WORSHIP - INTRODUCTION

THE PURPOSE OF WORSHIP

Worship is to offer Almighty God his ‘worth’. It is not offered primarily in order to satisfy the inner needs of regular worshippers, although well led worship will certainly do that. Neither is it offered primarily to attract new members to a church, though again well led worship will do that.

It is therefore vital that worship be well prepared and well led, so that it may be the best possible offering we can make to God. Within that context, all public worship seeks to integrate itself with daily life of the congregation; and it will also be accessible to all, so that regular worshipper and newcomer alike will find within it something that enables them to offer their own worship to God.

AUTHORISED SERVICES OF WORSHIP

General

Worship in the Church of England is regulated by the provisions of the CHURCH OF ENGLAND (WORSHIP AND DOCTRINE) MEASURE 1974 and by Canons made under its authority.

The Canons relevant to worship are contained in Section B “Of the Canons of the Church of England”. Prior to being licensed to any office in the Church of England, priests make the Declaration of Assent, in which they promise to use only the forms of service which are authorised or allowed by Canon.

Statutory Services

The law requires that three services commonly known as Statutory Services, should take place in every parish church each Sunday. The three services are Morning and Evening Prayer and Holy Communion. The Bishop may grant dispensation from these requirements. The relevant Canons are:

• B14 of Holy Communion in Parish Churches which states that in every parish church, except for some reasonable cause, the Holy Communion shall be celebrated at least on all Sundays, principal Feast Days and on Ash Wednesday.
• B11 of Morning and Evening Prayer in Parish Churches. This states that these services shall be said or sung in every parish church at least on all Sundays and other principal Feast Days, and also on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
• Readers and other lay persons may be authorised by the Bishop (at the invitation of the minister, or where a cure is vacant, at the invitation of the churchwardens) to say or sing Morning and Evening Prayer. Where there is no Clerk in Holy Orders, or Reader or authorised lay persons available, the minister or churchwardens shall arrange a suitable lay person to say or sing the offices, save for the Absolution.
• However, in Canon B14A, the Bishop of the Diocese (if satisfied that there is good reason for doing so) may authorise the minister and PCC of a parish church to dispense with the reading of these offices. However before authorising such a dispensation for more than three months, the Bishop is required to ensure that there is good reason for doing so.
• Canon B11 also requires that morning and evening prayer shall be daily said or sung by the minister.

Canon B5 makes provision for the Minister at his discretion to make and use variations which are not of substantial importance in any form of service authorised by Canon B1 according to circumstances. Such variations are to be reverent, seemly and not contrary to, or indicative of any departure from, the Doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter.

The Book of Common Prayer

The 1974 Measure provides that the 1662 Book of Common Prayer remains the principal and statutory prayer book of the Church of England. There is no time limit on its authorisation.

The General Synod has no power of itself to alter or vary the service in the BCP, one of the ‘historic formularies of the Church of England’ mentioned in the Declaration of Assent.

The Synod can make alternative provision for matters on which the Prayer Book gives direction, for example, the distribution of alms taken at a Holy Communion service.

With Parliamentary approval changes have in the past been made to the text, for example, the State Prayers, and in 1973 a code of rules to order the service which made practical provision for the incidence of two festivals on the same day, a matter on which 1662 was silent.

Common Worship

Common Worship provides a wide variety of forms of worship, in both traditional and contemporary forms, including (as Order Two) the Holy Communion service in the BCP form as commonly used.

The Alternative Service Book 1980

The ASB is no longer authorised for use in parish churches.

Commended Forms of Worship

In addition to formally authorised material, a number of other resources have now been formally commended for use in parishes. Among these is the extra seasonal resource material to be found in Lent, Holy Week and Easter and The Promise of his Glory (a resource book for the period from All Saints’ Day until the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple – November 1st to February 2nd). Much of this material is now to be found in Common Worship.

New Patterns for Worship is another important resource book for parochial worship. Amongst a range of useful material is A Service of the Word, a form of worship planned with ‘all-age’ or ‘family’ services in mind.

THE CONTENT OF WORSHIP

Decisions about Worship

Agreement about the prayer book to be used in worship must be reached jointly between the Incumbent (or Priest-in-charge) and the PCC. If agreement cannot be reached between them, the legislation provides that the Book of Common Prayer shall prevail unless another form of worship has been recently used regularly. In this circumstance, the advice of the Archdeacon should be sought, since the legislation is too long for reprinting here.

Similarly, when discussion takes place over whether worship should be eucharistic or non-eucharistic on any particular occasion, or whether it should be an adult or all-age act of worship, agreement should be reached by the minister and PCC jointly.

However, the minister retains the right to determine the detail of the form of service so agreed.

Available Resources

The Diocesan Liturgical Committee and its members welcome opportunities to advise parishes over the content and conduct of worship. Members of the Committee represent a wide diversity of churchmanship within the Church of England, and are able sympathetically to meet any PCC.

Praxis arranges occasional training days in liturgical matters both nationally and regionally. Information is circulated to all clergy.

The Ely Royal School of Church Music Committee is also delighted to have an opportunity to consult with a parish about the musical content of worship. The Committee’s brief not only includes the more traditional forms of Anglican church music, but also the newer forms of music from (for example) the Taizé and Iona traditions, and from within the Renewal movement.