After decades of fumbling we find ourselves with Common Worship. Well, that is not quite the whole story. The way we worship has been pulled and pummelled into shape not only by liturgical commissioners but by songsters and worship leaders who determine much of the pattern of our worship.
Pattern? What are we saying? One of the underlying issues here is the virtue or otherwise of spontaneity. Is it right and proper to use prepared scripts in the worship of God or is it better to let words come out of the living moment? On the face of it those who say that worship should be as natural and unformed as the breath we live by may well claim to have the New Testament and common sense on their side. But spontaneity is not always – or perhaps not often – 24 carat gold. It is quite likely to be hesitant, platitudinous and threadbare, like the language coming from a politician under pressure.
Both considered scripts and supposedly spontaneous vocal prayer are always on the brink of being less than adequate. Sometimes we topple over the edge. Sometimes we fall into what David Frost, a liturgical scholar, long ago called ‘committee English’. Our great God hardly needs us to remind him of his capabilities, which is what we are doing when we use such bald words as: ‘You have ordered and constituted the ministries of angels …’
Another underlying issue is the question of whether we should use a special language in worship. Whether we are talking here about Latin or Church Slavonic or archaic English we are inevitably being reminded that we use different forms of our language for different purposes. Wit, sparkle and slang are in order when we are out to catch and retain the interest of an audience. More sober diction is in order when we apply for a job or appear for an interview.
Maybe we have to face the implication that committees can’t write memorable English. After all, the progenitors of the 1611 King James Bible relied on the work Tyndale had done. They would have been nowhere without him. We may find that Peterson’s translation of the psalms can take us more deeply into the heart of things than the CW version. More deeply, that is, in our private reading. The Ciceronian style (as it has been called) of the BCP may have a place in public worship but we do not live in a day of great prose. The test is whether we can write collects as good as those of Augustine and Cranmer. Perhaps we should be saying less.
PERSHORE FRIENDS
The Friends of Pershore Abbey contribute hugely to the well-being of the Abbey church and its three associated village churches. Friends have updated the Abbey sound system and signage, purchased 100 nesting chairs and are now setting their sights on a new pipe organ. Leading the ministry team is Claire Lording.
DROITWICH SEVEN
Droitwich has seven handsome churches in its care. Leading the Saltway team ministry is Nigel Byard. The church website has an impressive gallery of its activities, including a New Wine visit.
ISMERE SEVEN
Seven church buildings are in the care of the Ismere team ministry led by Nigel Taylor. St Mary’s church, Kidderminster had Richard Baxter, author of ‘The Saints’ Everlasting Rest’ and ‘The Reformed Pastor’, as its preacher. A monument commemorates him. St John’s Wolverley is a notable 18th century preaching-box with a tower.
THE SLOG
Bob Pearson, leading the East Widnes team at Farnworth, puts it neatly in the 44-page current issue of the parish magazine: ‘The real test of Christian character is most often in dogged pedalling and hard slog ordinariness.’
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