Page 3 - PC Winter 2023-24

Connection
MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY
Why We Worship As We Do: Orders of Service, part 1
presbyterian.ca
WINTER 2023
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Connection
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By the Rev. Ian Ross-McDonald, General Secretary
There is an adage that says that “we shape worship and then worship shapes us.” The maxim speaks to the reality that how we worship informs our spirituality and influences our understand- ing of the faith. Because worship shapes how we understand God, the adage also reminds us to plan and order worship and to provide for and celebrate the sacraments carefully and thoughtfully.
In a helpful resource written for the PCC in the 1980s called Dox- ology: A Perpetual Celebration, the Rev. Dr. Joseph McLelland wrote that: “Worship or liturgy is the orderly response to the pres- ence of God in nature and grace.” So we often ask, “What is the right way to worship?”
In our tradition, we understand that the minister is responsible for the conduct and content of worship, while the Session is re- sponsible for regulating the hours and forms of worship, arranging special services and determin- ing when the sacraments will be celebrated, and providing for their administration. The PCC does not have a standard order of service or rubric that ministers and Ses- sions must follow as they fulfill their respective duties. For hun- dreds of years, the PCC’s cus- tom has been to provide orders of worship for ministers to use and adapt. Likewise, there isn’t instruction on how or how often the Session should provide for the celebration of the sacraments or which special services should be planned. This practice has enabled the church to “...praise God with unity of mind and spirit, while at the same time allowing
for the diversity which encourages freedom in Christ” (Introduction, Book of Common Worship, 1991). Providing appropriate Christian liber ty within a frame of general uniformity in worship, as well as in preaching, theology and the organization of congregations and church cour ts, has always been a strength of the PCC’s life together.
Sometimes there are differenc- es of opinion over “the right way” to worship. Orders and forms of worship are important and they are worth wrestling with, but not worth fighting over. Ministers and Sessions do well to work together as they fulfill their responsibili- ties regarding worship. What is worthwhile is learning about the different aspects of the liturgy and
their meaning, and then thinking deeply and regularly about why, when and how we do what we do together in praise of God.
Some questions worth consider- ing when thinking about worship: • What do our orders and forms of worship say to and
about God?
• How does scripture form and
shape forms of worship?
• How does worship helps
create community?
• How do forms and orders of
worship nurture and mature
faith and spirituality?
• How are our forms and or-
ders of worship informed by our heritage (scripture, his- tory and custom), and how are they informed by forces such as the congregation’s size, history, composition, church architecture?
• When is repetition and rou- tine used, and where is there space for creativity, sponta- neity and surprise?
• When is there space for si- lence, celebration, solemnity, joy, experiencing mystery and learning?
• How and when are our or- ders and forms of worship cross-cultural, trans-cultural and counter-cultural?
• How are our forms and or- ders of worship enriched by customs and practices from other Christian traditions?
• How do the orders and forms of worship respond to God’s call to follow, and how do they equip people for service and life in the world?
Thinking about these and other questions in the regular review of the form and order of worship is important. Equally important is to remember one of the basic prin- ciples of reformation that says, at the core: “Whenever we see the word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments ad- ministered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists.” The centrality of preaching and the sacraments in the life of the church set the course for the next two features in the series “Why We Worship As We Do.”
CORRECTION NOTICE
In the Summer 2023 edition, page 22, the caption incorrectly read that the Rev. Julia Apps-Douglas was inducted as associate minis- ter at Knox Presbyterian Church in Vankleet Hill, Ont. It should have read that Julia was named Minis- ter-in-Association. Our apologies for this error.
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