An act of Worship - Observed

Introduction

In this essay we are asked to prepare a report on an act of Worship that was observed in a Church in Wales Church. The service I have chosen is a Eucharist service, in Brecon. It was the second Sunday of Advent. The Church is in interregnum and has a regular non stipendiary Priest. I tried to observe this service whilst still partaking in it as a worshipper and to do it whilst imagining that I was here at my church for the very first time. I found this difficult, as to remain objective detracted from my usual worship and communion with God.

Context

To put the church into a local context, ecumenically, it is quite separate from other churches in the Brecon area although it is part of the ministry area. This may be, in part due, to location. It is on the outskirts of the main town, has minimal foot traffic and attracts only local residents. At the time and currently it is in interregnum. It has a regular Sunday congregation of about Fifteen to Twenty communicants. The congregation is predominately English speaking. At this service there were seventeen people present. I did not count who was a communicant and who was not.

In the book SCM Study guide to Liturgy, Burns referred to another book - Il Postino (Burns, 2006). One of the main characters had to leave an island. He wrote a letter to another character on the island asking him to record the sounds of that same island. Burns uses this analogy to point out that there is a difference between words on a page and the sounds of the island. He brings us back to the fact that liturgy is more than words on a page. The act of worship engages all the senses.

Burns draws another analogy; he speaks of a theatre where the audience were the congregation. The actors were the Priests and the prompt was God (Burns, 2006). However, he quotes Kierkagaard, who argues that it creates a different feeling if we consider the actors were the congregation, the prompt was the Priest and that the audience was God. It’s all about perception. Thus, second Vatican council states that worship should be actively partaken in not just observed. And this is regarded as an ecumenical treasure (Burns, 2006). Thus, the idea that the full participation in worship, of the congregation is part of the liturgy of most Christian Denominations.

Relationship to Liturgy

In this church, it is customary to greet everyone with the sign of peace (Bradshaw & Johnson, 2012)(Page 152), whilst in some churches the sign of peace is shared with just those around you. This does take a few extra minutes but is important to our congregation.

The readings, which I understand, are given to the Church Warden by the Cathedral were as follows; Old Testament – Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72 Vv 1-7; New Testament Romans 15:4-13; Gospel Matthew 3:1-12.

The reading from Isaiah related to the shoot coming from the Stump of the Jesse – This could be taken as a prophesy of the coming of the Messiah.

The Psalm speaks to us as a prayer for a ruler or leader again relating to the coming of Jesus.

The Romans reading again refers to Isaiah and the root of Jesse

All of these readings fit very nicely into the Advent season.

Matthew is stuffed with Messianic language and Matthew 3 does not disappoint. Whilst the other readings point to the coming of Christ as Saviour, Matthew 3 speaks of John the Baptist, who prepares the way for Jesus.

With Christmas coming at the end of the calendar year and Advent the start of the Christian year, it is often a time for reflection on the past and looking forward to new beginnings. The birth of Jesus gives us hope for those new beginnings and the readings underpin those feelings.

The service was a Eucharistic service and as Jeanes states in Chapter fourteen (Day & Taylor, 2013) (Page146) ‘Communion occupies a devotional centre stage’.

Sermon

Priests are called to become artful story-tellers (Pritchard, 2007) and the Priest’s sermon was in two parts. Firstly, there was an explanation of the Tree of Jesse and how this relates to us as Christians with an explanation for those who were not familiar with the scriptural references. Then the Priest spoke of an incident in the church the previous week. A group of candles were clustered together in front of the Alter. The Priest described how these caught fire. The candles had melted together to become one and all of it caught fire. Fortunately, one of the Church Wardens was nearby and put it out. A nice touch within the context of the sermon the smaller candles became one large one and the congregation was urged to do the same. Hence using light-hearted humour to make her point.

Most of the congregation were not there when the candles caught fire so the priest was able to show where it happened and with hand gestures was able to show us where and how it happened and the use of humour helped drive home the point. Christopher Irvine (Irvine, 2007)(Page 15), explains that symbols do not just come alive due to a symbolic act. They need to be received, understood and responded to. In this sermon the Priest understood this and used the melting of the candles as a symbol of the church and the congregation understood this. Candles are an important part of worship and are used to symbolise many things as well as to develop the mood or atmosphere. The fact that The Priest explained the readings and helped to put them into context meant that we understood what the readings meant, allowing us to relate to the scripture and helped us to participate in the liturgy rather than feeling that we were being spoken to.

Commentary and Recommendations.

I made some initial observations on first entering the church for this service that it felt that very little preparation had gone into this service. It is usual in our church for the laity to read the Old Testament, the Psalms and the New Testament with the Priest taking the Gospel Reading and Sermon. At this service, no readers had been appointed, which meant that the Church Warden, who normally organises this, had to ‘pounce’ on potential readers as they arrived. I was one of those people. I declined due to the fact that I am dyslexic and do need a little bit of time to prepare but it made for an air of confusion and frustration on entrance. My recommendation would be to organise and communication with the readers before the day of the service.

Like many people, I arrive a few minutes early for a service to spiritually prepare myself with prayer. Prior to this service it was quite noisy. It was so bad the Priest had to ask for quiet in order for those currently in prayer to remain undisturbed. My recommendation for this would be to announce and have it printed in the service information, that the moments before service are for quiet reflection. In the Holy Eucharist 2004 (Thomas, et al., 2004)(page 11) explains that when the liturgy requires silence, all need to be silent and this will need to be explained. It goes on to say silence can be enriching in corporate prayer.

During the intercessions, we generally respond to “Lord, in thy Mercy” with “hear our prayer”. For some unexplained reason, the church warden leading the intercessions opted for a different response. The response was lengthy which I forgot almost immediately. I found, rather than listening to the prayers, I was listening for the prompt and trying to remember the response by listening to others who had remembered it. I do not feel that I was ‘present’ during the intercessions. My recommendation is to either maintain the words “Lord, in thy mercy – hear our prayer” or if the response is different to have it printed so people can read it.

Due to the Advent candle being lit, the first hymn was skipped. No mention was made of this change and the board still had four hymns listed. There was a great deal of confusion as people tried to find the correct hymn. My recommendation is that communication is really important during a service. Whilst it is important to finish on time, a short mention about the change of hymns would have ensured this confusion did not arise.

The Mass settings are printed with the Diocesan prayer and the various sung responses which the congregation find helpful. However, in this service there was another break down of communication with no announcement of which mass or Gloria we would be singing - which led to further confusion. My recommendation for this is at the beginning of the service announce which mass setting is to be used.

The church was not only cold it was freezing, I was so cold I could not stay for fellowship and noticed others leaving also. My recommendation is to ensure that the church always warm and welcoming.

The Lord’s prayer was sung as is often the case in in our church. However, this is slightly awkward because whilst the words are written clearly in the book, the words have to be contracted and, in some cases, elongated in order to match the tune. This makes it difficult for the first-time attendee and can give them a sense of detachment even if they are familiar with the Church in Wales Liturgy. Burns states in his book that we need to engage the senses and singing is one of those way as it can add some depth to the human voice (Burns, 2006). The Church in Wales Holy Eucharist 2004 recommends two versions of the Lord’s Prayer - a traditional one and a contemporary alternative.

The final recommendation is that as a newcomer, the Holy Eucharist 2004 can be rather complex and due to the fact that some of it can be changed, it can be different from one church to another. As a result, the new-comer is left rather perplexed and the question has to be asked ‘Is Eucharist Sunday worship the best place to start?’ My final recommendation would be an adult style Sunday School where new members can learn about the liturgy and make informed choices about worship.

Conclusion

Worship requires full participation. Without that, worship it is nothing more than a ‘show’ and we know that the congregation is not an audience. Our participation is limited to standard, learned responses; there is no opportunity to respond from the heart. When those responses change, as I found in the intercessions, it can be difficult to keep up. I believe that there is no conclusive solution to the problem that is deep seated in liturgical tradition.

The context of St. David’s church has been explored. This affects how the congregation respond to the liturgy and how the liturgy informs the congregation. The Priest’s sermon paid special attention to the Word, by helping the congregation to understand the meaning behind the readings and bringing them together into context. The Priest also engaged the congregation with the sermon with the reference to the candles which brought to life.

I have made eight recommendations. I tried to make these observations objectively. I feel the recommendations would help the service to flow, and to eliminate the issues that newcomers to the church may have when they have limited experience of Anglican worship.

I have asked the question ‘is the Sunday Eucharist the best place to start for someone seeking Christ’. It has a liturgy that has developed over two thousand years and has a shared history with the Catholic church and the church of England. It can seem quite daunting for a new-comer as it can appear quite ritualistic when faced with this for the first time. We are seeing many people coming to church for the first time without having a background in liturgy or worship. The question must be asked, then, why Sunday Eucharistic worship is seen as the primary entry point into the Christian faith? It was suggested that an Adult form of Sunday school might be appropriate. Perhaps that is the role of the Alpha course.

Bibliography

Bradshaw, P. & Johnson, M., 2012. The Eucharistic Liturgies. London: SPCK.

Burns, S., 2006. SCM Study Guide to Liturgy. London: SCM Press.

Day, J. & Taylor, B. G., 2013. The Study of Liturgy and Worship. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press.

Irvine, C., 2007. The Use of Symbols in Worship. London: SPCK Publishing.

McGrath, A., 2017. Christian Theology an Introduction. Sixth ed. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.

Pritchard, J., 2007. The Life and Work of a Priest. London: SPCK.

Thomas, D. et al., 2004. Introducing the Holy Eucharist 2004, Cardiff: Church In Wales.

The Eurcharist

Introduction

From the time of the last supper to the present day, there are many different styles of Eucharistic ritual; Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and various Protestant rites to name a few. This essay tracks the journey of the Eucharist of Church in Wales whilst acknowledging that the current rite will shifts as time goes on. The Eucharist in the Church has experienced many changes over the centuries, such as Great Schism, the Reformation and the disestablishment of Church in Wales. The primary focus of this essay is to document the trajectory of the Eucharist of Church in Wales its shared history with other Christian denominations. The liturgy of the Eucharist of Church in Wales and how it compares with the history of our country is reviewed. It is acknowledged that there are many paths in this, however this essay is only able to cover the Eucharist of the Church in Wales.

Charting the history of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is known by many names; Eucharist, The Lord’s Supper, Mass, Holy Communion to name but a few. But where does it originate? The Eucharistic rite as we see, hear and feel it today does not appear in scripture the way we currently understand it. In the Bible we see four accounts of Eucharistic practice: Corinthians 11 v23-35, Luke 22 v19-20, Mark 14 v22-25 and Matthew 28 v26-29.

These four New Testament accounts form the basis Eucharistic tradition. The verses quoted in Corinthians and Luke come from the beginnings Eucharistic practices of Antioch whereas the verses from Mark and Matthew come from a Palestinian practices (LaVerdiere, 1996) (Page 30).

From New Testament, sources we know that Jesus was crucified around the Passover but there are discrepancies. The synoptic gospels state that Jesus held the Last Supper as a Passover meal (Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7) (NIV). This contrasts with John’s Gospel, which says Just before the Passover festival John 13:1 (NIV). (Bradshaw, 2001)(page 99). We must draw into context that the way Jewish people measured time, with no accurate time pieces available variances in accounts will occur. Either way, we understand the broad timing of his death to be around the same time as the Jewish Passover. A major celebration in the Jewish calendar.

In Judaism around this time, Passover was celebrated with food – and still is. Food was an important part of Jewish tradition (Day & Taylor, 2013) (Page 135) and thus formed an important part of Jesus’ ministry. Mark 2.16 (NIV) describes how important this is. As the Eucharistic celebration developed, there are three periods that had influence over the Eucharist as we know it today. (Day & Taylor, 2013) (page 136-137)

One – 4^th & 5^th Century which established the texts of the Eucharistic Prayer

Two – Middle ages which was shaped by religious controversy and attempting to become theologically precise.

Three – 20^th Century which was a time of radical reform towards pastoral rather that theological thinking.  Later in the 20^th Century the laity became more involved and took communion with greater frequency (Bradshaw & Johnson, 2012)(Page 301).

Bradshaw states in his book Companion to Common Worship Vol 1 (Bradshaw, 2001)(Page 98) that early Judaism was slightly different to most religions at the time, in that, every meal was a religious event. He continues and develops this thought in another book, Early Christian Worship, and draws this Judaic tradition towards the practices of the early Christian Church. Thus, Christianity has a shared history with Jewish practices (Bradshaw, 2010)(Page 56). He says that a developing thought over the centuries was that Bread and Wine was not so much a meal as spiritual food. As Eucharistic tradition grew, Christians began to develop theologies and then doctrines around Bread and Wine as a Eucharistic meal. God’s presence at the Eucharist becomes a matter for some debate among the various Christian denominations. Jeanes explains the differences (Day & Taylor, 2013) (Pages 137 to 139). He states that Roman Catholics believe in Transubstantiation or Real Presence which in the elements (Bread and Wine) become the real Blood and Flesh of Christ; Protestants believe in Consubstantiation or Memorialism in which Christ is present during the communion but more symbolically; lastly Anglicanism which takes the middle ground, all of these different viewpoints can be supported by scripture. For example, the Roman Catholic rite is based around John 6:53-56 (NIV)

A Roman Catholic belief in the Real Presence is that in that bread and wine become the real blood and body of Christ. During the reformation, Protestants rejected  the Real Presence doctrine and alternatives emerged. Protestant theologians such as the Swiss reformer Zwingli argues that Christ is not present in the Eucharist (McGrath, 2017) (page 48). This doctrinal theology is based on the idea that the Bread and Wine are symbolic of God’s grace and bases these arguments around Jesus’ quote “do this in remembrance of me” Luke 22.19. However today, the Greek word Anamnesis rather than memorialism is a better term, as in the Eucharist, we are not merely recalling the events of the Lord’s Supper but the Church’s proclamation of God’s acts. Christ asks us to recall this event to remind us of our reconciliation with God. (Gittoes, 2008)(page 14)

Rowan Williams is quoted by Jeanes ‘The Christian Eucharist provides a central interpretative model… our food and drink is given up into the hands of Jesus so that we become his guests and receive our life from him’ (Day & Taylor, 2013)(Page 138).

Whilst different traditions have differences in their beliefs about the presence of Christ, none deny his presence, and all have their liturgy based in scripture.

Paul Avis in a Church Drawing Near, argues that when a congregation is taking part in the eucharistic liturgy, it is dramatizing its faith in a corporate way. He goes on to say that the function of liturgy with its rituals lends shape to life in terms of meaning.  This enables us to embody our beliefs. (Avis, 2003) (Page 143)

As a result of the English Reformation, the vernacular became common place. However, the Roman Catholic Church remained Latin. The Council of Trent, in the 16^th Century, did not address this. It was finally addressed in the Second Vatican council in 1969 (Bradshaw & Johnson, 2012)(page 309). This was over three hundred years after The Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church had parted ways.

Bradshaw argues (Bradshaw & Johnson, 2012)(page 296) Eucharist liturgies for many denominations have seemingly reached a convergence. Liturgical reforms such as18^th Century Enlightenment along with the 19^th Century Romanticism & Restoration mentality and the Movements such as the Oxford Movement, High Church Cambridge Movement, beginnings of Benedictine Liturgical movement and Germany & North American Lutheran Confessional Revival have all sort to return to source material and have contributed to an interdenominational convergence.

Current Liturgy.

As the Church in Wales celebrates its centenary year, it acknowledges a shared history with the Church of England from 1534 to 1920. It must also acknowledge a further shared history Roman Catholic Church. This in itself is a 4^th century continuation of early Christian communities. The early Christians would have been Jewish and many of the early practices around the Eucharist stem from these Judaic traditions.

The formation of Church of England was one of many reformations that occurred in Europe in the 16^th Century. The Anglican church, as it is now known, was formed after Henry VIII split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. However,  it is believed that Henry VIII was a staunch Roman Catholic as he was opposed to any major changes to the liturgy (Bradshaw, 2001) (Page 8). Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (1533 to 1555), is credited with writing the Book of Common Prayer in 1549 (Bradshaw, 2001)(Page9). After Henry VIII’s death the religious and political landscapes were intertwined and alternated between Protestantism and Catholicism.

Since the disestablishment in 1920, the Church in Wales has been free to follow its own liturgical path. This is published on its website (Anon., 2019). However, until 1966, when a series of trial liturgies were introduced, The Church in Wales followed the Church of England Liturgy. The current Eucharist - ‘An order for Holy Eucharist 2004’ - supersedes ‘The order for Holy Eucharist 1984’ (HE84) which was an attempt to move away from the Alternative Service Book of 1980 produced by the Church of England. We can see that the HE84 was largely based on the 1662 Church of England Rite with a modernisation of language. (Thomas, et al., 2004)(page 4)

Dix was an important Anglican theologian during the 20^th Century in his book The Shape of Liturgy 1945, Bradshaw states that his work was influential in supplying a historical philosophy redeveloping the Church of England rite in 1965 (Bradshaw, 2001)(Page 106)

Historical Development

How the current liturgy relates to historical developments is important. This is because it demonstrates how parts of the Eucharist are dropped and changes are made. One example would the at Book of Common prayer published in 1549, which was published in English (Bradshaw, 2001) (page 8-9) rather than Latin this was a definite development for the Anglican church. Other developments have been that in 1538 it was required for incumbents to recite the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments to the people, in order that they may learn them, and until they had learned them they were unable to be admitted into Communion. The liturgy of the Church in Wales continues to develop. These changes are usually as a result of synods and councils.

Conclusion

There are different ways of celebrating the Eucharist. None can be called incorrect as scripture simply points the way and is not prescriptive. We depend on scholars and theologians, such as those listed in the text, to interpret scripture and from this the Eucharist of today has developed. As theologians strive for more meaning, many look for source materials as a result we see those divergences begin to converge throughout recent history.

The historical and political landscape plays an important part when considering divergences. For example, The Church of England may have been established if Pope Clement VII had granted Henry VIII an annulment of his marriage. History shows Henry VIII was a staunch Roman Catholic, which is why much of the Anglican liturgy would be easily recognisable to the average Catholic. Politically, for the Church in Wales, the failure to appoint a Welsh speaking Bishop at a time of Welsh national resurgence together with the growth of the nonconformist movement led to the establishment of the Church in Wales in 1920. Since 1920, the Church in Wales as a disestablished church, has remained in Communion with the Anglican Church.

At a sermon for a confirmation service, Archbishop John Davies (Brecon Cathedral 2017) said “If you lift the alter cloth, you will find an ordinary table; God takes ordinary things and uses them to do the extraordinary”. I believe this can also apply to the Eucharist. The wine and bread begin as ordinary things, but God uses the Clergy make them extraordinary. This is further highlighted in Irvine’s work, where he states that liturgical symbols are not just visual aids for setting the mood but point to an intrinsic power that is contained in their use. (Irvine, 2007)(Page 18). Clearly, both history and politics have directly impacted on how the Eucharist is currently celebrated in the Church in Wales.

Bibliography

Avis, P., 2003. A Church Drawing Near. London: Continuum Books.

Bradshaw, P., 2001. Companion to Common Worship Vol 1. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Bradshaw, P. F., 2010. Early Christian Worship. second ed. Collegeville: Litugical Press.

Bradshaw, P. & Johnson, M., 2012. The Eucharistic Liturgies. London: SPCK.

Day, J. & Taylor, B. G., 2013. The Study of Liturgy and Worship. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press.

Gittoes, J., 2008. Anamnesis and the Eucharist: Contemporary Anglican Approaches. Abingdon : Routledge.

Irvine, C., 2007. The Use of Symbols in Worship. London: SPCK Publishing.

LaVerdiere, E., 1996. The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church. College Minnesota: The Liturgical Press.

McGrath, A., 2017. Christian Theology an Introduction. Sixth ed. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.

Thomas, D. et al., 2004. Introducing the Holy Eucharist 2004, Cardiff: Church In Wales.

Anon., 2019. Church in Wales Liturgy. [Online]
Available at: https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/publications/liturgy/
[Accessed 18 December 2019].