As lives change, so does worship

Statesman Journal ^ | February 27, 2006 | TIMOTHY ALEX AKIMOFF

[hiho hiho]

Sunday traditionalists long have been divided into two categories.

For some, Sundays are sacred -- reserved for sleeping in, coffee, slippers and the morning paper.

But for many, Sundays are a suit-and-tie affair complete with pews, hymnal and lunch at Grandma's favorite buffet.

Busy lifestyles and time, or the lack thereof, are changing that.

At St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salem, a 5:30 p.m. Sunday service that began Jan. 15 caters to the Sunday-morning minimalist who wants a little spirituality with her coffee and slippers.

"There are a number of ways to grow a congregation," said the Rev. Bob Burton, the rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. "One of the most practical is to offer a worship experience that's not already on the menu."

So the church worship committee decided to offer a new-look Episcopal worship experience, minus a few things.

For those familiar with the Episcopal liturgy (similar in traditional elements to a Catholic Mass), gone are the vestments, gone are the Gabriel Kney tracker action organ and formal atmosphere of Sunday morning.

Instead, participants meet in the church library, under subdued lighting, where a guitar plays instead of the organ pipes and orchestral brass.

The priest appears in casual clothing and offers what Burton calls an interactive message that includes a question-and-response time with the attendees.

Although the new Sunday-evening service offers participants a slimmer version of the normal Episcopalian worship experience, Burton said he wants everyone to understand that it is not designed to water down what the church believes.

"Flexibility and tolerance are not necessarily watering down the truth," he said.

"It's an organic version of spirituality," said Anne Burton, who is married to Bob Burton.

[hiho hiho]

"Flexibility and tolerance are not necessarily watering down the truth,"

I'd say the Episcopal church is a little too flexible and a lot too tolerant!

[caseinpoint]

Suppose you were invited to a reception with a governor (you admited) or President Bush. You would dress in "Sunday best", wouldn't you? So why is the Lord entitled to less respect than our worldly leaders?

I belong to a formal church where men look like men and women look like women. We are also strongly discouraged from doing anything that requires others to miss the Sabbath because of work, therefore "Grandma's favorite buffet" is not part of the Sunday plan. Sunday isn't a day of rest in the leisure sense because we are busy checking on congregants, visiting the sick and shut-ins, studying scriptures, serving others. I can't imagine church and Sunday any other way.

[Gingersnap]

Why bother to show up at all? Can't the priest just email everybody on his "worship" ping list?

And the ECUSA can't understand why they are losing members to more traditional churches.

[sassbox]

Sunday evening services aren't bad per se. Some Catholic parishes have Sunday evening Masses which attract many people, especially teens, that may not have made it to Mass otherwise. Saturday evening they're already out on the town and Sunday morning they want to sleep in. Obviously these are not really good reasons to prefer Sunday p.m. Mass. However if you can initially get kids into church and give them solid preaching and give God reverent worship, they often later go on to develop a more mature faith. They'll start to see why worshiping God takes priority over sleeping in or going out. Of course this all assumes that the Sunday evening Mass or service is geared towards worshiping God - not trying to be hip or "organic" - whatever the heck that's supposed to mean.

[sionnsar]

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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

[AnAmericanMother]

Our parish has a Saturday Vigil Mass at 6 p.m. and a Sunday 5:30 p.m. Mass.

I have found it very useful for weekends where the kids have lots of activities. Of course there's always the 8 a.m. . . .

If I am away from home on the weekend, the resources at www.masstimes.org are very helpful. Of course, you never know quite what you're going to walk into . . . I was out of town for a dog show and wound up in a LifeTeen Mass . . . I do NOT recommend that for anybody who wants to preserve their hearing! (I did note that there was an ASL interpreter for the deaf at the service - couldn't help wondering if if was for folks who were already deaf, folks who anticipated becoming deaf, or folks who just couldn't hear because the electric guitars were cranked all the way up!)