Category: Worship

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A common communion use in Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian churches

Something for me to put a pin in, and for perhaps someone else.

I suspect that most of the common, historic Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian communion rites — those descended from King’s Chapel excepted, but including James Martineau’s — can be traced back to Frederick Henry Hedge’s translation of the Liturgy of St. James.

This would be a helpful hint in trying to improve those rites with integrity.

It would also be interesting to see when this liturgical influence was adopted, and when it was dropped. I think this task would be helped by the right bit of typography, to make the development more clear.

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Say no five times (sure to irritate everyone)

Two weekends ago, Hubby and I went to IKEA, going most of the way by subway. On the ride, we made a list of habits and practices that we would not accept in the new church. In a low moment, we thought the church just might as well have no people — that’s one way to fix the problem! — but we regained our composure over lingenberries.

But on reflection, there are some things that I will insist on. And I’m sure I don’t have a single reader who will agree with all five. Here goes.

  • No flaming chalice. Apart from being a Unitarian (that is, not Universalist) emblem, the rituals associated with what could be a simple lamp-lighting have gotten too often sectarian and even a bit creepy.
  • No Sunday School. This is a mode of faith formation who’s time has passed. There have to be better options, especially considering the space and liability demands it brings. One of many reason I read Unitarian Universalist minister and blogger Dan Harper.
  • No liturgically-collected financial offering. We’ll take money, and perhaps even on Sunday if there’s no fuss, but if it really is “the sacrament of the free church” then we need to revisit our ecclesiology and class assumptions. And I don’t know a single young person who carries checks; some don’t even have any, and I’m not betting on bills with zeroes on them. Hint: they do use PayPal, Google Checkout and the like. Plus it probably causes more anxiety among guests than the good it creates. Heck, the last time Hubby and I were in church together, the usher passed us by. There’s no winning with this.
  • No membership book. That is, a literal book. Again, this isn’t 1830.
  • No children’s story in worship, also known as “a quaint tale for the sake of the adults using minors as set pieces.” And, on a personal note, at 6-foot-4, I’d have to be folded into thirds to be anywhere near the wee ones.

Whew! that’s a load off. And to think there are still some people who think I’m a traditionalist crank. (I’d add “no fattening snacks with coffee” but that might cause a riot.) Now, surely you can see how reasonable that all is, no?

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Meeting to worship; why ten?

In the UUA Rules comes this tidbit:

For purposes of determining compliance with Section C-3.5 of the Bylaws, a member congregation shall be deemed to have conducted “regular religious services” if it has held at least 10 services during the fiscal year.

The fiscal year is July 1 to June 30, but that’s not the important part. Section C-3.5 concerns certification, and with it General Assembly voting rights. Being uncertified three times opens your church up to being categorized as inactive, though I suspect the fact of inactivity precedes the administration of it.

So why ten services? Why not twelve, or two?

I think this rule is noteworthy for two reasons. First, it sets a minimal objective standard by which activity can be measured, and so distinguish running congregations from summer chapels — which persisted until the 1980s — or from encouraging an entity that uses the name and cachet of “church” to operate some other kind of organization, however useful or well-intended.

And this standard protects congregations from the (unlikely) charge of not meeting regularly enough for worship. I’m referring back to the associational test the IRS has for churches. I don’t think this is a coincidence, particularly since one of the questions a church-applicant (and recall a church doesn’t need to apply, but may to have a verifiable determination from the IRS) answers (PDF) is

Do you have regularly scheduled religious services? If “Yes,” describe the nature of the services and provide representative copies of relevant literature such as church bulletins.

This may not be the main reason, but the floor of ten services does seem to offer cover, and the UUA seems to have good counsel with respect to the Almighty IRS.

Second, I hear an echo to circuit riding, as a former circuit rider myself. Thinking back a few decades (or generations), church could expect to get a minister to lead worship at least once a month. But sometimes harsh weather made summer worship unbearable in the South, and winter worship impossible in the North. And while air conditioning has (largely) solved the first problem, icy roads and the cost of heating oil does little for the second. I’m sure I’ve seen instances of New England congregations close in January, or move to an alternative facility.

Worship once a month, less the hardest months, sounds like ten services a year to me. Other theories?

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Weekend inspiration #1: Church of South India church calendar

Ever since I bought a copy of the 1963 Church of South India Book of Common Worship on a trip to London in 1997, I’ve been impressed by its liturgical quality and how it negotiated various forms of churchmanship. (It has since been succeeded for use in the CSI, but the English versions of parts of the new book leave me cold.)

I’ve praised the old book before, so check here, here and here for details and links, including liturgy portions and a spreadsheet I made for what I’m calling tier one below.

But it also proves helpful for the sanctoral cycle project I’ve embarked on.

  1. It takes the church year and breaks it into three tiers: Sundays and main holidays; saints days and other commemorations; and a way to commemorate others who are specifically named.  This is helpful, because it implies an increasing level of optionality, making the whole scheme more useful for different kinds of churchmanship. (A “low” evangelical can stop with the first tier, but an extensive devotion of the saints can be locally preserved by reaching out to the third.)
  2. The second tier is relatively modest and reformed. The sometimes-inflaming word saint isn’t used, for one. I could be quite happy with if if the national pieces were removed, the lone CSI observance substituted for something Universalist, and if All Souls were added. (That also being a Universalist distinctive.) A provision for additional persons, including Old Testament figures, could be added using the third tier.
  3. There’s relatively limited jargon, once you know what a “proper” is — and its an efficient and meaningful term worth learning, if you’re planning worship.
  4. The third tier uses what the Episcopal Church (USA) and others call “the common of the saints.” Helpful if you’re starting from scratch and don’t know if a particular person or group have quite become observance-worthy. And with a small tweak, can be helpful for funerals, especially for spiritually weighty people.
  5. It’s worth remarking that I intend the sanctoral cycle I propose to be used with Second Universalist, Washington, and isn’t offered as a general resource for Universalist Christians. But it may be so adopted and the rubrics below suggest a way that other churches may modify a calendar for their own reception.

So here are the headings and categories for the three tiers, or tables (their term). No further content, since it’s in copyright, but once you have the categories (and dates), it makes hunting for resources easier. The bracketed dates in Table III suggest alternatives; note particularly the suggestion that Stephen’s commemoration be moved, to not get lost within Christmastide.

The Propers

Bible Readings, Collects, and Prefaces, Proper for Sundays and Special Days, Seasons, and Occasions

Table I

Sundays and Other Special Days of the Christian Year

Table II

Special Days on Fixed Dates (Other than Christmas Day)
Nov. 30     Andrew
[Dec. 26    Stephen]
Jan. 1      Covenant
— 25       Paul
— 26       Republic Day
[Feb. 2     The Presentation]
Feb. 15     Stephen
Mar. 25     The Annunciation
Apr. 25     Mark
May 6       John the Apostle
June 11     Barnabas
— 24       John the Baptist
— 29       Peter
July 22     Mary Magdalene
[Aug. 6     The Transfiguration]
Aug. 15     Independence Day
Sept. 21    Matthew
— 27       Inauguration of CSI
— 29       Michael
Oct. 6      Thomas
— 18       Luke
Nov. 1      All Saints
—         Harvest Festival
—         Meetings of a Synod
—         Dedication of a Church

Table III

Common Forms for Commemorations
Unless the Synod shall authorise a list of persons who may be commemorated in the public worship of the Church, each diocese may make its own rules.
  1. Apostles
  2. Martyrs
  3. Faithful Women
  4. Preachers of the Gospel
  5. Pastors
  6. Teachers
  7. Doctors of the Church
  8. Healers of the Sick
  9. Prophets and Reformers
  10. Pioneers and Builders
  11. Servants of the Church
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The church calendar, liberal Christians and the sanctoral cycle

Three guiding principles for Second Universalist’s worship. It should be, where possible and principled, in union with the ecumenical middle of the Christian church; its liturgical resources should be commonly owned, liberally licensed or in the public domain; and the cycles of the church year should be publicly stated and approved.

As a collorary, would be no room in worship for events of a purely national or social nature. What, exactly, is the Christian significance of the Fourth of July, save it being evidence of churches being co-opted by patriotic respectability? And how comfortable are we with Mothers Day if — as I’ve seen in some churches — the definition of motherhood has to be stretched out to accommodate the childfree and men?

But perhaps a more conspicuous change from Unitarian and Universalist Christian practice is a richer sanctoral cycle than has been commonly used. The Christian church year recounts the life, mission, death and resurrection of Christ, with Christmas and Easter as its two poles. On top of this, Christians have a calendar of saints and observances — independent of Christ’s life — that is the sanctoral cycle. Normally, we associate this practice in its most elaborate form with the hierarchical churches: Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans and to some degree Lutherans. One sign of Protestant reform is to pare away the saints, perhaps removing all but the saints mentioned in the New Testament. Or, dropping the sanctoral cycle, leaving only the observances related to Jesus himself. Or taking it down to just Easter and Christmas. Or at the radical end, seeing Sunday alone as the only observance.

But, we have seen, with the vacuum this creates other observances creep in, like the Fourth of July and Mother’s Day, or quasi-Christian ones like Bible Sunday. In this way, ironically, mainline Unitarian Universalism has then re-filled a secularized sanctorial cycle with observances that seem saintly. Consider the United Nations Day (October 24) observances that were so common until recently: functionally, a secularized version of (itself modern) World Communion Day? And how many UU churches have a Martin Luther King commemoration in January? And the surviving practice of All Souls Day fits in this scheme. (Some, however, are just ghastly. Consider Chalica. Or don’t.)

All in all, I think I’d rather go back to the traditional approach, if somewhat more reformed than even the Episcopalians have. (And Martin Luther King would be remembered in April; death dates, not birth dates, are the norm.) Here’s the article that several years ago introduced me to the idea of a modern Protestant sanctoral cycle revival.

And hold on to your hats, for I think the Eastern Orthodox and conservative Lutherans have something to offer: the commemoration of Old Testament figures. So the dates and some resources (Bible readings, prayers, hymns) wouldn’t have to be invented from whole cloth.

And last, add in very judiciously a handful of Universalist observances, including some commended by the Universalist General Convention itself. That is, were selected and voted upon by our spiritual ancestors.

Now that I’ve presented the concept, I’ll soon recommend a calendar.

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The shortest wedding service

A post-church, post-lunch interlude. Found this in a decades-old Unitarian ministers’ manual. Why would someone choose this service? Perhaps for a wedding in a hospital, at a sick-bed, or for a couple in mourning where the solemnization is otherwise unavoidable. Or by two who really do want the shortest service possible!

Later. Left out a rather important part, however implied it may be.

From A Handbook for Ministers. Volume 1. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1925. Page 32.

A Marriage Declaration

Where a mere declaration of marriage is desired the following may be used:

¶ The minister shall say:

Standing as you now do in the presence of God and these witnesses, do you covenant to take each other as husband and wife, and agree to live together as God’s ordinance and the laws of the land decree?

¶ Then shall the man and the woman each say:

I do.

¶ Then shall the minister say:

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the State, I pronounce you husband and wife.

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The wedding service, legally speaking

In 2004, after marriage between persons of the same sex became legal, I wrote a blog post about what a pastor might do when the couple had already vowed themselves to each other in the only spheres available: the social, religious or both.

Husband Jonathan and I are clear that our wedding seven years ago was real, if legally imperfect and that our ceremony a couple of weeks ago was not to replace it, but finish it. To underscore this, we kept the ceremony short, informal and with language echoing back to 2003.

In full, here’s what we did, or rather what the Rev. Victoria Weinstein led us in.

On July 5, 2003, at the Universalist National Memorial Church, you Jonathan Padget and Scott Wells, vowed to each other before God and the congregation, to have and to hold one another from that day
forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death shall you part. You sealed this vow by holding hands, exchanging rings, and with prayer and the breaking of bread.

Today, you come to add to your wedded state marriage under the law of the District of Columbia. Is this your intent?

Each: It is.

[Turning, holding hands.]

I, Jonathan, take you Scott to be my lawfully wedded husband.

I, Scott, take you Jonathan to be my lawfully wedded husband.

Forasmuch as Scott and Jonathan have thus pledged themselves each to the other in the presence of these witnesses, I do now, by virtue of authority vested in me by the District of Columbia pronounce that they
are married.

The Lord bless you with his love as a mantle on your shoulders, a crown on your foreheads, and a seal upon your hearts.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the companionship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Needed we more?

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Legally married

As some of you know, on August 21, Jonathan Padget and I legally married at home in the company of some local friends. He and I were married at church in 2003, but now that the District of Columbia marriage law encompasses same-sex couples we wanted to “complete” our marriage. (The liturgy follows.)

The Rev. Victoria Weinstein, perhaps better known to blog readers as PeaceBang and the author of “Beauty Tips for Ministers”, conducted both the 2003 and 2010 services. And here’s the proof: a photo by Avelino Maestas.

Thanks to them and the others present — also to those who wished us well from afar.

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1907 Esperanto hymn and service book

I transcribed and have just now published the Esperanto booklet Ordo de Diservo — “Order of God-service” — prepared for the third Universal Congress of Esperantists, in Cambridge, England in 1907. (A brief Wikipedia entry, if you read Esperanto.)

Some — Esperanto readers anyway — will love the charming original hymns while others will enjoy the translated Anglican morning prayer service.

Thanks both to Ros’ Haruo of Biblioteko Culbert, Seattle, who published scans made by Karl Heinz Schaeffer from a copy in the possession of the German Esperanto Library, Aalen