|
WORSHIP CHANGES COMING OCTOBER
15
From John Ross Thompson
Our 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship service is a fulcrum around which our life as a
congregation revolves. It is a launching pad for our lives as Christian
disciples all week long. It is a place to be grounded in the faith, learning
more about the God we know through Christ. It is also a social gathering of
people who are our church family, many of whom do not see each other at any
other time in the week. Worship is all of these things, and much more.
In order to make our worship services even more meaningful, we are making some
changes beginning October 15, as an experiment to see if they will help us as a
congregation to grow in faith and love. We will try them for at least a month,
and certainly welcome any and all feedback. Your new staff members have
cooperated in recommending these changes, as well as members of the congregation
who have made suggestions.
Here’s what will change October 15:
1. The order of worship will be composed of these sections – Gathering and
Praise of God, Hearing God’s Word, Response to God's Word, and Going Forth. The
primary change you will see is the sermon coming before the prayers and
offering, and we will then offer our prayers and gifts in response to what we
hear from God’s word. This order of worship is the standard United Methodist
order, as found in our hymnal on page 3.
2. After the opening hymn, we will be seated. We will not stand for the opening
prayer or first scripture reading. We will stand whenever there is a Gospel
reading, but not for readings of other scripture. Standing for the Gospel is an
ancient Christian worship practice.
3. The second hymn will be a prayer hymn, during which people will be offered
the opportunity to pray at the communion rail if they wish. Those who wish a
pastor or other person to pray with them may kneel on the pulpit (left) side.
Those who wish to pray alone may kneel on the lectern (right) side.
4. In the Lord’s Prayer, we will say “sins” instead of “trespasses”, a more
modern version of this ancient prayer.
5. When we sing the traditional doxology, the words in the bulletin will say
“Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost”, instead of “Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” This
recognizes that God is neither male nor female. Those who wish to use “Father,
Son and Holy Ghost” may continue to do so, and we will continue to use that
phrase in other parts of liturgy from time to time. The focus is on a broader
understanding of God, using more of the names given for the three forms of the
Trinity.
6. For the organ postlude, which is an integral part of the worship service,
people will be encouraged to be seated until it is finished. Those who need to
leave during this time will be encouraged to do so quietly.
7. We also are experimenting with some changes in the format of the bulletin to
make it clearer, more succinct, and more useable for everyone. Two persons have
suggeseted that spoken announcements are not appropriate during our worship
services, but we believe they are an important part of our life together as a
church family. However, we will try to limit both spoken and written
announcements so that there is not a lot of repetition.
The worship committee, your church leaders and your staff are always interested
in what is most helpful to you as you worship and share in the life of our
congregation. It is most helpful if you write us notes so that we can consider
your suggestions. We ask you to give these changes at least a month so that you
can see how they feel after a few weeks.
P. S. My wife, Ellen A. Brubaker, has learned that she will be serving as pastor
at Grace UMC, Lansing, through the end of this calendar year, at which time
another pastor has been appointed.
John Ross Thompson, Pastor
University United Methodist Church, East Lansing MI
|
