Opening words
Gracious Rebel
Shipmate
Bit of a straw poll - what are the typical opening words in your church's main Sunday Worship? I ask because I really struggle with hearing something along these lines most weeks ...I'm not sure why it grates on me so much, it's just that we have a fairly formal liturgy (well formal for a non conformist church anyway) and this opening just seems weak and a bit crass
'Hello, I hope you are well. Let us worship God together.....'
'Hello, I hope you are well. Let us worship God together.....'
Comments
Other words of welcome come after the congregational response.
Response: Amen.
“And also with you.”
There is a tradition in some continental (European) Reformed churches—I’m thinking particularly of the the Dutch Reformed and its American offspring—that the service always begins with Psalm 124:8: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” This might just be said by the minister, or it might be responsive:
“Our help is in the name of the Lord,”
“the maker of heaven and earth.”
For reasons that appear to be lost to time, this opening phrase came to be called “the votum.”
Then a hymn is announced, then the liturgy begins with ‘The Lord be with you’.
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
“Amen.”
Also in some C of E Places, like Ours, except that they will be preceded by Welcome, Homily Number 1 (explaining the theme of the Mass), and the Entrance Hymn...
Good morning and welcome.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then 'We begin our worship on page 3' which bugs the life out of me. In my previous churches much time has been spent explaining that 'worship' is much more than just 'singing'. Which is true (and yes, churches which use 'time of worship' as shorthand for 'the songs' know darn well that it's just shorthand). But worship does include singing! We've spent the last three minutes belting out a hymn, and now ... our worship begins? Huh?
According to our rubrics Mass ends with the dismissal. There is no mention of a closing hymn. this can give priests a certain amount of latitude at weddings and funerals for all sorts of music (secular music and recorded music are both banned in RC churches during services) after the dismissal since it is technically after the Mass has ended. I have found myself having to play "Isn't she Lovely," after a wedding, and Hagrid's Theme (Harry Potter) and "Do you hear the people sing" (Les Miserables) as coffins were being carried out. "Lets twist again" was particularly memorable.
Personally I do prefer something a little more 'profound' (in a church that doesn't use set formal words from a prayer book) like a Bible/hymn quotation such as 'This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it' (I think that's one my father used to use a lot....he's a lay preacher and still doing it at 91!)
@Nick Tamen - aren't you a Presbyterian, in which case the opening words should be, as in the Church of Scotland, "Let us worship God"?
* today it was an observation that you can tell it's a public holiday tomorrow by the small size of the congregation. :rolleyes:
O dear. Rev Rosie sounds a bit like FatherInCharge as regards the waffling, though Our Place isn't allowed to be silent for more than a few seconds.
I do wish clergy would confine themselves to What It Says In The Book...anything before *In the name of the Father etc.*, or *Grace, mercy, and peace etc.* renders meaningless that formal opening of the dialogue between priest/minister and congregation.
Similarly, in the Episcopal Church, the Holy Eucharist normally begins with:
“Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
“And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.”
That’s assuming that the prayer book and not a provisional liturgy is being used, and also assuming it’s not Lent or Easter, when the liturgy begins:
“Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.”
“His mercy endures for ever.”
or
“Alleluia. Christ is risen.”
“The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.”
Heh! Yes, I am, and in the days of my youth, that definitely would have been how the service started—“Let us worship God,” followed by a Call to Worship, typically responsive. These days, the service generally begins with “Opening Sentences,” which typically include either sentences of Scripture or a Call to Worship, again normally responsive and often preceded by a greeting such as the one I noted above.
May I ask why a "good morning " seems to press people's buttons?
Then usually a "call to worship" consisting of one (or two) Bible verses which set the scene for the service. For instance today we were thinking of James 3 and our tongues and speech, so I read, "The words of good people are wise, and they are always fair" - Psalm 27:30; and "Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can heal" - Proverbs 12:18.
Then I announce the first hymn, today it was "O for a thousand tongues to sing".
Sometimes the call to worship might be a short minister-and-people response instead, or an exhortation. Last week, following "Roots", we had: "Take a moment to look at the people around you! We are all unique and different. Let us celebrate together, each one bringing gifts and talents to offer. Let us give thanks for everyone that God has called here today".
Although our former priest, Father F, was not much of a pastor, he did at least try to conduct the Mass in a reverent manner. The opening hymn was announced by the ring of the bell next to the sacristy, and was followed by the greeting *In the name of the Father etc.*, after which would follow words of welcome and any (occasionally) necessary announcements.
For Communion services there is no set pattern because we don't have a permanent priest so it depends on the whim of the celebrant - yes, we do have a set liturgy but the stand-ins rarely stick to it.
Many Baptist churches are pretty informal and the beginning of the service might be marked by a "Good morning" from the front, repeated by the congregation; or even "Hallo, Church!". Or else a music group will simply strike up a worship song and people will start to sing.
For me, there are various reasons, in no particular order:
It’s not something I encountered in churches of my denomination until relatively recently, so I’m not used to it. (Not a good excuse, I know.)
I lean more to formality than to informality. I don’t mind a few informal moments here and there, but I don’t want a full diet of it in worship. When things start that way, the signal I get is that I’m not as likely to feel at home.
It generally comes off to me as “chummy” or overly perky, and reminds me more of something like a committee meeting or a seminar, or what a teacher would say to a classroom of children.
The greeting is the first thing that gathers the various people present into one body, and I prefer a greeting that recognizes that.
I get that “good morning” is a standard greeting in English, but because of that, it can come across as perfunctory or even thoughtless, in the sense of no thought is required to say it. It seems out of place with what the group being gathered together is about to do. (If anything, I think liturgy could appropriately start with a warning, along the lines of “handle with care.”)
I’m mindful of people I’ve occasionally heard say something along the lines “The whole reason I came to church was because it wasn’t a good morning. It was a horrible morning that was part of a horrible week and a horrible month. Hearing a cheery “good morning” at the start of the service made me feel like I’d come to wrong place.”
Why settle for wishing those gathered a good morning when we can offer them the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit?
Those are among the reasons that “good morning” or “hello” at the start of worship grates on me. As I said, I fully accept that reasonable minds can differ.
Welcome to ****** Baptist Church and our Early Service.
I’m Anna_Baptist, and I’m going to be leading the service
And Preacher's name, our Preacher's position in Church will be bringing God’s word to us this morning.
Let’s start by opening up the scriptures.
And then I read a few verses of scripture from the opposite Testament to which the main reading is taken from.
This morning the sermon was based on Ezra 3 & 4 about setting up the altar and repairing the foundation of the Temple. So our New Testament reading was Ephesians 2: 19-22 which has the building of the Church on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Christ the Cornerstone.
First hymn: Christ Is Made The Sure Foundation.
One particular steward takes this even further with a lengthy preamble, ie welcome, announcements, news of anyone ill and other gossip , naming the street in the village whose occupants are to be prayed for, then opening in prayer- all of which totally which totally wrecks the carefully crafted opening and subsequent prayer which the appointed leader is about to give.
Thank you - well reasoned and thorough
More than 50 years ago, when for a time I played the organ for evening service at the local Congrgational Church (this was in pre-URC days), I was given the order of service (with list if hymns) by one of the elders before the start of the service. This always started with "Call to worship" which turned out to be the minister entering the pulpit and saying "Let us worship God" before announcing the first hymn.
Entrance Hymn
Welcome to worship for this nth Sunday after Pentecost
Notices - brief
Blessed be God, Father Son and Holy Spirit... and so into the body of the service.
Sets the tone for a dignified service, without some of the waffly notices our previous incumbent would meander through prior to the service.
There was a fad a few decades ago in some RC places for one of the children to begin Mass by welcoming everyone from the pulpit. It was unbelieveably twee and has thankfully lapsed.
As at @Baptist Trainfan 's Place, a fair proportion of the congregation trickles in at any point between the opening hymn and the Gospel reading (which means they miss Homilies 1, 2, and 3).
And yes, @Nick Tamen , as a veteran of the two biggest Dutch Reformed denominations, I definitely remember the Votum, and the Call to Worship more generally from my Presbyterian earliest youth and Reformed/Calvinist churches more generally.
Officially they're the words of the Introit chanted in Latin by the schola, but the first words from the sanctuary are always "Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," chanted by the celebrant.
Is outrage! All the liturgical guides I have seen (Anglican and RC) encourage any extraneous greetings (like, sorry the churchwarden couldn't manage to get the heating switched on) to come after the formal greeting. But I grit my teeth at those of my colleagues who ignore this. To be fair, it's reasonable for the entrance hymn to precede 'In the name..', but they should be the first spoken words.
• the greeting I described above,
• welcome and announcements (hopefully brief),
• a short (again hopefully) prelude—instrumental or vocal/choral,
• the Call to Worship (responsive), and
• the first hymn.
Occasionally the priest or a warden will give an informal welcome before the service - if we have a lot guests, or if something particularly weird is going on, and so it's thought that a few words of explanation might be helpful - but that's not really part of the service, and would happen before the processional hymn.
Announcements at our place happen after the peace, which seems to us to be the least bad place to put them, particularly as our church are confirmed wanderers and huggers, and passing the peace involves ambling half way around the church hugging everyone in sight.
The liturgy then commenced.
The indigenous lands declaration comes a little farther into the service, usually after the prayer of confession, so it is seen to be part of worship rather than an announcement.
What was the congregation's response? *And WOW also to you!*?
Congregation: And also with you.