Skip to main content

Visiting Different Churches - Sung Eucharist

One of the Harvest displays
The view up the chancel
 


Hello everyone, in today's post I'm going to talk about the services I attended at The Priory in Lancaster.   The church is a beautiful building and I arrived on harvest festival day so it was decked out with various harvest-related items made by the groups associated with the church highlighting what they do to help provide for those in need, or how what they do can link in with food.  

The services were brilliant, in my tradition of Anglo-catholic with the bells and smells approach.  I found it interesting that the thurifer didn't carry the thurible in the procession, carrying a sceptre instead, the reason being the smoke could irritate asthmatics. The services were also accompanied throughout by a 25 strong choir, the first week I went it was the men and boys, the other week was men and girls.  It meant it was a truly sung Eucharist with almost every prayer being accompanied by their powerful vocals.  I wish I was a talented enough singer to do it, though it would probably lead to people holding their ears and wailing at me to stop!

The structure of the service was very similar to what I am used to, however the notices were done at the very beginning, just before the service proper started.  Also after the processional hymn all the children were invited up to the front, asked questions to do with what the day's gospel reading would be, and then sent off to sunday school with the child who offered the best answer or cutest answer given a small wooden cross so they could lead the way.
An example picture found from google images
After that it was the usual Gloria, readings, homily, creed, intercessions, Eucharist, dismissal.  I felt very comfortable with the layout and I did enjoy belting out the hymns and prayers knowing full well my tone deafness will be drowned out by everyone else!   During the gradual hymn the bible was carried into the centre of the aisle so everyone could see it and to bring the Word into the heart of the congregation which I found to be a great idea.
I also attended my first sung Mattin as well.  Sadly I couldn't find the correct page in the BCP so I just stood/sat/knelt and listened.  It was a very moving experience, having the prayers sung and chanted it felt like I was transported back in time and into the presence of God.
In summary I did enjoy attending The Priory and seeing a service with a full, professional choir.  If one is at your disposal it is definitely worth having them there!  I also liked how they took the traditional service and made it friendly and inclusive.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Board gaming ministry

What is one thing families across the country do on wet and miserable days whilst on holiday?  They break out board games… Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble….yawn…more like bored games!  The world of board gaming is going through something of a golden age at the moment.  There are hundreds of thousands of new, more exciting games out there with a wide variety of mechanics – from fun party games that can be played in 15 minutes, to epic legacy games which can provide hundreds of hours of entertainment to a group of friends.  It’s so popular that there are multiple websites and YouTube channels that are dedicated to them (check out Wil Wheaton's Tabletop , a YouTube series which has celebrities playing board games with Wil Wheaton from Star Trek that in 2014 broke records by crowdfunding $1,414,159 to continue making episodes!)  There are also board game cafes opening up around the country, where you pay for a table for 30 mins, an hour or 2 hours and they p...
2 comments
Read more

Why All Age Worship? Session 2

Session 2: Fischy Music tl;dr version:   Music should appeal to all ages, which means it can’t have too many complex words, but it should have integrity. Give people control over their worship songs – modify them to reflect the congregation – the more they own it the more engaged they are. Teach new songs always at the start of services Movement isn’t just for kids it’s another form of worship. This session was predominantly singing and dancing, whilst discussing the importance of song and movement.  Much of Fischy Music is childlike praise with a couple of silly songs to help people relax, which is unsuprising as one of their main markets are schools. Singing creates a sense of safety, belonging, fun and happiness to be there. The reason so many people dislike it is that at approximately age 10 they are told they can’t sing – usually by teachers or people they respect and it has a big knock on effect. It is similar for movement whilst singing as well...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday Sonnets - When I Became a Christian by Adrian Plass

Came across this poem in hearing the call:stories of young vocation.  It sums up for me what the calling can feel like.  It's definitely scary but ultimately worth it. 'When I became a Christian I said, Lord, now fill me in, Tell me what I'll suffer in this world of shame and sin. He said, your body may be killed, and left to rot and stink, Do you still want to follow me? I said Amen - I think. I think Amen, Amen I think, I think I say Amen, I'm not completely sure, can you just run through that again? You say my body may be killed and left to rot and stink, Well, yes, that sounds terrific, Lord, I say Amen - I think. But, Lord, there must be other ways to follow you, I said, I really would prefer to end up dying in my bed. Well, yes, he said, you could put up with the sneers and scorn and spit, Do you still want to follow me? I said Amen - a bit. A bit Amen, Amen a bit, a bit I say Amen, I'm not entirely sure, can we just run through that again? ...
Post a Comment
Read more