a blog by howard jameson @ gatheringgrace.org

Voting with our feet

We ended up in a right pickle at the Altar Rail this morning. Several have not been around for a few weeks and so had missed the announcements about Swine Flu (and the hand out I spent all that time putting together!) and our revised instructions - purely optional chalice to one side, not at the rail.

Well we were all over the place because almost everybody took wine - one or two dippers amongst us, but the vast majority took their lives in their hands and risked a bit of dodgy saliva.

Obviously the chalice to one side is meant as a precaution to one of the worst things that can happen in an Anglican Church - somebody being embarrassed.

So we revised our plan on the hoof and decided that next time we will have the chalice at the rail, but nobody need feel any pressure to have it and nobody need feel that they need to justify why they did or didn't have any.

Loved the comment at the door. "Don't know what the fuss is about - we'll all go down together".

Where would we be without music?

I love music. I can't imagine life without music. I can recall the epiphany of discovering The Beatles (thank Andy) in the early 70s as I moved out of the shadow of my Dad's musical preferences (one such album here - you have to listen to Delilah - the boys think it is hysterical). On top of this was being bought a guitar for my 14th or 15th birthday, and then playing every day for years. I have made an executive decision and set up my Les Paul, several pedals and my Fender Amp in the study - I apologise to the Administrator and Wedding Couples as they trip over cables and struggle to find space to put a chair down, but you have to have some priorities!

I was chuffed that Neil Tennant has spoken out about Simon Cowell and X Factor - churned out woh-woh-wooaaah-woh-woh power ballads - "what have we done to deserve this?", as Neil might sing. Perhaps one common theme across my diverse musical collection as I spin the wheel of fortune on my iPod is a sense of albums made with a strong thread of desire to make a sound, either from song-writers able to express emotions and describe life to those who make music that changes my soul as I listen to it. There are some artists who mine a similar vein of music across decades of music making (Jeff Beck, for example) but who are far from limited, and those who from one album to another, or even across a single CD, can change styles and yet still achieve an identity (somebody like Elvis Costello, for example). Some of the albums I come back to most often seem to have an atmosphere about them that makes the break between songs a thin membrane - Amnesiac by Radiohead springs to mind - I don't claim to understand them, but they are something to behold to listen to.

I wish I could do that - but I can't - no matter how much money I dream of frittering on guitar pedals or software for my iMac.

The power balled has also intruded into the worship arena too. I was reading how variations on the song "Shout to the Lord" were used by American Idol which presumably indicates that, just like Cohen's Hallelujah, it fitted into the mould of commercially acceptable bland-but-allowing-the-performer-to-express-their-deepest-emotions style. I'm not sure I agree with everything the man said yesterday in his analysis of the large worship venue being counter-cultural. I actually would say the opposite. He said that the big top at Soul Survivor type event was not something which relates directly to a non-Christian's experience because of the amount of singing, but when I go to a gig I would actually feel LESS self-conscious about singing along, moving with the beat and having hands in the air than I would at New Wine or similar. Probably this is because in a worship environment I am also trying to be aware of things outside the music, whereas at the Red Hot Chilis there isn't the same dynamic - the music in that moment is it all.

In a worship environment sometimes the weakest moments are when the band take on a style which doesn't sit comfortably, and often resort to simply copying a well known performer (trying to recall the album its on where there's a dead rip off of The Edge's echo style) "just to show we can rock with the best of them". I wish I was a better guitarist and could do this myself, though...

Worship Resources

I normally struggle with pre-prepared orders of services from books and magazines. But this Sunday I felt really uninspired so turned (I have to say initially almost at random) to...

"Uncommon Worship - 25 Innovative Services" (Nick Fawcett)

(don't know why there's no picture on Amazon so here's a link somewhere else who has it)

We did something about music in worship and I found not just the material pretty helpful, but also using somebody else's ideas as a template to remind myself of a different way of doing a particular type of service.

Candle-lit Carol Service

I've had a request, strange but true, to post the outline of our Carol Service this year.

I find the traditional Nine Lessons and Carols structure on the one hand a bit of a bind (wordy and too static for a congregation to truly participate in) but on the other it is a structure none the less (although don't count the number of lessons at one of my other Churches this Christmas, tee hee).

We are fortunate to have one Church where we can subtly dim the lighting and bring it in again, which makes the lighting transitions hinted at here quite manageable.

My Nine Lessons and Carols for Advent and Christmas

Subdued lighting as congregation arrive but ample for reading etc - no candles lit

Notices (including warning about the Church in darkness) by a Churchwarden from lectern

Carol: Once in Royal David's City (v1 choir only)

Choir move into Church during carol and then move to seats at end

Bidding Prayer up to and including Lord's Prayer HJ from lectern

1st Lesson Genesis 1 vv 1-5 And God said: Let there be light

at the end of this reading the Paschal candle it lit

Carol: Of the Father’s love begotten

(Lights are dimmed gradually during the reading of next lesson if possible)

2nd Lesson Genesis 3 vv 8-15 The Fall of Man

Choir Adam lay y-bounden, music by Boris Ord

3rd Lesson Genesis 22 vv 15-18 The Promise to Abraham

Choir leads congregation in singing the Taize chant “The Lord is my light”

The Lord is my light

my strength and salvation

in him I trust

in him I trust

during which tapers are lit from the Paschal candle. First the altar candles are lit, and then candles around the Church until sufficient light to sing (background electric lighting faded in if required)

Carol: In the bleak midwinter

4th Lesson Isaiah 9 vv 2, 6 & 7 The Prophecy of the Messiah's birth

Carol: O little town of Bethlehem

5th Lesson Isaiah 60 vv 1-5 Arise, shine for your light has come

Carol: Silent night

6th Lesson Luke 2 vv 1-7 The Birth of Jesus

The Calypso Carol, sung by Winsley School

7th Reading The Innkeeper’s Lament

Carol: Angels from the realms of glory

8th Lesson Luke 2 vv 8-16 The Shepherds go the manger

Choir The Shepherds' Farewell, music by Berlioz

All stand

(Any electric lights out one spot on reader as tight as possible)

The Holy Gospel according to St. John, chapter 1, beginning at verse 1

Glory to you, O Lord

9th Lesson John 1 vv 1-14 The Word of God is made flesh

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, O Christ

Spot dimmed and lighting readjusted as necessary

Thought for the day - Revd Martyn Skinner

Carol: It came upon the midnight clear

(a collection will be taken during this carol)

Collect

Blessing

Carol: O come all ye faithful (vv 1-3)

The Innkeeper's Lament

I know that there wasn't an Inn and so there can't have been an Innkeeper, and even if there had been he might not have been married and he may not have given a stuff about a baby in a stable, but I have been trying to write something for use over Christmas. Not sure whether it will work, or even if its suitable. But in the spirit of Christmas and blogging I offer this for you to use in worship if you can.

Him: I wish I’d done it differently,

I really do

I thought I’d done the best I could in the circumstances

we were packed out, you see

booked up months before.

So I thought offering the stable was all I could really do

it’s not much to look at, but it was something.

If I’d known I would be spoken about every year

a reminder of how the baby wasn’t much welcome,

even as he arrived in the world,

I would have asked some of my important guests to downgrade

or to share a room with their travelling companions.

But I didn’t, and that’s for me to live with.

I wish I’d done it differently,

I really do

Her: Don’t listen to him. What does he care?

Offering them the stable as if he deserves a medal

and when we heard about the baby having grown up

and everybody talking about him,

this selfish clot wanted everybody to know how generous he’d been,

how warm and cosy the place was.

If I’d answered the door it would have been a different story

I can tell you.

You should have seen the state of her!

Her waters must have broken miles away.

Giving birth to her first child,

and she little more than a child herself.

You heartless brute! (she slaps him on the shoulder and he cowers)

I wish you’d done it differently,

I really do

Him: That’s not fair! I’m a father too

I know what its like to hold your son when he’s only seconds old

and to want the best for him from that very instant.

The father must have been heartbroken

not to be able to take better care of his first born son.

Years later we heard how he had been laid to rest

in a tomb offered by a friend of a friend.

In birth and death it seems he had to rely on the generosity of others.

If this wasn’t so sad I’d find the symmetry rather ironic.

I wish I’d done it differently,

I really do

The Bride of Christ

Its far too infrequent for me to be involved in anything of an Alternative Worship flavour (by which I mean something with lots of space and opportunity to be reflective, creative and responsive), and it is even less frequent for me to be in this environment when somebody else has done the heavy lifting, as it were.

Was knocked out by this evening prepared by F. Really lovely, well done.

We started with some singing and a reading from Revelation 19, and I spoke a little on the imagery from Isaiah, Hosea and Revelation, but as short as I could make it just to set the scene...

Download the_bride_of_christ.pdf

...then we were left to our own devices to work round some stations (pdfs above).

We finished with a Prayer Guard of Honour, walking between rows of people praying for us, then joining on the end so everybody prayed and was prayed for.

Wednesday in Holy Week

A good day today with three classes of children coming through Church this morning for a Holy Week "experience". They took to it really well and it was a beautiful thing to see.

And then this evening we used the same basic stations, but with (and here I was about to type adult themes) thoughts and prayers suitable for an older worshipper, a pdf is here if you can find a use for it.Download wednesday_in_holy_week_2008.pdf

Looking round

I have enjoyed the opportunity for two Sundays to worship somewhere else and take a peek at what others are up to. Bizarrely this seems to be something which Clergy only consider doing in August, which is probably the worst possible month to do it as everybody is away.

Spent a day at New Wine. I know this might not seem very trendy in the blogosphere, but I got a lot out of the day. Firstly I found them very hospitable and not at all pushy, especially as being a Church leader I was allowed access to the Leader's Lounge (a bit like the British Airways First Class Lounge, but without the champagne...and a few other things). The two seminars I went to were stimulating (even if they were lectures rather than seminars). Okay, it wasn't perfect for my taste. The evening talk on the day we were there was being done by Baroness Cox who was fantastic. Her stories of my brothers and sisters in Christ who were suffering around the world broke my heart...so I didn't need a huge amount of encouraging from the front to express that. However when I experience deep emotions I prefer silence and stillness and I don't think this option was encouraged from the front; but for me verbalising my aching soul was not going to make my soul ache any more. Sorry.

Last Sunday was a visit to an old favourite place of ours, and we love being made to feel so welcome there. A "run of the mill" Family Service with Communion for the Summer holidays. A tricky call as so many might be away.

Today was a trip closer to home to be part of an informal act of worship (although everybody was on holiday and I was expecting to have to lock up afterwards - seriously I would have taken my guitar if I'd known).

Next week is Greenbelt. Sadly I am not expecting to go there and witness a style of worship that I can easily transplant to here, but I am going for me and to catch up with any old friends. Funnily enough we spent a day with a way old friend this last week with whom I would attend Greenbelt in the early 80s. Now if I could persuade him to come along it might be just like old times (except for the loos, that is).

I think I need to let this stuff gestate in me head for a while before I draw any firm conclusions or ideas.

The mystery of the Bishop, the fire alarm and the chinese meal

We had a bit of a trip out this week to hear a concert by Reuben Morgan.

First of all (in this complicated story) I need to declare an interest, as it were. I am a natural cynic, and after training in theology and leading worship in a variety of styles it becomes harder to switch off the cynicism. Having said that, with one or two very minor (and excusable) moments this cynicism did not prevent me from really enjoying the evening (was it worship? was it a concert? who cares! my hands were in the air and I sang along). I think I have a slight advantage over some of my post-Modern friends in that I have never really been part of a charismatic Church; rather its been a case of 70s renewal (Sounds of Living Waters - remember that book?), then inadvertently into more conservative evangelical (although I was not really aware of it at the time), then rural, then curacy, then here; so I don't have memory of excesses or the things which switch people off that style of worship very quickly.

Okay, since I mentioned one or two moments let me get those out of the way too. I struggle with the phrase "I don't normally..." as a preface to some word or picture. To me it is superfluous - does the Holy Spirit need to be upgraded for this special word? The other thing which (bless him) got me was the old chap dancing in the aisle. Good on you mate (and I wish more would) but Grandads only dance in one style and its not that pretty. Right, I think that's said and done and I can move on.

Worship as art not propaganda

h.t. to Jordon for this, but I found this video clip from Brian McLaren really powerful.