'Welcome to the symphony. Here's your part'
Don't put instructions in your worship bulletin - invite people into God's presence
You may have heard: Orthodox Christianity is growing in the US.
One reason for this is the rise of mysticism and enchantment. People want to experience the spiritual realm in worship. They want to feel the transcendence of God.
The Episcopal Church liturgy - and especially the sacraments - brings us into that transcendent space, into the real presence of God.
But the service itself can feel foreign and confusing, even for those who have been in our pews for awhile.
I was talking with a member who’s been at the church I serve for about three years, and came from another tradition. It’s still somewhat hard for him to know what’s going on during liturgy, and what it means.
He naturally has concerns about this, and wants to do what many congregations do to be more welcoming: put more instructions in the bulletin.
‘Folks feel inadequate and embarrassed that they don’t know when to rise or what book to use’, he said.
I think that’s true!
There’s a lot going on in worship, and we want to be welcoming to those new to the faith - or this particular church.
But I don’t think instructions in the bulletin are the answer.
When I was in seminary in New York City, we took a field trip once to a Russian Orthodox church, for their Easter vigil.
The place was mobbed - and full of incense. You could hardly see.Everyone was chanting, and standing - there were no pews! The service was hours and hours long. People came and went. There were three or four priests rotating in and out, resting on barcaloungers in the sacristy between their shifts.
They were praying in Russian. There were no bulletins. I had no idea what was going on - but it was glorious!
I was completely caught up in the spirit of God’s presence and power - which was abundantly clear.
I think we do a disservice to visitors, newcomers, and everyone in the pews to try and explain things during liturgy.
If we want people to feel welcome, let them experience the transcendence without trying to understand it.
Think of it this way:
When people walk into our liturgy, it is like a symphony. Maybe they’ve never been to the symphony, and are not even sure what a symphony is.
And little do they know, but they have a part in it!
No matter how much we try to make it clear - ‘hold your instrument this way’, ‘come in on the refrain’ - that’s an awful lot to expect from people in the 5 minutes before ‘showtime’.
I believe it’s far more welcoming - and far more inviting into the transcendent presence of God - to simply say, ‘Welcome in. Let us find you a seat. Be present with open ears, open eyes, and open heart.’
And sure, offer them a bulletin - which is basically a program - and a ‘cheat sheet’ for the rest of us, so we know the readings and hymns. What the ‘symphony is playing’.
And as visitors become members - in the Episcopal Church at least** - The Book of Common Prayer is the instruction manual for each person’s part in the symphony.
In between using the bulletin and the BCP should be some kind of formation around how you get from being ‘in the audience’ to picking up your instrument and playing.
None of this is a new concept.
What is hard is that the ‘formation’ we do as a blurb on our bulletin - or maybe a page on our website with an explanation of the parts of liturgy - is not generally adequate to do the careful work of spiritual formation through liturgy.
It’s not an invitation into a life that centers around Christian worship.
I think the growing edge for Episcopalians is to stop trying to give everyone all the information, and start trying to facilitate members’ experience of the transcendence of God, and formation in the liturgy - the ‘work of the people’. At separate places and times.
** Honestly, I think this holds for all worship services, even those not as formal or proscribed as the Episcopal Church. How are you calling people into God’s presence? How are you letting them be there, as undisturbed as possible? Then how are you helping them understand - outside of worship time.
I think our job in the service is to both worship God and welcome the stranger. And we can do both at the same time. Personally, I have had several very different experiences, all fulfilling to me as a worshipper at different points in my spiritual journey. As a young man, making my way back to the church, I would occasionally attend services at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. There I was definitely allowed to just “be”. The service itself was formal and complicated. The service bulletins have everything you need printed into them (the cathedral can afford this) so you don’t have to juggle two books and a bulletin, but I could also just sit in the back, be left alone, and simply take it all in. Then I started going to a completely different style service at St. Gregory of Nyssa, also in San Francisco, known for its highly participative liturgy. You are not just asked to play a part in the “symphony,” you are asked to dance! There is no sitting in the back at St. Gregory’s. People literally take you by the shoulder and make you move! That was an incredibly powerful way to worship for me at a different point in my life. And at St. Gregory’s there is no bulletin. Instead every single thing is succinctly announced to the congregation in the moment, including the dance steps. The “being” at St. Gregory’s is highly kinetic. I now attend a more traditional Episcopal church in South Carolina where everything is included in the printed bulletin. You don’t need the BCP, you don’t need the hymnal, every word, including all the readings, is in the bulletin. And liturgy leaders announce when to stand or sit. Like many Episcopal churches, the congregation is made up of folks from a wide variety of traditions. Visitors remark on the warm sense of welcome and how the congregation actually sings (!) during the hymns. So they do too. I strongly believe we can find a way to fully worship and fully welcome at the same time. It will look different in parishes, but if we keep checking in on both — and asking the stranger what it felt like — I think we can love both God and our neighbor in our liturgies.
Thank you. This is true. Coming alongside people can be so powerful. This last week, I shared a hymnal with a guest at a memorial service. Holding it together, singing together, making space for one another to find the melody or harmony - it all builds belonging. Part of God's presence in a gathering is experienced through community; the living instructions.