"I don't know if we can keep it up I much longer."
We were having a discussion about worship; she was the chair of another church's worship committee. I'd always admired the energy she poured into each service, but it looked as if she was approaching "worship committee burnout."
"I wonder if we are reinventing the wheel every week," she said. "We find it harder and harder to make our services fresh and new."
Spending their day pinched into street shoes or treading dusty ground with only a flap of leather to protect them, feet fulfill an unflattering, though necessary, function. Feet are not glamorous; they are the workhorses of the human body. In fact, to some of us, they are an embarrassment when not housed in footwear. Ceremony that exposes our bony, chubby, knobby, ugly smelly, or crooked feet is to be avoided. It is a quaintism, we think, that we can do without.
Ash Wednesday is an ancient holy day in the Christian church calendar. It marks the beginning of the season of Lent—a time of penitence, discipline, and renewal. In the Ash Wednesday service we are reminded of our mortality, we confess our sins, and we experience forgiveness through Christ's death and resurrection. The "imposition of ashes" is a central part of the service. During this time you are invited to come forward to receive the ashes on your forehead.
Christ, the Life of All the Living
It was lucky Conroy was in his office. Otherwise Jamie Laarman might have spilled it all to the secretary. That's how badly he needed to unload his frustration.
"He's not coming back in," Laarman told his principal. "I've had it with the jerk. He's pushed me over the line, and he's gone."
Conroy swung his chair away from the computer screen and stood. "Shut the door," he said. 'And who's got your kids?"
This Easter sunrise service is intended for a relatively small intimate group. It draws loosely from the Easter Vigil tradition, and through experience and participation tries to develop an awareness of and an appreciation for some historic Easter traditions. The music is simple, familial; and minimal, so neither an accompanist nor a hymnal is necessary. The sermon consists primarily of quotations from Scripture, minimizing the minister's work during an already very busy week. The italicized instructions are only for the information of the worship leader.
Cast: Narrator, John, Thomas
Running Time: Approximately 6 minutes
This reader's theater piece is conceived for a variety of settings. It works equally well as a static piece (read at miavphones with limited gestures) or as a staged reading. In a staged reading, saipts are still carried in a bindei; but movement and gesture patterns are specifically determined. The following rendering of the script indicates only broad movement patterns.
Exodus 17:8-16; Romans 8:31-35
Sometimes we run scared because our prayers to God seem to fall on deaf ears. Is there nobody out there? Is God unable to help us? Doesn't God care? Or have we been such a disappointment that God has just given up on us?
It's time for church organists to stop apologizing for their "performance" in worship. For years people have been suspicious of the word "performance," usually reserved for more involved worship music played by well-trained organists. They Ve somehow had the idea that any music included in the service should be simple and ordinary, not complex and technically difficult.
[See accompaniment in All Praise to You Eternal God by Donald Busarow.]
"All Beautiful the March of Days"; "... the year in beauty flows ..." (v. 3)
[PH 292.RL 9]
"As Those of Old Their Firstfruits Brought"; "... but share your love with neighbors, too..."
[PH 414]
"Eternal God, Whose Power Upholds"; "... in speech that flows to melody..." (v. 4)
[PH 412]
