Liturgics 2, Session 1.6

Fresh Expressions:

Writing Your Own Liturgy

Anastasia McAteer

Questions:

Your assignment this week is to write an original Prayers of the Peoplethat could be used in your context.The prayers of the people are a very flexible part of the liturgy and the forms provided in our prayer books can be adapted or even replaced. For this assignment, you’ll be working to create your own original prayers.

In preparation for class, study the examples below, thinking about how you’d like to incorporate the given categories for your context. Also, call to mind scriptural words and phrases that you think would fit well in petitions (Psalms are always a great resource!). Please come prepared with a draft, and in class we will workshop the pieces in small groups, with the goal of providing you a workable element for worship.

Note: The bulk of the writing will be done in class.

Before Class:

1. BCP pp. 383-393: read the instructions and skim through the six forms. Note how the categories listed on 383 are reflected in the forms; note also the use of familiar scriptural phrases and the repetitive responses.

2. Read EOW pp. 54-55, paying special attention to the instructions on p. 54, which explicate the BCP forms & instructions.

3.Read the document entitled “Categories of Intercessions – A Template for Writing POPs” (pdf on website).Please bring it with you to class, as you will need to reference it while writing.

4. If you have time, or for future reference, you may wish to look at these examples of POPs I’ve written for various occasions:

Sundays & Seasons 2013, using the template from #3 above:

Palm Sunday (children’s service):

Advent:

Lent:

Barry Taylor’s 10:10 service at All Saints Beverly Hills:

In Class:

For your POPs, you will write a seasonal invitation to prayer, six petitions appropriate to the day or season you choose, and a seasonal conclusion. The six categories of intercessions are to be interpreted in light of the liturgicalseason, the readings of the day (if applicable), world news, and local situations. Each petition should be approximately 30‐35 words.

Petitions can be addressed to God with a response from the congregation (“Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer”), or the prayer can be crafted with biddings addressed to theassembly, followed by asking for their prayers (“Please join me in praying for…”). Whatever you choose, keep the same pattern throughout.

Here is what you’re going to need to determine first before you can start writing:

  1. Are you doing a specific day or general prayers for use in a season?
  2. If a day, look up the lectionary readings and try to use them in the prayers.
  3. If a season, think seasonally! Not just church calendar but also secular (see my Sundays & Seasons example – harvest/planting, mission trips, back to school, secular holidays, weather, etc).
  1. What is your congregation like? If these are truly the “prayers of the people”, then you must consider the way your people think and talk when writing your language; you must think about their concerns, needs, and desires when crafting intercessions. Try to include a variety of demographics (knowing that of course normally you’d have many weeks to cover all the bases).
  1. How many voices will be leading the prayers? Will you have a set response, silence, or varying responses from the congregation? Are the responses rote/pre-written, or spontaneous?
  1. Meta-question to keep in mind and perhaps answer when we debrief: How are your prayers “Of the People”?

More liturgical Resources:

For the Eucharistic Prayer in my “All Ages Palm Sunday” service, we split the leader parts:

St. Gregory of Nyssa’s Eucharistic set up, to get the creative juices flowing for staging, etc.:

A couple of Eucharistic Prayers I’ve written:

For Advent:

For Barry Taylor’s 10:10 service at All Saints Beverly Hills (scroll down past the POP):

Other Creative Liturgies

2014 All Ages Palm Sunday service for St. Andrew’s by the Sea:

A wide sampling of Holy Week liturgies I compiled for the EDSD:

Worship services from St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco:

Note the preparatory materials at the beginning and the stage directions throughout. Very important to have in mind when writing a liturgy.

Resources I use when writing worship:

Bibles:

NRSV

The Message

New American Standard Bible (a word-for-word translation)

International Children’s Bible

biblegateway.com

Prayer books:

Book of Common Prayer

Enriching our Worship

A New Zealand Prayer Book

Common Worship (Church of England)

The Book of Occasional Services

ELCA Worship

Hymnals/Music:

The Hymnal 1982

Worship & Rejoice

ELCA Worship

Lift Every Voice and Sing

Wonder Love & Praise

Music for Liturgy (St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco)

Taize: Songs for Prayer and Songs & Prayers from Taize

Hymnary.org

Texts:

The Worship Sourcebook

Worldwide Worship: Prayers, Songs, and Poetry

The Oxford Book of Prayer

Ted Loder, Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle

Stephen Mitchell, ed, The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry

J. Robert Wright, ed, Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church

Brother Roger of Taize: Essential Writings

Bibliography:

Jonny Baker, Curating Worship

Mark Pierson, The Art of Curating Worship

Richard Giles, Creating Uncommon Worship, Re-Pitching the Tent, and Times and Seasons

Gail Ramshaw, Reviving Sacred Speech

Jana Childers, Performing the Word

Robert Edmond Jones, The Dramatic Imagination

Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

Edward Foley, From Age to Age: How Christians have Celebrated the Eucharist