There is something captivating about seeing glimpses “behind the scenes.” I know it’s a bit geeky but I always found it quite exciting when I came across sermons and preachers notes when tidying up the church and seeing how different they were! Bishop Richard’s sermons were perfectly typed in largeish print, double spaced with page numbers and arranged on the page so that there were no awkward page turns halfway through a paragraph. Fr Peter Delaney, the former Archdeacon of London, underlines his typed script in red pen to show emphasis and dynamics - like an actor or voice artist (perhaps an echo of his previous work in the film industry in Hollywood?) Fr Luke, the current Archdeacon, hand writes “word maps” on the order of service - with key words to remind him what to say - I have seen him adapting these right up to the start of the service - but he still delivers a flawless sermon, without reading word for word from a script. Impressive!
This latest book from St Martin in the Fields is perfect for anyone, like me, who loves having a nose behind the scenes to find out how things were done. But “Liturgy on the Edge” does much more than that. Through succinct commentaries by members of the clergy, music staff, PCC and members of the congregation, the book makes clear the connection between what was done and why - surely something all those involved in “doing liturgy” should be asking, all the time?
The book begins by defining the words in its title. Liturgy is described as a sequence of “principally of actions and secondarily of words that embody and portray the way the church gathered as a congregation together relates to the God of Jesus Christ and is transformed by the Holy Spirit.”
A vital thing to remember! Does everything you do in church fit this description? This isn’t just another of those “make sure it’s all about God” books though - although there are several reminders of that throughout - the focus of this book is how to embody Christian faith together, as a community. The secret to good liturgy, according to the SMITF team, is to be prepared; and to remember that responsibility for doing it well lies, not just on one person (a member of the clergy) but on a number of people working together; hence the varied contributors to this useful resource.
“On the Edge” refers to the Vision Statement of St Martin in the Fields, which also gives its name to the new ecumenical network that was launched by the church in 2016 to support renewal and growth through sharing expertise and experience - the network is called HeartEdge. This quote, from a former archbishop, is a good summary of its values;
“If you ever lose your sense of the intensity and urgency of faith, go and hang out with those who still have it - and the chances are that they’re among those the world regards as the least, the last and the most.”
St Stephen Walbrook, where I am a member of the PCC, has a partnership with St Martin in the Fields and is a founding member of HeartEdge. Like St Martin’s we are also based at the heart of London - the centre of the City (and the middle of Roman London) - the “London Stone” which marked the centre of the city, was located in our parish before being moved to the Museum of London. Our circular altar, designed by Henry Moore, surrounded by circular pews by Andrew Varah, are a physical manifestation of Christian witness at the heart of the city. We also have a history of serving those on the margins and at the edge - through the work of the Samaritans, which was founded here. Our ministry supporting wellbeing in the workplace and in particular those at risk from and affected by suicide, is growing.
Being “at the heart” and “on the edge” is about more than geography - or the shape of your altar - whether your church is at the centre of London (like St Martin’s on Trafalgar Square) or the centre of the City of London like St Stephen Walbrook - or neither, it is still at the heart of the community it serves, making this book relevant to all. Chapter 3 “Annual Special Services” includes inspiring scripts for Palm Sunday and Nativity plays which could be used or adapted for your church.
Chapter Two of the book “Acute Pastoral Services” showcases what St Martin’s has become renowned for - the ability to pitch liturgy perfectly in response to challenging and difficult events, supporting those on the margins of society both socially, economically and also spiritually. It provides commentaries and sample orders of service for those affected by suicide, developed after St Martin’s was approached by the Alliance of Suicide Prevention Charities, which is of particular interest and relevance to us at St Stephen’s. Services for those who have died homeless and those who are missing are described with suggested readings, hymns and commentaries showing how a balance was found between the needs of the diverse congregation in attendance. The use of art and other symbolism is powerful. The extracts from Mark Oakley’s sermon and Jim Cotter’s hymns in the notes for “Where Love and Sorrow Meet - A Service of Lament and Hope to Mark the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act 1967” are inspiring.
The book begins with ideas for services described as “Attractional Worship” - reaching out to serve those people who are not easily attracted to more established, formal liturgy or do not wish to form part of a ‘static’ congregation. I now help to deliver one of the services described - ‘Start:Stop’ at St Stephen Walbrook. Start:Stop allows busy commuters passing our door on Tuesday mornings to start their day by stopping to reflect for ten minutes. The service was designed by our former Priest in Charge Jonathan Evens as a non traditional Anglican service which serves its time-poor congregation by offering intelligent reflections based on a short bible reading and concluding with prayers, all in the space of ten minutes (the traditional liturgy at this time of day being too long for most busy city commuters). The ten minute reflections are repeated on the quarter hour six times from 7.45am allowing people to come and go as their schedules dictate; rather than the church dictating the schedule for them. As we have continued to deliver the service since Jonathan moved on, we have sought to maintain a link between the reflections and the world of work. Jonathan writes:
“Start:Stop is an example of contextualised ministry that works with (while sometimes also challenging) the actual and real experience of working people. As a result, connections are made between faith and work, and the church is seen to be supporting the well-being of people through its pattern of worship and pastoral care.”
Through my involvement in HeartEdge I have seen other examples of similar contextualised ministry being used as attractional worship - All Saints Hertford run a “Hot Choc Stop” for parents and children returning home from school - offering fellowship and an opportunity for pastoral encounters.
Chapter 4 draws on St Martin’s history of outreach using different forms of media to broadcast the Gospel to the world. The church was home to the first Radio 4 Christmas Appeal in 1924. The book provides tips on live-streaming, podcasting and broadcasting services in a way which will engage with a diverse audience. Perhaps my favourite tip comes in the introduction by Sam Wells and Andrew Earis;
“Make sure the sermon is about God. It seems obvious but it needs saying.”
The service outlines provide interesting reading for their content as well as their practical hints. The Great Sacred Music Podcast on the work of Mrs C.F. Alexander is a wonderful reminder of the origins of the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful and the carol Once In Royal David’s City, which she wrote in order to explain the Apostles’ Creed to a child.
I found the final chapter, which shares the title of the book, to be the most engaging. It includes the most contributions from lay members of the church and aims to give insights into “the manner, the understanding and the tenderness of recognising what people are carrying in their hearts when they abide for an hour or a decade in the centre of a global city.”
The focus is on inclusive worship; inclusive reminds us of the desire to involve as many people as possible in the liturgy and remain close to the needs of the community; worship reminds us what the liturgy is for and the need to ensure that anything that might distract from this is avoided. While the message of the book throughout is to show what could (rather then should) be done, I think it would do no harm for all churches to reflect on the advice in this chapter - even if they are the type of church which does not have a tradition of involving lay people in the liturgy. “How to Welcome” “How to Sing” and “How to Give Notices” would be obvious starting points.
In the introduction, we are reminded that liturgy is most often a “portfolio of learned and remembered gestures...that are sufficiently embedded in the individual and collective memory that they provide an infrastructure within which the changing, emerging and seasonal elements of the occasion can flourish and grow.”
In this chapter we are given ideas about how to introduce new elements around remembered phrases - how to adapt liturgy to respond to the needs of our communities - how to flourish and grow. Writing a more personal form of confession using the structure of the Kyrie is something I would like to do in the future. I took part in an Ash Wednesday Service this year at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction in which we were asked to write down on a small piece of paper something for which we wanted to confess, perhaps something about ourselves or our personalities that we felt we needed to change or an action or inaction for which we were sorry. These slips of paper were burnt and turned into the ashes that were used later in the service, which we applied to each other.
I like the idea of processing objects to the altar as offerings of thanksgiving. A great hero of mine is Fr Basil Jellicoe who processed giant papier mache bed bugs through the streets of Somers Town to raise awareness of the appalling living conditions in the slums he campaigned to redevelop. I wonder how he gave thanks once he had secured sufficient funds and the houses were built and in use? Reading the sections on “Celebrating Gifts” and “How to Give Thanks” made me think about our Business Harvest Festival at St Stephen Walbrook, which has its roots as an Industrial Harvest Festival in Bolton where our former Rector, Chad Varah was a curate. There, members of the congregation processed an industrial sized boiler up to the altar! At St Stephen’s our Harvest Festival invites working people to bring a symbol that represents their working life and process this to the altar during the service. The parish is home to insurance and financial services companies, art dealers, restaurants and a large wine importer; everything from bottles of wine to copies of business reports have been processed and placed at the altar.
My previous church is in the borough of Enfield, which is home to London’s only working flour mill and a large vineyard; it is possible for churches there to use locally produced bread and wine during the service! While a parish wine making day sounds a bit ambitious, maybe a collective bread baking session could be organised, with each person making a small piece of bread from local flour; which would be processed to the altar, blessed and distributed.
As well as giving thanks for ‘things’ the book suggests that Patronal Festivals are a good time to focus on the divine gifts or talents that we have been given. Our Patronal Festival at St Stephens falls when the church is closed - so we tend to celebrate with a service followed by a summer party, around the time of the Transfiguration - can we do more to develop this ministry of thankfulness at this time?
Liturgy on the Edge is a well presented and perfectly pitched book that prompts both thought and action on the practical and theological aspects of liturgy and has certainly sparked off a lot of ideas. Recommended reading for all!
Liturgy on The Edge was published by Canterbury Press in 2018 and is available from the St Martin in the Fields shop and online.
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