“Do you use a projector?” she asked. Some will remember the days when Anglicans could get a good idea of a person’s worship style by whether he (yes in those days it was a “he”) wore a chasuble. Now, for many people, contemporary worship is determined by the use of a projector screen. No screen
Church Projector Screens Read More »
There are different ways to be a community, a Christian community [or any religious community]. You could focus around a leader. You could find unity by all signing up to the same list of beliefs. You could find unity by a common mission drive. You could focus on knowing each other and being like a
The End of Common Prayer Read More »
This is a blog post about worship. I promise. Read on. I have watched recordings of the TV programme The New Zealand Home. There is an unquestioned, articulated doctrine that having an area of houses where all share a similar style, a similar look, is undesirable. We see this doctrine at work in the Christchurch
Different is Better? Read More »
A friend recently sent me a link: Liturgy for a missional church. This linked blog post criticised the Church of England’s Common Worship for its “complexity and wordiness.” I empathise with the experience of too many words in liturgy. Particularly in Holy Week and the Triduum, when we are are essentially in one long service
In New Zealand there are not standard-size windows. When someone here breaks a window, a glazier comes, measures the window, cuts a larger piece of glass down to fit, and then installs this cut-down pane, throwing away the pieces cut off. There are not standard kitchens. When someone wants to update their kitchen, the new
Unrelenting ‘Creativity’ Read More »
I’ve been writing about the place of agreements (“rules”) in our common prayer. This is the third post in that series, and if you haven’t read the previous two, I suggest you read here and here first. Whose is the liturgy, our common prayer? To whom does it belong? It does not belong to the
Obsession With Rules 3 Read More »
My e-friend and commenter here, Rev. Joshua Bovis, has a blog post essentially on the value of liturgical repetition in a vibrant church life. He reproduces an article by Mark Brolly (in TMA) reflecting on a lecture at Ridley College by retired Bishop of North Sydney, Bishop Paul Barnett. The primary value of his post,
Remember to Survive Read More »
I serve in a province in which it is all but impossible to agree on what it is that we have actually agreed on. Clergy vow and sign that we will only lead liturgy that we have agreed to, but the rules and regulations are such a patchwork of new patches on old cloths that
Catholicity and creativity Read More »
