9 A.M. Liturgy • Behold, we are doing a new thing!
July 5 - September 6
The 9:00 a.m. liturgy will be taking on a different pattern during the summer months. We will be using Morning Prayer as the Liturgy of the Word. There a couple of reasons we are doing this.
One of the main challenges the 9:00 liturgy faces is the time limitations caused by the compressed Sunday schedule we currently have. The sequence of the 9:00 liturgy, 10:10 formation time and 11:00 liturgy causes both the 9:00 liturgy and our formation time to be very constrained. The more relaxed timing of summer during which relatively little is happening during the formation time gives us an opportunity to try a fuller 9:00 liturgy, particularly the Liturgy of the Word which is the part of the service most truncated in our current practice.
By using Morning Prayer we hope to allow the 9:00 community to experience a form of prayer that has been an essential part of Anglican worship over the last 450 years. We also hope by trying something very different across the summer months it will open up our thinking about how the 9:00 could be become a fuller, more robust liturgy when we re-enter the program year in September. Your comments about your experience of this way of worshipping will be very welcome.
Morning Prayer
Some of the differences you will notice include using all three of the readings and the psalm that are appointed in the Sunday Eucharistic lectionary and saying the Apostles Creed. We will also have a chance to sing some of the canticles appointed for Morning Prayer, allowing the community to encounter a wonderful part of our musical tradition that we don't usually have the opportunity to sing on Sundays.
As we expand the "Word" part of the service, we will be using a simpler "Table" portion of the service. We will use a shortened form of the Eucharistic Prayer and communion will be distributed from two standing stations. Birthday and anniversary blessings will be shifting to the time of the announcements.
We will be staying inside this summer. While this will feel like a loss to some it will also provide an opportunity to re-evaluate the value of going outside. Sometimes by not doing something, its importance can be brought into clearer focus! We will continue the practice of beginning at 8:50 with a time of gathering music in which members of the assembly can suggest songs to be sung.
A New Experience
This practice will feel different and we encourage you to enter fully into that difference and see what it has to teach our community. Those of you who typically go to the 8:00 and 11:00 liturgies are encouraged to come "visit" the 9:00 and share in this experience. Opportunities for offering your comments and reflection will be available later this summer.
A brief history of the development of Morning Prayer and the its use in Sunday worship is available here.