BCP - Evensong - Sunday, 26 July 2020

Psalm 75
1 Kings 6.11–14,23-38
38 Acts 12.1–17

Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Evensong - Sunday, 12 July 2020

Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Evensong is a sublime service using text from 1662.

The BCP is still THE principal prayer book of the Church of England - and long may that situation last.

BCP Evensong - Sunday, 14 June 2020

Can't explain how much I got from conducting the BCP evensong - the service is another example of the blessings that the Book of Common Prayer brings to the liturgical life of the church.

Particularly fin when got tongue-tied with Ahimalech :-)

So what's it like being a Vicar? (Third Service: Evensong)

So it's Sunday and it's 6.00pm and it's time for another service to entrain the troops and keep the clergy from becoming bored. This time, although we have sung Eucharists and communion services and the like to pick from, we're going to be doing a BCP (Book of Common Prayer) Evensong -  a service that hearkens back to 1662 and so contains Thee's and Thou's and the like.

This is a wonderful service with the choir singing an anthem and the person leading it entering into the wonderful world of 'versicle and responses' which means that I have to sing a line and the choir respond. It's great fun with a bit of added edge as it not only has to be in tune but I also have the responsibility of keeping the timing and everything straight so the choir don't end up singing the right stuff in the wrong way.

We have four hymns and the two readings, which are most definitely not the same readings as the other services, and a short sermon or homily (under ten minutes) on the text before you. I think mine was about seven minutes for this service and so - everything done and dusted - we were finished around forty-five minutes after we'd kicked off.

The homily can be heard HERE
And for those who don't know evensong here's the order of service (complete with versicles and responses):

Click here for order of service

Book of Common Prayer - A dinosaur?

That's how it was described to me recently. In fact I was told that it was a 'relic of the past' and my companion went to great lengths to tell me how BCP and evening services ought to be a thing of the past (along with robes, choirs and all 'that old -fashioned' stuff)!

Last Sunday I was privileged to engaged in a BCP sandwich, beginning with an early-morning communion services and ending with evensong (a Common Worship communion as the filling) and I found it to be an extremely uplifting and rewarding experience. The communion, a 'said' service, appealing to the mind and challenging us as we heard the ten commandments (outside of this service, when was the last time we encountered them I wonder?) and such wonderful words as:

'Here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and lively sacrifice unto thee'

There is no doubt that this service brings us to a place of penitential encounter with the risen Christ in a stunningly simple manner using words and stillness that are rarely found within our fast paced, music-ridden, services. It appeals to head and heart and provides a space that so many of us, with its accompanying silence, appear to almost fear these days.

The evensong with Psalm and canticles - and let's be fair, pointing and singing them have always been a challenge for many of us - is a very different kettle of fish indeed. After all there are hymns (which I've swapped for some of the modern offerings with great success) and space for an Anthem (the choir's showpiece spot and a chance for us to be touched by something splendid) too. Combine this with a gentle, steady and measured progress through the words and what you have is something that marries reflective and contemplative and offers insights and opportunities for true encounter.

But of course my colleague didn't agree, claiming BCP services were, 'So samey and repetitive'! My response to this being, 'Of course the worship band offering is different every time isn't it?'

Well of course it isn't, although my colleague did accentuate the importance of changing the services to make them attractive ('if you don't they get bored and stop coming!'), something that raises the question: Are our services engagement or entertainment ? Are we concerned with quality and efficacy of the worship we offer or merely looking to the numbers of people turning on and tuning in? Ratings or relationship? What a cruel thought (which I kept to myself of course)!

Another person popped in to the conversation and dismissed it all with simple side-swipe that dismissed BCP as 'too cerebral' and reiterated how evening services 'just weren't popular anymore' - just goes to show that you can't win. But perhaps we need to look at the popularity of evening services and their decline (I favour blaming weak and ineffective clergy and television bringing such offerings as the Forsythe Saga, Upstairs Downstairs and the Onedin Line to show that you could be entertained, moved and engaged on a Sunday evening at home rather than bored to death in a church building.

The glove was laid down then - I wonder when the Church will think about picking it up and engaging in the battle for ratings - not with entertainment but with a contagious, compelling and appealing faith?

ps. I think there is a place for all forms of worship style and wonder whether we are guilty of not trying to introduce BCP, Taizé and other forms of worship to our members because we fear they might not 'like' it. I think there is merit and value and potential for encounter in every form (even the Rupert Bear Prayer Book [Blast!]) if we bring it to a people who we have prepared correctly. A people who are willing to seek God outside of their own comfort zones (which of course means those who lead need to be outside their own first, doesn't it?)

Keep Calm - Go to Evensong

I guess this image says it all - Evensong is cool and relevant in today's society.

Why not give it a try?

351 years of hitting the spot - sorta says it all!

What makes church valid? post the first

An interesting discussion on the question 'what makes a church valid' soon stretched into what makes a service valid too.

After all, if you put on an evening service and you get six or seven people turn up for it, is this an effective use of the clergy's time?

Does the fact that those who come would not have come to a church service had the evening service not been on offer suddenly make it valid?

What about the same service with only four turning up, where does the line get drawn and how long is it before we perhaps consider the example from the Old Testament (Gen 18: 16 - 33) and find ourselves pleading for our services in the same way that Abraham pleaded before the LORD for the inhabitants of Sodom:

When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know. The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

Then Abraham approached him and said: 
“Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing - to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

So can we take from this passage some guidance? Do we decide that 'valid' church has to have more than ten in a service?

Do we look at fifty (midi church) as the number that renders a congregation, fellowship or church as valid?

Do we take one hundred (large church) as the critical mass (sorry not knocking high church here, honest!) and the number that confers validity, efficacy and sustainability?

I know of a person for whom, in my view, the existence of a church service is made valid because they cannot do morning services and because there is an evening service provided they can remain part of Church and come alongside others to worship. The fellowship, the provision and the ability to come before the Lord in a church setting all conspire to make this a valid service.

But what of those buildings which see but a handful for their evensongs, should we decide that they are 'no longer to be tolerated' after all, if we stop these services we can stay at home and watch 'Downturn Alley' and the like. To quote a colleague, 'They don't want to come out and I'm happy to let them!"

Are numbers the deciding factor?

Are we merely becoming lazy or downhearted when we resign ourselves to the fact that once of a Sunday (and in the morning) is enough?

Church - How do you like yours (and why and what and how and who and . . . )

How many do we need in a place before we can save it and those within I wonder?

BCP, NMA and a sublime experience

As a dog-collar I find myself called upon to perform a number of roles in a number of places and one of those in the top tray has to be that of having the privilege of being the Chaplain to the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffs.

Now for those of you who don't know what this place is, it is home to the 'Armed Forces Memorial' (AFM) a structure which bears witness, and acts as a memorial, to those who have died in the service of this nation of ours since the end of the Second World War. Every year (this year 21st July) the names of those who have fallen in active service are added in a wonderfully moving service.

Last night the Arboretum was privileged to have the chapel resound to the sound of Macclesfield's 'Thomas Cranmer Choir' at a BCP choral evensong with Bishop William Pwaisiho OBE (Hon. Asst Bishop of Chester) as the preacher (the sermon being a blessing in itself).

The Choir gave a superb rendition of Peter Aston's 'So They Gave Their Bodies' as the introit and treated us to two anthems 'The Souls of the Righteous' (S Marchant) and 'Give Us The Wings Of Faith' (E Bullock) to make the evening complete (musically).

For me the having to sing the versicles and responses was nerve-racking (I hate solos!) but was more than compensated for by the liturgy of the 1662 evensong and the opportunity to sing a Psalm (46) and the Mag' and Nunc'. The hymns were the icing on the cake, for who can fail to be blessed by 'Praise to the Lord the Almighty, the King of creation' or moved by 'Eternal Father, strong to save'? We even made a good job of 'I vow to thee my country' with its often challenging vocal range and left at peace following 'Now thank we all our God'. Hallelujah or what?

We will surely be repeating this wonderful service in the chapel and can I say that for those of us who think the 1662 BCP services are dead and worthless, that there is a need to get out more - for when the timing and rhythm is right, this is an invitation to celebrate our tradition and to find a sacred space. For those who think that music and worship is all about composers who are still living, go give it a try, for God is to be found residing in our hymns, anthems and in the heritage that is English Sacred Choral music.

Pax