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Second Worship Service Observation at St Martins:
The second observation done at St Martins was on the tenth of April, 2016. The first observation was during the period of lent. It was observed that the layout and decorations inside the church had not changed since the first observation, leading to the assumption that there was no different, specific layout or decoration for the lent and Easter period. The worship service began with the worshippers joining in with the choir and enjoying songs of fellowship. While observing the singing, it was noticed that the church was considerably fuller than it was at the last observed worship service. After the songs of fellowship were completed, temporarily, there was a reciprocal prayer from the Anglican prayer book — from which the liturgy is taken, namely :”The Holy Communion”:
All: “Almighty God to whom all hearts are open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your
holy Name; through Christ our Lord.
Prayer leader: “Lord, have mercy.”
Congregation: “Lord, have mercy.”
Prayer leader: “Christ, have mercy.”
Congregation: “Christ, have mercy.”
Prayer leader: “Lord, have mercy.”
Congregation: “Lord, have mercy.”
During the prayer, all the worshippers in proximity had theirs heads bowed and theirs eyes closed — even when a member of the clergy is praying from the altar. Proceeding the prayer was ‘the collect’ for the second Sunday after Easter. At this point there was a small amount of laughter and humour due to the confusion surrounding whether the worshippers should be seated or standing. While on a more informal event, it was about fifteen minutes since the worship service began and there were worshippers arriving and entering the church. Thus it seemed there was no fuss made over late-comers from other worshippers, clergy or the worshippers arriving. These new arrivals found a vacant space on a pew. They slowly found their way towards the front of the church due to the church, seemingly, having filled up with worshippers from the back of the church as its pews were crammed full of worshippers. On the contrary, there was considerably more space, or vacant seats, at the pews towards the front of the church.
Following ‘the collect’, there was the Old Testament and Psalm reading. The relevant readings were read by a worshipper from the congregation — this was not the case at the last observation. The readings in the previous observation were read by the clergy on duty. The prayer, that was read from the Psalms, was read in a monotone fashion by all the worshippers. Some of the worshippers followed along in the Bibles that are provided in the pew rails.
As noted above, there was a miscommunication earlier that concluded with providing humour among the worshippers and clergy. There was a second miscommunication made by one of the clergy to the worshippers, however it was promptly corrected by the organist The organist was also the choir leader, the correction was made as the worshippers were standing up to join in song.
During the singing of the hymn, there was no mumbling along from the worshippers. The majority of worshippers sang with vigour and some display of emotion. There was no dull drone that can be associated with more aged hymns. This hymn was followed by the New Testament reading and as it was read the worshippers responded with “Praise Jesus.” The worshippers were still standing, since the beginning of the hymn, while the reader continued with the reading. Many of the worshippers were following along with the reader, in the Bibles provided in the pew rails and chair bags. The reading ended with the worshippers proclaiming “Praise be to Christ our Lord.”
The next liturgical ritual was the chanting of the Nicene Creed, which was done in a poetic rhythm yet a monotone fashion — recited by the worshippers and clergy alike. The sermon preached at this worship service was preached by one of the lay clergy and not the priest, even though he was on duty and seated behind the lectern. The preacher is a lady, who was soft spoken and preached delicately. She appeared calm and revered as she spoke to the worshippers instead of ‘lecturing’ at them. It was observed that she preached as if she had practised her sermon over and over again, she did well to keep eye contact with the worshippers — seldom reading from her notes.
Following the service was a call to prayer, a moment was made to the worshippers that allowed them to assume their various, preferred, praying stances. The ‘synaxis’ began the prayer, the first part of which was in line with the sermon that was preached. The second part of the prayer was a prayer for Jesus to enter “our homes”. The third part of the prayer was that “we” would count in His numbers. Forth, was a prayer for a time of praise. The fifth part of the prayer, was broad and was a prayer for the blessing and direction of South Africa’s political leaders. The final part of the prayer was a communal prayer, which was reciprocal — where the worshippers responded to what was being prayed for by the ‘synaxis’. This served as the closure of the prayer. At the end of each of the parts of the prayer, mentioned above, was a response from the worshippers. Their responses, however, were not as in unison or rhythm as was the case earlier in the worship service. Another prayer followed the prayer that has just ended. This prayer was a prayer for peace and was prayed before ‘the peace’. Immediately after the prayer, the worshippers began to turn and greet those around them with “Peace be with you”, responded with — as was the case in the last observation — “and also with you” by each the worshippers that was greeted. Again, in repetition of the previous Sunday, the priest and the lay preacher descended from the altar and walked through each pew, greeting each and every worshipper as they went. They shook hands with each person and uttered the phrase:
“Peace be with you.” In response, the worshipper muttered back: “And also with you.” Throughout the duration of this process, the worshippers — led by the choir — sang hymns and songs of fellowship. Their shared voice was loud, clear and pleasing to listen to. There was emotion involved in their singing. The vigour of the singing was aided by the sizeable choir, that led the way.
Once this ritual was completed, the worshippers stood waiting in silence for the next instruction as the clergy prepared the table for the Eucharist. The blessing of the elements was done in prayer by the lay preacher, whose sermon was heard earlier, the worshippers responded to certain parts of the prayer. Proceeding this, the priest read a prayer from a book on the altar. The congregation, typically, responded at the end of each part of the prayer. An instruction was given for the worshippers to join in song, as they did so a few children entered the church — assumedly finding their way to their parents. The worshippers, then seated, prayed once again. The clergy were kneeling in front of the table while the priest blessed the elements and read the last supper narrative. The priest then read another prayer — the worshippers responded at the end of the prayer. The clergy then returned to behind the table, joining the priest, this was followed by the singing of the Lord’s prayer. At the last observation, the Lord’s prayer was said not sung. Many of
the worshippers were kneeling as they sung the Lord’s prayer.
There was a massive crescendo as the congregation sung the final lines of the Lord’s prayer, this showed and evoked emotion among the worshippers, clergy and choir. Once the singing was completed, another prayer followed and was related to the Eucharist. This was followed by a period of silence. The same worshippers that were kneeling during the singing of the Lord’s prayer were still kneeling.
As with the first observation, the choir went forward to receive the Eucharist first. However, in the last observation the clergy received last, at this observation they received first — while the choir were waiting, kneeling at the rails. Once the choir returned, the foremost pews — full of worshippers — led the way in receiving the Eucharist, followed pew by pew until the back of the church. After receiving the Eucharist, the worshippers made their way — one by one — back to their seats. Once they had returned, they bowed their heads or kneeled in a state of prayer or meditation. All the worshippers, whether kneeling or sitting, had their heads bowed.
Chapter 1: An Introduction
Chapter 2: Research theory and methodology
2.1. Practical Theology as a field of study
2.2. The concept of interdisciplinarity
2.3. The key concepts
2.4. Research methodology
Chapter 3: The empirical data
3.1. What is going on in the worship services
3.2. What is going on, as told by the interviewees
3.3. What is going on with the interviews and the worship services
3.4. Concluding remarks
Chapter 4: Interpreting the empirical data
4.1. Ritual-liturgical interpretations
4.2. Liturgical-ritual interpretations .
4.3. Interpretation through Pastoral Care
Chapter 5: Normative interpretations and learning from good practise .
5.1. Key concepts from within the field of systematic theology
5.2. A normative liturgical-ritual approach
Chapter 6: A liturgical-ritual theory for praxis
Appendices
