An Instructed Liturgy
by John Allen Bankson
I think it may be time for another instructed liturgy (or instructed Eucharist) at our church.
An instructed liturgy is something we do from time to time. It’s a chance to give the whys of what we do. I try to have one about once a quarter, especially for the benefit of visitors, but also for the young people in our church, and really for everyone else, because we can all slip into automatic pilot mode and forget why we are doing what we do.
I’ve noticed some churches, when they notice a lag in participation, try to solve the problem through punctuation, thus what I’ve dubbed the Seinfeld liturgy. I don’t think punctuation is the answer. I think information will do a lot more than punctuation. Hence the quarterly instructed liturgy.
How does it work? First, allow me to list our typical order of worship and mark those points in the service in which I insert some words of instruction when we do an instructed liturgy.
Entrance Rite
Voluntary
Votum
Sentences (Call to Worship)
Opening Hymn
Acclamation
Collect for Purity
Instruction: A few words about personal and corporate preparation for worship and why the Prayer of Confession (which comes next) is positioned so close to the beginning of our liturgy rather than later on. I also will say something about standing, sitting, kneeling, and lifting hands.
Prayer of Confession
Silent Confession
Kyrie eleison
Assurance of Pardon
Gloria in excelsis/Gloria Patri/other response (varies seasonally)
Synaxis (The Word of God)
Collect of the Day
Instruction: After I’ve gone to the lectern, before I read the first lesson I’ll take a few moments to talk about why we read three lessons every Sunday, why we say “Thanks be to God,” why I read the Gospel from the midst of the congregation, and other points related to the place of the Word of God in our service. I’ve noticed that the “Thanks be to God” response can get very sluggish over time. It helps to remind people, ” If you are truly thankful that God has not left us orphans, but has sent his Spirit to guide the Church into all truth, then let your thanks to him be heard.”
Old Testament Lesson
Psalm of the Day(responsive, antiphonal, or unison)
Epistle Lesson
Metrical or Chanted Version of Psalm of the Day (or another hymn)
Gospel Lesson
Sermon
Instruction: All this added instruction cuts into the sermon time. Or, to state it more positively, the sermon is broken up into smaller portions throughout the service. At the actual sermon time during an instructed liturgy, I will often restate the purpose of a sermon (the exposition and application of a portion of scripture). I will then often use the last bit of the sermon time to give instruction about what is coming next in the service: the Creed, Prayers, Offertory, and Eucharist.
Creed (Nicene or Apostles’, varies seasonally. Athanasian on Trinity Sunday)
Prayers of the People (concluding with the Lord’s Prayer)
Eucharist
Offertory
Doxology
Communion Hymn
Instruction: Typically, the Eucharistic Prayer follows immediately after the Communion Hymn. On Sundays when we do an instructed liturgy, I take a moment at this point to explain briefly our doctrine of the Lord’s Supper and give an invitation to the Table. I also explain why we split the Eucharistic Prayer into two parts: one for the Bread and one for the Wine.
Eucharistic Prayer: Thanksgiving for the Bread (including the Sanctus)
Fraction (Breaking of the Bread)
Fraction Anthem (usually Agnus Dei)
Great Amen
Distribution of the Bread (during which we sing a hymn) –when all are served we partake together
Eucharistic Prayer: Thanksgiving for the Wine
Great Amen
Distribution of the Wine (during which we sing a hymn) –when all are served we partake together
Postcommunion Prayer
Commissioning
Closing Hymn (usually all but the last stanza)
Charge and Benediction
Instruction: Typcially, the Charge is a one- or two-sentence reminder of the main point of the sermon. During an instructed liturgy, I’ll include any final thoughts about the worship service in which we’ve all just participated.
Response (usually the last stanza of the Closing Hymn, with an “Amen” added to the end)
Dismissal
Voluntary
Members and visitors alike have commented on how much they have appreciated these instructed liturgies. We do have a Welcome Booklet that we give to all first-time visitors, which explains our theology of worship and walks through our liturgy step by step, but taking the time to do this periodically shows worshipers who may not yet be as comfortable with our worship service that we are truly committed to bringing everyone along, not just those who “get it” right away.
(One caution: Presbyterians tend to be wordy–a tendency of which this post is ample proof. Before you plan an instructed liturgy, check and see if every service you do is an instructed liturgy. In other words, do you talk everything to death? On a typical Sunday, the elements above will proceed with minimal, if any, introduction. Hymns are never introduced–”Let’s all turn now in our hymnals to hymn number xx and sing “Nothing But the Blood”. That interrupts the flow of worship and is unncecessary patter. Prayers are introduced with “Let us pray.” That’s all that really needs to be said. Allow the drama of worship to unfold without interrupting any more than is absolutely essential.)
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[...] Finally, he posts something By RevJATB I’ve finally posted something on Reformed Liturgical Institute. It’s about the instructed liturgies (or instructed Eucharists) that we have from time to time at JKPC. [...]
Good words. Our worship has a liturgical bent to it. I took clues from Red Mountain Church in B’ham, AL and added brief explanations in the worship folder. This serves to assist newcomers and non-Reformed types and allows verbage to be kept to a manageable leve.
…that’s manageable leveL.