A Calendar goes out from the Hull Unitarians bimonthly (meaning once every two months) to an obviously small readership of attenders and other members scattered around the country. On that basis, two pieces submitted, likely to appear in the next one and the one after, are on to my website immediately. They concern the matter of writing and presenting services and the editing of hymns to be placed on CDs for the purposes of worship. Both can be accessed from the Unitarian Resources page on my website.
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3 comments:
A fascinating and comprehensive essay on the difficult art of taking a service.
As a musician I am sad to hear that any well established church needs to use CDs for accompanying congregational singing.When I was secretary of a chapel,over thirty years ago,we had a brilliant 16 year old organist, who regularly thrilled the often small congregation with stunning final voluntaries as well as accompanying the hymns ; I am sure that it ought to be possible for any chapel to seek out suitable young people to provide organ/piano accompaniment for a Sunday service by offering a small honorarium in return.
The problem with chapels supplied by visiting preachers is that it is much harder,in the absence of a lectionary as in the Anglican service, to include participation by members of the congregation, so that the service can easily become a solo performance,rather than a collective act of worship.As Duncan McGuffie's survey of Unitarian liturgies remarks, the decline of the Unitarian denomination has been marked by a decline in the creation of any fresh modern liturgies.
I agree with that approach: advertise for a capable person.
Soon I'll post about a congregational assessment (Saturday), that part which can be public.
Duncan McGuffie, of course, now has no problem with liturgies, as he is an Anglican priest in Essex.
They won't appear in full. One has been reduced drastically to fit, with a notice to read online, and the other will just be a notice to read online.
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