The Second Sunday of the Month at St Philip's I have received a number of letters about the services on the 2nd Sunday at St Philip's and one was printed in the last issue of this magazine. I am sorry that this is causing difficulty and I know many find my stance on the topic unhelpful. I wish I could see a good way forward that would both meet the criteria for appropriate Sunday worship and have wide acceptance. My main concern must be to provide for and encourage participation in the Eucharist every Sunday by as many as possible. Christianity, unlike Judaism or Islam is an incarnational faith. We believe that in Jesus God actually came to this earth and shared the life of humanity. On the night before he was betrayed he gave to his people the way that his physical presence could continue to be with his people in an incarnated way. It is appropriate that Judaism and Islam do not have sacraments because they are not incarnational faiths, their services are of singing, bible readings and prayers. Christianity is an incarnational faith and so since the earliest days, the church has met Sunday by Sunday to hear the word of God and incarnate his presence, in a very tangible way through the breaking of bread, obeying Jesus command, 'do this in remembrance of me'. In time the Church developed additional services, these were to supplement, not be a substitute for the Sunday Eucharist. More recently some of them have been used to assist outsiders as a step to participation in the Eucharist. I have to say that one of my disappointments with the present 10 am service at St Philip's is that it does not seem to have facilitated that participation; indeed it seems to have had the effect of reducing the participation of some in the Eucharist. And so on the great feast of Pentecost this year, the most important day in the Church's year after Easter and Christmas, a day when both for the early church and for many Anglican churches outside England, participation in the Eucharist on Pentecost was a requirement for membership of the local church, St Philip's had fewer communicants than on normal Sundays. It has been suggested that the Eucharist on the 2nd Sunday of the month should be said rather than sung. I fear that this might reduce attendance further and would, it seems to me, give quite the wrong message. Singing at the Family Service and not at the Eucharist would suggest that the Eucharist was not so important. I would be happier if the choir were just at the Eucharist if the two services are too much for them. It has been suggested to me that one reason the 10 am service fails to help persons into the Eucharist is that there is not enough time between the two services. I would be glad to hear if others think this is the case and which of two remedies we might take. We could move the family service to 9.30 or 9.45 or else each Sunday we could move the Parish Eucharist to 11.15 (for I do think it important it is at the same time each week.) I do recognise that there are some persons who are helped into the Eucharist by participation in a Family Service. I think we need to consider how we might best do this. Two possibilities occur to me. One I have proposed before and many objected to it. This is that we have a service at 11 am every Sunday; in the 2nd Sunday in the month it is a Eucharist especially geared to families and those on the fringe of the church but maybe up to six times a year to start with (that is twice a term) it is a Family Service. The other is that we only have a 10 am service when uniformed groups attend - that would be some 8 or 9 times a year and on 3 of these it is a Eucharist and on other 2nd Sundays in the month there is a Family Eucharist at 11.00am. In this way some may be helped to obtain some familiarity with the Eucharist at 10.00am and move to 11 am on the other 2nd Sundays and so to 11am every Sunday. Again I am sorry I am so difficult about this; I do welcome suggestions, both about how we do the Eucharist and about our structure of services that will both help all who belong to St Philip's to participate in the Eucharist every week and to assist outsiders, those on the fringe into the Eucharist. Christopher Morgan-Jones |