still not (Christ the) King (Sunday)
Nov. 23rd, 2008 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hermionesviolinCWM and CAUMC had a joint service at 11am, so I looked into evening church services. I went to a 4pm "Contemporary Liturgical" service at Park Street Church and a 6pm Mass at The Paulist Center.
I typically attend 3 worship services each week, so I don't have an inflexible mental framework for how a worship service is "supposed" to be, but every time I'm somewhere other than one of my "usual" churches I find myself reminded that I have... if not expectations then certainly preferences.
I want a printed order of worship that's very clear and readable (and anything where the congregation participates verbally should be clearly spelled out, either printed in the bulletin or a clear indicator of where to find it one of the books at the pew -- oh, and this should definitely include how the Lord's Prayer goes ... a note saying "trespasses" or "debts" if nothing else).
And knowing that not everyone spends their pre-service time reading the program, I want the people leading worship to help newbies with verbal cues (including things like, "Please rise for the call to worship" -- though I also want all "please stand" portions to be asterisked or otherwise marked... and I've grown fond of the "please stand/rise as you are able" convention; this morning's bulletin said "you are invited to stand with your heart or your posture").
I expect the Prayers of the People to be opening it up for the gathered congregants to lift up joys and concerns in the moment.
I want the speakers (be they lay readers, preachers, Communion celebrants, whatever) to sound like they're actually thinking about the words that they're saying and like the words mean something and to not sound like they're rushing through them.
I want clarity as to whether I am invited to the Communion table (and also clarity about how Communion is going to be done -- intinction or whatever ... and I think there should be clarity as to whether the Cup is alcoholic or not, but since I have no personal issues with alcohol I don't always notice this lack, though I am always pleased when I see statements of inclusion, like a note about the bread being gluten-free).
I kind of want people to notice that I'm new and talk to me. I want there to be some sort of Fellowship time after church. I expect the Passing of the Peace to involve greeting almost everyone (but I do expect it to be phrased as a variant on "peace be with you" -- the flat "greet your neighbor" at Somerville Community Baptist threw me, though I can't say they were dishonest because nowhere was it billed as a Passing of the Peace).
I've gotten used to the God language being gender inclusive and the language of hierarchy/power/war/violence in hymns and whatever being toned down. This is more a statement of what I've gotten used to than what I personally want, though I've found that I've come to dislike male God language when it seems unnecessary.
***
On Friday, Carolyn was asking me why I go to so many churches, and I don't have an answer (despite having been asked the question a number of times recently).
I am interested in seeing how different churches do things, but I don't so much approach it sociologically/ethnographically. It's more that I keep collecting church services and so I notice the ways that different churches do things.
I definitely have an academic approach rather than a devotional approach -- I go to learn things rather than to "worship." But I do think that it's important for there to be a community aspect, and I want the music to have energy. I'm not sure how much of that is my having opinions on what a good worship service is objectively and how much of it is my personally desiring specific things out of my church service experience.
Those of you who attend church [edit: or any worship service] ... why do you go?
I typically attend 3 worship services each week, so I don't have an inflexible mental framework for how a worship service is "supposed" to be, but every time I'm somewhere other than one of my "usual" churches I find myself reminded that I have... if not expectations then certainly preferences.
I want a printed order of worship that's very clear and readable (and anything where the congregation participates verbally should be clearly spelled out, either printed in the bulletin or a clear indicator of where to find it one of the books at the pew -- oh, and this should definitely include how the Lord's Prayer goes ... a note saying "trespasses" or "debts" if nothing else).
And knowing that not everyone spends their pre-service time reading the program, I want the people leading worship to help newbies with verbal cues (including things like, "Please rise for the call to worship" -- though I also want all "please stand" portions to be asterisked or otherwise marked... and I've grown fond of the "please stand/rise as you are able" convention; this morning's bulletin said "you are invited to stand with your heart or your posture").
I expect the Prayers of the People to be opening it up for the gathered congregants to lift up joys and concerns in the moment.
I want the speakers (be they lay readers, preachers, Communion celebrants, whatever) to sound like they're actually thinking about the words that they're saying and like the words mean something and to not sound like they're rushing through them.
I want clarity as to whether I am invited to the Communion table (and also clarity about how Communion is going to be done -- intinction or whatever ... and I think there should be clarity as to whether the Cup is alcoholic or not, but since I have no personal issues with alcohol I don't always notice this lack, though I am always pleased when I see statements of inclusion, like a note about the bread being gluten-free).
I kind of want people to notice that I'm new and talk to me. I want there to be some sort of Fellowship time after church. I expect the Passing of the Peace to involve greeting almost everyone (but I do expect it to be phrased as a variant on "peace be with you" -- the flat "greet your neighbor" at Somerville Community Baptist threw me, though I can't say they were dishonest because nowhere was it billed as a Passing of the Peace).
I've gotten used to the God language being gender inclusive and the language of hierarchy/power/war/violence in hymns and whatever being toned down. This is more a statement of what I've gotten used to than what I personally want, though I've found that I've come to dislike male God language when it seems unnecessary.
***
On Friday, Carolyn was asking me why I go to so many churches, and I don't have an answer (despite having been asked the question a number of times recently).
I am interested in seeing how different churches do things, but I don't so much approach it sociologically/ethnographically. It's more that I keep collecting church services and so I notice the ways that different churches do things.
I definitely have an academic approach rather than a devotional approach -- I go to learn things rather than to "worship." But I do think that it's important for there to be a community aspect, and I want the music to have energy. I'm not sure how much of that is my having opinions on what a good worship service is objectively and how much of it is my personally desiring specific things out of my church service experience.
Those of you who attend church [edit: or any worship service] ... why do you go?
no subject
Date: 2008-11-24 04:03 am (UTC)One is that I am religious, and it does mean a lot to me to be involved in a religious community and participating in worship. I felt so off in college when I wasn't attending services. I like having a time where I can put everything else aside and focus on being with God, and church (and Temple when I was at UE) gives me that time and that structure.
Another is that, at least at home, I've been a part of my church community for most of my life. These people are a part of my family. Going to church is a way for me to be with them, to participate in their lives and let them be a part of mine.
A third is the knowledge I gain. I've talked a bit about various Christian Formation classes we've had at church, both when they've made me squee and when I've been disappointed in it. I love learning more about my faith, whether the focus is historical, theological, or ethical. At school, that was one of the reasons I loved my religion classes. At home, I've got a rather intellectual church family which does do a lot of studying, and it's wonderful.
I love how my church life challenges me to be a better person, and how my church family has worked to be inclusive the entire time I've been going there. I'm in the choir, and I like our music, even when some of the anthems are really difficult to sing. I love the structured liturgy, how it gives me a chance to participate fully and know what is going on. I love how, when it's 90 degree weather with 100% humidity, we will still have coffee hour in the parish hall, because it's pretty much our 8th sacrament.
And there's something else that's difficult for me to put into words, but it's an air of welcome, vitality, and sanctity that I've encountered in the religious communities that I've been drawn to that I just don't find anywhere else. That air feeds a hunger in me I don't realize I have until I'm separated from it.
All that is rather messy, and I'm half afraid it's incoherent, but it is what it is. In the end, church helps me feel more like who I'm supposed to be.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-26 08:37 pm (UTC)I've inherited my religious language (the Christian half in particular) from a culture and a tradition, and it makes sense in immersing myself in that language to do so within the context of a community that comes out of that culture and tradition (but which has separated itself from those elements of that tradition which I detest).
Religious claims are embodied and made immanent in ritual, in the sights, sounds, and tastes of the liturgy, most particular the sacrament of God's Body and Blood. (I am a consubstantiationalist, remember; transubstantiation and similar doctrines are not empirical claims and just fall within the proper sphere of the religious.) They provide an opportunity to experience God's Love which is present, but all too easily missed, in solitude.
I've been thinking about this because this past Sunday because I visited in the evening the congregation that the Christian discussion group I attend (for a more intellectually-oriented spiritual fulfillment than church) and examined my response to the low-church-ness of it.