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Living Faith in Suffolk Living Faith in Suffolk Course Book For Group Leaders Copyright © 2018 by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich All rights reserved. This publication is intended only to be reproduced, free of charge, by local churches. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means for financial or commercial gain, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Enhancing Worship is one of the Living Faith in Suffolk resources produced by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and available on www.cofesuffolk.org It is written by Philip Banks, Ruth Dennigan, Richard Hubbard, Martin Seeley and Mary Sokanovic, 2017. If you use this course, please let us know at [email protected]. Enhancing Worship – page 2 Introduction Enhancing Worship is a Living Faith in Suffolk course for people who are involved in any way in leading worship (for example, Readers, Lay Elders, clergy, church wardens, worship leaders) as well as those interested in a deeper understanding of worship. It replaces “Leading Worship” as the required basic training for Liturgical Elders (Lay Elders who lead services). The course consists of seven sessions: ➢ Session 1: What is worship? (page 4) ➢ Session 2: Beginnings (page 8) ➢ Session 3: Practical worship 1 (page 12) ➢ Session 4: Being Anglican (page 14) ➢ Session 5: Music and shape (page 17) ➢ Session 6: Practical worship 2 (page 21) ➢ Session 7: Shaping worship for mission (page 23) The material has a rhythm that encourages the basic habits of living faith, through attending to God, to each other and to the world beyond the group. This course book is intended for use by group leaders only; handouts are included amongst the resources in the Appendices and can be printed for participants, or may solely be used as teaching notes by the group leader. For facilitators • Each session should last around two hours overall including the settling down and welcome. The Receiving, Reflecting and Responding sections are the core of each session. • The room used for the sessions needs to be comfortable enough for people to be able to give attention to what they are doing together, and to have space for individual reflection. It is also important that people can hear one another. • Each session follows the same format, explained here: o Ritual to mark the beginning of the session, recognising God’s presence. It is helpful to use the same opening each time as a way of starting the session. o Relating to each other – welcoming the participants and introducing the theme of the session. o Receiving from God through the opening worship, which should model a different style of worship in each session in order to widen participants’ experience. Suggested styles (one of which is allocated to each session, but only as suggestions) are: Common Worship Daily/Evening Prayer; BCP Evening Prayer; Iona-style worship; Taizé-style worship; Northumbrian Community Daily/Evening Prayer; Dwelling in the Word; Contemporary (Soul-Survivor-style) worship… o Reflecting, individually, on this experience of worship – as an individual reflection this may happen only briefly in the session but it would be useful for participants to consider this further between sessions. o Responding to God by participating in the content-driven part of the session. o Returning to God in prayer at the close of the session. It can be helpful, as at the start, to use a consistent way of ending the session. Enhancing Worship – page 3 Session 1: What is worship? Ritual: Begin by marking the start of the session using the chosen ritual (see Introduction): e.g. the lighting of a candle, a moment’s quiet. Relating: Welcome participants; as this is the first session, if people don’t know each other then give an opportunity to hear Resources needed: each other’s names. Introduce the course: it is a course is • Resource for opening about worship which will give the foundations to understand and ritual (e.g. candle and lead worship as lay and ordained ministers in the Church of matches) England. • Resources for opening worship Receiving: As described in the Introduction, have an opening • Bibles act of worship which will be in a different style for each session • Handout 1.1 (pages (a suggested style for this session is CW Evening Prayer). 27-28) Reflecting: (See Introduction) Consider (individually) how you responded to this opening act of worship – what attracted you, what were the barriers for you, what was missing for you; how did others seem to respond; what understandings of God seemed to be present in the worship; what might be the impact of your reflection on your own thinking and practice as an individual and as part of the Body of Christ? This will need to be continued at home. Responding: Today’s session aims to help participants gain an understanding of what worship is today, and what it was for the early church. We learn in different ways. Some people like What is worship?: We begin by considering our own ideas about something to look at, worship and its place in people’s lives. In groups, discuss: something to hold or ➢ What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘worship’? touch. Some want to ➢ What is worship made up of? listen, to read aloud or ➢ What makes ‘good worship’? to discuss. Some like to Feed responses back to the wider group, noting what common be active whilst others themes arise, and any responses which do not fit into a theme. prefer to use their imagination. When Then discuss: planning for these ➢ What is worship for? sessions it is useful to ➢ What difference does worship make to our lives and how include a mixture of we live them? activities. ➢ In our society, what else constitutes worship? Again, feed responses back to the wider group, noting what common themes arise and any outliers. Then discuss: ➢ Can you come up with a definition of worship? ➢ Have you defined an activity, or a disposition? Enhancing Worship – page 4 Having considered our own ideas about worship now we can look at these questions from the perspective of the first Christians, to the extent the sources allow us. Hebrew and Greek Let’s start by looking at how the word “worship” has been used words translated as in the past. Look at these examples from the New Testament ‘worship’ include words and the Book of Common Prayer (you may wish to ask that have meanings like individuals to look these up and read them to the group): falling down, mourning, • ‘They saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell making, seeking, down and worshipped him’ (Matthew 2:11, AV; the NRSV fearing, dancing, translation is ‘paid him homage’) rejoicing, ministering. • ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’ (Matthew 4:9, NRSV) • ‘With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow’ (BCP Solemnisation of Holy Matrimony) Discuss: ➢ What is going on here? What is conveyed by the word ‘worship’? Now look up these passages (you might divide them between the group): • Genesis 22:5, 24:26 • Exodus 4:31; 20:5 or Deut 5:9 • 2 Kings 17:36 • Psalm 95:6 • Daniel 3:5 • Matt 18:26, 28:9 • Mark 15:9 • Acts 10:25 Worship in Scripture usually involves some • I Cor 14:25 sort of physical action. • Rev 3:9 Worship, then, is about Discuss: our relationship to God, ➢ What do you notice about the meaning of the word expressed physically by worship? bowing, prostration, offering, sacrifice. Hebrew and Greek words translated as ‘worship’ include words Worship is about that have meanings like falling down, mourning, making, movement, action and seeking, fearing, dancing, rejoicing, ministering. There are other relationship. references that do not convey an action, but throughout Scripture worship usually involves some sort of physical action. Worship then is about our relationship to God, expressed physically by bowing, prostration, offering, sacrifice. Worship is about movement, action and relationship. Let’s go back to the quote from the BCP Holy Matrimony service. Here worship is not about an overly romantic devotion, or Enhancing Worship – page 5 somehow suggesting that the groom’s new wife takes some of ‘This sharing of what belongs properly to God. Instead, the acts he is wealth was itself performing are to give his bride tokens of his property. In the ‘worship’ – a ritual, but 1549 BCP the line is: ‘With this ring I thee wed; this gold and also a literal form of silver I thee give; with my body I thee worship; and withal my reverent service, the worldly goods I thee endow.’ Here is an action constituting founding example of a worship. set of acts and dispositions inherent in So worship as we see it in Scripture and reflected in the BCP is marriage rather than about actions that generate attitudes and dispositions towards merely a sign pointing the one for whom the worship actions are performed. Action is to them.’ (Andrew B essential for worship. McGowan, 2014, • Worship is performed physically to create or develop a Ancient Christian disposition and relationship, e.g. bowing, prostration, Worship: Early Church presenting a gift Practices in Social, • The actions are themselves worship – the actions ‘effect Historical, and what they signify’ Theological • Kneeling for example does not just communicate the Perspective, Grand kneeler’s intention but produces reverence through the Rapids: Baker, p.3) act itself. Worship then refers not just to particular actions and performances, but also to the wider reality they create and ‘That wider reality, represent.
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