it is that, while the monastic way of prayer continued, the people’s service was lost. Daily prayer, the recitation of psalms and the reading of scripture, was just for the religious.

For the priest in the parish, and the brother or sister in the monastery, there was a daily round of eight services: from Matins in the early hours to Compline as the last thing before bed. They consisted of fixed psalms and canticles, psalms in rotation, readings and prayers. In some places there were also said a second parallel round of Offices, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This abundance of prayer concealed a curiosity, for there was the habit of reducing readings to their opening sentence. So, at Compline, we still have ‘Chapters’ that are but one or two verses long.

But this is not the whole story, for the people have begun a prayer life of their own with the aid of their ‘Primers’. These contained the ‘Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary’, the seven Penitential psalms, the fifteen Gradual psalms, the Litany for the Saints, and the Office for the Dead. At first in Latin they were available in English in the 1530s, in versions reflecting reformed doctrinal positions. Used by individuals they also were central to the daily life of many households, with the master, or mistress, leading the prayer. Indeed in 1545, the first authorized Primer of Henry VIII instructed the schoolmaster to use it next after the ABC in teaching children to read. The fact that there is regular prayer by the people is not in question, but what has been lost is that former unity of the public and private, of the corporate and the individual that is part of the root of Christian prayer.

Reformation in England and Wales Cranmer’s response to this was to draw on the concerns of the reformation, that the Word should be heard, and to recognise the realities of life. He created, out of the eight Offices, two new services of Matins and Evensong, to be said daily throughout the year. In his second Prayer Book these services are called Morning and Evening Prayer, and the minister is instructed to stand ‘in such place of the church, chapel, or chancel, . . .and so turn him, as the people may best hear’. Cranmer’s intention was to engage everyone in Morning and Evening Prayer ‘that by daily hearing of the Scriptures read in church they should continually profit more and more in knowledge of God and be the more inflamed with love of his true religion’ (from the Preface to BCP 1549). The only difference that Sunday made was that, in the Holy Communion that followed, no workday abbreviations were permitted. These services are a skilful conflation of the medieval monastic Offices, restoring both the reciting of psalms in order and the sequential reading of scripture, chapter by chapter. In each month the whole psalter was used, and, in the course of the year, most of the scriptures heard. In the 1549 BCP, as in the medieval Offices, the service began with the Lord’s Prayer. But, unlike them, this prayer was not said quietly, as a conclusion of a penitential preparation, rather it was to be said by the minister standing and speaking with a loud voice. Only by proclaiming the prayer that sums up all Christian prayer can the service begin. Then follows the opening sequence calling all into the work of God and his worship. Matins continues with elements from Mattins, Lauds and Prime, while Evensong uses material from Vespers and Compline. They conclude with versicles and responses drawn from the Bidding of the Bedes (the offering of prayer by the ‘telling of the beads’) and the final three collects; one for the day and two fixed for each Office.

Cranmer’s hope of bringing all into a habit of corporate prayer, day by day, was to be unfulfilled. This was made clear when, in 1559, a separate Sunday Lectionary was published. We must assume that the general populace have been absent during the week, so missing out on six chapters of each of the four readings and that their understanding of scripture has thereby been compromised. The exact causes of this are not certain, but the re-centring on the Mass, during the reign of Mary, must have left its mark. Whatever, the difference between Sunday and weekday practice is recognised, and effectively affirmed.

During the period of the Commonwealth the Westminster Directory of 1644 provides for a Lord’s Day

41 Service of the Word. Its concern was the public reading of Scripture and teaching (preaching). Such exposition of the Word was to be surrounded by prayer, and while nothing was prescribed there was direction as to what this prayer might contain. Daily prayer was understood to be a matter for the head of the household, or the individual.

The Book of Common Prayer Following the restoration of the monarchy the BCP is brought back into use, with minor amendments. It assumes the daily recitation of Morning and Evening Prayer, with the people present. But the reality that they will not be, is recognised in the continuing provision of a separate lectionary for Sundays and Holy days.

The most noticeable change, to any service in the Book, was that both Morning and Evening Prayer now began with a Penitential section: sentences, invitation to confession, confession, declaration of Absolution. The rubric then says that ‘the minister shall kneel, and say the Lord’s Prayer; the people also kneeling, and repeating it with him’. How different this is to the ‘loud voice’ of 1549. The second substantial change was the inclusion of intercessory Collects after the Anthem, at both Morning and Evening Prayer.

Because of the concern to make as few changes as possible there is no attempt made to make it easier for people to attend. Rather the services have become longer and dependent upon the presence of a minister. The divide between the public and the private is made greater.

On Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Morning Prayer was to be followed by the Litany; so giving a doubling of intercessions. Then, on Sundays and Holy-days, it was followed by Holy Communion as well. That made three sets of intercessions in the course of the morning service. Perhaps it is not surprising that by the eighteenth century Communion was being celebrated but once a quarter, or possibly once a month, and that instead the service was only continued to the Prayer for the Church Militant (Ante-communion). We also have to remember that there would have been a Sermon, a long one judging by the frequent presence of the pulpit hour-glass. By then three o’clock had become the time for Evening Prayer, a single service and without a sermon. This may, in part, explain its long enduring popularity.

From BCP to 1984. The ‘Uniformity Amendment Act’ (1872) allowed for the abbreviation of the services of Morning and Evening Prayer for weekday use. It also permitted the separation of Matins, Litany and Communion.

As with the Eucharistic rite, the Church in Wales, following disestablishment in 1920, adopted the 1662 BCP Daily Prayer services, again with small local variations. The Orders of Morning and Evening Prayer authorised with the 1984 Book of Common Prayer contain only minor variations on the 1662 forms. Perhaps the largest revision being the change in order of the responses after the Lord’s Prayer. The Welsh form giving less priority to prayer for the Monarch, being no longer the Head of the Church in Wales. The Alternative Orders and Daily Prayer 2009

Again as with the Eucharistic rite, modern language and more flexible provisions soon followed. Through the 1990’s Alternative Orders of Morning and Evening Prayer and also of Compline were developed and authorised for experimental use.

These were mindful of the need for provision both for daily use, particularly by clergy, and for non- Eucharistic Sunday worship in the Parish. There are significant differences between ‘public worship’, ‘private prayer’, and ‘The Office’. In the Sunday assembly we are corporate and public, in our private prayer we are individual – yet also part of the Body of Christ (for it is always Our Father). But in The Office, while we are frequently alone, the worship offered is made with all God’s people. So the language frequently uses ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. The Alternative Orders contained services for use in the morning and evening of Mondays to Saturdays. To each day there was its own canticle, and an outline for intercessions and thanksgiving. These followed a thematic structure over the week, from ‘Creation in Christ’ to the ‘Fulfilment of the Divine Purpose’.

42 This process of revision culminated in the authorisation in 2009 of Daily Prayer. This took further the changes brought in by the Alternative Orders but replaced the assigning of canticles to days of the week with a fixed Gospel Canticle and an optional choice of 54 additional canticles drawn from scripture and the traditions of the Church. Provision for seasonal variations was made and variations for Sunday as opposed to weekday worship were included.

This publication also included an Order of Prayer During the Day and of Compline.

Despite these changes, the Morning and Evening Prayer services share a common structure with each other and in continuity with the 1662 BCP. That common structure is: Introduction, The Word of God, Prayers, The Conclusion.

In addition to the basic text there are a number of permitted alternatives and supplementary texts. The presence of these makes a careful reading of the Notes and rubrics essential, to discover both the options and the constraints.

Conclusion Cranmer sought to bring the Church back to what he perceived as the godly order of scripture and the fathers. He did this by providing a simplified pattern of daily prayer for ministers and people alike. Daily Prayer picks up the theme but seeks to achieve results in a new way.

Whether our worship is on Sunday or a weekday, whether it is to be full or simple, with a congregation or on our own, we may be brought into the presence of God, and the company of his people. This happens as we read scripture (following the lectionary), and join in the Gospel Canticles, surrounding them in praise and prayer. So we may find a unity in this corporate celebration of the privilege and duty which belongs to us all.

43 44 GROUP SESSION 4

45 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share any reflections you have had on last week's session.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1

As a group

Using the work that you have prepared for this session i) Identify and examine the practice of the Church in public and private prayer a) during the early centuries b) at the time of the Reformation ii) Examine ways in which provision is made for Morning and Evening Prayer to be explicitly used a) for Sunday corporate worship b) as a daily office for ministers c) as daily prayer for the Church.. iii) What distinctive contribution can Morning and Evening Prayer make to the worshipping life and witness of the local church?

PROJECT 2

Address the question What understandings of a) sacred people b) sacred place c) sacred time d) sacred action are expressed in the Daily Prayer provision for Morning and Evening Prayer?

46 PROJECT 3

Discuss the Rubric from the 1984 Green Book:

It is the duty of the clergy, unless they are prevented by sickness or other weighty cause, to say Morning and Evening Prayer daily, preferably in church after tolling the bell.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's work to God in prayer. Plan your preparation for session 5.

47 48 SESSION 5

SERVICES OF THE WORD

For this session 1. Study the Introduction and undertake supporting reading including Burns Chapter 5 and the extract from Giles, Creating Uncommon Worship provided in the Reading Block.

2. In 250 words address the questions: i) What trends in liturgical practice prompted the introduction of Services of the Word? ii) What are the distinctive features of this provision? iii) What new responsibilities and skills are required of authorised ministers?

49 SESSION 5 Services of the Word

INTRODUCTION

While the Church in Wales Daily Prayer book makes provision for Sunday worship, it is common practise in the majority of our Parishes for worship to be constructed for specific occasions or circumstances. While this worship draws much of its shape and content from the Morning Prayer traditions explored in the last session, these services often go beyond the strict provisions of authorised liturgies. Examples may be one- off services of commissioning or blessing, pet services, historical celebrations and most commonly, all-age or family services. Churches exploring mission and outreach may also be seeking to explore the role and value of creative liturgies in non-Eucharistic contexts and contexts beyond the church building. We need only think of the pattern of the service of ‘Nine Lessons and Carols’ at Christmas to realise that this is already part of our experience, and is readily understood.

While the Church in Wales does not currently make explicit provision for resourcing such services, a wide range of resources are available, including provisions made by the Church of England.

‘Patterns for Worship’ In 1995 the Church of England published a new kind of liturgical provision. This was a response to the widespread development of Family Services and similar ‘so called’ non- liturgical services. It also took account of a growing unease about the ability of Morning and Evening Prayer to meet the needs of worshippers in a variety of contexts, particularly inner- city congregations. Patterns for Worship made provision for the worship of the church to be enriched on those occasions when an ‘authorised’ service was not appropriate.

Since the mid ‘80s there had been a growing recognition that much that was being offered as worship in Family Services and the like, was both limited and limiting. This was evident in the content and delivery of the service, in the understandings of worship that were being expressed and in the very nature of the worship. It was ironic that the charge often made against the Prayer Book, that of having a ‘culture’ that excluded people, was recognised as applying very powerfully to many modern ‘non-liturgical’ services that were being used in an attempt to provide inclusive worship. This was true of the music, of movement and behaviour, and even of dress.

In context, the preparation and publication of Patterns for Worship can be seen as an attempt by the Church of England to catch up with a situation in which ministers and congregations were already exercising a liturgical freedom that pushed the bounds of what was strictly legal. By making positive provision for such services the Church was endeavouring to ensure that non-eucharistic worship in the Church of England would bear a ‘family’ likeness to what was recognisably Anglican. It attempted to achieve this by providing guidance on the shape, content and construction of services and by offering texts that could be employed.

‘A Service of the Word’

The new provision introduced in Patterns for Worship took the form of ‘A Service of the Word’. This was a radical departure from previous liturgical provision in that, rather than a set liturgy, what was authorised was a list of ingredients for a service, some of which were identified as mandatory. It allowed the minister responsible for any act of worship to decide their order and sequence. The book illustrated two ways in

50 which this might be worked out – the ‘block’ structure and the ‘conversation’ structure, (See Resource Sheet R3) but these were only examples of what might be achieved.

Patterns for Worship offered precisely what its title stated – patterns for worship rather than liturgies in which the structure and content of a service were defined by specific texts placed in a set relation and by their associated rubrics. Patterns for Worship also signalled a new approach to the preparation of liturgy in that it provided a directory of seasonal and other texts for use in ‘A Service of the Word’ and on other occasions.

The provision first introduced in Patterns for Worship has found its place in the Church’s core liturgical provision with the inclusion in the Common Worship of an order for ‘A Service of the Word’ and an order for ‘A Service of the Word with a Celebration of Holy Communion’.

Further resources for the creation of Services of the Word are to be found in the seasonal volumes of Lent, Holy Week and Easter and The Promise of His Glory, in New Patterns for Worship, and in other private publications.

There are many other sources of liturgical material, widely available in print or on the internet. Some are produced by religious communities within the UK, such as the Wild Goose Worship Group from the Iona Community. Many insights can also be drawn from the worldwide Church, both Anglican and ecumenical.

The Task of the Minister The preparation and leading of Services of the Word requires ministers, and those working with them, to use imagination, understandings and skills that have not been required in the past. The challenge of leading such worship is that it involves leading people into mystery, into the unknown and yet the familiar. Therefore the primary object in the careful planning and leading of the service is the spiritual direction which enables the whole congregation to come into the presence of God to give him glory. Ministers will therefore need a clear understanding of worship and of the ways in which its components work if this is to happen.

Liturgy always takes place in a pastoral context; it is always about people as well as about God. It requires those who lead worship to know the people, to comprehend their context in life and in worship. Only then can they responsibly enable worship that takes their community into an encounter with God and his work that tells the story of salvation; that takes them on an emotional, educational and spiritual journey as a pilgrim people. They need to be able to connect with people’s past, with their present experience, and with their hopes and fears for the future, sustaining and yet challenging them. They need to discover how to express universal truths in the local setting, meeting current need and expressing future hope. Whether they are ordained or not they must learn how to exercise a ministry that is priestly, standing both on the side of God, and with the people.

Liturgy also takes place within a particular context of time and place. This will provide opportunities, pose challenges, and place constraints, all with the ever present need to be appropriate. The context will be defined by the occasion, the congregation, the season, the setting and resources, and by our responsibility as a minister.

This responsibility asks us, as the people of God, to understand worship, and to be clear for ourselves, and for others, about the ‘intention’ of any particular liturgy. It asks about more than the ‘theme’, the ‘aim and objective’, or the ‘plot’. For, while we may use all the skills of theatre, what we are about is ‘a great advancement of godliness’ (Preface to the 1549 Prayer Book, and BCP1662), so that ‘our lives are opened to the promise God makes for all creation – to transform and renew it in love and goodness’ (Preface to Church of England’s Common Worship).

It is only when we have taken proper account of the pastoral and liturgical contexts and the have recognised the ‘intention’ of a service of worship that we can then give attention to the liturgy itself.

51 Our long history as the people of the BCP has served to make us a people of the text. This has tended to focus undue attention on the words of the liturgy rather than the whole liturgical event. Recent years have seen a new recognition of the variety of settings in which liturgy occurs, and of the different ways in which space may be used. But it is only just beginning to be recognised that for an act of worship to happen there needs to be both a ‘liturgical script’ and a ‘dramatic script’. The ‘liturgical script’ has traditionally been provided by the text of the service. The ‘dramatic script’ is made up of the liturgical script together with introduction and notes and everything else that is needed to ‘stage’ the service. In the past the rubrics gave only a few clues to the ‘dramatic script’. However, with changing liturgical shapes and structures, with changing ‘intentions’, and when so many people are unfamiliar with church, the dramatic script now needs to be made explicit. This script will need to be written in detail, as appropriate, for all the ministers (including musicians, Wardens, welcomers, etc). Similarly, in the service book used by the congregation, guidance in the form of headings and directions may be given not just about posture and movement, but also to the purpose, direction and flow of the Liturgy.

The two scripts, the liturgical and the dramatic, are intimately related. They may run in parallel, where action mirrors text, or text action. Alternatively, they may be in counterpoint, being in dialogue with each other, each making their own particular contribution. Or they may be in open competition or confrontation, or at the least as uneasy companions. Sadly, this last possibility occurs all too frequently and when it does the worship will be impeded and its intention obscured. If this is not to be the case the scripts will need to be created together. This will require us to mobilise both our awareness of the context and all our liturgical understanding and skills.

Asking questions In the previous sessions of this term we have used the Tools of Enquiry - sacred people, sacred place, sacred time and sacred action to assist us in understanding the Liturgy. They have served to alert us to the different elements of the dramatic script that underlies any service. This will have drawn us to deeper questions about our understanding of worship, and that of others and of the Church. We have explored the stories that are told in the liturgy about God, the Church, individuals, the world, and the larger Story that the liturgy tells as a whole. We will have experienced encounters: of the body, the mind, and the heart, and the ongoing encounter with our God. We will have made a journey through the shape of the liturgy; a journey with each other, and with God; a journey that connects with the past, the present and the future. This journey engages with the history and memory of the people of God, of the local church, and of our own lives. It is shaped, in part, by the liturgical calendar of the great Christian Festivals. We now need to turn the Tools of Enquiry used in earlier Sessions into Tools of Construction to assist us in the preparation and planning of worship through the creation of liturgical scripts and dramatic scripts.

Using the Tools of Construction

Sacred People An awareness of the pastoral context of the service will be vital in deciding the understanding of the status, responsibilities and relationships – both corporate and individual - that will be demonstrated in the service. These will not necessarily be static throughout the service. For example, the status of a candidate at Baptism undergoes a fundamental change at the moment of Baptism, and this may be reflected liturgically in a variety of ways, of which the giving of a Chrism robe is but one.

Sacred place We have already discovered that the ways in which a building is used says things about the space, about the people within it, and about what is happening. So it is that in differing traditions we find that the font may be in a separate building, or close to the main door or at the every heart of the church. Each position makes its own particular statement about the inherent meaning of the sacrament. As with sacred people, the uses of space and the understandings conveyed about sacred place may well not be static within a service, and will almost certainly change from one service to another.

52 Sacred time The understanding of time within a service greatly affects its balance, and its theology. It can be argued that, for Cranmer, the high point of the Holy Communion was the singing of the Gloria at the end of the liturgy. In this view the consecration and reception of Communion are seen as the way in which we become the people who can say ‘Our Father’ and are enabled to enter into the high praise of heaven. Later sensibilities to personal salvation and devotion moved the high point to the reception of Communion. More recently still the emphasis has been on the offering of thanksgiving in the Eucharistic Prayer. These possibilities of enabling the personal, the local and the eternal are things we need to bear in mind. The inclusion of different points of focus can be a way of meeting varying spiritual needs.

Sacred actions This is a matter for congregations as well as for ministers, and the roots are deep. Anglican tradition has bequeathed us a ‘heads down’ approach to piety and liturgical practice: ‘hands together and eyes shut’. More recently a renewed sense of congregational consciousness has led to a ‘heads up’ approach. Here the use of ‘body’ and ‘voice’ has gained new significance. In the Resource Section are set out some of the ways in which the delivery of liturgy may be affected. They include areas to which individual ministers may well need to pay attention, and seek assistance. As before variety is significant in determining the balance and flow of a liturgy, and of the way in which it is perceived.

Conclusion While the best of liturgy will reach out, touch and take hold, it will above all draw us in: into the fellowship of the church, into the presence of God, into the needs of the world, into prayer and praise. It will ask of us all our sensitivities, all our powers of expression, all our skill and devotion. Then it will take us, and those we serve, beyond ourselves into the mystery of God, into the company of heaven, into the outworking of salvation, into life eternal.

53 54 GROUP SESSION 5

55 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share any reflections you have had on last week's session.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1

As a group

Using the work that you have prepared for this session, answer the questions i) What has prompted the development of 'Services of the Word'? ii) What circumstances are they intended to address?

PROJECT 2

You have been asked to lead a non Eucharistic act of worship for Advent Sunday morning. You are expecting about 50 people in the parish church. There will be older and younger members of the congregation present, members of many years experience and one or two ‘new’ families. Members of the Sunday School will be present for the whole service. You have access to an organist, a small choir, and a person who plays the guitar and sings. The service will be led by one accredited minister. There are several members of the congregation who are prepared to read lessons and lead prayers.

Undertake the following Consider how such an act of worship could be constructed. Consider together i) the relevant contexts of the worship ii) an overall intention iii) the use of sacred people, sacred place, sacred time, sacred action to support construction. iv) a possible structure v) possible content

You may find some of the following resources helpful The Service Outlines - 'block' and 'conversation' models in R3 at the back of this handbook Daily Prayer 2009 Cloth for the Cradle (Wild Goose Worship Group) New Patterns for Worship The Church of England The Promise of His Glory http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/asaph/life/renewal/seasonal.html

56 PROJECT 3

Discuss the view that:

The worship that we experience in our churches is a foretaste of Heaven.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's work to God in prayer. Plan your preparation for session 6.

57 58 SESSION 6

A PILGRIM PEOPLE

For this session

1. Study the Introduction and undertake supporting reading including Burns Chapter 6 and the extract from Avis, A Church Drawing Near provided in the Reading Block.

2. In 250 words address the questions: How does the Church in Wales make liturgical provision for the different journeys of life?

59 SESSION 6 A Pilgrim People

INTRODUCTION

Litugical Journeys

It is common in today’s church to use the idea of journey as a metaphor for the Christian Life. We can use this metaphor to shape our understanding of the story of our lives – the journey through the experiences, events, encounters, and influences that have helped to make us the people we are. We can also use this metaphor as a way of telling our spiritual story – the journey that we have made with God and through which we have discovered his grace.

The stories we tell will be of journeys that are personal and individual, and of journeys that are woven into the wider stories of families and communities. They will be stories of journeys that are physical and material, involving travel from place to place; and stories of journeys that involve change and growth in our thinking, experience and understanding. These stories of journeys will engage with the complexity of our lives and through their telling we will recognise meaning and grow in understanding. The stories we tell will reflect the fact that our lives are neither simple nor consistent. We are aware that as we journey we experience moments of rapid transition, and times when nothing seems to change. We experience moments of high significance, and times when the awareness of change creeps up on us. Then again there are the times when we feel as if we are going round in circles, if not actually going backwards.

There will be significant moments or occasions of transition in our lives when we are aware that we face decisive change. At such times the next step on our journey has the feel of crossing a threshold (or ‘limen’). Examples of these threshold or ‘liminal’ events might include being baptised, getting married, becoming a parent or taking up a new ministry. Liminal events are often associated with transitions that cannot be undone, it is as though a door has shut and things will never be the same again. They are often accompanied by feelings of disorientation, uncertainty or confusion and vulnerability, an experience that is known as liminality. These transitions may be the result of our own initiative or may be prompted by others, or through the world around.

The Church in Wales currently developing liturgical provision is growing to a wide range of resources through which the events and experiences of our journeys, corporate and individual, may be expressed, interpreted and their meaning recognised in the presence of God and in the company of the worshipping community. In particular, they provide rites which, when used sensitively and in ways that are appropriate to the context, will acknowledge threshold moments and will enable the journey through these liminal events.

The Journey of Life: Liturgical provision

The 1984 Book of Common Prayer volume 2 made provision for the marking of some significant moments in the journey of life, including marriage, funerals, baptism, confirmation and ordination. As with other services, a process of revision is currently underway, resulting in the recent publication of Services for Christian Initiation and updated Marriage and Funeral services. As we have seen with other rites, these new forms offer a large range of choices and resources that may be used within a given structure. Indeed Initiation was supplied with a CD-ROM of its contents to enable Parishes to produce their own local

60 versions of the Baptism and Confirmation Services to suit their needs. Similarly all the new services (and both volumes of 1984) are now available on the Church in Wales Publications website for the same purpose.

Where the Church in Wales does not currently make liturgical provision for a particular circumstance, it is permissible for Orders of Service from other Provinces of the Communion to be used, and the Church of England’s Pastoral Services is likely the most commonly used additional resource, although of course this is of little assistance to Welsh speakers.

For the beginning of life Services for Christian Initiation offers a service of the ‘Public Baptism of Infants’ (with and without Communion) as well as services of Welcome for use when a child is baptised in another church and rites for baptism in emergency situations. The Funeral Service Resource Book makes some provision for those times when the beginning and end of life come close together because a child has died near the time of birth. (The Church of England’s Pastoral Services provides some additional rites, particularly a rite of Thanksgiving for a Child which may be used to mark the birth of a child when baptism is not desired.) In the Church’s common understanding however, it is with the sacrament of Baptism that the journey of life and the journey of faith come together. In the service of Baptism we have a particular moment of a journey that is about discovery and transformation. It is also about faith as process.

The journey of faith in Christ, like the life journey, is not necessarily simple or constant. Services for Christian Initiation recognises this for, while it makes the traditional provision for Confirmation, it also gives the opportunity for an individual to make an ‘Affirmation of Faith’. This may be used for example by those who are baptised and confirmed and now wish to make a public act of commitment. It may be used to mark a significant change in commitment or a return to the fellowship of the church.

The journey of married life is marked by the ‘Marriage Service’, and ‘An Order for Blessing a Civil Marriage’. There has also been debate within the Church in which some argued for provision to be made for the earlier significant moments such as getting engaged, setting up home or for the later events of marriage breakdown, separation and divorce. It was the pastoral care at these latter times that caused most concern because of the possibility of sending the wrong signal with regard to the Church’s understanding of life-long commitment within marriage. So it is up to the individual minister to explore the provisions of liturgy, to adapt, and to minister at this time, as we await the forms and procedures that will accompany marriage after divorce. Examples of such liturgies are available beyond the Church, in resources such as Human Rites which may offer some assistance in these liminal situations, provided they are used by ministers mindful of the teachings and liturgical positions of the Province.

The Church in Wales provision for the end of life in Funeral Services Resource Book provides the most comprehensive range of services and resources. This is a significant change from earlier provision. The BCP simply provided an ‘Order for the Burial of the Dead’, though we may presume that the ‘Order for the Visitation of the Sick’ will have preceded it. In 1984 there is the ‘Funeral Service’, with a separate provision for that of a child. There is also a ‘Service on the Eve of a Funeral’, when the coffin is brought into church the day before, and a form which may be used at the ‘Interment of the Ashes’ and ‘Blessing of a Grave’. However, in the Funeral Resource Book we have provision from the time of the death through to services in the home before and after a funeral, through to a later memorial service. We also have provision for more than one journey. This can mean engaging in a sequence of services, or just in a selected few. It can be as an individual, within a small group, or in the public arena. Within this material is an extensive resource for use at the Funeral of a Child, including following a miscarriage and for a still- born baby. In this material we find the opportunity for parents, families, friends, and church to make their own personal journey and to journey together.

The Church’s Year

The life of the Church can be understood as a journey. This journey is articulated and shaped, in part, by the following of the Calendar, as it moves from Advent, through Christmas and Epiphany, to Lent, Holy Week and Easter and then on into the Sundays after Trinity, and so back round to the season of Advent. Through this journey the richness and variety of the story of salvation is told and re-told.

61 The BCP provision for the Church Year reflects Cranmer’s concerns and represents a considerable simplification when compared to the mediaeval Roman Catholic calendar. The BCP provided for the differing seasons in the Church’s year, with a limited number of Feasts and Holy-days. This gave a sense that might be described as moving from one state to another or as travelling between events. The nearest thing to a journey was in the sequence from Septuagesima to Easter. The Green Book provided a more developed sense of journey through the liturgical year as well as celebrating Welsh Saints. In addition, there was the weekly journey created by the use of a cycle of canticles at Morning and Evening Prayer in the Alternative Order for Morning and Evening Prayer (in contrast to the BCP offices in which the canticles are unvarying). But in all this it was more like a series of connected events rather than a continuing journey.

Today we find a more refined definition and practice of the idea of journey. The Lectionary provides for two distinct seasons in the Church’s year focusing upon Christmas and Easter. The first season is from the first Sunday of Advent through to the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The second runs from Ash Wednesday through to Pentecost. In addition, to these great seasons there is a small season that takes us from All Saints Day through to the feast of Christ the King, on the last Sunday before Advent. The Saints days serve as punctuation points within the journey.

Alongside the seasons of the Church year we find the lectionary and local custom marking events in the secular year. These include Mothering Sunday and Remembrance Sunday, and those crossover moments of Harvest, Christingle, Carols Services and New Year.

The liturgical resources for the seasons are to be found throughout the material of The Church in Wales Liturgies. Seasonal books are also available, for example the Church of England’s The Promise of His Glory and Lent, Holy Week and Easter and although infrequently used, the Church in Wales Services and Ceremonies for Lent and Easter.

Resources may also be circulated by Church affiliated organisations such as Christian Aid, USPG and the Mission to Seafarers as well as by groups within the Diocese. A wide range of seasonal resources from ecumenical contexts such as Taize and Iona are also available.

A Pilgrim People

Baptism marks the beginning of a journey with God which continues throughout our lives. It is the first step in response to the love of God that knew us ‘before we were formed in the womb’. The rest of life may be seen through that lens, as a journey with the whole Church throughout the ages, travelling together into an eternity illuminated by the presence of the fullness of love the God. On that mutual journey we may integrate faith and human experience, with all necessary change and development that will be required of us. This journey will be encouraged by the Christian story and supported by the pattern of The Way. Through our journey we will express the identity which is ours in Jesus Christ, of being the baptised community called to partake in the life of God, to share in the mission of God to the world and through our worship to make pilgrimage together into the heart of the love of God.

62 GROUP SESSION 6

63 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share any reflections you have had on last week's session.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1

As a group

Address the following questions i) In what ways does the use of the Church’s Year enable the Church to witness to the story of salvation ? ii) How can this enrich our pilgrimage as a church and as individuals ?

PROJECT 2

Undertake the following Identify the significant changes and transitions that occur as people journey through the different stages of life.

List the liturgical resources provided by the Church in Wales to mark these stages.

Which events are not provided for in the Church in Wales liturgies? (e.g Divorce, Engagement, the Adoption of a Child, Blessing of a New Home).

Choose one event that is not provided for. Explore what liturgical provision for this occasion might look like. You may like to write your own short liturgy or use resources outside the Church in Wales provision.

64 PROJECT 3

Discuss the view that:

Liturgy leads people on a journey, it does not follow where they want to go.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's work to God in prayer. Plan your preparation for session 7.

65 66 SESSION 7 WORSHIP IN THE PASTORAL CONTEXT

For this session

1. Study the Introduction and undertake supporting reading including Burns Chapter 7 and the extract from Perham, New Handbook of Pastoral Liturgy provided in the Reading Block. Also read the Theological Introduction to Wholeness and Healing in Common Worship: Pastoral Services (p9-11) available to download from www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/ pastoral/healing/healingintro.aspx

2. In 250 words address the questions: What is the nature of the pastoral encounter in worship a) with the world b) with the Church c) with ourselves d) with God ?

67 SESSION 7 Worship in the Pastoral Context

INTRODUCTION

The Church’s Pastoral Practice The Church is called by God to share in God’s mission to the world. The character of God’s mission is most clearly revealed in and through the life and work of Jesus Christ and this means that the Church is called to care for the world as Christ does. As it engages in pastoral practice the Church will therefore find itself caught up into the prophecy of Isaiah that Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth,

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’. (Lk 4. 18-19)

It will be challenged to have confidence in Jesus’ words, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’. It is in this confidence that the church will put itself alongside the sick and the hurting, the fallen and the broken, the sinful and the redeemed. It will challenge and comfort, confront and sustain, and will both transform and be transformed as it seeks to care and nurture in Christ’s name. It will do this with an awareness of the eschatological tension within which it exists, the tension of the Kingdom of God which is both now and not yet, which is already present and whose fulfilment is still to come. In the terms of recent Anglican statements it is clear that this kind of pastoral practice will address and be shaped by the ‘Five Marks of Mission’.

A Servant Church The work of pastoral practice is increasingly recognised as a ministry of the whole church. It is ministry that calls and recalls the people of God to recognise their vocation to a Christ-like ministry of service in the world. Whilst this ministry may be focused and enabled by those ordained deacon, particularly where there is a permanent diaconate; and by priests, readers, and in this diocese especially by Lay Pastors, it is the whole church that is called to serve and is to embody and reveal the diaconal character of its life in Christ. This will require the church to be at one with St Paul in weeping with the world when it weeps and rejoicing when it rejoices. It will demand a willingness to enter into the vulnerability of incarnation. For only then will we be able to hear the story of the world as individuals, groups and societies. Only then will we be able to hear the obvious stories that they can tell and those that they cannot, stories unrecognised or hidden through fear. This kind of pastoral practice will inevitably involve encounters with the world, with the Church, with ourselves, and with God.

Worship and Pastoral Practice Within the life of the servant church there will be an intimate association between worship and pastoral practice. This worship will take place in many different contexts and situations – in church, in homes, at a hospital bedside, in a crematorium chapel. Wherever it takes place, the worship will serve to focus the pastoral practice, for example in the ministry of prayer and laying-on of hands for healing within the context of the ongoing care of the sick person. Worship will also enable pastoral practice as it challenges and equips the church to work with God in God’s mission. Moreover, worship always has the potential to be profoundly pastoral because there is no more pastoral act than to bring people into the presence of God. Those who focus and enable the church’s pastoral practice will need a sound knowledge of the liturgical resources made available by the church and will need to exercise imagination, understanding and practical

68 skill in using them appropriately and to good effect.

Encountering the world The worship that is an expression of pastoral practice will involve us in encounters with the stories of the past, the reality of the present, and with fears and hopes for the future. It will engage us in theological reflection on these stories and this reflection will, in turn, shape our practice.

It is against this backdrop that the Church makes provision for service of wholeness and healing. The 1984 BCP Volume 2 made limited provision for services of Anointing, Laying On of Hands and Communion with the Sick, and also Services of Reconciliation. Two booklets from the experimental Alternative Orders Series from the 1990’s, Services of Healing and Services with the Sick and Housebound, extended this provision and offered additional resources. However these forms have not yet been attended to in the current process of liturgical revision and the Alternative Order series are not in print. Again the minister may do well to consult the Church of England’s Pastoral Services while a Church in Wales version is awaited.

Encountering ourselves Throughout the Anglican liturgical tradition we find ourselves being challenged in both the state of our spiritual life and of our daily living. But alongside the challenges there are elements designed to lift us up, as individuals and as part of a community. It is in facing the reality of these challenges and comforts for ourselves that we find the resources, and strength, for ministry to others. Our spiritual state has come to be seen as including more than the state of our ‘soul’, it also includes our mind, our psychology and our intellect. The encounters in these areas are ones which we can both permit and deny. Yet the truth of the gospel is that the luxury of denial is not open to Christ’s disciples, not for us the option ‘to see, and yet not see, to hear, and not understand’, for to us are disclosed the secrets of God, a God who knows us better than we know ourselves. So it is that we enter into the ‘great mystery’ against which our current vision is as but looking into a clouded glass.

Encountering God The encounters with God may be direct and personal, or they may be mediated. The history of the Church shows that this may be through scripture, preaching, pastoral meeting, and worship itself. It may be through words, objects, actions, the use of space, all of which can acquire symbolic, even sacramental, value. In their own way each will bring us into an encounter with a new dimension of the fullness of God, the richness of the salvation story, and the power of his grace, leading to that time when we shall know even as we are known.

Conclusion As responsible disciples and ministers of Christ we will be working for the wholeness and perfection of creation that is the will of God. In our pastoral practice, and in the context of worship, we will endeavour to make possible encounters that are rich, powerful and redemptive. As we frame our intentions and determine appropriate outcomes for the worship that focuses our pastoral practice, we will be both assisted and challenged by an awareness of the scope and detail of the encounters that are possible. Through the creation, management and delivery of worship, whether in the context of the public congregation or in the quiet of someone’s home, we will be seeking to acknowledge what is happening to others, and to ourselves. We will endeavour to do this in a way that is creative, and that recognises and responds to both the frailty of the human condition and the generous mercy of God.

69 70 GROUP SESSION 7

71 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share any reflections you have had on last week's session.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1

As a group

Address the following question In what ways might worship support and enable the Church's pastoral ministry?

PROJECT 2

Using the Church of England’s Pastoral Services for Wholeness and Healing (p12-99) available to download at http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/pastoral/healing.aspx#wholeness

i) Examine how parts of this provision might be used with a) a person close to death in hospital b) a community in mourning c) a family with a long-term sick child d) a person who feels guilty e) a couple facing the break-up of their marriage.

ii) Decide in each case a) what liturgy should be used b) where the liturgy should take place c) who might lead it d) who should be present e) what the intention might be.

72 PROJECT 3

Discuss the view that:

The last thing a dying person needs is a Vicar with a book in their hands.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's work to God in prayer. Plan your preparation for session 8.

73 74 SESSION 7 WORSHIP AS PROCLAMATION

For this session

1. Study the Introduction and undertake supporting reading including Burns Chapter 3 and the extract from Drane, The MacDonaldization of the Church provided in the Reading Block.

2. In 250 words address the question: What stories has the Church's liturgy told down the centuries and how has it told them?

75 SESSION 8 Worship as Proclamation

INTRODUCTION

The worship of the Church has always been an act of proclamation. The poetry of praise and the passion of prayer can transcend the printed text. For then worship can take wing and become the living sacrifice of ourselves to the God whose majesty is beyond compare and whose truth is from everlasting.

Worship tells of the story of salvation, the way of redemption, the encounter of the Creator with the creation, and the journey from our present reality into the hope of God. Worship calls on us to be prophetic, pastoral and priestly people. It requires the Church community both to speak for God, and to stand in solidarity with his people. It makes us both participants in and recipients of the work of God. We are engaged in receiving, embodying and revealing that work in witness to one another, to the newcomer on the fringe, and to those outside the fellowship and experience of faith.

The Book of Common Prayer In the Book of Common Prayer Cranmer understands the liturgy as proclaiming the good news through the presence of Scripture. This is found in the restoration of the continuous reading of scripture at Morning and Evening Prayer. Cranmer’s understanding of the liturgy is also found in the way in which so much of it draws on biblical images and phraseology. But it is not just scripture, it is also the witness of sacrament, as we see in the ‘Prayer for the Church militant’ where it is desired that the people will both ‘hear and receive thy Holy Word’. The purpose is that, being stirred up to godliness, ‘we may continue in .... holy fellowship, and do all such good works as …. have been prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord’.

The Evangelical Revival In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we see times when the emphasis is put more on word than on sacrament, but chiefly the awareness is of the power of words. In particular, this was to be conceived as the power of the preacher, and this influenced the design of church buildings so that we find many examples of ‘auditory churches’, notably those designed by Sir Christopher Wren. In these the pulpit dominates the space, the Lord’s Table frequently being rather small and much less prominent.

That there could be more to preaching than Cranmer’s ‘edification’ was witnessed by John Wesley. On the 24th May 1738 he underwent a conversion experience when his ‘heart was strangely warmed’. This led to his conviction that worship, and the religious assembly, could be a converting ordinance. To draw and to bring into conversion became the driving force of his preaching and that of his contemporaries, and this has continued in many places to this day. Alongside this sense of being on the outside and needing to be called into the mercy of God, we find the growth of hymnody with an awesome awareness of pardon received.

The Anglo-Catholic Movement In the nineteenth century the place of the sacraments is rediscovered in the catholic revival. This sense of the powerful working of God through word, action and object is spelt out in the writings of the Oxford movement. At the same time the Ecclesiological Society based at Cambridge was exploring how the church building itself may speak of the glory and work of God, with its focusing on places of significance and depictions of the company of heaven. So we find large altars with an elaborate reredos and many candles, new and imposing fonts, and brass eagle lecterns. It is not just the sacrament that is proclamation, but the word also.

76 At the end of the nineteenth century we find, in addition to the lectern and pulpit, a litany desk at the front of the nave. This consciousness of the place of intercession finds itself worked out in both the public witness of street mission and the privacy of pastoral care as well as in the liturgy itself.

Twentieth Century Liturgical Renewal The Parish Communion movement drew on all these understandings as it sought to bring people into the powerful presence of God. It did so in order that they too might become engaged in the ongoing proclamation of the gospel, in their homes and at work, as well as in church. This has led, in turn, to the point where people have become aware that the witness of the Church consists not just of the words, or actions, or buildings (sermons in stone) but is also made by the very people who make up the body of the faithful. Their understanding of themselves as people and as church, their behaviour, and the relationships that they exhibit can speak as loud as words, if not louder.

Worship in a Post-modern Age Today the Church exists in a culture in which religion is increasingly marginalised from the public arena and is understood to be a ‘lifestyle choice’ for the individual. Consumerism is a major force in society and more and more products are being targeted at individuals and small groups of people. Large hierarchical organizations are in decline and the authority of the professional and the expert is questioned. The ‘Grand Narrative’ of Christianity no longer enjoys the common consent of the population at large and neither the Anglican Church (nor the Chapels) can any longer provide the overarching moral and spiritual framework for the nation.

In the recent past the Church has often concentrated on the faith, conversion, commitment and response of the individual. It has been concerned with being a ‘family’ in which personal witness and generosity of time and money have been seen as the touchstones of membership. In the current context the challenge facing the church is to proclaim the communal nature of the faith and the deeply relational nature of ministry in its liturgical provision. It is also challenged to provide liturgy that fully reflects the Church’s engagement in mission for the sake of God and the world.

What is to be proclaimed ? The post modern context challenges the church to look critically at what we are saying in our proclaiming, our thinking and our relating.

In approaching the task of mission and proclamation the questions that must be asked are:

God to the world what are we saying about the Church on behalf of the community ourselves

how are we saying it in word, action, through symbol, in relationships and how is it being received ?

Telling the Story One powerful way in which the mission of the Church can be proclaimed afresh in each generation is through the medium of the story. This is particularly true in post-modern British society because story is valued as a key means of communication and is recognised as an appropriate vehicle for the transmission of truth. Stories that are coloured by the experience of communities and groups within society are particularly highly valued. Therefore, while the Churches finds it increasingly difficult to provide an overarching framework for the spiritual life of the nation, the stories which local Christian communities tell each Sunday about salvation wrought in Christ still have the power to touch lives and transform society.

77 These stories are powerfully told in the liturgy of the Church. Although set within particular local contexts, they nevertheless proclaim the meta-narrative of God. Although drawing on particular aspects of the story of salvation at particular times and for particular purposes, they nevertheless seek to maintain a vision of the whole. In doing so the stories that the liturgy tells rely on the lively Word of God, empowered by the Spirit and made present in scripture and sacrament. These divinely inspired stories, proclaimed through the structure and content of the Church’s liturgy, have the power to give fresh meaning to experience and transform lives.

The Church in Wales has responded to the complexity of our current society by providing a diversity of provision in a number of different forms that can be tailored more effectively to local need. However, it has retained a common framework in which worship can reflect the catholic nature of the church and the universality of its message. Though speaking to particular contexts, the worship is designed to proclaim the saving works of God and to combine the traditions of the past with the experience of the present and our hopes for the future.

A Liturgical Shape for Proclamation In the Holy Eucharist 2004 we find a four-fold shape reflected: The Gathering, The Liturgy of the Word (including the Intercessions) , The Liturgy of the Sacrament (including the Peace) and The Sending Out. These four elements perform different functions within the liturgy. As each contributes to the telling of the story so important truths about the God we worship, about ourselves, about the Church and about the world in which we live are proclaimed. These elements are examined in greater detail below. The four-fold shape of the Eucharist is paralleled in the services that have been produced subsequently. For example, in ‘Morning Prayer’ and ‘Evening Prayer’ the four elements are Introduction, The Ministry of the Word, Prayer and The Conclusion.

The Gathering As we come from the world we find ourselves constituted as a community of faith; called by God, and meeting in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In this process we find ourselves renewing the identity claimed in our Baptism, as we acknowledge our unworthiness and failures, and are met by the God of mercy and forgiveness. As we respond in thankfulness we can move on into the telling of the story of salvation.

The Liturgy of the Word This telling of the story involves us in hearing the word of God from the scriptures. The centrality of this is marked in some places by the solemn bringing of a bible, or the Gospel Book, into the centre of the community, or to the Lord’s Table, at the start of the liturgy. The process of telling the story will include the use of psalms and canticles, the reading of scripture, and preaching, both as proclamation and as a breaking of the word. Preaching is also a point at which the word of God and the way of the world are brought together. Prayer is another way in which this is done and so we find the Intercession forms part of this Liturgy of the Word. In all this we encounter the Word that is embodied in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We are challenged by the Word that is (Hebrews 4:12) ‘sharper than any two edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow’. The elements that follow mark the fact that hearing these stories brings us to a point of action.

The Liturgy of the Sacrament The liturgy of the sacrament proclaims God’s saving acts. Just as we may be transformed in our thinking and responding by the lively word so we find ourselves renewed in the sacrament. As God’s story is proclaimed we open ourselves, as individuals and as a community, to his generosity. We do this in the giving and receiving of both the offertory and communion. From the BCP onwards there has been recognition that the action of the liturgy cannot end here, there is an essential overflowing into our daily living.

The Sending Out As those who are forgiven, enlightened, transformed and renewed, we find ourselves blessed

78 and sent out. We are sent ‘in peace to love and serve the Lord’, sent to be one with the ongoing work of salvation that is the work of God, the end of which will see our fullness in the stature of Christ and the completed redemption of God’s creation.

The Minister’s Task Ministers in a church that is priestly, prophetic and pastoral will find themselves in the middle ground, hearing and telling the discrete stories of the Church and the world. There will be stories that affirm and those that confront, stories that uplift and those that bring low, stories that are eternal and stories of the moment. There will be stories that are easily told and ones that few may dare to tell. They will be set within the context of narratives of the Gospel and the experiences of the Church, and within the histories and cultures of our time. In them, and through them, the Church will proclaim the great narrative of God, a narrative that relies on, proclaims, and expresses the lively Word of God made present in scripture and in sacrament, in worship and in life.

This proclamation will take place in words of power and words of frailty, reflecting our confidence, our questioning and doubting, and the ever-present challenge of living by the Gospel we proclaim.

The medium and the message We have already dealt with word, symbol, action, and use of buildings in the course of this module. However we still need to note that the quality and force with which a word is delivered, or an action made, can significantly alter the message that will be received through it. There are moments that require softness and others that will benefit from strength, for there will be times when the perceived dynamic will be of receiving and others of giving. This musicality of language will also be used with regard to pace, pause, and silence.

Music Music is both capable of making great contribution to our worship, and of being highly problematic. Within current culture we see the way in which particular styles of music can both unite communities and set them apart, one from the other. That this is not just in youth culture but also within the church is a matter for concern. In popular culture the different styles appear to have different effects upon their adherents, certainly they elicit different forms of behaviour and response. This will be demonstrated in the emotions that are engendered, as well as through dress and patterns of socialisation.

In the attempts of the Church to relate to a secular world the full effect and implications of music have often not been recognised. This has led to occasions when music has been used in a way that has included certain groups and has equally served to exclude many people of the parish within which the church is set. History also provides ample evidence of the Church turning to already out-dated musical styles and forms in the name of being modern. Rarely do we see the use of familiar and contemporary tunes, incorporated into liturgy, in the way that we find in sixteenth century English masses, in Lutheran Chorales, and in the music of other parts of the Anglican Communion (notably in India and Africa). We also need to recognise that the nature of music is such that for it to be appreciated, sometimes even simply understood, it often requires significant and repeated exposure. While it may have an immediate impact it also frequently depends upon an input of informed response by others in order to be appreciated.

The contributions that music can make to the liturgy are many. It can be used to establish mood and atmosphere, for example before a service or during communion. It can be used to establish continuity and refrain during prayer. It can uplift and excite, it can restrain and bring reflection. It can bring differing parts of the congregation into harmony and dialogue. That it can also bring a congregation into conflict has to be acknowledged. The enthusiasm of a single musician, possibly, but not necessarily, an organist, of a music group or singers can lead to performance rather than the enabling and enriching of worship by the whole people of God.

79 Conclusion Within a church committed to engagement in mission for the sake of God and the world, we seek to be open to God, being neither limited by our own nature and experience, nor limiting others as a result of ourselves. Out of the rich store of what is new and what is old we will attempt, by our care and the work of God, to touch the hearts and minds of women and men; using words and deeds that will become powerful in their own right and symbols of great truths. And in our worship the story we tell, and the proclamation we make, will prepare us, as we prepare others, for that great day when, with all on the earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, we join with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven to proclaim the great and glorious name of God, for ever praising him and saying: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

80 GROUP SESSION 8

81 ARRIVE AND WORSHIP In pairs Share any reflections you have had on last week's session.

As a group Worship together.

PROJECT 1

As a group

Using the work that you have prepared for this session

i) Identify and examine those elements that have been distinctively proclaimed in the worship of the church down the centuries. ii) Identify and examine what is proclaimed through the structure of Holy Eucharist 2004 iii) Explore the part that music plays in proclamation.

PROJECT 2

Undertake the following: In the worship of your local church: i) What is being proclaimed each Sunday ? ii) How is it being proclaimed ? iii) Who is proclaiming it ?

Identify ways in which the ‘Good News’ might be proclaimed more effectively in your local church.

82 PROJECT 3

Discuss the view that:

Worship should be constructed as much for those who do not come to church as for those who do.

REFLECTION Reflect together on the question:

What in this session may help me to better understand and express my faith?

PRAYER and PREPARATION Offer the session's and the term's work to God in prayer.

83 84 RESOURCE SECTION

85 86 R.1 THE SARUM AND PRAYER BOOK - Selected Rubrics

Sarum Drawn from the rubrics early in the Service During the singing of the Introit, the priest with his ministers shall approach the step of the altar . . . . . the deacon on his right and the sub-deacon on his left, and continuing later the candle-bearers shall set down the candlesticks on the altar step, and the priest shall approach the altar. . . . and kiss the altar in the middle, and cross himself on the face, saying: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

And from the complex drama of the Canon of the Mass, beginning with the Words of Institution (in Coverdale’s translation)

Here let the priest lift up his hands and join them together, and afterward wipe his fingers, and lift up the host, saying: Who, the next day afore he suffered, took bread into his holy and reverend hands, and, his eyes being lift up to heaven Here let him lift up his eyes. unto thee, God Almighty his Father, Here let him bow down, and afterward erect up himself a little. rendering thanks unto thee, he + blessed, he brake, Here let him touch the host. and gave unto his disciples, saying, Take ye and eat of this ye all, for this is my body. And these words must be pronounced with one breath and under one prolation, without making any pause between. Afterwards let him bow himself to the host, and afterward lift it up above his forehead, that it may be seen of the people; and let him reverently lay it again before the chalice, in manner of a cross made with the same. And then let him uncover the chalice, and hold it between his hands, not putting his thumb and forefinger asunder, save only when he blesseth, saying thus: Likewise after they had supped, he, taking this excellent cup into his holy and reverend hands, rendering thanks also unto thee, Here let him bow himself. blessed and gave unto his disciples, saying, Take and drink of this ye all, Here let him lift up the chalice a little. for this is the cup of my blood, of the new and everlasting testament, the mystery of faith, which for you and for many shall be shed to the remission of sins. Here let him lift the chalice to his breast or further than his head. As oft as ye do these things, ye shall do them in remembrance of me. Here let him set down the chalice again, and rub his fingers over the chalice. Then let him lift up his arms and cover the chalice. Then let him lift up his arms crosswise, his fingers being joined together until these words ‘of thy own rewards’.

And again after the Lord’s Prayer, the Priest says:

Deliver us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evil, past, present, and for to come; and by the intercession of the blessed, glorious, and ever-virgin Mary, the mother of God, and thy blessed apostles Peter and Paul and Andrew, with all saints, Here let the deacon commit the paten to the priest, kissing his hand, and let the priest kiss the paten. Afterward let him put it to his left eye and then to the right. After that let him make a cross with the paten above upon his head, and so lay it down again into its place,

87 saying: give peace graciously in our days, that we, being helped through the succour of thy mercy, may both be always free from sin and safe from all trouble; Here let him uncover the chalice and take the Body, doing reverence, shifting it over in the hollow room of the chalice, holding it between his thumbs and forefingers; and let him break it into three parts, while there is said: through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son,

The second breaking. who with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth God, Here let him hold two pieces in his left hand and the third piece in the right hand upon the brink of the chalice, saying thus with open voice: world without end. Let the choir answer: Amen. Here let him make three crosses within the chalice with the third part of the host, saying: The peace of the Lord + be always + with + you. Let the choir answer: And with thy spirit. To say Agnus Dei, let the deacon and subdeacon approach near unto the priest . . . and let them say privately:

1549 The Priest, and those ministering with him, in the vesture of their appointed ministry and being ready

The Priest standing humbly afore the midst of the Altar, shall say the Lord’s Prayer, with this Collect. Almighty God, unto whom all hearts ...... then after the Introit Psalm and the Kyries

Then the Priest standing at God’s board shall begin, Glory be to God on high. The Clerks. And in the earth peace, ...... at the Offertory, after bringing up their gifts

Then so many as shall be partakers of the holy Communion, shall tary still in the Choir (Chancel), or in some convenient place nigh the choir, the men on the one side, and the women on the other side. All other (that mind not to receive the said holy Communion) shall depart out of the choir, except the ministers and Clerks.

Then shall the minister take so much Bread and Wine, as shall suffice for the persons appointed to receive the holy Communion, laying the bread upon the corporal, or else in the paten, or in some other comely thing, prepared for that purpose. And putting the wine into the Chalice, or else in some fair or convenient cup, prepared for that use (if the Chalice will not serve), putting thereto a little pure clean water: And setting both the bread and the wine upon the Altar: then the Priest shall say. The Lord be with you. Answer. And with thy spirit. Priest. Lift up your hearts. after the Sanctus and Benedictus have been sung

88 When the clerks have done singing, then shall the Priest, or Deacon, turn him to the people, and say, Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s church.

Then the Priest, turning him to the Altar, shall say or sing, plainly and distinctly, this prayer following: (then follows the Prayer for the Church running, without break, into the Canon) the words ‘bless and sanctify’ have the marks for making the sign of the cross, then at the Words of Institution the rubrics say

Here the priest must take the bread into his hands.

Here the priest shall take the cup into his hands.

and after these words is added

These words before rehearsed are to be said, turning still to the Altar, without any elevation, or showing the Sacrament to the people.

After the Consecration is finished, and the Lord’s Prayer has been said, and the peace given, there follows

Then shall this general Confession be made, in the name of all those that are minded to receive the holy Communion, either by one of them, or else by one of the ministers, or by the priest himself, all kneeling humbly upon their knees.

1552

The final rubric before the Order of Service is printed says

The Table having at the Communion time a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the chancel,where Morning prayer and Evening prayer be appointed to be said. And the Priest standing at the north side of the Table, shall say the Lord’s prayer, with this Collect following, Almighty God, unto whom . . . .

The Offertory has become

Then shall the Church wardens, or some other by them appointed, gather the devotions of the people, and put the same into the poormens box: then follows the Prayer for the Church.

The Confession has the same rubric as in 1549, then the Prayer of Humble Access is said by the Priest, kneeling down at God’s board, in the name of them that shall receive the Communion. After this the Priest stands up to say the short Prayer remembering the Words of Institution, during which there are no rubrics for manual acts. At the end is the rubric

Then shall the minister first receive the Communion in both kinds himself, and next deliver it to other ministers, if any be there present (that they may help the chief minister,) and after to the people in their hands kneeling.

89 1662

The opening rubric is as in 1552, with the addition of the people kneeling.

At the Offertory are the rubrics

Whilst these Sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Churchwardens, or other fit person appointed for that purpose, shall receive the Alms for the Poor, and other devotions of the people, in a decent bason to be provided by the Parish for that purpose; and reverently bring it to the Priest, who shall humbly present and place it upon the holy Table.

And when there is a Communion, the Priest shall then place upon the Table so much Bread and Wine, as he shall think sufficient. After which done, the Priest shall say, Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here in earth.

The confession is made, in the name of all those minded to receive the holy Communion, by one of the Ministers. Likewise the Priest says the Prayer of Humble Access in the name of all them, then follows the rubric

When the Priest, standing before the Table, hath so ordered the Bread and Wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the Bread before the people, and take the Cup into his hands, he shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth, and during the Prayer appear the rubrics

a Here the Priest is to take the Paten into his hands:

b And here to break the Bread:

c And here to lay his hand upon all the Bread.

d Here he is to take the Cup into his hand:

e And here to lay his hand upon every vessel (be it Chalice or Flagon) in which there is any Wine to be consecrated.

After the prayer is the rubric

Then shall the Minister first receive the Communion in both kinds himself, and then proceed to deliver the same to the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner, (if any be present,) and after that to the people also in order, into their hands, all meekly kneeling.

After Communion the rubric says

When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the Lord’s Table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth. and in the rubrics at the end of the Service is the rubric

And if any of the Bread and Wine remaineth unconsecrated, the Curate shall have it to his own use:but if any remain of that which was consecrated, it shall not be carried out of the Church, but the Priest and such other of the Communicants as he shall then call unto him, shall, immediately after the Blessing, reverently eat and drink the same.

90 SACRED PLACE IN THE SARUM RITE

Clerks C Sd People throughout the Service P D C

IN THE 1549 PRAYER BOOK

Women C from Offertory Sd People during the Service

P and non-communicants D from the Offertory Men C from Offertory

IN THE 1552 PRAYER BOOK

Women and children

Men

91 IN THE 1662 PRAYER BOOK

Pulpit and Stall Free Box Pews Benches

P Squire’s Box Pews Free Box Benches Pew

R.2 THE PREFACE TO THE PRAYER BOOK OF 1549

THERE was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted: As, among other things, it may plainly appear by the Common Prayers in the Church, commonly called Divine Service. The first original and ground whereof if a man would search out by the ancient Fathers, he shall find, that the same was not ordained but of a good purpose, and for a great advancement of godliness. For they so ordered the matter, that all the whole Bible (or the greatest part thereof) should be read over once every year; intending thereby, that the Clergy, and especially such as were Ministers in the congregation, should (by often reading, and meditation in God's word) be stirred up to godliness themselves, and be more able to exhort others by wholesome doctrine, and to confute them that were adversaries to the truth; and further, that the people (by daily hearing of holy Scripture read in the Church) might continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God, and be the more inflamed with the love of his true Religion.

But these many years passed, this godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers hath been so altered, broken, and neglected, by planting in uncertain Stories, and Legends, with multitude of Responds, Verses, vain Repetitions, Commemorations, and Synodals; that commonly when any Book of the Bible was begun, after three or four Chapters were read out, all the rest were unread. And in this sort the Book of Isaiah was begun in Advent, and the Book of Genesis in Septuagesima; but they were only begun, and never read through: After like sort were other Books of holy Scripture used. And moreover, whereas St. Paul would have such language spoken to the people in the Church, as they might understand, and have profit by hearing the same; The Service in this Church of England these many years hath been read in Latin to the people, which they understand not; so that they have heard with their ears only, and their heart, spirit, and mind, have not been edified thereby. And furthermore, notwithstanding that the ancient Fathers have divided the Psalms into seven Portions, whereof every one was called a Nocturn: Now of late time a few of them have been daily said, and the rest utterly omitted. Moreover, the number and hardness of the Rules called the Pie, and the manifold changings of the Service, was the cause, that to turn the Book only was so hard and intricate a matter, that many times there was more business to find out what should be read, than to read it when it was found out.

92 These inconveniences therefore considered, here is set forth such an Order, whereby the same shall be redressed. And for a readiness in this matter, here is drawn out a Calendar for that purpose, which is plain and easy to be understood; wherein (so much as may be) the reading of holy Scripture is so set forth, that all things shall be done in order, without breaking one piece from another. For this cause be cut off Anthems, Responds, Invitatories, ans such like things as did break the continual course of the reading of Scripture. Yet, because there is no remedy, but that of necessity there must be some Rules; therefore certain Rules are here set forth; which, as they are few in number, so they are plain and easy to be understood. So that here you have an Order for Prayer, and for the reading of the holy Scripture, much agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers, and a great deal more profitable and commodious, than that which of late was used. It is more profitable, because here are left out many things, whereof some are untrue, some uncertain, some vain and superstitious; and nothing is ordained to be read, but the very pure Word of God, the holy Scriptures, or that which is agreeable to the same; and that in such a Language and Order as is most easy and plain for the understanding both of the Readers and Hearers. It is also more commodious, both for the shortness thereof, and the plainness of the Order, and for that the Rules be few and easy.

And whereas heretofore there hath been great diversity in saying and singing in Churches within this Realm; some following Salisbury Use, some Hereford Use, and some the Use of Bangor, some of York, some of Lincoln; now from henceforth all the whole Realm shall have but one Use.

And foreasmuch as nothing can be so plainly set forth, but doubts may arise in the use and practice of the same; to appease all such diversity (if any arise) and for the resolution of all doubts, concerning the manner how to understand, do, and execute, the things contained in this Book; the parties that so doubt, or diversely take any thing, shall alway resort to the Bishop of the Diocese, who by his discretion shall take order for the quieting and appeasing of the same; so that the same order be not contrary to any thing contained in this Book. And if the Bishop of the Diocese be in doubt, then he may send for the resolution thereof to the Archbishop.

THOUGH it be appointed, That all things shall be read and sung in the Church in the English Tongue, to the end that the Congregation may be thereby edified; yet it is not meant, but that when men say Morning and Evening Prayer privately, they may say the same in any language that they themselves do understand.

And all Priests and Deacons are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or some other urgent cause. And the Curate that ministereth in every Parish-Church or Chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the same in the Parish-Church or Chapel where he ministereth, and shall cause a Bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin, that the people may come to hear God's Word, and to pray with him.

93 R.3 FROM ‘PATTERNS FOR WORSHIP’

Authorised form of ‘A Service of the Word’ in the Church of England

The preparation

1 The minister welcomes the people with a liturgical greeting.

2 Authorized Prayers of Penitence are used here or in The prayers.

3 Venite, Kyries, Gloria, a hymn, song, or a set of responses may be used.

4 The Collect is said either here or at section 9.

The ministry of the Word This includes

5 Readings (or a Reading) from Holy Scripture

6 A psalm, or, if occasion demands, a scriptural song

7 A sermon

8 An authorized creed, or, if occasion demands, an authorized affirmation of faith

The prayers These include

9 Intercessions and thanksgivings

10 The Lord's Prayer The conclusion

11 The service concludes with a liturgical ending.

94 EXAMPLE 1 A block structure

Items you must include Additional items (though individual items you may want to add and order will vary)

Preparation Greeting ß1à Scripture sentence 2à Hymn 3à Opening prayer 4à Invitation 5à * Confession 6à * Forgiveness

Word 7 à Introduction Old Testament ß 8 Psalm or paraphrase ß 9 New Testament ß10 11 à Song or hymn Talk ß 12 13 à Hymn

Prayer * Collect ß 14 Form of intercession ß 15

Praise Versicles and responses ß 16 17à Hymn

Action All stand while the candle ß18 is carried out Blessing or ending ß19

95 EXAMPLE 2 The conversation structure

Word - Prayer - Praise - Action may come many times within the same service. Imagine a conversation between God and the congregation. The Word items present what God is saying, and the other three items may be used as the response or reply to God. The service may be built from a series of Presentation and Response units, like building blocks. This example is from Morning Prayer:

PRESENTATION RESPONSE

Word Scripture sentence ß 1 Praise 2à Hymn of adoration Word Invitation ß 3 Prayer 4à Confession Prayer Declaration of forgiveness ß 5 Praise 6à Open our lips... Glory be... 7à Song Word Psalm ß 8 Old Testament ß 9 Praise 10à Song Word New Testament ß11 Praise 12à Song 13à * Creed 14à * Lord's Prayer 15à Collect Word Sermon ß16 17à Hymn

96 ASSIGNMENTS

An Introduction to Anglican Worship

97 98 An Introduction to Anglican Worship

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT PROJECT

ASSIGNMENTS

1 In 750 words, address the question

How are the categories of Sacred People, Place, Time and Action expressed in the Order for the Holy Eucharist 2004?

2 In 750 words address the question

How might Morning and/or Evening Prayer be used as a resource to enable the story of salvation to be told through the changing seasons of the Church’s year?

3. In 1,500 words each address the question

What must the minister consider when planning, preparing and delivering an act of worship?

Candidates should show knowledge and understanding of i) the nature of Christian worship ii) ways in which worship can be effectively used in a variety of contexts

4 Create an act of worship for one of following contexts and write a 500 word commentary explaining the decisions on structure and content you have made.

Priests – A Eucharistic Celebration for Advent for your Church.

Deacons and Readers – A Service of the Word for Advent for your Church.

Pastors – An Advent service of wholeness and healing to be used with a small group meeting midweek in your Church.

Evangelists – A service for Advent to be held in a local pub as an act of outreach.

Childrens/Youth Workers – An Advent act of all-age worship for your Church.

Disciples – A service for the end of a day retreat for Advent.

99 100