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Category: Liturgy

The Art of Not Being Bored to Death in Church

This morning, Liam Cartwright has written about church worship and how it impacts upon those who have come along. He was prompted by a survey in The Times that suggests that perception in the wider populace is that going to church was the most boring activity a person can do. Leaving aside that a survey of people who by and large don’t go to church is based upon prejudice rather than experience, it raises some key points for me as a liturgist and worship leader.

Health and Safety at Work

Liam passionately talks about embracing breadth of tradition to lead inspiring worship in a variety of different settings. He calls for vibrancy and diversity in our worship. He’s sparked healthy debate on twitter and is inspiring people to stop leading worship they wouldn’t want to attend themselves. Prompted by one twitter interaction, I turned to my blog to talk about easter fires and plea for people to make it a spectacle. One of the defining learning experiences I had at theological college was attending a placement church where I watched on in disbelief as a disposable BBQ was cermonially lit to usher in the joy of the resurrection. A picture of me immolating myself in the church park at Holy Nativity paints a thousand words and there is a deeper issue of how the church values the leading of worship.

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#OFMOnline2021 | Metanoia @ Benediction

In the last year, Ruth and I have been providing music for Holy Nativity’s online services but there has been little in the way of “live” music. For last night’s Benediction at On Fire, we were able to do something together as Metanoia for a couple of songs. The rest are me and Ruth playing together. Check it out and see what you think.

Sanctum | Alt:Worship and the Future. #Sanctum2020

I’m currently sitting on a train returning back to The Shire from a meeting of trustees for Transcendence, the governance that makes Sanctum happen.  We have been planning for the year ahead and then beyond into the future.  As I reflect on the recent development of Sanctum, it is strange to think that the main event we hold each year is about to have it’s fifth birthday.  And now, Sue is planning for her second year of worship consultancy.  It still feels strange to think about how I’ve strangely ended up being a trustee of Transcendence, “employing” Sue.  She is one of the earliest pioneers of Alt:Worship and literally “wrote the book”.

My first experience of Transcendence was meeting Sue Wallace at Greenbelt in 2010 in the Jesus Arms pub.  Transcendence was the Alt:Worship service she helped pioneer at York Minster.  When we met, I had been involved with running Alt:Worship services for about a decade in the church I attended before ordination.  It went on to become the main focus of my post graduate studies at theological college.  Back at the turn of the millennium in the North of England, Alt:Worship felt very much on the edges of the church with little sense of belonging to something wider.  Then something dramatically changed towards the end of that decade.  The internet exploded and we entered into a world of social media.

Our experience of leading worship at Greenbelt came about through Simon Rundell as part of his work then with Blessed.  We met Fr Simon through twitter and organised everything through modems until he arrived on our doorstep a week before Greenbelt to do a dry run.  Simon asked Ruth and I with our band Metanoia to provide the background for the mass in The Big Top.  And then Eddie Green dragged us off to meet Sue. 

This experience quickly cemented us into a much wider community of Alt:Worship practitioners from all over the country.  Together we have been crafting creative liturgies in our own communities as we explore contextual mission.

For the last decade, Metanoia and Rock Mass have continued to grow and develop at Holy Nativity in North Halifax.  New people have become part of the community or in some cases, part of the band.  Through this loose network of like minded people, Ruth and I have been helped to walk into the unknown.  A group of disciples sharing both joys and sorrows as we become the church of tomorrow.

Strangely, a few years later I now find myself a trustee. We approach the future with high hopes for how this network of practitioners and Sanctum will develop in the coming years.  I long to see a renewed vigour across the church for Alt:Worship and creative liturgy that draws people into the presence of God.  Sanctum is becoming a melting pot of creative ideas, especially the group on Facebook with nearly 500 members.  Sanctum 2020, the event is shaping up to be brilliant on August 4th-6th 2020.  And this year there is the development of Sanctum South at Sarum College on 3rd-4th of February.

If you are an Alt:Worship practitioner or just interested, why not follow @sanctum on Twitter, Facebook Page or join the group?

http://www.sanctumcollective.co.uk/

Common Prayers

Last week I discovered the work of Michael Leunig, cartoonist, poet and writer.  I quickly fell down the rabbit hole and became hooked.  FuelledByTea pointed me towards Leunig’s prayers.  The rabbit hole deepened.  At Harvest Festival at Holy Nativity on Sunday we used this one during the service:

Dear God,

We rejoice and give thanks for earthworms,
bees, ladybirds and broody hens;
for humans tending their gardens, talking to animals,
cleaning their homes and singing to themselves;
for rising of the sap, the fragrance of growth,
the invention of the wheelbarrow and the existence of the teapot,
we give thanks. We celebrate and give thanks.

Amen.

After I had discovered the prayers, Jon Birch fell into the rabbit hole with me on Facebook and the whole thing escalated.  Dave Walker joined in and mentioned Leunig’s books.  Well here we are.  The post is arriving and I have replaced the Book of Common Prayer with Leunig’s A Common Prayer.  Spiritually uplifting.  A tonic for the soul.