Planning the Church Year. Leonel L. Mitchell
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Название: Planning the Church Year
Автор: Leonel L. Mitchell
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Зарубежная эзотерическая и религиозная литература
isbn: 9780819224774
isbn:
1.
What Do We Mean by Liturgical Planning?
Many Episcopalians seem to feel that, since we have a Book of Common Prayer, liturgical planning is unnecessary. Once upon a time, it is true, someone had to choose whether we use Rite One or Rite Two for this service. But since that has already been decided once and for all, no further planning is necessary. All you need is to get a calendar to tell you what the proper lessons are, to choose three familiar hymns from the available list of about twenty-five, to ask the choir director the name of the anthem for the program, and we are ready to start.
I hope this picture is wildly exaggerated, but I have attended many services that leave me wondering whether it is. Some parishes ignore all possible options and always conduct the service in a single inflexible way, as if this had been handed down from heaven on golden tablets. Others approach the options provided in the Prayer Book with the enthusiasm of a teenager at a “build-your-own-sundae” counter. There is no thought of congruity and coherence but boundless enthusiasm for getting some of everything.
Considering the Options
What is necessary is to consider the various options available in the services of The Book of Common Prayer as a part of a total program in which the individual elements are seen primarily as parts of an integrated whole, including readings, prayers, hymns, service music, and sermon. This process is called liturgical planning. If we do not plan, we soon fall short of even the minimum requirements of the Prayer Book. We sink into “We always do Rite One,” or a mindless mix-and-match of incomprehensible alternatives. The individual elements may be excellent, but the service itself appears to have been assembled from the menu of a Chinese restaurant, taking two items from column A, one from column B, etc. The liturgical year is neglected, and the Christmas midnight eucharist becomes distinguishable from Ash Wednesday only by the hymns and the color of the vestments. There is no continuity or integrity in the services from Sunday to Sunday, and we come to the end of a liturgical season with the feeling that there has been no overall theme or plan to what we have experienced, although some of the individual moments may have been excellent. I say these things, not from any lofty vantage point of omnicompetence from which to look down on others, but as a fellow offender and one who is twice guilty because he teaches others how to do what he so often fails to do.
Liturgy and Church Life
Liturgy is the expression of the life of the Church. It expresses our unity in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is our bond of unity with other Christians and in particular with those with whom we are bound in communion. This is not simply a technical term. It means those with whom we celebrate the eucharist and receive communion, for our common liturgy binds us together. The liturgy of The Book of Common Prayer identifies us as a congregation of the Episcopal Church. It visibly identifies this congregation with other congregations, and where this continuity from congregation to congregation is not apparent, we fail to manifest our unity in Christ.
The liturgy is also an expression of our congregational unity, and it is ultimately the concern of the whole people of God. The priest presides over the assembly but does not rule over the congregation. The canons of the Episcopal Church give the rector ultimate control of worship, but this can only be exercised within a congregation. A symphony conductor cannot function without a body of musicians, and a priest cannot function liturgically without a worshiping congregation.
The full, active, intelligent participation of all the people of God in the liturgy is the right and duty of every baptized man, woman, and child, by reason of their baptism, because worship is a part of the priestly activity of Jesus Christ in which the priestly people of God participate as members of the Body of which he is the Head. The eucharist, for example, is described as the sacrifice of Christ—celebrated in Head and members. Worship is not a performance by skilled professionals for a passive audience. It is the common work of a group of brothers and sisters. The Pauline churches in the New Testament clearly expected the members of the congregation to share their talents, whatever they were, in the worship of the Church.
Every congregation has its own life and tradition, including musical and liturgical traditions. Not every option in the Prayer Book and Hymnal is really available to every congregation. Not only are some things beyond their resources, some things “just aren’t us.” This is neither good nor bad but simply the way things are. Congregations, like individuals, have preferences and tastes. Golden copes and clouds of incense may or may not be a part of your tradition. One congregation prefers the guitar and “renewal” music, another sings only plainsong, while a third carefully avoids both.
Liturgical planners need to look at the life of the parish in its totality and set up general parameters for worship. They need to begin with a realistic inventory of their resources, including both people and things.
Resources for Liturgical Planning
The first resource most congregations have is a church building. It may be a blessing, a headache, an unmitigated disaster, or all three, but it exists, and discovering how best to use it is one of the planner’s first tasks. Is it too small? Is crowding a problem? Or is it too large and needs to be made functionally smaller? It contains a number of fixed and movable church furnishings, such as an altar, a font, a lectern, or pulpit or both, pews or chairs, and choir stalls. These may be badly located, making it difficult for people to participate actively in the liturgy. If they are easily movable, consideration should be given to moving them, and if they are not, then planners need to consider seriously how to make the best possible use of their good features and to minimize their faults. Often people within the congregation or available for consultation in the community or through the diocese can help a congregation answer these questions.
Obviously, for worship we need a protected space where we can gather around a table, a reading stand, and, on some occasions, a font. Some church buildings come close to failing to meet these minimum requirements. Their setups prevent gathering, or their environments are so unfriendly as to preclude doing anything together. Often real work is needed to make a building built in a different time suitable for our worship, but the work is worth doing.
Changing the Worship Environment
Be careful of doing things that cannot be undone, especially if they radically alter the building. Some buildings are indeed hideous, but most were simply built to the specifications of an earlier age and are merely unsuited for contemporary worship without what Pierce Middleton calls “retrofitting” (see A. Pierce Middleton, New Wine in Old Skins).
The most common problem is the long chancel with an altar at the far end that produces a tunnel effect, especially if the choir stalls are empty. One of the most simple and straightforward solutions, if the chancel is nice looking, is to build a new altar at the crossing, thereby moving the action down to the level of the people. The choir can continue to occupy the choir pews, and seats for clergy and acolytes can be moved out toward the center. The chancel itself can then be used as a chapel for small services, with people sitting in the choir stalls.
Often, changing communities leave congregations with churches much too large. Using banners and screens to create new and smaller space often works, as does roping off back pews—or removing them. An open space might be created around the font, for example, where the baptismal parties could stand with the congregation at baptisms. Whatever the problem, imagination is the first step to a solution.
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