• Admin
  Home
• Contents
• email us

• What We Do Today
  Worship
• Activities
• People
• Diary
• Rotas
• Reports
• Features

• Faith & The Church
  Church & World

• Dymock's Past
  People Features

Christian worship usually comprises at least three main parts: (i) giving God his worth [praise] (ii) asking his help or favour [prayer] and (iii) receiving spiritual support from him [by listening to what he has to say through the Scriptures or Sermon or 'receiving him' directly in Holy Communion].

Present day Christian worship is best understood in the context of worship down the ages: (Return to top)

Immediately after Jesus' death and ascension back to heaven, his followers continued to worship in the Jewish synagogues, until the Jewish authorities banned them, but they also met in each other's homes to pray and 'break bread' as Jesus had instructed them (Acts 2:42-47). (Return to top)

As the Christian Church began to grow, two main centres developed - Rome in the west and Byzantium (modern Istanbul) in the east. In the west, the Bishop of Rome became known as 'The Holy Father' ('Papa' or in English, 'Pope') and was recognised as the most important bishop, so the Roman way of doing things took the lead in everything, including worship. Two main variations developed, one for worship in cathedrals and churches and the other for worship in monasteries. Most people couldn't read, so it was common for the priest to say most of the Service and the people mainly to listen, repeating only a few important parts after him such as 'The Lord's Prayer' (Matthew 6:5-15). (Return to top)

The church aimed to be universal (the Latin for universal is 'catholic'). Everywhere in the west adopted the Roman style of worship, including the Roman language (Latin) even though most of the the local population couldn't understand it, so the western church became known as the 'Roman Catholic Church'. (Return to top)

Although some small variations were allowed, a set format evolved which largely defined what was said and done - liturgy (From the Greek 'leitourgia' meaning worship of gods). Liturgy defines the actions as well as the words. The liturgy allowed little variation in format, since what you did and said reflected your faith, and as the faith was thought to be unchanging, so the format of the worship should be unchanging. In consequence, the prayers, hymns and language were little changed over many centuries, except for occasional innovations, such as the introduction of 'Gregorian Chant' (a type of 'plainsong') by Pope Gregory in the 6th century. (Return to top)

Prostrate Position

Kneeling Position

The church either reflects the practices of the society in which it is set, or itself sets an example which society copies. For instance, it was common in those days for 'lesser' persons to show homage to their 'superiors' such as a feudal overlord or king by kneeling in humility before them, so the kneeling position was adopted for worship before God, especially for saying sorry for misdeeds (confession) and when praying to God. Some even went so far as prostrating themselves on the ground, especially when showing remorse for their sins. (Return to top)

A Chained Bible

Henry's chief bishop, Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury, produced a new Service in English by translating the Missal and combining parts of the cathedral and monastery worship, as well as adding a few new parts of his own after the new 'Protestant' style developing in mainland Europe, where Christians were 'protesting' against corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. Never the less, the 'feel' and style of the new worship was similar to the Roman format. However, the new liturgy needed a new name as the Latin word 'Missal' was no longer appropriate. (Return to top)

Cranmer complained that the practice of worship in the churches had become too lax, there were too many variations in what was being read or said in different churches. Consequently, his new Service Book was explicit and defined what should be done and how, and what should be said at each part of the worship on each Sunday throughout the year. It was therefore called the 'Book of Common Prayer', since its practice was common in every church throughout the land. (Return to top)

Over the next few decades, as each new monarch took over, they issued their own version of the Prayer Book, making further adjustments to the worship until, in 1662, James I authorised his version of the 'Book of Common Prayer' (BCP) and a new translation of the Bible, 'The Authorised' or 'King James Version' (See The Bible). These remained the unchanged basis of Church of England worship into the 20th century, and are still in use in many churches today. (Return to top)

Experimentation with revised forms of worship continued, and in the mid 1960s 'Series 2' and then 'Series 3' alternative Services were introduced. In general, Series 2 introduced new structures (the order of doing things) and Series 3 changed the language to English as currently spoken. (Return to top)

In 1980, this experimentation culminated in the production of the 'Alternative Service Book' (ASB) which introduced a range of worship for all occasions incorporating both the new style and current language - from Baptism and Marriage to Daily Worship and Holy Communion - but the 1662 'BCP' remained the principal authorised form. The ASB was authorised for 10 years, and then for a further 10 years, 20 years in all. This 'experimentation' ended in the year 2000 with the introduction of the new Church of England prayer book called 'Common Worship'. (Return to top)

Common Worship - Book Cover

For instance, Worship for Sunday Morning begins with 'The Gathering' to bring the separate worshippers together in a focus as the 'Body of Christ'. 'Common Worship' then provides 20 versions of confession of sin (wrong-doing) and 13 versions of absolution (forgiveness of sin to be said by the minister) incorporating several different styles of words to suit different tastes, occasions, or seasons of the year. Even more versions have since been provided in additional volumes for different seasons and types of Service. (Return to top)

The same principal of providing different variations within a common framework is applied for all types of Service - Communion, Baptism, Marriage, Funerals, making of Priests, etc. As a result, there is not just a single book but several volumes of 'Common Worship' for the different types of Service and seasons of the year. (Return to top)

'Common Worship' also acknowledges the advances in modern reproduction systems and encourages individual congregations to produce their own Service booklet or sheet incorporating the variations they prefer, or even to project the words on a screen instead of using printed words, if that's their choice. However, as with the ASB experiment, the 1662 'BCP' has been retained as the 'norm' for Church of England worship. (Return to top)

The aim of Common Worship is to give God his worth (worship) in a way that's meaningful to different types of modern people, and so enable them to relate both to God and to the worship being offered. (Return to top)