The wonder of being in charge of a Salvation Army corps is that your role is extremely varied. One of these variations happened yesterday as I was writing an e-mail to the Baptist minister here in Godalming. He is in charge of putting together the United Service that is held annually on the last Sunday of the year. This year I have been asked to lead the confessional prayer before communion, which personally I feel very honoured to be doing. I actually wrote about corporate confession early on in my blogging experience and highlighted how it can be very useful thing.
Having said that I’m aware of how easy it is for anything that is done week in, week out to become something that becomes simply a habit rather than being done out of any real conviction. With this in mind I started to hunt down form of liturgical confession that was different to the norm and after a fair bit of searching I found one over at Jonny Baker’s blog amongst his 3rd set of worship tricks. Called the Grace confession it actually makes uncomfortable reading and speaks to both the corporate entity of the church as well as at an individual level. So after a very small amount of adaptation I’ve sent it off to be included in the Order of Service.
Whilst I am not one of the voices that is calling out for the sacraments to be brought into the Army’s repertoire of worship experience, I do think that there are some elements of liturgical worship that could be adapted into the Salvation Army experience. Some sort of occasional experience of corporate repentance could be a valuable experience in any corps that struggles to see any use of the mercy seat at all, which of course has been a traditional place of individual repentance.
By the way the actual text of the Confessional Prayer is this:
When our thoughtless criticism stifles the creativity of others,
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy
When we keep a tight hold on power and deny others the chance to participate.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.When we prefer the safety of our holy huddle to the wideness of God’s world.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.When we decline to take risks for fear that we might fail.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.When we praise the gifts of others,
share the power that we are given,
engage with communities beyond the boundaries of our comfort,
and risk everything we have for the sake of others, then,
God rejoices in us.
God rejoice in us.Almighty God,
who forgives all who truly repent,
Have mercy upon us,
pardon and deliver us from all our sins,
confirm and strengthen us in all goodness,
keep us in life eternal,
and may your Holy Spirit encourage us to a new way of living,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Sounds like you are experiencing the good things about being an officer at Christmastime. Good for you! Thinking about you and praying for you!
This sort of thing is and always has been a real turn-off for me…not the idea behind the prayer, or the subject of the prayer, but the format. I wonder if there are ways of doing this creatively? For me personally, responsive readings and stuff don’t do it for me.
Perhaps its a Scottish thing. Even the national church here doesn’t include much in the way of this sort of liturgical stuff, so maybe its the total alien-ness (if thats a word) of the whole thing.
I’m also generally cautions of anything that seems gimmicky in meetings….you know…pick up this stone and do something with it. I think it can actually detract from connecting with God because we spend so much time connecting with the form of worship instead of the object.
Just my feelings on the thing…anyway, hope the service goes well and that you a happy Jesus-filled Christmas!
Whilst I understand where you are coming from Andrew I think we have to consider that God has moved in the hearts and minds of people for many centuries through the use of liturgy. He continues to do this today as well in many different denominations. It may not be our first choice of worship style but our hearts need to be open to His leading in all our experiences. It’s when we close them to any form that have been inspired by Him, especially those we are not so keen on or find gimmicky, then this is where we lose out.
Anyway I pray that you will have a blesséd Christmas!