Sarx

The Sermon The Presider (or another preacher) preaches seated as Jesus and other rabbis did (Luke 4:20), and as Christian preachers continued to do until liturgical preaching faded in the early middle ages. The scriptures lie open on the preacher’s lap, for ready reference. After the Sermon and a third Silence, [...]

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The Yearly Liturgical Cycle The yearly reading series forms the Calendar — a cycle of feasts and seasons surrounding the Easter commemoration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Revised Common Lectionary, an ecumenical project, sets forth three readings each Sunday: one from the Gospels, with two choices for an Old Testament reading related [...]

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We continue with the serialised posting of Rick Fabian’s Worship at St Gregory’s, by permission of the author and publisher.
Procession The deacon invites children to retire for Church School (they will have their own service of Bible reading, teaching, prayers, song, silence, and play, before re-joining us for the eucharistic meal) and summons [...]

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[With this post from Rick Fabian's Worship at St Gregory's, we move from discussing the building and ministers to discussing the Liturgy itself. I believe this is what you people came here for. - DHR]
At Hagia Sophia - the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in the Roman capital of Constantinople - liturgy began with clergy [...]

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We continue with our serialised posting of Rick Fabian’s Worship at St Gregory’s, by permission of the author and the publisher.
The symbols at our church entrance reflect Gregory Nyssen’s distinctive teaching. His last book, The Life of Moses, presented Moses as an ideal for all to imitate, in becoming God’s friend. Our entry [...]

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We continue with our serialised posting of Rick Fabian’s Worship at St Gregory’s, by permission of the author and the publisher.
Visitors entering St Gregory’s may find the church strikingly arranged: the altar table stands in an open space before the entry doors, where people gather chatting before worship. Icons of dancing saints circle overhead. [...]

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Continuing our serialised posting from Worship at St Gregory’s by Rick Fabian.
A service’s opening moments can set the context for all that follows, and these begin even as newcomers approach the church building. Our Members adopted a mission statement reflecting Gregory Nyssen’s teaching: “St Gregory’s Church invites people to see God’s image in all [...]

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We continue with our serialised publication of Worship at St Gregory’s by Rick Fabian.
Editor’s note: having recounted the history of Christian liturgical ministers The text continues now with the local adaptation of those ministries at St Gregory’s parish. - DHR
Christian services classically feature three orders of minsters working together: laypeople, deacons and [...]

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Continuing in the serialised posting of Rick Fabian’s Worship at St Gregorys
A few reformed churches (Anglicans, Swedish Lutherans) kept the monarchical episcopate and the aristocratic Roman ministry chain, though now on a local level, and much simplified. Some churches (including the American Episcopal Church) even began electing their bishops and presbyters locally once again. [...]

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Continuing with our posts from Worship at St Gregory’s by Rick Fabian.
The lapse of lay communion after the fourth century, and later canons forbidding laypeople to carry or even handle the consecrated bread for fear of witchcraft, only reinforced this Cyprianic notion that the eucharist was something the presiding clergy did, and laypeople watched them [...]

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