Being an Abbess - A sermon for the Ethelfleda Festival

Texts: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Gospel: Matthew 13.44-52

I used to think that St Ethelfleada was a local saint whose fame had not spread very far from Hampshire, but recently I changed my mind! One of the tasks I have in my new job is to attend national gatherings of Fresh Expressions Associates at Swanwick conference centre in Derbyshire three times a year. At one of these gatherings I was queueing up for the bar (as you do!) and  overheard a couple of snatches of conversation from the person in front of me. “Ethelfleada...Romsey”. And so I asked. “I hope you don’t mind me butting in. But I’m fascinated to hear that you just mentioned Ethelflaeda. I’m preaching at the Saint Ethelflaeda festival this year in Romsey.”

To make this incident all the more interesting the lady concerned was actually from Wales (even further from Hampshire) and was a Quaker. “Oh yes, she said. “I enjoy wild swimming, and I was just saying that because Saint Ethelflaeda used to immerse herself in ponds and sing psalms at night, she should be the patron saint of wild swimming!”

It seems to me to be entirely understandable that history would focus upon the more spectacular tales of Saint Ethelflaeda; the light streaming from her fingers after her candle was extinguished at Matins, the Queen discovering her praying in the fountain at night ....yet it seems to me that the message most pertinent for our times here in Romsey Abbey, is the fact that Saint Ethelflaeda was an Abbess and a good abbess, who built up and cared for those within her community and those in need outside it - an inspiration to us all to care for others. 

When this Abbey was founded in Saxon times it was placed under the rule of Saint Benedict and this is what the rule says about the election of an Abbess. 

“In choosing an Abbess the guiding principle should always be that the woman placed in office be the one selected by the whole community acting unanimously in the fear of God, or by some smaller part of the community....Goodness of life and wisdom in teaching must be the criteria for the one to be made Abbess, even if she is the last in community rank.”

"Goodness of life" and "Wisdom in teaching". A wise teacher would be sufficiently knowledgeable that they could make sensible decisions about the future direction of a community, and one who led a good life would be resistant to the temptation of corruption that power can sometimes present, and who would also be generous to those in need. What gleanings we get from the historical records testify that Ethelfleada was both these things. 

On this occasion, and at this particular point in the life of Romsey Abbey, it seems to me that it would be good to consider the subject of community further and what makes good and healthy community. We are at the point in time where new communities are about to be birthed, and yet older, more established communities need to be nurtured and cared for too, “Like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old,” as the gospel reading for today's feast reminds us. 

At times we are all called to be community leaders, like abbots or abbesses of our own communities - in small ways or larger ones, temporarily or for a long period of time, for one project or event, or for something more longstanding. 

For eighteen years I functioned as an Abbess of sorts, to what would now be called a new monastic or small missional community called Visions in York, although I was originally employed as a musician before I trained for ordination. We met for worship in another Saxon building, St Cuthbert’s in York, and started a number of new services and events, including Transcendence, a multimedia High Mass which took place in York Minster. Visions taught me a great deal about living and working in very close proximity with people. We didn’t all live in the same house, but we did pool some of our resources. Visions also taught me about the power of creating something together, and the power of “we” rather than me. I learned about healthy community relationships and what healthy disagreement might look like too. Sadly in the mid 1990s I also saw was bad community looked like. Friends of ours in Sheffield were part of a community called NOS which went bad, where power and people were manipulated by one arrogant authoritarian leader, and a number of close friends lost their faith because they were so badly wounded by the experience of having their self-worth shredded. We were so worried by witnessing this that we brought in a church colleague who was a spiritual director and group dynamics counsellor to work with us to check that our community relationships were healthy. She reassured us that we were in no danger of going in a similar direction, but also taught us how to become even healthier. She taught us that it was easy for loud voices to monopolize any conversation, but it was important to create ways for the quieter voices of the deep thinkers to be heard; through creating opportunities for written feedback, but also by the simple process of noticing when someone is sitting quietly in a meeting and inviting them to speak. 

Whatever we lead and whoever we lead, one of our greatest inspirations should be the text of our epistle this morning from St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and I am certain that it has inspired many abbesses over the years, including St Ethelflaeda. 

“For in the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body”.  

We all belong.    

We all have a part to play. 

Some of us are ears - the listeners, those who offer pastoral care.

Some of us are eyes, the artists the visionaries, the dreamers. 

Some of us are the practical hands, those who arrange the chairs and make the coffee, those who clean and clear up. 

Some of us are like sweat glands. We may not feel visible but that does not mean that we aren’t included. Maybe, like sweat glands, we stop everything from overheating and turning into a terrible argument.

Some of us are the knees, quietly praying for those in pain, essential, supporting and undergirding everything else, for as the psalm says “unless the Lord builds the house the builders labour in vain”. 

In fact Paul assures us that some of us who feel they are unimportant or invisible are in fact indispensable. We simply couldn’t manage without them. A good and wise Abbess, like Ethelfleada would understand how to empower and release those unseen and invisible ones into their giftings, knowing that they need to learn before their gifts will be fully realised, but they will learn in a supportive and loving community environment. The Abbey’s work in more recent times with young choristers is a marvellous example of this but I also look forward to seeing some of the new ways that this will happen in the new services and communities of the future. 

So finally, let us all be inspired today by the stories of Saint Ethelflaeda, but rather than letting it rest there and letting her light fade, let us use her example to be abbesses and abbots in our lives too, spotting and nurturing the talents of those we know, building community amongst our friends and neighbours and enjoying the diversity of the wide net that is the Kingdom of God where there is a welcome and a place for everyone.  Amen. 

Staying well and avoiding those pesky colds

UPDATE: This post was written before the Coronovirus situation: please just follow current government advice with a virus this deadly.

I'm posting this because I'm a singer and also a priest, and therefore, over time I've found some ways to avoid a lot of the colds going around over Autumn and Winter, but before sharing some hints and tips please be aware that I am not a doctor. Please, therefore check with a proper doctor before using, especially if you are in a vulnerable group.

When I was a cathedral Precentor I was expected to sing Evensong on a daily basis, sometimes to very large crowds (up to 1500 on special occasions), but, as a priest, I also met a lot of people, some of whom inevitably had germs. especially at Christmas. Over time I learnt some ways to avoid at least some of these germs, but I didn't escape entirely.  I would still  have one or two colds in six months . But this was a great improvement on when I was younger when I had a cold every few weeks. So here is what I did, As I'm not a doctor I can't promise on the efficacy of all the techniques, but if you avoid at least one cold this winter, then maybe I've made the world a slightly better place!

1- Vitamin intake. The merits of vitamin C have been widely publicised, but many adults are also lacking in vitamin D, particularly in the winter. There have been recent studies on this. (Google vitamin D and immune system to find some research). Taking Echinacea Purpurea may also be useful as a preventative measure. Studies seem to suggest this is a good idea. But there may be a downside I don't know about. (see above - check with your doctor!) . I take all 3 of these, plus I aim to have a healthy diet with lots of fruit and vegetables.

2- Water. We don't drink nearly enough of the stuff, and studies say that keeping well hydrated does help. (Again, look up the studies for yourself).

3 - Sleep.  Get sufficient for your needs. It varies with each person.

4 - Exercise. Even when you're feeling tired do some moderate exercise. I found I was too busy to get out to a gym so did some mild aerobics every day for ten minutes or so at home.

5- Try to stay some distance away from someone with a cold, and also please have the courtesy to do the same with other people if you know you have a cold. Tell them! They may be vulnerable or work with someone who is immune compromised.



Now I have saved my top five methods for last.

1 - Get the flu jab. It doesn't cost very much these days and will rule out a number of very nasty infections.

2- Use hand gel. Particularly before and after shaking someone's hand (as we do during the peace in communion services). You do not want to share your germs with someone else and I'm sure they don't want to give you theirs.

3 - Do not touch your nose mouth or eyes or eat unless you have washed your hands or gelled your hands.

4- Saline spray. I now use Sterimar (other sprays are available). It is brilliant! It is simply salt water (so you can make your own solution if Sterimar is too dear). I use it as a preventative when I've been around germy people. I also use it when I'm coming down with a cold. Even when I have a heavy cold it makes blowing my nose more pleasant and unblocks my nose. I use it when I've been near a plant I am allergic too (I have mild hay fever sometimes).  It's just awesome! (no they haven't paid me to say this). I used to get colds every time I flew in an aeroplane but after using this I can fly out on holiday and actually enjoy myself without getting ill. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I also gargle with salt water if I have been near someone with a sore throat

5 - I used to wish that there was something like saline spray but for the chest and throat colds that also go around. There were a few winters where I didn't get a single head cold (due to the Sterimar use) but did get sore throats and chest infections. Then I found the salt pipe! Again there are several brands around. I use the Cisca one. (No, they don't pay me to say this!) It is just salt in a plastic container shaped like an inhaler. You simply breathe through it. It is meant to imitate those salt caves that people use as therapy in some places. I don't know if any studies have been done on it, but it seems to work for me. The instructions say use it for five minutes at a time. I don't usually. I just do 30 seconds or so as a preventative or if I felt that something was coming on, and it cut the number of chest and throat infections I had dramatically. (Of course this may be coincidence but I don't think it is). I can't see a downside as it's just salt, but it's always a good idea to check with a doctor if you're not sure.

Anyway there are all the things I do. Perhaps they might help you too. Perhaps some of it might seem like overkill to you, but I used to work with professional singers. If they had a bad cold they couldn't work. But actually for those of us who work with vulnerable people like the elderly or those undergoing chemotherapy a virus may have very nasty consequences for them. So I see it as part of my way of showing love to others, to try and not share my germs with them.

Smoke - Part 2

In my last post I talked about the "theory" behind incense, giving some historical background and biblical texts. Now I'm going to get onto the practical side of things. I will assume that you are total novices when it comes to using incense and hopefully there will be something to help most people. 

Firstly, before using incense in church at all, you have to think about the building itself. How large is it, and most importantly, where are the fire alarms? Can you isolate any of the smoke detectors? Or are they going to start screeching the minute you fire up the incense? If you do have to switch them off, make sure you have some alternative arrangements in place for fire detection and evacuation. Stay safe!

Next you will need something to burn your incense in. I know of four choices here...

1 - You may have access to a church thurible (incense burner). Alternatively you may not have one, but would like to make one.

2 -  A simple thurible can be made using an old sweetcorn or fruit tin, punching some holes in it, and adding chain from a hardware store. You can generally do this for less than a fiver! Make sure you punch holes near the bottom of the tin for better air circulation. 

3 - You can use a bowl or tin filled with sand, which can be stood on a pedestal of some kind, preferably somewhere where it cannot be knocked over, for example in a church sanctuary area. 

4 - You may have a small domestic incense burner or Orthodox hand censer. These may be a little small for church use so I would recommend solutions 1-3. 

Thirdly you will need something to burn; charcoal and incense. 

Charcoal can be purchased from a church supplies shop. I don't recommend barbecue charcoal because the grains of incense will fall off, but some types of shisha charcoal can be used. Basically you need charcoal with dent in the top so you have somewhere to place the incense. 

Some of these charcoal discs are swift-lighting which can be helpful, but it isn't all that important to get swift lighting as long as you have access to a small cook's blowtorch. (More about that later!)

When it comes to choosing the incense you have an awful lot of choice. I used to use Prinknash incense. Basilica is a popular flavour used in many churches, which smells like hot cross buns. However it can be harder to get the mix right and prevent the smoke going acrid over the duration of the service. Other people swear by the strong floral aroma of Rosa Mystica, made by the monks of Alton Abbey.  I am particularly fond of Orthodox incense blends these days which generally use slightly larger grains and which come in many floral scents and also some more spicey scents. A few years ago I had a lovely one called "Holy night", Nard is also very lovely and symbolic, Amber and Mount Athos incenses are fabulous, and I often use Myrrh incense on Holy Saturday.

Incense in a bowl

First I will talk about using incense in a bowl. The same principles can be used for domestic incense burners. Firstly, do make sure that your bowl is filled with sand. The charcoal discs can get much hotter than you realise, especially as they can still look black whilst being hot enough to burn. Beware! To be extra-safe place your bowl upon a non-burning surface such as an tile. Sometimes a charcoal disc will look like it hasn't caught light but it is quietly burning away inside. DO NOT TOUCH the lit charcoal with bare hands. Instead use a small pair of tongs (like sugar tongs) or tweezers or a pair of teaspoons. Place two or three discs on the sand in the bowl, well spaced apart.(Remember that the more charcoal you use the more charcoal smoke there will be . Charcoal smoke is rather unpleasant and you will want to maximize the nice scent of the incense and minimize the charcoal smell.) Light the charcoal. You will then need to wait for the charcoal to glow red. You can blow on the charcoal to help it glow quicker, but beware of sparks which may fly out and burn you. It is much safer to use a small battery operated fan or even better a cooks blowtorch which can make the incense glow red very quickly indeed.

When the charcoal is red you can add the incense. Remember that only the incense which is in contact with the charcoal will actually melt and release perfume. Do not smother the charcoal by adding too much incense or it will go out. Spoon the incense carefully onto the charcoal and, if it is your tradition, ask a priest to bless it. From time to time, scrape away the "spent" incense and add new stuff. Spent incense can be acrid if left on the charcoal. 

A top tip for a quick cloud of smoke to appear is to grind some of the incense in a pestle and mortar (just like a cooks pestle and mortar). This is pretty much always necessary with Orthodox incense which has larger grains.  The smaller the grains, the more quickly it will melt and you will get a wonderful cloud of smoke, but it will also disappear quickly. 

When you are finished be very careful where you dispose of the spent charcoal. It is best dealt with outside. Do not ever place in a bin inside the building. 

Incense in a thurible (censer).

Thuribles come in a number of shapes and sizes. They are often made of brass or silver. Orthodox thuribles have twelve bells on them which represent the voices of the twelve apostles. 

here is a lovely image of a thurible and incense boat from the ceiling of a church in Rome

When dealing with thuribles please be aware that the chains can very easily become entangled, and, like a ball of string they can be tricky to untangle again! I tend to store mine by tying the chains together at 3 or 4 points along their length with large twist ties to keep them from tangling. A thurible stand is a very useful thing to hang the thurible from when in church. If you do not have one, a microphone stand can make a good temporary substitute. 

Do keep you thurible clean. The lid can often become filled with a tar like substance that can give off nasty smelling smoke when it gets hot. Don't allow it to get dirty and give it a good scrub with cleaner after use (once it has cooled down). To make the task of cleaning the inside of a thurible easier I always use a small metal pie tin inside the bowl of the censer. This can then be scrunched up and thrown away in an outside bin after use, making cleaning much easier. 

Unlike the incense bowl you do not need sand in a thurible. If you did use sand if would very quickly spill everywhere! Thuribles are meant to be swung  and used in processions or swung and aimed at an altar, or a gospel book, or your congregation. Because of this do check your chains and make sure they are firmly attached before use. A pair of snipe nosed pliers can easily fix any loose connections. 

When you come to light the charcoal, you can light it using tongs from a small candle (the traditional way) or simply blast it with a cooks blowtorch. The quick way! (An added plus point is that you can use the blowtorch to make creme brulee when you're not using it for incense. Giving the thurible good strong swings can get the charcoal to glow more quickly and you can use the portable fan to help you if required. When the charcoal is glowing red you are ready for the incense to be added. In a liturgical situation you would normally offer the incense boat to a priest who would add three spoonfuls (sometimes making a lovely little cross with the spoon) and pray a prayer of blessing either silently by making a cross over the incense or aloud eg. "Be blessed by Thou in whose honour thou shalt be burnt in the name of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen."   As with the incense in a bowl it is important to make sure the charcoals are placed so that their "bowl" is on top, and that the incense is placed on top of that bowl. Any incense not in contact with the charcoal will not melt and is simply wasted. Do not put too much charcoal in the thurible at any one time or you will simply get the smell of the charcoal smoke. More can easily be added later. Getting the balance right will result in better perfume and less acrid smoke. Another tip for keeping the smoke smelling sweet is to regularly clear away the spent incense, but do not simply scrape it to one side with a spoon, scrape it out of the thurible altogether and place in a small metal dish. That way the smoke will keep smelling lovely and sweet.  Please also be aware that after a while the thurible itself can get hot, especially the lid, as heat rises. Take care not to burn your fingers on the lid. 

If your church does not use incense liturgically there may be times when it may be appropriate to cense the space before an act of worship. This can create an atmosphere of prayer, but is also easier on those occasions when the smoke bothers people. It has been noted in some churches which have a large number of tourists, that the atmosphere is quieter and more prayerful when the building smells of incense. 

There are many wonderful videos for clergy on youtube showing you how to cense an altar or a gospel book. Here are some links to some of them. 

Censing the altar, also serving at a free standing altar

Censing an altar fixed to a wall

A tutorial for servers

Another tutorial on censing a fixed altar

There are a number of ways of doing this so do not feel that any one is "correct" although some churches do have a "house style" which it would be polite to follow!

Please note that if the altar is free-standing the priest should walk around and cense the altar in an anticlockwise direction. 

This is the same for coffins if you need to cense a coffin at a funeral. With other items, or if you wish to use a more simple technique then two swings to the middle of the item (eg. a gospel book) two to the left and two to the right can be a default for most situations! 

I do hope that this short tutorial helps and enables you and others to enjoy the use of incense in worship and reassures you that it can be used without the congregation being choked by clouds of charcoal smoke. 

Smoke - Part 1

In this Pentecostal time of year it seemed a really good time to talk about incense, which seems to me to be a bit like the Marmite (you either love it or you hate it!) of the liturgical world! Some churches and Christians love it, and want to use it whenever possible. (I admit I'm probably in that bracket - but only if the smoke is sweet!) and some hate it and would be very happy if they never encountered it again. 

Some of this is due to mis-placed ideas about incense, and some of it is because the smoke catches in their throats and makes them cough. Sadly the latter problem is easily avoided and I will tackle the practicalities of using incence in "Smoke part 2" when I will tell you the secret of getting a really good incense mix, and avoiding that acrid barbecue-smoke effect which makes everyone cough when the thurifer passes by. 

Incense in the Bible

When I was a teenager I used to attend an Evangelical church and many worshippers there were vehemently against the use of incense. The strength of their reaction was puzzling to me. Looking back I think it was just prejudice, or lack of teaching on the subject. For the first thing to remember is that incense is quite clearly biblical. There are several key passages regarding incense, in both Old and New Testaments. 

In Exodus chapter 30 God commands the Israelites to offer incense in worship and writes in instructions to the Israelites as to how it should be offered. 

“You shall make an altar on which to offer incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.  It shall be one cubit long, and one cubit wide; it shall be square, and shall be two cubits high; its horns shall be of one piece with it... Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall offer it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening he shall offer it, a regular incense-offering before the Lord throughout your generations." 

Exodus chapter 30 even has a recipe for holy incense which came with a command that it not be used to secular purposes. This tells us that other blends of incense were probably used for domestic air freshening as they are today in parts of the Middle East. 

"The Lord said to Moses: Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (an equal part of each), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy;  and you shall beat some of it into powder, and put part of it before the covenant in the tent of meeting where I shall meet you; it shall be for you most holy.  When you make incense according to this composition, you shall not make it for yourselves; it shall be regarded by you as holy to the Lord.  Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from the people."

There are a number of other references to incense being offered in worship, daily in the temple, including Exodus 25, Leviticus 2, 2 Chronicles 29 and a rather disturbing passage in Numbers 16 describing a mutiny and a terrible fire of judgement devouring 250 men who offered incense and themselves before the Lord as alternative leaders. (This seems also to mark out the fact that the Hebrews must have used incense for their domestic purposes, because they actually possessed 250 censers).

Incense is also mentioned in the book of psalms
"Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
    and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice." (Psalm 141:2)

Throughout the bible it is symbolic of prayer and worship and we can see from a number of these passages that Incense was used regularly in temple-worship, being offered both morning and evening. 

There are fewer references to incense within the New Testament, and yet it is still there, being mentioned in the gospel of Luke. (Frankincense was one of the gifts of the magi), the letter to the Hebrews where the worship of the Earthly tabernacle is compared with the perfect offering of Christ the Great High Priest and in the book of Revelation:

"Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake." (Revelation 8:3-5) 

In this famous passage from Revelation the prayers of the saints are offered to God as incense, and God acts in response to those prayers in a dramatic and spectacular manner. 

Incense in History

It might be worth mentioning at this point, that in ancient times hardly anyone (apart from a few rich Romans, had access to running water. Nor was there an adequate draining system. Animals were used for transport (and animals tend to leave "presents" behind them), so basically the streets stank and most people stank too! As Paul Bradshaw (I believe - sorry I have lent the book to someone) once said "The importance of incense is not that it symbolises the ascending smoke of sacrifice, but it is a means of making tolerable the smells of unwashed humanity.” (Foundations in Ritual Studies p45, Bradshaw and Melloh)

Therefore those who were rich appointed a servant to walk the streets before them, fumigating the smell away with perfumed incense. 

It might be worth mentioning at this point that the Latin word for incense is thus and this is the root word for the two terms usually used in liturgical churches; a thurible for the incense burner, and a thurifer for the person who carries the censer. 

The fact that the incense normally paved the way for a VIP is the reason why the incense comes first in liturgical processions, followed by the cross, representing Jesus, the King of Kings, accompanied by candles. Sometimes an extra server accompanies the thurifer, a boat-boy or boat-girl, carrying the container for the incense. This container is often shaped like a boat, hence the term boat-boy. When a new member of the serving team is trained they often begin as boat boy before moving onto the more complex tasks of bearing candles, the cross or becoming a thurifer. 

Incense was also used in Pagan worship and a number of martyrs in Roman times were killed for refusing to offer a pinch of incense in worship before a statue of the emperor. 

We are not sure when ceremonial incense began to be used within Christian churches, but Egeria, the fourth century pilgrim mentions it in her travels to the Holy Land and its use is expected in the ancient liturgies of St James and St Mark. 

By the Middle Ages incense was used regularly in churches and monasteries in processions, at funerals, at services on saints days when the altar and people were censed (taking inspiration from the worship in the temple) and at Mass when the gospel, the altar, the people and the gifts were censed. Five grains of incense were also placed within the Paschal (Easter) candle, symbolising the five precious wounds of Jesus upon the cross. 

Of course at the Reformation everything changed and the churches were stripped of ceremonial. Many consider the use of incense to have died out at this point in time, but actually this simply isn't true. The reason, I'm sure, was that people still smelt! It was not until Victorian times that we had access to decent plumbing. There are a number of historical references to the purchase of incense in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the accounts of some churches and cathedrals including Ely, Canterbury and Barnstaple, but the incense was not used ceremonially. Instead it was burnt in a perfuming pan or brazier and generally a church was fumigated by a verger before Divine Worship began. 

The ritual use of incense returned to the church in Victorian times after the rise of the Oxford Movement. Nowadays there are a number of variations in practice. Some Anglo-Catholic churches use incense every Sunday. Many cathedrals and greater churches use it only on special occasions such as major feasts of the church. (The definition of a major feast varies from church to church, but would normally include Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity and Ascension). In addition to this many cathedrals and greater churches would also use incense on "red letter" festival saints days, such as the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary. If a church has evensong on one of these saints days the old monastic tradition of censing the altar during the gospel canticle has been reintroduced (normally the Magnificat, as this is the canticle that was sung at Vespers in the monastery). Some churches such as Ripon cathedral have a small brazier in front of the altar and place incense upon this during the canticle. In other churches and cathedrals, such as York Minster, a canon will cense the altar ceremonially during the Magnificat and then give the thurible to a server who will cense the people as a sign of their holiness before God and the holiness of the saints. Even some Evangelical churches will occasionally use incense,but not ceremonially, perhaps as part of a prayer station, perhaps at Epiphany, remembering the gifts of the magi; gold, frankincense and myrrh. Nowadays there is comparative freedom on the use of incense, but there is also some resistance to its use. If you are able to use incense I do encourage you to try it though. It does seem to have the affect of demarcating a space as being holy and it creates an atmosphere of prayer and worship.  Personally I believe most of this resistance to the use of incense is due to it being used badly and the congregation being inflicted to a large amount of acrid charcoal smoke. In my next article I will tell you a little bit more about how to mix it and use it well, the types of incense currently available and ways in which you might use it in prayer and worship, either ceremonially or informally. 

Lipstick, heels and hairspray

Summer is coming. The season of ordinations and guest choirs going on tour. Therefore this seems a good time to write this little nugget of wisdom. It might seem a rather frivolous post at first sight, but bear with me as I hope to share some tips which may help you or someone else sound, look and feel more professional as they lead worship.

Heels

This post about heels is really aimed at anyone who processes up a stone aisle including ordinands,  priests, servers, lay ministers, and choirs too. It may also apply to those who wear flat shoes which have noisy heels. Years ago (in my chorister days) I was told that, if processing in church we should not wear  heels as the clippety clop noises are distracting. (Those who say this are partially right. The clippety clop noises are indeed distracting! If a whole choir is wearing heels in an echoey building the sound can be quite overpowering!). However this does not mean that those leading worship cannot wear heels or that we are reduced to wearing shoes that look ugly on special occasions.  Heels can be really useful for a number of reasons. e.g. If a cope or cassock is an inch too long it is hardly worth sending to the person who does your sewing and heels are an instant fix. Also if a lectern was designed for a six foot giant and you can't find a box to stand on your heels can at least ensure that some of your face is visible. So I bring you good news. It is possible to wear heels in such a way that you are seen but not heard!

This is how:

- Firstly do try this at home (first!). Then try it in an empty church so you don't go flying on your first outing in heels and end up in the lap of the Lord Lieutenant at the next civic service you have to lead! Also please do not sue me if this all goes horribly wrong. You wear heels in an old church at your own risk. (and nine inches is definitely too high! I generally go for one or two inches for greatest success.)

- Secondly find some lovely (black!) heels which aren't too horrendously uncomfortable (especially if you have to process a long way or stand for a long time. I would avoid using wedges as I simply can't do this in wedges (you may be cleverer than me though).

- Thirdly (and this is the trick!) practice walking with the heels, but instead of putting your weight equally on the foot throw your weight slightly forward so it is actually resting on the ball of the foot. (It is rather like walking on tiptoe, yet actually your heels do rest on the floor, only they are placed down very gently). When you first start practising you may wish to begin by walking on tiptoe but then gradually get yourself used to placing the rest of the foot down silently. After a while you will then be able to silently glide up the aisle wearing some shoes that are as wonderful as your other robes and your processions will both look and sound perfect.

- Fourthly. This is rather a post-script and may not apply to your church. If you are in a church with a particularly old and uneven stone floor do not step on the cracks in the pavement! Your heels may get stuck (and I have had that happen to a bridesmaid) but actually even if you aren't wearing heels you may trip on the join in the two paving stones and, once again, land in the lap of a VIP (or, worse still, end up in casualty). This can happen even if you are wearing flat shoes. Whilst doing weddings in Winchester I discovered that actually those story books who told you when you were very small that if you stepped on the cracks a bear would come around the corner and eat you were doing you a great service in prevention of trip hazards years and years later. It is much less likely that you will trip if you aren't treading on the cracks.

Lipstick

This brings me to lipstick. Some people may consider this to be an equally frivolous post as wearing lipstick is hardly compulsory. Some ministers (and congregation members too) have been wary of using lipstick because it does not stay put and can come off on the chalice at communion, on the purificator (wiping cloth) or on robes.  If the lipstick is ordinary lipstick this is true, and it can drive those people who do your washing nuts! Do spare a thought for your poor laundry team. It can be very hard to get rid of  the residue. However once again I bring good news! Some clever souls at a number of makeup companies have invented Super-stay lipstick that lasts many, (sometimes even 24) hours without coming off. This is wonderful stuff. I use it all the time. I used to get cracked lips but find that this type of lipstick somehow or other seals the skin of my lips so they no longer crack, and it never comes off on the chalice, robes or anything else. Highlighting the lips can also make it easier for some people to hear what you are saying when you are reading or preaching (as some people do actually use a bit of lipreading without realising it). Some of these lipsticks come in two parts with a clear topcoat but I never use this bit as the topcoat does tend to come off. I just use the base.

Hairspray

I hardly ever use hairspray normally. I am particularly wary of it when I am leading a service involving candles. If it is an Easter Vigil or Advent Procession tidy your hair well away from any naked flames and leave the hair unsprayed. (Also make sure you know where the fire blankets are).  However the place where hairspray really comes into its own is when leading worship outdoors. You can have beautifully combed and neat hair inside the church and then when you leave the building it suddenly turns into a haystack, because, of course, outside is windy  and the outside  of (usually tall) church buildings is doubly windy. If you make sure your hair is thoroughly sprayed and in place before you leave the building then your Remembrance service or Palm Sunday procession will look lovely and if you end up in the local paper at least you will be looking your best.

So there we are. Heels, lipstick and hairspray. We don't need them, but no-one should ever say that they can't be used. They are tools like anything else and can make us look and feel more confident and professional whilst leading worship.

Evensong Prayers and Intercessions

This is one of those posts that have been on my "to do" list for a very long time as I have witnessed a good deal of confusion around the best technique for writing a good set of intercessions at a service of Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Choral Evensong. 

This confusion seems to be compounded by the fact that many clergy and lay ministers use Common Worship Daily Prayer (CWDP) for their daily office. The structure of CWDP differs in a number of ways from the BCP, and one of the stark differences is that there are no intercessions for others within the most commonly used set liturgical options  (with the exception of the Lord's Prayer). Instead, after the Benedictus, there are thematic suggestions and the instruction:

These responses may be used

Lord in your mercy

Hear our prayer

(or)

Lord hear us.

Lord graciously hear us. 

This can lead to the temptation to treat BCP Evensong intercessions in a similar vein to those in CWDP, or even in a similar vein to Eucharistic intercessions, with lengthy biddings followed by the aforementioned response. However, although I hate to be too dictatorial of the prayer life of others there are two reasons why I personally this is a bad idea.

In short:

1 - "Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer" is not in the liturgy for 1662 Evensong, and a number of those who come to Choral Evensong because they want a traditional service find the response rather annoying, because it has been parachuted in from another liturgy altogether.

2 - The response "Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer" isn't in the book. (At least I have never seen a Choral Evensong service book with this response written in it). Those leading the intercessions are therefore expecting the congregation to simply know this response, and that is deeply unfair to visitors and makes spiritual seekers and tourists feel unwelcome. Particularly because Choral Evensong is the kind of service which attracts spiritual seekers and tourists, especially in town-centre churches and cathedrals. Moreover in tourist towns a number of attendees don't have English as their first language and "Amen" is international.

It is true that those leading intercessions can tell the congregation what their responses should be at the start of the prayers, and this would indeed be good practice for those insisting on using this form of intercession. However I would like to argue that there is something more fundamental going on in the structure of intercessions at Choral Evensong. Therefore let's take a few snapshots of the responses that the choir have sung. The choir is not simply entertaining us (although the music should, hopefully, be lovely). The precentor and choir are, in fact, leading us in intercessory prayer. 

O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.

And grant us thy salvation.

A prayer for our salvation, the salvation of those we know and love, and the salvation of the world. 

   

O Lord, save the King.

And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

A prayer for His Majesty the King, but, it seems to me, also a prayer for his government, the stability of our nation, and the rulers of the earth. 

Endue thy ministers with righteousness.

And make thy chosen people joyful.

A prayer for the Church, and for all who lead and teach within it, followed by a prayer for those who are in emotional turmoil; depressed, lonely, grieving or heartbroken. A lot of prayer is packed into those two short lines!

   

O Lord, save thy people.

And bless thine inheritance.

Once again a prayer of salvation but also a prayer of blessing and an opportunity to remember before God those we know and love. 

   

Give peace in our time, O Lord.

Because there is none other that fighteth for us,

but only thou, O God.

A prayer for peace on Earth and an opportunity to particularly remember those areas of conflict within the world. 

   

O God, make clean our hearts within us.

And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

A prayer for our own personal spiritual refreshment and renewal. 

Therefore, in a service of Evensong, before we ever come to the spoken intercessions, we have already held a number of situations in prayer before God. Traditionally the practice following the Choir's anthem (if there was one) was to use the state prayers; a prayer for the King's majesty, a prayer for the Royal family, a prayer for the clergy and people, finishing with the most popular prayer of St John Chrysostom and the Grace. These four prayers are all written in the style of a collect , and the ending of these prayers: "Through the merits of Jesus Christ our saviour"/"Through Jesus Christ Our Lord" clearly leads to a congregational Amen. 

I would therefore argue that good practice in Evensong intercessions should be to follow a similar pattern. Having already prayed for almost every kind of situation within the sung responses this final section of an Evensong is our chance to personalise this international and historic liturgy to our time and place. The best way to do this is through very short biddings; for example"We pray for peace in N and all affected by the N (news item)" followed by a collect style prayer, leading clearly to an Amen. These do not have to be historic, but it is beneficial if they are poetic, matching the beauty and poetry of the sung prayers and the anthem. The subjects for these biddings may be themes which have occurred within the bible readings, current news topics, or areas of concern within the church.  It is also good practice to have a prayer of remembrance for those who grieve, checking the RIP list. People who have recently lost a loved one often come to an Evensong service shortly afterwards or on the anniversary of their death to hear that person's name read and remembered before God. 

There are some really lovely collect-style prayers available at our disposal: prayers of the saints, twentieth century prayers by William Temple, Dean Eric Milner-White and many many more. It is also good practice on a saints day, or anniversary of the death of a writer to use a prayer written by them. Although it was traditional to have four of these collect style prayers, adding a bidding increases the length and I have discovered over time that only having two or three seems to work best, and in any case good practice would dictate that this time lasts no longer than three minutes in total. Otherwise it is taxing the patience of a congregation some members of whom may never have attended church before. An alternative approach (particularly for gifted writers and poets) is to write collects which encompass the biddings or current situations. Here are a couple of mine as examples. 

O God who gave the universe its melody
and placed rhythm into our heartbeat:
Bless Winchester Cathedral Choir
and all who work to give a glimpse of the harmonies
of heaven to the people of our earth. 
May our ears be ever open to the prompting of your Spirit.
May our eyes be ever open to the beauty of your world.
May our voices dress your church 
with the songs of light and life
That we might partner with the angels 
in their never-ending hymn of praise
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Almighty God, 

Who moulded Adam from the clay of the earth 

And who shapes our lives and fires them in the crucible of your Spirit:

Create and make us into the vessels of your love; 

Open us when we are closed and afraid, 

Raise us when we are low and fallen, 

Smooth us when we stray from the ways of your perfection, 

and help us to be the people you have called us to be, 

in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Whichever tactic is used the endings need to lead to an Amen. "Through Jesus Christ our Lord" is the most obvious way to get there, but using this for every bidding can get a little repetitive. Other options are as follows:

...through Jesus Christ our Saviour

...through Jesus Christ your Son

...who lives and reigns for ever and ever, world without end

...through our Saviour Jesus Christ

...through Jesus Christ our healer

...through Christ our Saviour and our Lord

....through Christ who hears our prayers and sees our tears

(and there are many more variations upon this kind of theme)

Therefore the congregation are invited to say 3 Amen's and the Grace, the text of which is generally printed in the book:

THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit [or Ghost], be with us all evermore. Amen.

Structuring the intercessions in this fashion, personalising them to the readings and to current news items, but keeping them succinct will finish the service beautifully. It will not grate against the poetry or the music or embarrass newcomers, asking too much of those who do not yet believe. Moreover it will, perhaps, lead people into a place of prayer for the first time when they experience the wonder and awe of intensely beautiful music and prayer within an exceptionally lovely building. I hope so, and this is why I am writing this piece, not because I am a liturgical pedant, but because I long for others to connect with the Eternal God. 

Psalms

One of the projects that is on my to-do list (after house-moving and getting the Transcendence infrastructure sorted out) is to do some work encouraging and promoting the use of psalms in worship. There are so many ways to use them and so many musical styles in which to explore their treasures. It seems that I'm not the only one who has noticed the lack of sung scripture in a lot of modern worship songs, and I'm pleased to see that Keith Getty has been thinking on similar lines, as he's just released an album of psalm settings.  Still there is a whole lot more work to do, and a whole lot more musical styles to explore. An easy way of doing psalms is to re-write the words so that they fit with  hymn tunes (Metrical psalms). A new set of these by Adam Carlill, called Psalms for the Common Era has just been published and was flagged up by Praxis in their December newsletter. Adam has translated the texts directly from the Hebrew unlike some metrical versions (including my own humble attempts) which merely copy the English. My copy of this particular psalm book hasn't arrived yet but I look forward to exploring them.  My favourite modern treatment of the psalms currently is Isaac Everett's Emergent Psalter, but then I am also very fond of the ancient plainchant settings. The chant blog contains resources to help you if you are interested in learning them. They are very singable and yet link us to some incredibly ancient music. Yet they can also be used in more modern ways. Some people would probably hate the fact that I quite like chanting them over electronica but it works! 

Changes

Most of you will probably have heard by now that I have changed jobs and left Winchester Cathedral. I am now working for the Transcendence trust, which was formed in 2012 to support the Transcendence services in York minster, but which is now focused upon liturgical teaching, resourcing and promoting Sacramental Fresh Expressions in particular and helping churches engage with worship in new ways. With this in mind I have been doing a bit of re-organisation of my blogs. This blog will now be focused on liturgical teaching and theory (whether in the traditional world or in Fresh Expressions territory). It seems to me that the boundaries are blurring these days, but it also seems to me that more and more churches need help and support in refreshing their worship, hence my choice to do more writing, teaching and consultancy to support those in need of help. I have moved most of my creative worship ideas onto Canon Sue's Liturgy Blog. If you are looking for something that was previously here, it will probably be over there!