Congregational Reflection Documents

Reflections on the 8am Congregational Meeting

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussions about our early service. I really appreciated the chance to listen and reflect with you.

From our conversations I basically heard a strong affirmation of this service as we do it. The people who come appreciate the traditional language of the service and the quietness and reflective spirit of the service. There seemed to be a great deal of unanimity around not shortening or cutting anything out of the service, but to keep it a full service. I heard agreement that we should keep the BAS for the most part, but openness to using the BCP on a minority basis, perhaps once a month or in months where there is a fifth Sunday. I also heard agreement around things that would compromise the quiet and reflective spirit of the service. There was discussion about having longer times for reflection, asking people in the foyer to speak quietly, even to the point of rethinking the timing of the 9am service, if it could start later. (That would obviously entail a much longer term discussion.)There was also a strong appreciation of the gathered community in the peace and a wonder if there could be a larger space and time for fellowship after the service.

Reflections on the 9am Congregational Meeting

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussions about our contemporary service. I really appreciated the chance to listen and reflect with you. The discussions were quite animated with lots of good ideas and topics covered.

The first and strongest thing that I heard was an appreciation and affirmation of the work of Tapestry in providing musical leadership for the 9am service. Overall people appreciated the fact that the music was good, contemporary and that there was a wide variety. Tapestry is definitely at the heart of the 9am service. The second thing that I heard was an appreciation for the value of creativity. People who worship at this service connect best with God when the worship is not rote, boring or stale, but rather innovative, joyful and participatory. There is a strong experiential element in the service, the tangible feeling of the Holy Spirit in our words, singing, activities and community. This style of worship lends itself to an informality that is marked by children present and active, appreciation of spontaneous moments of both joy and difficulty, as well as the clergy not vesting. There is an appreciation of variety in the prayers used and the methods of reflection, but while there were some voices who would look for a more radical transformation of the service on a regular basis, most seemed to look for a variety of content rather than in structure. There is a strong appreciation of the gathered community which is strongly symbolized by the holding of hands during the peace as well as the coffee hour afterwards. The service is marked by a desire to allow a wide group of people to participate both in their worship and through the use of their talents. There have been creative ways of enhancing worship, the two of which people most pointed to were the drama and dance ministries. Part of the challenge is to find even more creative ways for people to use their gifts.

Some of the questions raised had to do with evolution of the service where it began with an emphasis on breakout groups, and these groups have been missed by many. Added to this is a desire to listen to a wider variety of voices than just those of the clergy. There were also several voices who have missed the prayer ministry group since it has not functioned at the same capacity it did in the recent past. Another question has been the struggle around the time. The Sunday School has a wonderful program, and yet for several families the 9am is felt to be too early. However, many who feel it is too early prefer the service because it better matches their worship style, and added to this is the fact that there are no children’s ministries at the 11am. There was a strong minority voice that wished to have more 10am combined services. Many people expressed the wish to move the chairs, but also expressed an acceptance that this is extremely difficult given the time constraints. There was also a variety of voices on the amount of worship enhancements such as drama and dance, whereby some wanted quite a bit and some appreciated it on a less frequent basis. The last point was that of hospitality. A few were concerned with the fact that fewer and fewer were participating in that ministry. However, it needs to be noted that the disagreements were not major. Most agreed about the substance of the service and what they appreciated about the service.

Reflections on the 11am Congregational Meeting

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussions about our 11am service. I really appreciated the chance to listen and reflect with you. It was good to be in conversation and listen to what everyone reflected on about the services.

The strongest thing I heard was a real appreciation of the music ministry of the choir and organ and the leadership of Connie and Rob. There was a real feeling that given our size and budget we are fortunate to have the high quality of music that we do. When describing the characteristics of the service itself that were appreciated many people used words like reverence, appreciation of traditions, time for reflection, quiet, but also a service marked by joy and fellowship. Perhaps a good way to put it is to describe the service as attempting to balance reverence and joyfulness. There is thankfulness for the community. Overall people seemed happy with the service as it is currently happening. There was openness to having a regular procession and recession of the clergy and choir, and there was openness to small doses of extra liturgical activities like chanting.

There was less consensus on the number of hymns from the beige book. There was a significant group that liked the more contemporary hymns, just not a contemporary worship setting, as well as a significant group that thought the hymns from the Common Praise were adequate. One question that was raised at two tables was the key the hymns were sung in to make it easier for male voices. Many people appreciated the 11am time slot because they felt it was more difficult to come to an earlier service. There was also concern about the parking issue. Many in the 11am service arrive while the 9am service cars are still there. There were also concerns about the noise as people from the earlier service leave coffee hour. Another question raised at several tables was the role of children and the welcoming of families at this service. There is recognition that there is a tension in not having a children’s program; it makes it difficult for families to worship, and there is added noise to the service from children, but there is also little appetite within the 11am to create a children’s ministry. Overall however, I did not perceive the questions raised and the disagreements being raised to be divisive. There was far more agreement than not. If there was one place of unease that was articulate is a perception that there is a significant split between the worshipping congregations based on history, worship and parish socializing.