Hundreds Of People Missing After Dam Collapses In Laos

A dam that collapsed in southern Laos has flooded villages and forced thousands of people to flee, state media report. The full scale of the disaster isn't yet known — several people reportedly were killed and hundreds of people were missing after the failure of the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam, which is part of a larger hydroelectric dam network.

The state news agency KPL reports that the collapse released 5 billion cubic meters of waters, sweeping away several houses in the Sanamxay district of Attapeu province.

Photos from the area show desperate people crowded onto long boats to escape the high water, while others climbed onto rooftops with the belongings they could carry. Officials were asking neighboring provinces for assistance — and for anyone with a boat to help ferry people to safety. Read More

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Tragedy is unfolding in a number of places around the world and is making headlines in the news. Your prayers are asked for the victims of the collapsed dam in southern Laos, the missing, the survivors, and the rescue efforts; for the victims of the wild fires in Greece, the injured, those driven from their homes, and those fighting the fires; and for the victims of the shooting in Toronto, their families, the wounded and their families, and the community reeling from the carnage. Your prayers are also asked for those whose tragedies go unreported.

The 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office Revisited: A Reevaluation—Part 1

By Robin G. Jordan

The Entrance Rite

With the 2019 Proposed Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) almost completed and slated for authorization next year, I thought that I revisit and reevaluate the Communion Office of the 2003 Book of Common Prayer of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) and its Modern Language Version. I also plan to revisit and reevaluate the Daily Offices for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer and a selection of other rites and services in these two Reformed Episcopal service books. I think that now is a good time to take a fresh look at these two books since we have not only the older Anglican service books for comparison but also the 2019 Proposed ACNA Prayer Book.

I must admit that how I see the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book has changed to some extent from when I first evaluated it. However, my view of its Modern Language Version has not changed greatly and I’ll explain why in a separate article. Briefly the main problem with the 2003 Reformed Episcoapal Prayer Book’s Modern Language Version is that the new book is not so much a translation of the older book into modern-day English as it is a revision of the older book and the alterations and additions to the new book depart from the doctrine and liturgical usages of the older book. The compilers of the new book could not resist the temptation to make additions and alterations to the book when they were rendering it into modern-day English.

In this article series I am going look at how the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office stacks up to the 1662 Communion Office. I will examine its strengths as well as its weaknesses and suggests ways of making its use more effective on the North American mission field.

While it is not entirely inaccurate to say that the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office is based on the 1662 Communion Office, this claim requires qualification. The basic structure of the Reformed Episcopal  Communion Office is that of the 1662 Communion Office. The 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office also contains texts that are also found in the 1662 Communion Office. As we shall, however, these texts are often used differently and the way that they are used affects the doctrine of the office.

As in the 1926 Irish Prayer Book, the 1928 Prayer Book, the 1959 Japanese Prayer Book, and the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book, the Communion Office in the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book has been moved to a position before the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels. This repositioning of the Communion Office places it into closer proximity to the Daily Offices, the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgiving, and the Litany. It is a much more logical position for the Communion Office  than that of the 1662 Prayer Book, placing the Communion Office nearer to the front of the Prayer Book. It is consistent with the renewed emphasis upon the Holy Communion as the central service of Sunday.

In today’s article I am going to look at the entrance rite of the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office. The entrance rite is also called the gathering rite or the opening rite. In the 1928 Proposed English Prayer Book it is called the Introduction.

With the exception of the requirement that the Table have a fair linen cloth on it, none of the rubrics on page 85 of the Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book are found in the 1662 Prayer Book. There is no permission to omit the initial Lord’s Prayer, much less permission to sing a hymn, psalm, or anthem, say a sentence of Scripture, or introduce the Collect for Purity with the Salutation, “The Lord be with thee; and with thy spirit.”

I am not saying that omitting the initial Lord’s Prayer is a bad thing or that we should not sing a hymn or other song at the beginning of the service. Streamlining the liturgy is desirable in this day of declining attendance in our churches. Congregational singing at the beginning of the liturgy has a way of drawing together a loose aggregate of people into a worshiping assembly and focusing their attention on God.

A number of the features that I mentioned above do not appear to come from the Prayer Books that preceded or followed the 1662 Prayer Book. They appear to come from one of the Anglican Missals, whose rubrics direct that the Salutation should be said between the Introit, a selection of verses from the Book of Psalms, and the Collect for Purity. The entrance rites of the Anglican Missals are modeled upon the elaborate entrance that the pope formerly made into the churches of Rome. They embody a theology and an ecclesiology at odds with what Anglicans have historically believed.

The Holy Communion, First Order, in An Australian Prayer Book (1978) has an optional greeting and optional sentence of Scripture in its entrance rite but the optional greeting, "The Lord be with you; And also with you" does not carry the same theological freight as the Salutation. The optional sentence of Scripture also follows the optional greeting. What is also noteworthy about the entrance rite of that Communion Office is that  the Collect for Purity is introduced with a simple invitation to prayer, "Let us pray," and the Collect for Purity is said by the priest or the priest and people together. If the rubric of the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office permitting the reading of a sentence of Scripture and the introduction of the Collect for Purity with the Salutation was based upon the rubrics of the Australian entrance rite, the change in order and language of the two elements resulted in a change in theology, bringing it in line with that of the entrance rites of the Anglican Missals.   

The entrance rite has, like two other parts of the Communion Office—the offertory and the closing rite, a tendency to gather liturgical clutter—extraneous elements that are not essential to its function. Even the entrance rite of the 1662 Communion Office is cluttered when compared to the bare simplicity of the ancient entrance rite—a song and an opening prayer.

The initial Lord’s Prayer and the Collect for Purity were originally the private prayer of the officiating priest. The reading of the Decalogue was adopted during the reign of Edward VI, apparently from the Strasbourg Liturgy of Pullain, which was published in London during the closing years of his brief reign. Evan Daniel describes its recitation at the beginning of the Communion Office as peculiar to the Anglican Church. Each successive revision of The Book of Common Prayer since 1662 has added to the clutter.

The 1789 Prayer Book added the Summary of the Law and the Collect of the Commandments. The 1892 Prayer Book added the Kyries. The 2003 Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book adds a sentence of Scripture and the Salutation.

While it may be argued that most of these elements are optional, rare is the priest who is sparing in their use. The importance of the liturgical principle “less is more” and the desirability of a noble simplicity in our rites and services, two concepts that our Roman Catholic brethren borrowed from us and which characterize Anglican worship at its best is lost on many of our clergy. They make use of far more elements than is necessary or desirable as a constant practice. A few carefully selected elements done well will enrich our worship far more than the unthinking habitual use of every option that the Prayer Book offers. We should not wonder why first time guests do not return or why they tell other people how tedious our services are.

Each addition and alteration to a Prayer Book also changes the doctrine of the Prayer Book, even those elements that are optional. For example, the Salutation, “The Lord be with thee; and with thy spirit,” has a long association with a particular Catholic Revivalist view of the sacraments. In the case of the Holy Communion it is associated with the unreformed Catholic doctrines of transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the Mass, tactual succession and the tactual transmission of grace. When the doctrine of a Prayer Book is evaluated, all of its elements must be considered in the evaluation, the optional along with the mandatory.

The 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office does show a greater affinity to the 1662 Communion Office in its recognition of the Decalogue as the default option in the entrance rite of the Anglican Prayer Book than does the 2019 Proposed ACNA Prayer Book. This is a check in the plus column for the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office. The 2019 Proposed ACNA Communion Office in both its long form and its short form ignores the longstanding use of the Decalogue in that entrance rite and makes the Summary of the Law the default option and the Decalogue the optional alternative.

If the entrance rite of the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office is reduced to a hymn or metrical psalm, the Collect for Purity, the Decalogue or the Summary of the Law and the Kyries, and the Collect of the Day, it will be much less wearisome to regular attendees as well as first time guests. It will make the service much more attractive to individuals and families who have little or no experience of liturgical worship. While it does not approach the simplicity of the ancient entrance rite, it takes a step in the right direction. It will also make the service appear not quite so out of place in the various non-traditional settings that Anglicans worship in the twenty-first century.

It is noteworthy that the rubric requiring the priest to face the Table when he says the initial Lord’s Prayer and the Collect for Purity does not preclude the priest facing the congregation across a free-standing altar or communion table because he is still technically facing the Table. This rubric permits both the East-ward Position and the West-ward Position. It also does not rule out the priest standing at the north side of the Table, the position enjoined by the rubrics of the 1662 Communion Office, as long as he is facing the Table.

It is unfortunate that the rubrics of the Reformed Episcopal Communion Office do not give the congregation the option of joining the priest in saying the Collect for Purity. With the exception of the younger children, the members of most Anglican congregations are fairly literate so there is no need for a priest to say every prayer on their behalf. A number of recent Anglican service books permit the congregation to join with the priest in this prayer.

Even young children can learn a prayer like the Collect for Purity by heart. One young girl of my acquaintance memorized all the prayers of the liturgy, including the Eucharistic Prayer, and would recite them with the priest until one busybody who should have minded her own business stopped her. The priest himself had not objected to her recitation of these prayers from memory. She was actively participating in the liturgy far more than many of the adults in the congregation.

It is also unfortunate that the singing of a hymn, psalm, or anthem in the entrance rite of the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office is tied to the entrance of the priest. The rubric in question confuses the Processional--a hymn, anthem, or psalm sung during a procession, with the Introit--a hymn, anthem, or psalm sung before the commencement of a service. A number of congregations meet in non-traditional setting where a formal entrance procession is incongruous if not impractical. In this type setting it is much more reasonable for the priest to take his place unobtrusively and then announce the opening song. This rubric appears to have been adapted from a rubric in the entrance rite of The Holy Communion, First Order, of An Australian Prayer Book (1978): "A psalm, hymn, or anthem may be sung when the ministers enter, or after the sentence of Scripture." The original rubric appears to have been written with the Australian bush churches in mind, the small churches in the remoter areas of Australia, as well as the larger churches in urban areas. It makes allowances for congregations that meet in non-traditional settings.

I have been involved in pioneering new churches for more than 30 years and have worshipped in a number of these settings—a fellowship hall, a tennis club house, a storefront, a school gymnasium, a conference room, picnic shelters, a fire station, a café, a banquet hall, a student center ballroom, an indoor stadium, and private houses, so I speak from experience.

Worshiping in non-traditional settings is not a new experience for Anglicans and Episcopalians. During the Interregnum when the use of The Book of Common Prayer was outlawed, some Anglicans risked imprisonment and penal servitude and worshipped secretly in private houses.

In the late seventeenth century and for much of the eighteenth century Non-Juring Scottish Episcopalians who were loyal to the Stuarts were prohibited from meeting in groups of more than four people. They circumvented the penal laws by worshiping in private houses, four people to a room. Houses were modified to permit these small gatherings to hear the service while keeping them physically separated from each other.

Nineteenth century Bishop J. C. Ryle built neighborhood church halls rather than new parish churches in the Diocese of Liverpool. When I was an infant, my mother and my grandparents attended a mission church that met in a corrugated steel Nissen hut left over from World War II.

Anglicans who are faithful to the Great Commission will continue to gather in non-traditional settings for worship for the foreseeable future—I suspect until our Lord returns. Those tasked with the revision of a Prayer Book do them a great disservice when they design its rites and services primarily for use in the setting of a cathedral, college chapel, or parish church. It is a challenge to tailor these rites and services to the mission field.

In the next article I will look at the Ministry of the Word of the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office. I may also look at the Offertory and the Intercession (the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church) if space permits.

Image: St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Bellville, Texas

Proclaiming Christ Where Pilgrims Seek Healing from Mary

For followers of Jesus Christ, the atmosphere in Lourdes is dark and discouraging. Christians know that it is “the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). The determination and expectation of 6 million pilgrims a year feels overwhelming.

The one and only Pioneers missionary there says, “In my town Mary takes Jesus’ place on the cross. People come from far and wide to bring honor to her, to ask her for healing, to pray to her. This is all the locals of this rural town in the mountains know: not Jesus, just millions of Catholic pilgrims from the whole world with their Mary statues, rosaries, and holy water. What should church look like for people who have been completely desensitized to the Gospel?”

Even now, that question is being answered. A house church gathers every other weekend in Lourdes. A small, but faithful, group meets in the home of the missionary there to worship, hear the Word of God proclaimed, and pray for one another. There is hope. Read More

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10 Ways You Can Use Push Notifications to Grow Your Church by Increasing Engagement

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Four Worship Practices That Traditional Anglican Churches Will Want to Avoid

By Robin G. Jordan

As I mentioned in my previous article, the rector of the church where I was senior lay reader for fifteen years hired the band teacher and chorus director of a local high school as the church’s music minister. The new music minister was an excellent musician and choirmaster but he came from a Baptist background and his only experience in church music was gained in Baptist churches. He had received no training in the use of music in liturgical worship and had picked up a number of bad practices while serving as the music minister of a rural Baptist church.

Among these practices was cutting off every hymn after the third stanza. Over the years I have read a lot of literature on church music, including the works of a number of Baptist authors. None of the authors that I have read condone this practice. Those who mention it are unanimous in condemning it.

Why you may ask? These authors condemn the practice because it devalues congregational singing, shows a blatant disregard for the literary and theological integrity of the hymn, and evidences a lack of reverence for God. As Harry Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath emphasize in Sing with Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology, the place and purpose of the people’s singing in worship is “the offering of a sacrifice of praise requiring the commitment of mind, body, spirit, and will (Ps. 107:22).” It is an integral part of the worshiping assembly’s prayer.

When we cut off every hymn after the third verse, we are not in any way respecting the congregation, the hymn, or God. When we ask the congregation to sing nonsense, gibberish, we are not only showing contempt for the congregation and the hymn but also for God himself.

As C. S. Lewis who admittedly was no fan of hymns and hymn-singing wrote in his essay, “On Church Music,” “nothing should be done or sung or said in church which does not aim directly or indirectly either at glorifying God or edifying the people or both.” Cutting off every hymn after the third verse does not do either. It does not glorify God or edify the people.

From what I gather this practice has its origins in the Sandy Creek Revival tradition of Baptist worship. The Charleston and Sandy Creek Revival traditions are two influences that have shaped Baptist worship in the South. Among the differences between the two traditions is the main thrust of worship. In the Charleston tradition it is vertical but in the Sandy Creek Revival tradition it is horizontal. The focus of church services is not on worshiping God but on converting the sinner and encouraging converts not to backslide and lose their salvation. In the Sandy Creek Revival tradition the purpose of the congregational singing of hymns and gospels songs is to put the congregation in the right frame of mind to hear the sermon, which is viewed as the main event of the service.

James Rawling Sydnor in his book, Introducing a New Hymnal: How to Improve Congregational Singing, offers helpful advice on the right way to shorten a hymn:

In well-wrought hymns, stanzas are connected logically with each other and consequently, as a rule, the entire hymn should be sung. If it seems wise and necessary to shorten a hymn, care must be used in stanza selection. Some hymns like “Come, thou almighty King” (based on the Trinity) and”The King of love my shepherd is” (based on the 23rd Psalm) should not be abbreviated. Care should be taken in selecting those stanzas which, if omitted, do not violate the sense of the hymn. Some editors help in this matter by placing an asterisk by those stanzas which can be omitted.

This is what the editors of The Hymnal (1940) and The Hymnal 1982 did but the editors of The Book of Common Praise 2017 did not. Instead they placed a line after the third stanza of the longer hymns for which they offer no explanation and which suggests that the hymn may be shortened by omitting all the stanzas after the third stanza of the hymn, thereby seemingly encouraging the adoption of this bad practice in the Reformed Episcopal Church.

An equally as bad practice is cutting off a hymn because the pastor is finished doing whatever he is doing and wants to move on to something else. Hymns are an integral part of the assembly’s worship. They are part of a three-way conversation between God and his people. God speaks to us. We speak to him. We speak to each other while God listens. Hymns help people to say what they should say or want to say at specific places in this conversation. If the pastor is finished what he is doing, he should join in the singing or wait quietly until the singing has ended and not abruptly end the singing.

A third bad practice is that of sandwiching the reading of the Gospel between the stanzas of a hymn, singing two or more stanzas before the Gospel reading and two or more after it. This practice has nothing to commend it. It not only shows contempt for the congregation, the hymn, and God, but it also shows contempt for the Gospel.

When I first encountered the practice, the pastor who had adopted it was using a hymn as traveling music as he moved from the chancel to the midst of the congregation for the reading of the Gospel and then back again. His choice of hymn had nothing to do with the specific place of the reading of the Gospel in the three-way conversation with God. The practice not only mutilated the sense of the hymn but it also defeated the purpose of reading the Gospel.

The singing of the remaining stanzas of the hymn after the Gospel can be compared to the birds in the Parable of the Sower. They flew down and gobbled up the seed before it had an opportunity to sprout. A period of silence after the reading of the Gospel gives the congregation time to reflect on the words of the Gospel. However, singing the remaining stanzas of a hymn diverts their attention away from the message of the Gospel to something else. It does not give the seeds of the Gospel time to sprout in their hearts.

The same kind of thing happens when we say a prayer or sing a hymn immediately after the sermon. The focus of the congregation’s attention shifts from the message of the sermon to the prayer or hymn. For this reason we should observe a period of silence after the sermon before moving on to the next part of the service. This will give the congregation time to process what they have heard.

A much better practice than sandwiching a sermon between the stanzas of a hymn is to sing an alleluia and verse, an alleluia by itself, a Lenten verse, a hymn, or an anthem to herald the reading of the Gospel and then to follow the Gospel reading with a period of silence for reflection.

If the Gospel is read from the midst of the congregation and a hymn or anthem is sung to herald the Gospel reading, the Gospel procession should not start until near the end of the hymn or anthem. This enables the congregation to focus their attention on the hymn or anthem. After the reading of the Gospel, the Gospel procession should quietly return to the chancel without any music to accompany its movements.

Periods of silence have their place in liturgical and non-liturgical worship. A pastor does not need music to cover all of his actions.

Between the reading of the Epistle and the reading of the Gospel is not the place in the service for a length hymn or anthem. A lengthy hymn or anthem, according to Lionel Dakers, throws the natural sequence from Epistle to Gospel out of balance. A hymn or anthem at this point in the service should act simply as musical bridge. He recommends something contrasted and short. Lengthy hymns and anthems should be saved for the offertory.

A fourth bad practice that also should be avoided is singing the children’s hymn “Thy gospel Jesus we believe” before the reading of the Gospel Sunday after Sunday. This hymn is a Communion hymn for a child’s First Communion. It is listed as a Communion hymn at the end of the Communion hymn section of The Hymnal (1940). Its origin can be traced to a nineteenth century Roman Catholic catechism which was used to prepare children for their First Communion in the late 1800s. This hymn has been grossly abused in the aforementioned manner since its inclusion in The Hymnal (1940). It was not included in The Hymnal 1982 for that reason.

The wording of this brief hymn is also not theologically precise and is open to a variety of interpretations. According to the Bible “obeying the Gospel” means believing the message of Gospel. However, some ecclesiastical traditions interpret it to mean “being obedient to all the necessary moral and religious requirements of the New Testament”, or “obeying those commands one must do in order to be saved.” This goes beyond believing that Christ died for our sins and trusting in him for salvation. To be saved one must obey “all the necessary moral and religious requirements of the New Testament.” For this reason it would also be best not to use the hymn even as a Communion hymn for a child’s First Communion.

I do not remember the Episcopal church that my family attended when I was a teenager using this hymn at all, much less misusing it in the way that it is often misused. We sung a hymn between the Epistle and the Gospel or the choir sung an anthem. This was in the days of the 1928 Prayer Book and The Hymnal (1940). The church is known to this day for its high standards of excellence in church music.

If we love and reverence God, we will want to offer him the best that we are able to offer. We may not have a building of our own, much less a vaulted ceiling, a pipe or reed organ, and a SATB choir, but nonetheless we will want to pursue the degree of excellence in the music of our worship that our circumstances permit. We will not be willing to settle for bad practices like the ones described in this article. We will take to heart the old adage, “What is worth doing is worth doing well.”.

Image: Jesus the Good Shepherd Anglican Church, Las Vegas, Nevada

Practical Preaching Advice for Pastors and Lay Preachers #10

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Do We Really Need to Sing a Hymn Before the Sermon?

By Robin G. Jordan 

If your church uses the 1928 Communion Office, the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office, or its Modern Language Version, you are probably accustomed to singing a hymn before the sermon. This practice is allowed by the rubric at the bottom of page viii of the 1928 Prayer Book, which permits the singing of hymns and anthems before and after any office in that book and before and after sermons. It is, however, not obligatory.

The origin of this rubric can be traced at least in part to a royal injunction of Queen Elizabeth I, in which she authorized the singing of a metrical psalm before and after the services of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.

Singing a hymn before the sermon is a practice that is sometimes seen in Lutheran churches as well as Continuing Anglican and Reformed Episcopal churches. Philip H. Pfatteicher and Carlos R. Messerli in Manual on the Liturgy Lutheran Book of Worship (Augsburg Publish House, 1979) make this important observation:

The early Lutheran and Episcopal practice was to sing a hymn as preparation for the sermon. This is still an option in the Lutheran Book of Worship. But it is difficult for a congregation to see how a hymn fits with the sermon until they have heard the sermon. The preferred practice, therefore, is to follow the readings with a sermon to show clearly that the sermon is the exposition of the Scripture just read, and then to sing the hymn as a response to the whole proclamation in reading and sermon.

I have personally observed that the so–called sermon hymn more often than not has no connection with the sermon. This may be attributed to poor coordination between the church’s music minister and the preacher for a particular Sunday or occasion or to a limited selection of hymns related to the theme of the sermon in the church’s hymnal or both.

It is also attributable to the unfamiliarity of the church’s music minister and/or the church’s pastor with the basic principles of hymn selection. A hymn may be picked without any regard for not only its relationship to the theme of the sermon but also its suitability for the place in the service in which it is to be used.

Too often the responsibility for selecting hymns for church service is passed off to a music minister who, while they may have musical training and are able to play the organ or the piano, do not have any training in the use of music in liturgical services.

The rector of the Episcopal church where I was senior lay reader for fifteen years once hired the band teacher and chorus director of a local high school as the church’s music minister. The new music minister was an excellent musician and choirmaster but he came from a Baptist background and his only experience in church music was gained in Baptist churches. He had no idea on how to plan the music for liturgical services and his selection of hymns and worship songs reflected his lack of knowledge in this critical area.

The rector offered the new music minister no guidance, having told the selection committee which interviewed him when he was the only candidate for appointment as vicar of the church that church music was not his forte and he would leave its selection to the music minister. He had clashed with his church music professor in seminary over the appropriateness of singing the Thomas Ken Doxology at the offertory and this clash had soured him on the subject of church music. I suspect that there may have been more involved but this was the story that he told.

The basic principles of hymn selection are not difficult to learn. One of the most readable books on the subject is Lionel Daker’s Choosing and Using Hymns (Mowbray, 1985). Betty Carr Pulkingham offers excellent advice in Sing God a Simple Song: Exploring Music in Worship for the Eighties (Marshall Pickering 1986). For music ministers of traditional Anglican churches whose worship is “old school”—I prefer the term “vintage,” these two books from the 1980s are an invaluable resource. Other books that I recommend are Percy Dearmer’s The Art of Public Worship (Mowbray, 1920) and The Parson’s Handbook Twelfth Edition (Oxford University Press, 1932), Howard E. Galley’s The Ceremonies of the Eucharist: A Guide to Celebration (Cowley, 1989) Marion Hatchett’s A Manual for Clergy and Church Musicians (Church Publishing, 1980), Marilyn J. Keiser’s Teaching Music in Small Churches: Hymnal Studies Three (Church Publishing, 2000), Byron F. Stuhlman’s Prayer Book Rubrics Expanded (Church Publishing, 1987), and James Rawling Sydnor’s, Introducing a New Hymnal: How to Improve Congregational Singing(GIA, 1989). Any music minister who reads these books will receive a good grounding in not only the use of music in liturgical services but also the introduction of new hymns and service music in liturgical worship.

Singing a hymn before the sermon also widens the gap between the proclamation of the Word and its exposition in the sermon. As Percy Dearmer points out in The Art of Public Worship, the exposition of the Word should follow closely upon its proclamation is one of the underlying principles of The Book of Common Prayer. The rubrics of the 1928 Communion Office, however, direct that the Nicene Creed or the Apostles Creed must immediately follow the Gospel (except when the Creed has been used at Morning Prayer, in which case it may be omitted), and then the Notices and the Marriage Banns. The Bidding Prayer and other authorized prayers and intercessions may follow the Creed or the Notices and the Marriage Banns. A sermon hymn is an unnecessary addition to this clutter.

The practice of singing a hymn before the sermon can be traced to the Prone, a short, late Medieval preaching service that was inserted into the Mass. In this service the sermon was preceded and followed by hymns and other devotions. Its introduction was an attempt to restore the sermon to the Mass. The Scottish Reformer John Knox and the Swiss Reformer John Calvin would use the Prone as the basic form of service for their reformed church services. It was the form of service that the Puritans favored and was the only authorized form of service that was permitted during the Interregnum after the abolition of The Book of Common Prayer. It resulted in what was known as a“hymn sandwich” which was at one time typical of church services among the Non-Conformists.

It may also have been influenced by the revivals and tent meetings of the nineteenth century, in which a medley of hymns and gospel songs were sung to warm up the congregation for the main act--the revivalist's sermon.

For Anglican churches that wish to follow a more Catholic pattern of worship in their celebrations of Holy Communion the omission of the sermon hymn restores something of the cleaner lines of the earlier shape of the Mass.

In Anglican churches using the 1928 Communion Office, the 2003 Reformed Episcopal Communion Office or its Modern Language Version the hymn or anthem that may be sung during the ingathering and presentation of the alms and oblations at the offertory is the logical choice for a response to God’s Word proclaimed in the readings and the sermon. Like the Lutheran Hymn of the Day which may follow the sermon in The Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and must follow the sermon in the newer Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), it may be a comment on the readings and the sermon as they are related to the season of the Church Year.

Using hymns and service music taken from The Book of Common Praise 2017 and other sources the music of a celebration of Holy Communion omitting a hymn or anthem before the sermon might look something like the following:

Introit: 637 Ye watchers and ye holy ones LASST UNS ERFREUEN

Kyries: 762 Lord have mercy upon us (nine-fold) MISSA DE SANCTA MARIA MAGDALENA

Gradual: 510, How lovely is thy dwelling place BROTHER JAMES’ AIRE

Offertory: 406 What wondrous love is this WONDROUS LOVE

Sanctus: 763 Holy, Holy, Holy MISSA DE SANCTA MARIA MAGDALENA

Great Amen: [Service Bulletin] Amen DANISH AMEN Sung twice.

Communion: [Service Bulletin] Let us break bread together on our knees LET US BREAK BREAD

Post-Communion: 354 Give to Our God immortal praise DUNEDIN

Recessional: [Service Bulletin] Tell it! Tell it out with gladness HYMN TO JOY

The hymn sung at the offertory serves as a response to the sermon, echoing the theme from the sermon. The “proper hymn” that may be sung in place of the Gloria in Excelsis is used to round out the post-communion devotions—a period of silence for private prayer and the Post-Communion Prayer which follow the distribution of the Communion elements. The hymn also echoes the sermon’s theme.

After the Blessing which concludes the service and dismisses the people, the ministers process out to a rousing mission hymn, the perfect choice for sending the congregation back out into world to be witnesses to Jesus Christ and instruments of God’s love.

To some readers this selection of hymns and service music may seem to be a lot of music. All of the hymn tunes, however, are not difficult to sing. They are also memorable. If you listen to them a few times and then sing them a few times, they will stick in your mind. Both the settings of the Kyrie and the Great Amen have the same characteristics. The most difficult tune I find is the setting of the Sanctus. It has a fairly slow tempo, is apt to drag and then to deteriorate, and does not stick in the mind like the other tunes. I agree with the late Peter Toon that composers need to come up with some new settings for service music for use with the 1928 Prayer Book, settings that are brighter than the older settings and easier to learn and to sing and which small congregations that do not have a choir can use.

Do we then really need to sing a hymn before the sermon? The answer is “no.” We do not. Our celebrations of Holy Communion will not suffer from its omission. Rather they may become less disjointed and flow more smoothly. They will become shorter, simpler, and more streamlined, definite musts on today's North American mission field. Even if our church is too small to take a collection during the offertory, we can still sing a hymn in response to the readings and the sermon as a part of our offering of thanksgiving and praise.

image: ststephens1928.org

Evangelism: Just Do Something

It’s high time we started sharing the gospel with the people around us.

Sometimes, when people read the word evangelism, they stop reading. They think it doesn’t matter to them and they move on to doing something else with their day.

Below I want to highlight a few things to help you, especially if you are a pastor or church leader, to find new, intentional ways to prioritize evangelism in the life of your church and ministry, as well as in your own personal life. Read More

Be Joyous in the Lord

We are called to proclaim the Glory of the Lord—our King Jesus, who is the glory of the Lord—to the nations and peoples. As we work daily in our jobs, at home with our kids, shop in our supermarkets, we should look to spread the Gospel, spread his wondrous works. And sometimes it’s easy to overlook this fact. We sometimes overlook it because of the busyness, work deadlines, sport practices for kids, and other things that are so routine that they can become an obstacle to seeing the vision that we all once had of helping to spread the gospel to all nations and peoples. Read More

5 Destructive Things We Say to Ourselves

There’s a conversation going on in your head almost all the time as a leader.

Let me guess. Most of the time it’s not pretty.

You rarely say these things out loud, because if you did, well first, it would be embarrassing. And second, you would never say anything remotely this negative to anyone else.

Except you say it to yourself all the time.

And that’s the problem.

So many leaders look like they have it all together on the outside, but they struggle deeply on the inside.

The challenge is negative self-talk. Way too many leaders carry on an internal dialogue of self-destruction.

There’s a major difference between words that are self-deprecating or self-destructive.

And way too many leaders live an interior life of self-destruction.

There’s a major difference between self-deprecating words and self-destructive words.

Here are 5 destructive things leaders say to themselves. I know, because I’ve said them to myself again and again until I learned how to stop. And some days, I have to learn this all over again.

If you struggle with these, guess what? You don’t need an enemy. You have one. It’s you.

So buckle up and see if you can relate.

You don’t need an enemy. You have one. It’s you. Read More

Negative thinking also keeps us from engaging in reacting out to the unchurched and nonbelievers in our community and engaging them.

Image: Outreach Magazine

Five Ways to Connect with Unchurched and Nonbelieving Folks - UPDATED

A loyal reader asked me last week to think about a series of posts on how to connect with the unchurched and unbelievers. I’ve written generally on these topics in the past (see, e.g., “Steps toward Evangelism” and “Ways to Get Outside the Christian Bubble”). Today, here are some more basic steps to accomplish this task.... Read More

Related Post:
Tis the Season

While checking the stats for Anglicans Ablaze, I noticed that one reader had viewed an article that I wrote and which I posted on September 4, 2010. In the article I suggested ways that a church starter might gather a core-group for a new church. The ways that I suggested for gathering members of a core-group work equally as well for meeting unchurched and unbelieving members of the community and forming relationships with them. I have posted a link to the article (see "related post"). You may want to check it out. If I come across any more articles like this one, I'll post links to them. A tip of the Canterbury cap to the reader who viewed the article.

Study: U.S. Churches Exclude Children with Autism, ADD/ADHD

Children with the greatest need for a supportive community were the most likely to feel unwelcome.

America’s religious communities are failing children with chronic health conditions such as autism, learning disabilities, depression, and conduct disorders.

And they have been doing it for a very long time, suggests a just-published national study following three waves of the National Survey of Children’s Health.

The odds of a child with autism never attending religious services were nearly twice as high as compared to children with no chronic health conditions. The odds of never attending also were significantly higher for children with developmental delays, ADD/ADHD, learning disabilities, and behavior disorders. However, the study does not provide data for specific types of religious communities, such as evangelicals.

Sanctuaries were much more sympathetic to children with health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, or vision problems. Those children were as likely to be in the pews as children with no health conditions.

But children with conditions that limit social interaction, who are often excluded from other social settings and have the greater need for a community of social support, were most likely to feel unwelcome at religious services. Read More

Related Post:
Religion and Disability: Variation in Religious Service Attendance Rates for Children with Chronic Health Conditions

Branded and Beaten

The children accused of witchcraft and murder

Sitting on a chipped wooden bench, the three-year-old swings her legs excitedly. Her sandals barely touch the floor as she watches a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

It is hard to believe that Comfort is a witch.

Yet this why she and her two older siblings are now living in a emergency shelter in the city of Calabar, in the southeast corner of Nigeria. Read More

You may have read articles about the spread of the prosperity gospel in Nigeria and other African countries. GAFCON has condemned its spread in Africa and other parts of the world. But traditional African beliefs in witchcraft, magic, and curses are influencing the beliefs and practices of a number of African churches, in particular those associated with the Pentecostal movement. Self-proclaimed "prophets" are taking the place of witch doctors in a growing number of Nigerian communities and exploiting the superstitions of the people in these communities. One of the results is the cruel treatment of young children whom these "prophets" have identified as witches.

Five Sources of Funding for Church Revitalizing and Replanting -- Revitalize & Replant #050

Ministry requires money. Today Thom Rainer, Mark Clifton, and Jonathan Howe discuss five potential ways you can increase funding in your church in order to minister more to your community. Listen Now

What Ever Happened to Evangelism?

The other day I was speaking with a friend who lives on the other side of the country. We were talking about his experience witnessing to co-workers. He was excited—still coming off the high of participating in the privilege of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and wondering aloud why we Christians don’t do this all the time. Suddenly his jubilation ceased, and his voice took on a serious tone. He asked me, “What ever happened to evangelism?” Without him needing to explain, I knew exactly what he meant. Churches do not emphasize evangelism like they once did.

Together we reminisced about how in our youth our churches frequently called us to “share our faith,” witness to our neighbors, and be about the work of the Great Commission. But today that kind of talk has fallen out of favor in many churches. The single-pointed, Great Commission focus of evangelicalism, in most quarters of the movement, seems to have surreptitiously forked into a grab-bag of various causes.

Certainly, much attention is given to being “gospel-centered,” but the hard work of doing and encouraging lifestyles of explicit verbal gospel proclamation has taken a back seat. But if “evangelical” means anything, it means the gospel always rides shotgun. The church has undergone a change in its relationship to evangelism, and I think something has been lost there. But in many ways these changes have been for the better. Read More

All Episcopal Churches Must Now Bless Same-Sex Marriage

The last time the Episcopal Church met as a whole, in 2015, the church assembly voted to bless same-sex unions, but dioceses that wanted to remain true to biblical teaching were allowed to refuse to conduct the ceremonies.

That changed last week when the church voted to force all Episcopal churches to allow gay and lesbian couples to “marry” in the church.

The edict had overwhelming support.

The majority of the American Episcopal Church (93 dioceses) already allows gay marriage in their churches. This vote affects eight dioceses that did not allow for religious ceremonies to be conducted inside their sanctuaries.

Individual priests may decide whether or not to religiously bless any particular marriage ceremony. But should a priest refuse to bless a ceremony, the higher clergy—the bishop, in this case—will be obligated to suggest another priest to do the job. Read More

Related Post
Episcopal Church Dumps ‘Husband and Wife’ for ‘Two People’

With this vote General Convention further reduced the autonomy of  Episcopal dioceses and narrowed the options of Episcopalians who object to same sex marriage on Biblical grounds. If the remaining conservative dioceses choose to leave the Episcopal Church would it become the tipping point for the collapse of that denomination or would it lead to another round of deprivations and litigation? A number of dioceses are suffering from a shortage of clergy and a growing number of small Episcopal churches have no priest of their own and must share a priest with several other churches. In a denomination that has made the Holy Eucharist the central act of worship on Sundays and other occasions, these churches feel like second class citizens. 

Thursday's Catch: The Gospel in Suburbia and More

The Gospel in Suburbia: Living on Mission in a “Soul-less” Place

The deep power of the hope of Jesus Christ can overcome any amount of separation, not matter how soul-less we may feel our communities to be. Read More

Planting Churches in a Divided Land [Podcast]

Tony Merida talks with Lucas Parks and Andrew Elder about church planting in Northern Ireland. Listen Now

Do You Know the Most Dangerous Person in Your Church?

The most dangerous person at your church is the apparently smart guy who is unteachable. Read More

For the Pastor Knee-Deep in Immorality

Tim Challies offers advice to pastors hiding serious sin. Read More

7 Ideas for Improving Bible Engagement in Your Church

How to encourage a deeper experience of Scripture. Read More

3 Worship Tips That Are Easy to Forget

Since I’ve made a purposeful switch to speaking on Sundays more often than leading worship on Sundays, everything is suddenly louder when I lead worship. Preaching three Sundays a month and then leading worship one Sunday a month has been so good for my worship leading soul. Here are some things I’m discovering often go untouched.... Read More

How to Make the Bible Central in Small Groups

And the shift in leader training that makes all the difference. Read More

Unfriending Convenience

Why Christians are called to inefficiency in an age of easy living. Read More

Don’t Be Introspective. Examine Yourself.

There’s a fine line between self-examination and introspection. Self-examination is good. Scripture exhorts us to examine and test ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5). So how might this important spiritual discipline take a turn for the worse? Read More

Is Your Sin Playing Possum

Our sin is similar to a possum playing dead. I like the way John Owen put it. Owen gives two ways in which we can think we’ve mortified a sin but it’s really only retreated for a season. Read More

The possums that raid my cat food dishes are pretty bold. They never play dead when I catch them red-handed, gobbling down what food is left in the bowls. They may retreat down the stairs of my back porch if I wave a broom in their face but as soon as I go inside, they return to finish the meal that I interrupted. The lesson that I have garnered from my dealings with these possums is that if you want to keep sin from returning, you have to adopt strong measures.

Pastoring Today: Leading the Church in Twenty-First Century

Pitfalls of the Novice Minister

Your first church job is going to stretch you in ways you won't anticipate. Read More

Why You Cannot Lead Without Integrity

Integrity is an essential component of leadership. Here are four areas of life that form the foundation of a leader’s integrity. Read More

5 Pastoral Emergencies That Aren’t Emergencies

Sometimes it feels like more people at your church simply equals more crises. Read More

Turning Your New Pastorate Into a Long-Term Pastorate

Having served my first church for more than a quarter of a century, I can testify that the first few years can lay a foundation for a long, loving, and fulfilling relationship between pastor and people. Ironically, my seminary training didn’t teach me the five key strategies that led to twenty-six years of fellowshipping with a congregation who became my second family. Allow me to share what I believe can help you do the same. Read More

9 Reasons Some Pastors Stay to Long

Yesterday, I posted on “Indications that a Pastor Has Stayed Too Long,” with particular attention on leadership of declining churches. Today, here are my thoughts about why some pastors stay too long. Read More

Seven Reasons Pastors Burnout [Video]

In this Rainer Report Thom Rainer identifies seven causes of pastoral burnot. Watch Now

Pastoral Burnout: Its Causes & Cures

The latest issue of 9Marks Journal is devoted to pastoral burnout, its causes, and its cures. Read Online or Download Free

When It's Time to Redesign Your Church Website

Depending on who and what you read, you can find different opinions on how often you should redesign or refresh your website. If it’s a website design company, the answer is probably “six months ago.” They like the business, after all.

I don’t think you should have a timeframe for website redesigns, though. It’s an as needed event and also one that should be carried out with much planning and intentionality.

Website redesigns should be carried out strategically and to meet a need. So if your church has one of these needs, then it may be time to refresh your site. Read More

Reevaluating and redesigning or refreshing your church website is something that I believe should be done on a regular basis. Thom Rainer points out that your website can stop people from visiting your church. Here is what he says about the importance of a well-designed website:

Church websites are more important than many people realize. Gone are the days when you can ask a youth group kid to quickly design a basic website that will meet the needs of your church.

A church website should be easy to navigate, and contain all the basic info any guests would need: contact info, service time(s), what to expect for parents, location, etc. Too often I see churches with poorly designed websites and in some cases, no website at all!

A well-designed website is essential to reaching more people in your community.

Wednesday's Catch: The Benefits of Church Planting and More

7 Ways Church Planting Will Benefit Your Church

Planting is not only key to fulfilling the Great Commission, but here are seven ways that planting also benefits the sending church. Read More

The Personal Use of Church-Owned Vehicles

Before you allow the personal use of church-owned vehicles, review these guidelines to reduce the church’s liability. Read More

How to Teach the Bible to Children Even When It Is Complex

Children can handle complex concepts when given the opportunity. They are often more able to learn more than we give them credit for. In light of this, I want to share a few thoughts on teaching children the Bible and complex theological concepts. Read More

The Single Greatest Challenge of Your Christian Life

Clearly “confessing” Christ will be the most demanding challenge these men will face in their entire lives. Confessing Christ will also be the single greatest challenge in your life as a Christian believer. Here are seven ways to practice this confession.... Read More

10 Ways to Resist the Devil

It is one of the Bible’s many sweet and powerful promises: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). The question is, though, how do we do this? In very practical ways, how do we resist the devil? In Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, Thomas Brooks offers a list of ten ways the Christian can resist Satan’s temptations. Read More

8 Ways God Turns Temptations to Blessings

Just as a tree which is blown by the wind is settled and rooted deeper into the ground, the coming of a temptation simply settles the Christian deeper into divine grace. Here are eight ways God brings good from temptation. Read More