Before Covid (BC), at St Paul’s Church (Spennymoor), we were in the habit of using service booklets for our Sunday morning communion services. When we returned to the building after lockdown, we quickly moved everything to the screen, and that has continued, at least so far. This has certain advantages, of course, but one of the disadvantages is that it makes it difficult for newcomers to know what will be happening later in the service.
Another issue with Anglican liturgy in general is that there seems to be a conviction that the liturgy should ‘just work’, without any need for explanation. Service books don’t explain the rationale behind the service (understandably: they are wordy enough as it is), and it is clunky when leading a service to keep stopping and explaining things. The result is that many people have never been told why we do certain things in a certain order.
We’re currently trying out the document below (four sides of A5), which aims to guide people through the service, but without duplicating material on the screen. (We use Holy Communion Order One from Common Worship.)
To make it more accessible, symbols are included, thanks to SymWriter by Widgit. (Our licence allows us to share a small amount of material online, but I’m a bit uneasy about sharing the symbols in an editable file, so I have removed them from the Word version.)
I’m particularly excited about my ABCD outline to the communion service: All Together, Bible, Communion, Dismissal (also known as: The Gathering, The Liturgy of the Word, The Liturgy of the Sacrament, The Dismissal).
Here’s an excerpt:
