THE PRESIDER’S CHAIR and THE CATHEDRA present particular problems for contemporary liturgy and liturgical layout. The cathedra is the bishop’s chair. We don’t want to place the presider’s chair to give the impression of a throne, or the presider as judge. Presider’s chair, lectern, and altar form three foci for the Eucharist (the font is
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When the NZ RC Missal came out it was immediately obvious that the page turns would make for an irreverent Eucharistic Prayer on the part of the presider. Fr John Murphy, who works in New Zealand’s Marist Internet Ministry wrote that people needed to move on from the poor quality of the English Missal’s translation
Those who know me know I’m not a Luddite. I was an early adopter of the interactive projector for teaching in the classroom. I think the iPad is seriously cool. And I’ve long known enough HTML to tinker with my own website which I’ve been running for six years now. But I am an advocate
THE AMBO, the podium or lectern from which we proclaim the scriptures, the Word of God, is a primary sign and symbol in the worship space. The congregation can sit facing each other (choir formation) with the altar between them at one end, and the ambo between them at the other (as it is at
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This post makes little sense unless you are aware of the common NZ Anglican practice of having a lay person “lead the first half of the Eucharist”. [Such a “lay worship leader” is often called a “liturgist” sic!] The practice appears to have developed from the union of three different trends The desire to give
I find it irritating when being at a Eucharist and suddenly there is an ostentatious ritual being made of cleaning hands with hand sanitizer. I had considered writing a post about it. When teenagers spoke to me about how unnecessarily distracting it was at services they had been to, I knew that I should carry
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THE COMMUNITY is often a forgotten symbol in discussions about church buildings. The community is not an audience. The community is not passive. Hence, the way the community gathers is extremely important. The entrance procession of the community begins from our home, with cars and walking, and other means. How are we welcomed into the
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I have written about lay presidency of the Eucharist previously. You can find one of my blog posts about lay presidency here. The publication of Sydney Anglican The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands – Epilogue (click to download PDF) makes a revisit possibly worthwhile. If you haven’t read my earlier post, that background may be
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