Shawna R. B. Atteberry

William Law, an Anglican priest in the 1700s, came up with a worship order that make sense to me. Not only that, but it allows the pastor to have a considerable amount of freedom in putting a service together. As I said in yesterday’s post, elements of the three main worship styles (traditional, contemporary, and liturgical) can be incorporated into the service. The worship service has four movements: Preparing to hear God, Hearing God, Responding to God, and Being sent out to do God’s work.

First we prepare ourselves to meet and hear God. This is done through music, and both traditional hymns and contemporary songs can be used. Reading Scriptures, responsive readings, readers’ theater, communal prayer, and drama can also be incorporated here. Through singing, reading, and hearing, we prepare ourselves to hear God’s word. The next movement is the sermon. After the sermon, we respond to what we heard and God’s grace through passing the peace, the offering, and communion. Responsive readings, communal prayers, and drama can also be added here. We are then sent out to be God’s ambassadors to the world. There are many modes of worship in this service: singing, reading, listening, communal, and sacramental. It doesn’t revolve around only two forms of worship–singing and the sermon–the way traditional and contemporary services normally are. It also does not have to be as formal as liturgical services can be. The Scriptures for the week can be the lectionary passages or passages the pastor chooses. There is a lot of flexibility in this approach to worship.

Now that you know my preferences for worship, the next posts will be on my experiences with churches I have already attended here.

The picture is “The Supper at Emmaus” by He Qi. You can see more of his work at his gallery.

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W Is for Worship

I have began visiting churches in the South Loop where I live. I have been processing their services theologically by writing about them. I have decided that I am going to post what I find. But I thought that the first post should be a general overview of worship styles in the United States. There are three main worship styles: traditional, contemporary, and liturgical.

I grew up in the traditional evangelical worship service. This includes singing traditional Protestant hymns accompanied by a piano, organ, and if the church is large enough a choir. Normally four or five songs are sung, the pastoral prayer is given, the offering taken up, and the sermon preached. There might also be an altar call after the sermon. Communion was served once a quarter, so it didn’t become an “empty ritual.” But there are many traditional congregations that practice communion monthly. The service is done from scratch Sunday to Sunday with the pastor (and staff if the church is large enough) picking out the songs, picking Scripture to preach from, and prayers.

The contemporay worship service has comtemporary choruses and sometimes songs (they’ll even throw in a hymn once in a blue moon). They have the praise band and team leading the singing part of worship. These services will also incorporate dance and drama. The sermon is usually about a felt need and there is a lot of PowerPoint presentations. The sermon also tends to be interactive because outside of singing the congregation tends to be sitting and observing for a lot of the service. Of course offering is taken up, and like traditional churches, communion is observed monthly or quarterly. As with the traditional service, the contemporary service is created from week to week.

Liturgical services have a set order every week written by the denomination or church. Normally there is a book of worship with prayers, Scripture readings, and responsive readings for that Sunday (the Catholic Missal or the Anglican Book of Common Prayer are examples). This service also uses the lectionary, which contains four readings for each Sunday: Psalm, Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel. All four readings are read during the service, and the priest or pastor preaches on one or more of the readings for that Sunday. There are a lot of different forms of active worship in liturgical services for the congregation: reponses to the priest or pastor, singing, prayers, responsive readings, praying the Lord’s Prayer, and reading one of the Creeds. This kind of service also does not revolve around the sermon as do the former two services. Everything in this service leads up to Communion, which is celebrated every week.

These are the three main styles of worship. Of course, many churches use a combination of two or all three. My favorite order of worship can incorporate elements of these three worship services. That will be the subject of my next post.

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A Via Media for Worship

Fog rolled in last night. I loved the ethereal glow of the lights down on the streets. I took pictures. At one point I was hanging out the window to get a photo up Wabash. It was probably a good thing it was around 2:30 a.m., so no one was looking at the crazy woman hanging out of her window on the thirteenth story, taking pictures.

While I was meditating this morning, I had an insight. Light still shines in the fog. It’s dispersed and fuzzy, but it still shines. When I’m in a fog–when I’m depressed–my light still shines too. It may be dispersed and fuzzy, but it’s still shining. It may even appear ethereal and otherworldly as light does in the fog. In many myths fog separates this world from Faery or the Otherworld. May be I’m closer to other worlds and God in my fogs? May be my light will show other these paths, these worlds? It’s an interesting thing to think about.

I always say I’m in a fog when I’m depressed. Yes, fog makes it hard to see and hear. But light in the fog is so beautiful. Moonlight, street lights, or lights from signs–it doesn’t matter. They all take on this beautiful, otherworldly glow in the fog. The fog softens things, blurs borders and boundaries, and makes you see everyday things differently. It opens new possibilities of gateways to other worlds. It can be a pain to navigate in, but where will you wind up if you follow the lights through the fog? I don’t know. But it gives me a different way of looking at my fogs of depression. What if I pay attention to the fuzzy and ethereal lights I do see? What if I follow them? Where will I wind up? What if someone follows my fuzzy light? Where will we end up?

I know this is a little late, but I have otherwise been occupied. I also know this has nothing to do with what I normally write. But who cares? Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win! (Please tell me I have readers old enough to remember Harry Carrey.)

Go, Cubs, Go!
Go, Cubs, Go!
Hey, Chicago, whaddya say? Chicago Cubs gonna win today!

We’re going to the playoffs baby! Woot! My dad is once again in Cubs heaven. (The first time was in May when we took him to see his first Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Dad’s been a fan longer than I’ve been alive.)